Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Climbing walls? Superpowers?
The roommate’s outrageous questions made everyone freeze, then brought them back to their senses. After a flurry of confusion, things settled down.
Under police questioning, Zhao Xiuming frowned. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
“And I didn’t abduct Zhang Xueya or Li Zhehan.”
“I rented a place off campus yesterday. The landlady can confirm it.”
“There should be cameras along the way, too. I don’t know what’s going on with the blood on me.”
“You can have it tested. I’d like to know whose blood it is myself.”
He didn’t look as though he was lying. If anything, he seemed speechless at the whole situation.
His gaze passed over Zhou Qingyan, and her already precarious grip on reason vanished.
She trembled. “You… you’re not human!”
“Excuse me,” Zhao Xiuming corrected her. “There’s no need for insults.”
He looked at the people treating him like a murderer. “You have your suspicions about me. I have questions, too.”
“Is Li Zhehan trying to use his own disappearance to put me in prison?”
It wouldn’t be difficult for the Li family to arrange a new identity for their heir. It did seem a little excessive just to deal with a nobody like him.
Zhao Xiuming knew that. He simply wanted to muddy the waters.
In fact, it was easy to clear up the suspicions against him. There really were surveillance cameras and the elderly landlady to corroborate his account.
Besides, the hospital had been packed yesterday. Its staff hadn’t seen Li Zhehan or the others there that day.
Zhou Qingyan was behaving erratically. Her mental state was clearly abnormal.
Tests showed that the blood on Zhao Xiuming was paint. It really did smell like blood, but no one could work out why.
He was released in less than twenty-four hours.
Zhao Xiuming hadn’t expected to get out so quickly. He’d thought the Li family’s assistant would find a way to keep him locked up a little longer.
He returned to the dorm to pack his things and take them to the rental. On his phone, he saw a notice issued by the university. In essence, it said they were cooperating with the police investigation, that their student had been cleared of murder, and that everyone should refrain from believing or spreading rumors.
Zhao Xiuming put his phone away, ignoring the way other students stared at him or kept their distance.
Dragging his suitcase, he came across the silver-haired old lady in the floral jacket at the intersection again. Without hesitation, he helped her across the road.
The System said, [Fine, fine. You’re good.]
[Consider these hundred points a gift from your emperor.]
For once, Zhao Xiuming played along. [Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty.]
The System hadn’t expected that. [Huh? What did you say?]
Zhao Xiuming praised him. [I said, I’ve realized you treat me pretty well. Maybe I should listen to you more often.]
The System was probably struggling to contain his smile. His boyish voice was restrained but pleased. [Ahem. That’s a good boy.]
[As long as you listen to me, I’ll sneak you a few extra points.]
[Your points have now doubled. You have two hundred in total.]
Zhao Xiuming said sweetly, [Thank you. You’re the sweetest.]
The System said, [Of course I am. Heh-heh.]
A full five minutes passed before the System spoke again. [Wait a minute.]
[Were you deliberately sweet-talking me out of my private stash of points?]
Zhao Xiuming didn’t deny it. He smiled innocently. [Looks like it. What are you going to do about it?]
There was a smile in the System’s lazy, youthful voice, too, as though he was enjoying the show. He raised his pitch in a teasing whine. [Gege, you tricked me… You’ll get what’s coming to you…]
The moment he finished, the piercing screech of brakes sounded beside Zhao Xiuming.
A car door flew open, revealing the faces of two burly men.
Before he could run, they pinned him and hauled him into the vehicle.
“Hello, Mr. Zhao.” A cultured voice spoke. Zhao Xiuming looked up to see a “familiar face.”
It was the Li family’s suited assistant. Wearing glasses and a smile, he said, “You can call me Assistant Li.”
“I’m sorry to invite you over this way. We don’t know what’s happened to Zhehan, and the police have no leads for now. My own methods might be quicker.”
Zhao Xiuming realized Assistant Li might have helped get him released so quickly.
The man wanted to handle this privately, using unconventional methods to force a confession. It would have been difficult to get at him while he remained in police custody.
