The subway came to a stop at a station, and Zhao Bin and Xiao Ran got off. Zhong Qi grabbed Lin Shiyu’s arm to prevent them from getting lost in the crowd and followed the two out of the subway station.

Midway, Lin Hui called Lin Shiyu, asking if he was coming home for dinner. Lin Shiyu said he wouldn’t. Lin Hui didn’t mind him spending time outside, and even felt glad that he engaged in some leisure activities after school. She just advised him not to stay out too late and then hung up.

After Zhao Bin and Xiao Ran left the subway station, they passed a crossroads, climbed up the pedestrian bridge, and crossed to the other side of the street. Lin Shiyu and Zhong Qi waited until they descended the pedestrian bridge before going up. Lin Shiyu lagged behind Zhong Qi and as he reached the last step, accidentally stumbled, bumping into Zhong Qi’s back.

Zhong Qi reached back to steady him, his tone containing a trace of mockery. “Relax.”

“I’m not nervous,” Lin Shiyu argued.

At that moment, Zhao Bin had reached the bottom of the bridge and seemed to sense something. He turned to look back at the bridge.

Zhong Qi quickly squatted down, motioning Lin Shiyu to do the same.

“Hey, young man, looking to buy something?” A stallholder’s smiling face greeted them. “Come, take a look. Glowing bracelets, phone cases, mini-telescopes, rare novels, I’ve got it all.”

Both of them were squatting in front of the stall, and Zhong Qi actually glanced down, picking up a string of ugly, cheap, fuzzy caterpillar ornaments. “How much for this?”

“Three bucks for you.”

“Too expensive, maximum one buck.”

Lin Shiyu watched Zhong Qi as if he were insane. “Are you really going to buy it?”

The stallholder said, “It’s a small business. Have some understanding. Two bucks, okay?”

“One and a half.”

“Fine, deal, one and a half for you. Bargaining over such a small amount of money…”

Zhong Qi scanned the payment code, attached the oddly contorted and ugly caterpillar to Lin Shiyu’s backpack, stood up, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Don’t hang such an ugly thing on my bag!”

“Hurry up, if we don’t catch up, they’ll disappear”

Lin Shiyu had to give up on dismantling the fuzzy caterpillar as he followed Zhong Qi with a head of disheveled hair.

They departed from the bustling main street and turned into a narrow path next to a residential community. The path bordered a row of trees on one side and an under-construction site on the other. Pedestrian traffic gradually dwindled until an entrance appeared at the end of the lane.

Behind this large residential community, there was another smaller one. However, it seemed far smaller in scale with rather disorganized buildings and barely any greenery.

The main entrance of the community wasn’t at this end. A building directly faced the street outside, and the two of them observed Zhao Bin and Xiao Ran walk to that building without ringing the doorbell or using keys. They simply pulled open the security gate and entered the building.

After they entered, the two ran to the door, and indeed, the door had no power for quite some time and had completely lost its anti-theft function. It could simply be opened manually. Zhong Qi opened the door and both of them stealthily entered.

The corridor was dimly lit, tiled, but hadn’t been cleaned for a long time, with dust trampled into messy footprints everywhere. Lin Shiyu checked the elevator display at the entrance, which showed the number 14.

“No one went in with him, and no one came out. He most likely stays on the 14th floor.”

Fortunately, Zhao Bin hadn’t taken them to some desolate and abandoned factory. Instead, he had led them to this complex that might have other people living there.

Lin Shiyu raised his hand to press the elevator button, but Zhong Qi stopped him. “What are you doing?”

“Going upstairs.”

“And then?”

“Knocking on each door.”

Zhong Qi was taken aback. “What?”

Lin Shiyu seemed serious. “I’ll knock on the door. If it’s not him, I’ll say I went to the wrong place and ask for Zhao Bin’s location. If it is Zhao Bin…”

Zhong Qi folded his arms, watching him. “You’ll kick the door down and beat him to the ground?”

“No,” Lin Shiyu explained the plan he’d carefully considered to Zhong Qi. “I’ll hold him down while you call the police. We make sure the girl’s safe, then search his room, including his phone and computer, to find the videos he mentioned as evidence.”

Confident in his plan, Lin Shiyu turned to press the elevator button again.

A hand reached out, gripping his wrist and pulling him away.

“Let go! Where are we going?” 

Zhong Qi’s grip was quite strong, and Lin Shiyu couldn’t shake it off as he was dragged out of the building.

“From now on, listen to me,” Zhong Qi pulled Lin Shiyu in front of him. “Otherwise, I’ll leave right now.”

Lin Shiyu clearly felt Zhong Qi’s disdain for his plan and protested. “What’s wrong with what I said?”

“The problem is you.” Zhong Qi carelessly dropped this statement and looked around outside the building. “Find out where the community’s Reception Office is or a Community Service Center.”

Just as Lin Shiyu was about to voice his protest against Zhong Qi’s prior comment, he looked perplexed at the latter statement. “Why?”

