Chapter 114 Extra 14: Nighttime Explorer
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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Ding—
A prompt popped up on the computer screen: “[Do you want to save Worksheet1.xlsx?]”
[No]
With a swish, the performance record of 17-year-old Little Xie instantly disappeared. As the CEO of a multinational corporation, Chu Feng’s personal computer stored many top-level business secrets with extremely high security. Even if he saved the file, it wouldn’t matter.
But Chu Feng didn’t want to leave any traces behind. The secrets of Xie Shiyu could only reside deep within his own mind.
Chu Feng continued to erase all records including relationship diagrams, mind maps, and retrieved data. Finally, he returned to the serene desktop of Blue Sky Green Land, as if nothing had ever existed.
Seventeen-year-old Xie Shiyu was meticulous in his actions. Chu Feng double-checked during his investigation; everything that could have left evidence was destroyed.
The case of the sunken car and dumped body at Luolian Lake had been cremated. The salvaged car had been tossed into an abandoned factory for disposal and ceased to exist.
Furthermore, although the case remained unsolved for a long time, the police didn’t face much pressure. The relatives of the female victim, upon learning that the murderer had died gruesomely, expressed satisfaction with the case’s outcome. They had little interest in knowing who killed the murderer. Neither the murderer nor the unidentified male corpse had any claimants; their remains were cremated. The car that Xie Shiyu had tampered with during the accident was already a wreck. Thirteen years ago, Huang Desheng’s family took the car to a scrapyard and discarded it.
As for the events involving Yan Wenbin and Duan Yanfeng, Xie Shiyu’s involvement was too indirect to hold any legal accountability.
Sunlight streamed through the curtains, casting warmth on Chu Feng’s forehead as he set aside his laptop and reclined on the tan leather sofa.
There were no more clues in reality. If he wanted to investigate further, he would have to rely on his own memories.
That night, Xie Shiyu in the bloodstained black T-shirt had come to the school to see him. It must have been after some evening self-study…
Chu Feng closed his eyes and recalled. Thirteen years was a long time. His impressions of that high school summer vacation were mostly homework, exams, and learning. Each day seemed mundane.
His stray bangs fluttered slightly as cool air from the air conditioner brushed against him. Feeling a chill, he opened his eyes to adjust the temperature when he suddenly heard faint music from outside the window.
—It must be loud if it could be heard through soundproof glass. Chu Feng sat up on the sofa, opened the window, and heard clear broadcast music:
“Rub your earlobes, grasp your toes, one two three four, five six seven eight…”
It was an eye exercise, perhaps a new version. Chu Feng remembered that the final segment in his childhood wasn’t like this.
Looking out through the hotel, he could see S City No. 1 High School. After a minute, the female voice on the broadcast changed to: “Open your eyes and engage in outdoor activities or gaze into the distance.”
After a while, the emerald green playground and brick-red track field saw students wearing white shirts and navy blue school pants. They were playing basketball, running, and laughing… creating a lively atmosphere.
Chu Feng closed the window slowly, the sound swallowed by the soundproof glass. The boisterous high school students on the playground seemed muted.
Thirty-year-old Chu Feng felt nostalgic looking at the scene in front of him. It might be better to take a walk in S City No. 1 High School later… Maybe…
S City No. 1 High School.
Chu Feng paused for a moment in his thoughts, suddenly realizing something. He immediately opened his phone’s album and brought up the trajectory map of “[17-year-old Nighttime Explorer].”
In Dream City, characters repeated their actions from “their lifetime.” Previously, he had overlaid this trajectory map on the map of B City No. 2 High School, identified several overlap points, and discovered that Xie Shiyu had followed him on the last bus to S City.
If he overlaid this trajectory map on the map of S City No. 1 High School…
Chu Feng had never restored No. 1 High School in Dream City, so in the game, he couldn’t tell what “17-year-old Nighttime Explorer” meant for Little Xie.
[Open computer] – [Map] – [Screenshot], Chu Feng transferred the trajectory map from his phone to the computer, opened the PS software, dragged both images in, set transparency to 50%, and slowly rotated the trajectory map…
There was a very obvious obtuse angle on the trajectory map, indicating a turn. Chu Feng quickly found a similar angle on the map. There was a small path on the west side of the school, leading to a right turn at the end, which matched the obtuse angle of this trajectory.
