The second installment,

...

Fan Ning had disappeared!

After Qin Fang returned to the university, he immediately went to the Ning family's home to look for her, only to discover that she had not come back at all, and even her car had vanished along with her.

"You will pay for what happened today!"

Recalling that phone call earlier, Qin Fang suddenly felt a chilling sensation, as if he was being watched by a pair of invisible eyes, sending a cold shiver down his spine.

Yet, he had no time to consider his own safety at the moment; Fan Ning's disappearance left him somewhat worried, perhaps hesitant, and also at a loss.

It was clear that in the darkness, Qin Fang had encountered an opponent he could neither see nor touch, and this person now had Fan Ning in their grip.

Qin Fang's first reaction was to call Ning Yumo and have her help investigate Fan Ning's car, which could potentially lead to some clues.

But after giving it some thought, Qin Fang decided against this idea.

The enemy lurking in the dark was exceedingly concealed and insidious, and seemed to have a deep understanding of Qin Fang. Without having a clear grasp of the adversary's intentions, Qin Fang dared not make any further moves.

That night, Qin Fang did not return to his dormitory, nor did he go back to his cabin; he didn't even make a phone call. Instead, he quietly waited in Fan Ning's home the entire night without rest.

And just as he had anticipated, Fan Ning was nowhere to be found; both she and her car had not appeared at all, as if they had vanished into thin air.

...

The fact that Qin Fang did not ask Ning Yumo for help did not mean that Ning Yumo was completely unaware of the situation.

After dropping Qin Fang off at the university, she immediately made a call to the criminal police on her way home, requesting them to investigate both Fan Ning and her car, while also monitoring Fan Ning's mobile phone.

Having seen the change in Qin Fang's expression, she knew for certain that something serious must have happened to Fan Ning. However, the current leads were very limited, and she also deemed the hidden enemy to be extremely cunning, not daring to make any rash moves and alert them. She merely instructed the criminal investigation team to proceed with their inquiries while also maneuvering to escalate the matter further up the chain.

Ning Yumo herself did not expect that such a maneuver would actually stir up trouble.

...

Ding dong ding dong...

The sound of the doorbell rang out, startling the somewhat groggy Qin Fang awake.

"Fan Ning..."

Almost instinctively, Qin Fang thought it was Fan Ning returning. He hurriedly rushed to open the door, even forgetting for a moment that Fan Ning had her own keys to the home.

"Who are you looking for?"

However, when he opened the door, he was surprised to find seven or eight strangers outside, men and women alike, none of whom he recognized.

But Qin Fang didn't give it much thought and merely asked the question instinctively, since Ninghai University was vast, and there were many instructors he had never met, not to mention friends of Fan Ning or Xia Yun.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Qin Fang?"

The leader of the group, a man in his forties with a warm smile, asked politely.

"Hm?"

Qin Fang was momentarily startled and his previously drowsy mind was now fully alert. He looked at the people before him with some bewilderment but still nodded affirmatively, "I am Qin Fang. Who are you...?"

Seeing these people, Qin Fang was very cautious; he was at Fan Ning and Xia Yun's residence, and instead of these visitors looking for Fan Ning or Xia Yun, they came directly to him, which was quite odd indeed.

"May we come in and talk?"

Yet, the middle-aged man did not answer and simply asked politely if they could enter.

"Come in."

Although Qin Fang was somewhat unclear about the intentions of these people, he noted that there were a total of seven individuals, ranging from Level 1 to Level 3, none of whom posed any threat to him. Besides, Qin Fang was armed with a gun, so there was even less reason to worry.

"People from the National Security Agency..."

However, once Qin Fang had let these people in and carefully used his Appraisal Skill, he was surprised to discover their identities - they were actually from the National Security Agency.

After entering the house, only the leading man sat down in the living room, while the others opened their carried cases, took out some devices Qin Fang did not recognize, and proceeded to conduct a special search throughout the house. They found a total of four bug-like tiny devices in the living room and Fan Ning and Xia Yun's bedrooms.

Seeing these devices, Qin Fang's face turned pale; he had already thoroughly searched the entire house using his Scouting Skill, yet had failed to detect these items, which showed how incredibly well-concealed they were.

If that were the case, Qin Fang suddenly felt that their plan with Fan Ning had been known by hidden enemies from the very beginning.

"Boss, they are all damaged, ruined by a strong magnetic field! The perpetrator must be a hacker expert..."

