Chapter 713: Miss Me?

Chen Shi leaned in for a closer look. The person standing downstairs was indeed his former female neighbor. He asked, “Do you like her?”

“No… no… don’t talk nonsense!” Xin Bai suddenly became shy, like a middle schooler, his thoughts laid bare.

The female neighbor downstairs said, “Come here.” A toddler, tottering, walked into her embrace. She kissed the child, surprising Lin Dongxue. “She has a child.”

“Just because she has a child doesn’t mean she’s married…” Xin Bai blushed. “She’s a single mother. Apparently, she was deceived by a scumbag before. She couldn’t bear to abort the child, so she raised it herself. She still doesn’t have a local household registration, works in a fast food restaurant, and struggles to raise her child. It’s tough.” He spoke sympathetically.

“Do you two know each other well?” Chen Shi asked.

“Just… just greeting each other every day!” Xin Bai replied.

“You’re over thirty and still single, living like a big baby. The person you like is right in front of you but you dare not take action.” Chen Shi commented.

“What… take action? You make it sound so harsh. Let things be as they are!” Xin Bai replied.

“Letting things be as they are is just deceiving yourself. When you like someone and they’re in front of you, if you don’t take some initiative, they won’t even know. Waiting for unreliable fate only wastes precious time and misses opportunities. In this vast world, finding true love is already a low probability event. This could be what you call fate. If you don’t take a little initiative, destiny won’t favor you in the end.”

Listening to this, Xin Bai fell into silence, his face red. Lin Dongxue added, “As a woman, let me add two points. Actually, using some tricks to pursue a girl is okay, like those ‘little techniques’ you can find online. But when you really go for it, you’ll find it’s easier than you imagine. They unexpectedly fall for these tricks.”

“Isn’t that too hypocritical?” Xin Bai argued defensively.

“Tricks don’t mean hypocrisy. You can understand it as a kind of social etiquette between the sexes. For example, buying two movie tickets and saying you accidentally bought an extra one to invite her to a movie, or bringing some snacks saying you bought too much and can’t finish them. She will know your intentions. If she likes you, she’ll agree. If not, she’ll politely refuse. It saves face for both parties. Even Ximen Qing used all sorts of stratagems to seduce Pan Jinlian!”

“What examples you’re giving!” Chen Shi exclaimed.

Lin Dongxue giggled, “I’m not well-read and haven’t read many romance novels.”

Xin Bai remained silent, seemingly pondering. Suddenly, he contradicted himself, “Let things be as they are, let things be as they are. Who has the energy to think about these things? Only perverts spend all day thinking about picking up girls.”

With that, he went back to his room. Lin Dongxue smiled at Chen Shi, “He’s a pervert!”

“Did I use tricks on you at the beginning?”

“Didn’t you use tricks at the beginning?”

As night fell, the two had no intention of leaving. As soon as it got dark, Xin Bai began to feel anxious, constantly peeking out the window. “Can you two protect me tonight?”

“Aren’t two of us enough?” Chen Shi asked.

“What if you fall asleep?”

“It’s fine. I’ll contact Lin’s team and have a few more people outside,” Lin Dongxue said.

Soon after, another car appeared downstairs. Lin Dongxue said, “Look, reinforcements have arrived.”

Only then did Xin Bai relax, pointing at the game console. “Can I play for a while?”

“This is your home. You can play if you want, no need to ask us.”

“Oh, I’m used to it… used to it.”

As midnight approached, both Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue were on edge, afraid that the guy wouldn’t keep his promise and start another killing spree. Lin Dongxue received a message and after reading it said, “There probably won’t be a third victim.” She showed the message to Chen Shi.

It turned out that an hour ago, Lin Qiupu followed the clues and traced Xu Guolong to a certain community. There was a scream from inside one of the apartments. The police rushed in and found the female owner of the apartment showering. The door had been pried open, and on the coffee table were ropes, tape, gloves, and other items that frightened her.

Clearly, Xu Guolong was sending a message, telling the police that he could have killed this woman but chose not to, fulfilling his promise.

As midnight approached, Lin Qiupu still hadn’t received a call from Xu Guolong. After running around all day, he wearily announced that everyone could go back to rest.

“It looks like tonight is safe,” Lin Dongxue said.

“Will he come?” Chen Shi looked out the window. “One possibility is that he will, and the other is that he won’t.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“I’m worried that he’ll escape now. Even if he doesn’t kill anyone tonight, he might kill for a bowl of rice, a cob of corn, or a pair of shoes on his escape route. That’s the most troublesome scenario.”

“But you still hope he’ll come?”

“But will he come? He can’t possibly not expect that there are police ambushing here!”

“Let’s not sleep tonight.”

“I’ll go down and buy some food and drinks, prepare for a long battle. Do you want Red Bull or Coke?”

“I’ll have whatever you have.”

Chen Shi checked the surroundings of the community thoroughly, especially the walls and surveillance cameras. Then he bought a large bag of drinks from the convenience store and gave some to the two policemen watching below before returning inside.

Chen Shi turned off the living room lights and sat in the dark with Lin Dongxue. Sitting idly was boring, so Chen Shi spontaneously started telling stories, which Lin Dongxue listened to with relish.

By two o’clock in the morning, despite the Red Bull keeping them awake, neither could resist their biological clocks. Lin Dongxue had already fallen asleep on the sofa, and Chen Shi felt drowsy. He kept tapping his forehead and finally texted the police downstairs, “I can’t hold on anymore. I might take a quick nap.”

Police Officer A replied, “Brother Chen, you can sleep for a while. I’m a night owl, so I’m wide awake. I’ll keep an eye on the surroundings!”

“If anything happens, call immediately.”

With that, Chen Shi leaned back against the pillow. The accumulated exhaustion from several nights of staying up quickly dragged him into dreamland.

Hearing the faint snoring from the living room, Xin Bai, pretending to sleep in the bedroom, quietly tiptoed out. He whispered a quiet “sorry” before silently opening the door and slipping out.

Living here, he naturally knew how to avoid the police downstairs. After leaving the neighborhood, he hailed a taxi. His heart was pounding. Why did he have to do this? He knew it was a trap, so why did he step into it? But another voice in his heart said, “No, you must go!”

He finally arrived at a park and followed the instructions in the text to a grove of trees. Suddenly, he saw a figure “floating” in mid-air. He exclaimed in terror.

“My darling, missed me?” The intimate yet sinister voice made his whole body shiver. His bladder was about to burst, trembling, he turned towards the direction of the voice, “Master… Master!”