The road ahead was pitch-black, with only the faint light of a phone screen cutting through the darkness.
Zhang Shutong hadn't turned on his flashlight; instead, he held his phone in one hand, resting it on the handlebars.
He had forgotten his gloves before leaving, and now his hands stung from the cold night wind, but he had no time to stop and put them on.
The night roads were treacherous; he had to be wary of potholes and, even worse, patches of ice. He wasn't even sure where he was anymore. Judging by the time, he'd only been riding for about seven or eight minutes.
It turned out he'd miscalculated—the officer wasn't so easy to catch up with. He had assumed the man couldn't have gone far and that a bike would surely be faster than walking.
But the sound of a motorcycle engine he'd heard a short while ago made him realize that patrolling the island would of course require a vehicle; no one would do it entirely on foot.
The officer probably rode to one location, got off to do a sweep, and then, after confirming everything was clear, moved on to the next spot.
And so, an urgent choice presented itself in his mind.
Chase?
Or not?
If he gave chase, it was like the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise could run for its life and never catch the hare, true, but the hare would eventually have to stop and get off his ride to patrol. Maybe that small opening would present itself soon.
But how long was "soon"?
He didn't know.
He could only pin his hopes on the other man's actions.
And if he didn't give chase, he would have to change his strategy. Zhang Shutong remembered that on his way back from the Forbidden Zone after school, he had passed a certain spot where his phone was suddenly bombarded with messages. What he needed to do was find that spot with a signal and then call the police.
But that was easier said than done. His younger self would have known the island like the back of his hand, but he hadn't been back for eight years. He remembered the general directions of his home and the school, but finding a specific spot with a signal would be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially in the dark.
Even if he did manage to find it, how long would he have to wait for the police to arrive?
Time was slipping by. The longer he waited, the smaller the chance of finding any clues about the murderer became. He pedaled faster, and made his decision—
……
The footsteps got closer.
For a brief moment, their minds went blank. Almost by reflex, the group ducked into the reeds.
Feng Ruoping was the last one in. She held her breath, her eyes wide, her heart pounding.
Who was it? Why didn't they have a flashlight?
A cop?
No, it must be the man Du Kang saw!
But what should they do now?
Keep hiding?
The surrounding silence was terrifying. The group panicked for a moment, and by the time they could fully grasp their predicament, it was too late to do anything.
At that moment, none of them knew what to do.
Suddenly, the ringing of a cell phone shattered the silence, echoing across the open space.
The call connected quickly. Through the muffled words, Feng Ruoping could make out that it was definitely not a cop, but a man with a raspy voice.
The area was empty and desolate. Fragments of sound escaped the man's lips, carried away by the night wind.
"West side... yeah, there's a cop..."
"He's gone now. I'm on the road..."
"Students..."
The man's voice paused.
Feng Ruoping froze as well, her hands and feet turning to ice.
"...Wasn't seen. No problem."
"Be careful... yeah."
The man spoke again, and it was only then that she realized he wasn't referring to them.
But before she could breathe a sigh of relief, more questions flooded her mind—
Who were these "students" then?
Zhang Shutong?
Had he been spotted?
But she immediately dismissed that guess. Shutong had gone west, but the man had approached from the east; it made no sense for them to have met. Who else could it be?
Du Kang?
It could only be him.
If the man overhead was the same one Du Kang had seen, maybe he had circled back around after all this time and was now heading west.
But wasn't that the exact direction Zhang Shutong had gone?
At this thought, Feng Ruoping was overcome with anxiety and anger.
Zhang Shutong, you idiot! And you thought you were so smart, going off to track him down! You had no idea he was circling around behind you! You'll never find him now!
And who knew what this man was up to? Based on their earlier deductions, it was definitely nothing good.
She had already made up her mind. The moment the man left, she would call Zhang Shutong and tell him not to come back under any circumstances. What would they do if the two of them ran into each other?
With this thought, her hand was already gripping the phone in her pocket, but the next sound from overhead made her freeze again.
