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Chapter 4

Nie Jiuluo didn’t have time to return to her room. She stepped over the mess on the floor and rushed to the bedside telephone to call the front desk.

As soon as the call was answered, she shot off her questions: “Has a man with a large canvas bag left the building? A large canvas bag, a man?”

The front desk clerk was confused: “Huh?”

“Has anyone seen him?”

“No, we haven’t seen anyone like that.”

So he hasn’t reached the ground floor yet? Nie Jiuluo felt slightly relieved: “If you see him, stop him immediately. I don’t care what method you use; he stole something from me.”

To emphasize the seriousness, she added: “It’s worth tens of thousands, maybe even more.”

The front desk was clearly shocked by such a large sum: “O-okay.”

Just as Nie Jiuluo was about to hang up, she thought of something else: “Besides the lobby, does the hotel have other exits?”

“Yes, there are three back doors.”

Nie Jiuluo’s heart sank.

With a total of four exits, the chance of intercepting the man was only one in four.

The police arrived around midnight, an older officer and a younger one, both of whom were quite courteous. They first checked Sun Zhou’s room and then reviewed the hotel’s surveillance footage.

The room had some damage, but there were no signs of personal harm. The hotel’s cameras were primarily focused on the lobby, inside the elevator, and at the elevator entrance. None of the cameras had captured the man with the canvas bag.

Given the current situation—no evidence of a crime, no social harm or criminal behavior—the older officer explained that they couldn’t open a case based on mere suspicion. He advised Nie Jiuluo to file a report, clearly stating the situation and contact details for future follow-up.

Since it was her first time reporting something, Nie Jiuluo was inexperienced. Seeing it end like this, she couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you have forensic teams to collect fingerprints or evidence?”

The older officer smiled wryly, while the younger officer, who was more enthusiastic, replied, “You must have seen this in a crime drama. Here, we don’t have forensics; that’s the criminal technical department, responsible for crime scene investigations.”

Nie Jiuluo vaguely understood: The department dealing with “criminals” handles “crime scenes,” and whether Sun Zhou’s case could even be considered a “case” was still uncertain.

While filling out the form, the younger officer explained the current considerations: Sun Zhou wasn’t even officially “missing” yet. What if he returned tomorrow? Property damage doesn’t equal violent kidnapping. What if Sun Zhou had voluntarily disappeared with the help of friends?

With so many possibilities and no new developments, this would just be an “incident report,” and they could only keep an eye on it and follow up later.

Hearing this, Nie Jiuluo was slightly uncertain: Earlier, she had speculated that Sun Zhou might have been forced into hiding due to gambling debts. Could it be that he staged this with friends to escape his creditors?

Whatever the case, she had done everything she could.

After completing the form, the older officer glanced over it: “You’re a sculptor? Is that considered an art profession?”

In broad terms, yes, Nie Jiuluo nodded.

“Then you can draw, right? Seems like a basic skill. Since the cameras didn’t capture anything, can you sketch a rough drawing of the person’s face?”

The request wasn’t unreasonable. Nie Jiuluo borrowed some paper from the front desk and began sketching. Just as she was finishing the sketch, she heard the sound of rolling luggage at the door.

Despite the late hour, there were still guests arriving. Nie Jiuluo continued sketching, glancing at the door. It was actually Yan Tuo.

It wasn’t surprising—this county town wasn’t large, and wealthy outsiders often chose this hotel.

At such a late hour, the sight of two officers in uniform guarding a young woman sketching in the lobby was bound to attract attention. Yan Tuo glanced over but showed no curiosity, quickly turning his gaze away and heading straight to the front desk.

Nie Jiuluo put the finishing touches on the sketch and handed it to the older officer. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “This portrait is really excellent. What’s more, the person’s face is very distinctive—easy to recognize. Due to my profession, I’m most wary of ‘generic’ faces. Once a wanted picture goes out, it’s like casting a needle into the sea; even the most enthusiastic public won’t be able to identify them.”

He took the sketch to the front desk, had the hotel make a copy, and instructed the staff in housekeeping, kitchen, and security to review it and see if anyone recognized the face.

