Chapter 5 Fading Signal
She was still on the train!
A tiny red dot followed the train’s path on the map.
It was Miaomiao.
Tears stung my eyes from pure relief.
I turned to the train attendant and begged her to radio her colleagues to check that Carriage.
She grabbed her walkie-talkie and passed the message along.
We started moving toward it right away.
I’d barely crossed into the next Carriage when everything went dark around me.
My phone buzzed twice.
A notification popped up: “Positioning signal weak. Recalibrating location…”
My stomach dropped.
The train had entered a tunnel.
Not just the GPS—my cell signal flickered and died too.
I groped forward in the blackness, too scared to stop.
The next station was coming right after this tunnel.
What if?
What if it was the worst possible outcome?
I couldn’t let myself think it.
“Hey, watch it!”
“You stepped on me!”
“What’s the rush—late for your own funeral?”
Passengers snapped at me as I bumped past them, but I didn’t stop.
The tunnel dragged on for two full minutes.
When daylight finally returned, I’d reached the door to the sixth Carriage.
Miaomiao was inside.
I kicked the door open.
Everyone jumped.
“Miaomiao? Miaomiao?!”
“Miaomiao, where are you? Big Brother’s here—come out!”
My eyes scanned every corner.
Seats, bathroom, connection area, even the overhead racks.
I checked everything, end to end.
Blue dress.
Strawberry hair clip.
I kept repeating it in my head, praying she’d pop out any second.
I walked the length three times.
Nothing.
It was impossible.
How could this happen?
A wave of crushing despair hit me so hard I couldn’t breathe.
My vision blurred.
The app had shown this Carriage.
I pushed forward into the next few Carriages, shouting her name like a madman.
Still nothing.
I fumbled for my phone again.
“Target device powered off. Unable to locate.”
Despair swallowed me whole.
I collapsed to the floor.
Before the tunnel, the watch had plenty of battery.
She wouldn’t have turned it off herself.
Was it really human traffickers?
Terror choked me.
The world spun.
Then a familiar voice snapped me out of it.
“What are you doing all the way over here?”
It was the Train Police officer from earlier, face grim.
I lost it.
I grabbed his uniform like it was the only thing keeping me alive.
“Where’s my sister? Did you find anything?”
He flinched, prying my hands off.
“Calm down—I get it, I do.”
“After handling that passenger fight, I contacted the driver immediately to pull the surveillance footage.”
I froze.
The attendant had already requested it for me.
But I still hadn’t heard anything.
“How long does surveillance take? An attendant already put in the request!”
“And I haven’t gotten a single update!”
“Who?” A flash of confusion and alertness crossed his face.
“Just now in Carriage 16, three passengers started fighting. Every attendant was there. Nobody mentioned pulling footage.”