My phone rang when I was done, and Liu Yuning told me she was at He Xin's place.
I walked over carefully, afraid they'd burst into laughter when they saw me. I had already sent pictures to Yuning on my phone, but when they saw me in person, she and He Xin couldn't help but giggle.
He Xin even walked up to me and tugged my hair, saying, "You really look alike. Dad, if you weren't a police officer, you'd probably make a good cross-dressing influencer!"
"Just joking. It's just that I'm so pretty," I said coquettishly, about to make a delicate gesture with my fingers, but Liu Yuning stopped me: "Okay, don't get too into character. It's just for the mission."
I immediately pulled myself together and said to the screen, "Line K21 subway is at Fengtian Station in Longhua Town. Before we investigate, let's go to Longhua Town and inform the local police station."
"I know the chief of that police station. I'll make a call first." Liu Yuning picked up her phone and walked to the side to make the call. I couldn't help but say, "You seem to know quite a lot of people. Do you have friends even in such a remote police station?"
"Didn't I go to many places during my internship? You guys wait for me."
I shifted my attention to He Xin. She quickly sent me a coordinate: "If you're going to take that subway, it's here. I've sent you the location."
"Where does the route go?"
"We don't know for sure yet. If it's like before, it should pass through Fengtian Avenue, but since the incident here, that station has been closed."
"Alright, let's wait for the others!"
A few minutes later, several "women" appeared. I noticed that Gao Mingqiang and Xiahou were both dressed as women. Mingqiang was a ponytail girl, while Xiahou, with a rather bold choice, had a purple wig. Both wore heavy makeup to hide their male features. However, with these disguises, they looked quite feminine and could fool people.
Among them, only Xiao Yuande remained in his original appearance. I curiously asked him, "What's wrong with you?"
"In the end, I decided not to dress up. When we get to Longhua Town, I'll stay at the base camp, alright?"
He Xin immediately quipped, "It must be because you're too old, Uncle! Even if you disguised yourself as a girl, it wouldn't look convincing!"
Seeing Xiao Yuande's expression change, I nudged He Xin's shoulder, signaling her to stop talking. He Xin then shut her mouth. Xiao Yuande was right; we couldn't all go handle the mission. Someone had to stay behind to provide support if anything went wrong.
After deciding, Xie Chuchu joined us, and we set off. Little Dong stayed at the provincial department. Several of us got into a provincial department car and drove from the center of Guangming City all the way to Longhua Town. Since Liu Yuning had already informed Director Huang of the local police station beforehand, we saw police officers waiting outside before we even arrived.
I didn't want to be treated specially like last time, so I let Liu Yuning and the others go ahead.
Now I really felt like our disguises were too good. In our current state, I didn't know how we would face Director Huang and the others. Seeing that we were all women, Director Huang asked curiously, "Are there so many female police officers now?"
At his words, Liu Yuning, who was in front of me, couldn't help but laugh: "They are men, just disguised. Didn't you notice?"
Director Huang and the others looked at us in surprise, then asked with confusion, "What is this?"
Liu Yuning briefly explained our plan. Director Huang immediately gave us a thumbs-up: "As expected of the Crime Punishers! Your ideas are always so different. I had no idea how to handle this case, but now that you're here, you already have a plan!"
"You flatter us, but they are about to make a sacrifice."
I thought to myself, of course, this is a sacrifice, and a significant one at that. I was wearing a slip dress, while Gao Mingqiang and the others had noticeable muscles, so they could only wear denim shirts. Plus, girls of this age are generally flat-chested, so that could be overlooked.
We first checked the surveillance footage near Fengtian Avenue in the monitoring room. We found that those girls had indeed walked into the subway station and hadn't come out since.
With this confirmed, we left Xiao Yuande at the police station, telling him to find a hotel nearby when he had time. Seeing that it was almost midnight, we immediately set off. We took a taxi to Fengtian Avenue and, guided by He Xin's directions, found the sealed subway station.
There were seals from the Longhua Town police and some guardrails set up. However, to get in, one only had to step over them. I thought, why didn't they just seal the place with dirt? Then people wouldn't accidentally enter.
We crossed the cordon and walked down a dark staircase. Everyone was holding flashlights, except for me, who could see my surroundings clearly without one. Liu Yuning noticed and asked, "Is your night vision ability innate?"
"That's right. I don't know why, but my eyes naturally have excellent observational skills."
"Show-off!" Liu Yuning muttered softly and took the lead, walking in front of us. I asked her not to go so fast, but she didn't listen.
After a turn, we reached the subway tracks. There were still some ticket machines, several service counters, and a track. Although there were no lights, the surroundings were visible under the flashlight beams.
On the surface, this subway station looked no different from others, just a bit older.
We searched the area. Since we couldn't bring instruments, we had to rely on our eyes. I noticed quite a few footprints on the ground. Judging by their size, they were almost all left by women. They had indeed been here.
According to the direction of the footprints, they were left before boarding the train. We didn't find anything else nearby, so we all stood at the front of the platform, waiting for the mysterious subway to appear. However, after a long wait, there was no sign of it.
Gao Mingqiang checked his phone: "It's already 12:30 AM. Why isn't it here yet? Could this legend be fake?"
"No," Liu Yuning recalled. "The surveillance footage also showed the girls walking in here before they disappeared, and they weren't seen coming out."
"Or maybe their disappearance isn't because they took some mysterious subway. Perhaps they were attacked by someone here?" Gao Mingqiang speculated, looking around.
"Let's wait a bit longer. Or perhaps there's a delay with the subway today. Look, the tracks are intact, and there are recent signs of friction. The subway must have been running."