Chapter 107

At three in the morning, Wang Xiaopei got off the night shift bus.

As the bus drove away, everything became quiet.

Wang Xiaopei stood at the bus stop, looking around at the dark streets. The only lights were from the bus stop sign and a few street lamps not far away.

The familiar roads of the past now seemed suddenly unfamiliar. She hadn’t expected that just a few hours’ difference would make the city feel completely different, as if it had changed its face.

Wang Xiaopei regretted not staying a few hours at the restaurant’s dormitory, but instead chose to go home. After hesitating for a moment, she tightened her collar and walked briskly forward, even starting to jog.

It was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and the dawn was coming later. The sky was still dim, with faint starlight visible. She could smell the lingering hot pot scent on her clothes through the raised collar. It was as if her body had been soaked in various spices for a long time. She made up her mind that after returning home, she must not be lazy. She would take a shower, change into pajamas, and then go to bed.

Wang Xiaopei worked at a 24-hour chain hot pot restaurant. Just twenty-two years old, she had been promoted to team leader. Today was her night shift, from ten o’clock in the evening until eight o’clock the next morning. The pay at the hot pot restaurant wasn’t very high, and the work was hard, but she was happy here. As long as she worked here, she belonged to this city. After saving some money in a few years, she might be able to buy a house and stay here permanently.

At two-thirty in the morning, the hot pot restaurant suddenly experienced a power outage, and there was no sign of it coming back. The manager decided to let them off work early.

After saying goodbye to several local colleagues, Wang Xiaopei walked towards her residence. She had rented a cheap apartment on the outskirts of the city. With the sudden closure of the restaurant, Wang Xiaopei didn’t think much about it. She took the night bus home.

She was used to working night shifts all year round, so she was accustomed to being more alert at night than during the day. Along the way, she plugged in her earphones and listened to music, not feeling lonely or scared. But as she got off the bus and walked further, Wang Xiaopei’s heart began to race.

On this road, suddenly she was alone.

It seemed like she was the only one left in the whole world.

Surrounded by darkness, with no stars visible in the sky, the air felt thick as if smeared with ink. She could only hear the rustling of leaves in the wind and the low chirping of insects.

Along the road, not a single soul could be seen. The breakfast stalls that were usually bustling hadn’t opened yet. Especially when she passed by a deserted construction site, this sense of solitude made her afraid.

In this stretch without streetlights, the completed buildings cast huge shadows under the moonlight. As the wind blew through the deserted building openings, it produced an eerie sound. In the darkness, it felt like countless eyes were staring at her.

In this endless darkness of the early morning, all senses were amplified infinitely.

Wang Xiaopei’s hair stood on end, and she stood on the street, feeling a bit anxious as she looked around. She tightened her grip on her phone and opened the taxi app, but there were no cars nearby.

Wang Xiaopei considered calling her roommate to pick her up. However, she quickly dismissed the thought. It was past three in the morning, and her roommate was also a girl. This would be beyond the bounds of friendship. Besides, it was only a ten-minute walk, and by the time her roommate arrived, she would almost be there.

Wang Xiaopei realized that here, there was no help nearby. She had to grit her teeth and continue forward.

Suddenly, a sound reached her ears.

“Who?” Wang Xiaopei abruptly stopped in her tracks and couldn’t help but call out. She had heard a sound just now, a sound that resembled the rapid panting of a large dog with its mouth open, making her suspect that a dog was lurking in the darkness, ready to bite her.

Her eyes widened, stark in black and white, filled with fear. Surrounded by thick darkness, she listened quietly, but the sound stopped. All she could hear was her own pounding heartbeat and rapid breathing.

She must have misheard. Wang Xiaopei relaxed a little, silently reciting words of courage to herself and even considering humming a song to soothe herself. She took a step forward, wanting to quickly pass through this area.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and in the wind, a dark figure emerged from the darkness like a giant bat. It was a long-dormant beast, suddenly pouncing on its prey.

