A Little Nervous

Early in the morning, Mi Qiao sat up in bed, stared blankly for a while, and then got out of bed a few minutes later, drew back the curtains, and looked at the sky outside, which was just beginning to lighten.

This is Citong City. A week ago, she, Gao Shu, and Zhou Rui came here to take over a laboratory of a subsidiary of "Shenxing Technology" to process some samples they collected near Wushu Mountain. Meanwhile, Fang Pingfang, Li Shiping, Ye Chong, and other members of the investigation team are still in Wushu Mountain, continuing their on-site investigation.

However, the temporary laboratory here is not equipped enough, and some experiments cannot be done. So a couple of days ago, Zhou Rui took some samples to Yang City to the Research Base of the secret department of "Shenxing Technology" for processing. He didn't get back until last night.

Last night, she and Gao Shu drove to pick up Zhou Rui, but due to the weather, most flights were delayed. They finally picked up Zhou Rui late at night, but then the car broke down and wouldn't start for ages!

After struggling for a long time without being able to move, Gao Shu finally made a phone call, arranged a tow truck, and also called a car through the app to pick them up. As a result, Zhou Rui tried to start the car, and hey~, the car actually started again! Mi Qiao was so angry that she almost flipped the car over—if she could even flip it.

After all that trouble, I didn't get home until after 2 a. m. I was so tired. I had originally planned to pick up Zhou Rui and we could all have a late-night snack together, but I really didn't have any energy left. As soon as I got home, I fell asleep the moment my head hit the bed.

She had originally thought she would sleep until at least nine o'clock today, but she didn't expect to wake up so early.

As the sun rises, its orange-red rays quickly spread across the earth, as if the whole world has been washed clean and shines anew.

But standing by the window, watching the beautiful sunrise, Mi Qiao's brows were slightly furrowed, and he didn't look happy, as if he was pondering some difficult problem.

She had a dream last night that she was swinging on a swing in her grandmother's courtyard and eating chilled watermelon that her grandmother had cut up.

This wasn't a nightmare; on the contrary, she would be very happy if she could have this dream every night—the swing in her grandmother's courtyard and the chilled watermelon were among her fondest childhood memories.

But the problem is, she always has this feeling that she's forgotten something, as if she had a dream before swinging on the swing and eating watermelon?

However, no matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn't remember what else she had dreamed about. But she could vaguely sense that the emotions in that dream were different from those when she was swinging on the swing later; it seemed to be very serious and earnest.

Another thing that struck her as odd was that in her dream of swinging, the person pushing her from the swing was a... comical-looking paper panda.

The paper figure looked unfamiliar, yet I felt like I'd seen it before; it resembled the panda emoji I'd seen on chat apps.

In her dream, she didn't find it strange; it seemed perfectly natural for that panda-faced person to appear there, helping her push the swing.

But after waking up, recalling the panda's expression in the dream gave me a very strange and even creepy feeling.

Although she knew the panda was an emoji, she rarely used emojis when chatting on messaging apps.

Her most frequent conversation partners now are the other members of their investigation team. Although they use internal video conferencing or travel to meet face-to-face when they have meetings and formally discuss specific issues, they mostly use the internal communication app developed by "Shenxing Technology" for more casual discussions. They have a group chat where they often discuss work-related issues, and of course, they occasionally joke around and chat.

Mi Qiao took out her phone and scrolled through the chat history of their group chat. As she scrolled, she saw an emoji that Zhou Rui had sent yesterday when he said he had gone to the airport.

It was a panda emoji with Jacky Cheung's face on it, and below it the text. "I, Brother Fly, am back!"

Although the face and other details are different from the panda in my dream, they are both pandas, and I saw them yesterday, so it must be the same one. The culprit has been found!

Mi Qiao felt a slight sense of relief.

So around 8 a. m., while having breakfast in the living room, Mi Qiao saw Zhou Rui rubbing his eyes as he came out of the bedroom and couldn't help but complain, "Zhou Rui! Stop sending those random emojis and pictures in the group chat! I even dreamed about them last night, it's so weird!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Rui, who had only been awake for a short while, suddenly widened his eyes, felt a chill run down his spine, and broke out in a cold sweat. Could it be that he was too sleepy and confused when he got back last night, and mistakenly sent those funny pictures he was going to share with his gaming buddies in their WeChat group to the investigation team group for their company's app?

Those pictures weren't actually that explicit; guys would just chuckle at them, but if girls saw them... his image would be ruined! Especially since Dr. Fang was in the group!!!

Startled, Zhou Rui turned around and rushed back to his bedroom, grabbing his phone to check it.

However, after checking WeChat and the company app, he discovered that the picture he posted last night was not posted to the wrong place, and he had not said or posted the wrong picture in the company app group.

Completely bewildered, Zhou Rui returned to the living room, sat down at the dining table, and asked Mi Qiao for advice.

When he learned that the "messy expressions and pictures" Mi Qiao was referring to were the panda-bodied Jacky Cheung face emoji, he was stunned for a long time before finally asking:

Did you dream about Jacky Cheung... or a panda?

Star City.

It was a little after 11 a. m.

Shiling's Mother brought Liu Shiling, who had just finished her extracurricular class, back to the neighborhood, only to run into Xiao Mei downstairs carrying a package of delivery documents, who seemed to have been waiting for them.

