Xie Qingcheng recovered completely from his illness a few days later and was eating with Xie Xue in Huzhou University's dining hall. Upon seeing the chicken porridge in his bowl, he suddenly realized that it had been quite a few days since he last saw He Yu. He also hadn't come across any of He Yu's posts when browsing his WeChat Moments either.
He frowned slightly as he recalled He Yu's strange behavior on the day that he had come to check on him in his dormitory. Xie Qingcheng was an extremely rational person, but he wasn't completely heartless. Not to mention, he had promised He Jiwei that he would help him keep an eye on He Yu. So it was a matter of course that he'd have some concern for the boy.
And so, once Xie Xue carried over her meal tray and sat down at the table across from him, he asked her how He Yu had been doing recently.
Who would have thought that, in response to her brother's inquiry, Xie Xue would suddenly widen her eyes and say, "Huh? You don't know? He requested a leave of absence and went to Hangshi to film a drama. Didn't he tell you?"
Xie Qingcheng's hand that was holding his chopsticks froze. "Isn't he majoring in screenwriting and directing?"
"Ah, it's only for a little while. He's helping to step in for another actor and playing a minor supporting role. They took a shine to him when he was buying breakfast by the school's front gate, and he's somewhat interested in it as well. Frankly speaking, with his looks, it's kinda hard to say which side of the camera he'll be working on in the future. He's also a highly motivated person, so he definitely wouldn't waste an opportunity to gather some experience."
"But why so suddenly?"
"Well, it's because the actor originally slated for the fifth male lead role got into an accident. That kid was a drama major, but he crashed into a taxi while biking around the campus gates before he even arrived on set. He got a huge gash on his face and had to get a bunch of stitches. The production team needed to get someone to fill in for his role fast and ended up finding He Yu…"
As Xie Xue explained the situation, Xie Qingcheng vaguely recalled the phone call that He Yu had that day in his home; it seemed as though that was what that conversation was about.
Xie Xue rambled on. "But there's one thing that I find a bit strange. I've seen the script for this drama before. It's a super crappy little web drama. With his tastes, I would've thought he'd definitely look down on such a show, but he suddenly agreed, just like that. Even if it won't take much time—something like ten days or so—I still have no idea what he's thinking… He seemed to be in a pretty bad mood when he was asking me for time off too. He was so closed off when I talked to him."
Upon hearing this, Xie Qingcheng's expression turned grave.
He thought back to the bandage that had been perfunctorily wrapped around He Yu's wrist that day and the bag of medicine from the hospital…
"Has anything bad happened to He Yu recently?"
"Of course not!" For some reason, Xie Xue's mood seemed to have improved by leaps and bounds ever since the fall trip; she appeared to almost give off an aura of a sumptuous peach blossom in full bloom. She chewed on her ice cream spoon thoughtfully, and it was only after a while that she began to waver and say hesitantly, "I don't really know either… But I don't think anything's happened…"
Xie Qingcheng watched Xie Xue pensively, noticing her shining eyes and strikingly good mood. He could sense that she'd been exceptionally happy the past few days since returning to campus. Her head was constantly bowed as she tapped away at her phone and responded to message after message. Who knew to whom she was talking?
It was the same with her WeChat Moments. In the past, her posts were all along the lines of "a new xx restaurant opened on xx street, anyone wanna go check it out with me?" But recently, the posts had suddenly and inexplicably become much more artistic and refined. They were things like excerpts from youth literature that Xie Qingcheng couldn't understand no matter how hard he squinted or strange photographs, such as a stretch of lake water or two leaves from a tree. Late last night, she even posted a picture of a shadow cast upon a wall with the words, "He he, li'l white floof." It was difficult to tell just whose shadow it was with the fuzzy lighting; perhaps it was her own.
Xie Qingcheng had even commented on it, asking her, "Who's this li'l white floof?"
A long time later, Xie Xue finally replied, "A cute little puppy."
Xie Qingcheng said, "Stop posting such pointless things in your Moments. Hurry up and go to bed."
