HLM – Chapter 944 Phone Gone

Wang Bo hurriedly pulled up his pants and pushed the door open to look outside. This was a large service area; people were coming and going from the restrooms, bustling and crowded. How could he possibly tell who had stolen his phone?

But after all, he was a police officer—calm and composed. Several ideas came to mind. He first approached someone nearby and said, “Brother, my phone was just stolen. Can I use your phone to make a call? I want to hear where the ringtone is coming from.”

The man, who was smoking, glanced at him and decisively flicked his cigarette butt away and left.

Wang Bo tried asking two more people, but both looked at him as if he were a scammer.

Finally, thinking that the hearts of teenagers are the purest and most enthusiastic, he approached a boy who looked like a middle schooler to borrow a phone.

The boy slipped the phone he was secretly playing with into his pocket and said, “Sorry, I’m still in school. My parents didn’t give me a phone.”

This made Wang Bo furious. Trust between people?!

He could only turn to the staff, hoping to check the surveillance cameras. The staff shook their head: “Sorry, sir, we can’t just pull up the surveillance footage. I suggest you report it to the police. If the police deem it necessary, we’ll gladly cooperate and let you view the footage.”

Speed was crucial now. If the thief had already left, tracking him would be difficult. Wang Bo explained this to the staff, but the person responded with a strict adherence to “I’m responsible for following the rules.” No matter what he said, without approval from leadership or a police request, the footage wouldn’t be viewed.

Someone nearby asked, “What phone are you using?”

“A newly released iPhone.”

“Serves you right! If you’d used a Nokia, let’s see who’d steal it.” The man smirked.

Wang Bo was furious. What kind of logic is that? Using a good phone means you deserve to have it stolen? So does looking good mean you deserve to be coldly ignored by staff? Wang Bo decided to play his trump card. He took out his passport and showed it to the man:

“Hello, sir. I’m a New Zealand expatriate. This trip home is for family visits and investment. The attitude of local security and public staff is quite embarrassing. I believe I need to seek media assistance!”

The staff remained professional and insisted, “Sorry, sir. Our employee regulations require me to follow company rules!”

Seeing this, Wang Bo gave up—he would have to call the police.

He explained the situation, and the service area police accompanied him to view the surveillance footage.

Wang Bo urged, “Hurry, let’s see it now, okay?”

The staff looked troubled. “Sorry, sir… um, our restroom cameras are broken and haven’t been repaired yet…”

All Wang Bo could think was: I really should have bought a watch last year.

The police called his phone, but it had already been forcibly turned off. So all he could do was file a report and wait for an investigation. Without witnesses or camera footage, it would be very difficult to track down.

After leaving his contact information, Wang Bo returned to the car, only to find that Eva and Dale were missing. He guessed they had gone to the supermarket; Dale had been complaining about being thirsty, so he instinctively reached for his phone to call.

It was a habitual motion. Only after putting his hand in his pocket did he remember: the phone was gone!

Wang Bo crouched beside the car, puzzled: Had he not checked the almanac before this trip home? Nothing was going right! Cold, diarrhea, stolen phone…

When Eva returned, she asked, “I tried calling you. Why didn’t you answer? I wanted to ask what you’d like to drink.”

“My phone’s gone,” Wang Bo said, helplessly sitting in the driver’s seat.

Eva was shocked. “Did it fall in the toilet or was it stolen?”

“Stolen,” Wang Bo replied miserably. “Also, don’t even mention the toilet. Now my stomach hurts again. Give me the phone!”

Eva said, “Are you trying to fish using the same method? I don’t think that’ll work.”

“No, I can’t go to the bathroom without using my phone!”

Driving onward, when they reached Feng City, he suddenly panicked. “Where was Old Zhou’s house again? Damn, damn, I don’t remember!”

“Call… never mind. You can contact him on WeChat, right?”

He couldn’t even replace a SIM card while in China. He would have to go back to New Zealand to get a new one, since he used Vodafone, a New Zealand carrier.

Logging into WeChat on a new phone was troublesome. After finally logging in, a flood of messages came through:

“Why haven’t you arrived yet? Didn’t you say you’d definitely be here this morning?”

“What happened to your phone? No one answered your calls?”

“Why are you borrowing money on QQ? Even a rich guy like you needs to borrow money?”

Wang Bo cursed himself for not setting a lock screen password. Now the phone was stolen, and the thief had logged into his apps.

Losing the phone wasn’t the worst part—the iPhone had strong anti-theft functions, and he didn’t care about the money. The problem was that losing the phone made everything so inconvenient.

He updated his status to note the lost phone, bought a temporary phone and SIM card, and downloaded the necessary apps to consolidate information. Finally, he retrieved contact information for a group of classmates.

Zhou Haojie came from a well-off family and lived in the center of Feng City. When Wang Bo arrived, Fan Dong and that Qingyang, among others, were already there.

Upon seeing him, they laughed: “How did you lose your phone?”

Wang Bo replied vaguely, “Haha, someone stole it.”

Dale widened her eyes in curiosity: “Teacher, you didn’t tell the police that. You said you put it on the floor while using the toilet, and it got stolen while you turned around to wipe…”

Wang Bo quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. Everyone had heard, and they burst out laughing.

Song Jiashu didn’t believe it: “No way, Wang Bo, you’re really that unlucky? Losing your phone while wiping—this is too tragic!”

Wang Bo glared. “Enough, enough. Stop laughing. Tell me which rooms are open and where the toilets are.”

“What’s the matter? Angry now?”

“No, I have diarrhea, and I’m uncomfortable. Hurry!”

Zhou Haojie laughed and waved: “Follow me. We’ve already prepared rooms for everyone.”

Before leaving, he added: “Hey Wang Bo, this time you can put your phone anywhere. Nothing gets stolen here.”

“Get lost!”

They had arrived a day early for the wedding. That evening, the college classmates planned to have a drink together.

Zhou Haojie was quite modern—he also wanted to hold a bachelor farewell party.

Though a bachelor party is the last indulgence before marriage, it shouldn’t be too wild. The wedding day would still be exhausting.

Wang Bo thought everyone could just go to a KTV to sing, drink, and reminisce about their college days.

But Zhou Haojie said no—he had something special in mind.

When Wang Bo arrived at the party venue, he was stunned: it was a basketball gym, and a group of people were going to play basketball while drinking beer!