“You said you loved lilacs the most because they’re your namesake…”

A muffled ringtone emanated from her pants pocket, accompanied by a persistent buzzing vibration. Lin Shuyue’s leg felt numb and tingly. She instinctively reached into her pocket and pulled out a palm-sized, vintage-looking mobile phone.

Startled for a moment, Lin Shuyue pressed the green call button.

A middle-aged man’s voice came through: “Shuyue, you’ve been interning at our newspaper for half a year now, right? Your internship report passed, but… you know, there were a lot of interns from your school this time. Although you worked hard, you haven’t reported on or uncovered any newsworthy stories. I think you understand what this means. I’m afraid the newspaper can’t keep you on…”

Staring at the translucent screen floating before her eyes, Lin Shuyue calmly replied, “I understand what you’re saying. Something’s come up here. I’ll call you back later.”

On the screen, a bold red countdown timer was rapidly ticking down. The voice in her head, which called itself the Good and Evil Detection System, prompted again: [Host’s remaining lifespan: 02:57:31. Life value critically low. Please recharge as soon as possible.]

Three minutes ago, Lin Shuyue was still a second-year student at the Public Security University.

On her way back to school, she’d encountered a human trafficker snatching a child in broad daylight. Without a second thought, she rushed to stop him from taking the child. But she hadn’t expected him to be carrying a homemade gun. During the struggle, she was shot.

Just before losing consciousness, she saw the police, guns drawn, finally arriving. And then, she heard a robotic voice say, “The Good and Evil Detection System is at your service,” as she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was in this unfamiliar place.

It was a bustling, somewhat grimy street. The shouts of street vendors, the haggling of customers, the chatter of diners at roadside stalls, the aroma of wontons and steamed buns, the acrid smell of cheap cigarettes, and the overwhelming mixture of sweat and perfume…

Everything around her was full of life, yet it felt strangely unreal to Lin Shuyue. She raised her hand and examined it. This hand had thick calluses, but her right middle finger didn’t have the ingot-shaped scar she’d gotten as a child when she’d been caught stealing candy.

Before she could dwell on it, the voice in her head spoke again: [Major violent criminal case detected at Bao’an Street, Suishan Village, 800 meters from the host. Please proceed to the scene to investigate and assist the police in finding the perpetrator. Completion of the task will reward one month of life value and a random reward.]

The bright red countdown on the screen now reads 02:53:09.

Lin Shuyue took a deep breath. Time was of the essence!

Lin Shuyue’s gaze quickly scanned her surroundings. There were no signs indicating Suishan Village. She rummaged through the backpack she was wearing and found a fifty-yuan bill and several smaller bills.

She approached a motorcycle taxi driver who was smoking by the roadside. “Hey, do you go to Bao’an Street in Suishan Village?”

The driver flicked his cigarette butt, looked at Lin Shuyue, and spoke with a distinct Cantonese accent, often referred to as “plastic Mandarin”: “Little girl, let’s get this straight. It’s close, but I’m charging the base fare of five yuan. If you agree, we’ll go right away.”

The countdown was still ticking. Lin Shuyue didn’t have time to haggle. “Fine, let’s go.”

The driver, grinning broadly, kept the cigarette dangling from his lips. The roar of the motorcycle engine erupted, and as soon as Lin Shuyue sat down, the bike shot off, moving at breakneck speed.

Along the way, pedestrians who were nearly run over shouted curses.

The driver was true to his word; it took exactly five minutes to arrive.

Lin Shuyue patted her hair, which was now a bird’s nest thanks to the wind, handed over five yuan with a blank expression, and slung her camera bag over her shoulder as she walked directly towards the largest gathering of people.

The street she’d just come from was bustling and lively. But just a few hundred meters away, after a few turns, it was like transitioning from city to countryside. The streets were narrow and congested, and the houses lining them looked like irregular structures built by children with old, mismatched blocks. They were low, dilapidated, and illegally constructed buildings were everywhere.

A “village in the city”? (An urban village)

The last time Lin Shuyue had been to an urban village, the streets were wide and clean, and the buildings were brand new. She hadn’t seen such a run-down urban village in a long time.

It was too dilapidated—the houses, the streets, even the clothes of the passersby—giving Lin Shuyue a sense of “nostalgia.”

It was very much like the period dramas Lin Shuyue had watched with her grandmother recently.

“Boss, why are there so many police officers here?”

Lin Shuyue walked to a small roadside shop, bought a bottle of water, and leaned against the counter, casually asking the shop owner.

“Oh, my!”

The shop owner was a plump, middle-aged woman with permed, instant noodle-like hair and a large gold bracelet on her wrist. She looked up at Lin Shuyue, saw that she was fair-skinned and pretty, and was more than happy to chat.

She had a lot to say about what Lin Shuyue had asked. “Someone died. Those damn puk gai jai (Cantonese slang, roughly equivalent to “bastards”), they didn’t even spare the children!”

“Ah! What happened?” Lin Shuyue covered her mouth, feigning shock.