Starting from here, Chu Feng soon laid out the map. The latter half of the trajectory map had a high degree of overlap with the vicinity of No. 1 High School. Chu Feng traced the path Xie Shiyu had taken on the map.
Walking out of the hotel, the light outside was dim. Chu Feng looked up, seeing the sun obscured by clouds, making the sky a bright lead gray.
Chu Feng opened the weather forecast on his phone. From 16:00 to 18:00, there was a 75% chance of rain. He checked his bag for an umbrella, then turned towards the school.
Class had just ended, and the school was quiet. Chu Feng opened his album, opened the newly arranged map, and began following the trajectory line.
First, the west side gate of the school, along the road, into the alley, to the end, then right turn.
Chu Feng glanced around. The west side gate was gone, replaced by a green grid. This area had been rebuilt into a tennis court.
Walking along the cement road, with yellow-pink flowers blooming on both sides, Chu Feng didn’t recognize the current scene. Thirteen years had passed, and No. 1 High School had changed a lot.
After a while, following the prompts on the trajectory map, he turned into the alley.
It was a narrow alley with mottled stone walls on both sides, somewhat cramped. The cobblestone road was pitted, water pooling in the hollows, with green moss growing in the cracks. The air carried a damp, musty smell.
It was quiet here. Chu Feng walked alone, hearing only his faint footsteps.
Drip-drop.
Suddenly, round wet spots appeared on the ground, like coins. Chu Feng looked up, drip-drop, raindrops fell on his face like a dragonfly touching water.
Drip-drip-drop-drop, the wet coins on the ground became more and more numerous, merging into a continuous sheet. It was raining.
Chu Feng pulled out an umbrella from his bag and opened it—
Rain, alley…
Chu Feng suddenly remembered. This was where they met after getting the express delivery that day, where Xie Shiyu pulled him into a kiss in the pouring rain.
After that, Xie Shiyu had walked him through this alley with an umbrella, turning a corner, arriving at the hotel where they had stayed.
Staring at the overlapping maps on his phone, Chu Feng ran forward, reaching the end of the alley, turning the corner—
In front of him was a small building: Yilai Hotel.
The decoration had changed, looking very new, probably renovated in recent years. Chu Feng carefully looked around, and the rainy scene made today’s scene more coincident with the scene from back then. Without a doubt, this was the hotel where he and Xie Shiyu had stayed years ago.
Chu Feng began to feel what this trajectory map was doing. He opened his phone, checked the map, and next was to leave from behind the hotel, turn left, and go to the second fork in the road. Chu Feng remembered that there was a Tianjin pancake shop there. Sometimes when he was hungry after the late self-study, he would buy an extra snack.
After passing Tianjin pancake, on the right side of the hill, you can run directly to the school gate.
Chu Feng held up the umbrella and gradually walked to the end according to the trajectory map. He looked up and indeed saw the grand words: No. 1 High School. This was the south gate of the school, and also the main gate.
In the summer vacation thirteen years ago, the teaching classes were held in the west teaching building in the morning and afternoon. Therefore, every morning, 17-year-old Chu Feng would leave the hotel, turn into the alley, and enter the school from the west side door.
There was an evening self-study session because there were one or two hundred students who came to S City No. 1 High School for training, but there was only one teacher for the evening self-study. Therefore, students were uniformly arranged in the stair classrooms of the south teaching building, where up to three hundred people could study.
Every night after evening self-study, Chu Feng would leave the school through the south gate, run up the slope, pass the intersection, walk by the stall selling Tianjin pancakes, and then return to the hotel to sleep with Xie Shiyu.
Chu Feng stared at the overlapping map on the screen. This meant that the movements of 17-year-old Little Xie were actually mirroring his own school commute.
Did Xie Shiyu secretly follow him to and from school every day back then to protect him?
Chu Feng quickly thought about it and recalled that in Dream City, the character Little Xie would only come out at night, wandering around in the dead of night.
By that time, 17-year-old Chu Feng would have long been asleep.
So, when they were staying at the hotel together, Xie Shiyu must have waited until he fell asleep and then snuck out to retrace Chu Feng’s school route several times.
