DNSTU 8. Guan Shuai Tan

He still didn’t know where to start looking for Chu Lian, but he could at least get a new phone.

Old Xiang had left him twenty thousand yuan when he passed. Buying a phone was well within his means, and he had no need to spend Xing Zhou’s money. He asked Xing Zhou to send him the case files related to the incident, and Xing Zhou simply took his phone and installed an app for him.

The app was called Happy Landlord Battle.

The moment Xiang Ye saw the name, he briefly wondered if Xing Zhou had been possessed. But the app had to be downloaded via a special link and required an invitation code to open. That at least gave it some air of legitimacy.

“The app uses special encryption. Files sent through it can’t be intercepted. The customer service rep is Jueming. If you want to know anything, just message him directly.”

Xiang Ye spotted a small blue sprite icon in the lower right corner of the screen. Aside from that, the interface looked just like any ordinary card game. There was even a points leaderboard. He couldn’t imagine who was actually playing it.

He casually registered an account, using his initials as his nickname.

XY: ?

Customer Service Sprite: Hello, I’m here~

XY: This is Xiang Ye.

Customer Service Sprite: [Flower Toss Emoji.jpg]
Customer Service Sprite: [Warm Welcome Emoji.jpg]

XY: Please send me the related files.

Customer Service Sprite: Sure thing! But the information on Chu Lian is currently classified, so I can’t share it with you just yet. However, if you join the Enforcement, you’ll gain full access~

Join the Enforcement?

Xiang Ye glanced at Xing Zhou, who met his gaze with a silent question.

“It’s nothing,” Xiang Ye said. Better to wait. Besides, it wasn’t as if the Enforcement was something he could just join on a whim. With his current skill level, he was little more than a liability.

Jueming might be chatty, but he was efficient. It didn’t take long for the files Xiang Ye needed to arrive.

Back at the unfinished building, Xiang Ye brought out Old Xiang’s easel, set up a chalkboard, and began organizing a timeline. According to the files, the incident involving his parents was the earliest. Chu Lian’s disappearance followed shortly after, and then Xiang Qi arrived in Jiangzhou to take him away over a month later.

July 8, 2012: Shen Yanzhi and Song Ling were caught in a flash flood.

July 10, 2012: Chu Lian committed murder and took a bone key, then disappeared.

August 16, 2012: Xiang Qi arrived in Jiangzhou and took Xiang Ye with him.

Now it was June 20, 2022. Nearly ten years had passed.

Chu Lian and Song Ling had escaped from Lu Ye together. Xiang Qi was an old acquaintance of Chu Lian. It was highly likely the three of them all knew each other. The strangest and most conspicuous part was that before Song Ling and Chu Lian got involved in anything, Xiang Qi had been living peacefully in Jingzhou. His appearance and age matched the records.

Then, one month later, he had turned into an old man. He even went so far as to alter his household registration and relocate all the way to Jiangzhou. For over a decade, he had lived like someone in hiding.

What had happened to Xiang Qi in that single month?

Xiang Ye could not help thinking of that painting again. Had Xiang Qi’s transformation been connected to Lu Ye? Besides that rule-breaking place, what could cause a person to age overnight?

He reread Xiang Qi’s personal file from the beginning.

The Xiang Qi in the records was nothing like the Old Xiang he remembered. Though his parents had divorced and he had lived alone, he never lacked food or clothes. He had even been a second-generation rich kid of sorts. He was accepted into one of the country’s top art academies and had already gained a bit of fame while still young.

He had not been the least bit withdrawn. He was sunny, good-looking, even a member of the school basketball team.

Someone like that should have had a bright future. So why had he ended up hiding in an unfinished building, dying far from home? He had taught Xiang Ye how to doubt, how to survive, how to think, yet his own life had unraveled into a complete mess.

The more Xiang Ye thought about it, the more he realized he had never truly understood him.

As dusk approached, Xing Zhou stepped out to take a call and didn’t come back for a long while.

Xiang Ye’s danger instinct began to kick in again. He stood by the window, watching for a while, and was just about to call him when someone appeared at the door. It wasn’t Xing Zhou. It was one of the Twin Executioners, the young man with the buzz cut.

He had a sharp, menacing look, his face perpetually stern, and a blade strapped to his back like some street gangster. The kind who looked down his nose at others and would pull a knife the moment something didn’t go his way.

Xiang Ye gave only a cursory glance at the takeout in his hand and asked, “Did Xing Zhou send you?”

