Chapter 101: The Vanishing Trash Can

Lin Huang sorted through his thoughts. After all the investigation so far, the only clue left was a single missing trash bin.

"The third trash bin must have disappeared along with Lin Xin. Find that bin, and we should be able to find Lin Xin."

Having reached this conclusion, Lin Huang had one of the security personnel nearby contact the head of security, Chen Wei, once again.

"Mr. Lin, we just found the room number of the girl with twin ponytails—it's room 321 on the 9th floor. I've already notified the girl's father and asked them to wait in the room. We can head over now," Chen Wei reported as soon as his communicator connected.

"Hold off on the girl for a moment. I've just found another lead. A shopkeeper auntie nearby said that around 5:40 this afternoon, there should have been three trash bins in this area, but by the time we arrived, only two were left. The timing of the trash bin's disappearance coincides exactly with my sister's disappearance. So we need to find out who took that missing bin. I suspect the person who took it is the same person who took my sister." Lin Huang shared the new lead. "I'm heading over to your side now. I want to review the surveillance footage from around 5:40 until now."

"Alright, come on over. I'll leave my two colleagues at the scene to check the surrounding area for any other clues," Chen Wei nodded.

Ending the call, Lin Huang headed straight for the ship's surveillance room.

In the surveillance room, Chen Wei had already pulled up the footage from that period. When Lin Huang arrived, Chen Wei played the entire recording for him.

The video started from the moment Lin Xin went over to throw away the trash and continued all the way until the three of them arrived at the scene.

After watching it, everyone was baffled—Lin Huang included.

"No one pushed the trash bin away?!" Lin Huang frowned deeply. The more they investigated, the more bewildering the case became.

"Could someone have put the trash bin into a storage ring?" a security officer suddenly asked.

"No. If Lin Xin disappeared along with the trash bin, she must have been put inside the bin and carried away. Aside from beast-taming tokens, no type of storage space can hold living creatures, and beast-taming tokens don't work on humans." Lin Huang shook his head, rejecting the idea. "Besides, who would be bored enough to steal a trash bin full of garbage without some specific purpose?"

"What do we do now?" Chen Wei felt they had hit a dead end and looked at Lin Huang with a helpless expression.

"There are only two possibilities now. The first is that the auntie we spoke to earlier was lying—deliberately throwing us off by fabricating a trash bin that never existed to waste our time. The second is that a third trash bin did appear, but its disappearance somehow evaded the surveillance cameras."

"Have the two colleagues at the scene ask the other shopkeepers nearby whether anyone noticed this third trash bin. Also, during the time my sister disappeared, several people passed by here to throw away trash. Help me get in touch with them and see if any of them saw this third bin."

Lin Huang had no clear leads at the moment. He even began to suspect that the plump auntie who had come to throw out garbage was lying, but logically speaking, merchants who had operated on this ship for years wouldn't do anything to harm tourists.

"That plump auntie who just threw out the trash—what kind of business does she run?" Lin Huang asked, still skeptical.

"Auntie Fat is a veteran merchant who's been on this ship for twenty-six years. She sells liquor and cigarettes—she's been on board even longer than I have. There's no way she'd be involved. If she says she saw an extra trash bin, then there really was an extra trash bin." Chen Wei knew Auntie Fat's character well. "She wouldn't lie... though it's possible her eyes played tricks on her for a moment."

"Let's ask the others first." Lin Huang nodded and said no more.

Over in the merchant district, the two security officers quickly got their answers. Besides Auntie Fat, one other shop owner also said they had seen three trash bins.

Chen Wei then got in touch with several guests who had appeared in the footage—six people in total. Three said they did indeed see three trash bins, two said they couldn't remember clearly, and one said they only saw two bins.

The girl with twin ponytails was among the six, and her answer was that she couldn't recall.

"So based on the information everyone has provided, a third trash bin really did exist in the surveillance blind spot." That was the conclusion Lin Huang and the others reached.

But as to how the trash bin had vanished, they had no clue whatsoever.

However, based on the information from the guests, the time of the trash bin's disappearance was moved up earlier.

The only guest who answered that they saw just two trash bins had appeared in the footage at 5:58 PM.

That guest's answer was also quite emphatic. His exact words were: "Of course I remember there were only two bins—the trash was overflowing, and I had a hell of a time squeezing my empty drink cup in. How could I not remember?! And you're asking me how many bins there were? Do you think I'm so bored I'd steal your trash bin?!"

"What we can confirm now is that the trash bin disappeared sometime between 5:42 and 5:58 PM. But our footage, from the moment your sister vanished at 5:42 all the way to when you arrived at 6:23, doesn't show anyone wheeling the bin away." Chen Wei sat at the console in the surveillance room and looked up at Lin Huang beside him. He genuinely had no idea where to go from here.

"Which means one thing: the person who took my sister used a method we don't know about to take both the trash bin and my sister away." In the end, that was the only conclusion Lin Huang could draw.

"The trail's gone cold..." Chen Wei shook his head with a sigh.

"Let's go to the 9th floor and pay that twin-ponytail girl a visit." Lin Huang still wasn't ready to give up.

"Alright..." Chen Wei knew Lin Huang wouldn't rest until he got a clear answer, so he reluctantly agreed.

