Uncle Wang didn’t continue arguing with Luo Wenxiang. Instead, he pulled Aunt Wu toward the exit. When they reached the school gate, Aunt Wu was still worried. She turned back and called out to Lin Wanning, “Wanning, Uncle Wang and I will be right outside. If anything happens, just come out and call us.”
Lin Wanning subconsciously nodded.
Zhou Mingyuan was still somewhat displeased by this. He had originally thought that forcing a helpless young girl to submit would be easy. However, with adults interfering, things might not be so simple.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to deal with. It would merely take a little more time and money.
Once the door of the security room closed again, Zhou Mingyuan leisurely turned his attention to Lin Wanning.
His tone became deliberately gentle, but instead of mentioning the fire, he asked, “Student Lin, have you checked your college entrance examination results yet? You must have done very well, right?”
There wasn’t the slightest expression on Lin Wanning’s face. She merely asked numbly, “Where is my sister?”
A trace of awkwardness appeared on Zhou Mingyuan’s face as he replied, “We’ll have to wait for the police investigation before we can determine the exact…”
“Lin Wansu?!”
Several startled cries suddenly came from nearby.
He Man and the others had just come out of the lounge.
Because Lin Wanning and Lin Wansu looked almost identical, He Man and the others immediately mistook her for Lin Wansu. Although they knew Lin Wansu had a younger sister, they had never met her before. Their first thought was that Lin Wansu had somehow escaped from the fire.
The girls finally relaxed completely. He Man, in particular, immediately ran over and casually threw an arm around Lin Wanning’s shoulder.
Luo Wenxiang still hadn’t realized what they were talking about, but Zhou Mingyuan had already sensed that something was terribly wrong.
Before he could react, He Man blurted out, “The fire was so huge last night! How did you get out? I knew I saw the warehouse door open for no reason. So you really did escape!”
Li Li immediately chimed in, “Exactly! You got out but didn’t even send us a message. You only showed up now. Do you have any idea how scared we were?”
Even He Zhenbang and Xu Lan, who were following behind them, froze. They looked toward Zhou Mingyuan questioningly.
Zhou Mingyuan and Luo Wenxiang’s expressions turned ugly. They hurried forward and pulled He Man aside.
Sweat rolled down Luo Wenxiang’s forehead one drop at a time. Forcing a smile onto his plump face, he explained, “This is Lin Wansu’s younger sister, Lin Wanning. Haven’t you met her before? They’re twins, so they look identical.”
He Man and the others instantly froze in unbearable embarrassment. They wished they could dig a three-bedroom apartment into the ground with their toes and disappear into it.
“I…”
Li Li wanted to say something to ease the awkward atmosphere, but the moment she met Lin Wanning’s murderous gaze, every word died in her throat.
Lin Wanning clenched her teeth and asked slowly, emphasizing every word, “When the fire started, you were at the scene, and you knew my sister was inside the warehouse?”
He Zhenbang coughed.
He was utterly speechless at his daughter’s stupidity. He wasn’t the only one. Zhou Mingyuan and the others were also staring at He Man with dark expressions.
Originally, Lin Wanning hadn’t known anything. All they needed to do was tell her that Lin Wansu had entered the warehouse on her own and that a fire had accidentally broken out afterward. The two sides wouldn’t even have needed to meet.
Yet He Man had foolishly run straight up to Lin Wanning and exposed everything herself. Those few sentences from her and Li Li had practically revealed all the crucial information about what had happened.
Even He Zhenbang, an experienced businessman who had spent years navigating the business world, found the situation awkward.
“Student Lin, we deeply regret what happened to your sister, but this has nothing to do with anyone else…”
Zhou Mingyuan reacted quickly and grabbed her.
Lin Wanning struggled furiously as she shouted, “The college entrance examination is already over! Why would my sister come to the school’s warehouse alone? Did you trick her into coming here? When the warehouse caught fire, why didn’t you save her?”
Xu Lan stepped forward and tried to calm her. “Student, don’t get worked up yet. Nothing has been confirmed. Didn’t Xiaoman and the others say that the warehouse door was open at some point? Maybe your sister already escaped safely.”
At those words, Lin Wanning was still furious, but a faint glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in her eyes.
However, everyone knew that the chances of Lin Wansu still being alive were extremely slim.
If she were alive, why hadn’t she gone home immediately? Why hadn’t she even called to say she was safe?
Yet even if there was only a one-in-10,000 chance, Lin Wanning didn’t dare deny it.
‘What if?’
‘What if Sister really escaped? Maybe she was injured and lost consciousness. Or maybe her phone was damaged, so she couldn’t contact me.’
Lin Wanning stared intensely at Xu Lan. “Are you sure the warehouse door was open?”
Xu Lan nodded, her voice filled with certainty. “Xiaoman and the others said the same thing just now. When they reached the area near the school last night, the warehouse door was already open. So your sister might not have been inside. Perhaps someone had already rescued her.”
Hearing her mother’s words, He Man quickly realized what she should say.
“Yes, I saw the door open!”
After speaking, she seemed afraid that Lin Wanning wouldn’t believe her, so she hurriedly added, “I also thought I heard someone shouting Lin Wansu’s name at the time. Someone probably went inside to rescue her.”
Li Li immediately supported her story. “He Man only looked from a distance. She was worried about Lin Wansu too, which was why she went over to check.”
