After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, My Omega Underwent a Second Differentiation - Chapter 20.2

Now was not the time to indulge in beauty.

Although Yun Rong had only glanced once, she was still so captivated that she nearly could not pull her gaze back. Even so, she handed the photo to the lead bodyguard and told him to notify the people in the surveillance room to check the security footage of the entire film base as quickly as possible, especially the places where Sheng Yinglan had been filming and the areas near this standby room.

Then she returned the phone to the costume staff member from earlier.

“Usually, after filming is finished, aren’t the costumes supposed to be changed out of immediately? I heard that all of her scenes today were already finished in the late afternoon. Why did you only remember at this time?”

When Yun Rong had first entered, she had caught a few words from the crowd and knew that Sheng Yinglan’s scenes should have ended long ago.

Her tone did not contain much interrogation, but because time kept passing, and it had already gone completely dark outside, her heart was extremely anxious. Naturally, her tone could not be considered good either.

The young costume staff member looked very young, probably not long out in society. How could she have ever seen such a scene? Hearing Yun Rong speak, she thought the other woman was suspecting her and hurriedly explained.

“Today… today, two filming groups were working nonstop. The workload was pretty… pretty heavy. When Teacher Sheng finished in the afternoon, the east-side costume room was a little busy, so we asked her to wait here for a while first. But when we were done and came over, we didn’t see Teacher Sheng. We thought maybe she had something to do. Then… then we forgot about it, until just now, when everyone finished work and we had to count the clothes. Only then did we remember…”

The young girl was nearly frightened to tears.

How could she have imagined that because of her momentary negligence, a living person would vanish just like that?

Yun Rong had no mental space to pursue responsibility right now. She had already begun trying her best to simulate Sheng Yinglan’s movements that afternoon, hoping to find even the faintest clue.

Sheng Yinglan had been wearing very heavy armor, waiting in the standby room for someone to help her change.

During this period, unless it was something extremely important, she would not move around in that outfit.

And the standby room showed no trace of struggle at all. Clearly, Sheng Yinglan had left on her own.

What reason would make her voluntarily walk out of this room while wearing that heavy armor?

Obviously—

Yun Rong suddenly realized.

“You said the east-side costume room earlier? Aside from this costume room today, do you have another costume room?”

She abruptly turned toward the costume staff member, catching a certain word in what she had just said.

At this moment, Xiao Yuanxi suddenly slapped her forehead, as if remembering something, and hurriedly came closer.

“There’s another costume room in the west building. Because the space is bigger, it was used as the changing room for extras. I even mentioned it to Sheng Yinglan this morning…”

“But that changing room was only rented for this morning.”

Before Xiao Yuanxi could finish, Director Wang added a sentence.

At the same time, Yun Rong’s phone rang.

Seeing that it was Shang Luo calling, she hurriedly answered.

“Did you find her?”

She knew there were many surveillance cameras in the film base, and checking them would be very difficult, but she still hoped to hear good news from Shang Luo.

“The surveillance near the west building shows that not long ago, Sheng Yinglan entered the building wearing the armor from the photo you sent me. She still hasn’t come out. But because most of the rooms in that building are dark rooms and people don’t often go there, there’s no surveillance inside the building. We can’t track her exact location.”

Dark rooms?

When Yun Rong heard those two words, the tightly stretched string in her mind suddenly snapped.

“Bring everyone and follow me to the west building. Pry open every dark room, one by one.”

She gave the order to the lead bodyguard, then turned and ran toward the west building. At the same time, she instructed Shang Luo over the phone.

“She’s afraid of the dark. She may have been locked inside. I need a professional doctor. Quickly.”

Shang Luo had originally thought that as long as the person was still inside the building, nothing too serious should happen.

But now, hearing Yun Rong’s slightly trembling voice and the emotions she was forcibly suppressing, she realized Sheng Yinglan was not merely afraid of the dark. There might be some kind of stress reaction too.

She hurriedly promised, “I’ll contact doctors and get them ready right now. I’ll go over and meet you. Once we find her, we’ll take her to the hospital immediately.”

The bodyguards who had originally packed the corridor and the room so tightly suddenly withdrew completely, leaving the remaining people staring at each other.

The costume staff member seemed to finally return to her senses.

“Director Wang, should we follow and help look for her?”

The young girl had never seen such a scene before. Seeing that Yun Rong seemed to have found some clue, she thought that more people meant more strength and wanted to go help.

After being reminded by her, Director Wang thought the same. He hurriedly called over a few young, strong men and followed them toward the west building.

Xiao Yuanxi also wanted to follow.

After all, she could now be considered Sheng Yinglan’s friend. And Sheng Yinglan had gotten into trouble while filming her MV. Emotionally and logically, she should go over to take a look.

But her phone rang at that moment.

Xiao Yuanxi originally did not want to answer, but after seeing the caller ID, she hesitated and still picked up.

“Don’t follow. Stay away from Yun Rong. Stay away from Sheng Yinglan too. Don’t get involved in this matter.”

The other person seemed to be monitoring her, knowing what she was about to do. They simply gave the order directly, their tone very severe.

After saying what they wanted to say, they did not wait for Xiao Yuanxi to react and hung up.

Because of the other person’s stern warning, Xiao Yuanxi did not dare act rashly. She could only send Director Wang a message, asking him to let her know once they found Sheng Yinglan.

The anti-theft door of the dark room was thick and heavy.

Sheng Yinglan mechanically struck it again and again with her arm, trying to make someone passing by notice that there was someone inside.

At first, Sheng Yinglan could still hear the thudding knocks.

