"It was three o'clock in the afternoon on July 15th. I was in the fifth-floor meeting room of the Wuhan Police Department, discussing the case of Zhang Mou, a former student of Wuhan Middle School, who had gone missing without reason on his way home from school last Friday. A month had passed, and there was still no progress in the investigation...**"
Mrs. Xiao held the remote, flipping through channels incessantly. Turning her head, she caught sight of Xiao Yang preparing to go out and immediately wore a look of disappointment, full of frustration.
"Where are you off to again? All you do is run around all day, hanging out with those good-for-nothing friends of yours. You're about to start your final year of high school, for heaven's sake!"
Because of his studies, Xiao Yang kept his hair short and neat. Today, he was wearing a blue-and-yellow jersey and flashed a cheerful smile.
"Mom, I've made plans with Er Gou and the others to play basketball at the court. I promise I'll come back as soon as we're done."
He tied his shoelaces, picked up the basketball from the floor, stood up, and opened the door. Waving his hand grandly toward his mother, who was seated on the sofa, he said, "I'm off, Mom!"
"Basketball? In this sweltering heat?" Mrs. Xiao muttered her dissatisfaction. "Come back early for dinner. And don't, don't disappear without a word like last time! Haven't you seen the news? It's chaotic these days."
"Got it, Mom."
Xiao Yang closed the door with a smile.
The news on TV was still replaying, occasionally interrupted by black-and-white static.
"According to reports from local police, there have been multiple recent disappearances near Mingde Road. No clues were left behind at the scenes of the incidents. Authorities are working tirelessly to solve the cases and urge the public to remain vigilant. Please avoid…"
"All he does is run around," Mrs. Xiao grumbled while flipping through channels again, finding nothing worth watching. "Forget it. TV shows are getting worse these days, and the signal's no good either. Might as well take a nap."
She turned off the TV and went to her room for some rest. The news was always the same, a constant stream of tragedies and disappearances. To those living mundane and repetitive lives, such reports were nothing more than a string of cold, impersonal words.
---
**Meanwhile, in another corner of the world…**
"Don't give me that look. I don't need your pity. Get out and don't let me see you again."
In a spacious, meticulously maintained house, a woman with a well-preserved appearance was speaking.
Liang Li's angry and disgusted expression had haunted Xia Chao since childhood. Ever since his father passed away, his mother had never spoken a kind word to him. Liang Li despised Xia Chao's appearance, the very reflection of his father's genes. Xia Chao knew this all too well—he looked more and more like his father as he grew older, a resemblance Liang Li could barely stand.
Without a word, Xia Chao rose from the dining table, his face as cold and indifferent as ever. His light brown irises, slightly paler than average, were hidden behind the chill of his gold-rimmed glasses.
Xia Chao had mild nearsightedness. Without his glasses, reading became a blur. He grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone, then walked straight out the door. Once again, his interaction with Liang Li ended on a sour note, just like so many times before.
The noonday sun in July was blisteringly hot, and Xia Chao found himself unsure of where to go. The few pedestrians he passed on the street were hurried and preoccupied. He wandered aimlessly along the shade of the trees, wondering why he and his mother had quarreled this time. What trivial matter had sparked their latest argument?
Xia Chao couldn't remember and didn't care to.
But even in this oppressive heat, there were those who seemed bright and full of life. Xia Chao noticed a boy approaching him from the opposite direction—a clean-cut teenager with short hair, dressed in a blue-and-yellow basketball jersey. Dribbling a ball with one hand and holding a phone in the other, the boy's face was lit up with a broad, carefree grin.
Was he talking to his girlfriend? Xia Chao wondered. Do high schoolers these days all enjoy falling in love early?
"I'm almost there. What's the rush, Er Gou? Are you in such a hurry to lose to me?"
"Why are you rushing your big brother, huh?"
The boy's lazy voice drifted past as he walked by. He was half a head taller than Xia Chao. Kids these days are really well-nourished, Xia Chao thought.
Their eyes met briefly before they each looked away.
Retracting his gaze, Xia Chao decided to find somewhere to grab lunch. He hadn't eaten more than a few bites earlier before being driven out, and now he was starting to feel genuinely hungry.
A few steps later, he reached an intersection. Glancing up instinctively, he noticed the street sign. The blue sign gleamed under the glaring sunlight, its white characters reflecting sharply:
"Wangling Street" (Street of the Dead).
Xia Chao stopped abruptly.