The former director had called in sick for Chen Xiao Qiu. He'd even asked with some concern, "What work did you have her doing yesterday?"
I was at a loss. "She just looked over some files in the office. We were searching for those people from Greenleaf together."
The Thin Man spoke up for me. "Former director, this isn't Brother Qi's fault. Chen Xiao Qiu pushes herself too hard and gives herself extra work. At lunch, she just had bread and water, and the night before last, she went looking for records from the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau. She wanted to start investigating that lead herself. She was like this on her very first day. What could we do? She looked fine yesterday, if you ask me."
"That was probably makeup," Guo Yujie cut in.
"You, who never wear makeup, know about makeup?" the Thin Man asked in surprise. "Don't you usually just splash water on your face when you wash it?"
"Get lost!" Guo Yujie raised her hand and swatted at him.
The Thin Man darted behind the Fat Man like a monkey.
"Enough, enough." The former director watched them fool around without getting angry, only reminding me, "That girl Xiao Chen pushes herself too hard. Keep an eye on her, and you guys should try to talk some sense into her, too."
"She'd have to listen first," the Thin Man grumbled.
The former director could only sigh helplessly.
Though we'd only been coworkers for a day and things were still a little awkward between us, we called Chen Xiao Qiu to check on her. We called her cell phone, but her mother answered. She was very warm and thanked us for our concern.
"I hope she takes good care of herself and rests for a few more days," the Thin Man said sincerely, slumping in his chair as if his backbone had been pulled out.
Guo Yujie let out a "Hey" to show her displeasure, but she also looked relieved.
To be honest, our work ethic and enthusiasm couldn't compare to Chen Xiao Qiu's. Judging by how she'd been yesterday, she seemed ready to throw herself into the job and work herself to death. Having someone like that around put us under immense pressure. We weren't used to it.
With Chen Xiao Qiu gone today, we'd gone back to our usual lazy routine.
The Thin Man was looking at something on his phone when he suddenly said, "Her personality isn't likable, but she sure is beautiful."
"You've got a thing for her?" the Fat Man asked.
"With a personality like that? No way," the Thin Man scoffed, raising his phone to show us. "Look at this."
We crowded around and saw a promotional poster for a play at Minqing Drama Academy. Chen Xiao Qiu was in it.
"What's this?" Guo Yujie asked after glancing at the play's opening date. "Shouldn't Chen Xiao Qiu have graduated already?"
"I looked through their blog. One of the drama club members is Chen Xiao Qiu's cousin, and she asked Chen Xiao Qiu to fill in," the Thin Man explained, scrolling through the webpage and pointing out a passage.
The drama club's play was supposed to open this month, but one of the lead actors had been in a car accident two weeks ago and couldn't perform. Chen Xiao Qiu had been asked to fill in by her cousin. She hadn't graduated from a drama academy, but she was beautiful, smart, and hardworking. She'd memorized her lines in a day and was performing convincingly after a week. She was practically a genius. Her cousin had praised her to the skies, and her own résumé was indeed impressive, so she'd quickly become popular and gained a little fame at the drama academy.
The Thin Man had searched Chen Xiao Qiu's name, perhaps with mischief in mind, and this was what he'd found.
"I don't think she got sick because of the work she did yesterday," the Fat Man said, cutting straight to the point.
The Thin Man nodded emphatically. "Definitely not! Even someone with three heads and six arms couldn't keep up that pace, right?"
Guo Yujie scrolled through the Thin Man's phone and opened a video further down, watching a clip of Chen Xiao Qiu rehearsing. "But she really is talented. If she'd never studied before, then she's either gifted or incredibly hardworking."
Neither the Thin Man nor the Fat Man disagreed.
"Brother Qi, why aren't you saying anything?" the Thin Man suddenly asked me.
The Fat Man looked over, too. "Brother Qi, what's wrong?"
"Lin Qi, what are you spacing out for?" Guo Yujie jabbed me in the chest with her elbow.
I lost my balance and fell to the floor.
"Hey, Xiao Jie, take it easy!" the Thin Man scolded Guo Yujie.
Guo Yujie stuck out her tongue and hurried to help the Fat Man pick me up.
"Brother Qi, are you okay? You're so pale, and you're sweating a lot," the Fat Man asked anxiously.
"Yeah. Are you sick, too?"
The Thin Man joked, "Come on, Brother Qi. Don't tell me one day of hard work was enough to finish you off? You've been slacking for too long!"
"Quit joking around!" Guo Yujie snapped.
The Thin Man stopped laughing, his expression turning worried. "What's wrong? Are you really feeling unwell? I'll get the car. You guys help Brother Qi, and we'll take him to the hospital."
The Fat Man and Guo Yujie helped me to my feet.
I caught my breath and hurriedly called out, "No! Don't! Give me your phone!"
The three of them stared at me in confusion.
"Give me your phone!" I didn't know what my face looked like, but the hand I held out to the Thin Man was trembling.
The Thin Man looked bewildered but handed me his phone.
The video was still playing. It had been filmed on a phone and wasn't very clear, so I stopped it and scrolled back to the top of the page to look at the poster.
The play was called The Big Family, and its story was about international marriages. The family in the play consisted of people from six countries. Chen Xiao Qiu played a daughter-in-law from J Country. On the poster, she wore a kimono, and she wore one for half the performance.
The kimono was black, with a few cherry blossoms drifting across the upper half. Because of how the cast had been arranged on the poster, only Chen Xiao Qiu's upper body was visible.
I scrolled down again and reopened the video. I stared at Chen Xiao Qiu on the screen without blinking, then suddenly reached out and paused it. Carefully, I moved the progress bar forward a little.
The screen froze on Chen Xiao Qiu turning around. The black kimono revealed her back, where a massive cherry blossom tree was in full bloom. But I seemed to see a demon clutching her shoulder with a blood-soaked hand.
"Brother Qi, what's wrong?" the Thin Man asked.
I clutched the phone and went to my desk. I pulled out the file on "Like a Shadow" and flipped to the last page.
When the Thin Man saw me take out Greenleaf's file, he had a bad feeling. His voice changed. "Brother Qi, stop scaring us. What's going on?"
"You... look at this." My voice had gone hoarse, too.
The Fat Man and Guo Yujie were unnerved by our reactions, but they obediently came over to look at the open file on my desk and the phone resting on top of it.
The video was blurry, but with the kimono photo beside it, anyone could tell at a glance that it was the same one.
The Thin Man lagged behind the other two. He peeked at it furtively, then quickly looked away.
"Is it the same outfit?" Guo Yujie still didn't understand what I meant.
The Thin Man said, "Maybe it's just a coincidence. That happens all the time."
"Greenleaf burned this outfit. Before that, it had been worn by Zheng Xiao Rui. I looked into her case," I said, turning to the Thin Man. "She died of an illness. Her organs failed, and her immune system was compromised. They couldn't find the cause."
The Thin Man shuddered.
"Brother Qi, you're not saying the outfit killed someone, are you? How could that be possible?" the Fat Man asked, eyes wide.
Before you continue