"Ms. Winston, come down quickly. Your student Daniel Murphy is lost!"

The large conference room suddenly fell silent, and then exploded.

I rushed from the third floor to the school's entrance, holding my breath. I was as fast as I could walk.

When the teacher on duty, Mr. Evans, saw me, he was happy on his face, wanting to come forward but not daring to break through the crowd of parents.

Daniel's Dad was already frantic with anxiety, with anxiety Mr. Evans like a raging lion.

"Where is my son? My son was fine this morning, and your school actually lost him?"

Daniel's Mom had already cried her eyes out, and the baby in her arms started crying too.

In an instant, my scalp went numb.

Because I also had two kids.

If my kids were lost...

I couldn't even think about it.

I hurriedly asked the situation and we had to hurry to find him.

Mr. Evans said that Daniel's Dad couldn't find the child in the team and was anxious at that time.

"Later, all the children in the campus were picked up, but Daniel was not seen. I know you guys are having a grade-level team meeting today and you definitely won't be keeping your child for tutoring, so..."

Mr. Evans bit his lip and didn't dare to finish his words.

But we were all a little panicked.

For first-grade children who had only been in school for two months, it was indeed unlikely that he would dare to break away from the class team and run around.

But we still needed to investigate.

The principal Mr. Klein and all the teachers immediately divided the work and conducted a carpet-style search, with each person assigned to the football field, basketball court, vegetable garden, and bicycle shed.

I stayed with Mr. Evans to comfort the parents.

"By the way, check the ping-pong table, the library, and every floor's classrooms again after unlocking them!"

When Daniel's Dad saw me, he slightly restrained his collapsing emotions and talked to me about the difficulties of raising Daniel.

"He is just a little kid. He needs to drink milk, read books, order school uniforms, and pay for meals... Ah, but now he's lost. Ms. Winston, can you imagine how worried I am?"

The child in Daniel's Mom's arms spat out the pacifier and then cried, as if to support his father's words.

My back was sweating but I forced myself to stay calm.

"Daniel's Dad, let's search the campus first. If we can't find him, we'll go to the nearby shops and ask. If we find any suspicious clues, we'll report to the Education Bureau and the police station immediately."

Looking at the time, it had been half an hour since school ended. Anything could have happened in thirty minutes.

Daniel's Mom finally managed to stop crying and came over, sobbing.

"Ms. Winston, we can't lose this child. He's the first grandson of the Murphy family. He's so precious!"

Of course, he was precious!

Whose children weren't precious?

As a teacher, it was okay for students to have poor grades. But if there were safety issues, I would be uneasy for the rest of my life!

The phone rang.

The intern teacher in charge of guarding the class this afternoon finally called back!

"Ms. Lopez, for the two classes this afternoon, is there anything unusual about Daniel, the child who wears glasses and sits in the second row, fourth seat from the entrance?"

Ms. Lopez was a graduate of the Normal University this year. I didn't know how she found me and came to our school for an internship. She said she wanted to study how quality education should be carried out in a school that was almost for children of migrant workers.

The principal didn't even finish listening to her thesis direction before asking the teachers to applaud and welcome the new member.

After all, we were seriously understaffed.

After helping her recall Daniel's appearance for a while, the teachers returned to the school entrance one after another.

The faces of disappointment and anxiety stabbed my heart.

Six-and-a-half-year-old Daniel disappeared in the campus like this!

"Check the surveillance! See where the child was last seen!"

The onlookers were anxious and helped with suggestions.

"The school's surveillance has been broken for three days!" Daniel's Mom explained, the corners of her eyes looking even redder against the gold earrings.

It was just such bad luck!

Our school installed a face recognition system as requested by the higher-ups. The construction company accidentally dug up the buried wires underground, and the surveillance had been down for three days.

On Monday, the principal emphasized at the school meeting that the surveillance had been broken for the past two days. Students should pay attention to safety. After being sent to the school by their parents, they should go directly into the school and not linger at the school gate. I also repeatedly emphasized at the class meeting that the children should line up at the school gate after school and wait for their parents to pick them up, and not run around!

I was still thinking about where the child might have gone while Daniel's Mom couldn't hold it anymore. She handed the child to his father, then threw herself on the ground and started rolling!

"The school lost my child. Give my child back to me! If you can't, I will sue you at the Education Bureau! You even have a broken surveillance camera!"

"Daniel's Mom, don't worry. We are looking for him and will definitely give you an explanation!"

The principal's voice was drowned in Daniel's Mom's crying without a doubt.

Daniel's Dad's chest heaved violently. He scanned around, and then lifted the chair at the entrance of the security room and smashed it heavily. The chair shattered into pieces in front of the teachers!

"Let me tell you, if you don't give me back my son, none of you will get away with it!"

The security guard who went to inquire nearby hurried back, wanting to pull Daniel's Dad away, but ultimately lacking the courage to do so.

To be honest, I was really scared for that minute!

I was afraid that Daniel's Dad would lose his mind, and that I, as a teacher who was in charge of both security and homeroom, would be the first to suffer.

I was even more afraid that we wouldn't find the child. We were in the southwestern, not far from the border. I couldn't imagine what would happen to the child!

Taking a deep breath, I met Mr. Klein's gaze and said, "Call the police!"

Mr. Klein nodded, "I'll call the Education Bureau. Contact the Vice Principal in charge of legal affairs."

The other teachers, with stony faces, squatted down to try and persuade Daniel's Mom, whose face was covered in tears and crying louder and louder.

"Ms. Winston. I remember now. Daniel asked for leave this afternoon!"

Ms. Lopez threw the shared bicycle to the side and shouted under her breath.

The crowd immediately quieted down.

"When? Where's the leave note? Who picked him up?"

I was so overjoyed that my tears were about to burst out.

Ms. Lopez wiped the sweat off her forehead and walked while reminiscing.

"Before the first class this afternoon, a little boy came to me and said he had a stomachache. I asked if he could hold on. He shook his head, tears streaming down his face, saying he was too uncomfortable."

Everyone didn't even dare to breathe too loudly for fear of disturbing her memories.

Daniel's Mom also calmed down and sat on the ground, listening in a daze.

"I asked him for his parents' phone number so that I could contact them. But he said his parents were waiting for him right outside the school. So I asked him to pack his book bag and go to the doctor!"

"Why didn't you say it earlier?"

I was a little angry about this false alarm.

"He came in crying and wasn't wearing his glasses at all. I just called a few classmates to confirm that he was the one who took the leave in the afternoon!"

Ms. Lopez's face turned red, showing that she was also very anxious.

But Daniel's Dad jumped up and said, "Nonsense!"

"My son didn't take any leave at all!"

"I was working at the construction site all afternoon and never received a call from my son, let alone picking up him!"

"Your school wants to shirk the responsibility, so she's making up a random excuse to fool people!"

Daniel's Dad arched his back, with a look of determination that it was a big deal.

Who picked up the child?

Everyone's heart sank to the bottom in an instant.