Chapter 53: The Vanishing Criminal

"Who exactly are you?"Just as Xiao He asked this question, the door diagonally across suddenly opened.

Their production crew's producer, Ma Qianyou, emerged from inside.

When the middle-aged man in his bathrobe, still bleary-eyed with sleep, spotted the masked man holding a knife in the corridor and Xiao He standing guard at his doorway with a vigilant expression, he froze for a moment before letting out a scream more piercing than a woman's shriek—

"Holy shit! Aaaaah—Murder—!"

This earth-shattering scream made the entire corridor seem to vibrate, but unfortunately the hotel's soundproofing swallowed his cries. The other rooms remained quiet as mice, with no one coming out to respond, and no hotel staff appeared. The corridor still contained only Xiao He, the masked man, and Ma Qianyou staring wide-eyed at each other, creating an extremely awkward atmosphere in the air.

The man clearly didn't want to attract others' attention. He gave Xiao He a deep look, clutched his chest, then turned and ran toward the other end of the corridor.

"Stop right there!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao He immediately gave chase, while Ma Qianyou felt half his heart turn cold as he shouted from behind: "Don't chase him, don't chase! Protect yourself first! Watch out for his knife! I'm calling the police right now!"

Just as Xiao He rounded a corner in the corridor, the person who had been right in front of him moments earlier vanished into thin air.

Xiao He stopped in his tracks.

How was this possible...

His gaze swept over the elevator he'd just passed, noting no movement—it probably hadn't been used since Sister Liu went up, and currently remained stationary on the ninth floor where Sister Liu was staying.

"Huff huff huff—"

Ma Qianyou also rushed over anxiously, gasping for breath while checking Xiao He's condition from head to toe: "Are you alright?"

This was the sixth actor their production crew had replaced! If something happened again, Ma Qianyou would genuinely want to find a temple to pray at.

Naturally unaware of Ma Qianyou's complex internal monologue, Xiao He rubbed his slightly aching knuckles and shook his head at Ma Qianyou: "I'm fine, nothing serious. Did you call the police?"

"They'll be here soon."

"Good."

So Xiao He remained stationed in the corridor, intently observing the several rooms on both sides while waiting for the police to arrive.

Meanwhile, Ma Qianyou made calls to contact the hotel's relevant responsible persons.

The first to arrive were the hotel manager and Xiao He's agent, Liu Rulan.

Liu Rulan never expected such a severe incident would occur during her brief absence, immediately pulling Xiao He aside to examine him thoroughly.

After listening to Ma Qianyou's explanation of the situation, the manager turned pale and could only repeatedly apologize to Xiao He while inquiring about his injuries.

"Where are your surveillance cameras? Where did that person actually go? Is he still inside the hotel? You need to give me proper answers for all of this!" Liu Rulan said coldly.

The manager suddenly remembered something, his face turning even whiter as he stammered: "S-sorry, Manager Ma, Manager Liu, our hotel's surveillance system suddenly developed some problems today. The relevant technical staff are urgently repairing it, so w-we probably... can't provide surveillance footage?"

"What?"

Ma Qianyou raised his voice: "You're saying there's none, just like that? What are the odds? You're not in cahoots with that anti-fan, are you?"

Due to today's online public opinion surrounding Xiao He, everyone currently believed some extreme fan had come to attack him, and Xiao He didn't refute this misunderstanding.

Everyone's expressions turned quite grim.

This indicated the incident wasn't accidental—someone had carefully planned everything...

Soon enough, the police arrived at the scene, once again Officer Zhang and Officer Li.

After hearing the situation, Officer Zhang first inquired about the suspect's appearance and general characteristics.

"Hmm, the person was approximately 1.78 meters tall, slender build, wearing a black hat and mask, with a very long scar on his hand..."

Xiao He provided detailed descriptions of the basic characteristics, then pointed toward the corridor beside them: "At that time I chased him right to this area, but he disappeared around the corner. There were no signs of elevator or stairway usage, so I suspect he hid in one of the rooms."

Officer Zhang and Officer Li both grew serious simultaneously: "Can you confirm this?"

If the perpetrator had entered a room, then guests in that room might still be in danger!

Xiao He: "I didn't see it with my own eyes, and I have no evidence to support this, but based on the circumstances at the time, that's basically what must have happened."

"Where are your surveillance cameras?"

Officer Zhang asked the hotel manager beside them.

The hotel manager said with a pained expression: "Officer, our surveillance just happened to break! But it really wasn't intentional—this happened just an hour ago. I suspect that guy might have tampered with it. Our hotel's surveillance system undergoes regular inspections and has never had problems before."

"Are all rooms on this floor occupied?"

"Y-yes! This area mainly houses the 'Clear Light Like Dawn' production crew members."

"We need to immediately conduct safety checks on every room on this floor," Officer Zhang said promptly, then looked at Xiao He, "and we'd like to ask Student Xiao to accompany us throughout to help identify the suspect."

"Alright," Xiao He nodded.

So very quickly, the police began leading people to knock on doors one by one.

Based on the suspect's escape speed and timing, these two rooms would be the easiest to hide in.

Officer Zhang knocked for a while before someone finally opened the door.

Surprisingly, the person inside turned out to be Ran Yunrui!

Oh right, the hotel manager had mentioned this area housed the idol drama 'Clear Light Like Dawn' crew. If he remembered correctly, Ran Yunrui indeed played the male lead in this series.

Xiao He still vividly remembered his stream of profanity.

"Fucking hell, do you know what time it is? What the fuck are you knocking for?" Ran Yunrui appeared bleary-eyed and irritable, but when he saw several police officers and a crowd before him, his expression shifted to wariness and confusion, "What are you all doing here?"

"Hello, we're police officers from Haibin District Police Station. Here's my identification."

Officer Zhang displayed his credentials while keenly observing the interior: "Are you alone in the room right now?"

"Would you mind if we came in to check?"

"This violates personal privacy... Even if you're police, you can't just..."

Ran Yunrui grumbled complaints, but ultimately didn't dare confront the police directly, stepping aside to let Officer Zhang enter for inspection.

The hotel manager offered apologetic smiles while explaining the situation clearly to Ran Yunrui.

Ran Yunrui's eyes widened: "Holy shit! There's something like this happening?"

"Are you sure that guy hasn't escaped yet? Then hurry up and find him, send more people to search! This is absolutely terrifying—our lives could be threatened at any moment!"

The previously indifferent Ran Yunrui instantly began urging them on enthusiastically, his attitude completely different from his earlier nonchalance.

He even started angrily chastising the hotel manager: "This is just too ridiculous! If you weren't the best hotel in the area, I wouldn't even want to stay here! What if something like this happens again? I have way more obsessive stalker fans than these nobody celebrities—how will you protect my safety in the future?"

The hotel manager broke out in a sweat, and could only keep bowing and apologizing.

Couldn't he just speak without throwing shade?

Who was he calling a nobody celebrity anyway?