It can't be this melodramatic, can it

Su Yang parked his car by the roadside near the neighborhood entrance and stepped out, pulling out his phone to call Xia Zhiyu via WeChat voice.

The line rang for a long time with no answer. Su Yang frowned slightly. "Huh? What's going on?"

"Did she lose signal? Or put it on silent?"

The call ended without Xia Zhiyu picking up.

Su Yang opened the chat interface and sent a message:

"Little Fish, I’m at the entrance of Shunhai Garden. Where are you?"

A minute passed after sending the message, but there was still no reply.

He dialed the voice call again, but once more, no one answered by the time the ringtone faded.

"Damn it? This can’t be some cliché drama, right? Did she run into trouble? Seriously..."

Su Yang, having read too many web novels, couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild with bizarre scenarios.

He glanced up at the shabby residential area and walked in.

The place was called a neighborhood, but there were no security guards or anyone on duty.

It was an open complex—anyone could wander in.

The internal roads were narrow, the environment unkempt, with scattered trash everywhere.

The white tiles on the decorative flower beds near the buildings were coated in dust, and the plants inside were withered.

The old buildings were crammed tightly together, unevenly stacked due to the terrain, scattered haphazardly.

The neighborhood was sprawling, with winding paths. Without a clear destination, Su Yang had no hope of finding anything.

"Where the hell am I supposed to look?" He turned in circles, completely lost.

"Ugh, did something actually happen to her?"

He pulled out his phone again and called Xia Zhiyu’s WeChat.

After another unanswered ring, he cursed under his breath.

"—System? Help me out! Do you know which unit Xia Zhiyu lives in?"

[No idea.]

"—Come on, you should know this!"

[No idea.]

"—Damn it!"

Su Yang muttered and kept walking, but after two steps, he paused.

A middle-aged man in his fifties or sixties emerged from a broken-down building entrance.

Su Yang hurried over. "Hey, uncle—"

The man turned and smiled. "Hello, hello. You are...?"

"Ah, sorry to bother you for a minute. I’m trying to find someone."

"Oh, asking about someone? Thought you knew me. Who is it? I’ve lived here over ten years—I know everyone in this complex. Ask away." The man seemed friendly and polite.

Su Yang scratched his head. "There’s a girl around 20, tall, named Xia Zhiyu. Do you know her?"

"Xia what?"

"Xia Zhiyu."

"What Zhiyu?"

Are you messing with me? Su Yang seethed internally.

"Xia. Zhi. Yu!"

The man thought for a moment, then grinned. "Ohhh... nope, don’t know her."

With that, he walked off toward the exit. Su Yang stared at his retreating back and muttered, "You said you knew everyone. Yeah, right."

Left with no leads, Su Yang resumed wandering aimlessly through the complex.

As he walked, he called out loudly: "Little Fish!!"

"Xia Zhiyu! Zhiyu! Yu!"

At every building, he’d stop, look up, and shout, but no one responded.

A creeping sense of unease settled in his chest. Su Yang scowled. "What the hell."

Just as he cursed, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

His eyes lit up as he yanked it out—Xia Zhiyu was calling back.

"Finally!"

He swiped to answer immediately.

Xia Zhiyu’s soft voice came through: "Su Yang, sorry about that. There was a small issue at home, so I didn’t notice your calls."

"What issue?"

"Um... my landlord came to collect rent."

"Rent? Couldn’t you just pay her? Or are you short? If you need money, I can transfer some to cover it."

"No, no, I already paid... but she won’t let me keep living here. So I was trying to negotiate."

Su Yang thought for a second. "Got it. Which unit are you in? I’m already inside Shunhai Garden—I’ll come find you."

"Building 5, Unit 7, 4th floor, Apartment 2."

"Building 5? Alright, I’ll ask around. Wait for me at home."

"Okay."

The call ended, and Su Yang exhaled in relief. "Whew... at least it’s not some emergency."

He checked the nearest building marker—Building 2, Unit 5. So Building 5 was further in.

Su Yang pressed deeper into the complex. Even in broad daylight, the place felt deserted.

After two or three minutes, he spotted a boy around eight or nine years old playing alone by a pile of construction sand.

Su Yang crouched beside him. "Hey kid, do you live here?"

The boy glanced up warily and started to leave, but Su Yang called out: "Hey, don’t run! Do you know where Building 5 is?"

Hearing it was just directions, the boy paused and pointed toward a stone staircase a few dozen meters ahead. "Go up those stairs, turn right, and walk straight—that’s Building 5."

Su Yang smiled. "Thanks, little dude. Go back to playing."

He hurried toward the staircase.

Two minutes later, he finally spotted the marker for Building 5. But in these old complexes, each building had over a dozen units, and finding the right one took time.

The units weren’t even arranged in order. After locating Unit 2, he expected Unit 3 or 1 next—but the adjacent door read "Unit 5."

"Seriously?"

Luckily, two middle-aged men walked by just then. Su Yang asked for directions and finally found Unit 7.

At the base of Unit 7, he looked up at the fourth floor, then stepped through the open entrance.

The stairwell was dim, walls and steps plastered with ads for plumbing services and lock-picking.

A musty, stale odor hung in the air.

Each cramped floor housed six apartments.

Su Yang pinched his nose and climbed to the fourth floor, locating Apartment 2. The door wasn’t fully closed, just slightly ajar.

He knocked twice.

From inside, Xia Zhiyu’s voice called out: "Su Yang? The door’s open—come in."

Su Yang pushed the door open.

Inside, Xia Zhiyu sat on a wooden sofa with a woman in her fifties or sixties, deep in discussion.

Su Yang quickly scanned the apartment—a one-bedroom, no more than 300–400 square feet, so small he could take it all in at a glance.

The room, however, was quite clean and simply decorated, with milky-white tiles covering the floor. The living room had a wooden sofa, a small glass coffee table, and across from it, a wooden TV stand with a 40- to 50-inch television.

When Su Yang entered, Xia Zhiyu's previously troubled face immediately brightened. "Su Yang, you're here! Please, come in."

"Sure," Su Yang replied as he stepped inside. "Should I change shoes?"

"No need."

"Alright."

After closing the door, Su Yang walked into the living room and glanced at the middle-aged woman sitting on the sofa. "Is this your landlord?"

Xia Zhiyu nodded. "Yes, Su Yang. This is Aunt Zhou."

Aunt Zhou had curly hair, heavy makeup, unevenly sized eyes, and a flat nose—her features were somewhat... indistinct. Overall, she gave off the impression of someone not easy to deal with.

Su Yang took a quick look at her, and she happened to glance up at the same time.

He offered a polite nod and smile. "So, what are you two discussing now?"

Xia Zhiyu rubbed her hands together and bit her lip before turning to Aunt Zhou. "We're talking about renewing the lease."

At this, Aunt Zhou crossed her legs and looked at Xia Zhiyu with a detached tone. "Xiao Yu, it's not that I don’t want you to stay, but my relative is coming to Haicheng tomorrow, and she has nowhere to go. Since your lease is up, I’ll have to take the place back. You should pack your things and move out today."

Hearing this, Xia Zhiyu grew anxious. "I... I don’t have to renew, but Aunt Zhou... could you give me a week—no, just three days? You have to at least give me some time to find another place. If you make me leave today, I’ll have nowhere to go."

Aunt Zhou glanced at Su Yang standing nearby and smirked. "Isn’t your boyfriend here? You can stay with him for a few days."

...