What to Do If I Become the Villain's Daughter

137

Huo Guining glanced at her phone. The message she had sent to Huo Xiaozheng showed as read but unanswered.

Feeling somewhat reassured, she asked about the direction Zeng Zhilin had gone and rushed out with her phone in hand.

It was lunchtime, so there weren't many people wandering around campus.

Huo Guining went straight to the security office.

"Uncle, I lost my watch but haven't been able to find it. Could I check the security cameras?" Huo Guining told a white lie.

The kindly security guard, seeing Huo Guining's innocent face, immediately agreed.

"Do you remember roughly when and where you might have lost it?" he asked.

Huo Guining thought for a moment. "Probably after lunch. My classmate and I went to buy something at the school gate, then walked around campus for a bit..."

This implied she wanted to check the footage from various parts of the school during the entire lunch period.

The security guard hesitated, realizing it would be quite a lot of work.

"I can look through it myself, you don't need to trouble yourself," Huo Guining quickly offered, noticing the guard's concern.

The security guard's furrowed brow relaxed. "Alright then. First, click here. I've already set the time for you. You can drag the progress bar, and then... that's it."

He briefly explained to Huo Guining how to view the surveillance footage.

Huo Guining nodded, indicating she understood.

"Thank you, uncle."

With that, Huo Guining sat down at the computer and focused intently on examining the footage.

The playground - nothing. The garden - nothing. The small supermarket - nothing. In front of the teaching building... also nothing.

Huo Guining's brow furrowed more and more. She even began to doubt if her guess was correct.

Maybe Zeng Zhilin had just gone to the bathroom.

Once this possibility occurred to her, Huo Guining's whole body relaxed.

Her tight grip on the mouse loosened as she clicked through the remaining locations.

As the mouse passed over the alley behind the teaching building, Zeng Zhilin's face flashed by, disappearing into the alley.

Huo Guining's nerves tightened. She pointed at the alley and asked the security guard, "Uncle, where is this?"

The security guard put on his reading glasses and squinted at the screen for a moment. "Oh, that's the alley behind the middle school building. You kids often sneak out there because the wall is low."

Realizing what he'd said, the guard looked at her suspiciously. "You're not..."

Sensing that the guard was worried she might be one of the wall-jumpers, Huo Guining waved her hands frantically. "No, no, I'm not!"

She quickly stood up. "Thank you, uncle. I'll go back and check my backpack again."

The security guard nodded. "Keys are so small, you can't really see them clearly on the cameras anyway..."

Seeing that the guard had also realized the flimsiness of her lie, Huo Guining ran off, shouting her thanks as she went.

Huo Guining arrived at the small alley, which was empty.

She eyed the height of the wall, rolling up her sleeves in preparation.

Just as she was about to jump, a sudden noise interrupted her.