The road ahead was pitch black, with only the faint light from his phone screen.
Zhang Shutong didn't turn on his flashlight. He held his phone in one hand, propped on the handlebars of his bike.
He had forgotten to put on his gloves before he left. His hands were stinging from the cold night wind, but he didn't have the luxury to stop and put them on.
The road at night was difficult to ride on. He had to be careful of potholes and even more careful of icy patches. Even he didn't know where he was. Based on the time, it was only a seven or eight-minute ride.
It proved that he had miscalculated one thing—the patrolling police officer was not that easy to catch up to. He had thought that the other party hadn't gone far and that he would be faster on his bike;
But the sound of a motorcycle engine he had heard not long ago made Zhang Shutong realize that a person on patrol on the island must have a vehicle. They couldn't just walk everywhere.
He probably rode to one spot, got off to search the area, and after confirming that nothing was wrong, he would go to the next spot.
So, a pressing choice came to his mind:
Should he chase him?
Or not?
If he chased, and they were compared to a tortoise and a hare, the tortoise wouldn't be able to catch up to the hare even if it tried its best. But the other party would eventually get off his bike to patrol. Maybe it wouldn't be long before that small opportunity would appear;
But how long was "not long"?
He didn't know.
He could only place his hopes on the other party.
And if he didn't chase, he would need to change his strategy. Zhang Shutong still remembered that when he was returning from the Forbidden Zone after school in the afternoon, his phone was bombarded with messages when he passed a certain spot. All he had to do was find that spot with a signal and call the police.
But this method was easier said than done. His past self would have known every corner of the island like the back of his hand, but he hadn't been back in eight years. He only remembered the general directions, like where his home and school were. But finding a spot with a signal would be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially at night.
Even if he successfully found it, he would still have to wait for the police to be dispatched. How much time would have passed by then?
Time was ticking by. The longer he dragged it out, the slimmer the chance of finding a clue about the killer. He sped up and made a decision.
...
The footsteps were getting closer.
Their minds went blank for a moment. A few of them almost subconsciously dove into the reeds.
Feng Ruoping was the last one to go in. She lowered her breathing, her eyes wide. Her heart was pounding.
Who is it? Why isn't he using a flashlight?
The police?
No, it must be the man Du Kang saw!
But what should they do?
Should they continue to hide?
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. The few of them panicked for a moment. By the time they fully realized their current situation, it was already too late to do anything.
At this moment, no one knew what to do.
Suddenly, a phone rang, breaking the silence and echoing in the open field.
The call was quickly answered. With a few muffled words, Feng Ruoping could hear that the person was definitely not a police officer but a man with a hoarse voice.
The area was empty and desolate. Every word that came out of the man's mouth was carried away by the night wind.
"West side... yes, there are cops..."
"They've already left. I'm on the road..."
"Students..."
The man's voice stopped.
Feng Ruoping also froze, her hands and feet turning cold.
"...They didn't see me. It's fine."
"Pay attention... okay."
The man's voice sounded again. Only then did she realize that the "students" he mentioned did not mean he had discovered them.
But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief. More guesses surfaced in her mind—
Who did he mean by "students"?
Zhang Shutong?
Had he been discovered already?
But this guess was immediately rejected. Shutong went west, but the man's footsteps came from the east. There was no reason for them to run into each other... But who else was there who fit the description?
Du Kang?
It could only be him.
If the man above them was the same person Du Kang had encountered on the road, then after all this time, the other party might have circled back. The man was walking toward the west;
But wasn't that the direction Zhang Shutong had gone?
Thinking of this, Feng Ruoping felt anxious and angry.
Zhang Shutong, Zhang Shutong! You thought you were so clever to go and look for him! You didn't expect him to come back from behind you! You'll never find him!
And no one knew what this man was here for. Combined with the guesses from before, it was definitely nothing good;
She had already made up her mind. As soon as the man left, she would immediately call Zhang Shutong and tell him not to come back, otherwise, what would happen if the two of them ran into each other?
She thought of this and held her phone in her pocket. But the sounds coming from above her head made the girl freeze again.