“I’ll tell you after I find it.”

Zhong Qi let go and walked towards the community gate, and Lin Shiyu had no choice but to follow to see what he was up to. The community seemed lax in its management, with a small security booth at the entrance. As they walked through the gate, the elderly guard inside the booth was glued to his phone, and didn’t even lift an eyelid.

Fortunately, the community wasn’t too large. After circling the area, they finally found an inconspicuous Community Service Center behind one of the residential buildings. The signboard was curled at the edges and layered with thick dust. When they walked in, only a middle-aged lady sat behind the glass, busy on her phone, and a pile of parcels rested against the wall.

The lady looked up and was unfamiliar with them, asking, “What brings you here?”

Zhong Qi still had his cold and indifferent expression but looked rather natural. “We’re friends of Zhao Bin. He asked us to help with a parcel on the way.”

“Oh, little Zhao, he ordered more parcels again.” The lady didn’t suspect them and went back to her phone, muttering, “Always buying parcels, you young people just love buying.”

Zhong Qi crouched down in front of the pile of parcels, and Lin Shiyu approached, whispering, “What if there’s no parcel for him?”

Zhong Qi picked up a parcel, looked at it, and then put it down. He spoke quietly. “If there isn’t one, we’ll ask.”

Lin Shiyu: “?”

The two pretended to search through the parcels. Zhong Qi stood up and said to the lady, “Auntie, there are too many parcels here. Why aren’t they sorted by building and floor?”

“Why bother? Everyone just finds their own.”

“When will they find anything in so many parcels? I’ve looked through them and haven’t seen any for Zhao Bin.”

“Ah.” The lady was playing a game on her phone, and was clearly annoyed at being disturbed by Zhong Qi. She casually threw a ledger at him. “Check if there’s a delivery for him today. The delivery guy would have logged it if he came, and if not, there’s none.”

Zhong Qi went through the ledger, scanning the information on it. The first two columns detailed the recipient’s address and name when the delivery was received. The next columns were for the signatory.

There was no information about Zhao Bin receiving deliveries today. Zhong Qi quietly flipped through a few more pages and eventually found Zhao Bin’s name.

Block 5, Apartment 1403 – Zhao Bin.

Zhong Qi closed the ledger and handed it back, saying, “I didn’t see anything for Zhao Bin. That blockhead probably got it mixed up.”

The lady waved her hand dismissively. “He is always ordering so many parcels, how could he not mix them up? Go on, go on.”

Zhong Qi and Lin Shiyu left the Service Center. Zhong Qi then quickly called the police, explained the situation, particularly mentioning Xiao Ran’s situation, and provided Zhao Bin’s specific address before hanging up.

Zhong Qi asked Lin Shiyu, “Do you understand now?”

Lin Shiyu reluctantly admitted that Zhong Qi’s method was safer and more secure, even if he didn’t quite agree, and said, “It’s alright.”

The two returned to the building where they had been earlier, waiting for the police to arrive. Lin Shiyu couldn’t settle down; he paced around the flower beds, kicking the stones on the ground.

“What’s wrong now?” Zhong Qi asked.

Restless, Lin Shiyu scowled. “I want to go up and check.”

“If you go up to stare at a door, what’s there to see?”

“Annoying,” Lin Shiyu sighed and looked up at the towering building, observing the many windows and security screens. “What if he’s already… hurting Xiao Ran?”

Zhong Qi stood silently on the side, not saying a word.

Lin Shiyu grew increasingly agitated the more he thought about it. His steps paused at the entrance before he reached out and pulled open the iron door, and stepped into the corridor.

“Lin Shiyu.” Zhong Qi called out to him, catching up in a few steps. “Hey.”

Lin Shiyu had already stepped into the elevator, so Zhong Qi followed. His tone was somewhat resigned when he spoke. “What can you do by going up there?”

“Nothing, I’ll just stay near his door.” Lin Shiyu pressed the button for the 14th floor. “Just in case the girl calls for help, we might be able to hear it.”

The elevator remained quiet for a while. Zhong Qi then asked, “Why are you so fixated on this matter?”

Lin Shiyu didn’t answer because he couldn’t explain it himself. Since learning the true reason why Xiao Ran wanted to push him away, anxiety had continued to cloud his mind. Logically, he was just an outsider with no relationship with Xiao Ran. Yet, he couldn’t sit still; he wanted to be closer, as close as possible, and almost wished he could personally separate Zhao Bin from Xiao Ran.

Even so, he didn’t understand the origin of this intense emotion.

“I don’t know,” Lin Shiyu leaned against the elevator wall and whispered, “I’m just feeling really troubled.”

Zhong Qi didn’t say anything further.

The two took the elevator directly to the 14th floor. The building was typically unclean and scattered with dust and discarded items. The hallway was dimly lit, and the lights weren’t functioning, so they most likely needed repairs.

 

Edited by: Jaisland

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