Something light and airy slowly descended onto his head.
The eerie sensation gave him goosebumps all over.
Meng Qingyi froze for a moment, then quickly reached up to feel what it was—only to discover it was something like a wooden stick, light and floating.
He hurriedly brought it before his eyes to look. In his field of vision, a colorful fishing bobber glimmered in the moonlight.
Above the bobber was a fishing line. To be precise, what had fallen from above was a fishing line without a hook attached.
This was...
After a moment's hesitation, his gaze shifted to the end of the fishing line, where he saw a knot had already been thoughtfully tied.
That knot was all too familiar—he'd learned it from some survival magazine. Boys had no resistance to such useless but cool tricks. After learning it, he'd intended to teach it to his close friends, but both Ruoping and Du Kang had scoffed at it, thinking it was useless. Only one person shared his view that looking cool was reason enough.
And the knot before his eyes was one of the most reliable types among the various tying methods.
As long as you looped the tied knot around something and gently pulled the line, it would hold fast.
—It had even taken into account that the several of them were squeezed in the reed bed with difficulty moving, like a mother who'd already cut fruit into pieces for you. This clever fishing line seemed to see through their predicament at a glance.
At this moment, it descended like a divine miracle—even "timely assistance" wasn't enough to describe it!
The young man's eyes lit up, and his heart suddenly understood.
He suppressed his excitement, took a deep breath, and gently tugged the fishing line. Then the fishing line seemed to suddenly come alive, lowering itself further.
Qingyi looped the knotted end toward the reeds before him, mentally measuring the length, then tugged the fishing line again.
The line cooperatively lowered itself further in response.
Finally, when both sides were long enough to reach the reeds on the other side, he tugged once more, and the fishing line stopped.
This clever fishing line seemed to want to do something more—after all, only one end had been knotted so far. Then he seemed to hear the crisp sound of metal cutting through something.
Meng Qingyi knew that all he could do next was wait patiently.
His Adam's apple bobbed as his gaze fixed intently on the front—
The man had finished stuffing all the reeds by his feet into the pit, straightened his back, and walked toward the reed bed again.
And just at that moment, the fishing line in midair suddenly dropped all at once. He'd been waiting for this moment for what felt like forever.
Meng Qingyi grabbed the fishing line, and sure enough, at the other end of the line, he could see a freshly made knot, as if everything had been arranged, just waiting for him to loop it around the reeds beside him.
But now wasn't the time to marvel at such things.
The man was getting closer and closer. He saw Ruoping had unconsciously looked his way. Everything happened in a flash. Meng Qingyi quickly hung the knot on the reeds in front of the girl, positioning it at about throat level, slightly below where someone's Adam's apple would be. Then he grabbed Ruoping's clothes with one hand and yanked her backward forcefully. The girl stumbled back unprepared, her cry of alarm not yet leaving her mouth.
Meng Qingyi also fell backward with the momentum. In the last moment, he jabbed his elbow into Du Kang's abdomen—
"Ah—"
"Damn!"
The cries of the young man and woman rang out simultaneously. The man immediately stopped in his tracks and shouted:
"Who's there?"
The only response was the reed bed, previously quiet, suddenly showing movement. The man was stunned at first, as if remembering something, then his eyes turned murderous. He raised his dagger and charged at the reed bed in a single bound, ready to strike—
Everyone's breath froze. Under the moonlight, the blade gleamed with cold light, and all eyes gathered at this spot. However—
"Gkk... gkk..."
Like the choking sound of someone having their throat squeezed, the charging man suddenly stopped in place, as if hit by a paralysis spell. He clutched at his neck painfully, struggling in place.
Not far in front of him, Feng Ruoping had just struggled to her feet from the ground, stunned by the sudden turn of events. Not knowing whether to run or what to do, she heard a familiar voice shout from above, bringing tears to her eyes:
"Du Kang, Qingyi, go!"
Then two dark figures beside her suddenly shot forward. One directly tackled the man around the waist, bringing him down to the ground. The other nimbly stepped on the man's hand holding the dagger.
The chaotic situation was instantly brought under control.
The girl immediately turned around to see a young man half-kneeling on the dirt road above, hands braced against the ground.
