August 18th, 8:00 AM China time, Li Jing, inside an empty underground bar.
"So... did you really kill Swallowing Silver?"
"Do you care?"
A black-haired girl in a Japanese school uniform sat on the bar, sitting sideways, and took out a fruit knife. She lowered her eyes, quietly peeling an apple, the peel intertwining in circles, drooping down.
Xia Pingzhou lifted his eyes from his phone, quietly staring at Jack the Ripper.
"I'm his fan," he said.
"Elementary school student?"
"What do you mean?"
"Only elementary school students become fans of such dim-witted types. Are you going to say you aren't?" Jack the Ripper said as she peeled the apple, the black and white school uniform skirt spreading across the bar.
"Elementary school cat." Ayase Origami, seated not far away, looked at a haiku book and said softly.
"Let's leave whether I'm an elementary school student aside; is he dead?" Xia Pingzhou took a sip of ice water and continued to ask.
