A light, floaty object slowly landed on his head;
The eerie feeling gave him goosebumps;
Meng Qingyi was stunned. He quickly reached for his head and realized that it was a stick-like, light object.
He quickly brought it in front of his eyes. In his sight, the colorful fishing float was gleaming in the moonlight.
And above the float was the fishing line. To be precise, what fell from above was a fishing line with no hook.
This is...
After a moment of hesitation, his gaze turned to the end of the fishing line. He saw that a knot had already been tied there with great care.
He couldn't be more familiar with that knot. It was something he had learned from a survival magazine. Boys had no resistance to this kind of useless trick. After he learned it, he was going to teach it to his best friends, but Ruoping and Du Kang were dismissive, thinking it was useless. Only one person, just like him, thought it was cool enough;
And the knot in front of him was the most secure of all the different methods;
As long as you put the tied knot around something and gently pull the end of the line, it would be securely tied.
It even took into account that they were squeezed into the reeds and had a hard time moving. Like fruit that a mother had already cut into pieces for you, this smart fishing line seemed to see through their predicament at a glance;
At this moment, it was as if a miracle had descended from the heavens. "Sending charcoal in a snowstorm" was not enough to describe it!
The boy's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood.
He suppressed his excitement, took a deep breath, and gently tugged on the fishing line. Then, the fishing line seemed to suddenly come to life and was let out even longer;
Qingyi put the end with the knot around the reeds in front of him. He measured the length in his mind and tugged on the fishing line again;
The fishing line also cooperated and was let out accordingly.
Finally, when the length on both sides was enough to reach the reeds on the other side, he tugged again, and the fishing line immediately stopped.
This smart fishing line seemed to have something else it wanted to do. After all, only one end had a knot. He then seemed to hear a crisp sound of metal biting through something;
Meng Qingyi knew that all he could do now was to wait patiently.
His Adam's apple bobbed. His eyes were fixed on the front—
All the reeds at the man's feet were filled into the pit. The other party straightened up and walked toward the reeds again;
And at that very moment, the fishing line in midair suddenly fell all at once. He didn't know how long he had been waiting for this moment;
Meng Qingyi grabbed the fishing line. On the other end of the line, he could indeed see a freshly tied knot, as if everything had been planned. It was just waiting for him to put it around the reeds on his side.
But now was not the time to be emotional about these things.
The man was getting closer and closer. He saw Ruoping unconsciously looking at him. Everything happened in a flash of lightning. Meng Qingyi quickly hung the knot on the reeds in front of the girl, at the height of a person's neck. Then he held onto Ruoping's clothes with one hand and suddenly pulled her back. The girl, caught off guard, stumbled back, and her scream was not yet out;
Meng Qingyi also fell backward with the momentum. At the last moment, he jabbed Du Kang's stomach with his elbow—
"Yikes—"
"Shit!"
The screams of the boy and the girl came out at the same time. The man immediately stopped and shouted:
"Who's there?"
The only response he got was the figures suddenly moving in the originally quiet reeds. The man was stunned for a moment, as if he had remembered something. Then his eyes turned vicious. He raised the dagger and rushed toward the reeds, ready to strike!
Everyone's breathing froze. The moonlight reflected a cold glint from the blade. All eyes were on this spot. However—
"Haah... haah..."
Like the sound of a person being choked, the man who was rushing forward suddenly stopped on the spot, as if a spell had been cast on him. He was clutching his neck in pain, struggling in place;
Not far in front of him, Feng Ruoping, who had just struggled to her feet, was stunned by the sudden change. She didn't know whether to run or what to do. At that moment, she heard a familiar clear shout from above her, which made her eyes well up:
"Du Kang, Qingyi, go!"
Then, two black shadows shot out from beside her. One immediately hugged the man's waist, pushing him to the ground; the other deftly stepped on the man's hand that was holding the dagger;
The chaotic situation was instantly brought under control.
The girl immediately turned her head and saw a boy kneeling halfway on the dirt road above, his hands on the ground;
In the dark of the night, his eyes were shining brightly, and he rarely showed a big smile:
"See? I told you 'cool' was enough, didn't I?"
...
