Chapter 12 The Trap We Set
After realizing the carriage cameras had been deliberately damaged, I was certain where Miaomiao was.
Right here in our own carriage.
More precisely, inside someone’s luggage.
I had already searched everywhere else. There was simply no other place to hide her.
But I couldn’t risk alerting them. I didn’t want Miaomiao to get hurt even more.
So I asked the Train Police and the train crew to put on an act.
The drunk man who had suddenly hit someone? He was actually a male train attendant in disguise.
The whole point was to draw out the black-faced man.
And the Train Police showing up? That was meant to spook the rest of the group.
Sure enough, once the black-faced man was taken away, the accomplice couldn’t sit still.
She tried to move the suitcase with Miaomiao inside. We caught her red-handed.
“Young man, you’re something else,” a Train Police officer said, full of curiosity. “But how exactly did you figure out the traffickers were in the same carriage as you?”
“To damage the cameras inside a carriage, you need a high-powered laser pointer—held close,” I explained. “If they weren’t in our carriage, they couldn’t have done it.”
“Besides, we checked the footage from the other carriages. Everything was normal there.”
“If they had stayed in another carriage, they would’ve been caught on camera. That would’ve been too risky for them.”
“I see!”
The people around us finally understood.
But one of the older Train Police officers still looked puzzled.
“Then how did you know there were more accomplices still on the train?”
I let out a long breath.
“It was too strange. That woman trafficker who got off at the previous stop—she behaved way too oddly.”
“If she had really succeeded, she should’ve left as fast as possible and handed my sister over to someone else.”
“But she didn’t. Instead, she stood there taunting me as she got off.”
“She was trying to make me lose my head and follow her down.”
“If I had stepped off the train, I would’ve lost contact with everyone else. It would’ve just been me.”
“And Miaomiao, left alone on the train, would’ve had no chance.”
Thinking back on it, a chill ran through me again.
If the Train Police hadn’t stopped me at the very last second…
I would’ve walked straight into their trap without realizing it.
Miaomiao would’ve been taken away for good.
But thankfully, we made it in time.
Just as we were about to leave, the older Train Police officer pulled me aside.
“There’s one more thing I forgot to ask. How did you first suspect that black-faced man?”
I glanced around, then leaned in closer.
“You saw Miaomiao just now. Did you notice anything… off about her?”
He thought for a moment and shook his head.
“There was a very faint jasmine scent on her. Did you smell it?”
His eyes widened. He immediately understood and gave my shoulder a firm pat.
Yes. My sense of smell has always been sharper than most people’s.
When Miaomiao first disappeared, I was panicking. My mind went blank. I couldn’t think straight.
But once I realized the cameras had been sabotaged on purpose, everything clicked.
I went back and re-examined every detail I had overlooked before.
The clues surfaced one by one.
The four of us walked out of the police station together.
Dad lit a cigarette. His eyes were deep and serious as he stepped closer to me.
“I owe you an apology. I was wrong to kick you like that.”
“I was just frantic. How about you kick me back? Then we’re even.”
I looked at his awkward, guilty expression. I started laughing—and then I was crying.
“Dad, I don’t blame you at all. If you hadn’t kicked me, I’d never forgive myself for the rest of my life.”
He froze for a second. Then he burst out laughing.
The sedative in Miaomiao’s system finally wore off. She bounced back to her usual lively self.
“Big Brother, didn’t we say we were going to your university? Why did we get off early?”
“Are we still going?”
Miaomiao looked up at Mom with big, pitiful eyes, afraid she was being sent home for being naughty again.
“Hahaha, of course we’re still going!” Mom said brightly. “Mom and Dad wanted to come with you, so we’re all here together!”
“Really? Then where did my hair go? Did my braids get sent home because they were naughty?”
Miaomiao finally noticed her little braids were gone. Her small face filled with confusion.
Mom gently patted her head, laughing softly.
The dark cloud hanging over our family slowly began to lift.
But one question still gnawed at me.
Miaomiao had only gone to the bathroom. How exactly had the traffickers managed to drug her and take her away?