"Uh... no, how could that be..." the tall male student stammered defensively.

That's what he said.

But his hesitant manner and suddenly flushed cheeks completely betrayed him.

"If you like her, just confess boldly! She doesn't have a boyfriend anyway!"

"Exactly! Secret crushes never lead anywhere! Strike early, enjoy early!"

Everyone teased him.

The tall male student's face turned even redder.

Giving up on explanations, he sat on a nearby chair, waiting for Wang Ju's reply on his phone.

But by the time their takeout arrived and they'd finished eating, already discussing afternoon and evening entertainment plans...

Wang Ju still hadn't responded.

Now the tall male student couldn't sit still anymore, and the others also lost their earlier relaxed mood.

In this day and age, everyone's glued to their phones.

Few people go hours without checking their phones unless they're genuinely busy or deliberately ignoring you.

Genuinely busy? Impossible - they were all college students with plenty of free time.

As for deliberately ignoring - even if Wang Ju wanted to ignore the tall male student, would she ignore everyone else?

They'd all sent messages, yet no one got a reply.

"I'm going back to campus to look for her."

The tall male student stood up to leave.

At this point, Xiao Peng's girlfriend Xiao Hua also stood up: "Wait, I'll go with you. I'm her roommate, and you can't enter the girls' dorm alone anyway."

So the two left Xiao Nuo's apartment together.

Wang Ju's sudden disappearance somewhat dampened the remaining group's cheerful mood.

Of course, they still weren't overly worried about Wang Ju.

Just figured she must be busy with something, not even checking messages.

But half an hour later, when they received a call from the tall male student and Xiao Hua who had returned to campus to check...

All traces of laughter vanished.

Their nerves instantly tensed up.

[What? You say Xiao Ju didn't return to campus?]

[Right, I went to the dorm and asked other roommates - none of them saw Xiao Ju return!]

[If she's not at the dorm, where could she be? Her hometown is in another province, and she doesn't have other friends or relatives here.]

At this point, the tall male student grabbed the phone from Xiao Hua.

[Wang Ju must be in trouble! You guys go to the first floor - yesterday I saw the apartment manager there. Check the surveillance to see if she left yesterday! Find out where she went!!!!]

Xiao Peng took this call.

Having put it on speaker, after hanging up he immediately gathered everyone to go downstairs to find manager Xiao Zhang and check the surveillance footage.

Xiao Nuo, Xiao Peng and the others took the elevator from the ninth floor down to the third.

At the third floor, someone entered.

None other than Jiang Ran.

Having just finished his morning shift as online store customer service, Jiang Ran was heading out to buy drinks to refresh himself.

When the elevator doors opened, he saw those college students from last night.

He entered the elevator.

Leaning against a corner, his gaze unintentionally swept across their faces.

Noticing that while these students had been cheerful last night, now they looked anxious and troubled, as if something weighed on them.

Unlike others who might ignore it indifferently, Jiang Ran asked: "What's wrong? You all look tense - did something happen?"

Xiao Nuo started to answer but was pulled back by Xiao Peng.

Xiao Peng forced a smile.

"Nothing."

"Definitely something," Jiang Ran thought, but since they didn't want to talk, he wouldn't force his curiosity.

The elevator soon reached the first floor.

Everyone exited, Jiang Ran watching as the students hurried anxiously toward manager Xiao Zhang's office.

Coincidentally, Xiao Zhang emerged from a room just then to take out trash.

Poor Xiao Zhang hadn't even disposed of the trash before being herded by the students into the surveillance room.

Inside the surveillance room:

"You're saying a friend is missing, so you want to check the footage?"

Manager Xiao Zhang looked puzzled as he began pulling up the recordings.

"Where to check? We have cameras at the apartment entrance - can see which direction your friend went after leaving."

"Okay, show us the entrance then."

Clearly Xiao Peng was the group's leader.

"What time?"

"From around 11pm last night!"

"Alright."

Xiao Zhang seemed inexperienced with surveillance systems, operating somewhat clumsily.

But within five minutes, last night's entrance footage appeared.

First visible was the security booth and electronic gate.

"Fast forward," Xiao Peng said.

Manager Xiao Zhang nodded.

Alice Apartment's high-end cameras had night vision.

So despite being nighttime, everything was clearly visible.

At 8x speed,

Xiao Peng and the others stared unblinking at the screen.

They saw occasional security patrols, passersby outside, or cars.

But Wang Ju's figure - nowhere to be seen.

"The footage has reached current time - seems your friend never left the apartment?"

After reviewing, manager Xiao Zhang turned to say.

"This... how?!"

Now the students exchanged looks as if seeing ghosts.

They'd assumed Wang Ju left the apartment but didn't return to campus, so wanted to trace her steps after exiting.

Yet after all that footage - no sign of Wang Ju?

"How many exits does this apartment have?"

"Just one."

"Then where is she? If she didn't leave, where'd she go?"

"Should I pull up your hallway footage? If she didn't exit, the cameras would've caught her in the building."

"Fine."

"Your room number?"

"904."

"Start time?"

"Same, 11pm last night."

Manager Xiao Zhang began retrieving the footage again.

After starting the playback, he took his trash out.

Leaving Xiao Peng's group watching the monitors.

After disposing the trash, Xiao Zhang smoked a few cigarettes in the apartment's smoking area before returning.

Soon after returning, he noticed the surveillance room's atmosphere had grown even more oppressive than before.

"What's wrong?"

Manager Xiao Zhang asked, confused.

Xiao Peng looked up with a ghostly expression: "We watched at 64x speed."

"Up to current time - from 11pm last night, no one left 904."

As he spoke, Xiao Peng's face turned deathly pale.

The others looked similarly affected.

Their complexions like corpses with white makeup.