No, to be precise, it wasn't a sound that made her freeze.
It was the man's movements... that had simply vanished.
All was silent, save for the roar of the night wind.
But this silence was what made the hair on her arms stand up. If there were no sounds of him working, didn't that mean—
—he was standing right above them?
She didn't dare look up, didn't even dare to make any superfluous movements. Unconsciously, her palms had become slick with sweat.
The next moment, the sound of footsteps returned. But before she could relax, she realized the sound had changed direction. It was no longer on the path above, but coming down from the side!
He was coming down the slope!
With the crunch and rustle of shoes on weeds and earth, she saw a dark, blurry figure coming down the slope through the dense reeds.
But why?
Why was he coming down here?
Had they been discovered?
Should she yell for Qingyi and Du Kang to make a run for it?
Run now, while they still could?
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. In that moment, the wind seemed to push the clouds apart, and a sliver of moonlight spilled through, bringing the man's figure into focus.
He was short and stocky. Feng Ruoping stared fixedly at his back; his description matched what Du Kang had told them perfectly!
The man was carrying a large woven sack on his back, and in his other hand, he held some kind of long object.
The object was wrapped in cloth, making it look like a long staff that reached from his ankle to his shoulder, except that the end suddenly flared out into a wide, flat shape.
She forced herself to turn her head and meet Qingyi's eyes, only to see him give a nearly imperceptible shake of his head.
She understood what he meant. He was saying—
"Wait."
She saw his eyes drift downward toward her own feet. Even though the reeds concealed them, his glance was a reflex, and she knew instantly what he was referring to: her shoes.
She had worn heeled loafers today, the kind without any laces. Forget about sprinting—they'd probably slip right off if she even tried to climb the slope too quickly.
And even if her shoes stayed on, could she outrun an adult male? The answer was almost certainly no. Maybe he wouldn't chase them, but who could be sure?
In a situation like this, the less you did, the better. That must have been why Shutong's first instinct was to hide and wait. The thought made the girl press her lips together, agitated by the fact that she was dragging everyone down.
There was nothing to do but wait.
The group held their breath, silently watching the man's every move as their minds raced uncontrollably.
What is he doing? What did he mean by 'wasn't seen'? Why is he avoiding the cops?
Before she could find any answers, Feng Ruoping watched the man walk to the water's edge, crouch down, and slide the woven sack off his shoulder. He then unwrapped the cloth from the stick-like object, and her eyes shot wide open—
It was a shovel.
The man gripped the shovel with both hands. It swung through the air, and the earth loosened.
Under the moonlight, the man was bizarrely digging a...
Hole.
...A hole?
What on earth was he planning to do?
Speculations buzzed around like headless flies, but they didn't need to guess for much longer. As the pile of excavated earth grew steadily larger...
The next moment, the man pulled the zipper on the sack. There was a metallic ziiiiip, and immediately, the thick, coppery stench of rot and blood washed over them.
The moonlight shone on the teenagers' faces, which had instantly turned deathly pale.
A terrible suspicion rose in her chest, demanding to be voiced—
Feng Ruoping turned to look at Meng Qingyi. His face was still expressionless, but despite his calm demeanor, she could see the hesitation hidden in his eyes.
But they were trapped. They couldn't call for help, and they couldn't speak. When the officer had been on the path, they could still message each other, but now, with this man right in front of them, they were too scared to even move, forced to communicate only through glances.
Feng Ruoping had only one thought: she had to get this information to Zhang Shutong. He was the only one of them who was free to move.
But so much time had passed, and her only connection to him was a phone call, which hadn't even gone through.
She knew his personality; once he started on something, he became completely absorbed. He was probably lost in his thrilling "adventure" at this very moment. The earliest they could hope for him to notice something was wrong would be after he got home.
Normally, the ride home on his bike would be quick.
But wasn't that idiot still focused on tracking someone down?
You could search all night and you'd never find him!
The guy's right here with us!
So she bit her lip and slowly took out her phone. Thankfully, the sound of the wind masked the rustling in the reeds.
