Murder Bureau within Bureau

  I was taken aback by the villagers' actions and for a moment forgot about borrowing the basin, leaning against the door frame with a puzzled expression.

  Pan Zi also woke up, and I didn't notice when he got up, swaying back and forth with a sickly look on his face.

  He squeezed in with me at the door, first looking at the villagers and then gazing at the mountain behind.

  At this time, a strong wind blew from the back mountain direction. The wind wasn't that bad, it didn't hurt much when it hit my face, but along with it, I heard a ghostly laugh, and coincidentally, the sky also cooperated by striking a loud thunder, both of which overlapped and made my heart beat wildly.

  Panzi's face sank, he turned his head and walked into the house, pulling down the bed sheet and stuffing it into his travel bag. His emotions were somewhat out of control, and he shouted loudly at me, "Du Rui! Let's get out of here, this task is not worth doing even if we die. If Li Tou wants to punish us when we get back, so be it, I'd rather go back to prison than lose my life here."

  I wanted to comfort him, but before I could say anything, he pulled the zipper and ran away with his backpack.

  I found out that his previous weak appearance was fake, now he's as agile as a rabbit. When I blocked his way, he shouted and pushed me aside, then ran out of the door quickly.

  He seemed to be leaving Suifeng Village thoroughly, and after hesitating for a moment, I also rushed into the house.

  I didn't even have time to pull up the bed sheet, stuffed things like a recorder into my travel bag and chased after him with it on my back.

  The two of us ran into the village, one in front and one behind. I didn't care about the occasion anymore, shouting for Panzi to stop, but he didn't listen.

  During this time, many villagers looked at us two and even regarded us as monsters. I didn't take it seriously, but when passing by the "Staff Canteen", I saw Liu Hui and Fat Old Lady.

  They were too weird, both kneeling on the ground, with a devout expression, took out a prayer-like thing, facing the back mountain.

  I really wanted to ask them why they did this, but catching Pansy was more important, so I had to give up on asking questions.

  As we walked out of the village, one in front and one behind, a torrential rain poured down from the sky. The raindrops fell like broken strings of pearls, falling recklessly to the ground, stirring up waves of mist.

  Normally, I should be faster than Panzi, he shouldn't be able to outrun me, but now it's different. Panzi took big strides and left me behind, I chased after him several times but couldn't catch up, the distance between us is getting farther and farther apart.

  I silently lamented in my heart, thinking that if it weren't for the fact that we're not in a time of war, Panzi's skill at slipping away unnoticed would have made him a perfect deserter.

  Panzi recognized the road, which was the one Liu Wei led us in that night. He rushed towards the thicket of bushes and by the time I caught up to the thicket, he had vanished.

  I was soaked to the bone, and my eyes were blurry from the rain. I wiped my face hard to clear my vision, but couldn't help cursing under my breath.

  I thought to myself, this thicket is so dense that you can't see what's inside. If Panzi follows the direction opposite to what the scarecrow said, he might still be able to get out of the thicket. But if he takes a wrong turn, where am I going to find him?

  But I couldn't just stand there, so I finally plucked up the courage to crawl through the bushes and see what was on the other side.

  I walked in with my head down, and this road was deep and shallow, turning around for half an hour before I finally reached the end.

  The situation is quite optimistic, Panzi hasn't gone missing, he's standing outside the bush, but he's holding a knife in his hand, with a vigilant expression, staring at a stranger in front of him.

  This stranger was holding an umbrella, wearing a black windbreaker, and even the hood of the windbreaker was buckled on his head. He was also staring coldly at Panzi. When I came out, he turned his head to look at me again.

  Although he was wearing a hat to cover his head, I could still see his face clearly. My first impression of him was that he looked exactly like Sun Honglei, with small eyes, nose and mouth, but when you put all the features together, he didn't look ugly at all, and had a strong masculine presence, with long legs and a streamlined figure. Also, I didn't think his outfit looked like something a villager from Suizhong Village would wear, and that windbreaker of his looked just like what my colleagues wear.

  I suspect he is also a mole, thinking to myself, could it be that Li Feng has sent help for us?

  I didn't dare ask so directly, so I tentatively asked, "Li Feng?"

  If he was really Li Feng's man, he would definitely understand what these two words mean, but he didn't react and didn't respond to my words. He turned his head to look at the distant dirt road and said coldly, "It's going to rain heavily, the road will be flooded, if you want to leave, it'll take at least a week."

  Then he put away his umbrella and crawled into the bushes, looking as if he was going to run towards Suifang Village.

  I stood at the entrance of the bush, and he stopped for a moment when passing by me, carefully sizing me up.

