Chapter 15: search
Chief was sitting on the bottom of a slide and worriedly staring at her phone while Lanyard was pacing in from of her talking to someone on the phone. They both rushed towards me the second they saw me.
"When did you talk to him last? Did he say anything to you?" Lanyard asked anxiously.
"I had lunch with him today. He told me he got scouted to play professionally and that he was going to tell his parents today. He texted me earlier to play with him but he isn't replying anymore."
"This little…" Lanyard swore.
"Where are his parents?" I asked.
"Where else? They're at home, waiting to disown him. They must have done something to him." Chief replied, "They called me when he ran out to complain about him. Thankfully I was with Lian Qian then. We searched this whole area. He's not in any cybercafé or bar."
"Let's go. Let's search the college campus. That's the only other are where he would go." I said. Lanyard and Chief immediately started running the opposite direction. "Wait! Where are you going?"
"Bus stop." Lanyard and chief looked at me confused.
"I brought a car. Follow me." We rushed towards the car park.
"Did you call his ACM teammates? They must be in practice right now. Ask them if they've seen him on campus." Chief asked Lanyard as she put her seatbelt on.
"Okay, I have a classmate who is friends with the captain. I'll ask him for the number."
"Chief, you should ask your high school friend's who are close with Hacker." I reminded as I made a sharp u-turn and navigated towards our college. "Also, people who play games with him."
I used the car stereo to connect my phone and call Hacker's roommate. Nie Xiaopan picked up the call after three rings.
"Xiao Pan, have you seen Linping recently?"
"No, he went home in the afternoon."
"Have you been in contact with him since?"
"No, I haven't," his voice grew worried, "What's wrong Yuyu?"
"There was something wrong at his house but his parents can't reach him," I lied. I don't think Hacker wanted to let anyone else know about his parents.
"I don't know. I'll ask around. Did you check the cyber café?"
"We're reaching in 5 minutes. We'll check it out."
"Okay then. Wait, I'll get back to you." As he went to hang up I interrupted.
"Wait, Xiaopan. Is his laptop still in the dorm?" Both Lanyard and Chief gave me weird looks as if they don't understand why interested in his laptop right now.
"Huh? Ye-yeah, it's still here."
"I'll be outside the door south gate in 5 minutes. Can you come down and pass it to me?"
I hung up after he agreed.
"I just suddenly thought that we should ask his wife. And squad members." I explained, eyeing Lanyard through the rearview mirror as she tried her best to seem indifferent. Even Chief gave me a quiet look before going back to texting someone urgently.
The rest of the ride was silent. I parked my car in the student's parking space before we walked to the south gate that was near the boys' dorms.
"Let's not waste time. Lanyard, you check the campus canteens and ask around for Hacker. I'll go check the snack street and bar. Yuyu, go with Xiaopan and check the cyber cafés. Make sure you don't go alone. It's not safe." Everyone agreed and split apart. Nie Xiaopan was already waiting for me at the gate when I arrived.
"Are you free right now?" I asked him as I took the laptop bag from him and slung it on my shoulders.
"I have my train for my hometown tonight but I have half an hour." He replied checking his watch.
"Accompany me to the cyber cafés."
There were a total of six cyber cafes around our college as it was a prime spot for computer science students to spend time. We checked them all one by one but Hacker wasn't there anywhere. I sat down outside the last one, on the stairs and opened Hacker's laptop. Thank god for his arrogant nature, he hadn't put any passwords, believing that no one would ever dare getting into his devices. All his game accounts were already logged into.
Though, Hacker's favorite game is League Of Legends, he plays an array of MMORPGs and shooting games to relax. I skipped on Eve Online and Guild Wars 2 to directly open Final Fantasy XIV where I knew his wife resides.
As soon as I logged in a message came.
MeowMiao: Brother Forest, isn't it time for you to be practicing on LOL? Why are you sneaking around here?
This should be the legendary wife, the loli whom Hacker spends time with during days and nights. From what I had heard, they hadn't met in real life and nor did Hacker ever tell her anything about his personal life but from what I knew is that he is particularly concerned about her most days. They met each other online and are like partners in many games that they play together. This girl was really obsessed with play role-playing games.
"This isn't Forest but his friend. Did he tell you what he was gonna do today by any chance?" Maybe it's because I'm close to Lanyard but I was unconsciously hostile towards this girl because I know how much just the existence of this girl had affected my strong best friend. Seeing Lanyard being so helpless was not a sight that I had ever expected to see in my life.
MeowMiao: Who are you? How did you get this account? Did you hack it?
ForestFire: Please answer the question, it's important.
MeowMiao: No, why would I tell anything to a stranger? You should explain yourself first.
I stopped replying and went to close the account. Xiaopan beside me stopped me. "What are you doing? She hasn't told you anything yet!"
"Don't you get it? She doesn't know anything about him. Or she wouldn't need an explanation."
Looks like Lanyard is worrying for nothing.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone