The team leader Kong, who had watched too many horror movies, let his imagination run wild, breaking into a cold sweat.
Meanwhile, Qi Min remained relaxed and casual, strolling toward the man as if taking a leisurely walk in his own home.
Guided by humanitarian principles, Qi Min put himself in the other’s shoes, eager to help the man solve his problem.
Seeing that the man wouldn’t respond, instead of backing off, Qi Min quickened his pace forward.
He was almost right behind the man now.
Perhaps sensing the neighbor’s overflowing enthusiasm and deeply moved by this neighborly atmosphere…
Before Qi Min could get close, the other person quickly resolved his own situation.
He opened the door to “209” and zipped inside.
Opening and closing the door happened in one smooth motion.
Before Qi Min could react, the person had vanished.
Kong Pengfei, who had been monitoring the situation through the phone, tensed up when he heard the door sounds: “How did it go?!… Qi Min, are you still there?”
Qi Min raised his phone: “I’m here! The neighbor solved it himself, he’s gone inside now…”
“It’s getting late, so I won’t go to the store. Leader, please hold onto the wallet for now. I have the night shift tomorrow too, I’ll get it from you then.”
Qi Min added with a slight sigh: “What a shame…”
Hearing that the person had gone inside, Kong Pengfei let out a sigh of relief.
Wiping his sweat, listening to Qi Min’s response on the phone, Kong Pengfei finally remembered he had called about the wallet.
Just as he was about to check on his team member who had just experienced a frightening moment, he heard the slight note of regret in the other’s sigh.
Kong Pengfei’s eyelid twitched twice.
“…”
Switching his phone from left hand to right hand, shuffling his mop back and forth, after a while, Kong Pengfei finally said dryly: “Oh… good… since everything’s fine, you should head inside… I’ve got things to do here, I’ll hang up now.”
Qi Min thanked him and promptly ended the call, leaving Kong Pengfei still standing frozen in place.
Yun Linyan, having finished moving ice blocks, saw the team leader standing there dazed with his phone. She casually walked past him, coming around to curiously observe his expression.
She saw Kong Pengfei clutching his phone with a look that questioned the meaning of life.
Qi Min hung up the phone and opened his room door to go inside.
After locking the door, Qi Min took off his backpack and tossed it onto the bed.
Sitting on the bed’s edge, he opened his phone and began searching through the recent wanted lists posted online by the Linjiang Province Police Department.
Actually, when he first saw the man that afternoon, Qi Min thought he looked familiar.
Unfortunately, the lighting had been too dim then, and with the man backlit and his bangs in the way, Qi Min only got a vague impression, couldn’t see clearly.
Qi Min hadn’t really meant what he told his team leader about wanting to help with a stuck zipper.
Mainly, the man’s behavior was suspicious, and Qi Min suspected he might be some kind of criminal.
It was perfect timing when the team leader called, so Qi Min deliberately kept the line open, playing dumb and using the pretense of helping to get a closer look at the man’s face.
If he really was some kind of criminal, having him frequently appear in the area would be a security risk.
By staying on the phone, normal people would be more hesitant to act out.
If the person really was someone from the wanted list, they could call the police to arrest him right away—not only ensuring personal safety but also earning a reward.
Unexpectedly, the man wasn’t naive either, and before Qi Min could see his face, he’d already slipped into his room.
After looking through everything, Qi Min found that none of Linjiang Province’s recent wanted notices seemed to particularly match the man’s physical characteristics.
Could he be from another province?
Yawning, Qi Min slowly lay down, continuing to scroll while his eyelids grew heavy.
Just like that, without even showering, with half his legs hanging off the bed, Qi Min fell asleep.
When he woke up the next day and lit up his phone on the bedside table, it was already eight in the morning.
Having not turned on the air conditioning last night, Qi Min was now covered in sweat and feeling itchy all over. He quickly got up to take a shower, brushed his teeth, and came out to turn on the AC.
While showering, he discovered mosquito bites all over his arms and legs.
Without the AC running, the mosquitoes had run rampant.
He must have been sleeping too deeply to notice being bitten.
…After being sucked dry all night, he wondered if he might be anemic.
Pulling out a bottle of Florida Water from his desk drawer, he sat back on the bed and applied it to the mosquito bites.
During the process, he found it amusing to press little “X” marks onto each bite.
After a full night’s sleep and now sitting in the air conditioning, Qi Min’s foggy mind cleared considerably.
Thinking back on last night’s experience, Qi Min felt he had been a bit reckless.
Even though being on the phone with the team leader might have made someone hesitate, if the person really was some kind of criminal, approaching rashly like he did yesterday was still quite dangerous.
The hallway was quiet.
Qi Min, covered in “X”-marked mosquito bites, opened his door to find no one outside.
Pretending to take a stroll, he walked to Room 209’s door, glanced at the lock, and tried the handle twice.
Then he quickly walked back.
The lock showed no signs of tampering, suggesting the man hadn’t picked the lock to get in, meaning he was likely the actual resident of that room.
Fumin Apartments required ID cards for renting.
Without a forged or altered ID card, most criminals wouldn’t choose this place as a hideout.
