Generally speaking, the closed fishing season is usually concentrated at the turn of spring and summer. This is the season when fish reproduce and lay eggs.
However, Yanlong Island has a specialty fish, scientifically known as "Flower Snakehead," which they usually call " Flower Dog." It has a greenish-blue skin, and its flesh is tender with very few bones. It's used for fish fillets and steaks. He heard there was even a subspecies suitable for ornamental fish. This type of fish only appears in the surrounding lake and lays its eggs in winter. To protect it, the closed fishing season on the island is in winter.
This fish is very aggressive. It's longer than a regular black fish. It looks dull, but it will suddenly bite you. If he remembers correctly, the small scar on the web of Zhang Shutong's thumb was from being bitten by it when he was taking out a fishhook.
There were also a few other protected animals on the island, such as a bird called the crested ibis. There were specimens of it in the city museum. It's now on the verge of extinction. In the early years, it was said that one could still see animals like foxes, bears, and wild boars on the mountain.
But since it was "said," none of them had ever seen one.
Their interest was all in the fish.
But they really just enjoyed the fun of fishing. Although the small island was remote, their generation had a decent standard of living. It wasn't as exaggerated as Gu Qiumian's family, but they didn't have to worry about food or clothing;
They were not poor, and they were not gluttonous. The two biggest obstacles were gone. Therefore, after they caught a fish, they would neither sell nor eat it. At most, they would take a photo with it in a bucket before they packed up. In today's terms, it would be called "checking in." Then they would throw all the fish back into the water. The one who caught the most would treat everyone to soda. They would laugh and have a good time all the way home on their bikes.
That's how teenagers were. In their opinion, eating fish was more troublesome than fishing—you had to carry it back after you caught it, and you had to keep it for a few days after you carried it back. If you wanted to keep a fish, you had to find a basin. Now that they all lived in apartment buildings, they also had to consider how to gut the fish and cook it. If they cooked too much, they would have to eat it for several days... it was completely not as carefree as fishing.
It was very much like buying a pet as a child. They would buy it and take it home with sparkling eyes, but after a few days of novelty, the chore of feeding, watering, and cleaning up after the cats, dogs, and rabbits would all fall to their parents.
So, even though it was the closed fishing season now, since they were just doing it for fun and they had a great sense of setting things free, their karma was incredibly high. The few of them still dared to go fishing in secret, with a clear conscience, as long as they didn't get caught;
For this reason, the officer named Xiong's words were stern, but he didn't get too serious with a few kids. Otherwise, he would have arrested Zhang Shutong on the spot.
It was just that the two incidents coincided. He suspected that Zhang Shutong was messing with him again, and the excuse he gave was insulting his intelligence.
Zhang Shutong was very innocent, but he had to accept the consequences of his past actions. In his helplessness, he became a lone wolf again and went to the "Forbidden Zone" to check the situation.
Along the way, he saw a pushcart selling snacks. The small island was known for its fish and shrimp, so the snacks were also related to them.
For example, fried shrimp cakes. The fresh lake shrimp caught every day, which were a little bigger than a fingernail, didn't need to be shelled. They would be marinated in salt water, supplemented with shredded carrots, shredded potatoes, chopped green onions, and minced onions, then mixed with flour, water, and eggs to form a batter. Then they would be deep-fried until golden brown. A bite would be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a fragrant aroma.
Speaking of which, his breakfast today was this—he meant eight years later. Zhang Shutong had rushed to the pier early in the morning to catch a boat and didn't even have time to eat. He bought a few shrimp cakes on the island to fill his stomach. They were two for ten yuan, but now they were only five yuan.
He bought one, held the shrimp cake in his mouth, and continued forward. He wouldn't get tired of eating it, nor was he that hungry. He just considered that he wouldn't have time to eat dinner, and he had a pack of tissues in his pocket, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting his hands greasy. He bought it when he saw it along the way.
Zhang Shutong had always been a person with low material desires. Besides having this personality since he was a child, it was also related to his experiences over the years.
In a few of his reversions, he had the chance to buy lottery tickets. He wouldn't make a fortune, but a few thousand yuan was not a problem. If he deliberately aimed for this, buying a few more times, it would be a considerable income. But his thought at the time was, what's the use of earning so much money?
He couldn't spend it. He couldn't travel, and he had no plans to buy a car. As long as his phone and computer were good enough, that was fine. He even gradually gave up on his only hobby, fishing. The only major purchases left were a house and marriage, but the former couldn't be solved by buying a few lottery tickets, and the latter was not something he should consider.