“Worried about my sister?” Lin Wanning turned toward Li Li. “If you were worried about her, why did you lock her inside the warehouse?”
Li Li wanted to deny that they had done it, but when she opened her mouth, not a single word came out.
If they hadn’t done it, how could they possibly have known that Lin Wansu was inside the warehouse?
Standing behind them, Zhang Xiaoyu felt her heart, which had finally calmed down, begin pounding violently again.
She had originally believed that Lin Wansu was already dead. As long as everyone firmly denied what had happened, and with He Zhenbang backing them, the matter would eventually be suppressed once enough time passed.
Then she remembered the voice she had heard outside the warehouse the previous night.
Goosebumps instantly covered her body.
‘Could Lin Wansu really still be alive?’
The moment that thought appeared, cold sweat broke out across her back.
If Lin Wansu truly was alive, everything they had done last night would be exposed.
Of course, He Zhenbang and the others didn’t see it that way. If Lin Wansu were still alive, the matter would be far easier to resolve than if she were dead. The police might not even need to become involved.
Suddenly, the piercing sound of police sirens interrupted the argument.
Li Jian and Liu Hong were both speechless. Nearly an hour had passed since they called the police, yet the officers were only arriving now. The reason for the delay was obvious.
Two police cars stopped outside the gate. Their doors opened, and several uniformed police officers quickly stepped out. The man leading them appeared to be in his forties. He wasn’t particularly tall and had a somewhat square face.
After entering, the square-faced man first glanced toward the Old Warehouse, which had been burned almost beyond recognition, before turning toward Zhou Mingyuan. “Principal Zhou, what’s the situation?”
Zhou Mingyuan immediately walked over. His expression looked even more troubled than before as he said, “Captain Li, sorry to trouble you with this trip. The fire department should already have informed you about the general situation. The Old Warehouse behind the school caught fire early this morning. The firefighters have already conducted a preliminary examination of the scene. The problem now is that one student may have gone to the warehouse last night, and we still haven’t found her.”
Captain Li frowned. “What’s her name?”
“Lin Wansu. She graduated from Grade 12 this year.”
Captain Li took out a notebook and wrote it down. Afterward, his gaze fell on He Zhenbang nearby.
He Zhenbang took the initiative to walk over and extend his hand. “Captain Li.”
When Captain Li saw him, his expression visibly softened. He reached out and shook He Zhenbang’s hand. “CEO He, what brings you here?”
“My daughter attended this school. I heard something happened, so I came over to see what was going on. I didn’t expect that the moment I arrived, certain people would accuse us of being involved in the fire.”
He Zhenbang spoke calmly, but there was a hint of helplessness in his voice.
Standing beside him, Xu Lan sighed at just the right moment. “Captain Li, these children only recently graduated. Who knows how badly they were frightened last night? They sent their teacher several incoherent voice messages, and then their teacher started questioning and interrogating them in front of everyone. As their parents, we can’t simply stand by and watch our children be falsely accused.”
Captain Li glanced at He Man and the others.
He Man’s eyes were still red as she stood beside Xu Lan, looking as though she had suffered a tremendous grievance. The others kept their heads lowered, their complexions pale.
Captain Li closed his notebook and softened his tone. “Don’t rush to conclusions. The exact cause of the fire hasn’t been determined yet. The fire department said it may have been caused by aging electrical wiring, and they haven’t confirmed whether there were any casualties at the scene. No one should jump to conclusions.”
Hearing this, Liu Hong couldn’t hold herself back and stepped forward. “Officer, we’re not jumping to conclusions. I’m Zhang Xiaoyu’s homeroom teacher. Early this morning, she personally sent me a voice message saying that Lin Wansu had been locked inside the warehouse by them, and only afterward did the warehouse catch fire. I still have that voice message.”
Captain Li looked toward Zhang Xiaoyu. “Did that happen?”
Zhang Xiaoyu trembled all over and instinctively looked toward He Man.
He Man said nothing. She merely stood there stiffly.
However, Xu Lan had already spoken first. “Captain Li, this child was frightened last night. She already said herself that she had a nightmare, so you can’t take what she said in that voice message seriously. There are so many people spreading false rumors online nowadays, let alone a child whose mental state was unstable at the time.”
Lin Wanning watched them.
They behaved like old friends who had known one another for years, casually exchanging a few words as though chatting about everyday matters while trying to decide the entire incident among themselves.
She couldn’t endure it any longer.
Lin Wanning took a deep breath and walked up to Captain Li, forcing her voice to remain calm. “Captain Li, I’m Lin Wansu’s younger sister. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
Captain Li turned toward her, a hint of scrutiny in his gaze. “Go ahead.”
“When He Man and her classmates came out of the lounge just now, they mistook me for my sister. They thought I was Lin Wansu and that I had escaped from the fire last night.”
Lin Wanning’s voice remained clear as she repeated exactly what He Man and Li Li had said earlier. “He Man personally admitted that she knew my sister was inside the warehouse last night, and she also admitted that she was at the scene. Everyone here heard her say it.”
The scene fell silent for several seconds.
Captain Li’s brows furrowed slightly as he looked toward He Zhenbang.
Lin Wanning continued, “Captain Li, I’d like to know why they were at the school’s warehouse in the middle of the night. And how did they know my sister was inside the fire?”
He Man had no idea how to refute her.
She stood frozen in place, visibly panicked. Her lips moved slightly, but she couldn’t utter a single word.