It was exactly one in the afternoon. Qi Si stepped out of the residence with his phone in hand and was instantly soaked through by the damp chill.
Vast watery mist once again curled up from the shadows, coyly enshrouding the entire street and alleyway, draping the white walls and black tiles near and far with a veil-like filter, as if in a dream.
Qi Si lowered his head and used two fingers to adjust the map's scale and orientation on his phone. After plotting a route, he put it away and proceeded according to his memory.
Du Xiaoyu and Shang Qingbei followed behind him in silence.
The fog grew thicker and thicker, while the houses on either side stood farther and farther apart, as though they had emerged from a narrow waterway into a lake.
Once the road had widened to its fullest extent, Qi Si saw a well in the middle of the open ground ahead.
The well's rim was built of black stone blocks, worn down and badly damaged in many places. There was no bucket beside it, but a circle of half-rotted rope was wound around a wooden frame, with an adjustable loop tied to its end.
The hint was clear: loop the rope around someone's waist and lower them down.
Looking at the hemp rope, uneven in thickness from decay, Qi Si vaguely suspected that after someone went down, it would snap at some point and leave them trapped below forever.
"Drip, drip..."
A faint sound of dripping water rang by his ear, like a water clock.
A timid, trembling voice drifted up from the bottom of the well. "Save me... save me..."
The surrounding light dimmed by several shades, and in an instant, day became night.
Qi Si saw a haggard woman in red