Ch 27: Text Messages Across Time

Ten minutes later, the two of them got on a bus. Since it was past peak hours, there were two seats available. They sat one in front of the other, Lin Wu in the front, Qin Weidong behind. As soon as they got on, Qin Weidong opened the window to let in fresh air.

The cool night breeze flowed in, and Qin Weidong felt a bit more refreshed. Lin Wu turned around, wanting to say something, but this wasn’t the right place for a conversation. After thinking for a moment, he stayed silent.

At 9:20, they got off the bus together.

“You didn’t have to come back with me…” Lin Wu said, looking at Qin Weidong. Only after boarding had he realized that even if Qin Weidong agreed to lend the phone, they could have just met at school or his dorm. There was no need to come all the way back to his neighborhood.

“I’ve been thinking,” Qin Weidong said, stopping in his tracks. “If what you said is true, then in the original ending… was I already dead?”

Actually, it wasn’t just last night. Ever since realizing something was off about the unknown number, he had been thinking about this.

“At first, I thought that number was someone trying to harm people. But now it turns out everything was coincidence. If he really is from twenty years in the future, then I and the others in the internet café were saved because of those messages.”

“Even if I didn’t die back then, I might have been left with serious psychological trauma. Anyway, I’m really grateful to you as a friend. Don’t carry any burden about this!” After saying that, Qin Weidong seemed to feel Lin Wu was overthinking things and simply walked ahead.

Lin Wu quickly followed. Three minutes later, they arrived downstairs at Lin Wu’s building.

“You should go up,” Qin Weidong said. It was 9:30. He planned to wait downstairs until the messages were sent, then head back.

“Okay…” Lin Wu turned to go upstairs, but just before entering, he glanced back. Qin Weidong stood by the flowerbed, stepping on the red bricks, looking somewhat solitary.

“Um…” Lin Wu turned back.

“What?” Qin Weidong looked up.

“It’s kind of cold outside. Do you want to come upstairs?”

Lin Wu had never really had close friends growing up, nor had he ever invited someone his age home. He wasn’t used to having others in his space. But Qin Weidong had come here to help him, and after sharing such a big secret about the phone, letting him come inside didn’t seem like a big deal.

“…Alright.” Qin Weidong paused, then agreed.

Half a minute later, they were inside. When Lin Wu opened the door, Qin Weidong saw the layout: a narrow hallway, with a small gas stove, a sink, and some basic kitchen utensils along the side. At the end were two rooms, one facing the hallway, the other off to the side.

“Wu—Wu—” Luo Xiaorong was in the room facing the hallway. Hearing the door, she came out happily, but when she saw someone behind Lin Wu, she let out a small sound and quickly retreated.

“Mom, this is my classmate. It’s okay,” Lin Wu said gently.

“I’m sorry, Auntie, I didn’t know you were home. I came over without saying anything in advance!” Qin Weidong quickly apologized.

Luo Xiaorong opened the door slightly, peeked out, then shut it again.

“You can rest in my room for a bit,” Lin Wu said, opening his door.

“Oh, okay…” Qin Weidong felt a little awkward showing up so late. Just as he was about to say something, Lin Wu had already put down his bag and gone into Luo Xiaorong’s room.

Qin Weidong stayed in the room, looking around. Translated on Hololo novels. It was about fifteen square meters, with a bed, a combined desk and bookshelf, a chair, and an old brown wardrobe. That was everything.

The room was clean and tidy, faintly smelling of laundry detergent. He walked around, noticing the bookshelf was full of books, both textbooks and extracurricular reading.

After looking for a while, Lin Wu came back with an electric kettle and clean cups. “Sorry, there’s no hot water. It’ll take about ten minutes.”

Realizing Lin Wu was hosting him, Qin Weidong quickly said, “It’s fine, I’m not thirsty.”

“Mm.” Lin Wu plugged in the kettle, then adjusted his pillow and blanket. “You can lean here and rest for a bit.”

There was no sofa at home, and it wouldn’t be right to have him sit at the desk, so Lin Wu made space on the bed.

“Okay…” The bed was 1.5 by 2 meters, with gray bedding, neatly folded like a block.

Qin Weidong sat at the edge of the bed, then leaned back against the pillow and blanket.

It was now 9:40. Lin Wu placed his bag on the desk and began doing some homework. Qin Weidong didn’t feel like using his phone and had nothing to do, so after lying there for a bit, his gaze drifted to the bookshelf.