But why? Was he looking for something? Or… Chu Feng thought for a moment and immediately connected it to the serial rape and murder case.
Because of Yan Wenbin’s push, Chu Feng’s face had been seen by the killer, who mistook him for a witness. The killer would surely do everything possible to find and silence him.
Chu Feng reflected on his daily activities back then. For a killer, infiltrating the school to murder a student without getting caught would be difficult due to the school’s security measures and the numerous surveillance cameras. Moreover, a murder on campus would attract far more attention from the public and the police.
Committing the crime outside the school, making it look like a student disappearance, would make it much easier for the killer to escape.
But Chu Feng’s activities outside school were mainly limited to staying at the hotel with Xie Shiyu. Sneaking into the hotel to kill wasn’t a viable option either.
Therefore, the killer’s opportunity would be during Chu Feng’s commute, where he could be ambushed in an alley without surveillance, murdered, dragged into a car, and the body dumped at Luo Lian Lake.
Even if the body were to be retrieved many years later, it would have decomposed beyond recognition, making it difficult to identify the victim. Without knowing who the victim is, the police would have no leads for the case, making it nearly impossible to catch the killer.
The problem is, along the route to and from school, where would the killer strike?
Xie Shiyu repeatedly walked this path, likely trying to predict where the killer might attack. When the killer made his move, it would also be his time to die.
Thirteen years ago, in the summer, the weather was rainy.
Raindrops gathered on the hotel window. Xie Shiyu glanced through the binoculars. Chu Feng was still sitting in the classroom, obediently attending class, with five minutes left until the end.
He laid back on the sofa, using these five minutes to organize the items he would need: raincoat, umbrella, utility knife, spare small knife, wire, baseball cap, and most importantly, gloves.
He also had a deliveryman’s uniform, a box for the body, a burlap sack, rope, and a handcart for transporting the body.
Over the past few days, he had familiarized himself with the surrounding environment. He had a clear route for disposing of the body and had located all the necessary items nearby. He knew Chu Feng’s school route so well he could walk it blindfolded and upside down. He had also noted the routines of nearby shopkeepers, deliverymen, elderly people walking, and children leaving school early.
Since the day he picked up the takeout and revealed Yan Wenbin’s information, Xie Shiyu hadn’t seen the killer.
Yan Wenbin had already had a car accident, indicating that the killer had found him. But the killer had seen Chu Feng’s face. Even after dealing with Yan Wenbin, he wouldn’t stop there and would surely return to the school to find Chu Feng.
Xie Shiyu used this time to get familiar with everything around him. Acting near the school was different from other places; it wasn’t an unmonitored underground parking garage. Therefore, after dealing with Yan Wenbin, the killer had kept quiet for several days.
Another reason might be that it hadn’t rained in those days.
When it rains, people go out less, visibility is reduced, and raincoats and umbrellas provide natural cover, greatly reducing the chances of being seen. It also makes it easier to follow the victim.
Today it was raining, the sky dark and heavy with clouds, a perfect time for committing a crime.
Ding, ding—
The dismissal bell rang, and 17-year-old Chu Feng turned his head to look out the window. It was raining, the raindrops striking the glass and tracing paths like tears.
“Class is over, but don’t rush off to eat, everyone. Let’s finish this problem first!”
By the time the math teacher finished enthusiastically explaining the last problem, it was already 6 PM. Chu Feng silently packed his backpack and went to the cafeteria to eat.
Except for the first day when there was no evening self-study and he had chicken hotpot with Xie Shiyu at the hotel, Chu Feng always had evening self-study. Both lunch and dinner were eaten at the school cafeteria, so he couldn’t go out to eat with Xie Shiyu.
Chu Feng glanced at his schedule: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM, evening self-study in Room 108, Building C, South Teaching Building. After that, he could return to the hotel to see Xie Shiyu.
Although he could skip evening self-study as it wasn’t mandatory, he had come all the way to S City to study. The self-study room was more efficient, and he could directly ask the teacher on duty if he had any questions.
—Get a higher score on the college entrance exam, stay far away from his parents, find a high-paying job in a big city, buy a house, and settle down with Xie Shiyu in a new city.
