Winter Returns

Chapter 89 Catching "Snake" (Part 2)
Zhang Shutong choked for a moment.

"How many people have you lied to this time?" she asked with amusement. "For example, what did you and your mother say about coming to the mountain for fun? What were you going to do?"

She added:
"Are you still wondering why I didn't ask about your purpose? Well, now I'm asking—what do you want? Will you answer truthfully?"

“But there’s no need to rush to answer. Let’s go.” She put away her playful smile and returned to her nonchalant demeanor, her tone indifferent. “If you want to be honest, then show the appropriate attitude. Since you’ve always wanted to go to that place, let’s wait until we get there to talk about it.”

“That would be best.” Zhang Shutong was not surprised by her directness.

Lu Qinglian then said in an unquestionable tone:
“I warned you before that there are some things you shouldn’t be curious about, but you still came. I hate nonsense and I won’t say ‘I’ll give you another chance to hesitate,’ so now it’s not a decision, it’s a necessity, and you have no choice in the matter, do you understand?”

After saying that, she took the first step, but not towards the entrance. Instead, she walked to the other side. Zhang Shutong followed her steps and saw a small shop at the end of the line of sight.

"No need to follow me, just wait for me where I am. I have some personal matters to attend to," she said casually.

Zhang Shutong stopped and watched as the girl in the green robe went into the shop and quickly came out again. He couldn't tell what she was carrying, because there was a pocket sewn inside her robe, where she had hidden the item.

These small shops don't sell many items; they mainly sell cigarettes, drinks, snacks, chewing gum, and betel nuts. Zhang Shutong recalled that she had mentioned buying snacks from this shop twice before: once was a pirated biscuit, and the other time was a breakfast sausage wrapped in plastic. She said that was a long time ago.

Zhang Shutong believed it at the time.

Now there are even more doubts.

If what she said is true, then she happened to go there for the third time today.

If those words were false, how much of what she said was true? Was she lying even in casual conversation, or was it all a carefully crafted facade?
He followed the girl into the entrance.

Eight years later, this was Zhang Shutong's first time stepping into this mountain. He knew that his current position was too low, so even if there was something unusual, it wouldn't show up. Nevertheless, he subconsciously observed his surroundings and even felt the changes in his body.

“You’re walking too slowly,” Lu Qinglian said calmly. “There’s nothing interesting around us, nothing to be wary of.”

"You're walking too fast." Indeed, she was wearing what looked like hand-sewn cloth shoes, yet she walked faster than her hiking boots. Perhaps she walked on them every day, and with practice, she was so skilled that it was as if she were walking on flat ground.

“I don’t think there’s any need to rush. Since I’m already here, we can chat for a bit,” Zhang Shutong glanced at the time. Only twenty minutes had passed since he changed clothes, and he needed to take his time. “I apologize for my previous attitude.”

Looking ahead, Lu Qinglian neither shook her head nor nodded:
"What do you want to talk about?"

"Those frozen snakes?"

"I cannot comment on that. I am a temple keeper, and there are some things I cannot tell outsiders."

This statement is essentially a tacit admission.

Zhang Shutong was pondering other questions, but the girl said:
"Now it's my turn to ask, why were you in that villa?"

"I stayed here last night." Zhang Shutong didn't intend to reveal Lao Song's existence.

"Your relationship with Gu Qiumian has suddenly become very good."

“Our relationship has suddenly become quite good,” Zhang Shutong said casually.

He then became somewhat irritated because he realized that Lu Qinglian was right. He had always thought she was full of riddles and kept everything shrouded in mystery, always saying things like "You can understand it this way for now." But wasn't he the same way? He had simply made up a more specific lie, and he wasn't much better.

To be honest, Zhang Shutong also loathed this. When there are too many lies, you can only cover them up with countless more lies, but he had no other choice but to tell others that he had a dream.

So he was prepared to be ignored, but to his surprise, Lu Qinglian stopped in her tracks upon hearing this:
"Really? How good is it?" she asked meaningfully.

Zhang Shutong was taken aback again. "That's the second question."

"Then you can ask."

Zhang Shutong hadn't decided what to ask yet.

Because he had just found a loophole in Lu Qinglian's words.

She "shouldn't" have known that it was Gu Qiumian's villa.

Logically speaking, Lu Qinglian would have no reason to know that there was a building there, let alone whose it was.

Because the villa's outline is not visible from the entrance of Huanshan Road, and she doesn't usually interact with Gu Qiumian, she wouldn't know where her house is. Her own mother would never say something like, "I'm taking you to another girl's house to pick up my son."

He recalled the photo of the long-haired woman that his senior had sent him. If it was only taken along the way before, and it couldn't be confirmed that she had actually been there, now it was almost certain.

She might even have been there before.

"You've practiced martial arts?"

