Book 2 – The Voyeur
Qi Min withdrew his gaze and looked toward the entrance of the room.
The door was positioned on the right side of the wall.
A red T-shirt with a black collar hung from the hook behind the door, faintly bearing the English logo of a fast-food chain on the left chest. Below the door, at the foot of the bed, lay a mat with a pair of semi-worn sneakers and a pair of soft-soled leather shoes on top.
Compared to the cramped room, the bed seemed disproportionately large, taking up almost half the space. The bed was covered with a dark blue sheet, with a gray pillow beside a rolled-up blue-and-white plaid thin quilt and a half-open black backpack.
Next to the bed was a tiny bedside table, almost negligible in size, with an air conditioner remote control and an ashtray placed on top.
Qi Min walked over, glanced briefly at the bedding, and crouched down to peer under the bed.
A black suitcase lay quietly there. Pulling it out, he entered the combination and opened it to reveal neatly packed summer clothes. Digging further, he found some winter clothing at the bottom.
Without a doubt, it was all men’s clothing.
Qi Min sighed in relief, then took out a T-shirt and a pair of black trousers to change into. He himself was 1.8 meters tall, but the women’s clothes and shoes in the wardrobe looked quite small, clearly not his size.
Judging by the size, they seemed to belong to a petite woman around 1.6 meters tall.
Could they belong to his girlfriend or a female relative?
But after a quick inspection, the apartment showed no signs of another resident.
It was clearly an ordinary single man’s dwelling.
Qi Min reopened the wardrobe. Looking at the clothes and shoes inside, he guessed they likely belonged to the previous tenant. Perhaps the landlord hadn’t checked the wardrobe when reclaiming the property, leaving these items behind.
But then the question arose: Why hadn’t the previous female tenant taken her personal belongings when she moved out?
It might have been understandable to leave small items like slippers or a toothbrush, but an entire wardrobe of clothes and shoes?
Was it possible that something unexpected had happened to her? Had her family failed to come to the apartment to collect her belongings?
Or was there something in this apartment that terrified her so much she abandoned her possessions and never wanted to return?
After some thought, Qi Min decided not to touch the wardrobe’s contents. He closed the wardrobe door and kept his own belongings stored in the suitcase.
Qi Min then moved to the desk.
The desk was cluttered with books—some neatly upright in a bookend, others scattered messily across the surface.
Flipping through them, he found English and advanced mathematics textbooks, along with engineering materials like organic chemistry and human biology. At the very bottom, he even spotted a book titled Introduction to Pharmacy.
That jogged his memory.
After the college entrance exam, Qi Min had been admitted to Linjiang City Medical University’s pharmacy program as a freshman of the Class of 2010.
Having just finished his first year and begun summer vacation, Qi Min had been working part-time at a fast-food restaurant in the city center every weekend since mid-April of his second semester.
As soon as the semester ended, he moved out of his dorm and rented a room nearby in Fumin Apartments.
This was his first day in the apartment.
He had spent the morning cleaning and unpacking, followed by a shower.
Picking up his phone buried in the pile of books, Qi Min checked the time.
It was already 1:37 p.m., and his shift started at 2. The walk to the restaurant took over ten minutes, and the bus wasn’t much faster due to waiting times.
Realizing he didn’t have time for lunch, Qi Min slipped on the soft-soled leather shoes by the door, grabbed his work uniform hanging behind the door, and stuffed it into his backpack.
He walked to the desk, grabbed his keys, and swept his phone and wallet into the bag. Though mobile payments were available, they weren’t widespread yet, so cash was still the go-to.
Slipping the backpack on, Qi Min opened the door.
Beyond was a long, narrow hallway, dimly lit and just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Identical apartment doors lined both sides, each leading to a similar unit. At the end of the corridor was a staircase on one side and more rooms on the other.
Qi Min’s unit was the second door on the right from the stairs. It was daytime, and most of the tenants here were students or office workers. All the doors remained tightly shut.
The hallway had a single window near the stairwell, but since it faced a shadowed area, sunlight never reached inside, leaving the corridor unusually gloomy.
Stepping out, Qi Min locked his door.
As he was turning the key, a soft, deliberate sound of footsteps echoed up the stairwell. Paying it little mind, Qi Min pocketed his key and headed for the stairs. Before he got far, a man ascended from the stairwell—a tall figure in a black coat.
It was the height of summer, yet the man was heavily bundled, even wearing gloves on his exposed hands. Despite hunching slightly with his head down, the man was taller than Qi Min.
His hair, long enough to cover half his face, revealed a pale chin underneath. In the narrow hallway, they inevitably brushed shoulders as they passed.
“Sorry…” Qi Min murmured instinctively as their shoulders bumped.
Up close, he noticed the man’s hair was matted and greasy, clumped in strands.
There was a strange smell, too, faint but distinct.
