Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 41: Chapter 13: Bloody Manhunt (Part 1)

It was a short, stout man. Feng Ruoping stared intently at his back; the man’s features perfectly matched the information Du Kang had given them.

The man carried a large woven bag on his back, and in his other hand, he held some kind of long object.

The object, wrapped in a cloth bag, looked like a long rod. It stretched from near his feet all the way to his shoulder, but the end was suddenly wide and flat.

With difficulty, she turned her head to meet Qingyi’s eyes, only to see him give a barely perceptible shake of his head.

She understood what he meant. He was telling her to—

"Wait."

His gaze moved downward, toward her feet. Though their legs were already hidden by the reeds, Feng Ruoping had a flash of realization. Qingyi was talking about her shoes.

She was wearing heeled loafers today. The shoes didn’t even have laces. Forget about running; they would probably fall off if she so much as hurried up the dirt slope.

And even if her shoes didn’t fall off, could she outrun a grown man? The answer was almost certainly no. Maybe he wouldn’t give chase, but who could guarantee that?

In a situation like this, it was better to lie low and not cause trouble. That was why Shutong’s first choice had also been to hide and wait. At that thought, the girl bit her lip, anxious that she was holding them back.

All they could do was wait.

The group held their breath, silently watching the man’s every move. Their thoughts ran wild. ’What is he going to do? What did he mean earlier when he said he "wasn’t seen"? Why is he hiding from the police?’

Before they could make sense of these questions, Feng Ruoping saw the man walk to the riverbank, squat down, and shrug the woven bag from his shoulder onto the ground. Then, he untied the cloth strips from the rod-like object. The girl’s eyes widened—

It was a shovel.

The man gripped the shovel with both hands, swinging it to loosen the soil.

Under the moonlight, the man eerily began to dig a...

pit.

’...A pit?’

’What on earth is he trying to do?’

Wild theories buzzed through their minds, but they didn’t have to guess for long. As the pile of excavated earth grew larger...

The next moment, the man pulled the zipper on the woven bag. ZIIIIP! As the metal teeth scraped apart, a thick stench of blood and rot assaulted their nostrils.

The moonlight shone on the teenagers’ faces, which instantly turned deathly pale.

A horrifying suspicion welled up inside them, ready to burst forth—

Feng Ruoping looked back at Meng Qingyi. His face was still expressionless, but despite his calm demeanor, she could see the hesitation hidden in his eyes.

But their group was in a bind. They couldn’t call the police, nor could they speak to each other. When the police officer had been on the dirt road earlier, they could at least use their phones to communicate. Now, with the man right across from them, they didn’t dare make the slightest movement and could only use their eyes to signal one another.

Feng Ruoping had only one thought in her mind: she had to get this information to Zhang Shutong immediately. He was the only one in their group who could move freely.

So much time had passed, and their only contact with him had been a single phone call—which hadn’t even connected.

Feng Ruoping knew Shutong’s personality; once he started something, he became completely absorbed. He was probably engrossed in his exciting adventure right now. The earliest they could hope for him to realize something was wrong was when he finally got home.

The bike ride home should have been quick.

’But that idiot is still focused on finding that person, isn’t he?’

’You could search all night and you still wouldn’t find him!’

’He’s right here with us!’

So she bit her lip and slowly took out her phone. Thankfully, the sound of the wind masked the rustling in the reeds. She mimicked what Shutong had done earlier, pressing the phone’s screen tightly against her clothes and swiping the brightness down to its minimum. Then, she opened her messaging app and tried to type with one hand.

But there was one thing the girl hadn’t counted on—

A girl’s hands weren’t as big as a boy’s. What had been an easy task for him was impossible for her—she couldn’t even reach the edges of the screen.

After a struggle, she finally finished typing the message. She was just about to hit "send"—it was the last step—but she couldn’t quite reach the button. A wave of panic washed over her. Her thumb suddenly cramped, and she lost her grip. The phone slipped and fell into the grass.

In the silence, the sound of the falling phone was like a stone tossed into a still pond. In that instant, all the blood drained from Feng Ruoping’s face.

The man across from them froze. He whipped around, and a beam of light from a flashlight shot toward them!

Crouching, the man fumbled for something at his waist as he cautiously took a step forward.

The man was getting closer and closer!

Feng Ruoping felt as if her heart had stopped beating.

’What do I do, what do I do?!’

The girl was about to squeeze her eyes shut and bolt.

Just then, with a CROAK, a dark shadow suddenly leaped out from the reeds!

It was a frog!

The man’s gaze focused on the frog. He cursed under his breath and turned back to the pit he had dug.

It took a long moment for her heart to settle back into her chest. Feng Ruoping then turned her head to see the boy named Du Kang give her a cheeky grin and a raised eyebrow.

If this were any other time, Ruoping would have glared back, refusing to be outdone. But now, she just felt a prickle in her nose, on the verge of tears. What were they supposed to do now? Her phone was on the ground, impossible to retrieve. Who knew how long that man would be digging? And besides, even when Zhang Shutong got home and saw her call, what information could a single missed call even convey?

At this very moment, all the girl could do was listen silently to her own heartbeat and pray.