IMAO Chapter 130.2

“All three of them followed him.” After checking the surveillance outside the hotel, they quickly confirmed that the three suspicious people they’d spotted in the hotel had all followed Qiu Jingming!

Jiang Yuan rushed back into the hotel and confirmed with the hotel staff that one of the tourists had already left, another was still staying in the hotel, and they’d also located the person who worked at the hotel.

The hotel had called over the tourist who was still staying there. He was a Hera Planet native, an Alpha male named Apophis.

“Hello officers, you’re looking for me? I heard it’s related to that missing Omega?” Apophis asked anxiously.

Before Officer O’Carl could speak, Ji Rong stepped forward, acting like a real police officer, and started questioning directly.

Ji Rong: “Yes, according to our investigation, you were following him.”

Apophis instinctively shook his head in denial, saying nervously, “I didn’t!”

Ji Rong gave him a look and continued, “If you want to see evidence, I can show you later. We have footage of you following him on the hotel’s external surveillance.”

Hearing this, Apophis stopped denying it. “I… okay, I did follow him, but I’m not a bad person.”

Ji Rong: “Why did you follow him?”

Apophis hesitated before explaining, “I arrived on Longluo Star the same day as him. I saw him at the spaceport earlier. He looked emotionally unstable then, with red eyes. I was worried about him, that’s why I followed him. I only followed him for two days at first, but later when I saw his mood seemed to stabilize, I stopped.”

Hearing this, O’Carl almost spat in his face. He sneered, “More like you saw how good-looking he was and tried to take advantage of the situation, right?”

Apophis didn’t argue with O’Carl’s words, instead lowering his head guiltily.

Who could blame him when that Omega was so beautiful, and those red eyes just made him even more appealing!

Apophis: “I really wasn’t trying to do anything bad. After he rejected me when I tried talking to him, I spent the next few days with a friend! He can prove I definitely didn’t do anything wrong!”

Hearing this, Ji Rong half-squinted his eyes as he sized up Apophis and asked, “Friend? What friend?”

Afraid of being misunderstood, Apophis didn’t hide anything and said, “Just someone I met while traveling. We’ve been staying together these past few days.”

“Why say it so delicately? Isn’t he just a hookup?” O’Carl cut in with contempt.

Ji Rong raised an eyebrow. “Fine. When you were following the missing person, did you notice anyone else following him?”

Apophis shook his head. “I don’t know about that. I was just trying to hit on him… I wasn’t paying attention to anything else.”

After checking the subsequent surveillance footage, Jiang Yuan and the others confirmed this person wasn’t lying to them, and the later footage indeed showed Apophis constantly together with another young man.

“Then the only one left is that guy who works at the hotel.” Jiang Yuan lightly pressed his lips together, frowning.

With the hotel staff’s help, they soon met the server who had followed Qiu Jingming.

Obviously, he had already learned why Jiang Yuan and the others were looking for him from the hotel staff. His name was Aimé, a Beta who mainly delivered things to the back kitchen.

“Hello… I know why you’re looking for me, but I already explained everything to this officer,” Aimé spoke very softly, clearly nervous. “I was just bored that day and happened to come by to deliver things when I saw him. I found him crouching in a corner of the stairwell crying, kept saying sorry and such…

“I gave him tissues then, but because I was worried, I secretly followed him. But I really didn’t have any bad intentions! Please believe me!”

Seeing the person in front of him about to cry, O’Carl frowned, “Just talk normally, stop crying at every little thing, you’re embarrassing us Rick people!”

At O’Carl’s words, Aimé started crying outright, sobbing quite miserably, “I-it really wasn’t me, I didn’t do it!”

“Alright, I’ll believe that for now. When you were following him, did you notice any other suspicious people?” Ji Rong asked a similar question to before.

“No.”

Similar to Apophis’s answer, they couldn’t get any useful information.

“Then we can only look for the last person. We have this person’s information and communication number, we can contact them.”

Jiang Yuan watched without much hope as Ji Rong took out his communicator and dialed. After the dial tone, about eight seconds later, someone answered.

A deep male voice came through the communicator.

“Hello, who is this?”

Ji Rong thought that a police identity would be more useful than their current identities, so he said directly, “Hello, this is Longluo Star Police Station. Regarding a disappearance case that occurred three days ago at the hotel where you stayed, do you remember?”

The man’s voice was very deep, and he answered without hesitation, “I remember.”

Ji Rong: “According to our investigation, you followed the missing person for some time. I hope you can answer my questions truthfully.”

The voice on the other end paused for two seconds, then a deep, hoarse voice responded, “Yes, I followed him.”

Ji Rong: “Why did you follow the missing person?”

“He was beautiful, wasn’t he?” The man on the other end asked back.

Ji Rong: “Answer properly.”

“He was beautiful, and as an Omega, very attractive to Alphas.”

Ji Rong: “When was the last time you saw him?”

“The day he disappeared.”

Ji Rong: “You followed him that day too?”

“Yeah… and he noticed me.”

Ji Rong: “Where?”

“Uh, on some small road, I don’t know the name.”

Ji Rong: “Hold on, I’ll send you a photo. See if it was here.”

After waiting a while, the man looked at the photo and gave a definite answer, “That’s the place.”

Jiang Yuan’s heart tightened as he anxiously listened to the information the man was providing through the communicator.

Ji Rong: “Please describe that day’s situation in detail.”

“That day I followed him as usual, all the way to the place in the photo, but he noticed me. He simply stopped walking. I waited for a long time but he wouldn’t move, so I knew I’d been discovered. He looked really scared… Later, I waited a bit, then just left first.”

