Zhang Shutong had just put away his phone when the shopping mall's loudspeakers suddenly blared to life. A cheerful melody drifted through the main hall. Around seven or eight in the evening, as the night grew pitch-black, the festive atmosphere finally began to thicken.
However, today wasn't Christmas. It was merely a rehearsal for the days to come—much like his walk up the escalator to the second floor, knowing that tonight's affair was far from over. It was just a "rehearsal."
Ever since he took the statue, the constant coming and going of the surrounding crowd had made it impossible to spot the man again. Rather than saying he had vanished, it was more accurate to say the man was drifting in and out of sight. Perhaps he was quietly observing them from somewhere in the crowd. After a night of implicit skirmishes, Zhang Shutong had a fairly clear grasp of the man's personality. He was undoubtedly cautious; the distance between them had never been less than ten meters, and he rarely stayed on the same floor level as them.
If Zhang Shutong was at the entrance of the old house, the man was on the second floor of the hospital. If he was inside the hospital, the man was across from it. If they boarded the elevator, the man would quietly observe from somewhere downstairs.
Zhang Shutong wasn't worried about the man watching his every move. On the contrary, he was worried the man wasn't watching closely enough.
So, he removed the black plastic bag, exposing the fox statue inside. The fox stared into the distance. Ruoping had once said that anyone who looked directly at it would feel an urge to make a wish, but Zhang Shutong felt not a single ripple in his heart.
At present, it was nothing more than a cold piece of stone.
Zhang Shutong wasn't worried that the man would be shocked by the statue's appearance, either.
For a group of kids, treating an unknown statue they had suddenly picked up like hidden treasure and leaving it in a mall was actually quite reasonable. It was practically a free safe—unexpected, yet entirely logical for teenagers of their age.
They stepped onto the second floor once more, acting as if nothing had happened. They paused at an accessory shop that sold not only girls' accessories, but also stationery, potted plants, and toys. A male and female student walked into the shop carrying a statue, seemingly comparing the item in their hands to see if it was some kind of handicraft.
"Did you see him?"
Lu Qinglian picked up a pen and spoke softly.
Zhang Shutong glanced outside the shop. It was peak foot traffic, significantly more crowded than when they had first entered. Otherwise, the mall wouldn't have started playing music. Perhaps it was because the holiday was approaching, or perhaps the promotional events outside were taking effect; the crowd swarmed like a surging tide.
"Not since we got off the escalator," Zhang Shutong said.
"Time to go." Lu Qinglian slotted the pen back into its place.
They switched to a bookstore.
He picked up a wide magazine, using the pages to mask his face, occasionally peeking outside the store.
"Any sign?"
"Nothing." Zhang Shutong shook his head.
He hadn't received any messages from his best friends on his phone, either. After a moment, Zhang Shutong closed the magazine.
"We can't keep wandering around."
Even if everything they had done prior—even checking the fire exit on the third floor—could be explained as two people finding the fox statue and looking for a "secret base" to hold a small meeting, continuing to wander around would make it look intentional.
He knitted his brows, still unable to figure out where the man had gone.
Thinking it through, Zhang Shutong walked toward the escalator leading to the third floor.
There were too many people on the third floor. Even with distinct features, finding a person there was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The first floor was no different. The issue was that the mall's structure allowed one to see downstairs from above, but not vice versa. They had stayed on the second floor for quite a while; if the man was tailing them, he shouldn't have stayed on the first floor.
Yet, he had already searched all the distant areas, unless...
His intuition kicked in once more. Zhang Shutong whipped his head around, a brown shadow flitting across his field of vision. A sudden wave of shock hit his heart—a man with his hat pulled low brushed right past him. By the time Zhang Shutong confirmed the fact, the man had already stepped onto the escalator heading to the third floor ahead of them.
In that brief instant, the space behind the man was filled by other customers.
Zhang Shutong subconsciously tightened his grip on the statue, his mind flooded with astonishment.
Immediately following was a wave of chill.
Why...
Why did he suddenly get so close this time?
Lu Qinglian also narrowed her eyes as she looked at the man's retreating back.
"How is the statue?"
"Still here."
"This should be the first time he's gotten this close." Even Lu Qinglian frowned. "Is he preparing to strike? Or setting an ambush ahead of time?"
She then stepped onto the escalator without looking back, reaching her hand out behind her.
Zhang Shutong placed the statue into Lu Qinglian's hand. He was equally surprised. The man had maintained a steady distance all along, yet this time, as if unable to contain himself, he had appeared right next to them for the first time.
This brought a turning point to the situation. However, against a man capable of recovering mud figurines, not only himself, but even Lu Qinglian needed to be fully prepared.
"Gone again." Lu Qinglian closed her eyes gently, then opened them. "Get ready."
