MNL Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Late Return, Find a Rope to Hang Yourself

Chapter 1: Late Return, Find a Rope to Hang Yourself

A sudden rain dissipated the sultry heat that had lingered in Linhe City for many days.

It was late, and the owner of the fruit store at the end of the street yawned sleepily. Seeing fewer and fewer people outside, she got up to close her stall. Having run the store for many years, she was quick and efficient. She moved the last basket of pineapples into the store and was about to pull down the shutter door when she noticed a teenager walking over from not far away.

Yu Qianfang stopped what she was doing, smiled, and walked out, “Xiao Jing, where have you been playing? It’s so late, and you’re still not home; your mother must be worried.”

The boy under the streetlight wore a simple white T-shirt, with a slender and tall frame and extremely fair skin. He had handsome features, but his expression was indifferent, his eyelids drooping, giving off an air of casual weariness.

Xu Jing took off one of the earbuds he was wearing and replied, “I’m going back now.”

Yu Qianfang nodded and quickly went back into the store to grab a box of sliced watermelon, which she thrust into Xu Jing’s arms, saying, “Hurry back. Our city hasn’t been safe lately. Don’t wander around outside so late when you’re just a student.”

Xu Jing was about to refuse, but when he looked up and met Yu Qianfang’s concerned gaze, he slowly changed his mind and said, “Thank you, Aunt Fang.”

Yu Qianfang had been unmarried in her youth, without children of her own. Now that she was older, she felt lonely in the repetitive days. Fortunately, Xu Jing often came to the store, and although they didn’t talk much, it still helped pass the difficult times.

Watching the disappearing figure at the corner, Yu Qianfang sighed softly.

Xu Jing had grown up in a well-off family. His father, Xu Huaiyang, was the Chairman of a listed company, and his mother, Qin Xin, was a Senior English Teacher at a high school. The high school entrance exams had just ended recently, and Xu Jing had performed steadily, getting into Linhe No.1 High School, the best in the city. Qin Xin had rented an apartment nearby.

Xu Jing entered the elevator and flexed his slightly sore fingers. Just as he was about to press the floor button, his phone rang again.

Xu Jing glanced at the contact name and, with foresight, held the phone away from his ear as he answered.

Sure enough, as soon as the call connected, a mournful wail came from the other end, “Brother Jing, why? Why did she leave me?”

Yan Zhe was like a broken record tonight, repeating the same sentence over and over again.

Xu Jing had clearly run out of patience.

“Try asking that one more time?”

“I just can’t accept it.”

“If you can’t accept it, find a rope to hang yourself.”

Yan Zhe was completely immersed in his own world of grief, oblivious to Xu Jing’s harsh words, “Having seen the great ocean, other waters are unappealing. Were those vows all false?”

A short, heavy breathing sound came from the other end of the phone, carrying obvious suppressed irritation.

Yan Zhe became even more heartbroken upon hearing this, complaining, “Brother Jing, can’t you say something nice to comfort me?”

Xu Jing: “Condolences.”

Yan Zhe: “…”

Is that supposed to be comforting?

It sounds like a curse.

After gulping down two more mouthfuls of alcohol, Yan Zhe suddenly had a flash of inspiration, slammed the table, and stood up, “Should I go try to get back together with her! What do you think the chances are? But wouldn’t that make me look like I have no pride? Or I could ask someone else for help, she—”

The sound abruptly stopped. He looked at his phone and saw that the call had ended, and when he tried to call back, he couldn’t get through.

Yan Zhe: “…”

Damn it.

Meanwhile, the boy standing at the door of 601 was standing still with a cold face, his eyes revealing extreme displeasure.

Two hours ago, Xu Jing had just finished a cold shower and was about to go to bed when he received a barrage of calls from Yan Zhe, who immediately declared that he had broken up. This happened every other day, and Xu Jing was too lazy to listen. He hung up the phone with a snap.

Then Yan Zhe started playing the emotional card, crying and making a fuss. Considering that the other party had recently suffered a double blow in his studies and love life, Xu Jing went out.

Yan Zhe’s parents were away working in other places year-round, and without anyone to control him, he spent all day and night in internet cafes. But Xu Jing was different; he had severe OCD, and he wanted to turn around and leave when faced with the heavy smell of smoke and alcohol. Yan Zhe begged and pleaded for a long time before he agreed to stay and play games with him for a while, but then someone’s cigarette ash accidentally floated over, and Xu Jing couldn’t bear it any longer and left before the losing game had even ended.

Just now, he stood at the door and rummaged through all his pockets, only to remember that he didn’t seem to have brought his keys at all.

Their house was in the city center, and Qin Xin was too busy to spare any time recently. The only person he knew well was Yan Zhe, whom he had just blacklisted.

Sure enough, when god closes a door, he closes a window. Unless you’re asking for death.

Xu Jing slowly squatted down, amused by his own misfortune.

After a few seconds of consideration, he could only use his phone to book the nearest hotel.

It was almost eleven o’clock, and the whole building was very quiet. The subtle sound of the wind outside covered up the slight footsteps, making it sound natural.

But just then, the elevator door suddenly opened.

Someone was still not home at this hour.

Xu Jing subconsciously looked up and saw a boy wearing a white tracksuit. He was tall, with long, muscular calves. Although his back was straight, he inadvertently revealed a sense of casualness. Even though he was wearing a black mask, his temperament was still impressive.

There were only two households on the top floor. When Xu Jing had just moved in, he vaguely remembered that the apartment next door was unoccupied. Before the thought could finish, he felt a gaze sweep over him.

