The kid was only twelve or thirteen years old, yet he already possessed the most basic capacity for judgment. His words were critical to the progress of the case. Liang Fei and the other three made no stops as they hurried to the second floor of the self-built house.
The six of them gathered around the dilapidated bed, gazing anxiously at the young boy.
The boy was named Huang Xu. His face was pale, and his body still appeared quite weak. However, to Liang Fei's surprise, Huang Xu remembered the events of the fatal night with absolute clarity.
"That night, four bad men came to my house on motorcycles."
Huang Xu began to recall, and everyone held their breath, watching him tensely.
"One of them had dyed yellow hair. After they knocked my mom and dad to the ground, they started rummaging through the house."
According to Huang Xu's description, the most conspicuous member of this criminal gang was the punk with dyed yellow hair. He wasn't much older than Huang Xu, and not many boys in the rural village dressed that way. Even with time running short, finding him would not be a difficult task.
The group stepped outside the room. Zhou Yue and the others looked exceptionally excited. Even though Liang Fei felt uneasy, a smile hung on his lips. Perhaps this mission itself was actually quite simple?
"What should we do next?" Lu Ming asked, looking at Liang Fei. "Should we provide the clues directly tonight, or go find that Huangmao?"
Unawares, Liang Fei—whose train of thought had remained relatively clear—had seemingly become the backbone of this hastily cobbled-together group.
Liang Fei rubbed his nose, pondered for a moment, and then looked at Chen Lan. "The victims were his parents, so he shouldn't be lying. It should be fine if we provide the clues directly. But if we want to complete the mission, we ultimately have to find the murderer."
He raised his hand to check the time on his wristwatch. "We have less than four hours until midnight. We can prepare a two-pronged approach. First, we'll ask around the village for information on Huangmao, and if we can catch him, all the better. Second, we'll prepare the clues to provide tonight, but..."
His gaze swept over the group, and he could more or less guess what they were thinking. "I still wouldn't advise pointing the finger at the killer directly, because the risk is simply too high."
Aside from Chen Lan, the rest naturally understood Liang Fei's concerns.
"Right."
"No problem."
Everyone nodded in unison, and Chen Lan was no exception. For her, losing the help of Liang Fei and the others would be tantamount to seeking death.
"Time is tight, let's split up to search and investigate the entire village. Since the mission restricts us from leaving the village, the killer should still be hiding here. Regardless of whether we find anything, we'll meet back here before 11:30. Chen Lan and Qin Kai, keep an eye on Huang Xu. If he remembers any additional clues, be sure to notify us promptly. Any objections?"
Liang Fei's expression was grave as he looked around at the others. Six people, paired up into groups of two, split to search separately.
Lu Ming walked alongside Liang Fei. Since yesterday, this man had clung to Liang Fei like a plaster made of dog skin.
"Do you have to walk so close?"
"I'm scared."
"Rest assured, before midnight, that ghostly 'thing' shouldn't come out."
Liang Fei shot Lu Ming an annoyed glare and, with a look of disgust, put some distance between them. To be honest, he couldn't be certain whether that ghostly "thing" would appear or not.
Just as his voice trailed off, Lu Ming's body shivered again. "Really? But didn't it appear last night? Hey, don't walk so fast, this village is creepy."
Indeed, it wasn't just Lu Ming who felt it. Liang Fei could also clearly sense that the village was dead and lifeless, as if shrouded in an icy chill.
"If it could really kill at will, Chen Lan and the others would already be dead last night."
The two walked briskly into the village. After making a few inquiries, they finally learned from a truck driver about Huangmao. On the night of the crime, the truck driver had seen four young men blocking the middle of the road not far from the crime scene. The ringleader was none other than that yellow-haired Huangmao!
With a lead, things became much simpler. Lu Ming looked distinctly excited. "Great! Since Huangmao is at the edge of the village, let's just go find him directly."
"Don't celebrate too early. I have a feeling this mission isn't that simple." Liang Fei shook his head, a lingering sense of unease gnawing at him. He looked at the surrounding darkness, thick as ink, feeling a chill seep through every pore of his body.
"Not that simple? Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Lu Ming's eyes rolled, and his expression turned somewhat ugly. "Didn't you say that kid Huang Xu wouldn't lie?"
"I barely said anything either." Liang Fei sighed and finally pulled the sheet of paper from his pocket.
The whole affair had been extremely bizarre from the start, especially this piece of paper in his hand. He remembered clearly that when he left home this morning, there was no such paper in his pocket. It had only appeared there inexplicably when he boarded the bus and arrived at Xiaoshan Village.
"What is this?" Lu Ming asked in confusion, watching Liang Fei furrow his brow deeply over the paper.
The paper looked as though it had weathered the erosion of time, appearing very aged on the surface. The writing on it was already heavily blurred; the only words still discernible were "millions," "letter," and "man"...
This was a fragment of a sentence, but the characters between "millions" and "letter" were completely indistinguishable. There was also space before and after the character "man," but it was equally blurred.
"Let me see."
Liang Fei tried to stop him, but it was already too late. Lu Ming snatched the paper away, growing more bewildered the longer he looked. "What is this thing? What's it supposed to mean? Where did this come from?"
Liang Fei shook his head. "I don't know either. It just seemed to appear out of thin air. Do you have anything like this on you?"
With that, Lu Ming patted himself down all over, but found not a trace of anything.
"Nope." Lu Ming shivered all over and pulled his collar tighter. "Why is it suddenly so cold?"
A cold wind swept past. At night, the village was terrifyingly eerie.
Liang Fei raised his wrist to check his watch, then suddenly stopped in his tracks. "I'm afraid we're running out of time. Here's what we'll do..."
It was now 11:31 PM.
"You head back first. I'm going to the edge of the village."
There was still quite a distance from here to the village edge. The road in the dark was treacherous to navigate, and Lu Ming was both worried about Liang Fei going alone and too terrified to walk back by himself.
"No way, no way! What would I do walking back by myself?" Lu Ming shook his head frantically. Just the thought of walking the dark road alone made his legs shake. "It's the middle of the night, how dangerous is it for you to go alone? What if they silence you?"
Unless he found Huangmao, Liang Fei's mind wouldn't find peace.
"Huangmao is the key to this case. We must find him as soon as possible before complications arise." He grew somewhat anxious as well. "Listen to me, you must not let Chen Lan provide the clue naming the fellow surnamed Wang as a suspect, nor about Huangmao. Aside from those two, if my theory is right, any evidence pointing to the killer being an acquaintance of the victims, or details about the method of murder, will work. Understand?"
Seeing that Lu Ming still looked somewhat dazed, Liang Fei raised his voice.