After teasing Ruoping, Zhang Shutong looked away, confirming that the killer was under control;
This guy Qingyi not only knew wilderness survival skills, but he also knew a cool move: the hand chop. This ultimate move was something that even he hadn't learned. It was a secret technique that was passed down to sons, not brothers;
He saw that Qingyi had given the man a solid blow to the back of his neck. The man indeed fell to the ground quietly. Only then did Zhang Shutong completely relax, but he wasn't in a hurry to go down;
But while he wasn't in a hurry, the girl named Feng Ruoping rushed up to him.
"Are you guys okay?"
He thought he would be met with eyes full of admiration, but to his surprise, the girl covered her mouth, and her voice was a little choked up.
"And you say..."
Although she was usually fiery, a girl was still a girl after all.
He smiled helplessly at this but didn't plan to comfort her.
If she needed him to comfort her, then the girl wouldn't be named Feng Ruoping—
"Why are you still kneeling here? Are you satisfied with how cool you are?" The girl immediately put her hands on her hips, her loud voice masking the fragility she had just shown.
Zhang Shutong pointed to his feet:
"Look."
He didn't pose on purpose. To avoid making a sound and alerting the snake, he had parked his bike far away and taken off his shoes. He walked over in his socks with the fishing rod, baton, and scissors.
To be honest, the ground was really cold, and his feet were almost frozen now.
"You really are... Aren't you cold?"
Ruoping was stunned. She asked in a worried voice, then looked around and ran to get his shoes in a hurry. After Zhang Shutong put on his shoes, the two of them walked down the dirt slope together and looked at the man in front of them.
Du Kang and Qingyi also came over. Only Lu Qinglian went to the pit the man had dug, not sure what she was studying.
This girl was really brave. Even Zhang Shutong needed to prepare himself psychologically before going over there; speaking of which, aren't you going to look at what the person who will kill you in eight years looks like?
But he couldn't control what she thought. After all, it was something that would happen eight years later. Zhang Shutong and his best friends started chatting.
Ruoping was probably frustrated from being held back. She immediately asked him what was going on. He was supposed to be looking for that man. How did he know to come back?
"You guys know everything?" Zhang Shutong was a bit surprised. This was the only thing he hadn't expected.
"Qingyi figured it out. Your two excuses contradicted each other."
"Alright. My mom only asked me to deliver something. She didn't hurry me at all."
He could admit to the latter, but the former was too much of a hassle to explain, so he just blamed his mom.
"So how did you come back?"
"I saw Ruoping's call."
Zhang Shutong shrugged.
If time were turned back ten minutes, he was riding his bike and chose to chase the police officer. The reason was also simple:
First, his experience over the years made him choose to trust himself rather than placing his hopes on the police stopping;
Second, although he was supposed to find the killer, the further he went, the more unpredictable surprises he would encounter. He was a bit anxious at the time, but after thinking about it, he realized it wasn't worth putting himself in danger alone.
So he went to a place with a signal, saw Ruoping's missed calls, and rushed back. Looking at it now, he was really glad he chose the latter.
Fortunately, he made it back in time.
Du Kang, however, was very puzzled:
"Then how did you know something was wrong over here?"
"It's simple."
Zhang Shutong explained:
"You all know Ruoping's personality. If nothing was wrong, she would love to bombard you with messages on QQ. But I only got one call, and there was no follow-up, which must mean something was wrong.
"Of course, I didn't know that this guy had circled back from behind me. I called the police and quickly rushed back. When I passed here, I was a bit careful. I didn't see any bike tracks. Then I happened to see you guys hiding in the reeds, and a man digging a pit by the water. And then..."
After saying such a long sentence, Zhang Shutong was a bit tired:
"Well, you can ask Qingyi."
Then Qingyi explained the fishing line incident. His best friends never held back on their compliments, but to be honest, they were all too familiar with each other to be that happy about it;
Zhang Shutong received three meals at KFC. They would each get one meal. As they talked, they agreed to go to the city on the weekend to eat chicken wraps;
How can you guys eat KFC?
Zhang Shutong felt like throwing up from the strong smell of rot. He quickly told them to discuss it when they got home. He shone the flashlight on the man, gesturing:
"Let's check out this guy's situation first."