In the night, his eyes sparkled brilliantly, and for once he showed a broad smile:
"How about that? I told you looking cool was enough, didn't I?"
...
After teasing Ruoping, Zhang Shutong looked away, confirming the culprit had been subdued.
Not only did Qingyi know wilderness survival knowledge, he could also do a flashy hand chop—a special move even Zhang Shutong hadn't mastered. It was truly passed down, the kind of secret technique passed to sons but not brothers.
He saw his friend deliver a solid chop to the back of the man's neck, and the man obediently collapsed to the ground. Only then did Zhang Shutong completely relax, though he wasn't in a hurry to go down.
But if he wasn't in a hurry to go down, the girl named Feng Ruoping certainly rushed up.
"Are you all okay?"
Instead of the expected worshipful, starry-eyed look, the girl covered her mouth, her voice choked with emotion.
"And you're still talking..."
Though usually bold and energetic, girls were still girls after all.
Seeing this, he smiled helplessly but didn't intend to comfort her.
If she needed his comfort, then she wouldn't be Feng Ruoping—
"What are you still kneeling there for? We get it, you're cool, okay?" The girl immediately put her hands on her hips, using a threatening tone to mask the vulnerability she'd just shown.
Zhang Shutong pointed at his feet:
"Look at this."
He wasn't deliberately posing. To avoid making noise and alerting their target, he'd parked his bicycle far away early on, taken off his shoes, grabbed his fishing rod, baton, and scissors, and walked over wearing only socks.
Honestly, the ground was damn cold. His feet were nearly frozen now.
"You really... Are you cold?"
Ruoping immediately deflated, asking anxiously. Looking around, she hurried off to get his shoes. Zhang Shutong put on his shoes, and the two went down the slope together to examine the man before them.
Du Kang and Qingyi also gathered around, while only Lu Qinglian went to the edge of the pit the man had dug, not knowing what she was studying.
This girl really had nerves of steel. Even Zhang Shutong needed to steel himself mentally before going over there. Speaking of which, didn't she want to see what the killer who would murder her eight years later looked like?
But he couldn't control what she thought—after all, that was eight years away. Zhang Shutong and his close friends chatted back and forth.
Ruoping had probably been holding it in too long and immediately asked him what had happened. Wasn't he supposed to be chasing that man? How did he know to come back?
"You all knew?" Zhang Shutong was somewhat surprised. Actually, this was the only thing he hadn't anticipated.
"Qingyi deduced it. Your two reasons contradicted each other."
"Alright, actually my mom only asked me to deliver something. She wasn't rushing me at all."
He could admit to the latter, but the former was too troublesome to explain, so he just blamed it on his mom.
"So how did you come back?"
"I saw Ruoping's phone call."
Zhang Shutong shrugged.
If we rewind time about ten minutes, he'd been riding his bicycle, ultimately choosing not to chase between the options of pursuing or not pursuing. The reason was simple:
First, years of experience taught him to trust himself rather than pin his hopes on the police stopping their car.
Second, although finding the killer was necessary, the further forward he went, the more unpredictable accidents became. He'd been somewhat impulsive then, but thinking it over later, there was no need to risk himself alone.
So he went directly to find a place with signal, saw Ruoping's missed call, and hurried back. Looking at it now, he was really glad he'd chosen the latter option.
Good thing he made it in time.
But Du Kang was quite puzzled:
"How did you know something happened on our end?"
"It's simple."
Zhang Shutong explained:
"You all know what Ruoping is like. If nothing was wrong, she'd actually prefer to keep bombarding you on QQ, but I only saw one phone call with no follow-up, so something must have happened.
"Of course, I didn't know this guy had circled back behind me. I just called the police and rushed back. When I passed by here, I was extra careful and didn't see any bicycle tracks. Then I happened to see you all hiding in the reed bed, and there was a man digging a pit by the shore. After that..."
Having talked for so long, Zhang Shutong was a bit tired:
"Well, just ask Qingyi."
Then Qingyi explained the whole fishing line incident. Between close friends, they never stinted on compliments, but honestly, they all knew each other too well to get excited about it.
Zhang Shutong earned three KFC meals—one from each of them. As they talked, they'd already agreed to go to the city for Tender Beef Wrappers this weekend.
How can you guys think about eating KFC?