Ji Rong: “Then what?”

“After that I went back to the hotel, and he disappeared.”

Ji Rong: “Were there other people on that road at the time?”

“Yes, about four or five people.”

Ji Rong: “Remember what they looked like?”

“Who the hell could remember that?”

Ji Rong: “…When you were following him, did you notice any other suspicious people?”

Hearing this question, O’Carl couldn’t help but twitch his brow. This person had asked the same question to the other two people earlier, but obviously this question wasn’t getting them anywhere.

“Oh, there was this guy who was also following that cute Omega. I beat him up and told him not to follow anymore.”

“Another person?” O’Carl couldn’t help but exclaim internally. Although the missing Omega called Qiu Jingming was indeed beautiful, surely that wasn’t enough reason for so many people to follow him?

Ji Rong: “Please check if it was one of these two people.”

Ji Rong sent over photos of Apophis and Aimé. After a few seconds, he got the answer. It was Aimé.

“That’s him. A Beta wanting to pursue an Omega, how absurd!” The man’s tone was full of contempt for Betas. He was obviously a classist. He added in complaint, “Suppressants should never have been invented!”

Although their investigation hadn’t made much progress before, even O’Carl wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t figure it out now! That guy called Aimé had lied to him earlier! And if he lied, there must have been a reason!

After hanging up, Ji Rong looked at Jiang Yuan and Jiang Tianze. Jiang Tianze immediately turned and walked toward the kitchen.

“Ah, why are you back again?” Aimé looked surprised, just like a startled rabbit, looking at the four people with wide eyes, appearing completely harmless.

“We just contacted a tourist who said he beat you up once, warning you not to follow the missing person,” O’Carl looked at him and said, “You don’t need to pretend anymore.”

“Huh?” Aimé looked bewildered, then after a moment, anxiously explained, “Sorry, I-I was just scared, that person hit me, he looked really fierce…

“It must have been him who did it, yes! Definitely him!”

Seeing Aimé’s teary-eyed expression, O’Carl hesitantly turned to look at Jiang Yuan and the others, obviously asking what they thought, but he quickly regretted it. Damn, was he the police officer, or were these three the police?

“No, it wasn’t him,” Ji Rong said coolly.

“Huh?” Aimé asked confusedly, “Why not him? He didn’t look like a good person!”

Ji Rong gave him a look and said, “Just tell the truth. Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Hearing Ji Rong’s question, Aimé seemed somewhat disappointed. He put away his about-to-cry expression and showed a smile, “Say whatever you want, when he disappeared, I had just gone back home, I wasn’t even on Longluo Star~”

His tone lifted slightly, with a hint of mockery.

Seeing this, O’Carl’s heart sank. He knew now that the guy before them was suspicious, but the key was that he couldn’t arrest someone without evidence. He lowered his voice and said to the three beside him, “This guy’s not afraid at all. If he really wasn’t on Longluo Star then, I can’t arrest him…”

“Wait, let me check with someone first.” O’Carl said quietly, then went out with his communicator. He input Aimé’s information and quickly got results.

O’Carl came back in, looking troubled, “He really wasn’t on Longluo Star then.”

“See? I didn’t lie to you. When the person disappeared, I wasn’t even here. Don’t make baseless accusations.” Aimé let out a sigh, looking helpless.

“You can leave now,” Aimé said with a smile.

“Y-you bastard, anything you’ve done will leave traces! Don’t think you can get away with it!”

Jiang Yuan stopped both Jiang Tianze and Ji Rong, and the four of them left the hotel together. Before leaving, Jiang Yuan said something quietly to the front desk staff.

“What did you say to them?” Jiang Tianze was distracted and upset. They had finally found a lead, and he was in turmoil. The longer they delayed, the more danger Jingming was in. To be honest, it had been three days since his adopted son lost contact, and whether he was dead or alive was still a question.

“Nothing much. Dad, you and Officer O’Carl should go back first and investigate from other angles. I’m planning to follow this guy later,” Jiang Yuan said softly.

“I’ll come too…” Jiang Tianze said immediately.

Jiang Yuan shook his head. “No, too many people will get us noticed…”

Just as Jiang Yuan was thinking about how to persuade Jiang Tianze to leave, O’Carl’s communicator beeped.

“A floating body has been found by the seaside,” O’Carl said gravely to the three of them.

“A body?” Jiang Tianze’s face went pale, and he unconsciously swallowed.

Jiang Yuan immediately said, “Dad, you should go with the officer to check it out. I’ll keep track of that guy!”

“Alright!” Jiang Tianze had no time to think further and left immediately with O’Carl, silently praying: Please don’t let it be Jingming, please don’t let it be him…

After Jiang Tianze left, Ji Rong looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, “What’s your plan?”

“Follow me.” Jiang Yuan said quietly. The two went to the hotel’s back door, where Jiang Yuan leaned against the wall.

Ji Rong stood beside him and asked with a smile, “Waiting here?”

“Yes. The server just now said that guy leaves through here. I’m planning to use some special methods, they might get a bit violent, so you should leave first. I can handle this alone,” Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, “After all, this is Rick, they’re not friendly to people from our Federation at all. This might cause a scene, and the Federation won’t help me if I get involved. I’ll be fine by myself.”

Ji Rong looked at Jiang Yuan, blinked and said, “Let me handle it instead. I’m not just from the Federation, I’m also from Hoyt.”

Jiang Yuan: “…” Having a powerful dad really is something, huh?

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