Chapter 3, The Cycle Sundial II

Zhao Yunlan shook his head thoughtfully in the smoke: "I fear it is not; something that can take lives cannot have this scent"

He exerted all his strength to turn his head, trembling as he surveyed his surroundings

Guo Changcheng lowered his head, feeling that he might be a born good-for-nothing. In this world, apart from relying on others, he probably had no other way to survive—by the first day of work, he was already on the verge of madness

This cat lord is usually gluttonous and lazy, always looking down on the foolish humans of the Earth with a noble and aloof attitude, and has never been so... like a cat.

The smell of smoke is not pungent; it is intermingled with a hint of mint and a refreshing herbal fragrance, combined with the faint scent of cologne from the man, which is quite uplifting. It is rare that he has become so disheveled, yet he has not forgotten to be stylish.

The black cat spoke: "Is it not it?"

Shen Wei asked, "I heard this morning that something happened at the school. How can we confirm that the deceased is from our school?"

That is a small side entrance of Longcheng University

Zhao Yunlan stood at the entrance of a dormitory building for quite some time, holding a black cat, before finally waiting for Guo Changcheng to arrive

Zhao Yunlan deliberately asked: "Who sent you to follow me to the scene? Our electricity expenses can be reimbursed, can you speak a little louder?"

It was only then that he realized the intern he had hurriedly met the previous night was somewhat unremarkable—Guo Changcheng walked with a hunched neck and shoulders, always keeping his head down as if he were trying to avoid being seen. His hair was a bit long, nearly covering his eyes, and coupled with his entirely black, disheveled attire, he appeared listless. From a distance, he resembled a mushroom swaying in the wind.

He was a tall man, dressed neatly in a long-sleeved white shirt and pressed trousers even in the height of summer. A pair of rimless glasses rested on his straight nose, and he held a lesson plan in his hand. He appeared both refined and clean, exuding a strong scholarly aura.

Then, he saw the skeleton turn its head, its gaze aligning perfectly with his reflection in the glass. Guo Changcheng noticed that within the two hollow eye sockets of the skull, it seemed as if there was a person.

He reached out to push open the window, and his gaze inadvertently turned to Guo Changcheng. Noticing his pale complexion and distracted expression, it was evident that his worldview had been shattered and his nerves were in disarray. Unable to resist the urge to tease him, Zhao Yunlan said to Guo Changcheng: "Child, go up and show me what is outside the window."

He could not immediately discern whether what his eyes saw was false or if the reflection in the mirror was false; his chest felt almost instantly cold, and even his breath trembled.

He had no choice but to suppress his anger, endure patiently, and beckon like a dog, saying: "Why are you still standing dumbly at the door? I have already greeted you, no need to announce your presence, just come in directly"

Zhao Yunlan began to feel a bit disheartened. The night before, they had brushed past each other, and he had not had the time to realize that this new colleague was someone who could hardly articulate his words. Thus, his tone carried a hint of insincere perfunctoriness: "You probably have some understanding of the situation at the scene, right? This is the dormitory building where the deceased lived. Let's go in and take a look first."

Although Shen Wei quickly averted his gaze, Zhao Yunlan felt that Shen Wei's look at him seemed a bit strange... He did not know how to describe it; in short, it was not the gaze of a stranger.

Immediately afterward, he realized that he had acted foolishly, standing at the entrance of the dormitory building like a blushing coffin board

Longcheng University is a prestigious institution with a long history

The girls' dormitory room 202 is a standard double occupancy student accommodation

"Yes, it's called Daqing," Zhao Yunlan casually replied, "His nickname is Fatty, and his alias is Dead Fatty"

After a while, Shen Wei reluctantly placed the cat back into Zhao Yunlan's arms and gently patted the black cat's head, saying, "This cat is quite spirited. Does it have a name?"

"Damn it," Director Zhao quickly turned around and ran downstairs, cursing, "This treasure of the present world."

"Oh, it can scratch too." Shen Wei chuckled, intercepting its paw midway, lifting it up and shaking its claw. The black cat's claws involuntarily retracted obediently, allowing Shen Wei to pet its head.

