Who Will Kill Me Tonight? - Chapter 3

“Liang Ling, look here!”

She turned her head, and with a sharp click, the shutter went off. A girl in woolen gloves grinned, waving the camera in her hand. Liang Jing returned the smile. “You? What are you doing here?”

Liang Jing, dressed in a white lab coat, was on her way to the dental clinic near campus for an internship, when her friend Xiaoxiao came to see her.  She was a student at the Sports Academy next door. Though short, she was a professional cyclist, and her smile was marked by two deep dimples. “You haven’t come to see me in ages. I missed you, so I had to find you myself.”

Xiaoxiao loved playing with cameras, and her favorite subject was Liang Jing. As she liked to put it, her friend had this mysterious air about her, something alluring which pulled people in. Lately, she had been tutoring students to save up for a DSLR, and Liang Jing, not wanting to disturb her, hadn’t been visiting as much.

“It’s clearly you who’s been busy,” Liang Jing said helplessly. “Every time I came looking, you were off giving lessons.”

“Don’t bring that up,” XiaoXiao replied, hugging Liang Jing’s arm. “But you, look at yourself! If I don’t see you for a day, you will stop eating properly. Even your face has become paler.”

“It’s just the same as always.”

As the two friends chatted, Liang Jing glanced at the officer who had been tailing her all afternoon; a slight smile curled her lips before disappearing. Xiaoxiao said excitedly, “There’s this really good movie tonight. Will you come with me?”

“What movie?”

Xiaoxiao lowered her voice in faux eeriness, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!”

“Nonsense. Why would a movie that old still be showing?” Liang Jing patted her friend’s shoulder. “Tell me, what movie are you trying to trick me into watching this time?”

“You’re no fun.” Xiaoxiao sighed deeply. “Why won’t you watch a romance for once? Love is such a beautiful thing!”

Liang Jing said jokingly, “People like me aren’t qualified for love.”

“What do you mean by people like you? Aren’t you just an orphan?” Xiaoxiao snorted. “My parents are gone too. I’m just like you, homeless and without money. All the more reason to build a new family, don’t you think?”

Liang Jing just smiled and didn’t say anything.

It was perfectly normal for two friends to chat and joke around. Yuan Li, who had been observing secretly, yawned. After they parted ways, he continued to follow Liang Jing to the dental clinic. There, he watched her greet patients with a smile, a stark contrast to her cold demeanor that morning.

Liang Jing felt lightheaded by the end of the busy afternoon. On her way out to grab dinner, she slipped a piece of candy into her mouth to steady herself.

She noticed the police officer was still following her. If not for the sharp awareness she honed over the years, she might have never spotted him.

Liang Jing chose to ignore him and headed back to her dorm. She habitually glanced at her wrist, only to discover her watch was long gone. It was probably at the police station. She rubbed her thumb and forefinger together, thoughtfully. Fingerprints?

She shoved her hands in her pocket, walked into a small shop and glanced at the clock hanging above. It was 7:00. p.m.

There were still five hours left.

Back at the dorm, she read for a while before pulling the phone from beneath her pillow. It was already past nine.

“Liang Jing, how did that part-time gig go yesterday? Did you get it?” Her roommate poked her head out from behind the curtains covering her bed. “Didn’t you say it paid fifty yuan a day for only two hours of work? That’s pretty good.”

“It’s a little far away. Going back and forth is too much work. I’ll look for something closer,” Liang Jing told Nana, who was dressed in printed pajamas. “I’m heading out for the night shift now. Lock the door.”

“Got it.” Nana then sighs with emotion. “You must be exhausted working all day and night.”

“Not really. I can sleep there.” Liang Jing casually slipped a pepper spray in her pocket.

When Liang Jing got outside, she found the police officer was still squatting by a bush. It seemed the police suspected her. She cursed her luck and thought back to that handsome bureau chief. That man had some serious connections. Otherwise, how could he have become a chief so young? And now he had her under watch. Did they really believe it was her who drove an entire bus of passengers into the Liang River?!

Thinking of this, Liang Jing was very irritated. She bought a cup of milk tea and wandered into a secluded path. Holding the pepper spray tightly in her hand, just as she turned the corner, she suddenly raised her hand and sprayed it at the person hiding in the shadows.

Psshh—

“Ah!”

Liang Jing felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, and her eyes widened. She stared after the man who bolted away blindly with his face clutched miserably. How outrageous! What kind of greeting was stabbing someone straight off?

Her milk tea slipped from her hand. Clutching her stomach, she pressed against the wound to staunch the bleeding. Fortunately, the blood didn’t pour out immediately.

The police officer rushed over. “What happened?” Yuan Li quickly spotted the retreating figure of a man about 178 cm tall dressed in a black T-shirt and sweatpants. He didn’t appear very old and was wearing a baseball cap and a mask.

“Chase him!” Liang Jing’s face was drained of color. “He’s the murderer! 702…”

Yuan Li didn’t notice Liang Jing was injured. A normal person would cry for help if they were hurt. Since she hadn’t, he assumed she was only frightened. Hearing her words, he immediately gave chase. The killer behind the bus 702 disaster? As a young intern officer, Yuan Li got goosebumps hearing this.