Zhang Shutong, smelling the thick stench, was about to throw up. He quickly stopped them, saying they should discuss this at home, and shone his flashlight around, indicating:
"Let's first check out this guy's situation."
Among those present, no one should be more anxious than himself.
And indeed that was the case. He was the only one who wanted to unveil the killer's true face. The other few all ran over to the pit, both curious and frightened, wanting to investigate.
Zhang Shutong ignored them, shining his flashlight directly on the man's face. After looking for a few moments, he frowned in puzzlement.
The man had a very fat face, was bald, and on his temple was a scar extending all the way to his chin. Other than that, there were no distinguishing features. He tried hard to recall the people he'd encountered but really had no impression—
But it made sense that he didn't recognize him. After all, he was the only one who'd been silenced. He should take a photo and ask Gu Qiumian tomorrow if she recognized him.
Thinking this, he was about to pull out his phone to take a picture when he heard Ruoping "Ah!" and turn her face away, quickly stepping back several paces, almost about to vomit.
"I told you not to look so much." One could imagine how bloody it must be.
"That's not it..." Ruoping pinched her nose, taking a long while to recover before saying, "You should see for yourself... No, it's too disgusting here. I need to go up and get some fresh air..."
She was probably badly frightened and didn't dare walk the night road alone. As she spoke, she nervously pulled at Lu Qinglian, "Qinglian, come up too. Don't look anymore. I won't be able to eat for a week..."
As soon as the two left, Du Kang also retched and followed them up. Zhang Shutong called after their retreating backs:
"While you're up there, call the police station."
He had called the police before, but only said there was a situation somewhere in the western wild area of the small island. As for which wild area exactly, he really didn't know. Du Kang, however, could explain it clearly.
Watching the three of them go up the slope, with only Qingyi staying behind, Zhang Shutong pinched his nose in advance and squatted down beside his friend.
"Guess what's inside?"
Qingyi was also pinching his nose, speaking nasally.
Zhang Shutong shone his flashlight and froze. The pit had already been cleared by Qingyi. He'd imagined all sorts of bloody scenes beforehand, but never expected that what was inside was something he knew all too well. It was actually...
A pit full of fish?
Fish?
Zhang Shutong immediately looked at the man lying on the ground. He heard Qingyi say while holding his breath:
"We were all wrong. This isn't some murderer at all. Du Kang was right after all..."
Never mind what Du Kang said, but Zhang Shutong understood what was in the pit now. He also said in surprise:
"How is it an electric fisherman?"
The large pit was full of rotting fish corpses, emitting a strong smell of blood and decay.
"It's exactly an electric fisherman." Qingyi rarely swore, saying glumly, "I thought it was a murderer, you know? I was scared shitless just now. If I'd known it was an electric fisherman, we wouldn't have needed to hide for so long. If only... ah."
He shook his head:
"There's no point saying this. I'm being a Monday morning quarterback. Even if he's an electric fisherman, if it hadn't been for you, Shutong, Ruoping would probably have been in danger."
Zhang Shutong didn't have the mindset to take credit. He didn't care about that. As long as everyone was safe, that's what mattered.
He was just a bit frustrated now, not much better off than Qingyi—
Although it ended without major incident, the process of dealing with the man had been quite convoluted. When Du Kang and the others pinned the man down, even he had felt a long-absent surge of excitement:
So it was you all along—you killed me, killed Gu Qiumian, and killed Lu Qinglian. You didn't expect to be caught on the very first day back, did you?
Although he'd also had a sense of "things being resolved too easily," when he'd been killed by this person before, it had also been easy. But unexpectedly, in the end, they'd just caught an electric fisherman.
This was really a moment that called for a cigarette.
But there were no cigarettes around, only the overwhelming stench.
"I want some peace and quiet..."
"Me too."
The two looked at each other, simultaneously turning around to gulp in that tiny bit of fresh air behind them, then turning back to stare at the fish pit.
Qingyi rummaged through the man's belongings. He'd already searched them:
"Look, this is the burlap sack Du Kang mentioned. It's actually a bag for dead fish. That other thing he was carrying is a shovel... Oh right, and this. Shutong, guess what this is?"
Qingyi removed an object like a fire poker from the man's back.
"An electric fishing fork?"