Thus, he had no choice but to force himself to turn his head, believing that what he could not see would be clean.

As a criminal investigator, even if one is somewhat atypical in this role, one must possess a fundamental skill— the ability to recognize individuals

Zhao Yunlan had the impression that the two of them were sizing each other up.

Guo Changcheng heard Zhao Yunlan say: "Look."

Guo Changcheng shuddered violently: "Woof ... ... Woof ... ... Woof ... ... "

At last, this unfortunate child, caught in a dilemma, could only crawl up to the balcony window like a sluggish snail, crouching there for a long time without daring to stand up, desperately clinging to the window frame, with only his neck able to move.

Although Guo Changcheng was quite frightened the night before, at this moment, through observation, he discovered that his handsome superior also cast a shadow in broad daylight. After mustering some courage to study the obviously disheveled appearance of the other person, who had clearly been worn out by the night shift, he concluded that he was indeed a human being. This realization eased his mind slightly, and he followed his leader like a devoted follower.

Zhao Yunlan rushed forward with quick reflexes, attempting to reach out and catch him. However, instead of grasping the person, he ended up grabbing Guo Changcheng's hat-like hair. Guo Changcheng immediately let out a loud "Aow!" Zhao Yunlan's hand trembled at that moment, and he inadvertently let him fall.

Fortunately, the person below still had a bit of conscience, reaching out to support Guo Changcheng, preventing him from falling to the ground completely.

The person was draped in a cloak, enveloped in a layer of black mist, and held something in their hand

Guo Changcheng swallowed with a "gudu" sound, peering down at the "high altitude" on the second floor. At that moment, his knees felt a bit weak, but to turn back and say to Zhao Yunlan the three words "I dare not" clearly tested his courage and his almost nonexistent communication skills.

Did you sprain your ankle? You need to be careful The man wearing glasses slightly bent down and patiently said to him Moreover, climbing buildings is prohibited at school and if caught, comprehensive points will be deducted

Zhao Yunlan spoke as he turned and walked into the dormitory building. After a while, he did not hear anyone following him. When he turned around, he saw Guo Changcheng gazing intently at the fierce-looking dormitory supervisor, appearing quite intimidated.

The black cat let out a "meow" and broke free from its dreamy little pet state, puffing up its fur and swiping its claws at Zhao Yunlan.

It seemed as if the skeleton that had just hung outside the window and the figure in the black robe within its eyes were merely his hallucination. Guo Changcheng finally collapsed onto the ground—his legs had given way.

The black cat jumped down from Zhao Yunlan's arms, carefully inspecting under the bed and beneath the cabinet. Finally, it leaped onto the windowsill, lowered its head to sniff one by one. Suddenly, it turned its head and let out a loud sneeze

This sudden shout startled Guo Changcheng, whose nerves were already on edge. There happened to be a patch of moss on the windowsill, which was extremely slippery. He lost his footing and tragically succumbed to the pull of gravity.

It was better not to say this; as soon as Guo Changcheng heard it, he immediately straightened his body at the door in a reflex: "Report... report!"

Therefore, Zhao Yunlan confirmed that he had never seen this person before

Hello, he extended his hand towards the man wearing glasses, "My surname is Zhao, we are from the Public Security Bureau, may I ask your surname, sir?"

Zhao Yunlan took a box of cigarettes from his pocket, skillfully pulled out one, placed it between his lips, and lit it. He leaned over, patted the black cat's rear, signaling it to move aside a bit, then approached the windowsill, squinting as he exhaled a puff of smoke upward

As the start of the school year approaches, one would expect to see a considerable number of people at the school. However, similar to other universities, Longcheng University has already relocated its main campus to the suburbs. The old campus retained in the city now only houses a small portion of administrative functions and a few graduate students from certain departments. Consequently, there are not many students to be seen, although there are some tourists.

Ah, what is it? Young people, be a bit more clever, hurry up!

