After Chi Qing went back, he took off his gloves. He hadn’t blow-dried his hair after his shower, and the damp, cold strands clung to his forehead. As usual, the lights in the room were off. He stepped barefoot on the wooden floor, walking to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.
A program was playing on the TV at a low volume, the light from the screen faintly illuminating half of the living room.
Chi Qing leaned against the kitchen doorway and watched quietly for a while.
After drinking half the glass of water, he looked at his own hand through the damp strands of hair on his forehead.
He still couldn’t understand… after his out-of-control state had ended, why Xie Lin had genuinely become the “exception” he could get close to.
He had been running around outside for half the day and couldn’t check his phone while wearing gloves. A lot of messages had piled up over the day.
Ji Mingrui, curious about the progress of the case, bore the brunt of it.
– How is it? Heard you guys made a major discovery over there.
Half an hour later, Ji Mingrui sent another message: – Forget it, can’t count on you. I already asked around. Su Xiaolan and I haven’t been able to get rid of our goosebumps for ages. That buzz-cut neighbor probably shouldn’t even think about sleeping tonight, he definitely won’t be able to.
More than just not being able to sleep. Before they left, the buzz-cut guy had hesitated at the door in anxiety for a long time, trying to get them to stay: “How about you guys detain me for a few more days? Five days is too short, not enough to offset the mistakes I’ve made. I’m willing to be detained for a few more days.”
The detective gave him a look: “And you still say you aren’t a psychopath.”
The buzz-cut guy: “…”
The detective: “Who wants to be detained? If you have time, watch more mental health courses.”
“…”
Ji Mingrui, who blindly guessed that others wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, never expected that he himself would also suffer from insomnia. The time of his last message was ten minutes ago.
– As soon as I lie down, I feel like there’s someone in my house.
– I don’t dare to sleep.
– Can I come over to your place and sleep with you?
Chi Qing replied: Sure. Bring your own blanket. If you want to use the bathroom, go to the public toilet outside. After you sleep and before you leave the next day, take some disinfectant and wipe clean the area you slept in before going.
Ji Mingrui: …
– Forget it.
– I suddenly feel that I’m actually quite safe in my own home. Bye, I’m going to sleep.
For the investigating police officers, sleep time was precious. After confirming the killer’s height and physique, a series of screening tasks awaited them tomorrow. Checking surveillance was not an easy job; staring at people one by one in blurry surveillance footage could make one cross-eyed by the end of the day.
After replying to Ji Mingrui, Chi Qing exited the chat box and saw a message sent by another person just a few minutes ago.
– Asleep yet?
This unread message, consisting of three words and a punctuation mark, came from Mr. Xie across the hall.
Chi Qing didn’t realize that after taking the initiative to message Xie Lin a few times during his out-of-control period, his first reaction upon seeing Xie Lin’s messages now was to reply directly, rather than the initial warning he had given: “Don’t message me whether you have something going on or not.”
Chi Qing: Don’t tell me you can’t sleep either.
– No, I’ve been reading serial murder cases as bedside reading since I was eight, how could I not be able to sleep.
– I was worried you wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Immediately after, Xie Lin sent another string of numbers.
– 20110218
Chi Qing had been keeping his eyes lowered, about to let go of his water cup and sit on the sofa for a bit. But upon seeing that incredibly familiar string of numbers, his pupils suddenly dilated, and the water cup resting on the edge of the table nearly crashed to the floor.
He was all too familiar with the date corresponding to this string of numbers.
Although ten years had already passed and he no longer thought about it as often as when he was first discharged from the hospital in high school, everything that happened that day had reappeared countless times in his nightmares.
That day, he came out of school and received a call: “Your uncle is too busy today, so he asked an uncle to pick you up. He’ll be there soon, wait at the school gate for a bit.”
He waited for a few minutes, the person arrived, and he smoothly got into the car. The car inconspicuously turned into an intersection he wasn’t very familiar with. The “uncle” smiled and made small talk with him: “I often hear your uncle mention you, saying your grades are exceptionally good. Is the study pressure heavy lately? You need to balance work and rest, relax appropriately…”
Chi Qing vaguely noticed something was wrong with the driving route and unlocked his phone, just about to call his uncle.