She copied what Shutong had done earlier, pressing the screen tightly against her clothes and turning the brightness all the way down. Then she opened up her messages and prepared to type with one hand.
But there was one thing the girl hadn't counted on— a girl's hands aren't the same size as a boy's. What he had done so easily was impossible for her; she could barely even reach the far edge of the screen.
After a great struggle, she finally finished typing the message and got ready to hit 'send.' She was so close, but she just couldn't reach the button. In her panic, her thumb cramped up, and she lost her grip, the phone slipping from her hand and falling into the grass.
In the dead quiet, the thud of the phone hitting the ground was like a stone dropped into a silent pond. All the color drained from Feng Ruoping's face.
The man opposite them paused, then whipped around, and the beam of a flashlight stabbed in their direction!
The man tensed, his hand reaching for something at his waist as he took a cautious step forward.
The man was getting closer and closer!
Feng Ruoping felt as if her heart had stopped beating.
What do I do, what do I do?!
The girl was about to close her eyes and bolt.
Just at that moment, with a loud ribbit, a dark shape leaped out from the reeds!
It was a frog!
The man's attention was drawn to the frog. He muttered a curse, then turned back to the pit he had been digging.
It took a long time for her heart to return to its proper place. Feng Ruoping turned her head to see the boy, Du Kang, giving her a mischievous grin and a waggle of his eyebrows.
Normally, Ruoping would have glared right back, not to be one-upped. But now, her nose just tingled, and she felt the urge to cry but couldn't.
What now?
Her phone was on the ground, impossible to retrieve.
Who knew how long the man would keep digging? Besides, even when Zhang Shutong finally got home and saw her call, what could one missed call possibly tell him?
At this moment, the girl could only listen to the beating of her own heart and pray.
Zhang Shutong! You have to figure it out, and fast! Hurry!
……
Meng Qingyi smelled the ever-thickening stench of blood and was just as grave.
The man in front of them had been digging for nearly ten minutes.
He was clearly an expert.
In the moonlight, he could faintly make out the man tipping chunks out of the bag, covering them with a layer of earth, tipping out more, and then covering those with another layer of earth.
His own heart sank a little more with each layer.
The remains of what could fill an entire woven sack?
Perhaps the answer required no thought at all.
Shutong's logic was sound: in a situation like this, it was always better to do less, not more. That's why he hadn't approved when he saw Ruoping pull out her phone a moment ago.
They could have just waited for the man to finish and leave; there was no need for them to risk creating another incident.
All they had to do was wait patiently.
That was why he had no intention of pulling out his phone to contact anyone; it would be too easy for things to go wrong.
So the boy held his breath, silently counting, and watched the man's every move with patience. Rather than pinning his hopes on catching the killer right then and there, it was better to try and glean some clues.
And so, there was one thing that had been bothering Meng Qingyi for a while now, and that was—
What exactly was that thing the man was carrying on his back?
He didn't mean the woven sack or the shovel. After the man set those two things down, he noticed another object slung diagonally across his back.
In the moonlight, he could only make out a rough silhouette.
It seemed to be another long, stick-like object, like a fire poker, but the end flared out. He really didn't want to let his mind go there, but it was the shape of the thing that made his heart grow heavy.
It was probably...
A hunting rifle.
But whatever it was, there was nothing they could do about it now. Meng Qingyi lowered his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. All he had to do was wait, wait for the man to leave...
As this thought crossed his mind, he turned and met Du Kang's gaze. Du Kang was making faces at him and jerking his chin toward the man's back. Meng Qingyi knew what he was thinking.
Du Kang was the best fighter among them, and he was probably thinking less about hiding and more about using this chance to land a kick on the guy.
But had the idiot not seen the gun on the man's back?
He shot Du Kang a severe look to stop him. He was just starting to feel a headache coming on when he saw Ruoping flinch and looked forward as well.
And he saw:
The man was moving.
In the darkness, the man pulled a dagger from his waist and strode toward the reeds.
What was happening?
