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墨書 Inktalez
Looking at the inconspicuous footprints leading from Ziya's bedroom, Severe Cold meticulously examined them. Ziya was puzzled as to why Severe Cold was interested in the bushes beneath the windowsill, where a corner of a white scarf fluttered in the wind.
"Does this scarf indicate something?" Ziya asked as Severe Cold carefully retrieved it from the bushes and placed it into a plastic bag he always carried.
"Shh! Everything has a reason, you understand?" Severe Cold replied mysteriously.
The two did not prepare lunch in the villa that afternoon; instead, they went out to find a light porridge shop for a simple meal. "Do you remember when you had instant noodles? Was there still some in the cup? It can't just be an empty cup!"
"I didn't check if there was anything left in the box when I took the noodles. But Sun Meng said that the noodles were just bought from the supermarket, so there shouldn't be any bugs."
"Sun Meng... how is your relationship with her?"
"You don't suspect she would do anything to me, do you? We have a good friendship; we've known each other since childhood. She would never do that. Don't even think about it."
"Wrong. People's hearts are unpredictable. They change with their environment. The reason I brought you here to discuss these matters is that I'm afraid there might be another layer of trouble in that house." Severe Cold took a sip of sweet potato porridge and lightly tapped his chopsticks on the center of a small dish.
Ziya wiped her lips with a napkin and put down her chopsticks, indicating she was done eating. "Are you being overly sensitive? I won't accept your speculation."
"No, don't rush. Let's start from the beginning. On the first day, you encountered bugs in your instant noodles, right?"
"Yes."
"Then there were bugs in the cake? The incident with the cat and dog scratching, and the door opening at midnight, plus the delivery from CD..." Severe Cold glanced around and lowered his voice as he analyzed it for Ziya.
"Yes," Ziya nodded thoughtfully after a moment.
"Alright! You might be afraid to face reality, but tonight we'll see how effective those cameras are." Severe Cold noticed a hint of vulnerability in Ziya's complex gaze. At that moment, her spirit seemed low; she needed to recover quickly, or she might struggle to handle the truth when it finally came to light.
However, what puzzled Severe Cold was if this matter truly aligned with his deductions, then whoever orchestrated it was essentially digging their own grave. It was obvious that they would be linked back to it! He should have realized this point himself.
Ziya was lost in thought when her phone suddenly rang. She smiled shyly at Severe Cold, picked up her phone, and walked outside the porridge shop.
"Hello... Anqing... yeah," Anqing's unexpected call inquiring about her daughter's well-being stirred a sense of unwarranted grievance in Ziya. Her eyes became moist, and she struggled to speak, stammering for a long time without managing to articulate her feelings.
Noticing something was off in her daughter's tone, Anqing pressed her with questions about what had happened.
"Anqing, it's nothing. I'm just a bit under the weather." Ziya knew that Anqing had always disliked her going out alone, fearing it would worry her. She hurriedly replied, trying to sound calm.
Although Anqing still suspected her daughter might be lying, she knew Ziya was a good girl who rarely deceived anyone. So, if Ziya said she was fine, then she must be. After a few more admonitions from Anqing, Ziya impatiently hung up the phone.
After ending the call with Anqing, Ziya didn’t immediately close her phone. Her fingers glided over the screen as she contemplated calling Sun Meng...
Severe Cold emerged from their meal and asked, "Should we head back to the villa or go somewhere else?"
Ziya closed her phone. "Uh, never mind. Time is tight; my vacation is almost over. Let's go back and finish the story of the Lin Sisters."
As Ziya and Severe Cold walked down the path leading to the villa, they noticed several young women playing with children nearby. From their attire, it was clear they were nannies. Nowadays, nannies were not just ordinary caregivers; their salaries and benefits had significantly improved. However, families were also more selective when choosing nannies, requiring them to meet certain standards in demeanor and education. They needed to possess qualities of virtue, intelligence, physical fitness, and overall character since nannies often spent more time with children than their parents did.
"The salaries for nannies these days are no small amount; I've heard they range from one thousand to two thousand," Severe Cold remarked as he observed a few nannies before turning to chat with Ziya.
"Well, you get what you pay for! Nannies have to take care of everything for the kids—feeding, changing diapers—and they need to be full-time to earn that kind of salary!" As they spoke, they arrived at Ms. Tan's doorstep. A delivery person seemed to have been waiting for them for quite some time, accompanied by a Property Management representative who was chatting with him.
Severe Cold welcomed both the Property Management representative and the delivery person inside. "Ah, we're relatives of Ms. Tan here to look after the house."
"Got it. By the way, Sun Meng informed us about guests coming over last Sunday," the Property Management representative said as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to Severe Cold.
"Oh no, I just had one," Severe Cold replied politely but accepted the cigarette with a smile and began exchanging pleasantries.
Ziya remained silent, trailing behind, sitting on the sofa as she inspected the second package that had been mailed to her. The courier had left, and in the lobby, Severe Cold and Property Management were still chattering away.
"Are you all getting used to being here? Ms. Tan has quite a peculiar personality. We've hired several caregivers for her in our community, but they all ended up leaving in a huff. Eventually, we found a professional caregiver from out of town who seems to be doing well."
"Is it that the caregivers couldn't get along with Ms. Tan, or was it the other way around? Is there some kind of conflict between them?" Severe Cold noticed the confusion on the other's face and quickly clarified, "I mean, did they have a falling out? Would the caregiver harbor any thoughts of revenge or something like that..."
"Oh, I see what you mean. I can assure you that won't happen in our area," Property Management asserted confidently. Then, as if recalling something, they turned to Severe Cold and said, "We visit Ms. Tan at the hospital every day. Doesn't she have cats and dogs at home? Why haven't we seen them?" Property Management's gaze began to scan the surroundings.
Severe Cold had initially intended to keep Property Management around to gather some clues but was surprised that this person had nothing useful to say and was instead pursuing information about the already deceased pets.
"Ahem, well, we have other matters to attend to. You see..." Severe Cold deliberately changed the subject, especially since Ziya was still unaware of the pets' deaths.
"Alright then, you all carry on. Goodbye." Property Management stubbed out their cigarette in the ashtray and politely said farewell to Ziya and Severe Cold. As they spoke, Severe Cold stood up to escort them to the door, waving goodbye.
Once the door was closed, Severe Cold turned around and suddenly noticed that Ziya's expression seemed off after receiving the package. He quickly asked, "What's wrong?" As he spoke, he caught sight of the Brown Envelope in her hand and understood a bit more.
The two of them took out the CD from the envelope and played it in the bedroom. The computer screen flickered with static before revealing a woman with long hair sitting in a wheelchair, this time shown from a side angle.
Ziya stared intently at the screen; this close-up profile looked eerily similar to her nightmare from last night. Remembering that dreadful dream made her tense up suddenly, her fingers gripping Severe Cold's arm anxiously.
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