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墨書 Inktalez
Liu was still investigating the five students from Yucai Middle School, and Gu Chen and I were preparing to join him. After all, this was the only chance the murderer might slip up. Among these five, was there anyone who lied, or had anyone else come into contact with them? Or were they truly unrelated to the case?
When we found Liu, he was staring blankly at the files of the five middle school students, which were spread out in front of him.
Upon seeing us enter, a smile appeared on Liu's face. "Hey, you two, come help me out! I really can't figure out what's wrong with these kids. Shouldn't we look for other clues instead of wasting time on them?"
I shook my head and looked at the open files. "They come from single-parent families, and their guardians hardly have any time to supervise them. Where do they go after school? What activities do they have? If it really is these kids, I think they have plenty of time for activities we don't know about."
"I want to follow them and see what they do after school." I looked at Liu Dao. "There are four of us, just right."
Liu exclaimed, "What? You want us to follow a bunch of kids? Isn't that a bit overboard? Following fourteen or fifteen-year-olds? That sounds a bit embarrassing..."
I shook my head and replied, "Don't underestimate kids; especially not in this day and age. With information so accessible online, they're much savvier than we were. Like all adults, they have a turbulent world inside them."
"Alright then, it's settled." Gu Chen nodded. "How do we arrange this?"
Quickly, we devised a plan for surveillance.
Since Li Taida's attempted murder case was still ongoing, we didn't need to follow him. So our four-person team would track the remaining four students. I would follow Zhang Xue, Gu Chen would keep an eye on the seemingly most dangerous Zhao Erming, Liu would track Lin Rou, and Guan Zengbin would follow Zhou Guo, who seemed least likely to be the murderer.
We contacted the substitute teachers of each class and the school principal to inform them of our plan to avoid unnecessary trouble. All of them were third-year students preparing for the High School Entrance Exam soon; their teachers had basically stopped paying attention to them. For instance, in today's class, Zhang Xue was surprisingly absent from the classroom.
"Zhang Xue has disappeared somewhere; you keep an eye on Zhou Guo," I said as I looked through the window at Zhou Guo, who was studying diligently inside. He wore thick glasses and had a stack of notebooks on his desk; he seemed likely to get into Key High School.
However, with our intrusion yesterday, I wondered if it would disrupt his thoughts.
Guan Zengbin shot me a glance and said, "Zhou Guo looks like a good student. If it weren't for his crush on Zhang Xue, I doubt he'd even dare to steal a glance at her. This might be the biggest thing he does in his youth; you should go find Zhang Xue sooner rather than later."
I shrugged and asked Zhang Xue's homeroom teacher, who informed me that at this time, Zhang Xue should be on the playground. Every afternoon, she would be there. However, at this stage, her homeroom teacher expressed that she had given up on her; as long as she didn't kill anyone, she could do whatever she wanted.
"Girls like her," the fifty-year-old woman said with a look of disdain when mentioning Zhang Xue. "It's not appropriate for someone in my position to say this, but you have to understand, with someone like her, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause when she gets to high school."
"With such trash, do you know Zhou Guo? Look at how he's infatuated with her; she's truly a sly fox. Recently, Zhou Guo has been a bit distracted; he could be the top student in the class. I tell you..." Her homeroom teacher continued.
I quickly waved my hand to stop the teacher from going on.
Around five o'clock in the afternoon, the red sunlight bathed everything in warmth, creating a lazy feeling. Sitting on the steps of a teaching building, I could see the situation on the playground in the distance. A girl in a school uniform lay sleeping on the grass in the middle of the playground, with an unreadable book covering her face.
But it was undoubtedly an Extracurricular Book.
On the basketball court beside the playground, a few boys were playing basketball; they seemed to be either athletes or "bad" students skipping class to have fun.
I couldn't help but recall my own middle school days when I had also dreamed of lying on a stage or on the grass of the playground, savoring a book as if I were detached from the world, as if I were the only person left in existence. But after my first attempt ended with me sitting right in a pile of something unpleasant, I bid farewell to that path of being a Literary Youth.
Looking back now, I was no longer that person, but my middle school spirit still lingered.
So I sat there on the steps, playing with my phone while watching the girl still asleep in the distance, wondering how much longer she could sleep. Finally, just as the Sun God prepared to head home for some rest, the girl in her dreams finally woke up. She removed the book from her face and stretched lazily.
