Around six thirty, Shen Xing's phone rang. It was Li Naijing.
She and their team leader, Zheng Ruijun, had arrived, but neither planned to come inside. They asked Shen Xing to come out and meet them at the gate.
The orphanage's management had already been notified. Though they didn't know the reason, from now on they would assign a nurse to stay with Feifei around the clock, even accompanying her to the bathroom.
Not long after the call ended, a young nurse came to Room 307.
After reassuring Feifei, Shen Xing left her in the nurse's care and headed out of the orphanage.
By the time he reached the gate, dusk had fallen. Thick clouds blanketed the sky, hiding the sunset and making everything look dim.
A man and a woman stood across the street. The woman was slightly taller; it was Li Naijing. The man, who stood around five foot five, was Zheng Ruijun.
Zheng Ruijun's hair was a little messy, as if he usually didn't bother much with his appearance. He was also rather thin. Taking long drags on a cigarette, he silently watched Shen Xing across the street.
After Shen Xing crossed the road and approached them, Li Naijing spoke first. "The security officers at the orphanage were sent by us. They've just reported back on their search. They didn't find the woman named Song Xiaoyu anywhere on the grounds. She probably left long ago."
"Did you find her home address?" Shen Xing asked with a frown.
"Brother Zheng and I just came from her place. No one was home, and Song Xiaoyu hadn't returned. According to the information we have, she lives with her parents."
The Special Case Investigation Unit was certainly efficient.
And judging by how easily they could dispatch regular security officers, the unit clearly had much more authority than Shen Xing had assumed.
Of course, to everyone else, this was just an ordinary malicious incident. No one suspected anything unusual.
"Other than what you told me over the phone, did you notice anything else unusual about this woman named Song Xiaoyu?" Li Naijing asked.
Zheng Ruijun, who had been silent until then, offered Shen Xing a cigarette.
Shen Xing waved it away. "Thanks, I don't smoke."
Zheng Ruijun nodded. He didn't put the cigarette back in the pack. Instead, he lit it using the nearly finished one in his mouth, took a deep drag, then tossed the butt to the ground and ground it out under his foot.
Watching Zheng Ruijun's practiced smoking, Shen Xing thought carefully for a moment before speaking. "Her long hair covered her neck, but I still noticed that the skin there looked like it had all been twisted tight."
"You mean... wrinkled?" Li Naijing asked.
"Yeah. Lots of wrinkles, like a tightly twisted rag." Shen Xing nodded.
Li Naijing glanced at Zheng Ruijun. He was still blowing smoke rings, but his brows had drawn together.
She continued, "Did Song Xiaoyu do anything else unusual? For example, the way she walked?"
Shen Xing shook his head as he thought back. "Everything else seemed normal, apart from that eerie smile."
Li Naijing said, "You mentioned on the phone that her smile looked like a fake face."
Shen Xing corrected her. "More precisely, she smiled in a very fake way. It felt extremely unnatural."
"Did she say anything at all?" Zheng Ruijun suddenly asked, still smoking in silence.
Shen Xing was taken aback. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "No, but every now and then she would laugh. The laughs were all pretty similar, but they were terrifying and deeply unsettling."
Zheng Ruijun asked another question. "When you were standing behind her, did she look at you by turning her head, or did she turn her whole body?"
Shen Xing was taken aback again. Zheng Ruijun's questions were clearly very pointed, and his line of inquiry struck Shen Xing as remarkably perceptive.
Most people wouldn't think to ask that.
After thinking carefully, he answered with certainty, "Now that you mention it, I remember Song Xiaoyu turned around to look at me twice. Each time, she turned her whole body. She never just turned her head."
Li Naijing looked at Zheng Ruijun. Neither of them said a word.
After finishing his cigarette, Zheng Ruijun tossed it to the ground and stamped it out. Then he nodded at Shen Xing. "Going by what you just described, there's a good chance something abnormal happened to her neck."
"Could the hanged person have..." Li Naijing ventured, but stopped halfway through.
"We'll know after we've seen it for ourselves." Zheng Ruijun seemed to know what she meant. He reached up and casually raked his fingers through his messy hair. "I'll stake out Song Xiaoyu's home tonight. If anything happens, I'll call you."
As he spoke, he reached out and patted Shen Xing on the shoulder with a palm that was already a little greasy. "Kid, do you know why you keep running into these things?"
Shen Xing shook his head.
"To them, you have a special appeal." Zheng Ruijun laughed.
To Shen Xing, the laugh seemed rather carefree.
According to Zheng Ruijun's plan, he would head alone to Jujia Garden Residential Quarter in the city center and stake out the entrance to Unit 1 of Building 7, hoping to run into Song Xiaoyu, who lived there.
Meanwhile, Li Naijing would join the three regular security officers who had entered the orphanage and search the grounds again. If necessary, they would call in more officers and extend the search to the streets around the orphanage.
Shen Xing had already told them everything he could. Seeing that there was nothing else he needed to do, he said goodbye to the two investigators and left alone.
With security officers watching over the orphanage and a nurse assigned to Feifei, he wasn't too worried.
He hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of Ivy Apartments. Leaning back in the rear seat, he watched the neon lights outside the window flash past.
The window was half open, and the taxi wasn't going very fast. A cool breeze drifted inside, making Shen Xing feel wonderfully refreshed. Little by little, his mood began to settle.
He loved summer nights in Yungu City. They weren't hot or muggy, and every now and then a hint of coolness drifted through the air. In the sweltering summer, there was hardly any feeling more wonderful than that.
The eerie encounter at the orphanage had left him shaken, but as the cool air washed over him, Shen Xing suddenly felt almost at ease.
There was certainly darkness in this world, but there were also many beautiful things.
At least this moment felt peaceful and wonderful!
That pleasant feeling didn't last long. A faint itch came from the back of his head, and he reached up to scratch it gently.
A few seconds later, the itch returned. Shen Xing still didn't think much of it and scratched again without thinking.
As soon as he lowered his hand, he suddenly froze.
After what had just happened with Song Xiaoyu at the orphanage, that small gesture gave him a strange sense of déjà vu.
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