7

"Good morning, everyone in the audience! Welcome to JJTV Morning News, I'm host A."

"It was reported that a man went to the hospital for treatment after accidentally ingesting a foreign object and found out it was actually a mask stick. A gentle reminder to our viewers here, please do not put foreign objects in your mouth."

"Next, a woman got drunk late at night, initiating alcohol madness due to her low alcohol tolerance. She ran hundreds of meters on the road while angrily carrying a shady manhole cover."

"A man and a woman watching a thriller movie late at night actually fainted from fright. The relevant authorities said the film and television classification will be updated as soon as possible."

.....

Shen Fengyue got up a bit earlier today and turned on the TV to watch the morning news. It turned out to be reporting all these strange news. He was about to turn it off when he heard the host interrupting in between.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, we have an urgent notice. A male corpse has been found deep in the alley of the Jinjiang residential area. The identity of the deceased has now been confirmed, he was a student named Wu Yu from Jinjiang Affiliated High School, and his family has come to claim the body."

Wu Yu is dead…

Shen Fengyue stopped chewing and stared at the TV screen intently, listening very carefully.

"According to the investigation, the deceased was murdered late at night deep in an alley in the Jinjiang District. The murderer was cruel, leaving multiple fatal wounds on the deceased's body and sewing the deceased's lips with stitches."

A lump of human mosaic appeared on the screen, a vague mass of skin and blood was shown. It was hard to imagine how horrible the death was.

"The police have started conducting an in-depth investigation and are asking everyone to avoid late-night outings and to stay safe."

"This concludes the morning news. Thank you for listening, we'll see you next time."

The news ended, and the commercials began to take over. The commercials on the TV seemed a bit loud, but in reality, it was very quiet. Shen Fengyue's and the system's silence made the atmosphere a bit stagnant and uncomfortably quiet.

After a while, Shen Fengyue spoke up, "System, the plot has finally started."

"Mm."

Shen Fengyue suddenly lost his appetite. He had been a salty fish along with the system for so many days and was about to accept such a retired life when the heavens finally couldn't look at it anymore and made the plot suddenly fall from the sky. The originally relaxed and comfortable wind immediately turned into a thrilling and suspenseful horror wind.

Shen Fengyue put his chopsticks down and slowly tapped his fingers on the table, falling into contemplation.

"da."

"da."

"da."

The third knock on the door suddenly woke Shen Fengyue up from his thoughts and he opened the door to find it was two policemen in uniform. The policemen gave him a certificate and then asked him to go back with them for investigation.

Shen Fengyue, "??"

Did he do something?

As a good citizen who had lived for more than twenty years and always obeyed the law, this was the first time Shen Fengyue had come to the Public Security Bureau. He was still held by two policemen in a posture which was enough to scare a small citizen away.

He sat down properly, nervously clenching his toes and pursing his lips.

Across from him sat two policemen, one old and one young. The older policeman was experienced enough to see that Shen Fengyue was overly nervous, so he smiled to ease the atmosphere.

"You don't have to be too nervous, we're just looking for you to ask you some questions." The old policeman said.

Shen Fengyue nodded, "Go ahead and ask, I'll be sure to tell you all the truth."

The old policeman flipped through the information on the table and then asked, "You know Wu Yu, right?"

"Well."

"What's his relationship to you?"

Shen Fengyue replied, "We don't know each other very well, honestly if it wasn't for last time when I beat him up for bullying Qin Yuan, I wouldn't have known him as a person."

"You guys had a conflict?"

"Yes. Some time ago, on my way home from school, I saw some guys bullying someone and couldn't stand to watch so I went up to help. Then I beat up Wu Yu and the others away. I also befriended Qin Yuan by coincidence."

The old cop nodded his head as he moved his pen to write, "What were you doing yesterday?"

Shen Fengyue, "Performing a stage play, and then the student's daily schedule."

"Nothing special happened?" The pen in the old policeman's hand paused, poking out a few small black dots on the paper.

Shen Fengyue thought about it for a moment, then said, "It's nothing special, but I just received a love letter in the middle of the day."

"A love letter?" The old cop continued, "What does it say?"

"You are the light of my life."

"…"

The old policeman suddenly stopped talking, the young policeman who was taking the notes beside him also looked shocked, Shen Fengyue felt a little strange, there must be something wrong.

"What's wrong? It's just a very simple love letter, ah."

After pondering for a while, the old policeman suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Shen Fengyue, his sharp and deep eyes were staring at him like a sharp knife and made him uncomfortable. The old policeman pulled out a photo from his file and placed it in front of Shen Fengyue and spoke, "Maybe in a normal situation it was indeed an inconspicuous and ordinary love letter, but now it is not."

"There was a card left beside the deceased, take a look."