She stared off into the distance for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
She packed her book into her backpack and walked outside. I followed her from a distance, curious about where she was headed. The school gatekeeper seemed to recognize her and didn’t stop her at all. It was still over two hours before Middle School students were dismissed. It appeared that this girl indeed had plenty of time to do whatever she wanted.
I trailed behind her like a curious sprite exploring the world.
As she walked down the street, Zhang Xue would occasionally stop in her tracks, gazing at the flowers blooming from the flower beds. She would crouch down to play with the cats and dogs wandering by. Sometimes, she would walk along the curbstone, swaying slightly as she moved forward; other times, she would strictly step on each stone one by one, sighing in frustration if she accidentally stepped on the edge.
She paused for anything that caught her attention, sometimes staring blankly into space.
Watching Zhang Xue from behind, it was clear that her actions were quite childish, yet somehow, there was a sense of maturity and solitude about her that set her apart from others her age. Then she headed toward the subway station. Yucai Middle School wasn't particularly close to the station, but she seemed accustomed to walking there.
On Line 1 of the subway, it was where Li Zhinan had jumped off. I wondered if he would pass this way again; was it merely a coincidence or was there a deeper connection?
We boarded the train, and I continued to observe her from a distance.
She took out a book and resumed reading. I glanced over and saw it was "Alive" by Yu Hua.
I couldn't help but question whether this book, titled "Alive" yet filled with themes of death, was suitable for someone her age. I also wondered if Zhang Xue could comprehend its contents, but judging by her expression, she was engrossed in it. At particularly moving moments, tears seemed to well up in her eyes.
After about an hour on the subway, we got off.
By now it was eight o'clock; dusk had settled in, and street vendors began to come alive. Eating skewers and drinking beer by the roadside was indeed a delightful experience. Many people were doing just that at this moment as we moved forward amidst the clamor and clinking of glasses.
Suddenly, Zhang Xue made a move that I simply could not understand. As we passed by a group of shirtless men, she abruptly leaned to one side and flipped their table over. The barbecue scattered everywhere, and beer mixed with juice splashed all over them.
Not only was I shocked, but even Boss was taken aback, and those shirtless men stood frozen in place.
"What are you guys doing?" Zhang Xue stood her ground, staring at the group of men.
It took a moment for them to react; one of them finally said, "Damn it! Are you looking for trouble?"
He wanted to take action, but after all, the person standing in front of him was just a teenage girl. The big man hesitated, his hand raised halfway in the air, before he remembered something and said, "Right, what's your parent's phone number? Tell me, or your dad will definitely deal with you."
Zhang Xue shook her head and said, "It's not me who wants to do this; it's my brother who told me to."
With that, Zhang Xue extended a finger and pointed at me.
It seemed this girl had already noticed I was following her; she was deliberately trying to cause trouble for me. Are girls nowadays this sharp?
"Hey, get him!" the big man shouted.
Since it wasn't right for a grown man to bully a girl, they turned their attention to me, the soft target. Judging by the looks of these guys, if I fell into their hands, I wouldn't have a good outcome. The best strategy was to flee; I turned and ran. Behind me came the shouts of several men and Zhang Xue's maniacal laughter.
Although the burly man was strong, he clearly didn't have the speed advantage. I exerted a lot of effort to shake off those men, nearly coughing up my lungs from exhaustion. Even though I had run in the opposite direction before, I had already formed a general impression of the streets and alleys around here.
When I burst out onto another street, sure enough, I found myself near that barbecue stall again. From a distance, I could see a girl gradually moving away under the streetlight. At that moment, I didn't hesitate and rushed over. Zhang Xue heard my footsteps behind her; as she turned around, I scooped her up in my arms.
"Wow, the police are kidnapping someone..." Zhang Xue exclaimed.
I didn't have a pleasant expression on my face. "I'm your brother; everyone heard you causing trouble just now. Don't look at them; little sister is being naughty again..."
"He’s not my brother!" Zhang Xue shouted.
I didn’t care what she yelled; this wasn’t a place to linger. If we ran into those big men again, it would be trouble for us both. But now it was Zhang Xue's turn to face the consequences of her actions.
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