It was connected to the desk, divided into upper and lower sections, one with glass doors and one without. Both were filled with books, though the lower shelf seemed more frequently used.

After scanning them, Qin Weidong pointed at the lower shelf. “Can I take a look?”

“Sure!”

Aside from reference books, there were also novels like The Necklace and The Old Man and the Sea. Lin Wu thought Qin Weidong would pick something light to pass the time, but instead he chose a fully English edition of David Copperfield.

Lin Wu was strong in science but weak in English. He had bought that book at a secondhand shop, hoping to improve, but the vocabulary was too difficult, and without a Chinese translation, he couldn’t get through it, so it had been left untouched.

He thought Qin Weidong would just flip through it casually, but instead, Qin leaned against the pillow, reading it with interest.

Lin Wu watched curiously for a while, then couldn’t help asking, “Is it good?” It wasn’t prejudice, the book was genuinely hard.

“It’s pretty good.” Qin Weidong flipped to the first chapter and began reading aloud with feeling, “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else…”

“You’re so good at English!” Lin Wu was shocked. Not only could Qin Weidong understand it, but he read it with perfect pronunciation, even more engaging than their English teacher.

“It’s alright. I usually score above 135. The exact score depends on the test.” Qin Weidong looked a bit pleased. His overall grades were below average, but his English pulled him up. Among his group of friends, his was the best.

“Are you in the humanities track or science track?” Lin Wu’s eyes lit up. English was his biggest weakness. In his first year, he struggled just to pass, and even in senior year, he could barely reach ninety. To him, scoring above 135 was extremely impressive. He had assumed Qin Weidong was a low-key top student.

“Humanities. My grades are actually pretty bad, just my English is decent.” Qin Weidong felt a bit embarrassed by the praise. “Actually, my English was terrible in my first year of middle school…”

Qin Weidong wasn’t originally from the city, but from a county under Xuhu. His mother passed away early, and his father, Qin Jianzhang, was always away on business. He grew up with his grandparents in a village, attending the local primary school. The education there was poor, not just English, even basic science classes were rare. His family didn’t place much importance on academics, as long as he was happy, that was enough.

He had a happy childhood. Later, when it came time for middle school, there was no junior high in the village, and the one in the nearby town had terrible conditions. Qin Jianzhang felt that regardless of whether his son studied well or not, he should at least have a better environment. So he paid a large school placement fee and transferred Qin Weidong to Xuhu No. 21 Middle School.

It was the best middle school in Xuhu. When he first arrived, he was excited, but all that excitement was crushed in his very first English class—

“Qin Weidong, what is this?” The teacher had asked, holding up a pencil.

Qin Weidong: ???

There were no English classes in the village, but city students had been learning English since primary school. He stared at the teacher, not even knowing what “what” or “is” meant, let alone “pencil.”

He didn’t understand. Not at all.

“Qin Weidong! What is this?” the teacher asked again.

“I don’t know…” Qin Weidong gave up.

“Take your English book and stand at the back!”

That was his first English class. Translated on Hololo novels. There had been seven students standing at the back that day. He didn’t remember the details anymore, but he still remembered how wronged he had felt.

“In our first year, we should’ve started with the alphabet. Who starts by asking how to say ‘pencil’ on the first day? You can’t assume everyone has learned English…”

Even now, Qin Weidong still sounded a bit annoyed. “I was really angry back then. I called Qin Jianzhang, my dad, and told him I wanted to learn English, not textbook English, but the kind where I could actually talk to foreigners.”

“My dad thought it was just a passing phase, so he hired me two English tutors. Later, when he saw I was serious, he switched to foreign tutors. Every day was conversational practice. Then in my third year, he took me abroad for a trip, and that’s how my English improved.”

He scratched his head awkwardly. “Honestly, my English was basically bought with my dad’s money. If it were someone else, they’d probably be better than me.” He knew Qin Jianzhang had helped him a lot growing up, so he didn’t feel proud about it.

“It’s just luck. I’m just lucky,” he added quickly, worried it sounded like bragging.

“That’s not true. You’re really good,” Lin Wu said sincerely. To him, things like “foreign tutors” and “going abroad” felt very distant. But more importantly, most people, after experiencing that kind of humiliation in their first English class, might shrink back or feel discouraged. Qin Weidong hadn’t. He chose to master it.

Putting himself in that situation, Lin Wu wasn’t sure he would have had the same resilience.

At 10:10, Lin Wu pulled his chair over to the bedside. Qin Weidong put down the book and sat with him to look at the phone. After their talk yesterday, Lin Wu no longer planned to hide the contents of their messages.