The gangster nodded but remained icy silent. Even while eating, he sat by himself, squatting off to the side with a bowl in hand, radiating an air of “don’t come near me.”

Xiang Ye returned to fussing with his chalkboard and ignored him until Jueming sent another message.

Customer Service Sprite: I heard Yangyang’s over at your place?

XY: Yangyang?

Customer Service Sprite: Our Enforcement’s cutest Yangyang!

Xiang Ye looked at the buzzcut squatting by the window, staring at his phone, and could not figure out how anyone could associate that with the word cute.

Customer Service Sprite: Just listen to his voice. So cute! Even a hundred Tianluo Girls couldn’t beat one sweet little lark. Cute boys should sound cute!!!

Customer Service Sprite: But don’t say that to his face, and don’t say I said it either. He gets shy. He gets mad. He’ll ignore you next time. And if you piss him off, his little sister, Taotao, will come at you with a knife.

Customer Service Sprite: If you have to say it, just say the boss said it.

Customer Service Sprite: [Heehee.jpg]

XY: …

Not interested.

Xiang Ye tossed the phone aside. What little lark, what Taotao. Was this Enforcement agency even a real organization? He had good reason to suspect the sprite behind the screen was actually a burly man in a sailor suit.

Night fell. Xing Zhou still hadn’t returned, so the army cot naturally went to the buzzcut. The two of them slept on opposite sides of the room, not exchanging a single word, colder than strangers.

The next morning, Xiang Ye noticed that the buzzcut seemed to want to say something. He stood about three meters away, hesitant and stiff, his ears flushed red.

“Got something to say?” Xiang Ye raised an eyebrow.

“%*&@,” the buzzcut mumbled.

“Did you just make a sound?” Xiang Ye honestly hadn’t caught it, but when he squinted like that, he gave off a mocking air. The buzzcut snapped and shouted, “I asked if you have Wi-Fi!”

Fuck.

What was that voice?

Did he glitch? Little lark, seriously? That was the voice of a twelve-year-old boy who hadn’t gone through puberty yet. No wonder he had refused to speak. He had said nothing that night, said nothing yesterday, and now it all made sense. The moment he opened his mouth, the illusion shattered.

But Xiang Ye didn’t care. He answered flatly, “No. I’m broke. Can’t afford it.”

The buzzcut was silent.

Between being poor and being out of character, he wasn’t sure which was worse.

“My name is Chen Junyang,” the buzzcut finally said.

“Nice to meet you,” Xiang Ye replied.

“Can you turn on your hotspot?”

“No.”

Xiang Ye today was colder than ever. He went back to his rocking chair, the only chair in the room, and resumed work on his chalkboard.

As he’d tried to fall asleep last night, he had felt like something was off. Now, he played back the audio from the bug again and again. Just as he was about to doze off, he did, in fact, hear something different.

The sound was mixed into Chu Lian’s voice, like the ticking of a clock. But the clock in the living room was a silent one. Even if it made any sound, it would have been far too faint to be picked up.

Xiang Ye played the recording again and listened carefully. He confirmed that it was indeed a clock-like sound. That meant whatever was making the noise must have been on Chu Lian’s person, because it was only picked up when Chu Lian approached the bug.

But what could it be? A pocket watch?

Even if it was a watch, what would it point to?

Xiang Ye’s thoughts started to tangle again, so he simply pulled up all the data and read through it once more. But in everything related to Chu Lian, there was no mention at all of a clock.

At that moment, Jueming happened to send over new files.

Customer Sevice Sprite: [File] [File]

Customer Sevice Sprite: These are all the files related to Shen Yanzhi. His hometown, company, school, and all his social relationships. I’ve listed everything I could find. Some of it was scattered and hard to trace, so it might not be very useful, but I figured you might want to take a look anyway.

Customer Sevice Sprite: Don’t forget to give me a five-star rating~

Xiang Ye really did want to look. After the fake parents had shown up, he had thought about checking into it, but time had been too tight and he had not managed to find anything. He opened the files right away and skimmed through them.

Soon, a single line of information caught his eye.

“Clockmaker.” Xiang Ye’s gaze stopped at those three characters.

The file showed that back in Shen Yanzhi’s hometown, a small and remote village, the Shen family had a neighbor who specialized in repairing watches and ran a hardware store in town.

Could that clock have something to do with the sound he heard?

Xiang Ye was not sure, but even the faintest lead was worth holding on to. Xing Zhou had not come back yet. After waiting for a moment, Xiang Ye decided not to wait anymore and said to Chen Junyang, “I need to make a trip to Gutong Town. There might be a clue about Chu Lian there.”