Xie Xue responded with an emoji of a face with its tongue sticking out. A while later, Xie Qingcheng discovered that she had also changed her profile picture to a swan that was facing away from the camera.
Recalling these details, Xie Qingcheng asked, "Then what about you? Has anything good happened to you recently?"
Xie Xue's cheeks flushed red. She turned her face away and continued biting on her spoon, carefully tucking the secret incident that happened during the fall trip into the bottom of her heart. "Oh, n-nothing."
Xie Qingcheng folded his arms as he silently observed her body language and the details of her embarrassed expression. His gaze slowly became keenly perceptive.
"Oh right, Ge?" Xie Xue, who felt a bit bashful under Xie Qingcheng's fixed stare, tried to change the subject. "I brought some specialty pastries from the fall trip back for you and He Yu. Are you busy this weekend?"
"No, why?"
"I… Uh, there's a conference at school so I can't take the day off, but pastries go bad so quickly. So, if you have time, could you make a trip down to Hangshi and check on He Yu for me? That way, you can bring him the pastries too."
Xie Qingcheng frowned slightly. He felt as if Xie Xue was keeping something from him, but he did not question her any further.
"All right," he agreed. He was rather worried about He Yu's condition to begin with, so it was a convenient excuse for him to visit the production team and check on He Yu's mental state.
At dusk that very day, the ruins of Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital stood empty, bordered by white and yellow police tape. When the wind blew, the police tape trembled as dust rose over the field of scorched earth beyond. Recently, a lot of people had made their way to this place from the city; some were here to mourn the victims' deaths, while others were only here for the novelty and to join in on the excitement.
Among the thronging crowd was an inconspicuous man wearing horn-rimmed glasses. Having squeezed his way through the group of people, he stared in terror and hesitation at the charred grounds of Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital with his slightly protruding eyeballs.
"…Yeah, they're all dead. Not a single higher-up is still alive."
"Could it really be Jiang Lanpei's vengeful spirit coming for their lives?"
"That woman was wearing a red dress when she died. I hear these kinds of ghosts are the most powerful, so it's no wonder that the fire seemed like it was going for Liang Jicheng's accomplices on purpose."
"Aiya, you're gonna scare me to death!"
As the chatter increased around him, the man in glasses began to tremble harder. On such a hot day, his entire body was covered in sweat and his back was almost completely soaked through.
He swallowed his saliva and turned back—he needed to go home.
His parents had already been living separately for a long time. He lived with his father, who was also part of the "organization." But among his parents' shared assets, there was a safe in the old residence where he lived when he was still a child. Inside the safe was a stack of dusty old papers with moth-eaten corners.
Those were Jiang Lanpei's real files.
His father had once told him that if something were to ever happen to him, he should hand over those papers to the police and then turn himself in. It would be fine even if he went to jail, because at least he'd get to stay alive.
He was a coward—following his father's lead, he'd only dipped his toes into the organization. He was too scared to say anything and even threw up in a terrified daze the day the police came to his home to investigate. But now that he'd returned to his senses… Now he knew that this issue absolutely wasn't so simple; the list of the dead posted in the newspaper told him as much.
He didn't want to die. He didn't want to be killed. He was terrified and urgently hoped to retrieve the items from the safe and run to the police department.
In the past, he had been afraid of police sirens. He'd jolt upright in fear and tremble like a mouse whenever he heard police cars in his nightmares. But now, he finally realized in hindsight that only the police could save him.
He broke into a sprint the moment he entered the little group of villas. The houses were set in a community that could have been considered posh twenty years ago. He was petrified, terrified that "those people" would catch up to him, terrified that Jiang Lanpei's ghost would catch up to him.
Crimson tongues of raging flame, crimson waves of a ghostly dress.
"Ah… AHH!"
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became.
He couldn't help but start screaming as he ran. He came close to pissing himself, and his glasses nearly slipped off the greasy bridge of his nose. He forced his way into the garden of the old villa and immediately charged through the doors.