“What is Lin Wu doing twenty years from now?” At 10:12, when the connection opened, Qin Weidong asked the same question again.

“He’s sick. He just had a minor surgery, nothing life-threatening, but he needs rest, so I’m sending messages on his behalf.”

In the Xuhu hotel in 2024, Lin Wu replied with a headache.

One lie required many more to sustain it. He hadn’t expected Qin Weidong to deduce from the fourth ending that Lin Wu retained memories across timelines. If he said Lin Wu was busy with work or out of town, it wouldn’t make sense. Illness was the only plausible explanation.

He expected Qin Weidong to ask what kind of surgery, but instead, Qin asked:

“Does Lin Wu remember one ending or all of them?”

“One. Only the owner of the phone, which is me, remembers all four endings. But I’ve told him everything. He knows the outcomes.”

“Is Lin Wu doing well now?”

“He’s a physics professor at Jianghe University. He has both status and success. He’s doing very well.”

“You’re going to be a physics professor?” Qin Weidong glanced sideways at Lin Wu with a teasing look.

“If I don’t study hard now, I won’t have anything in the future,” Lin Wu said helplessly.

With the atmosphere easing, Lin Wu sent another message—

“Based on the first four endings and police records, the suspect is a male around thirty years old, between 170 and 175 cm tall, physically fit, possibly someone who exercises regularly or has done manual labor.”

………

At his desk in 2024, Lin Wu studied the compiled information with full concentration.

In 2004, technologies like surveillance coverage, fingerprint identification, and DNA analysis were relatively underdeveloped. Combined with the killer’s strong counter-surveillance abilities, the case remained unsolved to this day. But that didn’t mean there was no useful information.

By combining public records with the four different outcomes, he identified three key clues—

First: In the first three outcomes, after Wang Jiahui and Luo Xiaorong died, the killer’s most recent crime occurred in July 2005. In the fourth outcome, where the two did not die, the killer struck in December 2004, then again in January and March 2005, committing crimes in rapid succession.

This suggests that when Wang Jiahui and Luo Xiaorong died, something influenced the killer and caused him to stop temporarily. This factor could be psychological or external, but Lin Wu leaned toward an external cause. In other words, when Luo Xiaorong died, something likely prevented the killer from continuing his crimes.

Second: In the third outcome, Wang Jiahui and Luo Xiaorong were killed near the artificial lake. In the fourth outcome, the third victim was also killed near the artificial lake, though at a different time. This indicates that the lake was not a random dumping site, but chosen for a specific reason.

Third: In the fourth outcome, victims were scattered across various parts of Xuhu, suggesting the killer was highly familiar with the city’s layout. Some online analyses had proposed that the killer might be someone who frequently interacted with schools, or perhaps a taxi driver. This could serve as a reference point.

…

“The current clues are still too limited. But we have one advantage the killer doesn’t know about: we know his crime times and locations earlier than he does. In our sixth outcome line, we can use targeted tracking and preemptive ambush…” Lin Wu sent the analysis above, then continued.

Now everything had returned to the original timeline:

November 19 — Wang Jiahui is attacked and becomes a vegetable.
December 15 — Luo Xiaorong is involved in a car accident.

Aside from them, there was one constant across all timelines:

October 21 — the second victim is followed but narrowly escapes.

That second victim was his seventeen-year-old deskmate, Li Jing.

When Li Jing was attacked, a passerby happened to intervene. She was frightened but unharmed. Translated on Hololo novels. Because of this, Lin Wu was reluctant to alter her outcome. He feared that interfering might cause the killer to fixate on her, leading to her death instead of escape. If they were to attempt targeted tracking, Wang Jiahui and Luo Xiaorong were safer choices.

“Wait!” In the family compound, Qin Weidong suddenly interrupted after reading the analysis from the unknown number.

“What is it?” asked the thirty-seven-year-old Lin Wu.

“In the first outcome line, Lin Wu had the idea on September 9 to warn Wang Jiahui. Then on your side, the next day, a new outcome developed from that idea. So now…” Qin Weidong glanced at the Lin Wu beside him. “Did you think about calling the police today?”

“I did,” Lin Wu nodded.

Qin Weidong sent: “Since we’ve already had the idea of calling the police, don’t you have a new outcome on your side that develops from that decision?”

✧˖°.──⋆⭒˚.⋆💌⋆⭒˚.⋆──✧˖°.