The road ahead was pitch black, only the phone screen emitting a faint glow.
Zhang Shutong hadn't turned on his flashlight. Instead, he held his phone in one hand, propped against the bicycle handlebar.
He'd forgotten to put on gloves before leaving, and the ice-cold night wind scraped his hands raw, but he had no time to stop and put them on properly.
The nighttime road was difficult to navigate—he had to watch out for potholes and even more so for icy patches. He himself wasn't even sure where he'd ridden to. By his calculation, it was only a seven or eight minute journey.
As it turned out, he'd miscalculated one thing—the patrolling officer wasn't so easy to catch up with. He'd originally thought the man hadn't gone far, and riding a bike he should at least be faster than him.
But the motorcycle engine sound he'd heard not long ago made Zhang Shutong realize that patrolling the small island definitely required transportation—you couldn't rely entirely on your legs.
The officer probably rode to a location first, then got off to search around. After confirming nothing had happened, he'd move on to the next spot.
And so, an urgent choice entered his mind:
Chase?
Or not?
If he chased, comparing the two to the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise could never catch up to the rabbit no matter how hard it tried—that was true. But the other party would eventually have to get off the bike to patrol. Perhaps before long, this tiny opportunity would appear.
But how long was "before long" exactly?
He didn't know.
He could only place his hopes on the other party.
And if he didn't chase, then he'd need to change strategies. Zhang Shutong still remembered that this afternoon when returning from the Forbidden Zone after school and passing through a certain spot, his phone had suddenly been bombarded with messages. What he needed to do was find that location with signal coverage, then call the police.
But this method only sounded easy. If it were his younger self from years ago, he'd definitely know every location on the island like the back of his hand. But he hadn't been back in eight years. At most he remembered certain general directions—like where home was, where school was—but trying to find a signal point would be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially at night.
Even if he found it successfully, he'd still have to wait for the police to respond. How long would that take?
Time flowed by second by second. The longer it dragged on, the slimmer the chances of tracking down leads on the killer. He quickened his pace and made his decision—
......
The footsteps were getting closer.
Their brains went momentarily blank, and several of them almost instinctively dove into the reed thicket.
Feng Ruoping was the last one in. She suppressed her breathing, eyes wide, heart pounding wildly.
Who was it? Why wasn't there a flashlight?
The police?
No, it must be the man Du Kang had seen!
But what should they do now?
Keep hiding?
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. The few of them panicked for an instant. By the time they could assess their situation further, it was already too late to take any action.
At this moment, none of them knew what to do.
Suddenly a phone ringtone broke the silence, resounding across the wilderness.
The call connected quickly, accompanied by several muffled words. Feng Ruoping could tell the newcomer was definitely not the police, but a male with a hoarse voice.
The area was empty and desolate. Bits of sound squeezed out from between the man's lips, carried into the distance by the night wind.
"West side... right, there were cops..."
"Already gone, I'm on the road..."
"Students..."
The man's voice paused.
Feng Ruoping froze as well, her hands and feet ice cold.
"...Wasn't seen, no problem."
"Pay attention... mm."
The man's voice sounded again, and only then did she realize that the "students" he mentioned didn't refer to discovering the few of them.
But before she could breathe a sigh of relief, more speculation flooded her mind—
Who was this "student" referring to?
Zhang Shutong?
Had he already been discovered?
But this speculation was immediately rejected. Shutong had gone west, but the man's footsteps were coming from the east—there was no way they should have run into each other... but who else fit the criteria?
Du Kang?
It could only be him.
If the man overhead was the same one Du Kang had encountered on the road, after all this time maybe he'd circled back around. The man was heading west.
But wasn't that the direction Zhang Shutong had left in?
At this thought, Feng Ruoping felt both anxious and angry.
Zhang Shutong, oh Zhang Shutong! You were so clever going to find someone! You never imagined they'd come back around from behind you! You'll never find them if it kills you!
And who knew what this man was here to do. Combined with their earlier speculation, it definitely wasn't anything good.
She'd already decided—as soon as the man left, she'd immediately call Zhang Shutong and tell him absolutely not to head back, otherwise what would happen if the two of them ran right into each other?