Chu Feng sat alone in the school cafeteria, surrounded by noisy chatter. Sitting in a corner by the window, he opened his phone and scrolled to his contacts, landing on [Xie Shiyu]. He stared at the blank chat box, wanting to send a message.
His fingers hovered over the keys, hesitating. He thought about it and decided against it, switching to today’s English vocabulary instead.
It took Chu Feng 13 minutes to memorize the assigned English words. He then took out his phone again and pulled up the contact [Xie Shiyu].
For some reason, he felt that recently, Xie Shiyu had been acting a bit strange.
He couldn’t pinpoint what was strange exactly. Staring at the chat box, he didn’t know what to say.
He felt that something was off. Their recent interactions didn’t seem like the happy little couple who had coincidentally ended up in the same city.
Typically, if one partner had to attend summer training in S City while the other stayed in B City, their brief separation would be sad. But suddenly, the other’s part-time job boss also had to come to S City, allowing them to reunite and even live together temporarily. This should have been a pleasant surprise.
Chu Feng was happy, but he noticed that Xie Shiyu didn’t seem to share that happiness, joy, or surprise. On the contrary, Xie Shiyu seemed… very vigilant.
17-year-old Chu Feng picked up a piece of lychee pork, eating it while pondering. He wondered if “vigilant” was the right word—maybe it was “tense” or “uneasy”…
Chu Feng quickly dismissed these words from his mind, feeling they didn’t suit Xie Shiyu. He couldn’t picture Xie Shiyu being nervously on edge. It was hard for Chu Feng to describe the feeling Xie Shiyu had been giving him lately, but it seemed like he was… worried about something.
At night, when they were about to sleep, Chu Feng had tried to probe if there was any issue with Xie Shiyu’s mother, suggesting he might need to rush back but couldn’t because of his part-time job. However, according to Xie Shiyu, the boss at his part-time job was very understanding and easy to talk to. His grandfather had also mentioned that Xie Shiyu’s mother’s condition was stable recently and that Xie Shiyu had hired a caregiver for her.
Moreover, Chu Feng felt that Xie Shiyu’s state of “worry” wasn’t the kind associated with his mother’s illness. It seemed more like… he had sensed some sort of danger.
When Chu Feng had dragged Xie Shiyu to buy Tianjin pancakes, he noticed that Xie Shiyu’s gaze was very unusual. The way he looked at the shops and pedestrians on the street wasn’t the casual observation of someone strolling with their lover. Instead, it seemed like he was carefully studying and memorizing everything around him.
Also, when they were alone at the hotel, Xie Shiyu almost never initiated any intimate gestures. He would give Chu Feng a brief hug or a quick peck, and when they slept in the same bed at night, he was always neatly dressed in his pajamas and would just say goodnight.
—It was too strange.
Although Chu Feng thought that Xie Shiyu might be considering his busy study schedule, he still felt that even when Xie Shiyu was at the hotel or lying in bed, he never truly seemed relaxed.
Chu Feng had a vague intuition that recently, Xie Shiyu seemed to be constantly thinking, like he was mentally solving a large and complex math problem.
After hesitating for a moment, Chu Feng typed in their chat window: “What’s been up with you lately?”
Tap, tap, tap, Chu Feng deleted “What’s been up?” and changed it to: “How have you been lately?”
No, that wasn’t right either. Chu Feng deleted it again. Asking such a question out of the blue when he saw Xie Shiyu every day was too strange.
Moreover, Xie Shiyu’s behavior was peculiar but not peculiar enough. There were no overtly unusual actions. Chu Feng’s sense that Xie Shiyu was preoccupied could easily be dismissed as his own imagination. Xie Shiyu could also attribute it to troubles at his part-time job.
As for not being intimate at the hotel… it was true he didn’t have much time. Chu Feng thought about it. He finished evening self-study at 8:30 PM, returned to the hotel, showered, did laundry, organized things, and continued with his homework until 12:30 AM. He had to be up at 6 AM for school. If they got too carried away and things escalated, they wouldn’t have time to deal with it, leading to an awkward situation.
Chu Feng typed in the chat window: “How are you doing lately?”
… Still too strange, he deleted it.