No, to be precise, it wasn't the sounds that made her freeze.
It was the fact that the man's sounds...
Completely disappeared.
Everything was silent, with only the night wind roaring.
But it was this kind of silence that made the girl's hairs stand on end. Because the lack of sound meant that—
The other party was standing directly above them?
She didn't dare to look up, or even make any extra movements. Her palms were unknowingly covered in sweat;
The next moment, footsteps sounded again. But before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the sound changed direction. It was no longer from above them, but from the side and above!
The other party was walking down the slope!
As the sound of shoes scraping against weeds and soil came through, she saw a blurry shadow walking down the dirt slope through the dense reeds.
But why?
Why was he coming down?
Had they been discovered?
Should they and Qingyi and Du Kang just rush out?
Should they run now?
All sorts of thoughts floated in her mind. At this moment, the clouds in the sky seemed to be slowly blown away by the night wind. Moonlight shone down, and the man's figure instantly became clear;
He was a short and stocky man. Feng Ruoping stared at his back. The features on the man matched the information Du Kang had given them!
She saw the man was carrying a very large woven bag on his back, and in his other hand, he was holding a very long object;
The object was wrapped in a cloth bag, like a stick, going from his feet all the way to his shoulder. But the end suddenly became wide and flat;
She turned her head with difficulty and met Qingyi's eyes. She saw that he was subtly shaking his head.
She could understand what he meant. He was saying—
"Wait."
She saw his eyes move downward until they reached her feet. Although their legs were already hidden by the reeds, Feng Ruoping instinctively remembered something. Qingyi was talking about her shoes.
She was wearing a pair of heeled loafers today. This kind of shoe didn't even have laces. Let alone running fast, she would probably lose a shoe if she took a hurried step up the dirt slope;
And even if she didn't lose a shoe, could she outrun an adult man? The answer was pretty much a "no." Maybe the other party wouldn't chase, but who could guarantee that he wouldn't?
In a situation like this, it was better to avoid trouble. So Shutong's first choice was also to hide and wait. Thinking of this, the girl bit her lips, feeling anxious because she was holding them back.
So they could only wait.
They held their breaths and quietly watched the man's every move. Their minds uncontrollably started to wander. What was he going to do? What did he mean by "they didn't see me"? Why was he hiding from the police?
Before these questions could be answered, Feng Ruoping saw the man walk to the water's edge, squat down, and unload the woven bag from his shoulder onto the ground. He then untied the cloth from the stick-like object, and the girl's eyes suddenly widened—
It turned out to be an iron shovel.
The man held the shovel with both hands. He swung the shovel, and the dirt loosened;
Under the moonlight, this man was strangely digging a...
Pit.
...A pit?
What in the world did he want to do?
All sorts of guesses flew around like headless flies, but they didn't have to rack their brains to figure it out anymore. As the pile of dirt next to him grew larger and larger;
The next moment, the man pulled the zipper of the woven bag. The sound of metal clashing rang out, and then, a strong smell of blood and decay filled the air.
The moonlight shone on the faces of the teenagers, and their faces instantly turned pale.
A certain guess suddenly surged in their chests, and it was on the tip of their tongues—
Feng Ruoping looked back at Meng Qingyi. She could still see his expressionless face, but even though he seemed calm, she could tell that his eyes also held a hint of hesitation.
But their situation was a dilemma. They couldn't call the police, and they couldn't communicate. When the police were on the dirt road, they could still use their phones to communicate, but now the man was right in front of them. They couldn't even make a small movement. They could only communicate with their eyes.
Feng Ruoping had only one thought in her mind: she had to tell Zhang Shutong about this as soon as possible. He was the only one who could move freely;
But after all this time, the only way to contact him was by phone, and the call didn't even go through;
Feng Ruoping knew that the boy was a person who was extremely focused when he was doing something. He was probably immersed in his exciting adventure right now. The earliest he would realize that something was wrong was when he got home;
Logically, he should get home fast on his bike;
But that idiot was still focused on looking for someone, wasn't he?
