I'm being held captive by a monster

Chapter 188 So what’s the conclusion?

"Well, thank you beautiful."

Xu Zhe said after taking out cash to pay.

The guy holding the cup paused, gave an awkward and polite smile, and seemed to not know how to answer for a moment.

"I'm talking about it."

Xu Zhe raised his chin to the fat orange cat in the cat bed behind the counter.

"Haha, but Big Orange is also a little male cat, a little male cat."

"Meow!"

The orange cat seemed to have been touched in a sore spot. It cried out, turned its back, and pointed its tail at the two of them.

"Hmm, he's really fat. He looks like he must be about 30 kilograms, right?"

"Almost. It just lies there and sleeps every day without moving at all."

The young man patted the cat's butt and said, "But it's very stable."

He smiled.

Xu Zhe also nodded, without saying anything more, walked to sit down opposite Liu Xu.

"Boss, he's just a confused person. I've verified it, guaranteed."

“I chose this coffee shop mainly because of the previous owner and the location.”

Seeing that Xu Zhe was suspicious of the young man behind the scenes, Liu Xu also whispered.

"Boss, let me tell you from the beginning."

"Well, let's start from the beginning."

Xu Zhe seemed not to have heard what Liu Xu had just said and was still staring at the young man.

"Boss, this happened over a decade ago, so there's very little to go on. But thanks to your wise reminders and guidance, I was able to find some of the clues that still remained."

"You fucking..."

Liu Xu's sudden flattery left Xu Zhe speechless.

"Boss, I went to Xingfu Garden Community first based on the clues in Tian Ming's book."

Seeing a hint of impatience on Xu Zhe's face, Liu Xu immediately got to the point.

"Because I've been interning with Tian Ming for a long time... I know his habits."

"He generally doesn't like to remember place names, so the place names he can remember must be very important."

"So I think this neighborhood is where the six-year-old human-animal lived, even though he disappeared."

"I communicated with the property management and wanted to find the information of residents from more than ten years ago."

Liu Xu handed the notes he had compiled to Xu Zhe.

"But there's no surprise. The information about residents from more than a decade ago is gone."

"The property management said that the system was upgraded two years ago and they didn't keep records that far back, so the records in the book weren't saved either."

"This is the current resident information. I've sorted out the families that have children around 18 years old now. Twelve years ago, they were around 6 or 7 years old."

He pointed to the information of more than thirty children in the notebook.

Xu Zhe also nodded.

"Then I screened them again, and found that more than half of the 30 or so families had moved here in the past decade."

“There are only exactly ten families who have always lived in this community.”

"I visited and asked everyone, and found that one thing these children had in common was that they were classmates in the same kindergarten."

"They all know each other, although they are not familiar with each other now."

Liu Xu took out another photo.

It is Sunshine Kindergarten.

“This is the only kindergarten around this community.”

"So what? What's the conclusion?"

Xu Zhe raised his eyes and asked.

"Boss, think about it, twelve years ago, that six-year-old child must have been in kindergarten, right?"

"So I went to investigate the kindergarten again, and guess what I found?"

"I discovered that there was a person in the kindergarten's teaching team, Song Xinju. The children in the kindergarten all called her Teacher Orange."

Liu Xu took out Teacher Juzi's photo.

Seeing her, Xu Zhe raised his eyebrows.

This human-animal was one of the humans and animals that came to North City from South City two months ago.

Ability unknown, strength at least Class C.

"Boss, this Orange teacher is not simple."

Seeing that Xu Zhe was interested, Liu Ye cleared his throat and continued speaking.

"She worked as a kindergarten teacher at Sunshine Kindergarten for over ten years and left two years ago."

"Two years ago? This time again..."

Xu Zhe narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Yes, Boss. Two years ago, the property management also said that the system was updated two years ago. This kindergarten also updated various information two years ago."

"All the previous information is gone, including all the information about Teacher Orange."

"The teachers and security guards at the kindergarten have all been replaced. Only a few people know this Orange teacher, but their description is very vague and I don't have a deep impression of her."

Liu Xu also nodded and said.

"Then how did you know her?"

Xu Zhe asked.

"I asked those ten children, six of whom were in Ms. Orange's class. One of them found me a photo of their kindergarten graduation."

