I was a rookie reporter in the 00s

Chapter 287 Missing Mist

The time travel has been put on hold for the time being. Professor Ma will continue to research and experiment until he comes up with a new method and then find Zhang Wanqing, Fu Siyuan and Li Wei to conduct the experiment.

Night once again enveloped the bustling city. Inside the newspaper office, dimly lit, Zhang Wanqing sat at her computer, fingers clacking rapidly on the keyboard, sorting through recent case files. Fu Siyuan leaned back in his chair, his eyes focused on a document, his brow furrowed in thought. Li Wei stood by the window, gazing at the bustling traffic outside, his arms folded across his chest, seemingly lost in thought.

"Wanqing, take a look at this." Fu Siyuan suddenly spoke and handed over the document in his hand.

Zhang Wanqing took the document, glanced at it, and frowned slightly: "Is this a missing person case?"

"Yes." Fu Siyuan nodded. "The missing person is named Chen Xiao, an ordinary office worker. According to his family, he never returned home after working overtime last Friday night, and his phone has been turned off the entire time."

"Aren't there a lot of cases like this? The police should have intervened." Zhang Wanqing asked doubtfully.

"The police have indeed intervened, but there are no clues at the moment. Moreover, Chen Xiao's family feels that this matter is a bit strange and hopes that we can help investigate," Fu Siyuan explained.

Zhang Wanqing was silent for a moment, then raised her head and looked at Li Wei: "Brother Wei, what do you think?"

Li Wei turned around, his eyes deep. "This kind of case may seem ordinary, but it often hides unknown secrets. We can start with Chen Xiao's company and see if he has done anything unusual recently."

The three of them quickly reached an agreement and decided to go to Chen Xiao's company to investigate early the next morning.

The next day, the sun shone through the clouds onto the earth, bringing a touch of warmth to the city. The three of them arrived at Chen Xiao's company, an ordinary technology company located in an office building in the city center.

At the company's front desk, they identified themselves and hoped to learn about Chen Xiao's situation. The receptionist hesitated, but after seeing their ID, she took them to see Chen Xiao's supervisor.

Chen Xiao's boss was a middle-aged man who looked a little tired. After listening to the three people's purpose, he sighed and said, "Chen Xiao is a good employee, conscientious and responsible at work, and there's nothing unusual going on normally. However, things have been a bit turbulent at the company lately. Several projects have run into problems, and everyone is under a lot of pressure."

"There's a problem with the project?" Fu Siyuan keenly caught this sentence. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"Recently, an important project of our company suddenly encountered a technical failure, causing the project progress to lag seriously. Moreover, we suspect that someone is behind the scenes and deliberately sabotaging the project." The boss's face turned a little ugly.

"Someone deliberately sabotaged the project?" Zhang Wanqing frowned. "Have you ever suspected Chen Xiao?"

The boss shook his head. "No, Chen Xiao is an honest man. He wouldn't do such a thing. Besides, he's been working overtime recently just to catch up on the project."

The three of them didn't get much useful information from their boss, but the project issues mentioned by Chen Xiao's boss made them feel that something was wrong.

"Let's go to Chen Xiao's office." Li Wei suggested.

Chen Xiao's office was in a corner of the company, filled with office supplies and documents. The three carefully examined Chen Xiao's desk, hoping to find some clues.

At this moment, Zhang Wanqing's eyes fell on a folder that was placed in the corner of her desk, looking a little out of place. She walked over, picked up the folder, and opened it. Inside was some project information, but the top sheet of paper caught her attention.

It was a handwritten note with a single line of text on it: "Be careful, someone is watching you."

"Wanqing, what's wrong?" Fu Siyuan saw that Zhang Wanqing's expression was a little strange, so he walked over and asked.

Zhang Wanqing handed the note to Fu Siyuan and Li Wei. The three of them looked at each other, feeling a little uneasy.

"It seems that the matter is not simple." Li Wei said in a deep voice, "We have to be careful. Maybe Chen Xiao's disappearance is related to this project."

The three of them left the company with the note, their hearts filled with doubts. What was the connection between Chen Xiao's disappearance and this project? Who wrote the note? They were filled with questions, but the only thing they knew for sure was that there must be a dark secret behind this case.

After returning to the newspaper office, the three told their colleagues in the editorial department about the note. Everyone felt that the case was a bit suspicious. The editorial department decided to support their investigation and let them go all out.

Over the next few days, the three began to investigate the case. They first contacted Chen Xiao's family to learn about his personal life. Chen Xiao's family members stated that he lived a regular life, had no bad habits, and had no conflicts with anyone.

"What do you think? Could it be that there's a problem with that project that put Chen Xiao in danger?" Zhang Wanqing offered her own thoughts.

"It's possible." Fu Siyuan nodded. "That project involves the interests of the company. If someone deliberately sabotages the project, some interest groups might be implicated."

"Then we have to be careful." Li Wei reminded, "This kind of case often involves some dark forces, we can't take it lightly."

The three decided to investigate the specifics of that project. They first approached the project leader to learn about its progress and any problems it encountered. The leader explained that the project had indeed encountered some technical challenges, but they were not insurmountable. He also found the idea of ​​someone intentionally sabotaging the project somewhat unbelievable.

"Have you noticed anything unusual?" Zhang Wanqing asked.

The project leader thought for a moment, then said, "Some strange things have happened recently. Our company's server has been experiencing frequent failures, resulting in the loss of project data. Furthermore, we discovered that someone was secretly accessing project data."

"Someone was secretly looking through the project information?" Fu Siyuan's eyes lit up. "Have you found out who it was?"

The project manager shook his head. "No, we checked the surveillance footage, but didn't find any suspicious individuals. However, we suspect someone within the company leaked the information."

"Someone inside the company leaked information?" Zhang Wanqing frowned. "Have you ever suspected Chen Xiao?"

The project manager shook his head. "No, Chen Xiao is a good employee. He wouldn't do such a thing. Besides, he's been working overtime recently just to catch up on the project."

The three did not get much useful information from the project leader, but the server failure and data leakage mentioned by the project leader made them feel that something was wrong.

"We need to check the company's server." Li Wei suggested.