Before the call could go through, his uncle’s text message arrived first: Your Uncle Yuan says there’s a traffic jam, might be stuck for another three to five minutes. Wait at the school gate and don’t run around, he’ll be right there.
…
Through the rearview mirror inside the car, Chi Qing saw the smile on the lips of the “uncle” in the driver’s seat split wider and wider: “I just love smart kids. It’s a pity that at my age, I’m still a loner… You and I are fated. I’ll take you somewhere.”
Chi Qing stared at this string of numbers, that familiar yet distant voice echoing in his ears. It took a long while before he replied: What is this.
– Door passcode.
– If you can’t sleep or want treatment next time, just come right in.
Chi Qing actually wanted to ask, “Is this a date?” and “Why use this date as a passcode?” But considering that his relationship with Xie Lin wasn’t close enough to pry into the other’s passwords, he ultimately didn’t ask anything.
After all, to most people… February 18, 2011, could just be any given day in an ordinary life.
Most people wouldn’t associate this date with an old, dusty case when it was brought up.
Moreover, it wasn’t necessarily a date; perhaps it was a number converted through some other pattern.
Chi Qing decided to chalk it up to coincidence.
He finally replied: No need.
– Even if he appears at the head of my bed tonight, I’ll still be able to sleep.
Ji Mingrui, wrapping himself in his blanket in the middle of the night and struggling to fall asleep, couldn’t imagine that there were people in this world with stronger mental fortitudes than serial killers. Of their General Bureau’s two consultants, one used childhood murder cases as bedside reading, and the other simply didn’t know the meaning of the word “fear.”
The next day, intense screening work began.
The investigation personnel were dispersed across multiple locations, roughly divided into: the surveillance room, pharmacies, and key shops.
Ji Mingrui led people to wander around the key shops: “Have any suspicious people come here to copy keys recently?”
“Let me think,” the boss pondered hard, then slapped his forehead and said, “There was one. He didn’t copy a key, but came to ask me if I knew which nearby residential complex this type of key belonged to. Since door locks are uniformly installed by developers nowadays, the brands are basically all the same. I recognized it at a glance; it was clearly a Tianrui key.”
After painstakingly fishing out the person who asked about the key, they found it was a huge misunderstanding.
“What the hell!” that person shouted. “I was going to return the key to their complex’s security guard! I had good intentions and you guys actually suspect me? There are so many buildings in Tianrui, do I have nothing better to do than to go door-to-door trying the key? If I was willing to put in that much effort, I could have successfully been promoted to manager at my company by now!”
“…”
Ji Mingrui apologized repeatedly and handed over a cigarette: “Sorry bro, we measured the heart of a gentleman with the yardstick of a small man. We were just casually asking, just exchanging info. Please calm down, wishing you an early promotion to manager.”
The pharmacy yielded even less progress.
For this kind of strictly state-regulated drug, even if the killer wanted to buy it, it was unlikely he would go through formal channels.
Not to mention the surveillance room; there were simply too many suspicious people with matching physiques.
People with similar builds to Xue Mei’s boyfriend who appeared in the surveillance footage could number in the hundreds per day.
After finishing checking the key shops, Ji Mingrui came to the surveillance room to help. As he repeatedly dragged the progress bar back and forth, he said: “Honestly, this boyfriend of Xue Mei’s, couldn’t he have looked a bit more distinctive? Like two hundred pounds, or two meters tall, the kind you can recognize at a glance. Why did he have to look so ordinary? That’s why I say the most important thing for a person is to have unique characteristics.”
Su Xiaolan applied eye drops on the side and said after finishing: “…Shut your mouth and focus on watching.”
Two “supervisors” were also sitting in the surveillance room.
Ji Mingrui said to one of the “supervisors,” who looked bored to the point of almost falling asleep: “By the way, it’s rare we bumped into each other today, you still haven’t told me how you ran off to become a consultant assistant.”
Chi Qing lifted his eyelids to look at him, forcing himself to muster a bit of energy: “No future in acting, trying a career change.”
Ji Mingrui: “Really? You’ve finally figured it out?”
Fake, Chi Qing thought to himself.
I just made a deal with a certain someone.
Although he no longer needed “treatment,” since he had promised Xie Lin, it was impossible for him to immediately withdraw from this case right after taking up the assistant post.
