It was the first time in Di Zhen's life to play arcade games with a girl. He thought her fighting ability was really poor, but her chattering seemed quite interesting.
"Let's play again!" Di Zhen suggested.
"No, I won't play anymore!" Gong Qin folded her arms across her chest, turned her head, and put on an angry look. "Let's go!"
"If you're weak, you should practice more. It's not embarrassing."
"Are you trying to piss me off?"
Gong Qin wandered around. The remaining game coins in her hand jingled. When she saw a claw machine, she went to try and grab a doll.
The mechanism of the claw machine was extremely tricky. Just as the doll was about to fall into the hole, the shaky metal claw suddenly trembled, and the doll dropped beside the hole. Gong Qin got really frustrated by this. She stamped her feet in anger and shouted, "Ah, I was so close!"
"Cough!" Di Zhen used the sound of his cough as a cover and shook the claw machine. The doll fell out. He picked up the doll and passed it to Gong Qin.
Looking at the doll in her hand, Gong Qin found it extremely poorly made. Intent on getting revenge on him, she threw it into the trash can and said, "I don't like it. I don't want it."
As soon as she turned around, there was a loud buzzing sound behind her. Di Zhen shook the claw machine like a box and then took out a bunch of dolls for Gong Qin to choose from. Gong Qin stared at him in surprise with her mouth wide open. At this time, the staff member came over and said, "Hey, what are you doing? You're not allowed to do this."
"I'll buy them," Di Zhen said calmly.
"Uh, okay. Give me the money."
After receiving one hundred yuan, the staff member stuffed it into his own pocket and warned again, "Don't do this again!" Then he left.
Gong Qin rummaged among the dolls in Di Zhen's arms and picked a bear doll. She said, "Just like you, dumb - looking but actually smart. I'll take it."
"What about the others?"
"Do whatever you want with them."
Di Zhen gave the rest to the kids in the amusement park. Then they saw an archery area. Gong Qin encouraged Di Zhen to give it a try. Under the guidance of the staff, Di Zhen pulled the bowstring. He aimed steadily and shot. The arrow hit the target right in the center.
"Great shot!" Gong Qin clapped her hands. "You have real talent!"
Di Zhen touched a real compound bow for the first time. It felt pretty good. Converting strength into speed, the arrow whistled and hit the target.
One arrow after another, after shooting twenty arrows, he still wanted more.
When they came out in the evening after playing, Di Zhen said, "I've been exposed to many new things today. Thank you very much."
"Really? I thought you wouldn't say polite words!"
"Big cities are truly different..."
"Haha, how isolated was your life before?"
"Before... I just trained every day."
"Training? Are you an athlete? What on earth do you do? I'm really curious!"
"Um..." After spending half a day together, Di Zhen was less guarded against her, but still didn't want to reveal too much about himself. "I'll tell you next time!"
"Next time?" Gong Qin tilted her head, a bitter smile frozen on her face. "So, you're still planning to play with me!"
Although Di Zhen could put on the persona of a playboy and say some sweet words to please girls, he thought it was a bit mean to use such tactics. After thinking for a long time, he only managed to say, "Sure!"
Gong Qin pouted and smiled. "I'm leaving!"
After taking two steps, she turned back. "I sent you so many messages but you didn't reply. Can you reply to my messages next time?"
"I'll do my best!"
Di Zhen's serious answer made her laugh. She hailed a taxi by the roadside and waved as a farewell.
Watching her leave, Di Zhen smiled. She was such a lively and interesting girl. She should be his first female friend ever!
He walked back to the hotel, and his mind turned back to the case. Although he had found out from the property management yesterday where Wei Xiang's mistress, Fan Yi, lived, he hadn't seen her. Should he go to her place today? But it was Sunday, and there were still two days until the next possible crime.
He could just tell the policeman about the suspicious man, but his competitive spirit made him want to solve the case on his own.
There was a leaking fire hydrant by the roadside, and the tap water was flowing out in a rush. Staring at the flowing water, Di Zhen suddenly recalled a detail. There seemed to be a water outage notice in Anhui Community. The time was...
To confirm his suspicion, Di Zhen immediately ran towards Anhui Community.
He strode across the block and reached Anhui Community fifteen minutes later. He braced his knees and gasped for air. Several cement slabs had been dug up at the entrance of the community, and they were doing pipeline maintenance. He walked towards the community's main entrance and carefully inspected the water outage notice.
"Dear residents, due to pipeline maintenance, there will be a water outage from 6:00 to 18:00 on Sunday (March 22nd) and Monday (March 23rd). Please store enough drinking water in time."
While the security guard was playing with his phone, Di Zhen sneaked in quietly. When he got to the area where Fan Yi lived, he saw a giant water tower on top of the building.
There were lights on in several upstairs houses. Di Zhen entered the dark stairwell and listened by one of the doors. He could hear someone snoring inside.
The door of another room was ajar. He pushed it open and saw the mistress slumped on the sofa, fast - asleep with the TV still on.
Almost every resident was asleep!
Suddenly, Di Zhen realized Guo Pu drugged the water tank yesterday!
During the pipeline maintenance, the normal water supply was cut off. To ensure the daily life of the residents, the property management turned on the reserve water in the tank. That means that everyone in this building is using the water from the tank tonight.
The culprit put something in the water. It wasn't sleeping pills, but medical anesthetics. Just a small vial could make everyone in the building fall into a deep sleep.
He used anesthetics instead of poison, not out of any sense of humanity. Since residents got home at different times, if one came back to find family members lying on the ground, vomiting blood, they'd call the police right away.
But after taking the anesthetics, the residents would only feel sleepy and go to bed on their own without suspecting anything.
It seems he'll strike tonight!
The police might have already figured out his modus operandi. Plus, the water outage is on Sunday night, so he's very likely to move up the crime to tonight!
There was a loud "bang", and a woman upstairs screamed, "Help!"
Di Zhen rushed upstairs, found the door, and rammed it with his shoulder. With a crash, the door, hinges and all, was knocked open. He saw a woman standing by the window, shivering. Her spaghetti strap pajamas were torn. The floor - to - ceiling window glass was shattered. It seemed that she had just thrown something out. The floor was in a complete mess.
This is a duplex apartment with a spiral staircase leading to the upper floor. Only some night lights are on in the house, making it very dim.
To the woman, Di Zhen, who had suddenly burst in, was like a savior from the sky. She said, "Someone's trying to kill me! He heard you ramming the door and hid upstairs!"
Di Zhen stepped on a mineral water bottle. So this woman had been drinking mineral water. No wonder she was okay. He asked, "Are you Fan Yi?"
"How the hell do you know?"
"Who's trying to kill you? Is it Guo Pu?"
The woman stared at him in shock with wide - open eyes. "Yes! It's him! He killed Boss Wei, and now he's come to kill me. Please save me!"
"You guys deserve what's coming to you!" a roar came from upstairs. A man with a knife in his hand walked down. He was furious, his face twisted and hideous. This is the suspicious man Di Zhen had followed yesterday.
Guo Pu raised his other hand, holding a golden pen. Di Zhen laughed, "Smiling Face Killer, are you pointing a pen at me?"
"Idiot!" Guo Pu sneered. He pushed the pen cap, and Di Zhen felt something was wrong. He immediately dodged. It felt like something had stung his leg. Looking down, he saw a hole in his leg, and blood was gushing out.
"This is a gun!" Guo Pu said.