Zhao Xiuming looked toward the front passenger seat. Zhou Qingyan was there, wearing loose, blue-striped hospital pajamas.
She was still a little afraid of him. She apparently tried to give him a placating smile, but managed only a pained grimace.
There were six people in the vehicle: Assistant Li, Zhao Xiuming, Zhou Qingyan, and three heavily built men.
Zhao Xiuming didn’t ask where they were going. He had a vague idea. He merely reminded them, “Don’t forget my suitcase.”
Sure enough, they followed the route where Li Zhehan had disappeared, driving to the hospital and back, over and over until late at night.
Traffic flowed around them. The city was lively after dark. At some point, a light rain began, misting the windows.
Assistant Li glanced at his watch. “Miss Zhou, are you sure it was around nine in the evening when you noticed something was wrong?”
She nodded. “I’m sure.”
It was now 2:50 a.m., but Assistant Li showed no intention of stopping. “Keep driving.”
The bodyguard at the wheel suggested, “Mr. Li, how about I get out and buy something, then someone else takes over?”
Assistant Li agreed, and they found a place to pull over.
Just as the driver was about to get out, Zhao Xiuming opened his eyes, rousing from his drowsiness in the back seat. “Wait.”
The driver stopped opening the door. Assistant Li adjusted his glasses. “Yes, Mr. Zhao?”
Zhao Xiuming rubbed his eyes and looked outside. “You’d better not get out to buy anything.”
Assistant Li’s eyes lit up. Ignoring the warning entirely, he opened the door beside him. A burst of rain hit him in the face.
The noise outside became clearer. The honking cars sounded perfectly real. One even drove past and splashed him with water.
Assistant Li had assumed Zhao Xiuming had noticed something eerie and was warning them about it.
Instead, there was nothing there when he opened the door. Soaked by the rain, his white shirt clung to his stomach, the color of his skin faintly visible through it.
He looked down into the vehicle. “Are you messing with me, Mr. Zhao?”
Zhao Xiuming had fair skin, dark lips, and innocent eyes.
They made his handsome face look pretty, his manner all the more harmless. “You misunderstood.”
As he spoke, he opened his phone’s camera and aimed it at a nearby shop. The shutter clicked. “Get back in first. Aren’t you cold out in the rain?”
Assistant Li had no choice but to get in. Zhao Xiuming turned his phone in his hands. “If you don’t mind, drive for twenty minutes, then stop.”
The driver demanded impatiently, “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Do as he says.” Assistant Li took a spare towel from the vehicle and dried himself. “Mr. Zhao, I hope you’ll have an explanation for me then.”
Zhao Xiuming examined the photo. Assistant Li glanced at it several times, too, but saw nothing unusual.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled over again.
“Here it comes,” Zhao Xiuming said mildly.
A dark shape rushed toward the vehicle and slammed into it.
Rapid pounding followed. The figure outside was banging its head against the glass.
Assistant Li caught sight of something through the blurred window. “Don’t open any doors or windows! Nobody gets out!”
Then he snatched Zhao Xiuming’s phone and opened the photo gallery.
The van was so quiet that everyone heard his breathing suddenly quicken.
Zhou Qingyan’s voice trembled. “What’s wrong? Is it… is it…”
Assistant Li steadied himself. “The photo shows the shop behind me. You can see the clerk’s face.”
“The person pounding on the window is that clerk.”
The driver was baffled. “I’ve got the navigation on. There’s nothing wrong with the route. We’ve been driving forward the whole time. The shops… the shops are different, too.”
The earlier shop had sold fried chicken. The one outside now sold clothes.
The clerk’s clothes were different, too. The fried chicken shop’s uniform looked nothing like the clothing shop’s uniform.
Assistant Li understood now. “We were already going back and forth, so we didn’t notice in time.”
“Besides, it isn’t the route. It isn’t the buildings, either.”
“Maybe we haven’t been going in circles. What Mr. Zhao was trying to tell us is…”