Perhaps Qi Min’s sniffing had been too audible, as the man tilted his head toward him.
Under the shadow of his bangs, his features were sharp and strikingly handsome.
Yet his eyes were lifeless.
Though he seemed to address Qi Min, his gaze darted erratically to either side, as if searching for something unseen.
“It’s fine,” the man replied.
The voice was soft and faint, barely audible, like a thread of air drifting. Though the man had decent features, Qi Min felt an inexplicable discomfort as he got a clear look at his face.
Coupled with the man’s unnatural demeanor, the chill of the dim hallway made Qi Min’s skin crawl, goosebumps rising along his arms.
Keeping his expression neutral, Qi Min quickened his pace and hurried down the stairs. He didn’t stop until he reached the first-floor apartment entrance, where he stood and absentmindedly rubbed his arms.
At that moment, Bus 201 arrived at the station across the street. Qi Min, shaken out of his thoughts, ran across the road and hopped onto the bus without further consideration.
In the dim hallway, the man remained hunched over, standing motionless.
The sound of footsteps faded away. His head stayed still, but his eyes—bloodshot and trembling—shifted to the right.
The brass plate on the door marked “203” was reflected in his cloudy pupils.
Thanks to skipping the wait for the bus, Qi Min arrived at the restaurant by 1:44 p.m.
He entered through the back door, headed to the break room, and changed into his uniform. He placed his keys in his bag and locked it in a storage locker.
Killing time, he played a mobile game on his phone until 1:55, then walked out.
At the punch-in machine, he pressed his fingerprint, which registered him for the 2:00 p.m. shift. Only then did Qi Min head to the front counter.
At the ordering station stood a boy he didn’t recognize, likely a new hire. The boy nodded briefly at Qi Min before heading into the break room. Moments later, he reemerged in his regular clothes, waited until his shift ended, clocked out, and left.
As the minutes ticked closer to 2:00, the changing shift employees began to arrive one by one. The front counter team leader, Ge Jiahui, emerged in her blue uniform, did a quick headcount, and immediately began making phone calls.
Working full-time for the summer, Qi Min had observed that the fast-food restaurant, while busy, had a high turnover rate among its part-time staff. It wasn’t unusual for someone to stop showing up mid-shift. This often left the team leader scrambling to confirm absences and report them to the manager for a revised schedule.
At the last minute, Huang Xinrui from the dessert station rushed in, dressed in her uniform, holding her phone. She quickly clocked in and strolled over to her station.
Qi Min let out a sigh of relief. This was the 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. shift. Although the lunch rush had ended, the evening peak starting at 5:00 p.m. would be another challenge. If Huang Xinrui hadn’t shown up, Qi Min would have been running back and forth between the ordering station and the dessert counter all shift.
The day-shift manager had already clocked out, leaving only team leader Ge Jiahui in charge. After confirming attendance, she headed to the kitchen to check the equipment.
This particular branch of the fast-food chain was neither large nor small, furnished with simple wooden tables and chairs. Near the glass doors stood a long white table paired with several red high stools.
While the store’s entrance sported the signature red logo, the interior avoided the overly flashy red tones typical of many branches. Instead, the walls were light gray, the ceiling a creamy white, and the floor was covered in beige checkered tiles—subtle and understated.
The store was sparsely occupied, with only a few customers seated here and there. At the entrance, Aunt Lü was cleaning up a spilled drink caused by a child she had in tow.
The heat of the day, combined with Qi Min’s morning spent tidying his apartment, left him feeling drowsy as he enjoyed the air conditioning. In contrast, Huang Xinrui seemed full of energy.
With no new customers entering, she checked the ice bucket and, seeing it still full, leaned over the sundae machine to whisper to Qi Min.
“Qi Min, you missed work yesterday. Do you know why Cen Qiqi, who covered for you, resigned?”
“Why?” Qi Min asked groggily, struggling to stay awake but managing to muster some curiosity.
Huang Xinrui pouted and pointed toward the kitchen, looking annoyed. “It’s because of that… Yellow Teeth. Yesterday, Cen Qiqi worked the morning shift, but her replacement, Yun Linyan, was over 40 minutes late.”
“Cen Qiqi decided to round up the time and hung around the break room for about ten minutes… but Yellow Teeth saw her and tattled to the team leader.”
“The team leader scolded her, and she broke down crying. Right after that, she called to quit and even returned her uniform!”
“That Yellow Teeth—always slacking off, spending ages in the bathroom, and yet he has the nerve to call others out! Why doesn’t the manager fire him already?”
Qi Min vaguely remembered “Yellow Teeth.”
He was Zhang Dingwen, an old hand in the kitchen responsible for marinating food.
The Author has something to say:
Shang Jingshui: (Makes an entrance) (But with the vibes of a flashy young man)
Qi Min: “Aren’t you hot dressed like that?” (Focus entirely misplaced)