After calling the girl's father to confirm the visit, Chen Wei led Lin Huang and several other security members to the 9th floor of the ship.

When the group reached room 321 and rang the doorbell, the girl with twin ponytails opened the door.

"Dad, we have guests," the girl called out to the man sitting on the sofa.

The man stood up and smiled at them. "Come in and have a seat."

It was only then that Lin Huang noticed this was the same man in the white shirt who had glanced at Lin Xin by the floating elevator entrance earlier. Knowing he had a daughter around Lin Xin's age, Lin Huang's earlier irritation finally faded. As a parent himself, he understood that seeing a child the same age as your own naturally warranted a second look.

"Lily, go pour some tea for our guests," the man instructed.

"Okay, Dad." The twin-ponytail girl headed toward the kitchen.

"Please, have a seat. If there's anything I can help with, I'll do my best to cooperate." The man wore a warm, pleasant smile.

"Mr. Wei, no need to be so polite. We mainly came to ask your daughter a few questions—we won't take up too much of your time."

While Chen Wei chatted with him, Lin Huang began carefully studying the man.

Mr. Wei appeared to be in his early forties, standing around 185 centimeters tall, with fair skin and meticulous dress. He wore the same white shirt on top, black dress trousers below, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses—a man who carried himself with a distinctly scholarly air.

"May I ask, Mr. Wei, what do you do for a living?" Lin Huang couldn't help but ask.

"I used to be a teacher. Now I run a small business of my own," Mr. Wei replied with a nod.

"Teaching is a great profession. What made you want to switch?" Chen Wei asked, sounding a bit envious.

"It's a good profession, sure, but the pay isn't great." Mr. Wei smiled.

"That's fair—a man with a wife and kids has a lot of pressure." Chen Wei could relate; he was roughly the same age as Mr. Wei.

"Mr. Wei, you only brought your daughter on this trip? No wife?" Lin Huang asked again.

"My wife passed away years ago. It's just me and my daughter now." Mr. Wei shook his head and gave that answer.

"My apologies." Lin Huang hadn't expected that response.

"It's fine. It was a long time ago." Mr. Wei waved his hand dismissively.

Lin Huang noticed a green gemstone ring on the man's left ring finger and decided not to press further.

Before long, the twin-ponytail girl emerged carrying a tray of tea. "Dad, the tea is here."

"Just serve it to our guests." Mr. Wei nodded.

The girl set the tray on the coffee table, distributed the cups of tea to each of them, then returned to the man's side.

"Sit down, Lily." Mr. Wei had the girl sit on his lap.

Lily sat obediently, without a word.

"Your daughter is so well-mannered. My daughter is about the same age as yours, and when guests come over, forget pouring tea—if she even comes out to say hello and call us 'uncle' and 'auntie,' that's already a win." Chen Wei said with a helpless look.

"I'm a teacher, after all, so I naturally have my own methods of discipline. If you need, you can send your daughter to me, and I'll give her a few lessons." Mr. Wei said warmly.

"That would be too much trouble, wouldn't it?" Chen Wei felt a little embarrassed.

"No trouble at all. I have plenty of free time these days. I can spare some time to help her catch up on her studies and teach her some manners." After saying this, Mr. Wei seemed to realize the conversation had drifted off topic and quickly added, "Almost forgot the main business—if you have questions, just ask Lily."

"Dad..." Lily seemed shy around strangers, and knowing the group was there for her, she shrank closer into Mr. Wei's arms.

"It's fine. Just answer whatever they ask." Mr. Wei placed his hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Little girl, don't be scared. We're not bad people—we're the ship's security team, here to keep everyone safe." Chen Wei offered some reassurance as well.

"Go ahead, ask away. She's just a little shy." Mr. Wei nodded to Chen Wei.

Chen Wei projected a photo of Lin Xin. "Little girl, have you seen this girl before?"

Lily shook her head expressionlessly.

Mr. Wei behind her hesitated for a moment, then asked, "I ran into this girl at the floating elevator entrance—that was about an hour ago. Did something happen?"

"The girl has gone missing. We're asking your daughter because she may have seen something." Chen Wei explained.

"Missing? Aren't there surveillance cameras all over the ship?" Mr. Wei raised an eyebrow.

"There are a few blind spots in the ship's surveillance. The girl disappeared in one of those blind spots." Chen Wei looked a bit embarrassed bringing it up.

"I see. Well, I hope you find her soon." Mr. Wei didn't press further on the subject.

"Little girl, earlier around 5:40, you were sitting on a bench drinking something—do you remember that?" Chen Wei asked Lily again.

Lily nodded.

"From where you were sitting, you should have been able to see the trash bins, right?" Chen Wei continued.

Lily nodded again.

"Do you remember how many bins there were?"

Lily shook her head. "I don't remember. It seemed like two... and then maybe three..."

This answer made Lin Huang and the others frown. It was possible the girl had indeed been there during the time the bin disappeared—seeing three bins at first, then only two after the third vanished. That would explain why she couldn't be certain how many she'd seen.

After asking a few more questions and confirming that Lily knew nothing about the whole affair, Lin Huang and the others reluctantly left Mr. Wei's room...