"Martial arts?"

"It was the time I kicked the poacher away."

"He's just a bit stronger."

"An average adult male should be no match for you."

"You mean you want to give this a try?"

"Of course not."

Zhang Shutong then thought, if that's the case, who could kill her eight years later?

In the original timeline, Du Kang insisted that Lu Qinglian had been murdered.

By the way, she also died in the restricted area.

After walking a few more steps, Zhang Shutong called for her to stop and wait.

"I want to rest for a while." He deliberately gasped for breath.

Lu Qinglian simply frowned and stopped in her tracks.

"Have you eaten breakfast?" Zhang Shutong asked again.

"You're talking too much nonsense."

"I just think you need to get up very early, especially on snowy days."

"got used to."

"Did Grandma cook this?"

“Do you remember the question I asked earlier?” Lu Qinglian suddenly asked.

Zhang Shutong did remember, "How close were you and I?"

"Now I can give you a clear answer, and it's not that bad, so don't pry into my private affairs," she said coldly.

"Can we talk about something more serious then?"

"It depends."

"Why did Gu Qiumian's father demolish the Green Snake Temple?" Zhang Shutong hadn't asked before because he was worried that she might suddenly turn on him, but now that there were only the two of them around, he was practically a hostage, so it didn't matter whether she turned on him or not.

"You can ask her directly."

"Her answer is not important; your attitude is."

“I don’t know,” Lu Qinglian said bluntly. “If there’s an answer, it’s all in the riddle.”

"Development and construction?"

"Tourist attractions".

"So what's your attitude?"

"I should have said that I disagreed."

"If he uses some underhanded tactics, you should know about what's going on in the commercial district."

Zhang Shutong continued to probe.

Lu Qinglian, however, did not accept the challenge:
"Then why don't you tell me what answer you want to hear?"

Zhang Shutong fell silent.

“By the way,” he took out his phone, “I searched for several legends about the Green Snake Temple before. Which one is true? Could you tell me?”

“It’s my turn to ask,” Lu Qinglian said, not answering, but instead asking, “Why are you so concerned about your deskmate?”

"I have a crush on her," Zhang Shutong said without changing his expression. "So, how many clues have you gathered so far?"

"A commercial street, that's all."

"Really gone?" Lu Qinglian stared calmly into his eyes, as if confirming something.

Zhang Shutong met her gaze and nodded.

“You better not be lying.” With that, she took another step.

Zhang Shutong watched as Lu Qinglian walked with practiced ease. Going up the mountain was easier than going down, and following behind the girl was even easier than coming down the mountain road. All he had to do was align his shoes with the footprints, and since the snow had already been compacted, he didn't have to worry about slipping.

He looked around at the scenery, and indeed, just as Lu Qinglian had said, there was nothing to see. The ground was covered in nothing but snow, and the occasional exposed tree branch was also covered in a layer of white snow.

It was deserted.

That's probably the best way to describe this mountain right now.

They finally reached the halfway point of the mountain path. Zhang Shutong glanced at his phone, but this time he didn't tell her to stop, worried that it would be too obvious.

Lu Qinglian stopped on her own initiative, pointing to the white courtyard wall hidden in the mountains:
"We're almost there, you'd better not stop again."

It seems that's the Green Snake Temple.

"What did you mean by the warning you gave me before? Can you reveal that?" Zhang Shutong asked. "What would happen if I went there?"

"It depends on the situation." Lu Qinglian glanced at him.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, piercing scream rang out. Zhang Shutong turned his head instantly and saw a fox walking out of the woods on one side. The fox had only half an ear left and was now warily tucking its tail between its legs, barking at him in a low voice.

It felt like I was an intruder in these mountains.

This reminded Zhang Shutong of the Doberman Pinscher. He didn't seem to be liked by these animals and was always treated as an "enemy." He subconsciously took a step back, not out of fear, but because he figured it was better to avoid trouble.

Foxes are supposed to be afraid of people, but when he stepped back, the fox took a step forward and paced back and forth a few meters in front of him. He looked down at the snow, picked up a twig, and was about to throw it at the fox to scare it away.

"do not move."

Lu Qinglian frowned and stood in front of him.

As if the fox was someone important, she rushed forward to protect him in case anything happened to her. But in fact, she was turning her face away and saying "Don't move" to herself, not to the fox.

"Step back a little and put the branch down."

It turns out she was protecting the fox.

Zhang Shutong threw away the branch and simply walked down. When she turned around, she saw the fox running over happily. It reached the girl's feet and rubbed its furry head against her robe.

"A pet?" Zhang Shutong asked.

"No." The girl bent down and patted the fox's head, her expression finally becoming a little more lively, but only slightly.

