The heavy rain slapped against the car windows, and the windshield wipers pushed the curtain of rain to one side, the colors of the neon above stretched out in the night rain like the aurora.
Officer Zhang parked the car by the roadside and looked up at the height of the sixth floor.
Through the window with the tightly drawn white curtains, a black shadow flickered in and out of view. At this time, Qiuzi was dancing in the dance studio.
Even after everything that had happened, she was still so disciplined.
Officer Zhang sat in the car, quietly watching the graceful figure spinning and jumping, her gaze unconsciously a bit misty.
The black shadow cast a long phantom, flickering on and off. The girl's dance moves were not only bold and beautiful but also carried a bewitching allure that made people involuntarily indulge.
Time flowing by went unnoticed, the sound of the rain outside seemed to disappear as well, and beneath the flashing neon lights, there was only that graceful figure.
Not knowing how long she had been watching, suddenly, the spinning figure slowly stopped moving.
The previously somewhat blurry shadow on the curtain became clearer as the person seemed to approach the window, then, they started stretching their legs in front of the barre.
Officer Zhang snapped back to her senses, glanced at the rain outside, and turned to retrieve an umbrella from the car.
However, after she got out of the car and opened the umbrella, looking up again, she saw another figure reflected on the window!
Was there someone else there?
The figure stretching in front of the barre turned to look, the two people stood very close, seemingly talking, and the atmosphere seemed quite pleasant.
But the next moment, the lights in the entire dance studio suddenly dimmed!
A brightly lit window also instantly fell into pitch darkness, where nothing could be seen!
Officer Zhang stood dumbfounded for a moment on the rain-drenched street, looking up at the pitch-black window above, suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu in this scene.
Wait a minute!
Wasn't this what the peeping Tom had described?!
Realizing this, Officer Zhang's eyes widened as she rushed towards the building across the street. After glancing at the position of the elevator, she immediately turned and ran up the side staircase.
In the eerily silent hallway, her footsteps echoed rapidly. Officer Zhang, breathing heavily, arrived at the sixth floor and quickly opened the fire door.
The corridor was dim and lightless, although the lights were on, the brightness from the ceiling lamps failed to shine down.
The security guard who should have been by the elevator was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a wooden table placed there, spreading a repressive and eerie qi throughout the sixth floor.
Next, she took out a small mirror and held it up to Lanruo's nose.
After a few moments, Officer Zhang flipped the mirror to check – no mist, no breathing, no heartbeat.
Suddenly, she looked at Qiuzi with a complicated expression, "Did you kill her?"
Xu Shuo quickly shook his head, his dark eyes welling up with misty water, looking at her pitifully, "Zhang, I didn't! When she lunged at me, she just suddenly fell down!"
In the spacious dance studio, the bright incandescent lights were casting a clear glow, the floor was clean and spotless, and everything was in plain view.
There were no other traces in the room, no signs of a struggle.
Officer Zhang didn't actually believe that Qiuzi had killed the other girl, her question was just a probe; after all, in their expectations, Lanruo was probably already dead for some time.
But a double murder was not impossible.
Xu Shuo squatted nearby, watching the female officer begin a meticulous examination of the body. The two had been very close moments ago, but as she moved, their merged shadows split apart.
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His face was calm, his eyes deep and dark without a hint of light, like a still pool of water, he stared intently at Officer Zhang's back.
Officer Zhang, who was leaning in close to Lanruo's wide-open eyes, suddenly had a weird feeling. She quickly turned around to see Qiuzi bending a crafty, eerie smile towards her.
"Zhang, have you found anything?"
"Nothing..."
Officer Zhang released Lanruo's head, glanced at those pitch-black, lifeless eyes, and then looked back at Qiuzi, saying, "But it's really strange that such a thing happened. I came tonight because I wanted to take you somewhere."
Xu Shuo tilted his head to the side, "Where?"
"The church." She gazed at Qiuzi's dark eyes.
"I've already refused," Xu Shuo said.
He had declined the invitation when the text message had come through that afternoon. Although he wasn't sure if he could actually go to that place, Xu Shuo wasn't keen on trying it out for now.
Besides, he had made plans with Xuena.
Just that Xuena hadn't arrived yet, which was odd; she shouldn't be disinterested.
Xu Shuo stood up and looked at the time on the wall, half-past eight in the evening.
It was the time when Qiuzi had been killed the night before, and tonight, whilst he hadn't waited for Xuena, he did encounter Lanruo, who wanted to make another move.