Fang Xiaocao tidied up a bit, replaced the purchased disposable bed sheets and comforter covers, and the time reached 5:21 PM.
Fang Xiaocao descended the stairs and drove out of the Xintiandi Restaurant complex.
Upon leaving the complex, she didn't hurry to her previous rental but instead drove to a hotel.
Based on the message from "Hot Noodles," Fang Xiaocao deduced that the murderer would likely visit the rental that evening.
She decided to seize the opportunity to retrieve her belongings left at the hotel.
With the room card in hand, she opened the hotel room door.
Fang Xiaocao gathered all her belongings and quickly descended the stairs.
After checking out at the front desk, she drove out of the hotel parking lot.
After returning to the Xintiandi complex, Fang Xiaocao delivered her belongings to apartment 301 before driving out of the Xintiandi complex again.
"Gurgle~"
Just as she was about to drive to the rental, her stomach suddenly protested.
Fang Xiaocao blinked, pulled out her phone to check the time: 6:07 PM.
"Haven't eaten all day, even my stomach is protesting."
She muttered to herself and pulled over.
"Everything comes second to eating when you're hungry."
Muttering to herself, Fang Xiaocao opened the car door and walked toward a fast-food restaurant.
Looking at the variety of dishes, she felt her mouth water.
Braised pork, skin-peeled peppers, stewed shredded tofu~
All were Fang Xiaocao's favorites.
Fang Xiaocao ordered some dishes, paid, chose a seat by the window, and began to feast.
While eating, Fang Xiaocao saw a familiar figure enter the fast-food restaurant.
Seeing this person, Fang Xiaocao was stunned.
It was Qi Yu!
At that moment, Qi Yu was dressed in a delivery outfit.
"What's going on?"
Fang Xiaocao's eyes widened like copper bells, filled with confusion.
"Isn't Qi Yu a rich second generation?"
"Why would he be delivering food?"
Fang Xiaocao muttered to herself internally.
While Qi Yu was waiting for his meal, he turned his head and scanned the restaurant.
Almost instinctively, Fang Xiaocao lowered her head and put on the hoodie of her sweatshirt.
While eating the food on her plate, she watched Qi Yu's every move from the corner of her eye.
Qi Yu did not notice Fang Xiaocao.
He scanned the restaurant with his eyes, then put on a mask and helmet.
Only his eyes were visible.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaocao was shocked.
Those eyes...
It was the murderer!
It was definitely the murderer.
Fang Xiaocao would never forget those eyes, nor the familiar feeling they gave her, seen fleetingly in the rearview mirror of the BMW mini at the hotel entrance.
They had become an unforgettable nightmare in her heart.
At this moment, Fang Xiaocao suddenly felt relieved.
All the doubts that had been hovering in her mind were finally resolved upon knowing Qi Yu was the murderer.
No wonder the murderer found her so quickly after she checked into the hotel.
It turned out to be because that day in the hotel, she had an unexpected encounter with Qi Yu and Han Xue, revealing her whereabouts.
No wonder the killer showed up again at another hotel the next day, looking for her.
Qi Yu had been pursuing her for so long and understood her personality well, which was not surprising.
At the first hotel, Qi Yu hadn't managed to corner her, and she didn't return to her rental that night. It wasn't surprising at all that Qi Yu could guess she was staying at the nearest hotel to the city bureau.
At that moment, Fang Xiaocao finally understood why Hot Noodles, her future self, would send messages to warn her to cherish life and stay away from Qi Yu and Han Xue, and why she should never meet with Han Xue if invited.
Han Xue and Qi Yu had been colluding together for a long time.
Qi Yu certainly knew Han Xue's whereabouts and, once he knew she was with Han Xue, he would definitely plan ahead to kill her.
Even Fang Xiaocao could understand why Qi Yu had been persistently trying to kill her.
When Qi Yu had killed their neighbor, he had made a sound, and during gatherings at the rental, Qi Yu had attended many times. He knew the soundproofing of the rental well, and his pursuit to kill her was definitely because he feared she would recognize his voice or remember that detail, which would reveal the truth that he was the killer.
But Qi Yu didn't know that at the time, Fang Xiaocao was too scared to recognize that the killer was him.
Instead, it was his repeated, unnecessary pursuits that ended up revealing he was the killer.
If he hadn't pursued after Fang Xiaocao, as long as he avoided capture, even Hot Noodles wouldn't have known he was the killer.
From the moment he planned and executed the chase to kill Fang Xiaocao, the gears of fate had begun to turn, allowing Hot Noodles, situated in the future, to foresee his true nature as the killer beforehand.
Now, the only thing Fang Xiaocao was puzzled about was why Qi Yu wanted to kill the neighbor sister.
Seeing Qi Yu pick up his meal and leave the fast-food restaurant,
Fang Xiaocao immediately put down her chopsticks and chased after him.
She knew the family situation of Qi Yu well, a certified rich second generation; even if he was short on cash, he wouldn't be out delivering food.
With the meal box in hand, Qi Yu got into his Maserati and with a press of the accelerator, he sped away.
Witnessing this scene, Fang Xiaocao's mouth twitched violently several times.
Driving a Maserati to deliver food?
If you said he was short of money, who would believe you?
If there's no foul play involved, then that's the real shock.
Fang Xiaocao immediately got into her BMW mini, started the car, and tried to catch up with Qi Yu to assess the situation.
[Ding Dong!]
Just then, the phone's notification sound rang out.
Fang Xiaocao stopped pressing the gas pedal and picked up her phone to check.
[Hot Noodles: Don't chase, you'll expose yourself.]
Looking at the message content, Fang Xiaocao immediately turned off the engine.
"You knew all along, the killer was Qi Yu?" she asked impatiently.
[Hot Noodles: Just as you guessed, the prerequisite for my foresight is the turning of the wheel of fate. I only knew when he began to chase you.]
[Hot Noodles: Although I am in the future, I can only foresee unchangeable objective events. Your future is unpredictable; every choice you make affects what I, in the future, will experience.]
[Hot Noodles: Therefore, about our future, only after you make a choice can I foresee the result of your choice a little while in advance, or even seconds before, and notify you through the memory formed in my mind.]
Having read the messages sent by Hot Noodles,
Fang Xiaocao fell silent.
It was understandable; Fang Xiaocao had figured it out.
If that afternoon, she had chosen to follow the instructions of the message from Hot Noodles and not gone home, then she wouldn't have found herself being chased these last two days.
And the experiences of Hot Noodles would have changed as well.
Before receiving future messages, Hot Noodles might have already experienced Qi Yu committing murder, but following her temperament without prior warning from the messages, she would definitely have turned on the light that evening.
That would have led to Qi Yu violently breaking down the door to silence her.
However, her future self, Hot Noodles, survived for some reasons and no longer posed a threat to Qi Yu, so she was not pursued.
By now, Fang Xiaocao had guessed why Hot Noodles was not being chased.
She must have been injured, and Han Xue and Qi Yu, having visited her at the hospital, made her unwittingly reveal that she hadn't noticed the physical characteristics of the killer.