The streets of Qingliu City looked especially quiet in the sunlight, with a hint of dampness lingering in the air. The three-person plainclothes team, keeping their identities concealed, all looked toward the same spot across the street. An unassuming shop stood there, its wooden sign bearing the name "Mist" in a quaint script.
The shop seemed oddly out of place. One reason it caught their attention was that they had never noticed it in the preceding days, as though it had suddenly sprung up over the past few days. Stranger still, most of the surrounding shops had yet to fully reopen after the lockdown. Dust covered their display windows, giving them a bleak, dreary air. Moreover, the street they were patrolling was essentially Qingliu University's college street. It was summer vacation, and the students had yet to return, leaving the whole street even more deserted.
Only Mist stood in sharp contrast to its surroundings. Its entrance was wide open to the breeze, and its windows were spotless. The display glass reflected the warm sunlight, so clean it almost seemed unreal. Outside stood a table and chairs beneath an open white parasol. Soft cushions rested on the chairs, and a pot of hot tea sat on the table, white steam rising slowly and dissolving into gauzy mist. Nearby, beneath the pots on a plant stand, traces of recent watering remained. The soil gleamed with moisture, and the greenery flourished.
A gentle breeze stirred the wind chimes at the entrance, drawing a few clear, delicate notes from them. The sound lent the shop an air of leisure and peace, in stark contrast to the gray gloom of the rest of the street.
Clearly, someone had been sitting here just moments ago, lending the scene before the three plainclothes officers a human warmth