Chen Junyang was about to call Xing Zhou to check in, but Xiang Ye moved quickly. He pulled out a backpack and packed lightly. “We’ll talk on the way.”

Xing Zhou replied soon after, and they agreed to meet up in Gutong Town.

Gutong Town was a small town under the jurisdiction of a county-level city in Jiangzhou. It was not developed enough to be convenient, nor was it old enough to qualify as a historic town.

Because Shen Yanzhi had severed ties with his family, Xiang Ye had visited very few times. The last time had been ten years ago.

In the years since, the small town had completely changed. The roads had widened. New shops lined both sides of the street. There was even a large supermarket.

They had taken a cab there, so not much time had been wasted. Following the address listed in the files, Xiang Ye found the East Street market. The clockmaker’s hardware store had been located next to the market.

But the owner of the neighboring fishing gear shop told them, “That store closed years ago. The old owner passed away. His kids moved out of town. Who knows when they’ll be back.”

Xiang Ye asked, “No one’s left at home?”

The fishing shop owner looked at him suspiciously. “Why are you asking about them?”

Xiang Ye said, “I’m a feature writer. I’m currently collecting information on traditional craftspeople for a special report. I heard there was a clockmaker here, someone who practiced a disappearing craft, so I came to ask around.”

Xiang Ye was young, but his gaze was steady and mature. He was tall, and with a baseball cap on, it was easy for people to overlook his true age.

The fishing shop owner said, “Oh, I see. Old Tang was really good at it, but no one bothers fixing watches these days. Even people who can afford fancy watches wouldn’t come here to get them fixed. His daughter didn’t want to learn the trade either. She left for another city. The old lady stayed behind with her granddaughter. But now she’s moved to be with her daughter too. Families should live together. That’s how you keep the peace.”

Xiang Ye chatted a bit longer but got nothing useful, so he and Chen Junyang left the market. On the way there, Chen Junyang had kept completely silent, like a monk in meditation, but now he could not help but ask, “Are we heading back?”

The information about the hardware store had been off, but the error was only in timing. Jueming was not a mind reader. Her data had likely come from old Enforcement records and the web. A margin of error was unavoidable. Still, Xiang Ye had come all this way. Turning around now felt unsatisfying.

“We’re going to the village.” Xiang Ye had decided to return to the Shen family’s old home.

But not a single taxi could be seen in the small town. Xiang Ye had no choice but to return to the area near the market, where he finally managed to flag down an electric tricycle. Guan Shuai Tan was far from the town and mostly inhabited by elderly people. No one usually went that way. Xiang Ye paid fifty yuan to persuade the driver to take on the job as a side fare.

Guan Shui Tan was the village’s old name. It had since been renamed Shenjia Village, but locals still preferred the old name. When Xiang Ye was little, Shen Yanzhi had told him that Guan Shui Tan referred to a large pond near the village. The pond connected to a major river, which in turn flowed into the Jiang River.

There was a small island in the pond, about a hundred meters from the shore. On that island stood a small temple that enshrined a respected official from a hundred years ago. That was how the place came to be called Guan Shui Tan

Xiang Ye remembered going to the temple to burn incense when he was brought back here by Shen Yanzhi as a child. He had always been in poor health. That official’s surname was Shen, making him part of their ancestral line. Shen Yanzhi had hoped that this ancestor could bless Xiang Ye with good health and protection.

The closer they got to Guan Shui Tan, the more active Xiang Ye’s thoughts became. Memories blurred by time began to resurface. He vaguely remembered Shen Yanzhi and Song Ling taking him across the water to the island, the man’s broad palms, and the woman’s gentle face, distant now like a dream.

More than twenty minutes passed before they arrived at the place. Ancient trees along the lake concealed the village road. Through the gaps in the leaves, Xiang Ye caught a glimpse of the temple on the island and narrowed his eyes slightly.

The village was small, situated right beside the pond. After passing through a small grove of trees, they arrived. Following the path from memory, Xiang Ye found the old Shen family home and, as expected, saw the courtyard overrun with weeds.

The house was still the same brick-and-tile structure from years ago. The roof had not been maintained and now had a hole in it. One corner of the courtyard wall had collapsed, with weeds poking through the gap. If one looked closely, cobwebs still hung beneath the eaves.

No. Someone had been here.

