"Nonsense! Blatant lies!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The security guard’s voice suddenly rose, clearly even more agitated than before.

"Ha? You’re flustered!"

The other old man stood with his hands on his hips, a fan tucked at his side, looking particularly pleased with himself with his chin raised.

Elliana assured, she really wasn’t staying just for the show. With the situation looking like this, she stayed in case she could help later.

"Elliana."

Just then, Phoebe Lyle arrived and, seeing Elliana watching the two old men argue at the door, said, "It’s very common, it’ll be over soon."

At Phoebe’s home, the smell of cats hit her in the face!

But it wasn’t the unpleasant kind of cat odor, rather the smell only close to kittens could bring.

As she glanced around, she saw a bunch of furry creatures fleeing in all directions, some burrowing under the sofa, others running into different rooms.

Only one perched on the edge of the sofa like a seasoned old dog, its relaxed eyes reflecting disdain.

Upon entering, a few strands of cat hair floated in the air, slowly landing on Norman Bennett’s shoulder.

Due to the white cat hair, it was particularly conspicuous on his gray, neatly pressed loose shirt.

"Kitties~ come out~" Phoebe called softly, and all the hiding kittens came out, tentatively inspecting the new stranger before cautiously approaching.

Perhaps they caught a scent, as they all moved towards the man, some rubbing their heads against his legs, others tumbling at his feet.

"Give me the stuff."

Phoebe said and took the items from Norman’s hands, while Norman seemed frozen in place, motionless.

His already cold features seemed even more detached without any expression.

However, Elliana paid no attention to this, squatting down and randomly grabbing a long-haired little white cat, "Wow, what a cute little kitty~ Let me pet you~"

"Meow~"

"Sister Phoebe, they’re so obedient~"

While she was engrossed in the kittens, the man suddenly spoke up, "I’ll wait for you outside."

"Huh?" She looked up in confusion, only seeing the man’s back.

It was then she remembered that Norman Bennett disliked cat hair. At home, he wouldn’t touch a single cat, let alone at Sister Phoebe’s house with so many cats.

Considering the man’s feelings, she didn’t stay long at Phoebe’s home.

―――South City, Taoxin Park.

"Luna, why don’t you leave this matter to me and go look for George Lyle’s clues."

At this moment, Andrew Hue and Luna were sitting on a park bench, slurping sour and spicy noodles, their first meal of the day.

People from other places in the girl group had searched everywhere but didn’t find any useful clues, and now only one person remained.

Kelly Wright.

But strangely, after searching in South City, there was no sign of her family, or perhaps she searched in the wrong places.

Whenever Andrew spoke about George Lyle’s issue, she thought about handing it over to Galen Collins, and wanted him to also look into Kelly Wright’s case for her.

So she told Andrew, "No need, I’ll ask about it later, you go take a day off and rest."

Then she cast a disdainful glance at Andrew’s stubble, but said, "Go back and shave your beard, it’s terribly unsightly."

After finishing the noodles, the two parted ways.

Luna walked alone along the roadside, amidst the noisy car sounds, beginning to call Galen Collins.

Beep... beep... beep~

After the complete ring, only a female voice announced: "Hello, the number you dialed is currently on another call, please try again later."

Most likely not genuinely on another call, there’s a strong chance Galen Collins doesn’t want to answer her call.

But she really had something urgent, otherwise she wouldn’t have called again after being hung up on once.

After thinking for a while, she decided to try calling from a different phone number.

However, even after four or five attempts, the call still didn’t go through.

At this time.

South City Police Department.

Meeting room.

Dozens of police officers sat in the meeting room, discussing the recent tricky case.

And Galen Collins, the most senior among them, kept receiving calls in succession.

Luna’s first call reached his personal phone; because the meeting was urgent and the phone hadn’t been silenced, he hung up then promptly put it on silent.

However, Luna’s second call reached his work phone at the police department, and this phone had one flaw: it couldn’t be silenced.

Thus, he repeatedly disconnected, causing the meeting to not officially start and every sentence he spoke interrupted.

"Recently..."

Galen’s words weren’t even finished before another phone ring interrupted him. Instead of hanging up quickly as usual, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Clearly angry.

Then he picked up the phone and answered, "I’ve made it very clear, there’s nothing possible between us. I’m a police officer, I have a lot of work to do every day, I don’t have time to entertain you! I’m in a meeting, don’t call again, got that?"

After finishing the sentence in one breath, both ends fell silent.

Even the others in the meeting room couldn’t quite react.

The last time Captain Collins got this angry was due to a mishandled case, and this time his words, "there’s nothing possible between us," were evidently addressed to a woman.

Looks like Captain Collins was disturbed by his own romantic entanglement.

On the other side.

Luna stood frozen, the phone a bit distanced from her ear.

Perhaps it was her first time hearing Galen speak so heatedly, she had trouble recovering, and this time Galen clearly rejected her.

The reason she could keep going before was only that Galen hadn’t explicitly rejected her, now with clarity, what reason was there to continue?

After a long pause, she started speaking, "I have something to discuss with you, but you finish your meeting, call me when you’re free."

"Okay, I’ll call you later," Galen replied, then hung up and placed his phone on the meeting table.

Then he addressed everyone present sternly, "Recently, a lot of people have gone missing nationwide again, with ninety-seven percent being females aged between 15 and 18. The family situations of the missing are generally impoverished, with very few from middle-class families."

After speaking, Galen directed his gaze at those present, everyone wore a grave expression. He scanned the room for a moment then said, "Does anyone have ideas, let’s hear them."

Once the words landed, the meeting room went silent, each person deep in thought, yet no one spoke.

This case wasn’t something new; unsolved cases accumulated over previous years and more recent incidents added.

Seeing no one speaking, Galen put up a projector, pointing at an ID photo, "This is a recent case, the missing person is Sara Zander, aged 18, just entering the entertainment industry. She had interacted with the current popular artist Yates Zander right before her disappearance. However, based on the suspect Yates Zander’s statement, the missing person merely admired him and asked for an autograph."

"Captain Collins."

At this moment, a man wearing glasses spoke up, and Galen looked toward him as the man said, "All the missing females share common traits; they’re young and attractive, mostly engaged or about to engage in the entertainment industry, so I think it’s the work of the same gang."

"Hmm, what do the others think?" Galen turned his gaze to the rest.

Someone said, "Captain Collins, after the victims went missing, there’s been no trace at all, clearly indicating the culprits have advanced methods. I also agree with the idea of it being the same gang."