Among the people present, no one was more anxious than he was.
This was also the case. He was the only one who wanted to reveal the killer's true identity. The others all ran to the pit, curious and scared, wanting to see what was inside.
Zhang Shutong ignored them. He shone the flashlight directly on the man's face. After a few glances, he frowned in confusion.
The man had a very fat face and was bald, so he could see a scar on his temple that extended all the way to his chin. Other than that, there were no other features. He tried to remember the people he had met in the past, but he had no impression of him—
But it was also reasonable that he didn't know him. After all, he was the one who was silenced. He should take a picture and ask Gu Qiumian tomorrow if she knew him.
Just as he was thinking this and about to take out his phone to take a picture, he heard Ruoping let out a "wah" and turn her face away, quickly backing up a few steps, almost about to throw up.
"I told you to stop looking." It was easy to imagine how bloody it was.
"It's not..." Ruoping pinched her nose. After a while, she said, "You should see it for yourself... no, it's too smelly here. I need to go up and get some fresh air..."
She was probably so scared that she didn't dare to walk in the dark alone. As she said that, she pulled Lu Qinglian's arm, still feeling a lingering fear, "Qinglian, you should also go up. Don't look. I won't be able to eat for a week..."
As soon as the two of them left, Du Kang also retched and went up with them. Zhang Shutong instructed them as they went up the slope:
"Then you guys can call the police station from up there."
He had called the police before, but he only said that there was a situation in a certain wilderness on the west side of the island. He really didn't know where that wilderness was. Du Kang could explain it.
Seeing that the three of them had gone up the slope, only Qingyi remained. Zhang Shutong pinched his nose in advance and squatted down in front of his best friend.
"What do you think is in here?"
Qingyi also pinched his nose and said in a muffled voice.
Zhang Shutong shone the flashlight in. He was stunned. The pit had already been opened by Qingyi. Before this, he had imagined all sorts of bloody scenes, but he never expected that the thing inside would be something he was all too familiar with. It was...
A pit full of fish?
Fish?
Zhang Shutong immediately looked at the man lying on the ground. He heard Qingyi say in a muffled voice:
"We were all wrong. This isn't a murderer at all. Du Kang was right after all..."
He didn't care what Du Kang had said, but Zhang Shutong understood what was in the pit. He was also surprised and said:
"Why is it electrofishing?"
He saw that the pit was full of the rotting corpses of fish, giving off a strong smell of blood and decay.
"It's electrofishing," Qingyi rarely cursed and said in a depressed tone, "I thought he was a murderer, you know? I was so scared just now. If I had known it was electrofishing, we wouldn't have had to hide for so long. If only I had known... sigh."
He shook his head:
"Saying that is meaningless. It's me being a hindsight. Even if he was electrofishing, if it wasn't for you, Shutong, Ruoping would have probably been in danger."
Zhang Shutong didn't feel like taking credit. He didn't care about that. It was good that everyone was fine;
He was just a bit depressed now. He wasn't any better than Qingyi—
Although it was a false alarm in the end, the process of dealing with the man was a bit convoluted. When Du Kang and the others held the man down, even he felt a long-lost surge of excitement in his heart:
"So it was you. You killed me, Gu Qiumian, and Lu Qinglian. You didn't expect to be caught on the first day, did you?"
Although he also had the illusion that "the matter was solved so easily," he was also killed very easily by the other party. But he never expected that in the end, he had only caught a man who was electrofishing.
He really needed a cigarette now.
But there were no cigarettes around, only the pungent smell of rot.
"I just want to be alone..."
"Me too."
The two of them looked at each other, then turned around at the same time to take a deep breath of the fresh air behind them. They then turned back and stared at the fish pit.
Qingyi was rummaging through the things on the man. He had already searched him:
"Look, this is the snakeskin bag Du Kang was talking about. It's actually a bag for dead fish. The other thing he was holding was the shovel... Oh, right, there's also this. Shutong, guess what this is?"
He saw Qingyi unstrap a fire poker-like object from the man's back.
"An electrofishing fork?"
"Exactly. I thought it was a gun..."