"In that photo, I saw Teacher Orange and the same one you showed me when you came to the North City."

"I can only understand Teacher Orange through the oral accounts of these children."

"Uh... these kids are all confused, and this is the graduation photo."

Xu Zhe took out his old cell phone and found a photo.

"Boss, there's an unexpected bonus in this photo. Can you spot it?"

"Are you testing me?"

Xu Zhe snorted coldly.

Liu Xu quickly laughed awkwardly and pointed at a girl in the second row.

"I can't see clearly, who is this?"

Xu Zhe narrowed his eyes and waved his hand.

The pixels of this crappy old phone are really too poor, and the photo itself is quite old, the face is just a few pixels.

Xu Zhe only had better hearing, he couldn't see clearly at all.

"Liu Xiaole."

"Liu Xiaole?"

This name made Xu Zhe stunned.

Liu Xuze took out another photo from his arms.

"He was one of the people who came to North City from South City with Teacher Orange two months ago."

"The ability is C-level [Ghost], and the strength is also C-level, C-level."

He handed Liu Xiaole's photo to Xu Zhe.

"Oh? That's quite interesting..."

Xu Zhe looked at the photo of Teacher Juzi and Liu Xiaole and rubbed the ring on his finger.

"In one class, there are two beasts, and they are awakened ones. This probability is very strange..."

"Uh... Boss, it's not that coincidental. That Xingfu Garden community is in the school district, and many gluttons who keep humans and animals live there, so it was natural to send the child there."

Liu Xu took a sip of coffee.

"Boss, there's something even more interesting. This Liu Xiaole, she is..."

"Hello! Your caramel latte, cookies, and cupcakes!"

The guy in the apron came over with a plate.

Seeing the book and photos on the table, he was stunned and didn't know where to put the food and drinks for a moment.

"Put it away."

Xu Zhe gave Liu Xu a look.

Liu Xu also quickly organized the photos and other things.

"If you want to eat anything, you can scan the QR code to order, or call me."

"And there's a power bank in front." The guy pointed to the counter.

Xu Zhe also nodded, picked up the coffee and took a sip.

So sweet.

He stirred it and motioned Liu Xu to continue.

"Boss, what's even more interesting is that Liu Xiaole awakened when he was six years old, twelve years ago."

"Oh? Six years old?"

Xu Zhe looked at Liu Xiaole's photo again.

"A six-year-old human animal is like a lamb to be slaughtered, with no ability to resist or hide."

"She's able to survive, thanks to this Orange teacher..."

He snorted coldly.

From this perspective, this Orange teacher who is currently in North City is very important...

"Of course, including the six-year-old child mentioned in Tian Ming's notes, they definitely wouldn't be able to survive on their own."

"Is he also in this class?"

Xu Zhe was stunned for a moment and looked at the photo on his old phone that was almost just a block of pixels.

“…Is there anyone missing from this photo?”

He squinted his eyes and scanned each person one by one.

Normally, when humans, animals, or gluttons "disappear" after being eaten, their photo traces will disappear, but a "gap" will be left.

It’s just that this “gap” will be automatically ignored by confused people and confused ghosts.

"No, I saw no one missing from the base photo, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that the six-year-old is from this class."

"Because this kindergarten graduation photo was taken on June 22nd, you sent Brother Tian here around May 10th."

"Then the Mother will descend upon South City on May 24th."

"So it's very likely that this child... at any rate, didn't make it to kindergarten graduation on the 24th."

Liu Xu observed Xu Zhe's expression and said.

Because according to his investigation and all the "hard evidence", this six-year-old child...should be dead...

"Boss, let's talk about Liu Xiaole again."

"I started my investigation following Liu Xiaole. I wanted to find Liu Xiaole's owner and learn about what happened before and after Liu Xiaole's awakening."

"Because according to our experience, if a human or animal under the age of seven awakens, it is likely because they have witnessed their owner or another glutton reveal their true form."

"Anyway, her owner must be a glutton. He should have some impression of Liu Xiaole's kindergarten classmate who was also a human-animal."

Seeing that Xu Zhe's expression didn't change, Liu Xu cleared his throat and continued speaking.

