My Unconventional Online Dating - Chapter 42

Seeing she wasn’t joking, the counselor grew more serious.

“I don’t know his name, only that he’s a medical student.”

“You…”

The counselor now believed her, but knowing was one thing—Xiao Nianyuan’s vague description made it impossible to help.

Xiao Nianyuan took out her phone and played an audio clip: “This is his voice. Could you share it with other teachers to see if anyone recognizes it?”

“And this,” she added, sending a photo after the audio. “This is a picture he took.”

The counselor: “…”

With a headache, she forwarded both clues to the faculty group chat before looking up at Xiao Nianyuan. “What exactly happened?”

Xiao Nianyuan frowned. “Someone used my photos to scam people online recently. Ji Rongxue and the others have been helping me track down who it is. These past few days, she’s been sneaking out often—probably to find that scammer.”

The counselor tried to reassure her. “Maybe she’s just temporarily busy and not checking her phone.”

“No,” Xiao Nianyuan said firmly. “She wouldn’t ignore calls.”

Ji Rongxue wasn’t in the best health. The last time she suddenly didn’t answer her phone, it had terrified all three of her roommates. After that, Ji Rongxue had promised to warn them beforehand if her phone died or she couldn’t check it, to avoid worrying them.

It hadn’t been long since then. For her to vanish without any warning wasn’t like Ji Rongxue at all. She knew it would worry them and would never do this unless something had happened.

The counselor opened her mouth but didn’t repeat the reassurances. Xiao Nianyuan wouldn’t listen or believe them anyway.

The two watched the group chat. Soon, a teacher privately messaged the counselor, saying the voice sounded like one of his students. Nervously, he asked, “Did he do something wrong?”

The counselor replied, “Whether he did anything before, I don’t know. But if we don’t find him soon, he might.”

She wasn’t sure what was going on, but finding him quickly couldn’t hurt.

The teacher panicked and immediately contacted Meng Xingwen’s roommates. After much hesitation, they finally admitted they had no idea where he was.

Frowning, the counselor went to check surveillance footage to see if Meng Xingwen had left campus.

Meanwhile, the teacher managed to piece together the situation. Meng Xingwen didn’t get along with his roommates. From their tone, he never hung out with them, and all three claimed Meng Xingwen looked down on them, so they ignored him in return. Over time, they stopped caring about anything he did—even if he stayed out all night, they wouldn’t bat an eye.

As long as Meng Xingwen didn’t cause trouble, they treated him like a ghost.

More teachers were still asking around when the counselor, citing a potential life-or-death situation, bypassed formal procedures and urgently pulled up Meng Xingwen’s records. Soon, they found footage of him leaving campus—heading to the right.

Just as the counselor was about to end the video, Xiao Nianyuan stopped her. “Wait.”

The counselor paused. Xiao Nianyuan watched the last few seconds.

At the very end, Ji Rongxue also left campus—turning right as well.

The counselor also recognized Ji Rongxue and prayed with trepidation that it was just an accident. If anything happened to the student, she, as the counselor, couldn’t escape responsibility. Setting aside her professional role, she genuinely didn’t want any student to come to harm under her watch.

Xiao Nianyuan finished reading and immediately ran outside. The counselor had no choice but to follow.

The elevator was descending to the first floor, and waiting for it to come back up would take three or four minutes. Xiao Nianyuan couldn’t wait and took the stairs instead. By the time she reached the first floor, the elevator doors were just closing. At the last second, a hand shot out and stopped them.

As Xiao Nianyuan rushed toward the entrance, she heard Tan Xialan calling from behind, “Xiao Nianyuan!”

Turning around, Xiao Nianyuan was surprised to see Tan Xialan and Du Xiaotong.

“Where are you going now?” Du Xiaotong asked.

“I’m going to find her.”

It was obvious who “her” referred to.

The counselor, out of breath from running down the stairs—unaccustomed to such exertion—panted, “Wait, do you even know where they went?”

Xiao Nianyuan turned to look at her. The counselor continued, “Let me come with you. I’ll call for more help on the way.”

At this point, they only knew the general direction Ji Rongxue had gone, not the exact destination. Tan Xialan and Du Xiaotong naturally followed as well. Along the way, Tan Xialan asked tearfully, “Should we call the police?”

Du Xiaotong pressed her lips together and replied, “It hasn’t been long enough since contact was lost for them to file a case.”

The school was different. The counselor trusted Xiao Nianyuan, and the institution was particularly wary of student incidents, which was why they could act so quickly.

“I’ll try to reach out to some contacts too,” the counselor said gravely. Even if it wasn’t enough to file a formal report, any assistance would be better than nothing.

They stopped someone else’s car at the entrance. Seeing how urgent the teacher was, the student immediately gave up their ride without question. The driver, however, was displeased and insisted they place a new order through the app.

The counselor explained anxiously, “We have something very important to attend to.”

But the driver stubbornly demanded they follow the proper procedure. Tan Xialan was so frustrated she burst into tears. The girl who had been silently following them suddenly screamed hoarsely, “We’re trying to save someone! Are you really going to stand by and let them die?”