Thinking this, she'd already gripped her phone in her pocket. But the movement from overhead in the next moment made the girl freeze again.
No, to be precise, it wasn't some movement that made her freeze.
Rather, the man's movement...
Had disappeared entirely.
All was silent except for the howling night wind.
But it was precisely this silence that made the girl's hair stand on end, because if there was no sound, didn't that mean—
The other party was standing right above them?
She didn't dare look up, didn't even dare make any other unnecessary movements. Before she knew it, her palms were covered in sweat.
The next moment, footsteps sounded again, but before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the sound changed direction—no longer passing overhead, but coming from diagonally above!
The other party was coming down the slope!
As his shoe soles crushed grass and earth with a rustling sound, through the dense reeds she saw a blurry black shadow walking down from the earthen slope.
But why was this happening?
Why come down?
Had they been discovered?
Should she call out to Qingyi and Du Kang to rush out directly?
Run now?
Various thoughts swirled. In this instant, the clouds in the sky seemed to be slowly blown aside by the night wind. Moonlight poured down, and the man's figure immediately became clear.
It was a short, stocky man. Feng Ruoping stared fixedly at his back, and all the characteristics on his body matched the information Du Kang had given!
The man was carrying a large woven bag on his back, while in his other hand he held some very long object.
That object was wrapped in cloth, like a stick, extending from beside his feet all the way to his shoulder, but at the end it suddenly became wide and flat.
She turned her head with difficulty and met Qingyi's eyes, only to see him imperceptibly shake his head.
She could understand what he meant. He was saying—
"Wait."
She saw his gaze move downward to his own feet. Although their legs were already hidden by reeds, Feng Ruoping reflexively thought of something. Qingyi was referring to her shoes.
Today she'd worn a pair of heeled loafers. These shoes didn't even have laces—forget running fast, her shoes would probably fall off if she hurried up the slope.
Never mind the shoes falling off—even if they didn't, could she outrun an adult male? The answer was basically certain. Maybe the other party wouldn't chase, but who could guarantee he wouldn't pursue?
At a time like this, better to avoid trouble than invite it. That's why Shutong's first choice had also been to hide and wait. Thinking this, the girl pressed her lips together, feeling anxious that she was holding everyone back.
Then they could only wait.
The few of them held their breath, quietly watching the man's every move. Their thoughts spiraled uncontrollably—what was he doing? What did "wasn't seen" refer to earlier? Why was he hiding from the police?
Before these questions could take shape, Feng Ruoping saw the man walk to the shore, squat down, and unload the woven bag from his shoulder. Then he untied the cloth strips from that stick-like object. The girl's eyes immediately widened—
It was actually a shovel.
The man gripped the shovel with both hands. The blade swung, loosening the earth.
Under the moonlight, this man was bizarrely digging in the ground...
A pit.
...A pit?
What the hell did he want to do?
All kinds of speculation buzzed around like headless flies, but actually they didn't need to rack their brains guessing anymore. As the pile of dirt beside him grew larger and larger...
The next moment, the man pulled open the woven bag's zipper. Metal scraped against metal with a zip, and immediately, a thick stench of blood and rot assaulted their nostrils.
Moonlight fell on the faces of several young people. Their complexions instantly turned deathly pale.
A certain speculation suddenly surged in their chests, about to burst forth—
Feng Ruoping looked back at Meng Qingyi. What she saw was still that expressionless face, but even though the other party appeared very calm, she could see that hidden in the boy's eyes was also hesitation.
But their current situation was caught between a rock and a hard place—they couldn't call the police, couldn't communicate. Earlier when the police officer had stood on the dirt road, they could still exchange messages on their phones, but now with the man right across from them, they didn't dare even make slight movements. They could only signal with their eyes.
In Feng Ruoping's mind there was only one thought—she had to quickly tell Zhang Shutong this news. He was the only one among them who could move freely.
And after all this time, their only contact with him was one phone call, and it hadn't even connected.
Feng Ruoping knew that boy always became completely absorbed once he focused on something. Maybe right now he was immersed in his thrilling adventure. Hoping Zhang Shutong would notice something was wrong with the few of them—the earliest would be when he got home.
Supposedly riding his bike home should be quick.
