Wu Shuang drove alone back and forth on the highway, her ten fingers tightly gripping the steering wheel. She couldn't clearly explain the feeling in her heart; a bit depressed, a bit self-mocking, but more like a bottle of spilled vinegar, sour and lingering.

The messages she sent out received no response. Such things weren't considered major issues. Many times, she was also the type to ignore texts after receiving them and, as someone involved, she didn't think it was wrong.

Because often she didn't like reading texts, felt it was troublesome, and found a direct phone call more straightforward to clarify what she wanted to say, ignoring the beauty of the words. But now, as the one waiting for a response, she experienced the discomfort of being ignored.

All along, the denial of Xiao Lin's intrusion into her life took a long process to come to terms with—from initial disgust to current longing, all of which gradually became a habit unbeknownst to her.

Was it missing him?

A little bit, but it wasn't an obsession to be together. She found it difficult to clarify this layer of relationship, wanting it to be more than friendship, yet not wanting to get too close, feeling very conflicted.

Or maybe she was too rational, because from beginning to end, she always believed this man was from a different world, and she was needed by him. In so many previous tasks, this man first thought of her, such recognition was a kind of happiness to Wu Shuang. Maybe she had fleeting thoughts of wanting something more, but they all dissipated in self-awareness.

"The user you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later!" Hearing such a broadcast, Wu Shuang stepped hard on the gas, charging forward without looking back. Fatty Wang was dead; did this mean she had no more value? This terrifying thought flashed through her mind, nearly suffocating her.

Several police cars drove past, lights flashing overhead. Noticing this, Wu Shuang darted into the adjoining lane and followed the cars. She felt a bit like she was meddling in affairs, the car accident case she handled had hit a deadlock. The suspect's retraction left the case stuck in Liu Wei's hands, and now the person clenched down that he did it. Without solid evidence, there was nothing they could do.

From the visitor list, no one had come to see him that day. Liu Wei had an elderly mother, used to have a wife who later ran off with someone else, had no children, was considered single thus far, had long worked in long-distance transportation, earned some money but lost it all due to gambling, and was fired from his job. Now, he and his family lived on his mother's meager pension, sometimes supplementing income with odd jobs, living a frugal life but able to eat their fill.

At the first intersection after driving a segment, the police cars turned off the highway, heading towards the northern district. Wu Shuang waited for a car to pass, then merged into the lane and followed. Was something happening there? Thoughts swirling, the police vehicle ahead had already run the red light, while she stopped at the intersection.

According to Xiao Liu's information from Liu Wei's neighborhood, although this person had no good reputation locally—fighting, causing trouble, womanizing, and gambling—but he was unfailingly filial to his mother. The money he earned from his gambling addiction partly went to his mother for expenses, while he mingled with others. His father died early, and it was his hardworking mother who raised him. Now old, her body bore the marks of illness, relying on medication for maintenance.

Liu Wei was a filial son; could he abandon his own mother? Wu Shuang couldn't understand. The identity of the deceased remained a mystery, and from comparing the missing persons in the network system, there seemed to be no matching physical characteristics for these two. Were they not from Yanjing? She picked up the phone and dialed Xiao Sun, who was still at work.

"Wu, what task do you have to arrange so late?" Xiao Sun looked at the clock on the wall. She was on duty today, having dragged Xiao Liu across to help her search through the database for someone matching the physical characteristics, while two others were brought in to assist in reviewing the traffic accident videos from that day. Starting from one end of the highway, they were inspecting vehicle footage bit by bit, hoping to find a frontal shot of the two people inside the car, and then compare and send the photos nationwide. Only after confirming the deceased's identity could they proceed further.

"Any further news?" Wu Shuang let out a deep sigh. She held the steering wheel with one hand, while the other rested on the car door. She turned her head to look aside.

"Not yet." Xiao Sun heard Wu Shuang's sigh and felt a bit guilty. This case was the most difficult she had handled during her internship, leaving her no time for dates, facing the computer every day for investigations.

"Tomorrow, go and investigate Liu Wei's family background and his personal income status. I always feel..." The green light came on, a silver white QQ car sped past from the opposite lane. There was probably just that one car capable of such speed in all of Yanjing. "You all continue, I'll hang up for now."

Wu Shuang wanted to turn around at the intersection, but the honking behind her started one after another. She couldn't help but laugh at her earlier crazy thought. On what basis was she chasing? With her foot on the gas pedal, she continued to drive ahead. In the distance, the flashing blue and red lights still twinkled, about a hundred meters away from her. After confirming the direction, Wu Shuang bypassed the main road and headed for the small road.

There was a shortcut from the highway that wasn't shown on the map. Wu Shuang learned about it during a casual chat with an old traffic officer, who mentioned that since no one used it for a long time and the surrounding area was deserted, it was long listed as a dead-end.

Rumor had it that a developer wanted to build a shopping mall off a stretch of highway, a place for resting vehicles. But for some unknown reason, it stalled and was left unfinished, and the land remained untouched.

The path Wu Shuang was now driving on happened to lie between two plots of land, also banned for vehicles, but with neither end blocked, it was still passable. Local vehicles occasionally passed through, though most preferred the main roads; this path was dark and rough, with people scared of encountering anything untoward. Legend had it, before the developer came, the area was a graveyard and bodies had been unearthed.

The headlights illuminated the gravel road, casting a white glow. A cat crossed in front of her, and Wu Shuang's first reaction was to hit the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road. The cat wasn't startled; standing still in the middle of the road, Wu Shuang, sitting in the car, could clearly see it under the beam of the lights. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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