What kind of person was the killer? Why would he make such a childlike sound? How did the killer master the art of moving in the dark? The killer was like a shadow in the dark, he could shift at will so people couldn’t pin him down.
The girl’s giggle echoed in the sewer as if it came from all sides. It felt like someone was scratching on my heart, it was very discomfiting.
Then came the sound of cloth dragging on the stony ground. I soon realized this was the sound of the killer walking. It was like he couldn’t lift his feet off the ground. The rustling and the giggling came closer and closer. The killer appeared like he would be in front of us soon. I resisted the urge to charge out. I gripped my fists, I could feel my muscles tense. In the dark, I sensed Zhao Mingkun lowering her body, but I couldn’t see her expression.
Even though my eyes had gotten used to the dark, I could barely see 1 meter beyond me. The weak sunlight made the sewer feel even darker.
The surrounding was silent except for the sound of dripping water. My heartbeat appeared to sync with it. Inside the silent and dark sewer, at the corner, we were on one side and the killer on the other. We were less than 1 meter away, but it felt like the world’s longest distance.
The sound of giggling and rustling disappeared like we had imagined everything. However, we understood that the killer was on the other side of the wall, waiting for the other to make their move. However, neither party did. In this situation, neither Zhao Mingkun nor I dared to be reckless. We had no idea if the killer had a dangerous weapon or not. Time ticked by just like that. We were like statues forgotten by time.
I started to sweat. This couldn’t go on forever. The killer was at home in the dark, so the longer this dragged out, the more danger we’d be in. I was about to tell Zhao Mingkun that when she grabbed my hand. Zhao Mingkun wrote down the word, ‘go’ on my palm and then tapped it 3 times. I understood what she meant we would go after 3 seconds. Even though the killer would move freely in the dark, we had the number’s advantage. Zhao Mingkun raised her fingers before my face so I could see them clearly.
3 fingers.
I perked up my ears and I still couldn’t hear anything. The killer was more patient than we were. Then again, that was observable from how he had stalked and followed his victims.
2 fingers.
I sucked in a breath to jump out with Zhao Mingkun to apprehend the killer. The killer was thin and short. He always killed when his victims were surprised or weakened. This meant that he was physically weak, so the odds were on our side.
1 finger.
I leaned forward and cleared my mind to focus on capturing the killer. My eyes focused on the 1 finger, waiting for it to fall. But before that, a rough male voice said, “What are you doing here? Run!” The voice was gruff, and it sounded like a middle-aged man. It caused my body to shiver like thunder. Then it was quickly followed by a girl crying and running footsteps. My heart winced. There appeared to be multiple people in the sewer. The killer was really not acting alone? Were they a team?
Zhao Mingkun had already rushed ahead, and I followed closely behind her. When we turned the corner, we saw the sound but couldn’t see the killers. The killers were all dressed in black, and they melted perfectly into the darkness. Zhao Mingkun moved quickly but I was slowed down by the muddy water. There was something that tripped me. Even though Zhao Mingkun was fast, she couldn’t be faster than people who spent their lives in the sewer. The running sound moved away from us.
We could hear the girl crying. So even though we couldn’t see the killers, we could guess their general direction. The killer managed to hug a crying girl and run without trouble in the darkness. But as long as the girl kept crying, we would be on the killers’ trail.
But at that moment, the man’s voice spoke again, “Mind your little sister, make her stop crying.”
I frowned. There appeared to be many people in this group. Was Xiao Liu right? A person couldn’t be both male and female, so this had to be a team. They were all about the same height and all wore black. However, what kind of group would attract members of the same frame and height with the psychopathic desire to kill? Plus what was the purpose of this group? Just to kill? If it was just to kill, why did every member have such incredible anti-surveillance techniques? Every member was so professional. And what was the meaning of those English messages?
And in this latest story, where did the killers leave the message? There was none on the boy, none on the widow and her lover, definitely it wouldn’t be on the shredded Ol’ Wang either. Could there be other victims?
I ran in the dark as these questions bounced in my mind. The girl’s sobbing was quieting down. Suddenly a woman’s voice said, “I’ll bring little sister and go hide. If there’s no choice, get Yama to handle them.”
The man replied, “Understood. Hide and be quiet. They won’t find you.”
Then the girl’s crying stopped altogether. It sounded like the woman had disappeared with the girl, and we lost the trail. I followed Zhao Mingkun who was moving down the sewer. I tried not to be distracted, but suddenly, something tripped me. I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground face first. When I crawled up, the people had already disappeared.
I felt pain from my ankles. I tried a few steps and the pain became more obvious. I had to stop. I lowered my head to check the item which had tripped me. It was a toy bear about 1 meter large.
I shuffled ahead as I pondered the situation that happened earlier. After the woman said her piece, she probably absconded with the girl.
From the conversation, we knew that there were at least 4 people in the sewer, the man with the gruff voice, the little girl, the little girl’s big sister, and Yama, who could deal with us. The surrounding was dark and oppressive. I shuffled a distance when I reached another fork. There was no one around. I wondered where Zhao Mingkun had disappeared to. I looked closer and realized a worker uniform was dropped at one of the forks. It looked like Zhao Mingkun had taken this path. Back at Lin Fen, Zhao Mingkun already knew I didn’t have good stamina, so she left this trail for me. In a way, she was quite considerate.
I picked up the uniform and continued on. After about 10 minutes, I saw someone leaning against the wall. It was none other than Zhao Mingkun. There was no one else.
“What’s wrong?” I asked hurriedly.
“I’m injured.” She lifted her head and answered.
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