?


    "It''s probably because he was worried about me, so he drove here himself. Don''t worry, Mom. Nothing will happen to him," X assured. Chandra nodded, and the mother and daughter walked into the vi together.


    Chandra took off her coat and handed it to a servant. She seemed somewhat tired, and asked the servant to bring her a bottle of cold water. "Mom, why do you look so tired?" X asked.


    "I went dancing, so I''m a bit worn out. Go to bed, sweetheart. I''ll be heading to my room now."This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.


    "Alright, Mom. Goodnight."


    X went upstairs. Once inside her room, she locked the door and entered the bathroom, taking out her phone to call Christopher.


    "X, how''s it going? Did you find out anything?" he asked.


    "Don''t worry, Chris. I''ll handle things on Mom''s side. If I get any news, I''ll let you know immediately. You continue looking for Sydney. If you can find her, great. If not, I''ll see if I can get any clues from Mom or gather more information elsewhere."


    Christopher sighed. "Alright then. X, I''m counting on you."


    "I know. I''ll take care of it."


    After hanging up, X left the bathroom and waited in her room.


    In the middle of the night, she sshed her face with cold water to keep herself alert. She then quietly opened the door and crept out.


    She made her way to Chandra''s bedroom, carefully cracked the door open, and peeked inside. The room was pitch-ck, but the moonlight streaming in through the window faintly illuminated the outlines of the furniture.


    X tapped her phone screen to create a dim light but refrained from using the shlight, fearing it would be too ring and wake her mother. She used the faint glow to navigate the room.


    Finally, she spotted a phone face-down on the nightstand. She carefully picked it up and tapped the screen. It was locked with a fingerprint lock.


    X nced at her mother, who was sound asleep. She knelt on the carpet by the window and leaned closer to Chandra.


    She lifted her mother''s thumb, intending to unlock the phone.


    As if sensing a disturbance, Chandra''s fingers twitched, and she turned over in her sleep.


    Wiping the cold sweat off her


    forehead, X moved to the other side of the bed. The bed wasrge, and her mother was sleeping in the middle, so X had to sit on the bed and lean down to get closer. She gently pressed her mother''s thumb against the phone screen, and this time, it worked.


    The phone unlocked, and X immediatelyy t on the ground, quickly going through the contents of the phone.


    She discovered multiple call logs with an unfamiliar number, but no text messages exchanged with it. There was nothing suspicious in her mother''s WhatsApp conversations, either.


    X took out her phone and snapped a photo of the unfamiliar number.


    She then opened the photo album, hoping to find some clues. One picture made her head nearly explode.


    In the photo, a woman was tied up, her clothes in disarray and her body covered in blood. A rag was stuffed in her mouth and shey on the ground, barely alive and о


    unrecognizable.


    X covered her trembling lips, immediately taking a photo of the image with her phone. After finishing, she put the phone back in its original position and quietly left the room.


    However, as she reached the door, her panic and the shock of the photo caused her to stumble and fall, making a loud thud as she hit the ground. Startled, she quickly got up and ran back to her room.