Chapter 48: Teacher Gao, Where Are You?

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“Hmm?”
Inside the restaurant, Shen Ting stared at the elegant WeChat message with a puzzled expression.
What does this mean?
The earlier part, “Shen Ting, I’m sorry, I like you,” sounded like a confession.
But the addition of “But I… haha!” left Shen Ting completely baffled.
It felt disjointed—like it wasn’t from the same person.
Frowning deeply, Shen Ting sent another message:
“Teacher Gao, where are you? Are you safe right now?
I’m a bit worried about you. I’ll come find you!”
But this time, five whole minutes passed without any reply.
He called again, but no one answered.
“What’s going on?”
Shen Ting was completely thrown off.
After thinking for a moment, he used the “Data Sharing” feature to extract Gao Ya’s information.
It was his first time sharing the data of an ordinary person.
After a brief glance, he sensed something was wrong.
Teacher Gao’s social circle was extremely narrow.
Not just narrow—it was virtually nonexistent.
Both her phone contacts and WeChat contacts consisted only of parents of kindergarten children and colleagues from the kindergarten.
After searching for a long time, Shen Ting couldn’t find any classmates, teachers, friends, or even her parents.
He was practically the only person in her circle not related to her work.
“This is unusual,” he muttered.
No friends was barely understandable, but no parental contacts?
Checking her household registration records, Shen Ting was suddenly enlightened.
Unexpectedly, the gentle and kind Teacher Gao turned out to be an orphan.
She had grown up in an orphanage!
The key point was:
From the communication records, apart from Shen Ting, Gao Ya hadn’t contacted anyone else.
The only purchase recorded on her phone was around 8 p.m. last night, at the Darunfa supermarket on Huimin Road—a payment of 325 yuan.
Shen Ting immediately shared the supermarket’s surveillance footage.
After quickly reviewing it, he found Gao Ya’s figure.
She had bought clothes, along with some vegetables and meat.
While trying on clothes, she looked into the mirror and changed into several outfits.
Her face wore a hopeful and faintly smiling expression.
It was very much like how Shen Ting felt when picking out clothes for a date.
His mood sank.
“Teacher Gao, were you also preparing a new outfit for our lunch date?”
Putting this together with the earlier WeChat message, he was more certain than ever that Teacher Gao wouldn’t simply stand him up without reason.
Something must have happened.

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Shen Ting called Gao Ya again, but still no answer.
He continued to examine the Darunfa surveillance footage. Around 8:30 p.m., Gao Ya was seen leaving the supermarket with her shopping bags, waiting at a bus stop.
By this time, it had begun to snow.
The roadside camera footage soon blurred.
But faintly, at 8:43, Gao Ya seemed to notice something behind the bus stop and turned to look.
Then she left the bus stop, quickly darting into a nearby alley.
There was no surveillance inside the alley.
Shen Ting sped up the video, but until 10:30 p.m., he saw no sign of her leaving the alley.
“What happened in that alley?”
His worry peaked, and he immediately stood up, ready to go check the alley himself.
Just then,
“The door to the world opens—are you the one outside, afraid of being late—”
His phone rang.
Shen Ting was overjoyed, thinking it was Gao Ya calling back.
But the caller ID showed it was Xiong Beibei.
Disappointed, Shen Ting answered while leaving the restaurant:
“Brother Xiong, what’s up?”
“Hmm, there’s a situation!
Someone reported a disappearance. The missing person is a teacher at the kindergarten where your sister goes!”
Shen Ting froze, forcing a dry voice out:
“The female teacher who always took my sister out of the kindergarten?”
Xiong Beibei had often driven Shen Ting to pick up his sister and had met Gao Ya before.
“Oh? The teacher you secretly like?
No, it’s not her!”
Xiong Beibei sounded puzzled. “Why bring her up suddenly? What happened to her?”
Not Gao Ya?
Shen Ting was surprised and said straight away:
“I had a lunch date planned with Gao Ya today, but I haven’t been able to reach her.
Brother Xiong, who is the missing teacher you mentioned?”
“The missing person is called Yin Tingxue!
No one has been able to contact her since this morning.
Captain Zheng’s team says if you have time, come to the station to help look for her.”
Yin Tingxue?
Shen Ting knew her—like Gao Ya, she was a senior kindergarten teacher.
Although not his sister’s class teacher, she had filled in a few times and they had met two or three times.
In Shen Ting’s impression, she was also very gentle.
But her face rarely smiled, always looking tired and weary.
“By the way, she and Teacher Gao seemed close.”
From the communications Shen Ting had seen, the two had called each other multiple times.
Gao Ya also chatted with her the most.
Both missing at the same time?

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“Brother Xiong, where did Yin Tingxue disappear?”
“That’s still under investigation!”
Shen Ting thought for a moment. Given how close the two were, their simultaneous disappearance was unlikely to be a coincidence.
“Brother Xiong, I’ll go look for Gao Ya first and won’t come to the station for now.
Send me the details of Yin’s disappearance.
I’ll review them and contact you if I find anything.”
“No problem, I’ll hang up now!”
“Wait a moment!”
Suddenly suspicious, Shen Ting hesitated.
If Yin Tingxue was merely missing, Captain Zheng wouldn’t have asked Xiong Beibei to contact him directly.
Also, Xiong said Yin had just been unreachable since the morning.
That was only six or seven hours ago—not urgent enough to involve Shen Ting.
“Brother Xiong, you’re in such a hurry to reach me—is there a theory you haven’t told me?”
“Shen Ting, you really are sharp!”
Xiong Beibei was silent for a few seconds, then Shen Ting heard him ask Captain Zheng for permission over the phone before speaking:
“It’s like this—we suspect Yin Tingxue may have met with foul play.
It snowed last night; you must know, right?”
“Of course!
What does that have to do with the disappearance?”
“Well, quite a lot!
In the Chaoyang district, over the past four or five winters, there have been several disappearances during snowfall, mostly involving young women.
Usually, these happen during severe snowstorms like last night.
Captain Qin’s team suspects a criminal may be taking advantage of the dark and snow to commit crimes.
Yin Tingxue’s disappearance has intensified their suspicions.
They worry there’s a perpetrator who targets snowy nights specifically.
So, just to be safe, they want you to participate in the investigation.”
Snowy night?
Disappearance?
Shen Ting frowned deeply.
A blizzard like last night was indeed perfect for a crime—few passersby, and the heavy snow blurred the cameras.
“Teacher Gao... could she have suffered the same fate as Yin Tingxue?”
His heart skipped a beat. He hailed a taxi and hurried toward Huimin Street.
On the way, Xiong Beibei sent the details of Yin Tingxue’s disappearance.
Before Shen Ting could open the file, the system notification sounded:
[Mission Released: Solve the Snowy Night Disappearance Case within Five Days!
Case Summary: In the pitch-black night, pure white snow falls!
Behind the veil of darkness and snow, a pair of bloodshot eyes watch… and a restless, maddened heart beats…]