At nine forty-five in the evening, Wang Yuyan was practicing yoga on the third floor of the villa, while Shen Lang drove to Nanling First High School to pick up Yu Xiao and Yu Fei from school.
Shen Lang drove slowly. What usually took half an hour took him forty-five minutes.
He drove slower than usual because Shen Lang knew that unless you left at eight o'clock, it would be very difficult to find a parking spot when you arrived at the entrance of Nanling First High School.
Shen Lang couldn't understand. He saw news every day about Nanling adding tens of thousands of parking spaces, yet he had trouble parking every time he went out.
Honestly, if it weren't for Yu Xiao and Yu Fei, totaling just two people, Shen Lang would have bought a motorcycle long ago.
Motorcycles were great, cool to ride, and didn't require so much effort to find parking.
Unexpectedly, when Shen Lang arrived, it was ten-thirty in the evening. The parking lot at the school entrance was already full, and he couldn't even find a gap to squeeze into.
Shen Lang had no choice but to find a temporary parking spot on the opposite side of the road.
However, when Shen Lang reached the entrance of Nanling First High School, he found that while groups of students were leaving, there was no sign of Yu Xiao and Yu Fei.
Twenty minutes passed, and other students and parents left one after another, but Yu Xiao and Yu Fei still hadn't emerged from the main gate.
Normally, as soon as class ended in the evening, Yu Xiao and Yu Fei would come out immediately because they knew Shen Lang would pick them up on time.
Shen Lang was confused why Yu Xiao and Yu Fei were so late in leaving tonight.
"Could it be... they have something urgent tonight?"
Shen Lang muttered to himself, wanting to take out his phone to call Yu Xiao and Yu Fei, but then he worried his call might distract them. So, he suppressed his anxiety and continued to wait by the entrance.
Shen Lang waited for a full fifteen minutes.
After fifteen minutes, Shen Lang still hadn't seen the Yu sisters. He could no longer hold back and walked towards the school gate.
"Hello, who are you looking for?"
Seeing Shen Lang approach the school gate, the elderly security guard immediately stepped forward and asked.
"I am Shen Lang. I'm looking for Yu Xiao and Yu Fei. They are both students in Class 1 of Grade 1."
Shen Lang looked at the security guard and said.
"Who are you to them?"
Hearing Shen Lang's words, the security guard didn't move, looking at him as if he were a bad person.
"My name is Shen Lang, and I'm their elder brother."
Shen Lang was feeling anxious, so his tone carried a hint of impatience.
"Elder brother?"
The security guard clearly caught Shen Lang's impatient tone and snorted, saying, "Their surname is Yu, and yours is Shen. How can you be their elder brother?"
"Kid, you're not some troublemaker, are you, deliberately causing problems?"
A deep sense of vigilance flashed in the security guard's eyes as he said.
"You... Uncle..."
Shen Lang was almost angered to death by the security guard.
Since he couldn't go in, Shen Lang had to make a phone call.
In his urgency, Shen Lang took out his phone and dialed Yu Xiao's number.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily out of service. Please try again later."
The call connected, and Yu Xiao's phone quickly gave a power-off prompt.
Shen Lang frowned, then tapped on Yu Fei's phone number and dialed.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily out of service. Please try again later."
Yu Fei's phone, just like Yu Xiao's, played the same message.
This made Shen Lang even more convinced that Yu Xiao and Yu Fei were in trouble. He then found the call record from their homeroom teacher, Zhao Min, in his phone's contact list and called her.
The call was quickly connected, and Zhao Min on the other end replied with annoyance, "Shen Lang, it's you. What do you want?"
Last time at Wangbei Teahouse, Zhao Min and her family were disgraced, which made Zhao Min very displeased with Shen Lang.
"Teacher Zhao, I'm here to pick up Yu Xiao and Yu Fei, but I haven't seen the sisters. Their phones are out of service. Do you know where they went?"
Shen Lang was anxious and ignored Zhao Min's displeased tone, asking politely.
Hearing Shen Lang, Zhao Min huffed with dissatisfaction, "They are my students, not my shadows. Where they go is their freedom, and I can't control it."
"Besides, you are not related to them. Although you listed your name as their guardian, you actually don't have the right to be their guardian. So, don't ask about them anymore."
"Beep beep..."
Shen Lang, hearing the busy signal on this end, his expression instantly turned as dark as water.
Zhao Min's attitude showed that she clearly knew where Yu Xiao and Yu Fei had gone but chose not to say.
Shen Lang didn't expect Zhao Min to be so unable to distinguish right from wrong and throw a tantrum at him at such a critical moment.
However, he didn't have the mood to argue with Zhao Min now and could only suppress his displeasure.
Finally, Shen Lang had no choice but to open WeChat and send Yu Xiao and Yu Fei's phone numbers to "Bing."
"Bing, you have three minutes. Send me the location of these two phone numbers."
Shen Lang and "Bing" had known each other for many years and had developed a tacit understanding, not needing to exchange unnecessary words.
In fact, Bing was never one to speak more than necessary, or rather, more than a single word.
"Received."
The second Shen Lang sent the WeChat message, "Bing" coldly replied with two words.
Yes, just two words, with punctuation provided by Shen Lang.
Bing was a person of few words, but every word she uttered was worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Shen Lang had given her three minutes, and Bing did not waste a second. Three minutes later, she sent the information Shen Lang needed.
From the information provided by "Bing," Shen Lang learned that although Yu Xiao and Yu Fei's phones were out of service, their phones' last known locations were near a KTV called "Heaven on Earth" in Nanling.
After that, the phones' locations disappeared, and that was all "Bing" could provide.
"Heaven on Earth?"
Shen Lang glanced at the address "Bing" had sent him, looking curious and disbelieving that Yu Xiao and Yu Fei would go to such a place.
However, no matter what, Shen Lang had to go and see.
Yu Xiao and Yu Fei were self-respecting individuals. Without any other reason, they would never go to such a place voluntarily. Shen Lang was very worried.
After getting back into the car, Shen Lang stepped on the accelerator, leaving Nanling First High School at the fastest possible speed.
In the car, Shen Lang took out his phone and dialed Gu Qinghan.
The call connected, and Shen Lang said, "Sister, do you know what kind of place Heaven on Earth is?"
"Heaven on Earth?"
Hearing Shen Lang, Gu Qinghan replied, "That is a place of power and promiscuity. Little brother, why are you suddenly asking about this?"
"Little brother, Heaven on Earth has a very complicated background. Don't act rashly."