When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

Immediately, I pounced on the food when it was served. For some reason, probably because I was famished, the food from this hole-in-the-wall restaurant unexpectedly tasted exceptionally good.

“This is so good!” I exclaimed.

He let out a smile and said, “The food is indeed delicious.”

“How did you find this place?”

“I didn’t find this place, my colleagues brought me here.” He paused before saying, “I despised this kind of restaurant back in the day when I was studying in Beijing. Only now have I realized that these are just the prejudices people form. The boss here is that lady over there; she is a widow with two children, working hard to support her family and maintain this restaurant. This place is clean, and the food is good, attracting people that want a delicious yet bang for the buck meal.”

I looked around the restaurant after hearing that and saw that most of the people here were factory workers and farmers while I, a young lady, was the odd one out. Compared to the restaurants I have been to in the past, this restaurant seemed more energetic, cruder, and cozier.

I could not help but let out a smile. When I turned back, I noticed Wu Yu’s gaze fixed on me. He promptly looked away, lowering his face and turning his attention back to the information in his hand with an impassive look on his face.

My heart fluttered somewhat with excitement before I lowered my head and continued eating.

I recalled asking him last night what he had experienced during the past year; he had answered simply with one word—life. I had no idea what he meant by that, and a search online with his name was fruitless because it only gave a brief description of his life before he went for his master’s degree. He used to be someone that seemed successful, and I had even criticized him for being too deliberate with his actions. However, he seemed like a completely different person now, leaving behind what he had for this crude life.

The old him would have detested this type of restaurant and that lady boss. But now, he was enjoying the food here and even rushed in without hesitation to save the child last night, receiving a punch to his face in the process.

He must have experienced a whirlpool of destruction for such a change in his character.

I looked at his short black hair, his broad forehead, and those beautiful jet black eyes. How could I have not recognised him right away? How could there be a second person in this world with such masculinity? Even though he looked rougher now with his stubbly chin, rugged appearance, red tan around his neck because of his simple T-shirt, and the minute wounds on his big repairman hands, he seemed more captivating compared to before.

“Stop staring at me,” Wu Yu said abruptly without raising his head.

I immediately responded while my heart skipped a beat, “I’m not.”

“I’m not the man I was.”

I did not understand what he meant, but he continued to say, “I won’t give up easily just because of pride or certain goals and benefits.”

He raised his face to look at me, causing my heart to race slightly as though I had received a shot of adrenaline. Immediately, I understood what he meant.

“Oh, you gave up after we fought on that ship?”

He fell silent for a moment before he said, “I waited for you all night at the restaurant, but you didn’t appear.”

A hint of bitterness unexpectedly surfaced in my heart as I recall my disdain for him on that day. Of course, I could not allow myself to go to the restaurant, so I got the meal delivered to my room before going to sleep. Everything after that was blank.

The two of us fell into a lull before I placed my chopsticks down and said, “I don’t think I can finish this.”

“You can pack up the leftovers for later.”

“Yeah, I’ll have this for dinner later.”

He smiled.

“Let’s talk about the case. It seems now that finding that man through helping the police solve this case is the only way for us to get closer to the truth.”

Although I have never solved a case, I have done countless deductions and story designs based on real-world cases. Furthermore, my mentality on this was that two heads were better than one. With Zhuang Yu’s wealth of sci-fi information, Wu Yu, and I, we would surely be able to crack this case. At a crucial moment like this, I knew I should not show incompetence or cowardness, so I nodded solemnly and even gave his shoulder a tap before I said, “Don’t worry, I’m here. Even though you know nothing about deductions, your physical strength will come in handy. We’ll be able to complement each other.”

He let out a smile. “Sure.”

I picked up some of the information, giving it a brief read before scratching my head. “So, where should we start? Normally, there are two approaches to solving a case. The first is to think ahead, while the other is looking back. Looking back means analysing the previous victims and the perpetrator’s background in order to find a pattern or motive, perhaps even revealing the perpetrator’s identity in the process. Thinking ahead is to predict his behavior to find his next target and apprehend him. Of course, the two methods are inseparable.”

“Let’s think forward.”

“Why?”

“I prefer doing things in a simple and logical way.”

“Oh, sure.” I felt a slight quiver in my heart. What am I feeling? Is it because this man has both brains and brawn?

I repressed my feelings and asked, “Where should we start?”

Our gaze met after that with his eyes clearly sparkling.

“The birds.”

“The birds.”

Unexpectedly, we both said the same thing.

Although the birds appeared at most of the crime scenes, it was not yet clear to us whether they were merely an ominous sign or connected to us in some mysterious way. Yet, their existence meant that we would have to follow them to figure out their secrets. Obviously, Wu Yu and I were thinking about the same thing.

“Where did you last see the birds?” Wu Yu asked.

Right as I was about to answer him, shock filled me. His question was like an intense flash of light that abruptly illuminated my mind. It made me realize something; the thing I had overlooked while on my way here.

I stared at Wu Yu with my eyes wide open while he fixed his gaze on me promptly.

“Wu Yu, I think I know who the next victim is.”