“Is something bothering you lately?” … Too serious, he deleted it. Besides, Xie Shiyu would likely brush it off with a “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Let’s talk…” No, that sounded like a breakup conversation.
Tap, tap, tap, 17-year-old Chu Feng typed and deleted, deleted and typed, ultimately deleting everything without sending a single word.
It was 6:21 PM. There were only nine minutes left before evening self-study. Chu Feng sighed lightly, put away his phone, placed his tray in the dish return area, and headed towards the self-study room in the south building.
**
8:30 PM
Study hall ended, and it was raining outside, the sound of raindrops pattering softly. Chu Feng took out the umbrella from the side pocket of his backpack, then took out his phone from his pocket, once again facing the blank chat screen with Xie Shiyu, unsure of what to type.
Students were trickling out in groups of twos and threes, and the teacher on duty had also left. A few students remained in the study room, continuing to work. Most of the students lived in the dormitory assigned by the school, heading right after leaving the classroom door.
Chu Feng, secretly living at the hotel with Xie Shiyu, went left after leaving the classroom. Only a few classmates walked with him. After exiting the school’s south gate, everyone went their separate ways. The dim streetlights cast long, dark shadows on the path. Raindrops tapped on the umbrella, and Chu Feng, holding his umbrella, walked forward with his head down.
He exited the school gate, climbed a slope, and then turned into an alley…
This alley was narrow, with only one streetlight illuminating the entire path. At the end of the alley, there was a Tianjin pancake stall, but with the rain tonight, Chu Feng figured the owner wouldn’t be out.
8:35 PM, night, rain.
The streetlight’s illumination was already poor, and the only light in the alley was dim, almost flickering out, making visibility particularly low.
It was the first time Chu Feng walked this path in the rain. He hated the wet weather, and the cobblestone road was uneven. His new sneakers would probably be ruined…
Quickly, Chu Feng stepped into a puddle, making a splashing sound.
Two splashing sounds.
At first, Chu Feng didn’t pay attention. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
Why were there two splashes?
Was someone… behind him?
8:23 PM, night, rain.
A man, a middle-aged man, wearing a gray raincoat, hid behind a tree at the entrance of S City No. 1 High School.
8:30 PM was when evening study ended. That guy named Chu Feng should come out.
He wasn’t sure how to write these two characters, but the pronunciation should be right. There weren’t many people with the surname Chu, so he quickly found out it was a high school junior attending the summer training at S City No. 1 High School.
He had disguised himself as a food delivery man to contact Yan Wenbin. That person, in a state of confusion, kept shouting for him not to come after him! Begging not to come after him! If he had to, he should go after Chu Feng!!
When he saw Yan Wenbin for the first time, he knew this wasn’t the person he was looking for. However, since he had already disguised himself as a delivery man and this person seemed mentally unstable, it was better to eliminate this Yan character since they had already made contact.
He had scouted that the evening self-study sessions at the school took place in the lecture hall of the southern teaching building. From there, the shortest route back to the hotel they stayed at that day was to exit from the school’s south gate, follow the slope, and walk to the small alley.
It was raining today. An umbrella would obstruct the victim’s vision, and the sound of the rain would mask his footsteps, making it difficult for the victim to hear him following.
At 8:00 PM tonight, he walked from the school’s south gate to the hotel, familiarizing himself with the route. Due to the rain, all the vendors had packed up and left, leaving the streets deserted. The streetlight in that small alley was partially broken, barely providing any light. Once this Chu Feng entered that alley, it would be the perfect time to strike.
The middle-aged man, wearing a raincoat, waited like a predator at the school gate for his prey to emerge. He had prepared extensively for tonight. Ether, a knife, a cloth soaked in drugs, and rope…
That day, in the underground parking lot of Xijiang Garden, he had seen this student named Chu Feng, who appeared to be about 1.8 meters tall. There was another companion who had come looking for him, but he figured that person wouldn’t be here today. Chu Feng always walked home alone after evening classes.
This was also his first time targeting a male, especially a young and vigorous one over 1.8 meters tall. The 1.75-meter-tall middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his palms. To ensure success, he had made comprehensive preparations.
