Chapter 162 - What Kind of Person Is He?

Chapter 162 What Kind of Person Is He?

Tang Xia got more and more nervous as she thought about this and didn’t know what to do. She took some time to find the office where Chu Tiankuo had worked and broke in without even knocking at the door.

The whole world became strange. There was nobody stopping her as she burst into the president’s office.

A middle-aged man was going through some files in his seat and was startled when he saw her break in hurriedly.

He was in a business suit but looked obese because of his bloated figure and potbelly. Instead of giving others a feeling of being too fat, he had a look of a successful businessman on account of his nicely featured face.

“What do you want? Why did you break into my office all of a sudden?” The middle-aged man calmed down quickly. He frowned and questioned Tang Xia, who had burst in suddenly.

Tang Xia couldn’t think of anything else. She looked blank and kept asking, “Where’s Chu Tiankuo? Have you seen Chu Tiankuo?”

She looked around and searched every corner of the president’s office where someone could hide but didn’t see the familiar, tall figure from her memory.

The middle-aged man watched her act in bewilderment, but didn’t stop her.

Tang Xia was in despair because she couldn’t find Chu Tiankuo anywhere. Her eyes, which used to be so vigorous, now became like a pool of stagnant water without any waves in it.

The president’s office remained unchanged, but Chu Tiankuo was missing.

The cabinet was as brown as before, where the books that Chu Tiankuo had read lay peacefully. And the sky outside of the French window was as bright as usual. Everything was so usual.

But she felt something was wrong, awfully wrong.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on the middle-aged man beside her. She approached him and asked, “Have you seen Chu Tiankuo? He’s missing.”

“Chu Tiankuo? Who’s Chu Tiankuo?” The middle-aged mand was puzzled. “I never heard of such a person in the company. Is this woman a maniac?”

He sized Tang Xia up and down. She wore a floral dress with her hair tied back, looking unadorned and in good taste, which was certainly not what a maniac should look like.

In front of him was a nice-looking girl, after all. So the middle-aged man coughed slightly and explained in an amicable voice, “Miss, I think you’ve made a mistake. There are about 100 employees in our company, but I have never heard of anyone named Chu Tiankuo.”

“What?” The spectators in the broadcast room were in an uproar, not knowing what had happened.

“How did Chu Tiankuo disappear without a reason?”

“What are we here for now that the hero has gone?”

A cat that never has dried fish: “That’s awful. What should Xiaxia do now that Chu Tiankuo has disappeared?”

Beauty Li: “That’s so horrible, thinking that a living person should have disappeared suddenly! That’s too horrible.”

The longer my net name is, the more handsome I am: “I think maybe there appears to be a bug in the system! That’s not in line with the script!”

A fickle lot: “Yes. I agree with the last poster.”

Please @ me if you see a beauty: “Isn’t there someone who can handle this system crash?”

Bowknot: “Ah! Manager Chu! My Manager Chu, where the hell have you gone?”

…

Tang Xia sat on the ground helplessly after hearing the middle-aged man’s words. She felt full of regret now for letting Chu Tiankuo go then.

Would there be a different ending if she had forced him to stay, say, impudently?

The scenes in which Chu Tiankuo had been so nice to her began flooding into her mind: giving her medicine when she had sprained her foot, helping vent her anger, and attending her when she had been abandoned by Jiang Yuecheng and ill…

He was such a good man. Why hadn’t she stopped him then?

“Tang Xia, you stupid fool. You’ve planned and schemed so much, but you lost the most important one in the end!”

Tang Xia sat on the ground feebly and held her legs in her arms as if all her energy had been taken away.

“It’s all my fault. Chu Tiankuo… where the hell are you?”

The receptionist had said that their president’s name was not Chu Tiankuo, while now the middle-aged man in front of her also told her that there was no such a person named Chu Tiankuo in the company.

He was nowhere to be found. Had he holed up?

“No, he couldn’t have holed up.” She remembered the serious look on the receptionist’s face and thought this couldn’t be fake.

Chu Tiankuo was like a gust of wind and disappeared all of a sudden. Even everything related to him in the world also changed its appearance.

“Then there’s only one possibility.” Tang Xia bit her lips. “Chu Tiankuo has vanished!”

The world in her eyes turned grey as that notion came to her mind.

Tang Xia looked up and saw a line of words in the sky ahead: “Mission success. Miss Tang Xia, please leave the virtual world right away because this world is going to collapse. 60 minutes remaining, starting now!”

Though feeling a void in her heart, Tang Xia was not that foolish. She turned back and looked again at the seat where Chu Tiankuo used to sit, and then clicked the “Quit” button without hesitation.

She returned back to the real world in about one minute.

