Book 2: Chapter 4: Song of Death
Curious to hear if anyone has any theories after this chapter! How do you think everything so far might be connected? Also this chapter title is kind of ironic because the word for Death (死) in Chinese sounds similar to the word for Four (四).
CW: Suicide.And a general reminder to please take note of the WARNING for reading this novel on the Index page before you continue the series. I do not plan on repeating the warnings individually for every chapter (there would be way too many).
It felt exceptionally chilly tonight. The temperature had dropped significantly compared to the previous few days. Calculating the time, it was close to twenty-seven days after the Winter Solstice – the coldest period per the old almanacs. While S-City was in the south, it was located near the ocean. Thus, whenever winter hit, the wet coldness would seep straight to the bones; it was truly unbearable.
“Tch, so damn cold. When exactly will this freak weather finally warm back up…”
The patrol officer Ah Xing very slowly rode a bike as he muttered to himself in a hunched position. The hot breath that blew out from his mouth formed a white fog that quickly dispersed in the freezing winds of the winter evening.
Tonight just had to be his turn to take the night shift, and the weather just had to be abnormally cold. Despite this, he still needed to repeatedly circle around the streets and alleys in the middle of the night to patrol. The reason was because the cleaning group had reported that there had recently been garbage bins being damaged by people in the nearby areas. The trash would be tossed out from their receptacles, scattering domestic garbage and kitchen waste all over the ground. This would fill the alleys with filth, making it impossible to clean completely no matter how much they tried.
Moreover, there had even been bloody rat corpses in the piles of trash.Some were missing their heads, some were missing half their bodies, and some even had their innards torn out in sickening way. The blood splattered there had frightened quite a few children heading to school in the morning.
“Sigh, these people are such a pain. How is this human destruction? It’s definitely just some stray cat or dog.”
Ah Xing pedalled his bike over to the alley where the garbage bins were stored. There was a wire net and extended gripper hanging from the bike handles, things he planned to use to capture the destroyer. Then he would send it away to a stray animal shelter. That should completely resolve these matters.