After checking this room, the group immediately went to knock on the door across the hallway.
This time, they also knocked for a long time.
Finally, the door opened a crack: "Who is it?"
The hotel manager bowed obsequiously: "Miss Xu, we have an emergency situation here. Could you please open the door?"
Seeing the person inside, Xiao He raised his eyebrows slightly.
The person behind the door was indeed Xu Youyou!
Xu Youyou wore a thin nightgown, her delicate pale face showing an abnormal pallor. She looked through the door crack at the several people outside, her eyes trembling slightly. After a long silence, she said: "Sorry, it's not convenient right now. What do you need?"
Officer Zhang narrowed his eyes, pressed on the hotel manager's shoulder to signal him to step back, then approached the door crack and took out his badge: "There was an attempted murder case here just now. We suspect the perpetrator escaped into one of the rooms in this hallway. For everyone's safety, including your own, please open the door and let us check."
Simultaneously, he signaled Officer Li beside him to show Xu Youyou his phone screen—
[Is there someone else in your room? If yes, blink twice.]
Xu Youyou looked at the words on the phone screen but remained unmoved, only offering a weak smile: "Thank you for your concern, I'm really quite safe. It's just not convenient right now. Please leave."
Officer Zhang frowned: "This is a dangerous individual armed with a knife. Please cooperate."
However, Xu Youyou's attitude remained firm: "Sorry, no."
"Hey, you—" Officer Li raised his eyebrows, about to scold her harshly, but his mentor glared at him, forcing him to swallow his words.
At that moment, Cheng Hongwen, the shared manager of Ran Yunrui and Xu Youyou, arrived after hearing the news.
"Sorry, officers, my female artist is a bit timid and might have been frightened by your presence. My apologies, my apologies."
Cheng Hongwen, skilled at reading situations, immediately offered apologies while making excuses for Xu Youyou, "She's a female artist and probably cares about her image. Please wait a moment, let me talk to her—"
But just as Cheng Hongwen turned to look at Xu Youyou, she slammed the door shut with a "bang."
Cheng Hongwen: "..."
Others: "..."
Officer Li muttered quietly: "What are we waiting for? He's definitely in there!"
Officer Zhang glanced at him: "So you want to just say it outright and break in by force?"
The perpetrator definitely had a hostage, and doing so would only endanger the hostage.
The situation had become complicated now...
Considering the hostage's safety, Officer Zhang prepared to call for backup.
But Xiao He, after thinking for a moment, quietly retreated from the crowd.
Opening the window at the end of the hallway, Xiao He stretched his body and directly crouched on the windowsill.
Officer Zhang, sharp-eyed, noticed Xiao He's movement and immediately remembered this young man's heroic act of saving people from the fire. He frowned, wanting to stop him, but Xiao He ignored him and directly climbed out the window.
Seeing he couldn't stop him in time, Officer Zhang gritted his teeth and muttered: "...This damn kid."
It was already late at night, the sky outside dark and gloomy. Xiao He's movements weren't conspicuous in the darkness as he quickly climbed toward Xu Youyou's room using the hotel's exposed decorations and balcony edges of different rooms.
Soon, he landed silently on Xu Youyou's room balcony.
Through the faint gap in the curtains, Xiao He saw the people inside.
Indeed, standing before Xu Youyou was exactly the person Xiao He was looking for.
"I've already done what you said," Xu Youyou said in a trembling voice. "Please don't tell anyone about this!"
"That depends on your performance next."
The man threatened in a hoarse voice.
Xiao He crouched down, somewhat puzzled.
What's going on? Had this man caught Xu Youyou with some leverage?
No wonder Xu Youyou's attitude was so strange earlier—she seemed more eager for the police to leave than actually scared.
But why? What could be more important than life itself?
He held his breath and carefully pulled the balcony door.
Fortunately, the glass balcony door was already slightly ajar. Xiao He only needed to widen the gap a bit more to slip through into the room.
The hotel room was very large, with a high-end minimalist living area setup. The nearby table was covered with cosmetics used by female artists, and several pieces of clothing were draped over the nearby sofa. The overall appearance wasn't particularly messy, and the carpet on the floor effectively muffled Xiao He's movements.