"Hello, Aunt Lin!" Xiao Mei greeted Shiling's Mother politely first, then handed the file folder to the Little Chubby Girl: "Shi Ling, this is from 'Da Lu'. She didn't know your home phone number, so she sent it to me first."

Although Xiao Mei scolded "Da Lu" for Liu Shiling's sake when they played downstairs last time, most of the kids in this neighborhood grew up together. Although they sometimes bicker, argue, and even fight, they are still childhood friends at heart. Xiao Mei cried very sadly after learning that "Da Lu" had been injured by her father. The little boy who was frequently "bullied" by "Da Lu" and forced to bend over as a "small table" even went to find Uncle Zhou to "reason" with his plastic, light-up "Green Dragon Crescent Blade" after hearing about this. He only gave up after learning that Uncle Zhou had been locked up.

Liu Shiling was somewhat surprised to receive the package from "Da Lu". After taking the document bag, she said "thank you" to Xiao Mei.

Seeing that Xiao Mei was still gazing longingly at her daughter after delivering the file folder, Shiling's Mother invited, "Xiao Mei, come to our house to play. Auntie will cook something delicious for you at noon."

Xiao Mei shook her head. "Thank you, Auntie, but my mom has already cooked dinner. I have to go back and eat."

However, she remained standing still, looking at the file folder in Liu Shiling's hand. After hesitating for a moment, she asked somewhat shyly in a low voice, "Shiling, can I see what 'Da Lu' sent you? I asked her on the phone, but she wouldn't tell me, saying it was a secret. I'm a little curious..."

She clearly remembered arguing with Liu Shiling the afternoon before "Da Lu" had the accident, and "Da Lu" was picked up by his uncle the next day. Why would he send something to Liu Shiling? She was a little worried; could it be something bad? If so, would she, as the one who sent it, also be disliked by Liu Shiling?

Liu Shiling nodded. "Okay."

Then, at the stairwell, they began to open the package containing the express delivery documents. Shiling's Mother, standing behind the two little girls, curiously craned her neck to look.

Liu Shiling pulled a piece of paper from the file folder; the paper had a colorful drawing on it.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, there was a two-seater fighter jet. Neither cockpit had a canopy. The pilot was a short-haired girl with big eyes, a round nose, and a Da Lu of white teeth when she smiled. She was clearly Zhou Lutong herself. The girl sitting in the back was a chubby and cute little girl who was also laughing happily. She was clearly Liu Shiling.

Moreover, Liu Shiling, who was sitting in the back seat of the plane, stretched out one hand, holding a magic wand, and drew a ribbon made of stars.

Below the plane, on the ground, a Big Cat was chasing after it.

The painting was exquisitely done. From the figures, the airplane, the cat, to the clouds in the sky, it was clear that a lot of effort had been put into it, with many details. It didn't look like something a first-grade student would draw. However, Liu Shiling had witnessed "Da Lu's" painting skills before when she was throwing airplanes with "Da Lu," so she knew that this was indeed "Da Lu's" work.

"Wow! 'Da Lu' is getting better and better!" Xiao Mei couldn't help but exclaim when she saw the painting. Then she asked with some curiosity, "Shi Ling, when did you and 'Da Lu' make up?" Clearly, this wasn't something someone with a grudge would give as a gift; the painting obviously took a lot of effort and thought.

Liu Shiling scratched her head and said, "I gave her a paper airplane." She also remembered that night when she and "Da Lu" looked at each other on their respective balconies and exchanged messages by throwing paper airplanes, and she remembered the three words "I'm sorry" written on the paper airplane.

"Oh~" Xiao Mei suddenly realized, but she didn't ask when Liu Shiling gave her the paper airplane. Anyway, she also had a paper airplane given by Liu Shiling, as well as other origami. Hmm, she also had a painting given by "Da Lu", although it was painted a few years ago when "Da Lu" first started to learn to paint on his own, and it wasn't as exquisite as the one given to Liu Shiling.

After saying goodbye to Xiao Mei, Shiling's Mother took her daughter into the elevator.

Two middle-aged housewives who lived on a higher floor also happened to be returning and shared the elevator with the mother and daughter.

I overheard two housewives talking about how a young man surnamed Li, who lived on the 15th floor, saw a monster one early one morning two weeks ago.

Shiling's Mother had actually heard about this before. The young man claimed with absolute certainty that he had seen a monster, but when they went to the community security office and checked the surveillance videos from various angles, none of them had captured anything. Moreover, the young man's description was too bizarre and sounded very unreliable, so no one believed him.

"Wasn't it said that Mr. Li was mistaken about that matter?" Shiling's Mother couldn't help but interject.

One of the housewives immediately explained, "We thought so too, but Xiao Li was convinced he wasn't mistaken, so he searched everywhere for surveillance footage, looked for traffic cameras outside, and checked if any cars had passed by at the time, trying to see if any car had a dashcam that recorded it..."

Shiling's Mother nodded, "Yes, yes, she also knocked on our door and asked if we had a 24-hour video recording device that captured the window."

"He actually found the video," another housewife said mysteriously.

Upon hearing this, Liu Shiling, who had been looking down at the painting sent by "Da Lu," immediately perked up her ears and became a little nervous.