Winter Time Rendering

The bicycle was bound to jolt a little.

It was 11 a.m. sharp. His phone’s battery was at thirty percent. Fresh, cold air filled his nose. The view ahead was wide open, with few people on either side.

He took a shortcut along Xiaolu, which let him see the scenery by the lake.

Today, the lake was a deep blue, nearly the same color as the sky.

Clumps of reeds grew hardily, and you could still see patches of unmelted snow. The wind off the lake carried a faintly briny scent. In this quiet moment, a girl in a strawberry bear hat sat behind him.

Zhang Shutong only knew the bear by name; he didn’t even know if it was from a movie or a cartoon. But for some reason, he felt it was a perfect match for Gu Qiuyan’s personality.

The arm around his waist gradually loosened. Zhang Shutong asked her if there was anywhere else she wanted to go after the commercial street. They might not end up going, but at least it would give them some ideas.

But she just pulled out that Tom Cat app again. No matter what Zhang Shutong said, all he heard in return were his own words repeated back to him.

Zhang Shutong was speechless at first. ’He’d heard of releasing the hounds,’ he thought, ’but never releasing the cat on a bike ride.’ After a while, though, he got used to it and just started talking to himself.

He started describing the territories he and his buddies had claimed on the island back in the day: where the Temple was, the base, the forbidden zone... It was all mindless, pointless chatter, but when the Tom Cat app played it back, it added a quirky touch.

Soon, they arrived at the commercial street. He locked up the bike, then took out his phone to send a message to Du Kang. ’The ride had gone by surprisingly fast,’ he thought.

The commercial street was a bit more crowded here, with plenty of couples strolling about hand in hand.

Gu Qiuyan finally broke her silence. "What’s next?" she asked. "Just keep playing with your Tom Cat," Zhang Shutong said, earning a glare from her. He quickly explained, "Don’t worry, just enjoy yourself. Leave everything to me."

So she didn’t press the issue, and Zhang Shutong offered no further explanation.

He walked with Gu Qiuyan into the commercial street. They didn’t look out of place, and Zhang Shutong was already prepared for bag-carrying duty.

But Ruoping was wrong about one thing. His mission today was far more demanding than she and the others imagined. He wasn’t just responsible for showing her a good time; he had an investigation to run as well.

It was Saturday, so the students were off from school.

Finding the so-called "killer" was still like searching for a needle in a haystack. But as he’d told Qingyi before, trying to guess the motive was impossible. They could only use the process of elimination.

He didn’t have any reliable leads. He’d even considered asking Song to check with Father Gu about any enemies the family might have made on the island. But he quickly dismissed the idea. ’If Father Gu had any clue, he would’ve already sent the police to investigate.’

Zhang Shutong deliberately chose shops with fewer people.

They went from one shop to the next. He’d occasionally browse inside with Gu Qiuyan, but he didn’t find anything useful.

In the original timeline, the girl’s disappearance could be narrowed down to one of three days: Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

But now, so much had changed that referencing that old information was no longer very useful.

So, he decided to make a bold assumption, working from a presumption of guilt: that the killer would definitely make their move today.

The window of opportunity on Friday had already passed, and the Gu family would be back on Sunday.

’The killer might not know that,’ he reasoned, ’but if I put myself in his shoes... the arsonist has been caught, so Father Gu is bound to react. His family could show up tomorrow, the day after, or even rush back tonight. Faced with such an unpredictable future, the only option is to strike today.’

And the sooner, the better.

’If the killer is going to make a move, he can’t just be waiting in his shop. Never mind the preparations needed before the act, he at least has to know where Gu Qiuyan is. It’s not like he’d go all the way to her villa only to find out she isn’t even home.’

Zhang Shutong didn’t think their target was that stupid.

Of course, if he really was that stupid, there was nothing to be done about it—

—because Du Kang was already there.

Therefore, Zhang Shutong’s focus shifted to shops that were missing a man.

Most of the shops on this street were run by couples, though some were single-person operations, like a clothing and hat boutique. Therefore, if he could find a shop that was short-staffed today, he could narrow down his search.

It was a good theory, but difficult to put into practice. As someone who had just returned from the future, he still couldn’t tell all his classmates apart, let alone recognize the various shopkeepers on the commercial street.

—But there was one person who could.

Among the four of them, there was one bubbly, talkative girl who loved to hang out here and knew the place like the back of her hand. In fact, she was the one who’d first heard the rumor that the commercial street was slated for demolition.

The guiding principle of this operation was that everyone would play to their own unique, irreplaceable strengths.

So Zhang Shutong typed a message to Ruoping: "Urgent. Need help. Mighty heroine, I summon thee!"

The heroine answered his call at once.

"Speak," came her grumpy voice message. But when it came to important business, she never let her temper get in the way.

Zhang Shutong began taking pictures of the storefronts, one by one, and sending them to her. He’d describe who was in the shop and the general situation, and after a moment’s thought, she would reply.

Of course, even for the ones she couldn’t answer herself, Ruoping had her own network of girlfriends. She had a wide circle of friends and could always get an answer after sending a few texts.

Going back and forth like this, they began to check each business, one by one. By the time Zhang Shutong reached the center of the street, they had finally found a small shop that matched his criteria.

It was a bubble tea shop with a long line out front.

He remembered they had come here for a meal not long ago, and Ruoping had treated everyone to bubble tea.

Zhang Shutong lowered his phone and glanced at the "One More Cup" bubble tea shop.

He’d taken a lot of photos just now, and his phone’s battery had already dipped below thirty percent.

He typed another message, this one to Qingyi:

"What was the name of that plan you mentioned again? I forgot."

"Operation: Goddess of Destiny, Master of the Young Lady’s Future," came the immediate reply.

"Alright, then. Just giving you guys a heads-up."

With one hand, Zhang Shutong typed out the final two lines:

"Get ready."

"’Operation: Goddess of Destiny, Master of the Young Lady’s Future’ might be moving to phase two."