The sky was dark.
The table, once laden with food, was now covered only in leftovers. Although the flowers, balloons, and ribbons remained, the entire villa exuded the taste of a grand finale.
The woman lying on the sofa let out a sigh.
“Oh, Didi…”
Mo Nai lowered his head and tidied up. He was afraid to hear the words, “You should leave,” but in fact, he knew that even if the woman didn’t send him away, he had to go.
He had to leave eventually. They were just passing ships; she would go home after her trip, and he had to go to his destination. After that, the police would likely catch him…
“I have an ID card here. You can take it,” Gao Shuang said, however.
“Ah?”
“Why are you staring at me so foolishly? Since you’re a fugitive, you definitely don’t have an ID card, do you? But in modern China, you can barely move without an ID card,” Gao Shuang said. “The ID belongs to my ex-boyfriend—my ex-ex-boyfriend—or was it my ex-ex-ex-boyfriend? Anyway, it was the year before last. That dog of a man. I flew halfway across the country, just to spend a pleasant National Day with him, but he dumped me less than three days later, desperately fleeing the hotel—”
Gao Shuang pouted.
“The ID card was left behind.”
“…Sister said your child is already in elementary school,” Mo Nai managed to squeeze out. “Were you married at that time?”
“Not just at that time, I’m still married now, too.” Gao Shuang chuckled. “What, Didi, are you going to call me promiscuous?”
“N-no, no.”
“You are a sweet Didi. Come here. Sister will let you use the ID. Although you don’t look exactly alike, it doesn’t matter. You’re so good at drawing. Go onto Kuaishou—that’s a new app, by the way—and follow the videos to learn some makeup. It’s easy. Makeup is known as the Head-Changing Art, one of Southeast Asia’s three great evil sorceries.”
Mo Nai was led in front of the large mirror in the bathroom. The mirror clearly reflected him and the busy Gao Shuang preparing his makeup supplies. He couldn’t help but ask the question buried deep in his heart: “Sister is so rich… and so enthusiastic. Why would those men dump Sister?”
“Because Sister can’t let go of her child. When I date them, I always talk about how the child is doing this or that,” Gao Shuang said flatly. “People are just looking for an affair, and they lose interest listening to motherhood stories, I suppose. But this can’t be helped. From birth, a child is destined to be a mother’s lifelong love and debt. A mother can never abandon her child.”
That night, Mo Nai took the ID card of Gao Shuang’s lover and used the man’s appearance as a guide, drawing himself to look about eighty percent similar.
Gao Shuang clicked her tongue in admiration, even joking about driving Mo Nai to the checkpoint on the way back to Ning City to see if they would be caught.
But that was just a joke; Ning City had long been left far behind by the sports car.
Gao Shuang packed up the large pile of cosmetics and gave them to Mo Nai, then yawned: “All right, let’s go to sleep—we’ll wake up early tomorrow. Sister will take you to see the sunrise.”
The Sunrise and the Shadow of Vengeance
The night passed without incident.
At four in the morning the next day, Gao Shuang had already pulled Mo Nai into the car, and the Romeo 4C once again roared up the mountain road in front of the villa. The sky had not yet brightened. The distant mountains were coiled monsters, the cliffside beside them an unfathomable abyss. And the sports car sped along the life-or-death road, like a grasshopper moving on a thin thread, ready to fall off at any moment.
Mo Nai in the passenger seat couldn’t keep his eyes open due to the wind. He shouted: “Sister! Slow down!”
“What?”
“Slow—down! We’re going to fall off!”
“We won’t!” Gao Shuang yelled back. “You’re not a girl. We won’t be enacting the plot of Thelma & Louise.”
As she spoke, she even used one hand to adjust the car stereo, changing the background music to “Going To Mexico,” the soundtrack from Thelma & Louise. The entire operation terrified Mo Nai. He clung tightly to the handle above the car window, highly suspecting that if Gao Shuang stared at the stereo screen for one second longer, they would genuinely drive off the road and plunge down the cliff like the end of that movie.
“Sigh, I really love these old songs, but those young girls in the guild always complain that I only listen to songs from ten or twenty years ago, saying my taste is old-fashioned. So what if I love The Sun Never Sets? Jolin Tsai sings it beautifully.”
Mo Nai tried to keep up with her conversation: “These songs are quite new to me.”
“Hmm?” Gao Shuang paused, then burst into a hearty laugh, saying nothing more.
Accompanied by the guitar and harmonica, they sped to the mountaintop.
There were only the two of them at the peak. When they arrived, the sky was still dark, black and heavy, without a trace of light. But before long, a window seemed to open somewhere, and a sliver of light suddenly bloomed.
Once that first line of light appeared, everything else followed logically.
The sun came out. It was a round, red head, emerging pitiably and adorably at the edge of the clouds. Then, the dark clouds seemed to be splashed with brilliant watercolors, and the entire world brightened inch by inch.
As the first ray of morning light hit their faces, Mo Nai heard Gao Shuang let out a soft sigh.