The receptionist was helping Yan Tuo check in but, not wanting to neglect the police, quickly took the sketch. Like the officer, her first reaction was to praise the drawing: “Impressive! It was done in under ten minutes.”

The older officer smiled, “It’s because they’re a professional with skill.”

Yan Tuo looked at the sketch. The drawing was indeed well-done, capturing the man’s lively expression and distinctive features perfectly.

Although it was the police’s duty, working late into the night was tough. Nie Jiuluo escorted them to the hotel entrance before heading back to her room. A few meters away, she saw Yan Tuo waiting for the elevator.

She walked over and waited with him.

When the elevator arrived, out of politeness, Nie Jiuluo stepped aside to let the man with the luggage enter first. As she got into the elevator and reached for the floor buttons, she noticed that Yan Tuo had already pressed the button for the fourth floor.

Nie Jiuluo moved to the side, maintaining social distance, and stared at the elevator doors, waiting for them to open so she could exit.

The steel elevator doors reflected their silhouettes. It was clear that Yan Tuo had no interest in his fellow passenger and was solely focused on returning to his room.

What was he doing at the cornfield in Xingbazi Township? Stealing corn? Also, where was that duck of his? Why didn’t he bring it up? Leaving it alone in the car overnight.

Feeling sleepy, Nie Jiuluo lowered her head and stifled a yawn.

At that moment, Yan Tuo quickly turned his head and glanced at her.

When the elevator reached their floor, Nie Jiuluo stepped out first, followed by Yan Tuo. His room and Nie Jiuluo’s were actually in different directions, but he didn’t hurry to his room. Instead, he stood at the elevator entrance, watching Nie Jiuluo until he saw which room she was in—specifically, the second-to-last room on the left side of the corridor.

After returning to her room, Nie Jiuluo quickly freshened up and went to bed, but she didn’t turn off the light right away. She pulled out her stationery bag, took out a pen and a strip of paper, and after a moment’s thought, began to write.

She wrote three notes:

  1. Sun Zhou was bitten by a dog during the day and was taken away by someone with a canvas bag at night; reported to the police.
  2. There’s a suspected missing woman in Xingbazi Township.
  3. Met a man named Yan Tuo twice; a plush duck was in the passenger seat of his car.

She dated the notes, and after finishing, she folded the strip of paper into a three-dimensional star and tossed it into a nearby suitcase.

She wrote these not for analysis but out of habit: she liked to jot down notable or novel occurrences of the day and fold them into stars as keepsakes. While others fold lucky stars to make wishes, she considered it a form of journaling.

One star per day, just a few sentences, made it easier to maintain than writing a diary. Over the year, she would accumulate 365 stars. Despite the long passage of time, only two large boxes had accumulated so far. Time was both heavy and light.

When bored, she would open a box, pull out a star, and revisit a past day. Sometimes she remembered the events on the paper; other times, they were long forgotten.

On the seventh day of her stay in Southern Shaanxi, there were already seven stars in the box.

Nie Jiuluo turned off the light and fell into a weary sleep.

When she next opened her eyes, she felt she had slept for a very long time, but the room was still pitch dark. Checking her phone, she saw she had only slept for two hours.

She lay there for a while, listening to the soft patter of rain outside. The old saying “a halo at night brings rain” was proving true—indeed, it was raining.

Unable to fall back asleep, Nie Jiuluo got up, opened the curtains on the window facing the bed, and then lay back down.

This was her habit. When she couldn’t sleep, she liked to “watch the night window.” The room was dark, but there was always some light outside. The contrast between the darkness inside and the light outside gave her a strange sense of security, as if she were nestled inside a secretive eye, peering out at the world. Many of her creative ideas came during such “spying” moments.

The rain had been falling for a while, and the window was covered in droplets and chaotic rain streaks. The water stains reflected the colorful lights of signs from various directions, as if the window was hung with a dream—bright yet greasy.

Her thoughts wandered to her current work.

A witch.

A witch should move stealthily in the night and darkness, with a bewitching expression and movements. Gulping down human heads would be too overt and bloody. In literature, there’s a concept of “not writing a word but capturing all the elegance.” Sculpture should also simplify complexity…

As she thought, a writhing black shadow appeared at the bottom edge of the window.

