Chapter Thirteen: Warning

“Lin Ran, are you alright? Why are you sweating so much?” Guo Ting hurried over to help Lin Ran up, her face filled with concern.

“I’m fine! Why are you here?” As Lin Ran was pulled to his feet, he felt his legs trembling, so weak that he could barely stand.

“Fan Beixiao said you came here alone. I was worried about you, so I came too!” Guo Ting’s voice grew softer as she spoke, a blush spreading across her cheeks. As she noticed Lin Ran’s expression growing increasingly grim, her words faded away until she was silent, a flash of disappointment and grievance flickering in her wide eyes, a mist slowly blurring her vision.

But Lin Ran didn’t notice any of this. His eyes were fixed on the wall. Just moments before, he had caught a glimpse of a woman’s shadow behind him, and now there was a fresh bloody handprint smeared on the wall. Yes, a vivid, red handprint—blood slowly trickling down, the color glaringly bright and raw.

Lin Ran was certain he hadn’t imagined it: there had been a woman with disheveled hair standing behind him, and Guo Ting always wore her hair in a ponytail. Besides, when he entered, he hadn’t seen that conspicuous handprint at all.

Staring at the bloody mark, Lin Ran’s face grew ashen, his mind racing. Was this a warning? Or a pronouncement of his impending doom?

“Let’s go.” Just as tears of indignation were about to fall from Guo Ting’s eyes, Lin Ran’s low voice sounded in her ear.

He didn’t give her a chance to protest or speak. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and steered her outside. Guo Ting felt less like she was walking than being dragged along, and with that, all her feelings of grievance seemed to fall away, left behind somewhere she couldn’t find.

Stepping out into the bright sunshine, Lin Ran felt the oppressive gloom that had weighed on his heart finally begin to dissipate, as if he had emerged from darkness into the light. He hailed a taxi, pushed Guo Ting in, and got in beside her. The whole ride home, his brow remained furrowed, his nerves taut, until they finally reached his apartment and he could at last breathe a sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong? You seem really strange today.” Guo Ting looked at Lin Ran, sensing something was off about him.

“Let’s go inside first. I’ll explain later. This isn’t the place to talk.” Lin Ran glanced around at the bustling street and spoke quietly to her. What he’d seen today was simply too unbelievable.

Guo Ting nodded without another word and followed him in.

“Beixiao, come to my place. And bring that photo with you.” Lin Ran dialed Fan Beixiao’s number.

Before long, Fan Beixiao arrived in a rush. The urgency in Lin Ran’s voice had told him something important was up, so he hadn’t even changed out of his uniform.

“Ran, what did you find?” Fan Beixiao asked the moment he came through the door.

“It’s all here. Open it and see.” Lin Ran removed the miniature recorder pinned to his collar and handed it to Fan Beixiao.

Fan Beixiao popped open the recorder’s casing and took out a tiny memory card.

“Ran, do you have a computer?” Fan Beixiao fitted the memory card into a USB adapter and looked at Lin Ran.

“Yes.” Lin Ran remembered he still had the old laptop from college, though he’d barely used it because of his training schedule. He fetched it and handed it over, and Fan Beixiao got to work on it.

“What is that thing for?” Guo Ting asked curiously, eyeing the button-shaped device in Fan Beixiao’s hand.

“You’ll see in a minute,” Lin Ran replied, glancing at her.

Soon Fan Beixiao had pulled up a short video. It showed footage from inside the villa. He and Guo Ting leaned in close to watch.

As they watched, both their faces grew increasingly grave. Corpses, bloodstains, bloody handprints—these three things together were far too coincidental, as if someone had deliberately arranged them.

“Ran, this—” Fan Beixiao began, but Lin Ran cut him off.

“Don’t talk. Keep watching.”

When they saw the bloody handprint, they could no longer contain their shock. Both their faces went pale.

“Beixiao, where’s that photo?” Suddenly, Lin Ran remembered the shadow of the woman he’d seen behind him.

“Here.” Fan Beixiao handed over the processed photograph.

Lin Ran stared at the shadowy figure in the photo, recalling the woman’s silhouette he’d glimpsed earlier. His face darkened—the shadow in the photo looked almost identical to what he’d seen. Guo Ting, curious, leaned in to get a better look.

Suddenly, Guo Ting let out a sharp cry at the sight of the shadow in the photo.

Her outburst startled both Lin Ran and Fan Beixiao. They turned to her and saw Guo Ting’s face had gone deathly pale, her eyes locked in terror on the image in Lin Ran’s hand. Her fingers clutched the curtain behind her, her whole body trembling.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Ran quickly reached out to steady her.

“It’s her! It’s her! It’s her!” Guo Ting suddenly gripped Lin Ran’s hand tightly and shouted.

“Guo Ting, calm down! Tell me—who is she?” Lin Ran grabbed her arm, trying to steady her. Though he spoke urgently, he’d already guessed most of the truth.

“It’s that woman! The one hanging from the tree!” Guo Ting’s words fell like a thunderclap, leaving Lin Ran and Fan Beixiao both shaken to the core.

It was her? The shadow belonged to her?