Love Me if You Dare: Pristine Darkness

Zhu Momo was a student at the Qingdao University’s Faculty of Chemistry. That day, in the afternoon, she braved the hot sun and went to the laboratory. Then, she saw that someone was already there.

Zhu Momo was very surprised. “Ke Ai? You’re here. I thought you . . .”

Ke Ai was her usual calm and gentle self. It was only upon looking more carefully, one would notice that her eyes were slightly red and swollen.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice low and soft. “It’s just that, the police . . . have not found my younger brother yet.”

Zhu Momo felt sad. The day before, the others had also been shocked and scared when Ke Ai was taken away by the police out of the blue. Although they were surprised, even suspicious, in the end, in all fairness, nobody believed that such a good person as Ke Ai could have committed a crime. A few months ago, there was a period of time when Ke Ai had seemed somewhat depressed, and did not join in their activities for a while. However, she had gradually resumed her normal behaviour. Yesterday, when Ke Ai had returned from the police station, she had told everyone that her younger brother had been murdered, which is why the police needed to question her. Everyone immediately sympathised with her.

“Why don’t you rest at home for a few more days?” Zhu Momo asked with concern. “I can manage the experiments on my own.”

Ke Ai shook her head. “How can I do that? Life must go on, and I can’t dump my problems on all of you as well. Let’s get started.”

Zhu Momo reflexively nodded. Although Ke Ai was gentle and easy-going, she had also always been highly assertive. This was also the reason why people liked her, whether they were male or female.

“I’m going into the inner room to carry out the observations. Can you take charge of the outer room?” Ke Ai asked.

“Oh . . . ok.”

“Momo.” Ke Ai paused before resuming, “I’d like to be alone for a while. I want to do things without being distracted. Otherwise I’ll . . . I’ll keep thinking about my younger brother. Don’t come in during the experiment, ok?”

Zhu Momo quickly agreed.

Ke Ai smiled gently and said, “Thank you.” She turned, walked into the inner room and shut the door. Zhu Momo took some test tubes and equipment from the cupboard. When she looked back, she saw that the inner room curtains had been tightly closed.

Zhu Momo was not overly concerned.

This experiment was not too complicated, but neither was it that simple. There were two parts to it: she would work in the outer room, mixing various chemical compounds and operating the apparatus. In the inner room, Ke Ai would have to observe the variations in data generated by the computer in real time and record them, then produce the experimental report. The entire process required four to five hours.

As the bulk of the experiment fell to Zhu Momo, Ke Ai would be relatively idle. However, after thinking about how Ke Ai had suffered such a severe misfortune, to ask her to undertake a delicate experimental operation that required a high degree of concentration would not be appropriate. So, Zhu Momo immersed herself in the work.

In the inner room.

When Ke Ai pulled the curtains across, she felt a momentary despondence. She looked up and stared out of the window. The weather was wonderful, the clouds were so white, and the sky was so blue. All across the lush, green campus, people were walking, some people were quietly waiting. Their lives were so tranquil.

Did anyone realise that someone’s bones had long been buried in the ground, buried in a place without light, without justice?

A very, very good person.

Just because that person had encountered the greed, malice and mediocrity of those ordinary people. That person refused to yield, and was thus killed.

Killed because of her.

Ke Ai stood still for a while. Suddenly, the corners of her mouth turned up in a mocking smile.

It has been so long since the events occurred; already half a year. Is her heart finally serene?

Or . . . will that day, when peace is achieved, never be possible?

She lifted her hand, slowly unbuttoned her clothes and took them off. She reached for the white lab gown at the side.

Ke Ai, be courageous, don’t look back.

Head for a better life.

——

Two or three o’clock in the afternoon. Xu Sheng stayed in the school dormitory; she did not go out, and she did not do anything.

Her roommates had all gone for interviews, or were looking for jobs.

She was still in the same old place, the same old state. She felt like a snake that was about to hibernate, ugly from head to toe, and unable to move.

The sunlight was very strong. She stood at the window and could see a car still parked downstairs. The car contained two police officers who were keeping a 24-hour watch over her.

She had heard that a similar detail had been stationed at the bottom of the apartment block where that girl called Ke Ai lived.

The police said that was Ke Qian’s sister, his twin, and that she was now their prime suspect.

Xu Sheng gnawed lightly at her lower lip.

However, she still felt that something, somewhere, was wrong. The feeling weighed on her heart like a menacing black boulder.