There had been a mass of remarks on the screen, most of which were about what had happened to Tang Xia and why would Chu Tiankuo disappear.

Dancing’s my dream: “What happened to Xiaxia? Why did you close the live show after Chu Tiankuo’s disappearance?”

I fell in love with a dog: “Isn’t there any authority declaration? What’s wrong? I’m just curious about this.”

You’re the glimmer: “Manager Chu. I’m calling for Manager Chu.”

Blah, blah, blah…: “I think this is a trick played by the company. Don’t be fooled, people. We can win as long as we keep calm!”

Upstairs and downstairs: “I agree with the last poster.”

The God of Truth shows up: “Personally, I think Chu Tiankuo’s sudden disappearance makes sense. Maybe the company had appointed him to another broadcast room. Believe me, don’t panic. A living person wouldn’t vanish from the Earth.”

Xiaxia’s my Goddess: “Keep calm, Xiaxia, we’re in favor of you.”

Your lies: “If Manager Chu really did vanish, I’ll bombard the company. Stand up, Chu Army!”

…

Tang Xia went through some indifferent remarks. But the remarks were sent so fast by the spectators that her eyes became tired, so she turned off the computer to breathe fresh air by the window.

She grabbed and took a drink of a bottle of mineral water that had been placed on the table. But her eyes were still aching so much. She wondered if Chu Tiankuo had been appointed to another broadcast room like the spectators had said.

She hoped so, or it would be useless even if she were killed by Malaysians because the female fans of Chu Tiankuo would curse her to death.

She thought for a while and decided, as the broadcast room’s hostess, she should not go away. She went back as she thought of this and typed a long paragraph of words to pacify the fans.

“Please keep calm. I’m not clear about what has happened, either. But I swear that Chu Tiankuo will be ok! I’ll report everything truthfully to you in the coming days.”

The fans calmed down when they saw Tang Xia’s declaration.

Late, late, late, late: “We believe in you. Cheer up. Brother Tiankuo will be alright since God protects the good!”

A female fan of Chu Tiankuo: “We believe in you now that you have pledged. I hope that you won’t let the Chu Army down!”

The authority must be a fool: “Xiaxia, stop hesitating. Call the company and ask what’s happening now! As the heroine, you are qualified to ask the company where Chu Tiankuo has gone!”

My left foot is hurt: “I agree with the last poster. And the company’s hotline is: 666-3836.”

Tang Xia moved the mouse and got the idea. That’s right, how could she forget the authority? She turned off the computer and was about to call the authority.

But before she could find the authority’s number, there came a series of numbers on her screen that she was familiar with. It was the authority’s number.

“They are calling me,” Tang Xia thought. Then she quickly clicked the answer key.

“Hello. Is this Miss Tang Xia? I’m Li Yue, a senior officer of the broadcast room in the time-travel company. Now July is inviting you to his office to have a talk, which is expected to start in 30 minutes. Please arrive on time.”

The senior officer was about to hang up after saying these words. Tang Xia was afraid that she might hang up so she said hurriedly, “Wait, wait, wait!”

The senior officer paused and asked in a pleasant voice, “What’s wrong, Miss Tang?”

“I have a question. Where on earth has Chu Tiankuo been? I suppose you should know this as an official. The spectators in the broadcast room have gone crazy.”

The senior officer smiled gently and replied, “Miss Tang, July will give you the answer then. I’m just responsible for setting up the meeting and can’t tell you so much.”

Tang Xia understood what the senior officer meant. She looked down and said, “All right, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

July seldom invited her because, after all, she was just a fresh anchor. And there were people who had worked here in the Time-travel Broadcast Space for a lifetime without seeing the chief inspector, July. So, was this good fortune or misfortune?

But now, she was exhausted. She took a quick shower and changed into another female business suit that was relatively more formal. As usual, she tied back her hair, leaving only curly earlocks on both sides. Then she put on a pair of black high-heeled shoes.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Tang Xia was quite satisfied with the way she was dressed, which gave her the look of a cosmopolitan lady.

She had to wear appropriate clothing because it was a rather formal thing to meet with July.

But she still felt nervous in her mind no matter how nice-looking and appropriate her clothing was.

She took a taxi and headed straight for the Time-travel Broadcast Space company. Looking at the sky in the taxi, which was as beautiful as that in the virtual world, she felt at a loss.

“Chu Tiankuo, you must be ok!”

When she arrived at the foot of the Time-travel Broadcast Space company, a specialized employee guided her. They made numerous turns and took a lift to about the 80th floor before being told that July was just behind the door in front of her.

Then the guide left.

She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

A cold voice came out the instant she had opened the door. “Have you arrived?”

She kept her head down and uttered, “Hmm,” in fear.

“Do you know what kind of person Chu Tiankuo is?”