Zhang Shutong looked at his best friend's speechless expression and almost laughed. He was very depressed, but seeing someone else even more depressed seemed to lighten his own depression a bit;
But it was too smelly here. He quickly closed his mouth and squeezed out the words between his teeth:
"Alright, it's good that everyone is fine. I was worried that you wouldn't understand what I meant."
"You have no idea. I was completely on edge. It's a miracle that you came up with that idea. But it was also a good thing that you threw it on my head. If it were them, they might not have understood."
He heard Qingyi mumbling again:
"Tell me, how did Du Kang get into all these things..."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you remember? Last week, he said he saw someone electrofishing and righteously called the police. But the police didn't believe him, and neither did we. We didn't expect him to be telling the truth. He probably saw this person before."
When he said that, Zhang Shutong suddenly remembered.
He remembered that when he went to the police station this afternoon, the reason the police didn't believe his story was that they had been tricked by them last week. A boy with a baby face lied to them and said someone was electrofishing. As soon as the police left on patrol, the few of them went to fish on the other side.
Even Zhang Shutong himself had thought that this was just a lie made up by a few bad kids to go fishing, but he didn't expect it to be true.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but laugh. On second thought, this was also a story about a man who loves what he doesn't have. If the unconscious man was a real killer, they might not have been able to handle him so easily.
In any case, this unusual night was finally over. He had spent the whole night walking back and forth in the cold wind. Now that he had confirmed the man's identity, he realized that he was already exhausted and just wanted to go home and collapse on his bed.
"But, don't you think something is off?" Qingyi suddenly asked again.
As soon as the problem was solved, this guy's problem started acting up again.
"Spit it out." Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes.
"I just thought about it. When I had the fishing line set up, I deliberately asked Du Kang to shout, just to lure him over.
"But if he's an electrofisher, that's not a big crime. The worst that could happen is a few days in detention. Would he really pull out a knife?"
"You're right."
Zhang Shutong also stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Anyway, the matter was solved. They still had to wait for the police to come and clean up the mess, so they couldn't leave for now. He was also interested in playing a deduction game with his best friend. They used to love doing this.
"Maybe he was a fugitive?" Zhang Shutong said casually. "Did you find anything on him just now?"
"A wallet, a Swiss Army knife, a lighter, and cigarettes... Oh, right, this too, a phone." Qingyi went back to the man and felt him up again. "But we don't know the password, so it's useless."
"That's pretty normal," Zhang Shutong also stood up, but he felt that something was wrong.
He immediately frowned. It was as if he was just a little bit away from connecting the dots. It seemed important and at the same time unimportant. But he was just a little bit away. Maybe he was too tired tonight. He couldn't grasp that flash of insight.
Qingyi, on the other hand, had lost interest first. Even though he was the one who brought up the deduction:
"Forget it. He's just a bald guy who does electrofishing. What are we studying him for? It's so smelly. I'd rather go home and read my novel. Look at Ruoping and the others. They went up and never came back down. After all this time, there's no movement. We look like a couple of fools."
Zhang Shutong pretty much agreed. A person who does electrofishing was really not worth studying. He was a bit abnormal at the time, that was true, but even a dog would jump over a wall when it's cornered. It wasn't that strange for him to pull out a knife.
So he followed his best friend's footsteps. When he walked past the man, Zhang Shutong took one last glance at him.
He was indeed a bald man with a scarred face.
Wait...
Bald...
Bald?
Zhang Shutong's movements suddenly froze. He rushed to the man, not looking at the man himself, but quickly scanning the things that were taken off him. A few common items were scattered on the ground;
"What's wrong? Did you figure something out?"
Qingyi turned his head.
"Did you guys see him like this from the beginning?" Zhang Shutong's words started to speed up without him realizing: "And are you sure you only found these things on him? You didn't miss anything?"
"Of course. He dropped his Swiss Army knife in the reeds just now, and I picked it up. So what did you find?" Qingyi asked strangely.
In the night wind, a chill suddenly spread throughout his body. He stared at Qingyi's eyes and said each word slowly:
"Then... where's the cap Du Kang saw?"
Qingyi was also stunned:
"That... that can't be right. The woven bag and everything else matches up. Wait a minute. I'll call him down and ask..."