"And normally, if a pet goes missing, the owner would report it immediately, right?"

"But I reported your name and checked with my colleagues in South City, but I couldn't find any record of you filing a report."

"Twelve years ago, no one reported their six-year-old human-animal awakening missing."

Liu Xu's words made Xu Zhe frown.

"My colleague from Nancheng...has his information been updated? Are all the previous records gone?"

"No, no, no, I have everything. The records are all well kept. I just can't find it. There's nothing from the past few years."

"……go on."

Xu Zhe was silent for a moment.

Then he dipped the biscuit in the coffee and nodded.

"The line was about to be cut off, but I wanted to try my luck and returned to Xingfu Garden Community."

"I didn't expect that a child would still remember Liu Xiaole, his playmate from kindergarten."

"He was very enthusiastic about reminiscing about his childhood and even took me back home to find photos of his childhood."

“Among them, I found this photo.”

Liu Xu found another photo from his old phone.

That was a photo of four children sitting on a picnic mat.

"Liu Xiaole..."

Although it was still an old phone this time, Xu Zhe recognized the left side of the picnic mat at a glance. He didn't look at the camera, but at Liu Xiaole next to him.

It’s not that Liu Xiaole hasn’t changed much since he was a child.

It's mainly because of her... arrogant feeling...

It really can't be ignored...

"This is Liu Xiaole, this is Gu Xingxin, this is Gu Yihang, and this is Jin Yunxiang."

"This Jin Yunxiang is the enthusiastic young man who showed me this photo. He and Gu Yihang are both fools."

Liu Xu introduced the children in the photo from left to right.

Xu Zhe frowned again.

"...Is there someone missing between Liu Xiaole and this girl?"

He said with his head tilted and eyes narrowed.

"Boss, you have a keen eye! You saw it right away! You're amazing!"

Liu Xu immediately gave a thumbs up.

"Boss, look at Liu Xiaole. She's not looking at the camera. She's obviously looking at the person to her right."

"And this Gu Xingxin, she's obviously pulling other people along."

"So there must be a fifth person in this photo, but he disappeared."

"And this person is the six-year-old child in Tian Ming's notes."

Liu Xu said this with almost certainty.

But Xu Zhe looked at Gu Xingxin with a hint of suspicion on his face.

"Gu Xingxin is also a confused person. Her mother died unexpectedly, and she came to North City with her father when she was a child."

"Nothing special."

Seeing Xu Zhe's eyes, Liu Xu also hurriedly spoke.

"Gu Xingxin, Gu Xingxin..."

Xu Zhe narrowed his eyes slightly and read the name.

Why does it feel like... he seems to have heard this name somewhere before?
"Gu Xingxin, are you sure she's a fool? Did you check after she moved to North City?"

"Uh……"

"Check it out for me when you get back to North City."

"it is good."

Liu Xu nodded.

I smiled bitterly in my heart.

What's there to investigate about a confused person...

"That is to say, this Liu Xiaole, the kindergarten teacher Orange, and the six-year-old child in Tian Mingben's class are acquainted."

Xu Zhe picked up his phone again and took another deep look at the photo on it. "What a small world..."

He took another sip of coffee, ate the cake, and sighed softly.

"Indeed, Boss, these two people and animals are now in North City."

"Once Taoyuan dies, those people and animals will definitely be in chaos. When the time comes, we can capture these two people and definitely get something out of them."

With Xu Zhe's tacit consent, Liu Xu also picked up a biscuit and started eating.

"So, Liu Xu, you've done so much research, what's your conclusion?"

After Liu Xu finished eating, Xu Zhe nodded, tapped his legs, looked at him and asked.

"Uh……"

"I asked you to come to South City. What are you investigating?"

“…Lin Xing’an.”

"I suspect Lin Xing'an is the six-year-old human beast mentioned by Tian Mingben. I asked you to investigate whether there is any connection between the two people. Now that you have said so many things, what is your conclusion?"

The ring between Xu Zhe's fingers made a crisp clinking sound.

Liu Xu's face also turned a little pale.

"Also, what do you want me to do in this coffee shop?"

Without waiting for Liu Xu to speak, Xu Zhe moved his ears and asked again.

His eyes turned to the photo wall beside him.

(End of this chapter)