Nie Jiuluo didn’t pay much attention at first. After all, seeing such things often happened when watching the night window. Sometimes it was a bird, sometimes a stray cat. Once, when she was on the grassland for fieldwork and stayed at a pasture, a marmot appeared outside the window in the middle of the night.

But after a while, she couldn’t ignore the shadow any longer. The shadow was climbing up. It wasn’t a cat or a bird—the writhing part was a head, connected to shoulders and arms.

Was it a person?

Nie Jiuluo lay still, her heart pounding uncontrollably. This was the fourth floor—climbing on the exterior of the window at this height seemed too extreme for either burglary or violence. Besides, the person didn’t appear to have any climbing gear like suction cups or ropes. How could they climb?

Could it be that someone important was staying at the hotel, and they had hired an expert to secretly steal something in the middle of the night?

After a few seconds, Nie Jiuluo’s heart grew cold.

The shadow stopped at her window, half of its body nestled there, like a strange shape.

There were noises of latches being pressed and scraped on the window—clearly, the person was trying to open it.

Though it was frightening to have someone outside the window at midnight, if they weren’t coming after her, it would just be a startling incident. But if they were after her…

Moreover, the hotel’s high-floor windows were the most common type with easy-to-pry latches.

Were they coming for her? Had she offended someone recently? Did she have any persistent enemies? Did she carry something valuable?

No, none of that. She had only arrived here seven days ago, and hadn’t been to Southern Shaanxi in over a decade.

For a moment, Nie Jiuluo considered turning on the light, but then thought better of it. Turning on the light would easily alert the intruder. If the light came on, the person would instantly flee, and it would be difficult to figure out their intentions and identity.

She needed to let them in. Once they were inside, it would be easier to handle.

Nie Jiuluo held her breath, moving as quietly as possible in the dark to find something for self-defense from the bedside table.

Soon, her fingers touched a pencil and a sharpener.

She quietly withdrew her hand, keeping her eyes fixed on the shadow outside, and, using the blanket draped over the bed for cover, she inserted the pencil tip into the sharpener and began to twist it slowly.

She had sharpened pencils countless times before. Even without looking, she could feel the thin shavings peeling away and falling softly to the ground, and the sharpness of the pencil tip.

The window opened, and the sound of raindrops became clear. The chilly, damp air quickly invaded the warm, stuffy room.

Afraid that even the faint light from her eyes might alert the intruder, Nie Jiuluo partially closed her eyes and concentrated on the sounds around her. Her back was already sweating.

She felt that this person was indeed targeting her.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense subtle changes in light and shadow in front of her—the person was now standing at the head of her bed, watching her.

It wasn’t for money; the person had no interest in valuables. So, what could it be—an assault? Her beauty had attracted some boys during high school, but those walls were no higher than two meters.

A rough sensation touched her throat, a man’s large, calloused hand almost gripping her entire neck.

A terrible premonition surged through Nie Jiuluo’s heart. Her mind became sharply clear in an instant.

This person meant to kill her!

Nie Jiuluo was furious. She was someone who followed the law—who had she offended? To come here to kill her?

If you came to steal money, she could scream and call for help.

If you wanted to assault her, she’d give you several holes to bleed out.

But if you wanted to kill her…

Just as the large hand was about to tighten, she suddenly opened her eyes, quickly raised her hand, and with all her might, drove the nearly damp pencil into the man’s left eye.

 

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An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

Love On The Turquoise Land (Drama)
Score 8.0
Status: Ongoing Type: , Author: , Artist: Released: 2020 Native Language: Chinese
Over two thousand years ago on a deep night, Xu Fu* set sail to the eastern seas in a treasure ship to search for immortality, but few people knew that at the same time, a group of black-turban soldiers secretly entered the vast and dense Nanbao forest… A millennium later, the dark legend continues to slowly grow in the shadows. Xú Fú: Qin dynasty court necromancer and was tasked by Qin Shi Huang to look for the elixir of life between 219 BC and 210 BC. He never returned after departing on his second mission in 210 BC.

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