Besides… he was indeed somewhat interested in this case.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be sitting in the surveillance room even when drowsy.
Thinking this, Chi Qing didn’t want to answer Ji Mingrui’s pile of questions anymore. He pointed to “Supervisor” number two beside him: “Ask him.”
Xie Lin, sitting beside him, was also watching the surveillance, but his way of watching was different from the others. Rather than looking at the people in the footage, it was more like he was looking at which locations the cameras were respectively monitoring. He admitted: “I took a fancy to him first.”
“?”
“I mean, I took a fancy to his personal abilities,” Xie Lin was a person whose words always left room for wild imagination. “Wanted him to come over and help.”
Ji Mingrui: “You’ve got a good eye. My brother here sucks at acting, and he’s got issues as a person, but his brain is still quite sharp.”
Chi Qing: “…Are you asking for a beating?”
Ji Mingrui: “I’d dare to stand still and let you hit me, but would you dare to reach out and touch me?”
“…”
Xie Lin tilted his head, watching the two bicker, and let out a very light laugh.
Chi Qing: “What are you laughing at.”
Xie Lin said: “Just suddenly realized I’m quite in danger. After all, the only person you can touch is me. If I make you angry in the future, you can’t hit others, but you can certainly hit me.”
After saying that, Xie Lin appropriately changed the subject: “Seeing you sit there for half the day, you’re practically wearing the word ‘bored’ on your face. Why aren’t you watching the surveillance?”
Chi Qing glanced at the pile of surveillance screens arranged together: “I don’t think he would appear on the cameras.”
Ji Mingrui, who was still working hard dragging the progress bar: “?”
I’m over here painstakingly dragging this thing, and what the hell are you saying.
Chi Qing continued: “This person is very cautious and knows these two residential complexes very well. He wasn’t found when the surveillance around the time of the incidents was checked previously… He must have chosen an action route that could avoid the cameras, or he carried out some sort of disguise.”
To put it plainly, the areas outside the surveillance cameras were the ones most worthy of attention.
“Pretty much what I was thinking,” Xie Lin stood up and motioned for him to follow. “Let’s go out and take a look.”
Chi Qing realized that Xie Lin had memorized the locations of all the surveillance cameras. Once those locations were avoided, the remaining area available for movement shrank drastically. Finally, the two found that there weren’t many routes one could walk in the Tianrui complex while avoiding all the cameras.
After connecting all the surveillance blind spots into a few lines, the situation became clear.
The end of one of those paths was the entrance and exit of a certain residential complex’s garbage station. Going out from that entrance connected to a bustling commercial street outside, crowded with pedestrians and vehicles. Long rows of stalls were set up by the roadside, and there was a dazzling array of shops along the street.
At a glance, the shop signs with red backgrounds and white characters competed for attention: “Zhipeng Haircut”, “Hao Zailai Convenience Store”, “Local Cuisine Restaurant”…
Chi Qing carefully avoided the crowds and walked forward along the shops. Shop names flashed past his eyes one by one. Finally, at a crossroad, he saw a chain store decorated in lotus root pink. The shop’s name was in English, and behind the English name, a glowing neon light tube was bent into the shape of a small cake.
It was a dessert shop.
The reason Chi Qing stopped was not because of this shop, but because through the glass window, he saw a certain familiar face inside.
Wearing a pink apron, Ren Qin was helping a customer pack desserts, then good-naturedly helped the customer carry them all the way to the door. As she pushed open the door, she said: “This is best finished today. The other one can be kept in the fridge for a few more days. Welcome to visit again next… Mr. Chi?”
“Mr. Xie is here too? Are you two out shopping together?”
Ren Qin didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence to run into her two upstairs neighbors at her workplace.
Chi Qing remembered that on the first day Ren Qin moved in, she had mentioned that she was originally a dessert shop manager in another city and only changed stores due to a work transfer.
“He and I just happened to be walking around nearby.” While Xie Lin was answering Ren Qin’s words, he noticed the group of people in the shop were about to come out. So, he subconsciously went to grab Chi Qing’s hand. Before Chi Qing could react, he was held and pulled a step back. This single step just narrowly avoided the few customers who happened to be walking out the door.
“What are you spacing out for,” Xie Lin said. “…Aren’t you usually pretty good at dodging?”