But this bastard was still focused on finding someone!
You could search all night and not find him!
The person is right here with us!
So she bit her lip and slowly took out her phone. Fortunately the wind covered the rustling in the reeds. She imitated Shutong's method from earlier, pressing the phone screen tightly against her clothes, then sliding the brightness to minimum. She opened the messaging app, about to type with one hand.
But there was one thing the girl hadn't anticipated—
A girl's hand simply wasn't the same size as a boy's. An operation the other party could easily perform, for her meant she couldn't even reach the edge of the screen.
After finally managing to type out the message, she was preparing to press send. She was so close to the last step, but just couldn't reach it. In her anxiety, her thumb suddenly cramped. With that, she couldn't hold onto the phone steadily—it slipped and fell into the grass.
In the silence, the sound of the phone dropping was like a stone thrown into water. Feng Ruoping's face lost all color in that instant.
The man across from them paused in his movements, spun around sharply, and a beam of flashlight shone toward them!
Then, hunching his body, the man felt for something at his waist while taking wary steps forward.
The man was getting closer and closer!
Feng Ruoping felt like her heart had stopped beating.
What do we do, what do we do?!
The girl was just about to close her eyes and rush out—
Just then, with a "croak," a black shadow suddenly leaped out from the reeds!
It was actually a frog!
The man's gaze immediately focused on the frog. He cursed under his breath, turned around and went back to the edge of the dug pit.
It took a long time for her heart to settle back down. Feng Ruoping then turned her head. The boy named Du Kang grinned at her and raised an eyebrow.
If it were any other time, Ruoping would definitely have glared back at him defiantly. But now her nose just stung, and she thought helplessly on the verge of tears—what should they do now?
The phone had fallen on the ground. There was no way to pick it up.
Who knew how long that man would dig. Besides, even if Zhang Shutong got home and saw her call, what information could one missed call convey?
At this moment, the girl could only quietly listen to her own heartbeat, praying in her heart:
Zhang Shutong! You have to notice quickly! Quickly!
......
Meng Qingyi smelled the increasingly thick scent of blood, equally grave.
The man in front of them had already been digging for nearly ten minutes.
The other party was clearly an old hand.
Under the moonlight, he could vaguely see him pouring out chunks of corpse from the bag, first filling a layer of soil, then pouring out some more, then filling another layer of soil.
His heart also sank bit by bit.
What kind of corpse could fill an entire woven bag?
Perhaps there was no need to think about it.
Shutong's thinking was correct—at times like this, more trouble was always worse than less. So when he'd seen Ruoping earlier taking out her phone, he actually didn't quite approve of her approach.
They could completely wait for the other party to finish and leave. Their group of four had no need to invite additional complications.
As long as they waited patiently.
So he had no intention of taking out his phone to contact anyone. That would actually backfire more easily.
So the boy held his breath, counting silently in his mind, patiently watching the other party's every move. Rather than hoping to catch the killer on the spot, it would be better to try to find some clues from him.
Therefore, there was one thing that had puzzled Meng Qingyi for a long time—
What exactly was the man carrying on his back?
Not the woven bag, not the shovel, but after the other party had put down those two things, he'd noticed the man still had something else slung diagonally across his back.
It was just that under the moonlight he could only make out a rough outline:
It seemed to also be a stick-like object, like a poker, but the end suddenly widened. If possible, he really didn't want to guess in a certain direction, but it was precisely the shape of that thing that filled his heart with gravity.
That was probably...
A hunting rifle.
But whatever it was, it wasn't something they could influence right now. Meng Qingyi lowered his gaze, trying hard to calm his breathing. Next, they just needed to wait patiently, wait for the other party to leave...
Thinking this, he turned his head, only to meet Du Kang's gaze. The other party was staring at him with exaggerated expressions, then jerking his chin toward the man's back. Meng Qingyi knew what he meant. Du Kang was the best fighter among them. Right now he probably wasn't thinking about how to hide well, but rather taking this opportunity to give the guy a kick.
But hadn't this idiot noticed the gun on the man's back?
He used stern eyes to stop him. Just as he was feeling a headache, he saw Ruoping's shoulders suddenly shake, and she looked forward.