You won't find him if you look for a whole night!
The person is right here with us!
So she bit her lip and slowly took out her phone. The sound of the wind luckily covered the rustling in the reeds. She imitated how Shutong had done it before, pressing the phone screen tightly against her clothes, turning the brightness down to the lowest setting, and then she opened the text message app, ready to type with one hand;
But there was one thing the girl didn't expect—
A girl's hands were not the same size as a boy's. The operation that was easy for him was impossible for her. She couldn't even reach the edge of the screen;
After finally typing the message, she was about to press the send button. She was just one step away, but she couldn't reach it. She panicked, and to her surprise, her thumb cramped. At that moment, she couldn't even hold onto the phone, and it slipped into the grass.
In the silence, the sound of the phone dropping was like a pebble being thrown into water. Feng Ruoping's face lost all color at that moment.
The man on the opposite side stopped, turned around suddenly, and a beam of light from a flashlight shone on them!
Then the man hunched his back, fumbled for something on his waist, and took a cautious step forward.
The man was getting closer and closer!
Feng Ruoping felt like her heart had stopped beating.
What should I do? What should I do?!
The girl was about to close her eyes and rush out;
At that moment, she heard a "croak," and a black shadow suddenly leaped out of the reeds!
It was a frog!
The man's gaze was indeed focused on the frog. He cursed under his breath, turned around, and went back to the pit he had dug.
It took a while for her heart to fall back into place. Feng Ruoping then turned her head, and the boy named Du Kang winked at her with a grin.
Under normal circumstances, Ruoping would have glared back at him, not to be outdone, but all she could do was feel her nose sting as she thought, "What should we do now?"
The phone was on the ground, and she couldn't pick it up;
Who knew how long that man would be digging for? What's more, even if Zhang Shutong got home and saw her call, what kind of message could one missed call convey?
At this moment, the girl could only listen to her own heartbeat and pray in her heart:
Zhang Shutong! You have to find out quickly! Quickly!
...
Meng Qingyi smelled the increasingly strong smell of blood and felt a sense of gravity.
The man in front of them had been digging for almost ten minutes.
The other party was clearly a veteran.
Under the moonlight, he could vaguely see him pouring out the body parts from the bag, then filling it with a layer of dirt, then pouring out some more, and then filling it with another layer of dirt;
His heart also sank with each layer.
What kind of corpse could fill an entire woven bag?
Maybe he didn't even have to think about it.
Shutong's line of thought was right. In a situation like this, it was always better to avoid trouble. So when he saw Ruoping take out her phone just now, he didn't really agree with her actions.
They could have just waited for the other party to finish and leave. There was no need for them to stir up trouble;
They just had to wait patiently.
So he had no intention of taking out his phone to contact anyone. That would be counterproductive.
So the boy held his breath, counted in his heart, and patiently watched the other party's every move. Instead of hoping to catch the killer on the spot, it was better to try and find some clues from him.
Because of this, one thing had been bothering Meng Qingyi for a long time, and that was—
What was that thing the man was carrying on his back?
He wasn't referring to the woven bag, nor the shovel. He noticed that after the other party put those two things down, he was still carrying something else diagonally on his back.
But under the moonlight, he could only see the general outline:
It was also a stick-like object, like a fire poker, but the end suddenly became wide and flat. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to guess what it was. But it was the shape of that thing that made him feel heavy in his heart.
It was probably...
A hunting rifle.
But no matter what it was, it was not something they could handle right now. Meng Qingyi lowered his gaze and tried to calm his breathing. All he had to do now was wait patiently for the other party to leave...
Thinking this, he turned his head and met Du Kang's gaze. The other party was winking at him with a grin and gesturing toward the man's back. Meng Qingyi knew what he meant. Du Kang was the best fighter among them. At this moment, he was probably not thinking about how to hide, but about how to use this opportunity to directly kick the other party;
But didn't this idiot see the gun on the man's back?
He used a stern look to stop him. He was a bit frustrated when he saw Ruoping's shoulders suddenly shake, and then she looked forward;
And she saw that;
The man had moved.
