"How?" asked Yang Qing, cutting straight to the point. The cat was already out of the bag, and there was no room for delicacy. Drawing it out would only make things harder on Duan Ting and Liu Ying. It was better to address it head-on and get it over with, especially now that the topic had been broached.
"When we realized Jiang Hao had missed his three-hour check-in, we immediately informed the boss and decided to wait for the next window to try contacting him again.
Occasionally, one of us—whether it's Jiang Hao, Liu Ying, me, or even the boss—might miss a check-in for one reason or another. So, while his initial silence raised some concern, it wasn't an immediate cause for concern.
But when the six-hour mark passed without any communication, that's when we knew something was definitely wrong," Duan Ting explained, pausing briefly to collect himself.