4:00 PM, Midtown High Library.
At this hour, the library was nearly empty.
Finals week was still far off, and most students were either playing ball on the field or had left school early for dates.
There were only three or four people in the entire reading area, scattered in different corners, heads buried in books or hunched over laptops.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the dark brown long tables.
The aisles between the shelves smelled of old paper and wood, so quiet that one could hear the low hum of the central air conditioning.
Gwen arrived ten minutes early.
She sat in a window seat, a physics textbook spread before her.
Her eyes didn’t stay on the pages; she watched the running figures on the field through the glass.
She wasn’t wearing her white spider suit, just her school uniform—a white shirt tucked into a navy pleated skirt and small black leather shoes.
Her blonde hair looked almost white under the glare of the sun.
She looked no different from any other ordinary high school girl.
However, her fingers were unconsciously rubbing her wrist, right where her web-shooters were located.
A sound came from behind her, something dragging across the floor.
Gwen turned around.
Ryan Quinn was shuffling through the bookshelves.
He wore a gray hoodie that looked like it had been washed dozens of times, the zipper only halfway up, revealing a rumpled t-shirt collar.
His black, naturally curly hair was a mess, and his eyes were half-closed.
He looked like he had just been excavated from his bed.
He stopped in front of Gwen, slowly pulled out a chair, and slowly sat down.
He placed a dog-eared physics book on the table, rested his chin on it, and closed his eyes for two seconds.
“…Aaah-hhh—” He let out a yawn.
Gwen blinked.
“Are you…
okay?” “Mm…
so sleepy.” Ryan Quinn’s voice was muzzy.
“Didn’t sleep well last night…
kept thinking about things—” He paused.
“…Forget it, it’s too much trouble to think about.” Gwen looked at him, looking like he could collapse and fall asleep on the table at any moment, and wasn’t sure what expression to make.
The gap between this guy and the hooded man who had snapped a neck in a dark alley last night…
was it really this big?
“…Physics,” she cleared her throat.
“The section on refraction.” “Oh.” Ryan Quinn leisurely flipped open the physics book, turned a couple of pages, and stopped.
He stared at the page for about five seconds, then looked up at Gwen, then down at the book, then back at Gwen.
“…You didn’t actually bring any questions, did you?” Gwen blinked, startled.
“I—” “It’s fine.
I didn’t prepare anything either.” Ryan Quinn pushed the physics book forward and leaned back against his chair, hands shoved into his hoodie pockets.
He hunched his shoulders, curling into the seat.
“Let’s just talk about whatever, then.” And then he really did start talking about whatever.
His way of explaining was very casual, jumping from one thought to the next.
His speaking pace was slow, and sometimes he would stop mid-sentence to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds before adding, “Mm…
think I went off track there,” and slowly winding his way back.
But the strange thing was, every word he spoke hit exactly on the core of the physics principles.
He was lazily stripping away everything but the core and throwing it on the table—whether you understood it or not was up to you.
Gwen was observing him at first—watching his expressions, noting his tone, looking for any slips—but gradually, she found her attention genuinely drawn to his explanations.
“Your physics is actually really good,” Gwen said, closing her book.
“Mm…
you’re not bad yourself.” Ryan Quinn reached up to rub the back of his neck, tilting his head to look at her.
“The questions you asked…
aren’t in the textbook.” Gwen paused, then smiled and shook her head.
“You caught me.” She shrugged.
“I really didn’t have any physics questions to ask you.
I just…
couldn’t sleep last night and wanted someone to talk to.” “I know.” Ryan Quinn’s voice was flat, as if he had expected it all along.
Gwen looked at him.
Sunlight slanted in from the window, casting a shadow across Ryan Quinn’s face.
He was squinting, not looking at all like someone who belonged in a library.
She suddenly realized that since he sat down, he had been helping her relax in his own way.
A natural laziness that made it hard to stay on guard.
“…About last night,” Gwen paused.
“Aren’t you curious?
Why I called you.” “Mm…” Ryan Quinn tilted his head as if seriously considering the question, then said slowly, “Not really.” “…Huh?” “You’ll talk when you want to.” He closed his eyes.
“If you don’t want to talk, there’s no point in me asking.
Besides, asking questions is tiring.
Explaining is tiring.
It’s best if nobody gets tired.” He opened one eye to look at her.
“Right?” Gwen was silent for a while.
The sunlight threw a line of division across the table between them.
Ryan Quinn sat on the dark side, half his face hidden in shadow—but that half-asleep expression made the shadow seem devoid of any threat.
“There’s a serial killer active in Queens lately,” Gwen said suddenly, her voice very low.
“The news calls him the Mummified Corpse Killer.
Have you heard of him?” “I’ve heard.” Ryan Quinn nodded slowly.
“Sounds pretty scary.” His tone was casual, as if they weren’t talking about a serial killer at all.
“I have a friend…
who’s a police family member,” Gwen bit her lip.
“She told me some inside info.
This killer is very wrong; his methods aren’t something an ordinary person could do.
I was thinking, if the police can’t catch him, maybe…
maybe someone should stand up and do something.” When she said the word “someone,” her gaze drifted toward the window.
Ryan Quinn didn’t respond.
He just leaned against the chair, eyes half-open.
“…I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” Gwen retracted her gaze to look at him.
“Maybe because you’re the only person I can say these things to.
It sounds ridiculous, right?
We’re not even really friends.” “It’s not ridiculous.” Gwen was slightly stunned.
“Everyone needs a listener.” Ryan Quinn stood up, tucking the dog-eared physics book under his arm, then tilted his head to look at Gwen.
“Thanks for the coffee, even though we drank the library’s free stuff.” Gwen let out a sudden laugh, quickly covering her mouth, though the corners of her eyes still crinkled into crescents.
Ryan Quinn watched her laugh, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
It was hard to tell if he was actually smiling.
“…You’re a pretty interesting guy,” Gwen said.
“Mm.” Ryan Quinn turned and walked toward the library exit, his steps slow, his sneakers making faint scuffing sounds on the floor.
“…So sleepy.” He rubbed his neck and walked out of the reading area.
The light in the hallway was much brighter than in the library.
Ryan Quinn squinted, let out a yawn, and leisurely walked toward the school building’s exit.
The afternoon sun was still bright, but it seemed a bit too glaring for him.
He pulled headphones from his pocket and plugged them into his ears, then pulled up his hoodie to cover his messy hair.
His shadow stretched long on the ground as he paced forward, unhurried and calm.
As he walked out of the school gates, Ryan Quinn turned into an alley.
Then, he gave a massive stretch.
Gwen watched him leave, then let go of the window frame and turned toward the library’s other exit.
She still had to go out on patrol tonight; the Mummified Corpse Killer was still out there.
And now, she had one more thing she wanted to figure out.