“If only the sun always looked like the sunrise, and never set, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
The woman’s madness and unrestrained spirit were gone. Last night, in the empty villa, she could still amuse herself, but now, standing in the sunlight, she was icy cold. He saw her eyes staring into the distance, and those eyes held a flame of hatred.
He recognized it very easily, as the same flame had once shone in his own eyes.
He remembered her past comment about “killing people,” and a sudden fear arose in his heart. He tried to interrupt the terrifying moment: “Sis, Sister, the scenery here is beautiful. I’ll—”
“Take a picture?”
“No, let me draw you a picture?”
“Ah, I forgot my Didi is Monet the Second, a genius little painter,” Gao Shuang realized. “Come on, how do you want to draw Sister? What pose should Sister strike? Will you draw Impression, Sunrise 2.0?”
“Like this is fine,” Mo Nai quickly said. He took out the drawing paper and pencil. Gao Shuang had purchased them yesterday when they used the app. He hadn’t thought they would be used, but unexpectedly, they were needed so quickly…
When his pencil touched the paper, all distracting thoughts vanished.
It was the same in prison. Because there was nothing to do, he could only draw, constantly drawing everything he could see—and Gao Shuang was the most beautiful scenery he had encountered in nine years.
He drew rapidly: the sunrise, the woman, the woman’s hair swaying in the wind, the woman’s beautiful profile.
He tried his best to capture that moment of beauty on the paper until he heard Gao Shuang’s voice: “… Oh my god, Didi, you haven’t really fallen in love with Sister, have you? Is this really how you see me? You’ve actually made Sister look so beautiful… Oh my, oh my, I really lucked out. I casually picked up a Didi, and he turned out to be so talented!”
Just as his ingratiating smile surfaced, Gao Shuang sighed again.
His heartstring trembled along with it. He was afraid of her sighing.
The next moment, that icy coldness returned to Gao Shuang’s face.
“But Didi, no matter how beautifully you draw Sister, Sister won’t stay.” She looked back at the road they had taken. “In a person’s life, there must be one thing that morality cannot stop, that law cannot stop, and that love also cannot stop… I’m going to seek revenge.”
She looked back at him and repeated.
The golden light of the morning sun turned into the flame of hatred, and she was bathed in it.
“I’m going to kill someone.”
Mo Nai served his sentence in Liucheng Prison, so the location of his crime was undoubtedly Liucheng.
This was a spontaneous journey. Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin drove through the night again, from Jiuxia County to Liucheng. The distance was neither too long nor too short, about three hours, so by the time they arrived in Liucheng, it was just past midnight.
At this hour, normal questioning and investigation were impossible. Furthermore, since this was a case from nearly ten years ago, they definitely needed to review the files first.
They arrived at the local Liucheng Public Security Bureau. Someone was on duty. After Huo Ranyin showed his police identification, they quickly obtained the file from that year.
Mo Nai’s crime location that year was Liucheng University, and the victim was a female student there named Song Tingfeng.
It was September 15, 2007, a Saturday. The other two girls in Song Tingfeng’s dorm were away for the weekend and hadn’t returned. Song Tingfeng was sleeping alone in her bed with the lights off. Someone opened the door and came in around nine in the evening. She was half-asleep. The person seemed to stop near the closet for a moment and then left. Song Tingfeng assumed it was one of her roommates preparing to shower and go to bed, so she didn’t pay attention. However, when the person came in a second time, they silently walked to her bedside, covered her face and mouth with a piece of clothing, and then began to r*pe her.
Song Tingfeng was terrified. She tried to resist but failed. Afterward, the culprit used her stripped-off pajamas to tie her to the bed. She was only rescued when her roommates returned and untied the bindings on her mouth and hands.
Although Song Tingfeng immediately couldn’t bear the thought of her violated body and took a shower, failing to preserve traces of bodily fluid on herself, fortunately, her underwear and bra from that day were preserved at the strong urging of her two roommates. This became the direct evidence in the case.
On the morning of September 18th, Song Tingfeng courageously went to the public security organ to file a case, accompanied by her roommates. Song Tingfeng had an impression of Mo Nai. Her testimony suspected that the person was Mo Nai because the voice was very similar, and the build matched.
Female dormitories are generally closed to outsiders, but Mo Nai had previously dated Song Tingfeng’s roommate, Cheng Xiang. Guided by Cheng Xiang, he often secretly brought snacks and milk tea into the dorm to share with Cheng Xiang’s roommates and the female students on the same floor, so he was very familiar with the time the attendant was absent and the entry route.
The police then conducted an investigation and obtained an important clue: a student from another dorm on the same floor, who was habitually washing up at that time, had witnessed Mo Nai’s presence precisely at that time. Coupled with the bodily fluid left by Mo Nai on the underwear and bra, and Mo Nai’s fingerprints collected from the closet, the chain of evidence was complete. Mo Nai was arrested on September 22nd.
Mo Nai was detained in the detention center for a period. Song Tingfeng returned home to recuperate and came back to school after the National Day holiday, but she was still unable to accept the fact that she had been r*ped. On October 10th, she climbed to the roof of the tallest building on campus and jumped to her death.