Saying that, the two of them quickly went up the dirt slope. Before they got to the top, they saw Du Kang standing on the dirt road. Qingyi immediately complained:
"Why are you hanging out with the two girls instead of us? We have something to ask you. Come down here and look..."
But before he could finish, Zhang Shutong pulled him. He subconsciously turned his head and saw that the other party's gaze was fixed on Du Kang's face.
Meng Qingyi also looked over and was stunned again. Because Du Kang's face was no longer that perpetually smiling one. He was forcing a smile that was uglier than a cry.
He heard the boy's voice squeeze out between his teeth:
"Shutong, there's... more than one of them..."
...
"There's... more than one of them..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the blinding light of a flashlight filled their vision. Zhang Shutong immediately pulled Qingyi down. His eyes were so blinded by the strong light that it was painfully white for a long time. He turned his face away, forced a frown, and managed to see the scene in front of him:
On the empty dirt road;
Behind Du Kang was Ruoping, whose eyes were red;
Behind Ruoping was Lu Qinglian;
And behind Lu Qinglian...
Was a tall, skinny man wearing a cap.
The man moved the flashlight away and smiled without moving a muscle on his face:
"You guys are finally all together. There's no one else, right?"
He had a handlebar mustache on his lips, like a sinister snake.
Zhang Shutong's mind buzzed for a moment. His relaxed nerves instantly tensed;
Their current position was very bad. He was below and the other party was above. They absolutely could not be taken out all at once. He was about to push Qingyi down the dirt slope when the man shouted:
"Don't move! Put your hands up!"
Before he could react, the other party raised something. Zhang Shutong looked closely, and his heart sank to the bottom—
The man was holding a long gun.
The muzzle was pressed against the back of Lu Qinglian's head. He let go of Qingyi's clothes and slowly raised his hands.
"That's it. Throw everything you have on the ground and line up over here..."
The handlebar mustache on the man's lips was also moving when he spoke.
Zhang Shutong followed the other party's instructions, deliberately moving slowly. He glanced at the two phones on the ground. They must have been Ruoping's and Du Kang's... and he quickly thought of a countermeasure in his mind;
This meant that the plan to call the police had failed from the very beginning. This was the key to the man's confidence. But the other party probably didn't know that he had called the police earlier. Maybe he could use this information gap to do something...
But it was also hard to say when the police would get here. What would happen if the other party took a desperate action?
Why was Lu Qinglian the one who was caught? Among them, she was the easiest to control. Zhang Shutong didn't forget that the girl was wearing a long robe. It would be hard for her to run away. Once he sensed something was wrong, he could just pull on the robe, and she would be stuck in place.
So he had to try his best to stall for time and wait for the police to come. If there was a chance, he could try to take the gun... Forget it. No matter what, he had to ensure Lu Qinglian's safety first...
A flurry of thoughts flashed through his mind. Anxiety and restlessness surged in his chest, and then he forced them down;
Zhang Shutong took a deep breath and slowly took a step. But the man seemed to have seen through his thoughts:
"You're trying to stall for time with me? Get in front of me!" He pointed at Du Kang and Ruoping. "You two go and carry Wang Kang up for me. Don't try anything clever!"
Ruoping and Du Kang were still a bit hesitant, but the man shouted again:
"Go!"
Then he forcefully hit Lu Qinglian on the head with the gun barrel—
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
On a moonless night;
The cold wind howled, and it was desolate all around;
The naked and sinister malice surged toward them like a tide;
Ruoping seemed to have closed her eyes and didn't dare to look;
Du Kang was gritting his teeth, holding back his anger;
Qingyi turned his back and slid his phone down the dirt slope;
At this moment, even the wind seemed to stand still:
Then, Zhang Shutong saw the girl named Lu Qinglian frown.
The expected sound of metal hitting a head did not ring out. Lu Qinglian just slightly turned her head. Her exquisite face was still expressionless.
The next moment, under the man's shocked and angry face;
The girl moved.
She lowered her body, twisted her waist, moved her leg to the side, and raised it;
Her black hair and light-blue robe were ready, and then they danced at the same time;
Under the raised robe, in just a flash, the girl's long leg was like a cannonball—
It shot out and slammed into the man's chest!