"Exactly. I thought it was a gun..."
Zhang Shutong looked at his friend's utterly speechless expression and almost wanted to laugh. He himself felt frustrated, but seeing someone else more frustrated somehow lightened his own frustration a bit.
But it really stank here. He quickly closed his mouth and squeezed through his teeth:
"Forget it, as long as everyone's okay. I was worried you wouldn't understand what I meant."
"Don't even mention it. I was completely alert at that moment. You were amazing to think of that method, though it was lucky you threw it at me then—if you'd given it to those two, they might not have figured it out."
Then Qingyi muttered:
"Say, how does Du Kang always run into these things..."
"What do you mean?"
"You forgot? Last week he said he saw an electric fisherman and very righteously reported it to the police. But the police didn't believe him, and neither did any of us. Turns out what he said was true. The person he saw before was probably this guy."
Hearing this, Zhang Shutong suddenly remembered.
When he went to report to the police this afternoon, the reason they didn't believe his story was because just last week they'd been fooled by a baby-faced kid who claimed someone was electric fishing. The police had just gone on patrol when the kids went fishing on the other side.
Even Zhang Shutong himself had thought that was actually a lie those troublemaker kids made up to go fishing back then. Turns out it was true.
Thinking about this, he found it somewhat tragicomic. On second thought, this was truly a case of "Ye Gong's Love of Dragons"—if the unconscious man really was the killer, they might not have been able to subdue him so easily.
In any case, this unusual night had finally passed. He'd spent the whole evening wandering back and forth in the cold wind. Now that he'd confirmed the man's identity, he realized his spirit was already exhausted. He just wanted to go home and collapse onto his bed.
"But don't you think something's off?" Qingyi suddenly asked.
Once the matter was resolved, this guy's annoying habit returned.
"Speak." Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes.
"I was just thinking, earlier when I hung the fishing line, didn't I specifically have Du Kang shout to lure him over?
"But if he's just an electric fisherman, it's not that serious a crime. At most he'd be detained for a few days if caught. Is it really worth pulling a knife?"
"You're right."
Zhang Shutong also stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Anyway, the matter was resolved, and they still had to wait for the police to come wrap things up, so they couldn't leave yet. He was also interested in playing a deduction game with his friend. The two of them used to enjoy this.
"Maybe he's an escaped convict?" Zhang Shutong said casually. "Did you find anything when you searched him just now?"
"A wallet, Swiss army knife, lighter, cigarettes... oh, and this, a phone." Qingyi felt around the man's body again. "But we don't know the password, so it's useless."
"That seems pretty normal." Zhang Shutong also stood up, but still felt something was off.
He immediately frowned, as if just short of connecting the thread—it seemed both important and unimportant, but he was just that little bit away. Maybe he was too tired tonight; he just couldn't capture that flash of inspiration.
But Qingyi lost interest first, even though he was the one who'd suggested the deduction:
"Forget it. It's just a bald electric fisherman. Why are we analyzing him? It stinks so bad. I'd rather go home and read my novel. Look at Ruoping and the others—they went up there and simply aren't coming down. After so long with no movement, we're the ones who look stupid."
Zhang Shutong basically agreed. An electric fisherman really wasn't worth studying. Sure, the guy had acted a bit abnormal, but even dogs will jump over walls when desperate—pulling a knife wasn't that strange.
So he followed his friend's footsteps. As he passed by the man, Zhang Shutong glanced at him one last time.
Still just a scarred bald man.
Wait...
Bald...
Bald... head?
Zhang Shutong's movement suddenly stopped. He rushed to the man's side but didn't look at the man himself. Instead, he quickly scanned the items searched from him. One common item after another lay on the ground.
"What is it? Thought of something?"
Qingyi turned back.
"He looked like this from the moment you first saw him?" Zhang Shutong's speech began to unconsciously speed up. "And you're sure you only found these things? Nothing was missed?"
"Of course. That Swiss army knife of his fell into the reeds earlier—I picked everything up myself. So what did you discover?" Qingyi asked strangely.
In the night wind, coldness suddenly spread throughout his body. He stared into Qingyi's eyes and said word by word:
"Then... where's the baseball cap Du Kang saw?"
