Shi Shuning suddenly stood up upon hearing those words, a sense of foreboding overwhelming him. He turned and rushed towards the backstage area.
Ye Jinchen noticed something was amiss and held back Ye Wanwan, who was about to follow. "Wanwan, what's going on?"
Ye Wanwan hurriedly informed Ye Jinchen that Xiao Jinmeng had disappeared. Ye Jinchen's heart sank as he said, "Don't panic yet. Jinmeng might have wandered off to play. Let me check the surveillance footage with Shuning first. You stay here with our parents. I'll message you if anything comes up, so keep an eye on your phone."
Ye Wanwan nodded, anxious beyond belief. If Jinmeng had indeed wandered off on her own, she would definitely give her a good spanking once found. But Jinmeng didn't seem like the type to do that. Recalling the time when Zhen Kechuan had kidnapped Jinmeng, Ye Wanwan grew even more uneasy. If something had happened to Jinmeng, who could be targeting her?
"Jinmeng, Jinmeng, Xiao Jinmeng! Where are you?"
Shi Shuning ran to the restroom door in the backstage area, shouting in the corridor, but no one responded. A few staff members came out of their respective dressing rooms upon hearing the commotion and looked around at the door.
"Have you seen this girl?" Shi Shuning showed them Xiao Jinmeng's photo on his phone's lock screen, but everyone shook their heads.
"No, we haven't seen her."
Ye Jinchen arrived just then and said to Shi Shuning, "Let's check the surveillance footage. I've just contacted the person in charge here, and they've agreed to let us access the security cameras."
Shi Shuning nodded and hurried after Ye Jinchen towards the security room.
Soon, they found footage of Xiao Jinmeng and Ye Wanwan heading towards the restrooms, but they disappeared from the frame as that area was a blind spot for the cameras.
Rewinding the footage, about five minutes later, Ye Wanwan reappeared on the screen, looking around, evidently searching for Xiao Jinmeng.
However, there was no sign of Xiao Jinmeng during that five-minute gap, indicating that she had remained near the restrooms without leaving.
Two minutes after Ye Wanwan left, two janitors, one tall and one short, appeared on the screen pushing a large trash bin. A few minutes later, Shi Shuning came running.
Shi Shuning frowned, staring intently at the surveillance footage. Since Xiao Jinmeng had entered the camera's blind spot, she had not reappeared. But she was definitely not there, so...
"Rewind the footage of the two janitors with the trash bin and play it in slow motion."
The security guard did as Shi Shuning instructed, rewinding and slowing down the footage.
In slow motion, every movement of the janitors was clearly visible.
At that moment, Shi Shuning seemed to have noticed something and exclaimed, "Stop, rewind two seconds!"
This time, Ye Jinchen saw it too.
In the footage, the black trash bag inside the bin moved, not from the swaying of the cart, but as if something alive inside had pushed the bag upwards. Immediately after, the shorter janitor slapped the bag, and it stopped moving.
"See where those two janitors went with the cart," Ye Jinchen said in a low voice.
The guard played through the footage, eventually showing the two janitors pushing the cart out of the sports arena through a side door until they were out of the camera's range, never to be seen again.
"Damn it!"
Shi Shuning slammed his fist on the table. The guard, realizing the gravity of the situation, quickly tried to reassure them, "Don't worry, sirs. I'll report this to the police immediately."
Ye Jinchen nodded, then asked, "Is the janitors' rest area across from the restrooms?"
The guard nodded, "Yes, would you like to take a look?"
"Yeah, we might find something useful there."
In the janitors' rest area, it was extremely messy, with a few scattered nylon zip ties on the floor.
Shi Shuning squatted down and, with his sharp eyes, noticed a piece of nail art decorated with cute cats.
He immediately recognized it as Xiao Jinmeng's new nail sticker that she had flaunted in front of him earlier that day after applying it to her nails.
"It's Jinmeng. They must have tied her up. But who would do such a thing? Damn it!" Shi Shuning gripped the nail piece in his palm, enraged.
Ye Jinchen sent a message to Ye Wanwan. Upon receiving it, she felt dizzy and overwhelmed with self-blame. If only she hadn't gone to the restroom, perhaps Jinmeng wouldn't have gotten into trouble.
Ye Wanwan closed her eyes and composed herself, then calmly informed Xiao Yongze, Ye Junli, and the others about the incident. As expected, Xiao Yongze and Ye Junli immediately stood up, looking flustered, and rushed towards the backstage area, followed by Gu Qi and Song Jiaxi, who had turned pale.
Ye Wanwan felt unsteady on her feet and was supported by He Junting as they followed the others to the backstage area.
Xiao Yuanning, who had just finished performing a song on stage, noticed his family members rushing to the backstage one after another. His eyes narrowed as he used the costume change break to catch up with them.
Since there was a police station near the sports arena, the police arrived quickly.
"Dad, Mom, what's going on?" Xiao Yuanning asked, puzzled to see a few police officers questioning Shi Shuning about the situation.
Looking around and not seeing Xiao Jinmeng, he asked, "Where's my sister?"
He Junting explained, "Jinmeng is missing. We can't find her right now."
"What!" Xiao Yuanning's eyes widened in disbelief that his sister had been kidnapped at his own concert venue.
A staff member urged him to return to the stage, but Xiao Yuanning flatly refused, "With everything that's happened, how can I be in the mood to continue the concert? Have my manager explain the situation to the fans and refund their tickets!"
The staff member looked helplessly at Xiao Yuanning's manager, who sighed and was about to say something when a police officer suddenly exclaimed.
"What is this thing?"
The officer was holding a small, black, rectangular remote control. The lead investigator's face paled as he exclaimed, "Not good, this looks like a bomb remote control!"
"What?" Everyone gasped in shock.
"I've encountered a similar one during a bombing case before. The suspect was carrying an identical remote control for a timed explosive!" the investigator explained.
The officer holding the remote control trembled involuntarily, never expecting to encounter such a situation on his first field assignment with his mentor.
"Xiao Wang, get your men to evacuate the crowd and contact the bomb squad to come inspect the area. Whether it's a bomb or not, the safety of the people is paramount!" ordered the police captain.
"Yes, sir!"
With this, there was no way the concert could continue. The manager hurriedly led the staff and security personnel to evacuate the fans along with the police officers. There were tens of thousands of people here – if there really was a bomb that exploded, the consequences would be unimaginable.
To avoid causing panic, the audience was not told about the bomb threat. They were only informed that there was an incident and the concert had to be interrupted.