It has to be said that Lao Song said he was inhuman, but Lu Qinglian wasn't much better. Only at this moment did she seem to be behaving more like a sixteen-year-old girl.

"What happened to its ears?" Zhang Shutong asked. "I saw that the scabs had just formed. Someone bit them off. Are there even more ferocious wild animals in the mountains?"

“There were originally five,” Lu Qinglian said softly. “Do you remember those two poachers?”

It turned out to be the case.

Zhang Shutong suddenly realized. He remembered that the other party not only hunted that kind of bird, but also other animals, including foxes.

"So you put down the branch because of this?" he asked again, "The shadow cast by that air gun?"

Lu Qinglian nodded slightly, as if a dim light flashed across her eyes.

He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Lu Qinglian. She was hardly human to begin with, and only became a little better in front of the fox. Who knew that the fox she raised would also die.

But such sympathy shouldn't be directed at her, so it was fleeting; Zhang Shutong wasn't here to see the fox today.

From the moment he started climbing the mountain, he used his own methods to eliminate the other party's suspicion.

In fact, he never believed that Lu Qinglian was the murderer of Gu Qiumian, but she was definitely involved. Zhang Shutong just never knew the role she played.

Even if she didn't do it herself, the possibility of indirect involvement cannot be ruled out.

Just like when Li Yipeng smashed Gu Qiumian's building blocks, he was undoubtedly the direct culprit, but was Zhou Ziheng innocent?

His second concern was that Gu Qiumian's death was too suspicious.

A security system with no loopholes, the killer's whereabouts are completely unpredictable, and the death locations seem to be predetermined... There are countless suspicious points.

The sudden heavy snow on this timeline, the frozen snakes, and the human figure he saw last night—all these things overlapping together gave him a very bad feeling.

It seems that Gu Qiumian's death has transcended the factors of "reality" and is caused by other unseen and intangible things.

There's no way to even deduce it, no wonder he was nervous.

The only thing Zhang Shutong could think of that could be associated with mystery on the entire island was the Green Snake Temple, or rather, the young girl who was the temple keeper in the Green Snake Temple.

Not to mention the clues pointed to by the tattoos on his arms.

Although he still couldn't be sure what the third circle represented, at least the first two pointed to the same thing.

So he asked Qingyi and the others to dig a very deep pit in advance, and set up a trap in advance on the basis of the snow pit where the game was made.

This decision was made at home not long ago.

If his attitude towards Lu Qinglian in the past was to keep his distance, then now he is facing the vortex head-on.

— Drag the other party into your own rhythm.

When doing things, avoid being indecisive and hesitant. Either deal with enemies or strangers, instead of being constantly suspicious and timid.

The truth is, he could never ignore Lu Qinglian's existence or treat her as a stranger; she could only be an enemy.

Only in this way can he gain some control.

Although snakes are dangerous predators, cunning and cunning, and will launch surprise attacks on their prey's vitals, humans are animals with four limbs, have gradually learned to walk upright throughout history, and can master various tools, so it is not impossible for them to catch snakes.

Zhang Shutong went up the mountain this time to catch this "snake".

While Lu Qinglian was teasing the fox, he took out his phone and glanced at it. A huge pit, big enough to fit an adult, had been dug. Once you fell in, it would be almost impossible to climb out on your own.

The area was concealed and covered with a thick layer of snow, with a mark made of branches. If it hadn't been checked beforehand, no one would have known it was a trap.

Qingyi sent him the exact location of the trap, then led Du Kang and Ruoping to retreat first, leaving behind some tools around, including ropes and shovels.

Even Zhang Shutong's eyelids twitched when he saw this, thinking that the other party was exaggerating.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration."

"Actually, I also think it's excessive, but since we dug, what if we didn't dig deep enough and she broke free? Wouldn't it have been a waste of time?"

"Right."

His thoughts at home were simple: he didn't have much time to test a dangerous person repeatedly. If Lu Qinglian still wouldn't say anything, he would have to force her to open her mouth in this way.

After all, no matter how good she is at fighting, she is still just a sixteen-year-old girl.

The ability to rewind has "disappeared." This disappearance means that Zhang Shutong is unsure whether it will still work if something happens to him, whether it will rewind to the key point before his death, or whether he will actually die.

This kind of thing can't be tested, and he wouldn't dare to gamble on it.

He didn't even dare to gamble that if Gu Qiumian were to be killed again, he could return to eight years later and gather intelligence to make preparations once more.

What if it doesn't work?
If we're talking about patterns, the biggest pattern in this ability is that there are no patterns at all.

He used to think that his ability was simply to "go back to the key point before something bad happened when something bad happened around him," but the fact is that this pattern that he had summarized over eight years was overturned.

Then we'll just have to steel ourselves.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong glanced at Lu Qinglian again.

The girl seemed completely unaware.

(End of this chapter)