It's not that he thought, "No women in my heart, my fishing skills will be divine";
His popularity in high school was pretty good, although he didn't know why it was with the girls. He wasn't sure if it was a good luck with women... but Zhang Shutong did receive a few love letters. The reason it was "a few" was because back then, it was no longer popular to write confessions on paper;
They all had grade group chats. Sometimes, he would "do a good deed" because of a reversion, and when he got home, he would see a screenshot from a classmate on his phone, asking, "Is that boy on the school wall you?"
In his memory, this kind of thing happened a lot. Maybe the number of times wasn't that many, but his memory was distorted. Under the influence of reversion, the same event would be experienced a few times. If you were to ask him what it felt like to be confessed to, it was just the fatigue of having his timeline messed up.
This was one of the reasons he thought his popularity was okay back then—
Sometimes, when he logged into his social media, he would see gifts from people he didn't know. On his birthday, he would also get wishes from classmates he didn't know. He would reply to each one seriously and be in a good mood. At that time, Zhang Shutong thought he only had three best friends in junior high, but he didn't expect to have friends all over the world in high school. He clearly thought he had taken a big step forward in his social skills;
But later, someone told him frantically, "Bullshit!
They're all girls, you idiot! If you don't need them, can you introduce some to me?"
Zhang Shutong was just confused.
For example, Du Kang's crush on Lu Qinglian, he could understand that. No matter what their relationship was like, they were at least kids who grew up on the small island. They went from the same elementary school to the same junior high. Putting himself in his shoes:
A beautiful girl is always in your life. You can't help but say a few words to each other. You see the girl's smile, her long hair, and smell the fragrance on her. It's completely normal to fall for her. But what were the "girls" his classmates talked about in it for?
They didn't even know each other. He really couldn't understand.
Since he couldn't understand, he had no way of dealing with it. Later, he came up with a solution. He locked his social media and changed his birthday. It was a pity that he dropped out of school in his second year of high school, so he never got to use it.
He only had a crush on one girl in his entire high school life;
She was a senior in the same club. The senior had countless admirers. To be honest, Zhang Shutong was a bit nervous. In the popular words of the time, the senior was a campus belle. There was no reason for her to favor a normal boy like him;
Although the "normal" here should have been in quotation marks. He spent his days in and out of school doing chivalrous deeds. He thought he was super cool, but that didn't help him with girls, did it?
He couldn't just say with a deep expression, "I'll tell you a secret, I have superpowers," and then the girl would say "wow" and throw herself into his arms. He saw how hard Peter Parker had to try to get Mary Jane.
Later, he transferred to another city, and she unexpectedly came to see him once.
That day, they found a long bench in the park. In the dark of the night, they couldn't see each other's expressions. They just talked. The senior looked down at her shoes. Zhang Shutong looked up at the moon. The girl talked to him softly about the future, but he didn't say a word because he couldn't see what the future looked like.
The moon was lonely, the bench in the night was cold, and the future she spoke of was beautiful, but it felt distant.
After this incident, he suddenly realized that he really wasn't suited for dating;
What should you do in a relationship? Maybe a date, maybe watching a movie, and also eating, taking a walk holding hands under the moonlight, kissing the girl's lips at a romantic moment... But as long as reversion existed for a day, he could never return to a normal life;
They say everyone is born with their own mission. The mission of the person named Zhang Shutong was to fight this damned ability until he died, and then rest only after death.
He didn't expect that a few hours ago, he would actually fight until "death" and find "rest" after death.
It had been an afternoon since he returned to his school days;
The environment changes a person a lot. It hadn't been long, but he gradually felt that his mindset was becoming more relaxed. So, if he were to describe this result in a relaxed tone, he could say:
"I always thought I only had one ability, called reversion."
"But I never thought I had a second one, called a prophet."
Thinking this, Zhang Shutong really wanted to laugh. He felt that he had a sense of humor. Maybe others didn't think so, but this was like how Gu Qiumian never thought she was drawing a ghost face. It was fine for everyone to have a little fun with themselves in their hearts.
—He had no idea what the situation was with the body of water called the "Forbidden Zone." He could only be extra careful and extra cautious, and he would also think of a joke to keep his mind active.
He thought of all kinds of things along the way. By the time the great prophet arrived at the body of water where he had fallen, the sun was gradually setting.
He remembered Du Kang's words before the reversion. A fisherman had seen someone in the vicinity of the Forbidden Zone before the incident;
And since Gu Qiumian was killed on December 10th and today was December 5th, there were only five days left. He would probably be able to find some clues.