Only to discover—
The man had moved.
In the darkness of night, the man pulled out a knife from his waist and strode toward the reed thicket.
What's happening?
Meng Qingyi froze at the sight.
What was he doing?
Had the few of them been discovered?
But that was impossible!
No matter how much he forced himself to stay calm, he was ultimately still a teenager. He immediately felt somewhat at a loss.
Ruoping even more so—she stood at the very front, the first in line. Now her whole body was trembling unconsciously.
Their suspended hearts rose up again. The few of them quickly held their breath, hearts nearly jumping out of their throats. But they saw the man suddenly stop in front of the reeds without moving. The other party waved his knife and actually cut down a small bundle of reed grass.
Meng Qingyi suddenly understood.
—The contents of the woven bag had nearly been emptied, but the thick stench of blood and rot in the air lingered. Even though the other party had dug the pit very deep, even though he'd already filled many layers of soil...
It was all still futile.
So he wanted to use the reeds to cover the bloody smell!
He saw the other party return to the pit again, stuffing the reed grass in his hand into the pit, stomping it down with his foot, then filling another layer of soil.
But deeper worry immediately surfaced—
But if it was like this...
Could they really hide until the end?
......
Taking advantage of the noise the man made while filling the pit, this was already the second time they'd quietly moved backward.
Meng Qingyi furrowed his brow tightly.
The originally obscured view gradually became clear. The dense reed thicket had been cut down in a small area, and the few of them had retreated with no room left to retreat.
Behind them were the bicycles. Their space had been compressed to the minimum.
The man was filling the reeds bit by bit into the pit, and the ones at his feet were nearly gone. But the large pit not far away still wasn't filled. It could be foreseen that—
Very soon there would be a next time.
The reeds in front of Ruoping were down to just a few stalks, barely covering the girl's form. They would definitely be exposed.
So they had to find a countermeasure before the other party made his move!
Run?
Still wouldn't work.
He and Du Kang might be able to, but Ruoping and Lu Qinglian couldn't run far at all.
Then just go all in?
Meng Qingyi clenched his fists, struggled for a moment, then slowly loosened them.
He didn't dare gamble.
They had absolutely no useful weapons at hand. Shutong had taken the baton when he left. Now they didn't even have a decent weapon—how could they contend with the other party? The folding stool from the bicycle? Or the fishing rod?
True, there were four of them here, but the two girls' combat ability could basically be ignored. Only he and Du Kang could be of use.
—The knife in the man's hand could still be dealt with. They could use the folding stool as a shield. As long as they could block the first attack, they could knock the other party down.
However, what Meng Qingyi had always been wary of in his heart was still that thing slung diagonally across the other party's back.
So he didn't dare gamble.
If the four of them rushed out and the other party directly raised his gun, what then? He knew the man could handle these matters without batting an eye. He definitely wouldn't be merciful, wouldn't hesitate.
And if they attacked when the other party came to cut reeds, Ruoping was first in line—in the chaos she could easily get hurt.
So sometimes being too careful in one's thinking had the opposite effect. Methods rose in his mind one by one, only to be eliminated after consideration. For a moment, Meng Qingyi found himself at a complete loss.
The reed grass at the man's feet was nearly gone. The other party was clearly still unsatisfied, seemingly casually or intentionally glancing toward the reed thicket, as if pondering how much more he needed.
The boy's heart began to inevitably waver and grow anxious.
If only...
If only Shutong were here.
At this moment, such a thought arose in his mind.
Of course, he didn't wish for the other party to be beside them, but rather that his friend could happen to rush back. Even if he himself couldn't be of much help, the sound of the bike passing over the road might attract the man's attention, and they might find some opening.
Rather than being restrained like now, unable even to make preparations.
Or perhaps, if there could be someone up above cooperating, maybe they could also break through the current situation.
But how could such a thing be possible?
Watching Ruoping cup her hands over her heart, staring fixedly ahead, as if praying for something, isolating all external sounds, Meng Qingyi took a deep breath and steeled his resolve.
They couldn't wait any longer—
But just as this thought surfaced in his mind...
Then, as if the prayers in their hearts were answered by the gods...
Something slowly descended from the sky.
Landing on the boy's head.