Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 44: Chapter 14: Bloody Pursuit (Part 2)

Zhang Shutong pointed to his own feet.

"Look."

He wasn’t deliberately striking a pose. To avoid making any noise and tipping off their target, he had parked his bike far away, taken off his shoes, and carried his fishing rod, extendable baton, and scissors over, wearing only his socks.

Honestly, the ground was freezing. His feet were almost numb.

"Honestly, you... Aren’t you cold?"

Ruoping was momentarily speechless, then asked worriedly. She looked around, then scurried off to get his shoes. Once Zhang Shutong had his shoes on, the two of them walked down the dirt slope together to get a look at the man before them.

Du Kang and Qingyi also gathered around. Only Lu Qinglian went over to the edge of the pit the man had been digging, though there was no telling what she was examining.

’That girl has some serious nerve.’ Even Zhang Shutong had to mentally prepare himself before going over. ’Then again,’ he thought, ’aren’t you even going to look at the man who’s going to kill you in eight years?’

But he couldn’t control what she thought, especially since it was something that would happen eight years from now. Zhang Shutong turned to his close friends, and they started chatting back and forth.

Ruoping, who must have been bursting with questions, immediately asked him what was going on. Hadn’t he gone to chase that other man? How did he know to come back?

"You all figured it out?" Zhang Shutong was a little surprised. In fact, it was the one thing he hadn’t anticipated.

"Qingyi deduced it. Your two reasons contradicted each other."

"Fine. My mom only asked me to deliver something. She never rushed me."

He could admit to the latter, but explaining the former was too much trouble. It was easier to just blame his mom.

"So how did you come back?"

"I saw Ruoping’s call."

Zhang Shutong shrugged.

If you were to turn back time ten-odd minutes, he was on his bike, faced with the choice of chasing or not chasing. He ultimately chose the latter, and his reasoning was simple:

First, his experiences over the years had taught him to trust himself, not to pin his hopes on the police happening to stop by.

Second, while he needed to find the killer, the further he went, the more unpredictable the risks became. He had been a bit hasty at the moment, but upon reflection, it wasn’t worth risking his neck by going in alone.

So he went straight to a spot with a signal, saw Ruoping’s missed call, and rushed back. Looking at the situation now, he was quite glad he’d made that choice.

Thankfully, he’d made it back in time.

But Du Kang was very confused.

"Then how did you know we were in trouble over here?"

"It’s simple."

Zhang Shutong explained:

"You guys know Ruoping. If everything was fine, she’d be blowing up my QQ. But I only saw one phone call, with no follow-up. That had to mean something was wrong."

"Of course, I didn’t know this guy had circled back behind me. I just called the police and hurried back. I was extra cautious passing by here and didn’t see any bike tracks. Then I happened to see you guys hiding in the reeds and a man digging a pit by the bank, and then..."

After such a long explanation, Zhang Shutong was a bit tired.

"Uh, just ask Qingyi."

Qingyi then explained about the fishing line. Close friends never held back on flattery, but honestly, they were all so familiar with each other that there was nothing to get excited about.

Zhang Shutong had earned himself three KFC meals, one from each of them. As they talked, they made plans to go into the city on the weekend to get some Spicy Beef Wraps.

’How can you guys even think about KFC right now?’

The thick stench was making Zhang Shutong want to vomit. He quickly stopped them from making plans, telling them to discuss it after they got home. He shined his flashlight around and gestured.

"First, let’s see what’s going on with this guy."

Among everyone present, no one was probably more anxious than him.

And it was true. He was the only one who wanted to unmask the killer. The others had all run to the edge of the pit, wanting to see what was inside, torn between curiosity and fear.

Zhang Shutong paid them no mind. He shone the flashlight directly on the man’s face and looked for a few moments, then frowned in confusion.

The man had a very fat face and a bald head, which made the knife scar running from his temple all the way to his chin clearly visible. Other than that, he had no distinguishing features. Zhang Shutong racked his brain, trying to recall anyone he’d ever met who looked like this, but came up with nothing.

’But it’s reasonable that I don’t know him,’ he thought. ’After all, I was the one who was silenced. I should take a picture and ask Gu Qiuyan tomorrow if she recognizes him.’

Just as he was thinking this and about to pull out his phone to take a picture, he heard Ruoping gasp and turn her face away. She quickly took a few steps back, looking like she was about to throw up.

"I told you not to look." He could only imagine how bloody it must be.

"It’s not that..." Ruoping pinched her nose, taking a moment to recover before speaking. "Just see for yourself... Ugh, it stinks too much here. I need to go up and get some air..."

She was clearly terrified and didn’t dare walk in the dark alone. Still shaken, she tugged on Lu Qinglian. "Qinglian, you should come up too. Don’t look anymore. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat for a week..."

The two of them had just left when Du Kang also retched and followed them up. Zhang Shutong called out to their retreating backs:

"Since you’re going up, call the police station!"

He had called the police earlier, but he’d only been able to say that there was a situation in some wild field on the west side of the island. He didn’t know the exact location, but Du Kang would be able to explain it clearly.

Seeing that the three of them had gone up the slope, leaving only Qingyi behind, Zhang Shutong pinched his nose in advance and squatted down next to his friend.

"What do you think is in there?"

Qingyi was also pinching his nose, his voice muffled.

Zhang Shutong shone his flashlight on the spot and froze. Qingyi had already cleared away some of the dirt from the pit. He had imagined all sorts of bloody scenes beforehand, but he never expected that the thing inside would be something so familiar to him. It was actually...