  I was suddenly stared at by this strange young man, and I felt a bit awkward in my heart, with a hint of vigilance. I didn't avoid him either, but instead looked back at him silently.

  I don't know how to describe the feeling in my heart when I said it was bad, but anyway, when I looked into his eyes, I had a sense of déjà vu and felt like we were once very good friends.

  But I also understand that I don't know this person at all.

  Panzi saw that this stranger was harmless and put away his knife. He turned around and ran towards the dirt road. I also rushed out to chase after him.

  After running for so long, Panzi was also tired, and his physical strength gradually couldn't keep up. When we came to the dirt road, I finally caught up with him.

  I pulled him back and let him calm down, but he not only didn't listen to my advice, but also turned around and said a bunch of nonsense to me, meaning that he wanted to take me out with him.

  I also don't dare use force on him, otherwise I would have forced him back to the village, he won't give up, or else he'll run out again in the middle of the night.

  The two of us walked and persuaded each other, I thought my eloquence was quite good, but this time I lost to Panzi, anyway we walked out pretty far, and I didn't persuade him either.

  In the end, it was a river that stopped Pan. The stranger didn't cheat us, the road was indeed flooded, and even a river appeared.

  The two of us looked at the polluted river, and I thought to myself that this road was originally made of fine sand and black soil. If it's soaked in water like this, it's very dangerous, and people walking on it can easily sink in.

  Let's not talk about how deep or shallow this river is, just the silt alone has already cut off this path.

  Pan Zi stood silently for a long time, and after being rained on, he gradually calmed down. I took the opportunity to tell him that since we couldn't leave for the time being, why not go back to the village and wait some more? If he still wanted to leave after a few days, I would accompany him, and at worst, we could return together to face punishment.

  This is also the bitterness of being a prisoner, completing the task is nothing, but if you can't complete the task, it's really possible to go back and continue serving time in prison. What's it like in prison? I know it all too well, every day is like being chained up in a cell with dogs, spending twenty years like this, by the time you're released, you're old, your youth is gone.

  Pan Zi finally listened to advice, but he didn't say much, and with a sullen face followed me back.

  We've been back and forth like this for a while, wasting time. By the time we arrived at the village, it was almost noon, and the rain had gradually subsided.

  I found Liu Wei standing at the village gate, head up and eyes closed, getting rained on. I don't know how long she had been like that, but her beautiful hair was all bunched up and stuck to her head.

  She looked at us two and I asked her casually, why are you doing this?

  Liu Wei's expression was different from before, she actually smiled coldly and covered her chest, telling me that she was washing her soul.

  I was left speechless by her such an abstract sentence, thinking about washing the soul? Is there really a way to wash like that? Even if you're washed by a torrential downpour, it's just the surface that gets cleaned, it can't reach the heart.

  Neither Panzi nor I paid attention to Liu Wei because both of us were chilled to the bone. If we didn't go back and change into some dry clothes, I was afraid that we would catch a cold again.

  I really didn't expect that after we got back, I found a new guest in our house.

  This man was the stranger seen in the bushes earlier. He didn't know which family he borrowed a plank bed from, and was moving it over to assemble it.

  I was stunned, as far as I know, this house is for intern teachers to live in, could he also be an intern teacher? That's quite interesting, when did Suifeng Village become a popular place? Why are they all coming here for internship?

  He watched us two come in, and this time he was quite polite. He introduced himself, saying his name is Lu Yufeng, and we can just call him Ah Feng. He's a peddler who sells small goods. Since Suifang Village is isolated from the outside world, he often comes here to sell things like small combs, mirrors, or seasonings. To prove that he was telling the truth, he opened his travel bag again. I took a look and indeed it was all sorts of small goods.

  This house was also temporarily lent to me and Panzi, although I didn't want to live with strangers together, but after all, we are all outsiders, I couldn't drive them away. In the end, I could only smile and pretend to welcome them.

  When it was time to eat, the new Lu Yifeng didn't follow us to the staff canteen. He stayed in the room and started eating and drinking on his own. He had brought a bag of meat and was eating while drinking wine.

  He drank like that and suddenly made me guess that his concept of being a line person had also undergone a reversal. For us who are on the line, the most important rule to follow is not to drink randomly, otherwise it will delay things.

  Lu Yufeng not only drank, but also drank that very strong Erguotou. I secretly suspected that this handsome young man was not one of us, he was so strange and lived with us, did he have ulterior motives towards us two?

  Pan Zi had vented his emotions after the series of events in the morning and was now more stable, so I took the opportunity to exchange a glance with him. We pretended to go out for a smoke, but actually discussed how to deal with Lu Yu Feng and face the strange Suifeng Village.