It was said that he should try to deduce the killer's motive, but Zhang Shutong was really not a professional detective. His understanding of Gu Qiumian was limited, or rather, very little. He didn't even know that she drew a sheep on the window, so it was hard for him to make a deduction;
It was better to start with the process of the girl's disappearance:
He had thought of three possibilities so far:
One, it was a random event. Although the possibility was very small, it couldn't be ruled out that she had a sudden whim to come here that day, got separated from the crowd, and created an opportunity for the killer.
Two, the killer had scouted the location in advance and deliberately lured her here to make it easier to kill her;
Three, it was also scouted in advance, but the initial crime scene was not the "Forbidden Zone." She was kidnapped first and then taken to the Forbidden Zone.
The area was deserted, so it was no wonder that she was only found two days after she went missing.
Zhang Shutong temporarily ruled out the first possibility. He couldn't judge the other two, but combined with Du Kang's words, it was certain that the killer had come to scout the location in advance.
Next, it was time to test his hypothesis—
He parked his bike and first looked around. He didn't see anyone.
He originally thought that since it had snowed recently, he would be able to find traces of people's activities based on their footprints. But for some reason, the snow here had all melted away.
So he had to get closer.
The road around the lake had not been built yet. It was just a regular dirt road, and the ground became muddy as he walked further in. So he parked his bike a little further away and turned it around, making sure he could ride away if anything was wrong.
It was getting dark. There was no need to cover his face. Zhang Shutong had a flashlight in his left hand and a baton in his right. He let out a deep breath and carefully stepped into the reeds.
He immediately frowned because the feeling under his feet was wrong—
He squatted down and poked the ground with his finger. He first felt ice and mud, but when he pressed down further, it was hard, frozen soil.
It was not like this eight years later.
He thought back carefully. He remembered coming here on the night from a few hours ago, and the ground was all mud. It was difficult to walk. He was taking one step and sinking a little. But now, the ground was very hard. He didn't remember it raining eight years later...
What was going on?
More memories were awakened. Wait, he seemed to have a clue:
Both of his parents were geological surveyors. The reason they came to work on the island at Mr. Gu's request was to investigate something called a "subsidence zone."
The small island was surrounded by a lake on three sides. Since the end of the last century, it had been developed. More and more buildings were built. Over the years, the ground layers compressed, and the ground slowly subsided;
Gu Jianhong was preparing to do a project on the island and was worried that something would go wrong and the buildings would collapse. That's why he took the lead in establishing the exploration office.
Maybe the "Forbidden Zone" was within the subsidence zone. Eight years ago, the ground was still hard soil; eight years later, the ground had probably subsided and the water level had risen, so it was all mud.
Zhang Shutong really didn't expect that one day what he was doing would be related to his parents' profession.
But this was troublesome...
He had originally planned to find traces of the killer's activities by looking at footprints, which would confirm his hypothesis. But now that the snow had melted and the ground was frozen, he had to bite the bullet and go deeper.
It gets dark very early in winter. The sun had disappeared, and the dark clouds covered the sky. The moonlight was hazy.
The reeds on the side were almost as tall as he was, completely blocking his view. It was quiet all around, with only the rustling sound of his body moving through the reeds.
He lowered his breathing, turned on his flashlight, and shone it on the ground, moving forward little by little.
A rock...
A blade of grass...
A noodle wrapper...
But the wrapper was from a long time ago. It was almost faded and was sealed in the mud. He took two looks and didn't touch it.
Then, Zhang Shutong saw something dark.
He flipped it over and saw that it was a dead, dried-up turtle?
Yes, it was a "turtle jerky." It was almost as big as an adult's palm, comparable to a soft-shelled turtle. The corpse was so shriveled that it was almost dehydrated. It had become a mummy;
He could tell that it was a local pond turtle. It wasn't strange to find a turtle corpse by the water. He also knew that it was the season for turtles to hibernate. Sometimes, when he went for a walk, he could actually pick up a turtle shell. But why...
This turtle hadn't retreated into its shell.
The turtle was in an extremely strange posture, no different from a living turtle. It had its head held high and its limbs outstretched, as if it was趴 on a rock;
When Zhang Shutong found it, it was lying on its back. But this was exactly what made it strange. It was as if this had been a pond turtle basking in the sun when something suddenly happened, and its body was just instantly air-dried, like the city of Pompeii buried in volcanic ash.
But how could a turtle by the water dry out and die?
Zhang Shutong swallowed.
Temporarily ignoring this strange turtle, he continued to move forward with his flashlight. He suddenly felt as if he had stepped on something rubbery. The texture was quite elastic. Goosebumps instantly spread all over his body. He quickly moved his foot and shone the light down:
It was a long, dark red "rock."
It was about two fingers wide and half a foot long. It was covered in mud. He suppressed his disgust and pressed it with his hand, confirming his guess.