Perhaps, that night, having seen the pictures of how Jiang Xueran had been killed, the force of the shock had been too much for her. That made-up appearance, that long hair, those clothes – had all been the things that Ke Qian was fond of. Only he had obsessively, singularly loved that particular get up.

At that time, Xu Sheng and Wen Xiao Hua had really believed Ke Qian had died and been resurrected.

Even now, the two words, ‘Ke Qian’, lingered on in her heart like a shadow.

Living in an absent-minded daze, just getting by each day by mediocre day – that was the state of Xu Sheng’s present life.

Later, she pulled the curtains shut, turned on all the lights, burrowed into her blankets, and dozed off.

“Ta . . .” The door was pushed open with a soft sound.

Followed by light footsteps.

Xu Sheng heard the footsteps in her drowsy stupor, then suddenly realised what she had heard and started awake.

The lights had been turned off at some time, and the apartment was in darkness. A figure stood by the bedside.

One look at his face and Xu Sheng was scared witless. He wore a cap, a simple white T-shirt and shorts, revealing a delicate collarbone and slender legs. But it was clearly him! Those clear yet despondent eyes, that nose beaded with sweat, tightly pursed red lips.

“Ahhhhhhhh . . .” A hoarse cry burst forth from Xu Sheng, but she had hardly opened her mouth when he smothered her. He was wearing gloves, and the plastic pressed down on her mouth ruthlessly so that Xu Sheng could only make muffled cries. However, she was not a weak and timid girl. She struggled for her life, and pushed hard against his chest.

His flat and muscular chest.

But, in the end, she was no match for him.

Ke Qian slapped her hard across the face and Xu Sheng was rendered dizzy. Ke Qian grabbed a decorative ornament next to the bed and struck her heavily on the back of her head.

Xu Sheng lost consciousness.

Ke Qian quietened for a moment. He let go of her and stood without moving.

He appeared to be thinking, or perhaps, appreciating the moment.

It was at this moment that the faint sound of voices suddenly came from the corridor outside. “What did you bring Xu Sheng?” “Dumplings, aren’t those her favourites?”

Ke Qian’s expression became apprehensive. He glanced at Xu Sheng lying on the bed, then turned and walked quickly towards the door. When he opened the door, the girls were still a distance away, and did not appear to be looking in this direction. Ke Qian made up his mind and quickly walked down another staircase.

——

Zhu Momo completed the first set of experiments and took a break. Looking up, she saw that the curtains across the windows had been pulled back at some unknown time. However, they were only half open, and the inner white muslin curtains were still pulled across. She could still clearly make out Ke Ai standing with her back towards her, motionless.

Was she thinking about something? Zhu Momo wondered.

After an indeterminate time, she walked to the cupboard to retrieve some other equipment. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Ke Ai’s figure moving; she seemed to be bending over to pick something up.

——

The sun was in the west.

When Fang Qing arrived at Xu Sheng’s dormitory, he was shocked by the chaotic situation that greeted him.

Xu Sheng’s clothes were in disarray, there was blood at the corners of her mouth, a huge lump at the back of her head, and purplish-red weals and marks on her neck and wrists. She kept covering her mouth, and was curled up in a corner of the bed, crying. No matter what her friends or the police did, she would not get off the bed.

Fang Qing took in the chaos, called the policeman on duty to one side and snarled, “How could this happen? How could someone break in here without being noticed?”

The young policeman was both remorseful and aggrieved. “Team Leader Fang! We really did not see Ke Ai enter! We’ve been keeping close watch all this time!”

Fang Qing pondered for a while, then walked aside and called the criminal investigators in charge of watching Ke Ai. “Hello? What’s the situation over there?”

The criminal investigator replied, “At 10 minutes past 12, Ke Ai entered the laboratory building and has not left the building since then. Moreover, we have been observing her through the binoculars, and she and her classmate have been in the laboratory all this time.”

“Xu Sheng was almost f**king killed over here! Get up there right now and look for Ke Ai!”

In shock, the criminal investigators hurriedly said, “Yes!” They pushed open the car doors and ran up the stairs.

On this side, Fang Qing hung up, looked at the disorderly situation and issued an order. “All of you, get out.”

Everyone else left the apartment. Only Xu Sheng remained, sobbing bitterly on the bed. Fang Qing sat by bed and said, quietly, “Don’t cry anymore. We will definitely catch the killer. My apologies. My colleagues were negligent and did not notice Ke Ai coming in.”

