Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Before Nan Mu left, he had told Qiu Ziyu that the flow of time at either end of the Time Machine was not the same. For instance, he would spend fifteen days in the past, but in Qiu Ziyu’s timeline, only fifteen hours would have passed.

Consequently, at noon on the day after he saw Nan Mu off, Qiu Ziyu took a special half-hour leave from work.

As soon as he clocked out, he rushed to No. 110 Lijiangbei Street in Lin’an District, wanting to see for himself what it looked like when Nan Mu traveled back.

Worried about parking, Qiu Ziyu left his car by the side of the road as usual. While walking past the entrance to the alley on Lijiangbei Street, he saw someone selling sticky rice rolls. He bought two, intending to give one to Nan Mu.

While waiting for the elderly vendor to prepare the rice rolls, he received a phone call from Fang Yue.

Fang Yue said, “Captain! I found information on Su Yu!”

“That’s good news.” Qiu Ziyu took a bite of his rice roll. “Do you have his number? Call him immediately and have him come down to the station to assist with the investigation.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “That… I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

Qiu Ziyu hadn’t yet realized the gravity of the situation. “Why not? Even if he’s become a national leader by now, he still has to cooperate with the investigation!”

“No…” Fang Yue sighed. “He’s missing.”

Qiu Ziyu froze. “He’s missing too? Did he disappear ten years ago as well? Just like Gu Zhishu?”

Fang Yue replied, “That’s unclear… His adoptive parents both died in a traffic accident years ago. It seems someone saw him when he was in university, but as for which specific year he went missing, no one living near his home can say for sure. Because he didn’t have a good relationship with his adoptive parents’ relatives, they never kept in touch. When I tracked them down, they didn’t even know Su Yu was missing…”

Qiu Ziyu found it strange. “Then how do you know he’s missing? Rather than just being hard to find for the moment?”

Fang Yue: “I had someone check his accounts. After his parents died, the family savings and the compensation money were all in his personal account. There hasn’t been a single sign of a withdrawal from that account in ten years.”

Qiu Ziyu was stunned. “Shit!”

He had thought they were digging into a simple body-dumping case, but the way things were looking, this was starting to feel like a serial murder case!

Preoccupied with heavy thoughts, Qiu Ziyu arrived at No. 110 Lijiangbei Street. Just as he opened the iron gate outside the courtyard, he heard a faint noise coming from inside the house.

Was Nan Mu back? Qiu Ziyu felt a twinge of regret that he had missed the sight of the Time Machine bringing him back.

“Nan Mu?” Qiu Ziyu called out as he walked over to knock on the inner door.

Although he had the passcode, it would be faster if the person inside opened the door.

But there was no answer from inside, and the door didn’t open. Doubting his own hearing, he had no choice but to open the door himself.

He unlocked it easily, but when he tried to push it open, he met resistance, as if something inside was braced against the door, preventing it from opening.

Qiu Ziyu pushed harder, forcing the door open a crack. He poked his head inside and discovered a person covered in blood lying on the floor.

His mind went blank with a roar of shock. He couldn’t understand why there was a blood-soaked person lying in the house.

His gaze swept back and forth over the person on the ground several times before he suddenly realized that this bloody figure was Nan Mu. Because Nan Mu was not wearing the same clothes he had been wearing yesterday, Qiu Ziyu hadn’t recognized him immediately.

His scalp prickled with dread. He roared “Nan Mu!” and forced himself through the gap in the door.

From the Time Machine to the doorway, there were bloody handprints and footprints on the floor. It was clear that Nan Mu had possessed a flicker of consciousness the moment he returned; he had likely tried to open the door to get out of the house, only to collapse in front of it when his strength failed.

Nan Mu’s T-shirt was soaked through with blood. Qiu Ziyu knelt beside him, at a total loss. He wanted to help, but he was terrified of causing a secondary injury. For a moment, he simply didn’t know where to start. He could only call out Nan Mu’s name in a futile, desperate loop.
Nan Mu didn’t react at all to his shouts, which made Qiu Ziyu panic even more. His hands shook as he reached out to check Nan Mu’s breath, but because his heart was racing so fast, this action-one he had performed countless times in his professional life-seemed to fail him in this moment. After several attempts, he still couldn’t be sure if Nan Mu was breathing.

This won’t do! Qiu Ziyu scolded himself. He gripped his trembling right hand, held his breath, and reached out again to check Nan Mu’s carotid pulse.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

This time, he felt a faint pulse beneath his fingertips.

“Thank god, thank god… He’s still alive, he’s still alive…”

Qiu Ziyu’s legs, which had been barely holding him up, suddenly went weak. He muttered words of self-comfort as he frantically pulled out his phone.

He had only pressed two of the three digits for 120 when something suddenly occurred to him. He looked back at the machine behind him.

That machine was too conspicuous. If the paramedics came in and saw such a massive contraption, there would be no way to keep it a secret.

Qiu Ziyu hesitated for two seconds, slammed his fist into his left palm, and stood up to rush out the door.

His car was parked on the street. It was impossible to carry Nan Mu all the way out there, so he had to drive the car into the alley.

Fortunately, in these old alleys, everyone took naps at midday. The lane hadn’t become busy yet; there were a few people around, but not enough to cause a traffic jam.

This was the first time since graduation that he had moved with the speed of a hundred-meter sprinter. He didn’t dare stop for a single breath as he ran all the way to his car and drove it to the entrance of No. 110 Lijiangbei Street.

As he got out of the car, the door of the house opposite swung open. A person inside saw him parking right at their doorstep.

“Hey! You can’t park there!”

Qiu Ziyu was gasping for air. He turned his head and saw a young girl in a dark green dress standing across from him. She was holding a bouquet of daisies and looking at him with a frown.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I’m just stopping for a moment, I’ll be gone right away!”

Qiu Ziyu apologized profusely while already rushing toward the house. As he entered, fearing that someone might see the machine inside, he didn’t forget to slam the courtyard gate shut.

The girl holding the daisies had originally intended to let it go, seeing as he had been polite and promised to leave soon. She had already opened her door to go inside.

But as she turned, a loud *bang* from behind startled her.

It was the heavy sound of an iron gate being slammed, as if the person were venting their frustration.

What was his problem? Annoyed, she hung her bag on the wall inside the door and decided not to go in yet. She stood at her doorway, intending to see exactly when he would leave. If he dared to park there for more than five minutes, she would call the police.

Less than two minutes later, she saw the man who had just parked emerge from the house carrying someone covered in blood on his back. Blood dripped steadily onto the pavement as he passed.

Qiu Ziyu couldn’t open the car door while carrying Nan Mu. He looked up and saw that the girl from before hadn’t gone inside yet. He hurriedly called out to her, “Miss, miss! Please help me, help me open the car door.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. He was just lying there when I arrived… Please, help me open the door. I need to get him to the hospital.”

The girl quickly opened the door. Since Qiu Ziyu’s back was to the door, it was difficult for him to set the man down. She was surprisingly bold; she climbed straight into the car to help support Nan Mu’s head from the inside, dragging him onto the back seat.

When she got a clear look at Nan Mu’s face, she let out a soft gasp.

“What is it?”

Qiu Ziyu still had his back to them, and thinking something had gone wrong, he was too nervous to let go of Nan Mu’s legs. Then he heard the girl’s voice.

“He’s… Gu Zhishu’s friend, Nan Mu?”