The man walked quickly the entire way. While they were talking, he had pushed and squeezed his way up the escalator, his figure quickly blending into the crowd again.
The two soon reached the third floor. Since they were certain the man was nearby, they could jump straight to the final step.
Ultimately, they stopped in front of the fire door.
That door was identical to when they had left a short while ago—unlocked, merely left ajar.
However, things behind the door might not have stayed the same.
Zhang Shutong leaned gently against the door and listened for a moment.
"Will your wig get in the way?"
"It's fine." Lu Qinglian had always been a girl of few words, even more so right now. "Be careful in a moment."
With that, she pushed open the fire door.
The young girl's leg suddenly exerted force. Almost the exact moment Zhang Shutong entered the fire exit, she darted onto the rooftop. Zhang Shutong followed with quick steps. The warm air that had enveloped them a moment ago vanished, replaced by an onshore night breeze. The wind on the rooftop blew so hard it almost whipped up their clothes. Zhang Shutong tried hard to blink, only to see Lu Qinglian standing still in front of him.
The rooftop was empty.
"Even more cautious than I thought," Lu Qinglian said coldly. Coming up empty once again, although she wasn't angry, there was no expression on her face.
Zhang Shutong turned on his flashlight and carefully inspected the surroundings. Rather than the top of a building, this rooftop resembled an observation deck. The center area was paved with tempered glass, though it was usually covered by plastic tarps. At the far end of the rooftop, there was a construction structure yet to be finished. He remembered Gu Qiumian mentioning that her father was planning to build a cinema here.
Perhaps it would be bustling in the future, but currently, the rooftop was desolate. The night wind lifted a corner of the plastic tarp on the ground. Although this place was only three stories high, it was the tallest building on the island. Looking out, one could see the city lights, which only highlighted the cold isolation here, making it resemble a fallen city.
When he withdrew his gaze, Lu Qinglian had already taken off the short wig. She gently shook her head, letting her waterfall of dark hair cascade down, a few strands sticking to the side of her lips in the wind. At this final moment, there was no point in disguising as anyone anymore.
Zhang Shutong glanced sideways at Lu Qinglian. Her eyes, which had faintly shown some emotional warmth not long ago, were now as calm as an ancient well. A cold chill emanated from them, like a lazy cat suddenly transforming into a slit-pupiled viper.
"Hold this," she said in an undeniable tone.
The wind grew fiercer, blowing her long hair back. Zhang Shutong took the statue and the wig, watching Lu Qinglian take several steps toward the entrance. She stared at the pitch-black stairwell, standing silently to the side. But Zhang Shutong knew this was the sign before her strike—like an arrow drawn to full tension, ready to launch.
Zhang Shutong set the statue down at his feet. He stood directly facing the stairwell like bait, waiting to act the moment the man came up. The night wind howled. They didn't know how long they would have to wait. Zhang Shutong checked his phone again. Three minutes had passed since they made it to the rooftop, and ten minutes since they retrieved the fox. Before this, the man had been observing them continuously, but afterward, he had vanished without a trace. The only time he appeared, he had shown up right next to them.
Zhang Shutong walked to the edge of the rooftop. From here, he could see the main entrance of the shopping mall. He looked down.
That was a cautious and meticulous man; the long-sealed basement that had never been discovered by anyone was proof enough. Yet such a man, who had clearly been keeping a distance to observe them, had lost his "composure" before the very last moment and suddenly appeared right before them.
layout
The night wind blew his hair into mess. Zhang Shutong sighed, closed his eyes to think for a moment, and said to the person behind him:
"Don't wait. He's not coming."
"What?" Lu Qinglian frowned.
"He's already gone."
"Down below?" Lu Qinglian's gaze sharpened as she scanned the crowd in front of the mall.
"I didn't see him, but I'm basically certain he left." As he spoke, Zhang Shutong dialed Qingyi's number. "Do me a favor. Check the trash cans on the first floor of the mall to see if you can find a brown hat. Yeah, it should be inside..."
Hearing this, Lu Qinglian's brow furrowed deeper.
"Are you saying... he noticed us?"
"No, it's just because he's cautious enough. If he had noticed that we realized he was tailing us, why wait until now?" Zhang Shutong said. "It's just an extra layer of insurance. Since he showed up near us wearing those clothes, not just the hat—he probably won't wear that jacket again either."
"As for why he left..." Zhang Shutong picked up the statue from the ground and looked it over. "We got one thing wrong. When he got close to us just now, it wasn't an ambush, nor was he losing patience to strike. A person with that kind of personality wouldn't lose his composure. He did it to confirm one thing—"
He shook the sad fox:
"Which fox we actually have in our hands."