In the dark of the night, the man took out a dagger from his waist and walked toward the reeds with big steps.
What was going on?
Meng Qingyi was stunned;
What was he going to do?
Had they been discovered?
But that's impossible!
No matter how hard he tried to force himself to calm down, he was still a teenager, and he was a bit flustered;
Ruoping, of course, was even more so. She was standing at the front, and she was the first to be in danger. Her whole body was unconsciously trembling,
Her heart sank again. The few of them quickly held their breaths, their hearts pounding in their throats. But they saw the man suddenly stop in front of the reeds. He waved the dagger and actually cut off a small clump of reeds.
Meng Qingyi suddenly understood.
—The contents of the woven bag were almost all poured out, but the strong smell of blood and decay in the air lingered, even though the other party had dug the pit very deep; and even though he had filled it with many layers of dirt;
It was still not enough.
It turned out that he wanted to use the reeds to cover the smell of blood!
He saw the other party return to the pit, fill the reeds into the pit, and press it down with his feet before filling it with another layer of dirt.
But a deeper worry immediately surfaced in his mind;
But if that's the case...
Could they really hide until the end?
...
Taking advantage of the sounds the man made while filling the pit, this was the second time they had quietly moved backward.
Meng Qingyi frowned tightly.
His blocked view was gradually becoming clear. A small patch of the dense reeds had been cut down, and the few of them had nowhere left to retreat.
The bicycles were behind them. Their space had been compressed to the minimum.
The man was filling the reeds into the pit little by little, and there were only a few left at his feet. But the large pit in the distance was still not filled. It was foreseeable that—
He would soon be back for more.
There were only a few reeds left in front of Ruoping. They could barely hide the girl's figure. She would definitely be exposed.
So they had to come up with a plan before the other party acted!
Should they run?
Still not an option.
He and Du Kang might be able to, but Ruoping and Lu Qinglian wouldn't be able to run very far;
So should they just risk it?
Meng Qingyi clenched his fists. After struggling for a moment, he slowly unclenched them.
He didn't dare to gamble.
They had no weapons in their hands. Shutong had taken the baton when he left. They didn't even have a decent weapon now. How were they supposed to fight back? The stool from the bike? Or a fishing rod?
It was true that there were four of them, but the combat power of the two girls was almost negligible. The only ones who could be of any use were him and Du Kang.
—He could handle the dagger in the man's hand. He could use a folding stool as a shield. As long as he could block the first attack, he could take the other person down.
However, the one thing that always bothered Meng Qingyi was the object slung diagonally across the man's back.
So he didn't dare to gamble.
What if they rushed out and the other party just raised the gun? He knew that the man could handle these things without batting an eye. He wouldn't be merciful, and he wouldn't hesitate.
And if they waited for the other party to come and cut the reeds and then attacked, Ruoping was in the front. It would be very easy for her to get hurt in the melee.
So sometimes, being too cautious can be counterproductive. One plan after another rose in his mind, and one by one, they were all eliminated after he thought about them. For a moment, Meng Qingyi also fell into a state of helplessness.
There were only a few reeds left at the man's feet. The other party was clearly not satisfied. He seemed to look at the reeds with some intention, as if he was thinking about how many more he needed.
The boy's heart began to waver and feel anxious.
If only...
If only Shutong were here.
At this moment, this thought rose in his mind.
Of course, he didn't wish for the other party to be there, but that his best friend would happen to come back. Even if he couldn't do much, the sound of a bike riding on the road would attract the man's attention, and they might be able to find some openings.
Instead of being like this now, their hands and feet were tied, and they couldn't even prepare themselves.
Or, if there was someone on the road to cooperate with them, they might also be able to solve the current situation.
But how could that be possible?
He watched Ruoping cup her hands over her heart, staring intently ahead, as if she was praying for something. All the outside noises were blocked out for her. Meng Qingyi took a deep breath and decided.
He couldn't wait any longer—
But just as he was about to act on this thought.
Then, as if a god had answered his prayer;
Something slowly fell from the sky.
And landed on the boy's head.