Parents

Ten minutes later.

They sat by the stairwell railing on the other side.

Wang He had rarely met a young man quite like him.

There was always something... strange about him.

"Oh... so that's... how it is."

Fang Xian drew out his words and put on a kindly expression.

The way he had acted earlier had, of course, all been a performance.

He had known who this woman was from the start.

"Ever since their daughter went missing, her parents have seemed a little unstable."

"They call her Xiao Wan."

"This woman is Li Wan's mother—the missing girl's mother, Wang He."

According to the information Fang Xian had gathered, after her daughter disappeared, Wang He often came to burn paper money outside Zhou Dun's home in Building 4.

Today was the seventh day after Zhou Dun's death.

Come to think of it, Wang He probably wouldn't pass up the chance.

"I only moved here recently. Something like that happened here?"

Fang Xian looked indignant.

Wang He looked elegantly dressed and clearly well-off. Even though Fang Xian was a stranger, his appearance moved her a little.

After all, for years, other people had seen her as unreasonably obsessive.

Her husband included.

"But Auntie Wang, if you don't mind me saying, the police never identified a killer ten years ago. Aren't you jumping to conclusions?"

"Besides."

Fang Xian glanced at the closed door ahead. "We should show some respect for the dead."

Zhou Dun.

A retired primary school teacher.

He lived with his wife.

Ten years ago, Li Wan's favorite thing to do was visit Zhou Dun's home in Building 3, going over from Building 4.

The day before Li Wan disappeared, the last footage of her showed her coming out of Building 3, where Zhou Dun lived.

"It was him!" Wang He said quietly.

"When Zhou Dun was alive, I could tell!"

"He felt guilty!"

"He knew exactly what he'd done!"

"And he got to die peacefully of old age!"

Fang Xian hurried to calm her. "That's going a bit far, Auntie Wang."

"It was one thing before, but the old man's gone now."

"You're still young. I know I can't truly understand what you've been through, but you have to look ahead. Maybe having another child would be a good choice."

Wang He found the young man a little strange, but he had a way with words. "All these years, I just haven't been able to get past it. Now that Zhou Dun is dead, maybe you're right. Maybe it's time I did."

"But deep down, I've always hoped my daughter didn't die. That she's still out there somewhere, and one day she'll come home."

Fang Xian could tell as much from the missing-person notice at the bald shopkeeper's place.

After all these years, she was still searching tirelessly.

"Ah..."

It seemed she hadn't spoken her heart to anyone in a long time. Wang He sighed. "If Xiao Wan were still alive, she'd be about your age."

Fang Xian looked utterly sincere. "Believe me, Xiao Wan will come home."

"I'm a student at Jiangzhou Normal University. If Xiao Wan really left the residential complex and went missing outside, perhaps I can ask my classmates to help look for her."

Fang Xian's tone struck a chord with Wang He.

Wang He sensed an innocent kindness in Fang Xian.

A warmth like the rising morning sun.

College students really could be that pure.

"Xiao Fang, it's been so many years. To be honest, I don't have much hope left..."

Fang Xian narrowed his eyes and opened his phone, pretending to take notes while actually opening the Urban Legend Compendium. "Could you tell me about Xiao Wan? I'll keep an eye out when I'm back at school. Auntie Wang, it's always better to have hope."

As he spoke, Fang Xian waited for the opening ad to finish.

Nothing.

The Urban Legend Compendium didn't react.

So there was nothing wrong with Wang He?

Not necessarily.

As an unlucky bastard who owed nearly twenty years of his lifespan, Fang Xian remained cautiously skeptical.

Fang Xian could tell that Wang He came from a fairly privileged background. She had probably barely worked a day in her life and was naturally rather naive.

Which also made her easy to fool.

"Here we are."

Wang He looked a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry to have made you carry all this for me."

Building 4.

Ding-dong.

Carrying the brazier and the other things, Fang Xian stepped out of the elevator.

"It's nothing. I'm happy to help."

"Sometimes I don't know why I'm like this. I just love helping people."

Fang Xian sighed.

Wang He was thoroughly moved. She insisted on giving Fang Xian some oranges before he left.

As she spoke,

Building 3, Unit 1.

Apartment 612.

The door opened.

Light spilled out through the doorway.

A tall, thin man poked his head out.

He was extremely gaunt.

He eyed Fang Xian, who had appeared so suddenly, with guarded hostility.

"Ahe, who is he?"

The man's deep voice carried the question.

Wang He hurried to introduce them.

The man looked Fang Xian over. "I haven't heard of any new tenants moving into the complex recently."

Fang Xian didn't mind. "Sir, you'd be pretty impressive if you knew everything."

"Never mind the oranges. I'll be going."

With that, Fang Xian turned with his bag on his back and pressed the elevator button.

Wang He tried to say something else.

The tall, thin man stopped her.

Then the apartment door slammed shut.

The sound echoed through the hallway.

The summer evening breeze blew through the open window and brushed Fang Xian's face.

The elevator doors opened.

Fang Xian stepped inside calmly.

"That man was Li Yu, Li Wan's father."

"An associate professor at a university in Jiangzhou."

"He seemed cautious and rational."

"He'll be harder to deal with than Wang He, who's obviously from a wealthy family."

The routine Fang Xian had used on Wang He would definitely have given him away with Li Yu, so he had turned and fled.

Besides, he had already drawn plenty of information out of Wang He on the way home.

"From Wang He's description, Li Yu seems like the sort who pushes his child hard."

"He isn't from Jiangzhou. He came from a small town and earned his way into Jiangzhou City through his studies."

Fang Xian had found an encyclopedia entry on the man online.

"As an academic elite himself, he took the same approach to raising his child."

"Li Wan had almost no free time, but she lived up to his expectations. She excelled at both piano and schoolwork, and was already studying middle-school material in first grade."

Wang He had sounded quite proud when she said that.

Fang Xian kept his opinion to himself.

Whether he could subdue the Ghost Story tonight still depended on how complete his information was.

[Coming Home: A child covered in wounds wants to go home. Her parents have waited far too long.]

The question was what "covered in wounds" meant.

Had Li Wan been abused after she went missing?

Or...

Fang Xian's eyes flickered.

Was there another possibility?

By now, Fang Xian had an idea of his own.

"I still need to visit Building 4. There should be another part of the puzzle there."

The corner of Fang Xian's mouth curled upward.

At that moment,

he thought he looked so cool.

Then a security guard came patrolling with a flashlight.

Fang Xian darted into the flower bushes.

This is cool too.

Lying flat on his stomach, Fang Xian tried to reassure himself.