Meng Qingyi froze.
What was he going to do?
Had they been discovered?
But that's impossible!
No matter how hard he forced himself to stay calm, he was still just a teenager at heart, and for a moment he was at a complete loss.
And as for Ruoping, who was at the very front and would be the first one in the line of fire, she was trembling uncontrollably.
Their hearts, which had just begun to settle, shot back into their throats. They held their breath, their pulses hammering, but then the man stopped just short of the reeds. He swung the dagger and, to their surprise, simply cut a handful of stalks.
Meng Qingyi understood.
—The bag was almost empty, but the cloying stench of blood and putrefaction hung heavy in the air. Even though he had dug the pit deep and covered the contents with several layers of earth...
It was no use.
So that's it! He wants to use the reeds to cover up the smell!
He watched the man return to the pit, stuff the handful of reeds inside, and pack them down with his feet before adding another layer of dirt.
But a deeper worry immediately surfaced in his mind.
But if this keeps up...
Can we really stay hidden until the end?
...
Using the sounds of the man filling the hole as cover, they had already scooted backward for the second time.
Meng Qingyi's brow was tightly furrowed.
Their cover was gradually disappearing. A patch of the thick reeds had already been cleared away, and now they had nowhere left to retreat.
The bicycles were right at their backs; their hiding space had been squeezed to its limit.
The man continued to stuff the reeds into the hole, and the pile he had cut was now almost gone. Yet the pit was still far from full. It was clear what would happen next— he would soon be back for more.
There were only a few reeds left in front of Ruoping, barely enough to hide her. She would definitely be spotted.
They had to find a countermeasure before he made his next move!
Run?
Still not an option.
He and Du Kang could maybe make it, but Ruoping and Lu Qinglian wouldn't be able to run very far.
Then should they just fight it out?
Meng Qingyi clenched his fists. After a moment of internal struggle, he slowly relaxed them.
He didn't dare to risk it.
They had nothing on them that could be used as a weapon. Shutong had taken the baton when he left, so now they didn't have a single decent thing to fight with. How were they supposed to defend themselves? With the stools? The fishing rods?
It was true there were four of them, but the two girls' combat effectiveness was basically negligible. The only ones who would be of any use were him and Du Kang.
—They could probably handle the dagger in the man's hand. If they used the folding stools as shields, they might be able to block the first attack and then take him down.
However, the thing that truly worried Meng Qingyi was the object slung across the man's back.
That was why he didn't dare to take the gamble.
What if all four of them charged out and the man just leveled his gun at them? He knew this man could do what needed to be done without batting an eye; he wouldn't be soft-hearted, and he wouldn't hesitate.
And if they waited for him to come back for more reeds to ambush him, Ruoping would be the first in line, and she could easily get hurt in the chaos.
And so, sometimes being too analytical is counterproductive. One idea after another surfaced in his mind, only to be dismissed after careful consideration. For the moment, Meng Qingyi was also completely stuck.
The man had used up nearly all the reeds at his feet, but he was clearly not done yet. He shot a glance over at the patch of reeds, as if calculating how many more he would need.
An unavoidable sense of agitation and anxiety began to stir in the boy's heart.
If only...
If only Shutong were here.
At this moment, such a thought unexpectedly arose in his mind.
Of course, he didn't want his friend to be with them, but he wished he would just happen to come back right now. Even if Shutong himself couldn't do much, the sound of his bicycle might distract the man, and they could perhaps use that opportunity to find a weakness.
Anything was better than their current situation, where their hands were tied and they couldn't even prepare for what was coming.
Or, if they had just one person up on the path to coordinate with, they might be able to break this stalemate.
But how could that be possible?
He saw Ruoping clutching her hands to her chest, her eyes fixed forward as if in prayer, completely deaf to the world around her. Meng Qingyi took a deep breath and resolved himself.
He couldn't wait any longer—
But just as this thought formed in his mind.
Immediately after, as if a prayer had been answered by the gods;
Something slowly descended from the sky.
It landed on the boy's head.