“The family where it happened are outsiders. The couple works at an electronics factory. Today’s Sunday, right? They were working overtime, and their two daughters were home from school with no one to watch them. This afternoon, Ah Hua, my neighbor’s daughter, went to play with them, and that’s when she found…”

The plump woman’s expression was still filled with horror as she recalled the event, and her voice involuntarily lowered. “Ah Hua screamed and ran out crying. We went to look… The two little girls were lying on the bed, naked. Their heads were almost completely severed, only connected by a layer of skin.”

“They were so young, oh. The older one was ten, the younger one was only eight! It’s a tragedy. They were their parents’ only two daughters, and they were so doted on. And now they’re gone, just like that. Their mother could barely walk when she got back…” The woman shook her head as she spoke.

Lin Shuyue’s brow furrowed, her expression turning serious. The water bottle in her hand was crumpled from her grip.

As a prospective member of the People’s Police, and coming from a family of police officers, Lin Shuyue despised all criminals. But those who committed sexual assault, child abuse, and murder were, in her eyes, unforgivable.

Even if it weren’t for the life value, she was determined to find this beast today and bring him to justice!

“Boss, do you know who the murderer is?” Lin Shuyue asked, puzzled.

“Of course! The police have been here for over an hour, questioning everyone. They’ve been asking about the two girls’ neighbors, a pair of brothers, especially that Duan Taoyong, what he likes to do, where he usually goes, things like that,” the plump woman said with certainty.

“Why are you so sure?”

“I was minding the shop, and my husband went to look. He said bloody footprints were leading from the two girls’ house to his house. Who else could it be? The police also found a set of bloody clothes in the brothers’ house. That puk gai jai (bastard) even left a note saying something like, ‘I’m sorry, brother. Please take care of our parents for me in the future.'”

“How can anyone be so cruel?! Just recently, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the two girls’ parents invited them over to celebrate. The girls’ father even killed a duck especially for them to eat.”

“And last time, when Duan Taoyong was sick and didn’t have any money, he begged the girls’ father, and he lent him twenty yuan.”

“And this is how he repays them! How can someone be so heartless?!”

“I’ve always said that Duan Taoyong is a gloomy, quiet type. He doesn’t talk much and never smiles. He always heads up into the mountains whenever he has time off. There’s definitely something wrong with him. And see? I was right, wasn’t I?”

The plump woman’s tone was filled with shocked disbelief. Then, remembering something, she added, “My husband said that puk gai jai (bastard) ran from the alleyway by the butcher’s shop in front into the back mountain. The armed police arrived, and I heard a whole unit went into the mountain to search for him. My husband and the other neighbors are going to help.”

“Our mountain is big. Once someone gets in there, it’s hard to find them. And he got a head start of over an hour. Who knows if they’ll be able to find him!”

Her gaze lingered for a moment on the bright red countdown: 02:27:32. She asked the shop owner, “Boss, do you sell any iron rods or baseball bats? With something like this happening, I feel scared without buying something for self-defense.”

“No, we don’t. They were all bought up just now. Everyone’s terrified, and every household wants to have something for protection.”

In the end, Lin Shuyue had no choice but to leave the store with a fruit knife barely bigger than her palm and walk towards the outside of the crime scene.

Forensic technicians in white lab coats were going in and out of the house, investigating. A crowd of onlookers was gathered around the yellow police tape.

A couple stood outside the house, supporting each other. The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, and the man, though his face was etched with grief, was still managing to answer the questions of the investigating police officers.

Lin Shuyue squeezed into the crowd, her gaze passing over the police tape. She could still see the bloody footprints at the entrance, circled with white chalk by the forensic technicians. She could vaguely make out two small figures covered with a white sheet.

At that moment, a plainclothes officer approached the officer who was questioning the couple, his back to the crowd, and said in a low voice, “Team Leader Hang, the armed police have arrived at Suishan Village.”

The officer called Team Leader Hang turned around. He was a young officer, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He was tall, wearing a brown jacket, with a stern face and sharp eyes. “Bring the search dogs. Head up the mountain. Search.”

Hearing that the armed police were going up the mountain to search for the suspect, nearby residents had already spontaneously brought hoes, iron bars, and knives from their homes. Led by the village chief, they indignantly joined the large group heading up the mountain.

Lin Shuyue looked at the fruit knife in her hand, thought for a moment, picked up an old bamboo pole leaning against the wall, and followed the large group searching for the murderer.

[Detected that the host is at the crime scene. The Good and Evil Radar has been activated, with a radius of 130 meters (upgradable).]

[Congratulations to the host for activating the Good and Evil Radar. The newbie gift pack has been delivered. Please check it.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining one remarkably unremarkable brick x1.]

On the screen, which only she could see, a radar similar to WeChat’s “add friends” radar appeared. The pointer swept from left to right, gradually changing from white to black, and the numerical value was slowly increasing.

The bright red life countdown stood above the radar, and it had now ticked down from 02:27:32 to 02:03:01.