Wang Xiaopei felt someone push her, and she was violently knocked down. She fell to the ground, feeling a fist hit her shoulder, followed by an elbow jabbing her ribs. Her bag flew out of her hand, and her head thudded on the ground. Then, the person kicked her body and head several times. Wang Xiaopei was stunned for a moment, seeing stars and tasting a strong taste of rust in her mouth. Just as she caught her breath, her stomach was hit hard, causing her internal organs to churn.

The continuous blows stripped away her defenses. Wang Xiaopei groaned in pain, curling up her body to protect her head and face.

She knew she had encountered a bad person, a man who wasn’t particularly tall but incredibly strong, enough to overpower her. After hitting her a few times, the man picked up her bag and phone that had fallen to the ground. The contents of her bag scattered, but he didn’t seem to care, calmly holding onto the bag. He didn’t leave, indicating that robbery wasn’t his intention.

As Wang Xiaopei gradually regained consciousness, she wanted to run, but her body felt too heavy… The girl’s heart was filled with fear. She was still young, just past her twenty-second birthday, and being looked at by that person felt like a huge stone pressing down on her heart. Helpless, the girl cried and pleaded in a trembling voice.

After a while, Wang Xiaopei woke up. She might have been unconscious for a few seconds, or maybe ten minutes, or half an hour. She found someone taking off her stockings, a sensation that made her feel colder and more nauseous.

Then, the removed stockings tightened around her neck, still carrying her own body temperature, rubbing against her cheeks. A pair of hands gradually tightened, squeezing the air thinner and thinner. Wang Xiaopei’s nails weakly pulled at the rope around her neck, her body trembling in pain, her throat wheezing but unable to make a sound…

She struggled desperately, like a butterfly trapped in a spider’s web.

Despair, then death…

Several hours later, dawn broke, and the city was about to usher in a new day. At this moment, no one knew that a girl had died at the corner of the suburbs.

Song Wen and Lu Siyu quickly arrived at the scene.

This was the southeast corner of Nan City. The crime scene was an abandoned unfinished building facing the street, with no fences around it. The building was not completed, with only window openings left. Some incomplete partitions surrounded the area, with a few missing pieces allowing easy access. The grassy area beside the building was overgrown, with many weeds already withered due to autumn. The dew was still on the dry grass.

It was almost six in the morning, and the sky was still dark, just beginning to lighten slightly. The scene had been secured by the arriving patrol officers. They greeted Song Wen upon his arrival, saying, “Captain Song!”

Fu Linjiang arrived a little early and went to gather information first. He explained, “The body was discovered by a nearby vendor who sets up his stall in the morning. He noticed scattered items on the ground first, then found the body and called the police.”

Song Wen nodded.

The body was not overly concealed and was casually placed on the roadside not far away, easily noticeable with just a glance. Due to the freshness of the corpse, there was no strong odor of decay. Instead, there was a strong fragrance at the scene, as if a lot of perfume had been sprayed, or a bag of loose powder had been spilled.

Song Wen carefully stepped over the debris and approached the crime scene. Lying in the bushes was the fresh corpse of a woman, with lividity and rigor mortis just beginning to form. Dark red marks indicated that the woman had suffered abuse and beatings before her death. What was peculiar was that the woman’s face was covered with a piece of clothing, obscuring half of her face.

Lu Siyu wore gloves and looked down. The woman’s posture was very proper, her clothes tidy, hands clasped together and placed on her chest. If it weren’t for the ants already crawling on her pale skin nearby, she would have looked as if she were merely asleep.

Her neck had been broken, lying limp to the side like a dead swan.

Sometimes, life can be resilient, capable of blossoming into countless possibilities. But sometimes, life is incredibly fragile, like a domino effect triggered by a single event.

Before this morning, this woman probably never imagined she would end up dead on the streets of Nancheng in the early hours.