Xiang Ye’s sharp eyes spotted a faint trail through the overgrown weeds, as if someone had pushed them aside with a stick or bamboo pole, leaving a barely noticeable path. The front gate was not locked. A house this dilapidated had no need for security. Xiang Ye pushed it open with one hand and walked in quickly.

Creak—

The main hall door opened with a groan, and a cloud of dust rushed out toward him.

Xiang Ye covered his nose and mouth with one hand and reached out with the other to stop Chen Junyang, who had been about to step in first. Chen Junyang glanced sideways and saw Xiang Ye crouch down, brushing his fingers across the dusty stone floor.

“Leather shoe prints. Judging by the size, the person is about one-seventy-eight in height. Steady steps with short spacing, most likely a middle-aged man. He had a stick with him, maybe even a cane.”

Chen Junyang: “???”

What are you talking about?

Xiang Ye paid him no attention. He stepped around the footprints and moved deeper inside. He confirmed that near each pair of footprints was a small indentation, likely left by the stick pressing into the ground. This person had pushed through the weeds with the stick, then left clear tracks inside the house. The reasoning was correct.

Could it be Chu Lian? The height, the age, and the leather shoes all matched.

Xiang Ye followed the footprints all the way to the room he used to live in. This had originally been Shen Yanzhi’s room. Though he had broken ties with his parents, after his son was born, he had returned once, hoping to mend the relationship.

In Xiang Ye’s memory, they had returned twice. The second time was right before Shen Yanzhi and Song Ling went on a trip to another province. They had left Xiang Ye in the old home and asked the elders to look after him.

Thinking about it now, the relationship between Shen Yanzhi and his parents had softened somewhat. Otherwise, he would never have sent his child back here.

Xiang Ye could no longer recall much about that time. He continued tracking the footprints and saw that the person had paused by the window, then stopped again in front of the bed.

It was an old-style canopy bed, large enough for a family of three to sleep in comfortably. The mosquito net was still hanging, but it was coated in a thick layer of dust, so heavy it clogged the mesh.

Xiang Ye suspected the footprints belonged to Chu Lian. There was no reason for him to come here for no purpose, so he braved the dust filling the air and began searching the room. But he was particularly sensitive to dust. It was not long before he started coughing, and even covering his mouth and nose did not help.

Chen Junyang had been standing at the door. Xiang Ye would not even let him use his hotspot, which had made him quite angry. But when the coughing did not stop, he finally could not bear it anymore. He stepped forward, dragged Xiang Ye out of the room, and then drew his knife to begin tearing the place apart.

Crash.

The cabinet toppled, and the bed collapsed. He searched every crevice in the bed frame, between the bricks, and inside the walls. Even the rat holes were not spared. In the end, he really did find something inside one of them.

There was an enamel bowl, a torn glove, sunflower seed shells, and various other discarded items. Chen Junyang gathered them all into a piece of ragged cloth and brought it to Xiang Ye. He remained silent, but his expression said everything. He was clearly proud of himself.

Xiang Ye glanced at the cobweb dangling from his buzz cut and said, “The hotspot password is eight zeroes.”

Joy spread across Chen Junyang’s face. He put down the bundle of junk and went off to play with his phone. But Xiang Ye caught sight of where he stood out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that Chen Junyang always picked his position very precisely. Even though he appeared to be keeping his distance, no matter where Xiang Ye moved, he stayed within his line of sight.

The Enforcement really was professional.

Xiang Ye gathered his thoughts and turned his full attention to the pile of objects. He actually had a touch of obsessive cleanliness, but the past few days had completely reshaped his world. That particular obsession had become a Schrödinger’s kind of thing. Digging through trash with his bare hands was no longer a problem.

Very quickly, he found something suspicious in the pile. A torn photograph.

It was a picture of Xiang Ye and his parents. A rat had probably chewed through part of it. The edges were jagged with bite marks, and half of Shen Yanzhi’s head was gone. He flipped the photo over and saw a few words written on the back in red pen.

Because of how much time had passed, the writing had become faded and broken, but the general meaning could still be made out.

“Has he… gone mad?” Xiang Ye read it softly.

Gone mad?

Who had?

Xiang Ye stared at the place where half of Shen Yanzhi’s head had been chewed off, then recalled the unexplained five hundred thousand deposited into his card. His brows furrowed slightly.

By now, the sun had quietly slipped beyond the horizon, and night was approaching. Xing Zhou still had not arrived, for reasons unknown. Despite all the noise he and Chen Junyang had made here, not a single villager had come to investigate.

The entire village was silent, utterly still, as if lifeless.