And making an ID card convincing enough to pass inspection took some skill and connections.
If the man really was a criminal, he’d have to be one experienced in counter-surveillance.
Though all of this might just be Qi Min overthinking things.
The man might just be a severe introvert who enjoys cosplay – a homebody anime fan.
His strange behavior could simply be social awkwardness.
And lurking in the hallway at night would make even more sense then.
Though online shopping exists, it’s not always immediate, and sometimes you need to go out to buy daily necessities for emergencies.
But due to his social anxiety, he chooses to stock up at night when others are asleep.
Of course, he might have just been out enjoying the moonlight and breeze, not expecting to encounter such an aggressively friendly neighbor.
The shy fellow got scared and retreated to his room at light speed.
Ah, that makes perfect sense!
After pondering this for a while and lying around some more.
Qi Min stayed in bed until 10 AM, only leaving his air-conditioned room when hunger became unbearable.
By then the mosquito bites had subsided. When he felt them while heading downstairs, he felt both satisfied and slightly disappointed.
To the left rear of Fumin Apartments, opposite the station, there was a cluster of abandoned buildings. The developer had run off halfway through construction some ten years ago.
They should have remained abandoned.
But both Fumin Apartments and these abandoned buildings were in the city center, where land was extremely valuable.
In recent years, some small vendors had actually started renting spaces around the abandoned buildings, opening shops that did decent business.
This cluster of abandoned buildings backed onto the Fumin complex. To reach the front, you had to take quite a detour.
Qi Min entered through a gap in the blue plastic barriers and wandered past the restaurants in these abandoned buildings. He spotted a small eatery called “Sister Chen’s Hand-Pulled Rice” and decided to go in for brunch.
Despite its name, the shop didn’t actually serve hand-pulled rice.
They served bamboo tube rice in the morning, various stir-fries and noodles for lunch and afternoon, and even barbecue for late-night snacks.
Entering the shop, Qi Min bought bamboo tube rice, added a large chicken leg, and a bottle of Bright milk, then found an empty seat to wait for his food.
The shop was rather basic, with no decoration – just bare cement walls with water and electricity hookups.
A few tables and chairs were set up in front, with stoves installed, and that was it.
It wasn’t too hot in the morning yet.
The small shop, perhaps to save on electricity, hadn’t turned on the AC, just opened the front and back doors.
From where Qi Min sat, he could see the slop bucket by the back door and a large garbage bin overflowing with trash.
Flies buzzed above it.
Beyond that were overgrown weeds, and a large pit of unknown purpose half-filled with dirt, with a mound of soil dumped beside it.
Like the front, the back of the abandoned buildings was enclosed by blue barriers.
But after more than a decade, many sections had collapsed, revealing gaps overgrown with weeds, through which you could see the side walls of Fumin Apartments.
Fumin Apartments was five stories tall with a rooftop.
From here, only three floors were visible, the rest blocked by the doorframe.
The windows lined up neatly in rows.
Yes, most rooms in Fumin Apartments had windows, right in the bathrooms.
The few rooms without windows were later modifications to increase revenue, and due to structural constraints, they couldn’t add windows.
These windowless rooms were 200 yuan cheaper per month than regular rooms – normal rooms were 800, so windowless ones were just 600.
When Qi Min came to rent, other rooms were available, but to save money he still chose the windowless Room 203.
But honestly, such rooms were dim and poorly ventilated.
You had to keep the lights on even during the day, and there was always a strange smell.
Looking at the rows of windows now, Qi Min felt he’d made the wrong choice.
Looking upward, Qi Min noticed someone standing in the second window from the right on the third floor, with dark curtains pulled halfway up, showing just a head.
Someone was still in the apartments at this hour? Night shift worker or student?
If the third floor had the same layout as the second, this should be Room 304.
It appeared to be a man.
Must be someone looking down at the scenery from the third floor bathroom.
Though what scenery was there to see down here…
Just then, the owner’s wife came over with a tray holding Qi Min’s bamboo tube rice and the bowl with the large chicken leg, which smelled quite good.
Qi Min quickly shifted his attention.
Putting a straw in his milk, Qi Min took a bite of the bundled bamboo tube rice.
The rice ball was stuffed with salted duck egg and fried dough strips, drizzled with meat sauce to keep it from being too dry.
One bite of rice, one bite of chicken leg, occasional sips of milk – Qi Min was eating with great relish.
Just as he was eating with gusto, a draft blew through, bringing with it a faint stench.
Not just Qi Min, but other customers smelled it too, all frowning.
The owner’s wife working in the kitchen seemed unbothered, but the customers weren’t having it.
A middle-aged man in his thirties or forties, apparently a regular customer, couldn’t hold back anymore and said: “Sister Chen, can’t you do something about the garbage at your back door? Since summer started there’s been this dead rat smell every day! How are we supposed to eat like this!”
The Author has something to say:
Shang Jingshui (tiptoeing out the door): (encounters neighbor about to say hello) (retreats back into room at light speed)
Qi Min (who had just raised his hand to say hello): …
Summary: When a socially anxious person meets a social butterfly.