However, when a National Security beauty performed a check on these surveillance devices with her laptop, she found they were all out of commission long ago.

"Hacker expert..."

On hearing this phrase, Qin Fang suddenly realized that Xiao Nan must have dealt with them when he last came over, although Xiao Nan never mentioned it to him.

"Gentlemen, when you come to my place, shouldn't you at least tell me who you are first? Can you please not break things in my house?"

Yet Qin Fang felt a sudden surge of repulsion towards the unexpected arrival of these National Security agents.

Clearly, they were here because of Fan Ning's affair; they definitely weren't there just for Qin Fang.

The thought of Fan Ning's current unknown fate after being kidnapped filled Qin Fang with ire, and the fact that these National Security agents had decided to knock on his door at this particular time only made him more displeased.

"Mr. Qin, let me first introduce ourselves; we are all from..."

The middle-aged man smiled, about to disclose his identity, when suddenly the doorbell rang persistently.

"Fan Ning..."

At the sound, Qin Fang's face lit up with joy, and he immediately stood up, rushing to the door, while the agents in his house swiftly packed up their equipment and instruments.

"Who are you looking for?"

However, Qin Fang's joyful anticipation turned to disappointment as he opened the door to find not Fan Ning but a young man around twenty-five or twenty-six, which caused his smile to fade, giving way to an unpleasant expression as he asked.

"I am... oh, Old Fan, so you're here!"

As the young man began to introduce himself, he saw the people inside the house and unceremoniously pushed past Qin Fang, heading straight inside without a hint of politeness.

"Zhao Kang, during work hours, please call me Director Fan..."

The middle-aged man also appeared quite displeased, sternly rebuking the young man upon seeing Qin Fang looking at them with a dark expression.

"Tsch, save me your act!"

But the young man didn't take Director Fan seriously at all, rolled his eyes, sat down unceremoniously, and even swaggeringly propped his feet up on the coffee table.

Qin Fang's expression darkened further. He had seen arrogance before, but never had he encountered someone this brazen, making themselves more at home in another person's house than the owner themselves.

"Director Fan, regardless of who you are, I now ask you... to leave!"

The arrogance of Zhao Kang caused Qin Fang to lose his temper entirely. Even though it was clear they were from National Security, since they had not disclosed this themselves, Qin Fang could feign total ignorance and unapologetically demand that they leave.

"Qin Fang, just listen to me first..."

Director Fan's face turned significantly sour—not because of Qin Fang but due to Zhao Kang's behavior.

They could understand Qin Fang's current mood. Anyone would feel the same sort of displeasure if somebody behaved so brazenly in their own home.

However, Zhao Kang was a tricky subject for the director; he didn't want to upset him, considering Zhao's father was a minister with a very good relationship with the head of their National Security, and hence Zhao Kang had been placed among them.

But Zhao Kang was a constant headache. Although he had come to Ninghai as part of their mission, he usually did as he pleased and never participated in any official actions. Yet unexpectedly today, he had gone mad and turned up at Qin Fang's doorstep.

"I don't want to hear anything right now. Please leave immediately!"

Zhao Kang seemed not to hear Qin Fang or Director Fan, still casually throwing melon seed shells onto the floor after cracking them open, his feet now off the table, but his demeanor otherwise unchanged.

"Zhao Kang!"

Director Fan saw what was happening and, enraged, immediately barked at him sharply.

Unfortunately, Zhao Kang continued to behave as he pleased, giving Director Fan a glance and tossing Qin Fang a disdainful look, before resuming cracking his melon seeds. The only change was that his feet were no longer on the coffee table, everything else remained the same.

Qin Fang's gaze was still ice-cold as he turned from Zhao Kang to Director Fan, who managed an awkward smile but seemed without a better solution; however, he decided to shift the conversation back to business.

"Qin Fang, let's get down to the matter at hand. We are here about Fan Ning's situation. As far as I know, Fan Ning has been kidnapped, and the person who abducted him..."

Qin Fang was attentive, his gaze sharpening, ready to listen to Director Fan. Clearly, they knew many things Qin Fang was unaware of, so he was eager to find out who was behind Fan Ning's abduction.

Unfortunately, Director Fan, a cunning man himself, had only gotten halfway through his sentence before halting abruptly, precisely at the most critical point, leaving Qin Fang in an excruciating limbo of anticipation.

He wanted nothing more than to know who had taken Fan Ning, but the surnamed Fan seemed reluctant to continue, almost as if he were waiting for Qin Fang to ask him to go on… (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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