Xu Sheng looked up, her face so distorted by emotion that she looked like a demon.

“It was not Ke Ai . . .” she said, her voice trembling.

Fang Qing was startled. “Then, who was it?”

“. . . . Ke Qian.” Xu Sheng’s voice sounded as if she was being torn apart. “He didn’t die . . . he really didn’t die!”

Fang Qing fell silent briefly before replying, “The person that the previous two eyewitnesses saw was most likely Ke Ai pretending to be Ke Qian.”

“No!” Xu Sheng cried out shrilly. “It wasn’t a woman! It wasn’t Ke Ai! It wasn’t! I felt his body, it was a man! Definitely not a woman! And, the look in his eyes . . . his appearance . . . it was Ke Qian, it can’t be anyone else!”

Fang Qing was struck dumb.

——

The criminal investigators rushed up the stairs and shoved open the door of the laboratory, scaring Zhu Momo.

“Where’s Ke Ai?” one of them yelled.

Zhu Momo pointed to the inner room. “Inside . . . in there.”

The criminal investigators ran hurriedly over and pushed the door open.

Someone roughly pulled the curtains aside and the room was instantly filled with light. Data flashed across the computer screen and a few lab equipment were piled on the bench. Ke Ai, who was standing in front of the windows, turned around. Her long hair was a little messy but her face was extremely calm. There was a fine sheen of perspiration on her nose, and there also seemed to be drops of perspiration on the ends of her hair. She slowly put on her lab gloves and asked, “Officers, is there something wrong?”

——

The car stopped at a service area by the side of an expressway leading out of Beijing.

Jian Yao got out to buy some water. Bo Jinyan stayed inside the car for a while, his fingers tapping the steering wheel, before he got out and took out his cell phone.

This time, the call was quickly connected.

“Hey,” Bo Jinyan asked, “How have you been these two days?”

Fu Ziyu replied, “Really good.”

Bo Jinyan remained silent for a moment before he continued, “You . . . seem to have something on your mind.”

Unexpectedly, Fu Ziyu laughed. “My dear Jinyan, when did you become so sensitive? You’re thinking too much; I just woke up and don’t really feel like talking.”

“So it’s like that.” This was a sentiment which Bo Jinyan could well understand, as he too felt this way on getting up almost every day.

Both of them fell silent. Then, Bo Jinyan said, “Sorry, I’ve been busy with the anime murder case these few days and didn’t have the time or manpower to track Han Yumeng’s whereabouts. We can solve the case today, so wait for me for a while longer.”

“Hey . . .” Fu Ziyu continued in a mischievous tone, “What’s with that boastful tone? I heard An Yan saying it was a very difficult case, and that you guys had no leads. Looks like he was fretting for nothing.”

Bo Jinyan smiled faintly.

“Don’t worry about me,” Fu Ziyu said softly. “Actually . . . about Yumeng, I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s like you said, if she loves me, she will definitely come and look for me. Even if it might mean more difficulties and danger for her, she will still come, right? If she doesn’t, then I will just wait quietly. There’s nothing bad or wrong about the way I’ve been living my life these past few years. I think, even though there are plenty of doubts and misleading clues, it’s not really an issue for the police to deal with. In the end, the issue is love.”

Bo Jinyan was alarmed.

Then, he changed the topic.

“Have the wedding rings for Jian Yao and me been customised?”

Fu Ziyu laughed as he whispered, “It’s done, young master. Following your hand-drawn design exactly. It has been mailed from Switzerland and you can expect to receive it in the next two days.”

Bo Jinyan was very satisfied. “Many thanks.”

“What’s there to thank, young master, this is but what I should do.”

After hanging up, there was still a trace of a smile on Bo Jinyan’s lips. He looked up and saw that Jian Yao had returned.

“What are you smiling at?” Jian Yao asked.

“Nothing.” Bo Jinyan helped her open the car door, thought for a while, then took up her hand. He lifted it to his lips and gently kissed the back of her hand.

Jian Yao laughed. “What are you doing?”

He did not answer, and instead rubbed her ring finger lightly with his thumb. Jian Yao found the sensation ticklish, and thought to herself: where on earth did he learn this method of expressing love?

Both of them got into the car. Jian Yao asked, “What’s the objective of our trip?”

Bo Jinyan smiled. “We’re going to find the solid evidence that will definitely convict Ke Qian.”