She left a very brief note, just one line, reading, “I’m sorry, I can’t bear myself.”
Attached to the file were some preserved pieces of evidence.
These included the underwear and bra Song Tingfeng wore at the time, the fingerprint impression from the closet, and the archived copy of Song Tingfeng’s suicide note.
Out of habit, Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin thoroughly reviewed every piece of evidence. The underwear, bra, and fingerprint impression were clear evidence of guilt and required no further discussion. As for Song Tingfeng’s suicide note, it looked like it was torn from a notebook, only a short strip two fingers wide. While it seemed a bit sloppy, a person determined to jump to their death must have been utterly despondent. The deceased probably wrote on whatever she saw at the moment.
After reviewing the files, Huo Ranyin returned the items to the sister unit.
The man on duty at the sister unit, around forty, was a heavy smoker. He had been smoking since they started reviewing the files and hadn’t stopped. He took the files back: “You came all the way from Ning City overnight? Hard work. We can send the files over through the proper procedure.”
Huo Ranyin: “Just doing our job. It’s necessary. Following the procedure takes time. Since we’re here, we can also check out the scene.”
They weren’t familiar with each other, so the conversation ended with a brief exchange.
However, the old smoker then enthusiastically invited Huo Ranyin and Ji Xun to rest at the bureau and even managed to find two makeshift beds for them—one a folding army cot, and the other a “bed” assembled from three chairs.
When traveling for work, it’s best to minimize hassle.
Since the sister unit had gone to the trouble of preparing them, neither of them suggested going to a hotel.
Ji Xun graciously offered the army cot to Huo Ranyin: “I’ll sleep on the chairs.”
Huo Ranyin also wanted to offer the army cot to Ji Xun: “Can you sleep on chairs?”
“I might not be able to sleep on either, and I might not even be able to sleep at home,” Ji Xun replied casually. He took a trip out to the car and returned with a small bag in his hand.
“Want to know what’s inside?” Ji Xun held the bag and shook it at Huo Ranyin, but he didn’t actually let him guess. He quickly pulled open the zipper, exposing the contents. Melatonin, a sleep aid device, calming aromatherapy… a full array of sleep products filled the not-so-small bag.
“…” Huo Ranyin.
“Drugs for life extension,” Ji Xun sighed dramatically. He first took out the sleep aid device, rolling it over his temples and neck a few times, then swallowed two melatonin tablets, and finally, produced the calming aromatherapy candle.
He didn’t smoke, so he said to Huo Ranyin:
“Lend me a light.”
Click. The flame first sprang from the lighter, then moved to the wick.
Ji Xun placed the lit aromatherapy candle in the center of the two makeshift beds, and then he lay down.
Huo Ranyin also lay down.
Although the police station didn’t have excellent sleeping conditions, they did have a private space. They were in an unused room with a small window. To ensure both beds received light, they were placed close together.
—Not just close, very close, Ji Xun thought.
He closed his eyes. The black water skillfully submerged him. He lay amidst the chaotic emotions woven into a spiderweb. Everything around him—a gust of wind, a slight sound, even a 1° rise in temperature—would trigger his sensitive emotional network and echo throughout his mind.
He felt the wind.
The wind blowing in from the window passed through the gap between his and Huo Ranyin’s bodies. The wind tonight was light, tip-toeing through, and subtly bringing over Huo Ranyin’s body temperature…
Huo Ranyin’s body heat, transmitted across the night air, silently reached him.
Huo Ranyin’s breathing simultaneously sounded in his ears, but if he truly listened closely, he couldn’t hear any sound. It was as if the other party’s breathing was merely a hallucination caused by his long-term dwelling in darkness.
Thus, that soft breathing, suspended between reality and illusion, transformed into a fuzzy, plush cat’s paw, teasing his not-so-strong nerves.
Several times, Ji Xun wanted to just open his eyes.
But what would he look at if he opened them? Secretly turning his head in the dark, like a thief, to steal a glance at the person beside him?
More strange and bizarre thoughts appeared in Ji Xun’s mind. At times like this, he was always unable to control his brain; one primitive and pure thought after another surfaced in his mind… until much later, he suddenly realized that the thoughts of the past had been pushed aside tonight.
The only thing filling his mind was Huo Ranyin.
Suddenly, his ear caught a sound. Huo Ranyin shifted on the army cot. The canvas of the cot was pulled, making a faint squeak.
Ji Xun almost blurted out: “Not asleep yet?”
Huo Ranyin: “No.”
The other party’s voice was clear and crisp, like thin, light, and cold snow adhering to leaves under the winter moonlight.
“Have you caught my ailment too?” Ji Xun joked. “What are you thinking about? The case?”
“Thinking about you,” Huo Ranyin said. “Thinking about how to fall asleep beside you.”
The wind carried Huo Ranyin’s long, steady breath. His voice, in the quiet night, reached Ji Xun’s ears clearly:
“Thinking about how to let you fall asleep beside me.”
