What a Coincidence

Lu Zheng walked from one end of the eighth-floor corridor to the other, then turned around and walked back again without breaking stride.

Then he went up to the twelfth floor and took a turn around his own room.

What came next was simple.

To make the act convincing, Lu Zheng first went home and packed a few changes of clothes, his phone charger, and toiletries, then returned to the Clear Rain Hotel.

After putting his things away, he checked the time and saw that it was already past five in the afternoon. So he sat on a sofa in the hotel lobby and played on his phone.

Meanwhile, the folded-square Qi Seeking Talisman lay quietly hidden in his palm, giving off a faint sense of guidance.

Before the person he was waiting for appeared, an incoming call interrupted Lu Zheng's Honor of Kings match.

"Lin Wan?"

Sure enough... as long as the killer had not been found, he was still a suspect. The police could call him at any time.

"Hello, Lu Zheng, are you at home? I want to talk to you."

"No, I'm at a hotel."

"A hotel?"

"Yeah." Lu Zheng explained, "The thought that a murderer could slip into my home without a sound makes me feel uneasy. What if he comes again to silence me? To be safe, I decided to stay in a hotel for a few days."

Lin Wan did not know whether to laugh or cry on the other end of the line. "Is that necessary? The murderer broke into your home to steal because he wanted to frame you and divert the police's attention."

Lu Zheng remained unmoved. "But the only evidence points to me right now. What if he pulls another stunt and makes it look like I killed myself out of guilt?"

Lin Wan froze. She wanted to say Lu Zheng was worrying about the sky falling, but after thinking it over, it actually made some sense.

"Which hotel? I'll come find you!"

"Clear Rain Hotel."

Half an hour later, Lin Wan came to see him.

It was already after work, so Lin Wan was not wearing her police uniform. A fitted short-sleeved top, cropped pants, and thick-soled sneakers made her legs look even longer and straighter.

"What is it?"

"Can't I come see you if there's nothing wrong?"

Lu Zheng was taken aback. Lin Wan paused slightly, then immediately teased, "You're a martial arts expert. Why are you still afraid of him? You even hid out in a hotel?"

Lu Zheng sighed helplessly. "A martial arts expert fights enemies face-to-face. If the other side sneaks up in the dead of night without making a sound, no matter how skilled you are, you'll still have to kneel. How do you think Zhang Fei died?"

Lin Wan sat down beside Lu Zheng. "I came to ask you again. After you had that conflict with Li Yanjie last weekend and went home, and when you went out three days ago, did you see the same person?"

Lu Zheng actually thought about it carefully, but in the end, he still shook his head. "No."

"What, with today's technology, you still can't find the killer?"

"Technology isn't omnipotent either." Lin Wan said helplessly, "The other side is an expert. He avoided every camera at the scene and didn't leave behind a single trace."

"So the only evidence is that fruit knife?" Lu Zheng was speechless. "Isn't that obviously a frame-up?"

"But it's still a lead." Lin Wan explained, "Do nothing, make no mistakes; do more, make more mistakes. Since he dragged you into this, he'll naturally leave clues around you."

"Did you find anything?"

"Uh... at least we found traces." Lin Wan thought to herself. Disguising himself as a deliveryman counted as leaving traces, right?

"You guys are pretty impressive, then!" Lu Zheng could not help praising her.

"Hehe." Lin Wan gave a perfunctory, forced laugh, then casually asked, "By the way, your fruit knife had been missing for days, and you never noticed?"

"I only used that fruit knife twice after buying it, both times to peel apples." Lu Zheng shook his head. "I even regret eating apples now. If I hadn't used it even once, stealing it would've been pointless!"

Lin Wan chuckled. "You really are unlucky. You only showed off a little, and the killer set his sights on you."

Lu Zheng sighed. "Tell me about it. Things aren't like they used to be. These days, as long as the other side lies down on the ground, even an expert has to kneel and beg them."

Lin Wan covered her mouth and laughed, then her eyes shifted. "That's true. But you really knew how to hide it. You never showed off in college? You definitely could've attracted female classmates."

"Uh, I never thought about it."

"I didn't expect you to be such an honest kid."

"That doesn't sound like a compliment."

"Have you eaten?"

"No. I'm not hungry."

"Something like this happened, so it's understandable that you have no appetite. But you still need to eat. Come on, let's find a place and grab something."

Lu Zheng blinked. He was just about to make an excuse to refuse when the elevator doors on the other side of the lobby opened, and a plain-looking middle-aged man stepped out.

The Qi Seeking Talisman in his palm trembled lightly, pointing straight at the man.

The man's gaze swept over Lu Zheng and Lin Wan without the slightest reaction, then he strolled toward the lobby entrance.

"What is it?" Seeing Lu Zheng suddenly stare blankly at that man, Lin Wan could not help shifting her gaze as well.

"That man's eyes..."

Lu Zheng muttered to himself, "They look familiar to me, and... it seems... no way, could it be?"

Lu Zheng abruptly stood up and walked toward the man.

Lin Wan frowned and rose to follow him.

"Lu Zheng?"

But Lu Zheng had already walked up behind the man. Without greeting him, he silently launched a bow-step straight punch at the back of the man's head.

The wind howled, and his fist carried crushing force.

"Lu Zheng!"

Yet the next moment, Lin Wan did not see Lu Zheng blow the man's head apart with one punch.

The man merely tilted his head, instantly dodging Lu Zheng's punch. Then his body shot forward as he sprinted toward the hotel entrance at top speed.

"It's you!"

Lu Zheng shouted, kicking off the ground. He was even faster than the other man.

The man suddenly turned back and swung his hand in a backhand motion. A flash of light gleamed in his hand.

"Lu Zheng, watch out!" Lin Wan cried out, her face drained of color. That flash was a sharp blade, now only thirty centimeters from Lu Zheng's neck.

Though his face was still utterly ordinary, his eyes were filled with killing intent.

He twisted his body and threw another punch.

Bang!

Lu Zheng's fist had an intimate encounter with the man's temple.

Then the man flipped over and collapsed.

Only then did the people in the hotel lobby begin crying out in alarm. Half rushed forward to watch, while the other half began calling the police.

"Police!"

Lin Wan shouted as she finally reached Lu Zheng's side.

She looked at the middle-aged man lying on the floor, his eyes rolled back as he hovered between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"He is..."

"Isn't this one hell of a coincidence?" Lu Zheng's voice was full of shock. "You told me to remember the people I met during those two days, and I thought of the night I went home. I happened to run into a deliveryman making a delivery.

He rode the same elevator as me. I got off on the seventeenth floor, while he pressed the top floor. We even looked at each other then."

Lin Wan was shocked. "He was wearing a mask, wasn't he? You remembered the features around his eyes?"

Lu Zheng pointed at the middle-aged man on the ground. "Didn't I just get another look at him? It was like reinforcing the memory."

Lin Wan was immediately speechless. "But this is too much of a coincidence, isn't it?"

Lu Zheng smiled without showing his teeth. "Can't be helped. It's just that much of a coincidence."