After successfully killing him, disposing of the body was a familiar process. He had already scouted the route from the school to Luolian Lake. To prevent forgetting, he had marked it on a map stored in the glove compartment of his car. The route to Luolian Lake had no surveillance cameras.
As for the vehicle to dispose of the body, he planned to use the car of the wretched woman he had killed in Xijiang Garden. Stealing another car now would be too risky. That woman lived alone, was divorced, and had no husband or children nearby. If she disappeared for a few days, no one would care enough to report it.
He hadn’t had a chance to dispose of her body yet. The car was parked 400 meters from the school in an abandoned backyard, covered with a black cloth and camouflaged with leaves to look abandoned. Fortunately, the temperature hadn’t been too high these days, so the woman’s body hadn’t started to smell too badly yet.
But it was getting close…
The middle-aged man became anxious whenever he thought about the undisposed body. He constantly tugged at the thread in his pocket. The lack of rain in recent days had made it difficult for him to act, and the body was decomposing while the eyewitness remained unresolved. Thinking about these things drove him to the brink of madness.
He had to kill this brat quickly! Dump the body in Luolian Lake along with that wretched woman! Only then would he be completely free. Dumping the bodies in the lake would ensure they were never found, and even if they were, it wouldn’t be traced back to him…
The middle-aged man muttered to himself in an attempt to reassure his racing thoughts.
8:33 PM
The 1.8-meter-tall “brat” finally walked out. The middle-aged man swallowed nervously, trying to bolster his courage. Tonight would go smoothly, he assured himself. He felt the taser in his pocket.
Chu Feng, oblivious, walked down the road with his backpack on and a black umbrella over his head. The middle-aged man followed slowly. The night was dark, and the dim streetlights reflected off the wet road. The sound of the rain masked his footsteps as he followed Chu Feng up the slope and into the narrow alley.
The lights were especially dim tonight. The 1.8-meter-tall student didn’t notice anything amiss, and the middle-aged man allowed himself a silent, gleeful chuckle. Rain was perfect—it masked the sound of the taser charging…
Just one zap, and it would all be over.
The killer followed Chu Feng into the dark alley. As he stared at his prey, he felt a thrill coursing through him, adrenaline rushing. One hand gripped the taser, the other a small knife in his pocket. He was ready to execute the plan he had rehearsed hundreds of times: first the taser, then the knife. If the taser failed, he’d switch to the drugged cloth.
The rain continued to fall. Chu Feng walked deeper into the dark part of the alley where the streetlight didn’t reach. The killer’s footsteps quickened and grew closer…
Splash—
Just as he was about to act, the middle-aged man heard a splash, like Chu Feng stepping into a puddle…
Splash.
The second sound also reached his ears.
Something was off. He was careful, he wouldn’t have stepped into a puddle…
Quickly, he realized it was his own foot that had involuntarily stepped back into water. Why?
The middle-aged man looked down to find a thin wire tightening around his neck…
The next moment, excruciating pain exploded in his brain.
As he was about to scream, a powerful, gloved hand clamped over his mouth. The grip was like a vacuum pump, silencing his screams completely.
Everything happened in an instant: he was being followed, strangled, stepping back into the puddle, the pain, trying to scream but unable to…
With a swoosh, he was yanked aside. The narrow alley had a small turn leading to a dead end. Someone dragged him into it like a dead body, all while…
Chu Feng turned his head.
He saw nothing behind him, just the road, the streetlights, and the rain falling under the dim light.
He had thought someone was behind him just now.
—Maybe it was just an illusion.
Unaware, 17-year-old Chu Feng continued walking, the rain that night as ordinary as countless nights before. He had no idea what was happening behind him in the dark alley…
Shush—
17-year-old Xie Shiyu looked at the terrified middle-aged man and smiled, bringing a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture. He tightened the wire, causing the man to make faint, gasping sounds, his eyes widening in panic as he suffocated.
The person strangling him was over 1.9 meters tall, face obscured but very young, wearing a black raincoat that blended into the darkness.
The middle-aged man, who had always targeted women, never imagined that one night he would be followed by a true demon.
**Author’s Note:**
17-year-old Chu Feng: Had an uneventful day.
17-year-old Xie: Had a busy day~
17-year-old Chu Feng: ?
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