Seeing him run after the man, Liang Jing struggled to her feet, still clutching her wound. Blood began to seep through her fingers. She took a few unsteady steps before collapsing against the wall. She slid down to the ground and tried to steady her breath.

She had deliberately chosen this alley. After nine, hardly anyone passed through. The streetlamps were dim, and the left wall backed onto a construction site. She squeezed through the crack in the slightly ajar iron gate and huddled in a corner, her breath coming out short and rapid.

Above, only a pale crescent moon hung. The hulking silhouette of a cement mixer loomed, shrouding her crouched figure in shadow.

A figure slowly walked down the cement stairs. The faint crunch of sand and gravel underfoot was unnervingly distinct in the silent night.

Liang Jing’s head snapped toward the sound, her face ashen. She immediately released the hand that was pressing on the wound and picked up the pepper spray. The loss of blood made her hand tremble, and her vision swam.

“How are you still alive?”

The middle-aged man’s voice sounded puzzled. He swung a construction shovel at her head. Liang Jing crumpled instantly. Her scalp split, and blood gushed down her face as her body curled up like a shrimp. She clutched her head, dazed and barely conscious. “Just now…wasn’t that…”

“If it wasn’t for that little brat, I would have fallen for your trick too.” The man grabbed her hair and dragged her away. “I saw your body getting torn, but you are still here? How?”

Her hands clawed blindly until she closed on a brick. She immediately slammed it against the man’s hand. He cried out in pain and released his grip. Grabbing the opportunity, Liang Jing scrambled to her feet and fled toward the half-finished building. Her frantic figure was unsteady and left a trail of blood behind.

The building was roughly constructed, and the stairs had no handrails. The darkness only fueled her fear further. Each step felt as if it would plunge her into the void below and crack her head open like a watermelon, splattering red, yellow, and white matter across the floor.

A light drizzle started to fall, followed by a boom of thunder. Liang Jing shivered at the lightning. Her pale face, smeared with blood, gave her a ghostly appearance. Her eyes trembled with terror and exhaustion.

Raindrops blew in through the openings in the building, drenching her red hoodie bit by bit. The further she went, the heavier her steps grew.

CLANG!

She knocked over an iron bucket, and the slurry inside spilled across the floor. Liang Jing pressed her hand against the wall, leaving a bloody handprint as she staggered further. She gasped for air; the blood loss had long rendered her weak, and her lips began to turn blue. Through the stairwell gap she saw the figure climbing steadily upward, dragging the iron shovel after him. The grating noise made goosebumps cover her body.

In this rainy night, it sounded like a knife scraping against her heart, causing her to panic.

Liang Jing shook her dizzying head, and then her tears fell. Her body was in terrible condition. Pain clung to her like a parasite, tormenting her entire body and dragging her to the edge of collapse. She had lived through nights like this ever since her twentieth birthday, over and over, with no reprieve.

“Why aren’t you running?” The man’s voice was like a sharp blade, causing cold sweat to break out on her back. ” Ah, right. You can’t.”

A heavy boot slammed down on her back. Liang Jing clawed helplessly at the wall, fingertips splitting against the rough surface. Just as the shovel was ready to strike again, she twisted her body, grabbed the iron bucket, and swung it back, knocking the man back a few steps.

She lifted her hand to check the time only to remember she had lost her watch.

She gritted her teeth, and used the last of her strength to jump from the fourth floor.

BAM!

Perhaps the fourth floor wasn’t enough, Liang Jing was still conscious when she hit the ground. Her body twitched, and blood gushed out from her mouth as rain pounded against her. Her lungs rasped harshly for air, but the rain drowned out the sound.

The man in the black raincoat was incredibly strong. She never stood a chance.

At last, Liang Jing closed her eyes.

The man threw the shovel down from above. How strange. Why had she fled upstairs and not outside? It was as if she was deliberately seeking death.

He recalled the day when the unfortunate girl in the yellow jacket was hit by the bus. He had seen her empty eyes up close as it flew down the bridge. However, when he returned to the bridge the next day, he discovered that the same girl was being driven away by police. Her face was pale, but she had no injuries.

No, he would not let her live again.

Whether she was a human or ghost, he couldn’t let her live again. But how to make sure she stayed dead?

The man walked down the building, crouched next to the body, and moved her long black hair aside. Her eyes were wide open, staring directly at him as if she were still alive. The small, seemingly inconspicuous blue mole on the tip of her nose gave her a strangely unsettling appearance, like a wisp of faint blue ghost fire rising from hell.

He pressed his fingers on her neck. Her pulse had stopped.

Under the cold rain, the body stiffened progressively. He hauled her body up and dumped it into the cement mixer. Then, dragging out a sack of quicklime, he poured it in, shoveled in sand and gravel, added water, and started the machine.

The sound of the mixer was muffled by the thunder. He loaded the concrete mixed with her remains into a wheelbarrow, pushed it to a pit dug for the foundations, and emptied it in. He then shoveled soil to cover it.

A bolt of lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating a face twisted into a crazed smile.