It was indeed a piece of meat.
The surface of the meat was already air-dried, making it difficult to determine how long it had been there.
Zhang Shutong didn't know whether he should be familiar with it or surprised. He had used meat as bait before when he was fishing. It wasn't strange to find this by the water, just like that noodle wrapper. Although very few people came here to fish, "very few" didn't mean "none," and it wasn't necessarily related to the killer.
He frowned and took two more steps. His final discovery was a plastic water bottle. The bottle was floating quietly by the lake. He picked it up and saw that the production date was October 27th.
There were some water droplets on the inner wall, but it had just snowed during the day, so it was hard to say what caused it. He also couldn't determine how long it had been there.
There was not a single clue that could be a final verdict.
He originally thought that the killer had scouted the location in advance. After confirming this major premise, he could conduct more investigations in that direction. But now, it was difficult to even draw an equal sign;
Let alone find out who the killer was.
He was having a headache for now.
There was no need to stay any longer today. He first took out his phone to take photos of these clues. They might not be of much use, but he could still think about them when he got home at night. Especially that strange turtle. He took photos of it from several different angles.
Speaking of which, the camera quality on phones back then was really bad. The smartphones of 2012 hadn't unlocked the "night photography" skill yet. The turtle in the photo looked like something out of a horror movie, so hideous on the screen.
The one in his hand was his mom's old one. He couldn't remember if it was an iPhone 4 or 4s. He used to treasure it, but now everything felt awkward. He only remembered that the signal was so-so, which might also be related to the few cell towers on the island. Anyway, there were no bars on the status bar right now;
Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong was very nostalgic for the technology of eight years later. He wouldn't have to come in person. A drone could solve it, or he could buy a small camera and monitor it 24/7...
Speaking of monitoring, he had a clue. He could make a small trap.
He had always been a very hands-on person. On the small island, he also learned a lot of tricks from Qingyi, such as how to tie various knots, and various wilderness survival skills. Qingyi read a lot of books and was best at these.
Although he never thought they would be useful. Were they going to act out "Robinson Crusoe" on the small island? But no one wanted to be Friday. But for boys, a cool trick was all that mattered. He didn't expect it to come in handy today.
He went back to his bike and opened the rear box. He had to say that his past self was definitely a professional when it came to fishing. There was even fishing line and a pair of scissors inside;
Zhang Shutong cut a few sections of fishing line, held them up, and first tied them to the reeds on both sides, then tied a knot in the middle;
This kind of knot would come undone with just a little force, but this was the effect he wanted. He adjusted the height to his shoe level and tried it himself, making sure the tension was just right so it wouldn't be triggered by an animal.
He then tied several more lines in a row.
This way, if someone walked into the Forbidden Zone, they would accidentally trigger his "trap," and the knot was just loose enough that it would come undone with a touch. At most, it would trip the person. Even if they looked down in confusion, no one would notice the fishing line. They would probably think they were tripped by some nearby weeds.
This way, he could come here every day after school for a look and know at a glance if anyone had come.
His mission was complete. When he came to his senses, the heat from the fried shrimp cake had been used up, and he felt a bit cold all over. He sniffled, thinking that he should have a result tomorrow. He looked around again, made sure there was no one in sight, and rode back feeling at ease.
After riding for a few steps, Zhang Shutong finally remembered that he had an appointment to go fishing today. He belatedly patted his forehead, thinking, "Oh, crap. I've been dragging this on for a while. My best friends are probably getting impatient."
He quickly pedaled a few times. When the bike got to a certain spot, his phone seemed to get a signal, and one vibration after another came through.
He opened it and saw that he had a few missed calls from Ruoping. This woman was terrifying. She had called him four times in a row.
Zhang Shutong smiled helplessly. He was about to connect to the internet and send a message when his QQ was also bombarded with messages.
Ruoping: Something seems off.
Ruoping: Pick up the phone, pick up the phone, pick up the phone!
Ruoping: [Image]
Ruoping: Get over here, quick!
What was going on?
Zhang Shutong was stunned for a moment. It was just past six in the evening, and her last message was at 5:40 p.m.
A sudden chill came over him.
Zhang Shutong quickly clicked on the QQ chat window. When he saw the image, he was so shocked that his hands lost their grip, and he almost fell off his bike.
He saw that in the picture Ruoping sent, the background was fine. It was the place where they often went fishing. His best friends had already set up their gear. Everything was the same as before, but the main character in the picture was an unexpected person—
It was the back of a girl in a light-blue robe.
The girl was sitting on a portable stool;
And she was holding a fishing rod.