Xiao He carefully approached, crouching behind a small sofa and quietly waiting for the right moment.
Perhaps Officer Zhang outside had also calculated the timing, as he began knocking on the door again. The masked man lowered his voice and said to Xu Youyou: "Go open the door. You know what to do next, right?"
Xu Youyou trembled, tears welling in her eyes as she nodded: "I understand."
Then she slowly walked toward the door, with the masked man following a step behind her.
But after just a few steps, a phone ringtone suddenly sounded behind them.
It was Xu Youyou's phone!
This development alerted all three people present, but the masked man quickly relaxed and signaled Xu Youyou to answer the phone first.
Presumably, this call was from someone outside the door.
Xu Youyou bit her lip but finally nodded and walked toward the dining table next to the living area.
Xiao He watched as Xu Youyou stood with her back to him, right in front of him.
He quickly took a deep breath and crawled along the floor to the other side.
What struck Xiao He as strange was that the masked man didn't seem to be paying full attention to Xu Youyou. Instead, he appeared particularly agitated, pacing in place while constantly scratching his neck as if extremely uncomfortable.
But Xiao He didn't have time to observe what was wrong with him. Seizing the opportunity while the two were separated, he decisively struck, quickly darting out.
"Thud—"
Xiao He directly tackled the masked man, using him as a human cushion as they crashed to the floor. Then he pinned the man down and delivered several solid punches to his face.
The masked man had no idea where Xiao He had come from and was caught completely off guard by the attack. Xu Youyou, who was on the phone, simultaneously let out a scream.
"Ah—"
Her voice transmitted through the phone receiver to outside the room. The hotel door was immediately opened by police using the master key provided by the hotel manager. Officer Zhang and Officer Li quickly rushed in with guns drawn.
"Don't move!"
"Police! Everyone freeze!"
Others also poured into the room, and the scene immediately descended into chaos.
While shouting commands loudly, Officer Zhang rushed to Xiao He and the masked man, sharply kicking the knife out of the masked man's hand.
The small knife flew away, landing near the balcony door. Xiao He promptly stopped his assault, raising his hands to show he was "harmless," cooperating by moving aside to let Officer Zhang restrain the suspect.
"Are you okay?"
Officer Zhang asked Xiao He while efficiently handcuffing the masked man.
"I'm fine," Xiao He replied.
The masked man finally recovered from the several righteous iron fists Xiao He had delivered and began struggling violently. His gaze at Xiao He seemed to condense into tangible flames, filled with extreme anger and resentment. But Xiao He just smiled at him and flashed a provocative middle finger.
"Behave!" Officer Zhang unceremoniously handcuffed the masked man's other hand and pulled off his mask. Looking at the excessively gaunt face, he suddenly frowned.
"Student Xiao, do you know him?"
Actually, Xiao He had already guessed the man's identity, but he couldn't very well say he deduced it based on wound patterns and the weapon—that would be too strange for a college student. So he decisively shook his head: "I don't know him. He just came at me trying to stab me—I'm completely confused!"
Officer Zhang stared at the man, thoughtful: "I see—"
He felt this guy looked somewhat familiar.
He began carefully checking the man's pockets.
In the end, he only found a phone and an empty ziplock bag.
Officer Zhang examined the ziplock bag, carefully feeling the residual powder inside, his expression changing slightly.
Simultaneously, the man on the floor suddenly began convulsing.
"Cough—ahhh—"
His actions startled everyone, even Xiao He stepped back several paces, watching the man on the floor warily.
"Hiss hiss hiss, uncomfortable, so uncomfortable—"
Officer Zhang restrained the man's movements, holding his face to examine it carefully, then ordered Officer Li in a grave tone: "Xiao Li, call an ambulance. This person is probably having drug withdrawal symptoms."
As these words were spoken, Cheng Hongwen, who had been talking to Xu Youyou, immediately fell silent. Others who had come to watch the commotion—Liu Rulan, the hotel manager, and Ma Qianyou—also didn't dare speak.
This was no joking matter—it involved drugs!
If this got entangled with them, things would become seriously complicated!