Qingyi also froze:
"This... this can't be. The woven bag and everything match up. Wait, let me call him down to ask..."
The two quickly climbed the slope. Before they reached the top, they saw Du Kang standing on the dirt road. Qingyi immediately complained:
"Instead of hanging with us, you're hanging out with two girls. We have something to ask you, come down and look..."
But before he finished speaking, Zhang Shutong pulled him back. He instinctively looked back, only to see the other's gaze fixed on Du Kang's face.
Meng Qingyi also looked over and froze again, because Du Kang no longer wore his usual grinning expression but squeezed out a look more painful than crying.
He heard the young man's voice squeeze through his teeth:
"Shutong, there's... more than one of them..."
...
"There's... more than one of them..."
As soon as the words fell, the flashlight's strong beam immediately filled their vision. Zhang Shutong immediately pulled Qingyi down, his eyes flashed uncomfortably by the bright light. For a long time, everything was just white. He turned his face away, forcing himself to squint, barely making out the scene ahead:
On the empty dirt road—
Behind Du Kang was Ruoping, the girl with red-rimmed eyes.
Behind Ruoping was Lu Qinglian.
And behind Lu Qinglian...
Was a tall, thin man wearing a baseball cap.
The man moved the flashlight away and smiled with his lips but not his eyes:
"You kids are finally all here. There's nobody else, right?"
His upper lip had a figure-eight mustache, like a sinister snake.
Zhang Shutong's head immediately buzzed, and his previously relaxed nerves tightened in an instant.
The current position was very bad—he was below while the other was above. At a time like this, they absolutely couldn't all be taken down at once. Just as he was about to push Qingyi down the slope, he heard the man roar:
"Don't move! Hands up!"
Before he could react, the man raised something. Zhang Shutong focused his gaze and his heart sank to the bottom—
In the man's hand was a long rifle.
The muzzle was pressed against the back of Lu Qinglian's head. He released Qingyi's clothes and slowly raised his hands.
"That's right. Throw everything in your hands on the ground and line up in front of me..."
The man's figure-eight mustache moved as he spoke.
While Zhang Shutong followed the man's instructions, deliberately slowing his movements—he glanced at the two phones thrown on the ground, which should be Ruoping's and Du Kang's—while rapidly thinking of countermeasures in his mind.
This meant calling the police had failed from the start, which was the key to the man's boldness. But the man probably didn't know he'd called the police in advance. Maybe he could use this information gap...
But it was also hard to say when the police would find this place. What if the man took desperate measures?
Why was it Lu Qinglian who got caught? Of all of them, she was the easiest to control. Zhang Shutong hadn't forgotten the girl was wearing a long robe—she'd have difficulty even running. Once he detected something wrong, a grab of the long robe would pin her firmly in place.
So he needed to stall for time, wait for the police to arrive. If there was a chance, he could try to seize... forget it, no matter what, he had to ensure Lu Qinglian's safety first...
Chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind, anxiety and restlessness surging in his chest, then forcibly suppressed.
Zhang Shutong took a deep breath and slowly moved forward. But the man seemed to see through his thoughts:
"Trying to stall me, huh? All of you, get in front of me!" He pointed at Du Kang and Ruoping. "You two go bring Wang Kang up here. Don't play tricks!"
Ruoping and Du Kang still hesitated. The man roared again:
"Go!"
As he spoke, he forcefully jabbed the gun barrel at Lu Qinglian's head—
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
On this dim moonlit night—
Cold wind howling, desolate all around—
Naked, savage malice came crashing like waves—
Ruoping seemed to have closed her eyes, not daring to look anymore.
Du Kang forcibly suppressed his anger, teeth clenched tight.
Qingyi turned around and slid his phone down the slope.
This moment, even the wind seemed to still.
Then Zhang Shutong saw the girl named Lu Qinglian furrow her brow.
The expected sound of metal striking skull didn't come. Lu Qinglian only tilted her head slightly, her delicate face still expressionless.
The next moment, under the man's face of fury born from shock—
The girl moved.
She crouched, twisted her waist, turned her body, raised her leg—
Her dark hair and blue robe coiled with potential energy, then danced together—
Under the raised robe, in just a glimpsing moment, the girl's slender leg shot out like a cannonball—
And slammed toward the man's chest!