Zhang Shutong took a deep look at the main entrance of the mall. The crowd was surging; blending into it was child's play for anyone.
"When we didn't have a fox, he followed us the whole way. When we got the fox, he vanished. When it wasn't convenient to make a move, he suddenly got close. That can only prove one thing: his goal is the fox, but not the one in our hands.
"So, after he confirmed it, he turned around and left without looking back.
"Do you remember what I told you? In the prophecy of the smiling fox, the target attacks Ruoping while she's holding a fox in the near future. But that so-called 'prophecy' never stated which fox Ruoping was actually holding."
At this point, his brows knitted tightly. Zhang Shutong realized a piece of information had been glossed over. From his perspective, on the Weaver Girl line, the information he received was always that the man attacked Ruoping while she was holding a fox. Because the incident started with the sad fox, Zhang Shutong had assumed right off the bat that the man's target was the sad fox.
In reality, it wasn't.
Just then, his phone rang. Zhang Shutong took a glance and simply turned on the speakerphone. Qingyi's heavy voice came through:
"Found it. Right near the entrance. That guy probably slipped out right under our noses a while ago."
As expected.
Zhang Shutong had anticipated this outcome.
Qingyi added, "Something just occurred to me. When you guys didn't have the fox, he followed you the whole way, but after you got it, he suddenly left instead. Does that mean he's looking for a different fox?"
Zhang Shutong hummed in agreement.
"If that's the case," Qingyi frowned, "since he knows he got the wrong one, does that mean the crisis around Ruoping is lifted, and he's completely given up?"
"Not necessarily. Or rather, he won't," Zhang Shutong said gravely. "Don't forget he already knows we've been to the altar. I'm not sure if he's guessing or using some other means, but that man seems to believe we have another fox in our hands. He won't stop until he clears this up."
"Then that makes it easy," Du Kang squeezed over. "We'll just stroll around with the smiling fox tomorrow. Don't lose heart, Shutong."
"No need for that," Zhang Shutong said.
"He thinks he hid himself well, coming and going as he pleases. But think about it: if you were tailing someone, even if you didn't find the fox, you finally found the main target. Wouldn't you take the chance to follow the trail and find their place instead of turning around and leaving so decisively? What does that tell you?"
"It means he already knows where Ruoping lives?" Du Kang exclaimed.
"Wrong. If he knew, he wouldn't have been fooled by a wig. Lu Qinglian and I ran an experiment: we split up for a while, but he tailed Lu Qinglian, not me."
"So?"
"It's actually simple. There are no high schools on the island, only a middle school. Anyone can tell at a glance that we aren't elementary schoolers. He knows we're middle school students. Even if that range is broad, he got a clear look at my face today."
"Are you saying he'll head straight to the school?"
"Yeah. The other party clearly isn't worried about where to find us, so that leaves only one path... I have a few ideas for now... We're on the rooftop right now, coming up? Alright, wait a moment then. Let's head back together."
Zhang Shutong hung up the phone.
He replayed everything in his mind: the man's existence, his purpose, and his next steps. After tonight, almost all the answers had come to light. Of course, these pieces of information hadn't been gained for free.
In the end, though, they had fallen short at the last step.
Zhang Shutong glanced at Lu Qinglian. His flashlight was still on. In the faint light, a thin red mark from the tight fit was left on her fair forehead—a result of wearing the wig all night. It probably wasn't comfortable.
Zhang Shutong apologized:
"Sorry for dragging you through all this hassle for so long, only to end up just short."
Lu Qinglian didn't respond. She stood at the edge of the rooftop. It was pitch quiet here, while directly below her feet was the ground in front of the mall's main entrance. People were coming and going down there, and naturally, one could see the massive Christmas tree. Previously, when they were on the ground, the tall treetop was out of sight, but now they could clearly see a large star-shaped light glowing with golden brilliance at the top.
No moon could be seen tonight, but it added much color to the dark night sky. From a distance, it looked like a shooting star landing on the treetop.
Lu Qinglian watched quietly for a moment.
"Very pretty."
Zhang Shutong looked back.
"Yeah... I guess. It is pretty nice."
Unsurprisingly, this was definitely her first time seeing such a view as well.
Lu Qinglian had already withdrawn her gaze.
"Time to go."
Zhang Shutong pushed open the fire door, and the lights inside the mall instantly illuminated the space before them. At that moment, a strong gust of wind blew past, causing her long hair to dance in the wind. Behind Lu Qinglian, lights lit up one by one across the night-bound city area—not particularly brilliant, yet appearing warm.
...
Sometimes, life always throws out some bizarre, unexpected, yet head-aching minor interludes.
For instance, early the next morning, Zhang Shutong received a phone call.
The caller came with ill intent.