Shen Fengyue's pupils suddenly dilated when he saw the words on the card in that photo. The opening sentence that was all too familiar caused him to fall into an icy, cold, piercing cold cellar.

[You are the light of my life. If you don't want to be close to me, I will come close to you.

My dear, you who are so kind should also be kind to me.

I dedicate my heart to you and hope to hear from your lips the same love I have for you.]

You are the light of my life…

This sentence was clearly written on the love letter he received yesterday.

Does that mean…

"He's right next to you." The old cop said.

The plot had really started and this time the murderer was lurking right beside him. He shuddered as he remembered what had happened to Wu Yu.

The system was also shocked. After saying three swear words in a row he continued, half shocked and half gloating, "You've been targeted, and he's showing his love for you to the world!"

Shen Fengyue shook his head, "No, I refuse this kind of love."

"It seems that you've been involved in this murder case." The old policeman tapped the words on the photo, "This is the second love letter from 'him' to you, and these words are showing his anger. What did you do before?"

Shen Fengyue replied honestly, "I threw the love letter."

The old policeman had predicted correctly, he nodded, and continued, "It seems that you have angered him. Now that you are an important factor in this case, we will try to keep you safe. We suspect that the killer will continue to write to you so we would like for you to keep in touch with us as we progress. Here's my contact information."

The old cop handed him a business card and extended a hand to him.

"Happy to cooperate with you."

"It's a pleasure to cooperate." Shen Fengyue also raised his hand and shook it with the old policeman.

He had thought it through, and since the plot had already started, he couldn't just sit back and remain as a salted fish. He planned to use the police's power to get rid of the murderer who was suspected to be a bug, which was actually quite easy to do when you thought about the mission.

"How about it, the first world feels pretty easy to solve."

The system also praised him, "You actually are a little witty, I think it can be."

When Shen Fengyue came out of the interrogation room, he just happened to meet Qin Yuan and Wu Yu's little sidekicks, who had also just finished being interrogated.

Qin Yuan didn't seem to be in a good state. He hung his head down, and felt a little spiritless. Shen Fengyue thought about it and reacted. Qin Yuan was always timid, and the interrogation must have scared him.

He hugged Qin Yuan, comforting him, "Don't be afraid, Brother Yan is here."

"Yan, Brother Yan." Qin Yuan hugged Shen Fengyue tightly with his backhand, his head placed at his neck socket, as the warm liquid flowed on Shen Fengyue's neck. Qin Yuan said with his voice which was choked, "Brother Yan, I'm scared."

Shen Fengyue held his head up, wiped his tears, then smiled at him, "What's there to be afraid of? Didn't Brother Yan say that Brother Yan is here? And you're a big boy, what's the point of crying when you have nothing to cry about? you'll have a hard time finding a wife later. Have you seen any girl liking little crybabies anymore?"

He and Qi Yuan talked along the way back to the school, during which nothing out of the norm happened. He was so distracted thinking about being targeted by the murderer that he was in a daze during the whole class time, discussing with the system.

Shen Fengyue, "What do you think we should do later?"

System, "I think it's fine if you decide."

Shen Fengyue, "How about we go to the crime scene after studying in the evening?"

System, "I think it's okay."

On the other hand, Qin Yuan hung his head and pretended to be listening to the lesson, but in reality, he was writing Jian's name stroke by stroke in his notebook. He looked at the densely-packed page full of "Jian Yan", and his eyes, covered by bangs, curled up. He flipped to a new page and wrote a sentence on the blank page.

[I'm liking him more and more.]

After studying in the evening, Shen Fengyue wanted to go to investigate and it was inconvenient for him to bring Qin Yuan, so on the pretense that he had something to do, the two of them separated.

Some street lights on the road were broken, so some areas were darker. There were no street lights in the alleys, making it darker than the surroundings, like an abyss.

Standing at the entrance, Shen Fengyue looked at the dark alley in front of him, and a sentence suddenly appeared in his mind for no reason.

— [When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.]

Just then a night breeze blew by, bringing the coolness of the night with it, stirring up goosebumps as it skimmed over Shen Fengyue's body. He suddenly went a little soft in the legs and wanted to withdraw. Just when he wanted to speak to the system, the system seemed to have insight into his thoughts, "Are you wimping out?"

Shen Fengyue, "…" Are you a roundworm in my stomach?!

"Aren't you?"

Shen Fengyue touched his cold arm, feeling that as a man he cannot lose his dignity before a string of data by conceding! He shouldn't waste his breath by fighting this steamed bun system, as a man, if he said it he should do it!

He tensed his face, turned on the phone's flashlight, and calmly said, "How can that be, let's go, let's go in and take a look."

The phone's flashlight shot out an extremely thin light, the range that could be seen was very small. Shen Fengyue took the phone and swept it up and down, taking extremely small steps, and couldn't stay and wait in place.