He was afraid—so afraid that he didn't question why the door of this old home that had lain deserted for more than a decade would be unlocked, nor did he wonder why the main doors would only be half-closed…
The man in glasses was so disoriented, his head was like a pot of porridge. He panted heavily as he hurtled down the stairs to the basement. The rotting floorboards seemed like a lineup of corpse after corpse of the dead patients at Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital, heaving low and heavy sighs beneath his feet. His mind was on the verge of breaking completely, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.
Help me…
Help me…
With a bang, he smashed through the basement door and charged hastily toward the safe.
He remembered the passcode. It was his mother's birthday. Even though his father was a filthy lecher—the reason his strong-willed mother always looked down on him when she was younger and why they later divorced—the password was never changed.
Now that he thought about it, his mother also liked curling her hair and wearing red dresses when she was younger. Hong Kong fashion was popular back then, and many pretty women liked to dress up the way Hong Kong celebrities did in the papers—the most popular trend was those billowing red dresses.
Fingers trembling, the man in glasses turned the dial, once, and once again…
The door of the safe clicked open.
He reached in.
A few seconds later, he suddenly spasmed, almost convulsing, as if he'd been electrocuted.
It was gone!
That stack of papers—they were gone!!
Impossible… How could this be?
Amid the crushing disappointment and heightened sense of horror, he suddenly felt something warm land on his forehead with a soft plop.
All the bones in his body seemed to be on the verge of turning tail and fleeing, but trapped within his flesh, they could only remain inside him in despair.
Once again, there was that same sound and sensation.
Yet another drop of something warm fell. This time, it landed on his lips.
It smelled metallic.
The man's eyes suddenly bulged out. He hyperventilated, and his features contorted as he slowly looked up.
He saw a woman.
A woman who'd died on the staircase, with a gun still in her hand. She had been shot through the head, and her blood was pooling out all over the ground. The blast had destroyed her eyes, but her face was still barely recognizable, her eye sockets staring fixedly in his direction.
The woman looked as though she'd committed suicide, but the man in glasses knew for certain that she hadn't.
Because that was his…
"Mom…" The man in glasses cried out involuntarily, whether in extreme horror or sorrow, one couldn't tell. "Mom!! MOM!!!! AH!! AHHHHH!!"
His mother didn't live here… His mother had already left more than ten years ago without ever coming back…
Did she know about these files too? Did she also want to take these files to protect her son?
The man in glasses broke down and immediately crumpled to the floor. His face was a mess of tears, snot, sweat, and blood. Beastlike howls emitted from his mouth, but not even he knew what he was wailing for.
Then, he heard footsteps coming from behind him. It was the sound of high heels tapping against the floor.
Click, click, click.
The heels were bespoke counter-surveillance shoe covers with the latest, most innovative technology. The man in glasses didn't even have the chance to turn his head when he felt something hard pressed against the back of his neck.
A female voice giggled softly from behind him in a singsong tone. "Drop, drop, drop the hanky, set it lightly behind your friend's back, no one let him know…"
The woman held a yellowed file before his eyes.
Warm breath brushed against the man's temple as the newcomer asked gently, "Were you looking for this?"
"You…" The man in glasses didn't dare to turn around; his teeth clattered as he trembled.
"So was your mama."
The man was too terrified to speak.
"Your old man was a cowardly hamster, so disloyal to the boss that he even hid something like this at home." The woman sighed into his ear, elegant as an orchid. "He really shouldn't have… Did he think the boss wouldn't know?"
"W-who are…you…"
The woman smiled. "What kind of answers can a disloyal man seek?"
He made no reply.
"Save your questions for Hell."
Those were the last words the man in glasses ever heard.
A few seconds later, an ear-piercing gunshot stirred up the dust of the basement.
The woman steered clear of the filthy mess of blackened blood on the floor and cleaned up the scene with an air of indifference. Then, she looked down, leafed through Jiang Lanpei's files herself, and walked out of the old and abandoned building without a backward glance…