To put it nicely, this kind of look was pure curiosity, but in this situation, Xu Jing was more inclined to think that the other person was saying, “Where did this idiot come from?”

Their eyes met, and then there was a “bang.” The person not only walked into the next-door apartment, 602, in a very cold manner, but also slammed the door with a deafening sound.

“…”

Xu Jing wanted to kick the door until it broke down.

But he held back.

Although it was still summer, the evening breeze after the rain was still a bit chilly. Xu Jing booked a hotel and was about to leave, but then a news notification suddenly popped up on his phone screen.

“Regarding the headless female corpse case that occurred a few days ago, the police have made a preliminary judgment. The following is the latest photo of the suspect. If you see them, please contact us in a timely manner!”

Remembering what Yu Qianfang had said, Xu Jing, who never cared about this kind of thing, also clicked on it. The picture was relatively blurry, probably taken from surveillance footage, but the person in it…

He zoomed in on the picture. The next second, the hand that had been extended to press the elevator button stopped abruptly.

Tracksuit, black mask.

Somewhat familiar.

Xu Jing stopped in his tracks.

He seemed to have seen this outfit just two minutes ago.

Recalling the scene just now, he only remembered that the person was tall and slender, with some wet bangs that covered part of his sharp and defined brow bones. His eyes were dark and deep, with a hint of ferocity.

Although he couldn’t see his face, this was definitely not a kind-looking person.

Xu Jing quickly pressed the down button, his heart beating a little fast.

Meanwhile, the person who had entered the apartment didn’t stop for a moment and went straight to the bathroom. The mask was removed, and the mirror reflected a cold face. Although he was not old and had excellent features, his naturally deep double eyelids and narrow eyes added a sense of detachment to his striking face.

The person in front of the mirror slowly raised his hand. Slender fingers were stained with some inconspicuous bloodstains. He looked down at them, a flash of disgust in his eyes.

The blue veins bulged slightly, and his fair hands were rubbed red until the faucet was turned off, and the room returned to silence.

After arriving at the hotel, Xu Jing took another shower, but he couldn’t fall asleep. He knew that his luck had never been good, but could he really run into this kind of thing, where he moves and becomes neighbors with a suspect?

With complicated feelings, Xu Jing casually clicked on a midnight radio program, intending to use it to lull himself to sleep. However, as soon as he closed his eyes, the radio host’s emotional voice came from his phone.

“Now, Midnight Xiao Wang brings you an analysis of the headless female corpse murder case that occurred in our city last week.”

Xu Jing: “…”

The next second, the phone was muted and decisively stuffed under the pillow.

The next day.

The frequent vibration of notifications woke up the person in bed again. The midday sun shone into the window, a bit dazzling. Xu Jing opened his eyes several times before succeeding. And there was still someone, damn it, constantly bombarding him with messages.

“…Damn it.”

Xu Jing resisted the urge to throw his phone and opened it to take a look. He found that it was from someone he wasn’t very familiar with, named Lin Jiayu, but this person was close to Yan Zhe.

[Social Lin Ge]: Are you awake, Brother Jing?

[Social Lin Ge]: Yan Zhe has been begging me for two hours. He asked me to ask you, when can he be released from the blacklist!

[Social Lin Ge]: Brother Jing, are you there? Are you still not awake?

Now he couldn’t sleep even if he wanted to. Xu Jing got up and walked into the bathroom, nearly scaring himself when he looked in the mirror. Because his hair was fine and soft, it often curled upward, and with last night’s nightmares, it looked like he had been struck by lightning.

The top-tier OCD sufferer spent nearly half an hour in the bathroom, finally restoring his hairstyle to perfection. The phone was still vibrating. Xu Jing decided to blacklist this person as well, but the other party seemed to be able to guess his intentions and quickly sent another message.

[Social Lin Ge]: Yan Zhe said he has something very important to tell you, please release him as soon as possible, otherwise he will come to your house!

Xu Jing finally sent a question mark.

Soon, the other party sent two little figures cheering with joy.

[Social Lin Ge]: Brother, you finally replied to me.

[Social Lin Ge]: I don’t know what it is, you can ask him directly.

[Male]: Okay.

Xu Jing casually draped his coat over his shoulders, checked out of the hotel, and removed all of Yan Zhe’s contact information from the blacklist.

The phone screen was instantly flooded with messages, followed by a video call.

Xu Jing answered, looking at the flattering smile on the other side of the video, and opened his mouth expressionlessly, “You better have something important.”

Yan Zhe said sheepishly, “Brother Jing, I’m sorry, I drank too much last night.”

Xu Jing snorted coldly and said directly, “What is it?”

“Oh right, I almost forgot.” Yan Zhe slapped his forehead and said quickly, “Do you know about the headless female corpse case that happened recently?”

Here we go again.

Xu Jing said irritably, “What about it?”

“I’m telling you, it’s so scary, you know? I just saw on the news that the suspect last disappeared in Qing’an Street. Isn’t that where you live?”

Xu Jing paused slightly, but quickly retracted his steps as he was about to turn the corner.

Yan Zhe on the other side noticed something was wrong and quickly asked, “Wha-what’s wrong?”

Xu Jing didn’t speak, watching vigilantly for the person who suddenly appeared from the corner. It wasn’t until that person slowly walked away that he hesitantly opened his mouth, “If I said that this person might be near me, what do you think I should do?”

“Who?”

Taking advantage of the fact that the figure in the white tracksuit hadn’t completely disappeared, Xu Jing immediately took a picture before lowering his voice, looking at the screen and slowly adding, “The murderer.”

Yan Zhe: “…”