But before long, her senses seemed to be sealed away. The sound grew smaller and smaller.

Whether she bit her lip or desperately slammed her whole body against the door, she could no longer feel pain, nor could she maintain absolute clarity.

Her wide-open nose and mouth could not even feel fresh oxygen flowing into her lungs.

That familiar sensation of detachment assaulted her again.

Sheng Yinglan coldly watched the changes that had just frozen in midair, as if someone had pressed play with a ding.

The space she was in was shrinking proportionally. The surrounding walls and the solid anti-theft door gradually turned into thin wooden boards.

The originally spacious, dark room became a narrow, cramped wooden cabinet that enveloped her entire body.

Everything around her became very quiet, like a film that had suddenly gone from audio and video to silent mime.

She saw her own hands constantly becoming smaller. Her long fingers gradually shortened. Her fair knuckles gained a dark, dull color.

Her delicate features suddenly became blurry. Her beautiful long hair was messy and disheveled, blocking her palm-sized little face.

The elbow bone that had originally been smooth and unscarred had somehow protruded from her arm, covered in dripping blood.

In an instant, she had once again become that weak little girl curled up in the cabinet many years ago.

The rotten, stinking smell of wood invaded every inch of her body. Like an invisible blade, it sliced away all the disguises she had worn over an invisible blade, it sliced away all the disguises she had worn over the years, cut by cut, until the most original version of herself was exposed again.

She curled up her body, squeezed inside the narrow wooden cabinet.

Her eyes were clearly open, but all she saw was darkness.

From outside the cabinet came noisy arguing and the sounds of things being smashed.

Separated by the cabinet, those sounds should have been unclear, yet they were like saws beside her ear, tearing at her flesh again and again.

Her body hurt.

Her wounds hurt.

The places where she had been hit hurt.

It was a pain like being pierced by needles, seeping from her bones and gnawing away at her heart little by little.

She was almost unable to hold back from crying out, but as if she were afraid of something, she covered her mouth and did not dare make a sound.

Her short, round nails had already dug into her flesh, yet she clung desperately to the wooden board in front of her.

It seemed that only by doing this could she endure a little longer, and then a little longer still.

Sheng Yinglan seemed like a detached soul, watching herself curl up there.

She wanted very much to go closer and hug herself, but she could not move in the slightest.

When Yun Rong arrived at the west building, the property management staff had already arrived and were using keys to open each dark room one by one.

She thought they were too slow, so she had the keys for each floor separated and followed a group up to the floor where the costume room was located.

If the other party had used an information gap to trick Sheng Yinglan, they would definitely not choose a place too far away. After all, there would be a risk of being exposed.

Sure enough, the west building’s costume room was completely empty. The door was open, and there was not even half a person inside.

Seeing this scene, Yun Rong did not feel happy because she had guessed correctly.

After all, she remembered how, a few days ago, even when the light inside the elevator was still on, Sheng Yinglan had nearly lost control at the door of her own home.

And now, some time had already passed since Sheng Yinglan disappeared.

She did not even dare think too deeply.

What would happen if Sheng Yinglan was locked alone in a dark room where one could not see their hand in front of their face?

The staff were opening the doors one by one.

It seemed they had been instructed before coming and knew that something serious had happened, so they did not dare delay at all.

Yun Rong did not want to sit and wait. Starting from the other direction, she knocked hard on the doors of the dark rooms one by one, calling Sheng Yinglan’s name.

She hoped to hear movement from behind a door.

She also hoped Sheng Yinglan could hear her voice and hold on.

But door after door was opened.

Light after light was turned on.

The dim scenes inside were revealed, yet aside from all kinds of miscellaneous items, not even half a person could be seen.

Yun Rong’s voice had already gone somewhat hoarse. The force of knocking had shaken half of her arm numb, but she still did not give up.

She searched room by room.

All the dark rooms on one side of the corridor had already been opened, and they had found nothing.

At this moment, Yun Rong had already run to the last dark room on the opposite side.

Although she was moving quickly, as her peripheral vision swept past the corner, she caught sight of a dark room hidden in the corner that had nearly been forgotten.

There were traces on the door where something pasted on it had been torn off.

As if sensing something, she quickly stepped forward and slammed the door hard several times.

“Sheng Yinglan! Sheng Yinglan! Are you inside?”

The tremendous force shook Sheng Yinglan, who was leaning against the anti-theft door, back to herself slightly.

She seemed to hear someone calling her name from a very distant place.

The voice was very familiar, but for a moment, she could not remember who it was.

Only when the voice outside the door sounded twice more did she realize that the owner of the voice seemed to be Teacher Yun.

At this point, Sheng Yinglan’s consciousness was already blurry. Instinctively, she used all her strength to knock on the door twice.

Just as Yun Rong thought it was another illusion, she heard a weak knocking sound from inside.

“Someone! Someone! She’s here!”

She shouted toward the people in the distance, telling them to bring the keys over.

Meanwhile, she spoke softly to the person inside the door.

“Sheng Yinglan, you’re not allowed to sleep. Do you hear me? I already found you. I’m right outside the door. You’ll be able to see me soon. You can’t sleep, understand? Hold on a little longer. Just a little longer…”

Sheng Yinglan’s eyelids were already very, very heavy. Instinctively, she wanted to close them, but the person outside the door kept refusing to let her sleep.

Teacher Yun’s voice sounded so nice.

It was just a little anxious.

Bang.

Something seemed to make a sound.

Then Sheng Yinglan narrowed her unfocused eyes.

She seemed to have returned to the day she first met Teacher Yun, when Teacher Yun had lit a lamp for her in that narrow prop room.