She stiffened her neck and looked back. Recognizing the figure, her heart sank abruptly.

It was a tall man with a well-proportioned build, broad shoulders, a slim waist, and an elegant demeanor, dressed in a suit. Not far from him stood a pregnant woman.

Zhuang Zi didn’t expect to see him here.

She held her breath, hurriedly swiped her card, and entered the room. Only then did her heart, which had been in her throat, slowly settle back down.

Leaning against the door, she squinted her eyes. What was his name again?

There are some people whose faces you can remember, but their names slip your mind.

Zhuang Zi usually had a good memory, but she rarely revisited the past. Probably because there was nothing worth reminiscing about, she didn’t want to chew over the bitterness again, so she tried to forget what she could.

On the phone, Jiang Zhihao was still talking, finally pulling her thoughts back.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Just opening the door.” Zhuang Zi walked into the room and asked, “Why couldn’t I reach you on the phone?”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhihao chuckled, “When did you call me?”

Zhuang Zi’s expression changed.

She stood there silently for a moment, trying to determine if he was lying or being deliberate.

“Didn’t I call you several times yesterday?” she probed, worried that he might already know the police suspected her and was deliberately dodging her. “How could you have missed it?”

“Really, I didn’t!” Jiang Zhihao emphasized, “If you don’t believe me, I can screenshot my call history for you.”

Zhuang Zi slowly walked to the bed and sat down, pondering what was going on, momentarily forgetting to speak.

Jiang Zhihao waited for a while and then asked, “When did you call me, and what was it about?”

Zhuang Zi frowned and countered, “When are you coming back to the country?”

“Wednesday, I think,” Jiang Zhihao replied. “What’s the matter?”

Zhuang Zi frowned even deeper, paused, and then said lightly, “We’ll talk when you get back.”

After hanging up, Zhuang Zi wanted to tell Xie Kui about the situation.

Every time she called Jiang Zhihao, the call went through, but he didn’t pick up. How could he have missed it?

The lie was too obvious.

What was he up to now?

Mocking her? Provoking her?

After dialing Xie Kui’s number, there was a long beep followed by a standard female voice indicating the call was unanswered.

Zhuang Zi frowned in confusion and dialed again.

Logically, as a police officer, his phone should always be with him. Even if he was on another call, it should not go unanswered.

But the second call also went unanswered.

Sitting by the bed, Zhuang Zi lightly rubbed the edge of her phone, feeling that something was very wrong.

Could there be an issue with her phone?

She suddenly remembered a case she read about in the library today, where the perpetrator hacked the victim’s phone to access all their personal information and track their movements…

At that moment, her phone chimed, breaking the silence in the room and startling her. She stared blankly for two seconds before reacting.

She hastily grabbed her phone. It was a screenshot of call logs sent by Jiang Zhihao.

She looked through the logs one by one. From yesterday to today, there were a dozen calls, including one to his parents this morning. However, her number was conspicuously absent.

Could he have deliberately deleted the records to fool her? But would he go to such lengths?

She pondered for a moment and suddenly realized an important clue—others could call her, but she couldn’t make outgoing calls!

To confirm this, she immediately dialed Xiao Zhang.

After the final ring, the standard female voice informed her that the call could not be completed at this time.

She then called her colleague, Pei Zheng, holding her breath.

One ring.

Two rings.

…

…

Her heart sank. She slowly put down the phone, her whole body covered in goosebumps.

There was definitely something wrong with her phone; otherwise, she wouldn’t be unable to make calls without any reason.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down, tossed the phone on the bed, and strode out of the room.

Now, she had to find Xiao Zhang at the Cantonese restaurant across the street immediately.

If her phone was indeed hacked, the hacker would know all her movements. She couldn’t keep the phone with her.

As long as she reported this to the police, they might be able to track down the culprit through this lead.

Downstairs, she exited the elevator and encountered a group of tourists swarming into the lobby. She pushed through the crowd anxiously and hurried outside.

Zhuang Zi jogged to the intersection, standing with a few strangers at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change.

After a moment, the light on the other side began its countdown. Just then, a low, hoarse male voice called out behind her.

The voice was so low it seemed to be right next to her ear, only loud enough for her to hear.

He said, “Miss, you dropped something.”

The light turned green, and the pedestrians in front of and beside her stepped onto the crosswalk.

Zhuang Zi wasn’t sure if the person was talking to her, but she reflexively stopped and glanced down. There was nothing on the ground.

Feeling uneasy, she started to turn around, but before she could, she felt a sudden weight on her shoulder and a sharp, cold pain on her neck.

“Don’t make a sound!”

Zhuang Zi froze, staring ahead in terror, her pupils dilating.

The thin blade gleamed menacingly in the night. The sharp edge was pressed right against the two fingers’ width beside her throat, where the carotid artery was. If the gloved hand holding the blade applied just a bit more pressure, she would bleed out in minutes.

He whispered threateningly in her ear, “Move, and I’ll kill you!”

Zhuang Zi’s face turned pale, her body trembling slightly. She stood there, petrified, her mind blank.

The pedestrians across the street were only a few meters away, but Zhuang Zi felt an insurmountable barrier between them. She stood at the edge, trapped in an unpredictable and dangerous world.

She glanced at the Cantonese restaurant across the street, desperately praying that Xiao Zhang would come out at this moment.

But things rarely go as one wishes.

Just after watching her enter the hotel, Xiao Zhang felt relieved and went to eat. He was sure that if she had any emergency, she would call him and wouldn’t have thought she would come back looking for him.

She felt an unprecedented sense of helplessness, as if she had already foreseen that she would die tonight.

A wave of sadness washed over her, but miraculously, her mind cleared for a moment, and all her rationality returned.

She realized that although this person was using this method to intimidate and threaten her, he wouldn’t actually attack her here, because the police station was just across the street.

If he acted here, he wouldn’t be able to escape either.