It wasn't exactly late at night, and there were even noises of people in the distance, but this secluded area seemed to be separated from the rest of the world, leaving only endless darkness and silence.

Darkness represents the unknown, and the unknown is often the deepest fear inside human hearts.

Suddenly the wind blew a plastic bag which rolled twice on the ground, making a "rustling" sound. Shen Fengyue was so frightened that his breathing stalled, his pupils instantly dilated, and his heart stopped for a beat before pounding wildly. For a while, he broke into a cold sweat, the clothes on his back had gotten wet, he even felt a little numb.

It was as if he had forgotten to breathe and was in a state of oxygen deprivation. There was a harsh buzzing sound next to his ears. He felt as if he had tinnitus.[1]

He was in extreme fear; he clearly knew it, but was powerless to change it.

"Shen Fengyue!"

"Shen Fengyue!"

The system noticed something was wrong with him and found that there was no response after calling twice, "It was just a plastic bag! You fucking pussy! Come on, breathe! Don't suffocate!"

After hearing the words of the system, Shen Fengyue took a big breath and was choked with a heart stabbing pain, and after breathing several times, he slowly recovered. He let out a long breath, and without caring about getting dirty, he directly leaned against the wall to relax for a while.

He shook his hands and shone his flashlight on the plastic bag. After finding that it really was a plastic bag, he was completely relieved.

He coughed and cleared his throat, "I'm fine." His nasal voice was slightly heavy with a slight cry.

System, "…"

The system already didn't want to say anything. He was afraid that any more words would irritate the wimp.

Shen Fengyue held on to the wall, determinedly making a quick decision.

The steps he took were now a little bigger than before, and in a few steps, he reached the scene of the crime.

There was nothing left at the scene, only dark red bloodstains. There was a large bloodstain, because some time had passed, some had penetrated the ground. There were also some glass shards, but other than that, there was nothing else.

Shen Fengyue repeatedly confirmed that there were no clues to obtain before he planned to start going back. Thinking that he didn't have to stay here and worry, he felt a little more relaxed and walked in an even more hurriedly manner.

"Patter, patter, patter, patter."

The flashlight light was shaking, and the only sound in the alley which could be heard was of quick footsteps.

"Patter, patter, patter."

"Patter, patter, patter."

Wrong!

"Patter, patter, patter."

Wrong!

"Patter, patter, patter."

Wrong! Wrong! Something is wrong!

An ominous premonition arose, he always felt that there were eyes hiding in the depths of this darkness peeking at him indiscriminately, and as he moved around, those two lines of sight became more and more obvious, and his heart began to beat wildly again.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump…"

He was afraid that the next moment his heart would jump out of his throat.

The ominous feeling grew stronger. The uncomfortable feeling of being stared at was like having a maggot in the tarsal bone.

He tried to slow down a little, tilting his ears to listen.

"Patter, patter, patter."

His footsteps were followed by a soft "tap, tap, tap."

"Patter, patter, patter."

"Tap, tap, tap."

"Patter, patter, patter."

"Tap, tap."

.....

"Patter."

"Ta-."

When a person is walking alone late at night, there should be only the sound of one's footsteps, right?

So, what if there's an extra one?

Certainly.

There's another person following you.

"Patter, patter."

"Tap, tap."

The man followed with ease, calmly and suddenly took an extra step. An extra "Tap" seemed so abrupt in the dark silent night, so as if he knew he was exposed, he simply started walking faster.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta."

After Shen Fengyue heard the other party's footsteps quicken, he immediately started running with all his strength. Because of the sudden sprint, his breathing quickened, and an originally short path had become incomparably long at this point, as if there was no end to it. It felt despairingly long.

Shen Fengyue was sweating profusely. He was already panicking and was even more frightened when he heard the footsteps coming from behind. He didn't even dare to look back at the person, Shen Fengyue suddenly thought of many things, the person chasing him could be a madman with a chainsaw, a monster with long arms and legs, a perverted murderer, a rotting corpse…

"Damn, I'm here to save you Shen Fengyue!" After a shout from the system, Shen Fengyue suddenly felt as light as a swallow, his running speed became two times faster with the help of the system, and he whooshed away from the person behind him.

Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him weaken until they disappeared, Shen Fengyue finally slowed down, and a light appeared in front of him. It was a dim light from a street lamp, but it appeared so friendly and bright in Shen Fengyue's eyes, that it seemed like hope.

The exit, I will reach it soon!

He quickened his pace and finally ran out. He saw a figure walking with his back to him not far ahead. He hurriedly shouted, "Help!–"

The man stopped after hearing his shout and turned his back to face him with an inscrutable smile on his face.

Heh.