If the Deep Sea Forgets You

All of the students were jittery due to what that had taken place in school. Everyone was talking about the rape-cum-murder case. The crime scene had been cordoned off and no one was allowed to enter the area. Many female students were too frightened to go out anymore. The campus was practically empty by eight P.M.

Xia Qingyi was mostly nonchalant. She went to school when it was time for her classes and barely communicated with her classmates, as per usual. Apart from that, she spent most of her time after school either at Mo Han’s office or at home.

She was busy when it came to class time, but once classes were over, she had quite a bit of time to relax.

The only thing that Xia Qingyi did not expect was that Zhang Yang would come to speak her again.

“Excuse me, is there a student called Xia Qingyi in this class?” Zhang Yang walked right into the classroom, clad in his uniform. He showed his badge to the teacher who had been interrupted mid-lecture.

Silence fell in the classroom. All eyes cast their attention on Xia Qingyi, who had been scribbling in her notebook at the back of the room.

Xia Qingyi froze as she heard her own name. She looked up to see several men in uniform on the teaching podium.

Xia Qingyi raised her hand uncomfortably, her head lowered. “I am.”

Zhang Yang looked at her. “Can I ask you to come outside for a while?”

Xia Qingyi forced a smile as she stood up wordlessly to leave the classroom through the back door.

Once she had left the classroom, there was commotion as students discussed what had happened. Their imaginations ran wild, some students even debating whether this new student could be the psychotic serial killer.

A normal person’s words might not be that credible but someone with special status, such as the police, would have others take their words as true about 80% of the time.

This was how many rumors slowly turned into the “truth”.

Xia Qingyi was expressionless as she asked Zhang Yang straight away, “Why are you looking for me?”

Zhang Yang’s face was stern. “I’m sorry for the trouble, but please come with us.”

Xia Qingyi smirked at this. “What is it now? Do you still suspect me of being the murderer?!”

“No, I don’t. I just wanted to discuss something with you.”

She looked at him curiously.

“There was a body found early this morning on the main street in the Eastern District. The method was exactly the same as the murder that took place in your school.”

In the previous case, Zhang Yang had compared Xia Qingyi’s analysis to the final report by the forensic doctor and found that the two had mostly matched. For instance, the wound on the victim’s neck was made by a surgical scalpel. Not only that, but the victim had indeed been sexually violated before her death and had shown evidence of a struggle.

The police commissioner was especially concerned with this case. He had enlisted many external personnel to assist with it, but the murderer had left too few clues at the crime scene. There was nothing suspicious on the CCTV footage as well, which had caused the case to come to a dead end.

A panicking Zhang Yang had suddenly thought of Xia Qingyi. Even though he had had a poor first impression of her, he had somehow felt that Xia Qingyi was able to discover some important clues after the questioning that night. It was not until the murder this morning that Zhang Yang had finally felt that he should meet Xia Qingyi.

However, for unknown reasons, Xia Qingyi was reluctant to go to the police station. He had no choice but to find a café near her school where they could sit down for him to listen to her opinions.