At that moment, the large black cat, resembling a ball, came over in a swaying manner, seemingly having ingested the wrong type of rat poison. It climbed directly to the feet of Shen Wei, sniffed carefully, circled around his feet a few times, and finally, softly and affectionately, called out to him.

The black cat lazily yawned: "Madam Zhao, you are being too harsh."

Before he could clearly see what the person was holding, he heard a male voice from downstairs say: "Hey, that classmate, what are you doing climbing the wall?"

Guo Changcheng: "Ah..."

Zhao Yunlan calmly lowered his head and sniffed: "There is no fishy smell; it's not an old cat that can't tell the difference."

He asked Guo Changcheng, "Are you alright, classmate? This is quite dangerous"

Guo Changcheng did not pay him any attention, busy turning his head to look at the windowsill on the second floor, which remained empty, with nothing there.

Suddenly, he saw the reflection cast by the open glass window. In an instant, the hairs on Guo Changcheng's body stood on end, as if they were standing at attention and aligning to the right. He was horrified to discover that the shadow reflected in the glass window... was not just his own!

A human skeleton is reflected on the glass, bizarrely lying in the spot where he is crouching, its hand bones piercing straight through its own ankle, resting on a place on the windowsill marked by a handprint, peering into the room...

Zhao Yunlan squinted his eyes, watching him approach, and said to the black cat in his arms: "What do you think Wang Zheng said to him? Why do I feel that the child has a look of sorrow as if he has been forced into a life of prostitution?"

Zhao Yunlan was taken aback for a moment, as he saw the black cat shamelessly nuzzle against Shen Wei's pant leg. In the end, it even had the audacity to tilt its head up in a flattering manner, using its comically short front legs to reach for Shen Wei's knee, seemingly attempting to ask for a hug

Daqing: "Meow"

Even though he did not want to ruin his glorious image of being charming and versatile in public, he truly wanted to take off his shoes and give that foolish intern a couple of hard hits on the face

Zhao Yunlan hurriedly ran down the stairs, grabbing Guo Changcheng by the back of his collar, lifting him up like a chick, and setting him upright on the ground

Guo Changcheng suddenly turned his head, and with a crack, his neck made a sound. He stared blankly at the talking cat, feeling a strange numbness in his nerves.

Guo Changcheng suddenly lowered his head, but there was nothing there

Guo Changcheng shuffled his way to Zhao Yunlan's front, resembling a captive lady who had just been taken to the mountain stronghold, and said with a whimper, "... let me come with you to the scene."

In that moment, a fleeting expression of something akin to unexpected shock flashed across the face of the man wearing glasses, yet it was so brief that one might think it was merely an illusion. Subsequently, he lowered his gaze and politely shook hands with Zhao Yunlan, saying, "My humble surname is Shen, Shen Wei. I teach at this school. I apologize, I initially thought he was a student staying on campus during the summer break."

Guo Changcheng, under the gaze of his superior, steeled himself and took out a file bag, pulling out a photo of a female student and a student ID. Trembling, he handed them to Shen Wei and said with difficulty: "Professor Shen... hello, could you please take a look and see if you have any impression of this person?"

Following the sound, Guo Changcheng lowered his head, and his entire body shivered—he saw that the originally empty windowsill now bore an imprint...! ... it was a handprint left by a human hand!

In this line of work, face blindness is the most troublesome. As long as a person has been seen even once, even if it was just a fleeting glance, they should be able to recall it later if needed

The black cat stood on the windowsill, swishing its tail: "Meow---"

Shen Wei's hands were icy cold, like a corpse just pulled from a freezer. Zhao Yunlan was taken aback when he touched them, unable to help but look up at the other person. In that moment, their gazes met perfectly through the lenses of Shen Wei's glasses

Shen Wei bent down to pick it up, and the black cat did not mind his cold hands; instead, it let out a soft "meow" and obediently curled itself into a basketball shape, nestled in his hands, its emerald green eyes meeting the gaze of the man hidden behind the lenses.

The four characters "this fool" succinctly encapsulate Zhao's initial impression of the intern.