On a Stormy Night, the Campus Belle Knocked on My Door Seeking Shelter
Chapter 11: The Murderer... Just Where Are They

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Murderer... Just Where Are They

At that moment, Su Huirong noticed Li Yan was still holding a knife and asked curiously, "Where did you find that knife? Why is it so dirty?"

"Ah, I completely forgot. Someone had tossed this knife by a storm drain, and it was blocking a lot of trash, making the flooding on the road even worse. I had just picked it up when I saw Chen Mo, and I forgot to throw it away." As Li Yan spoke, he moved to throw the knife in the trash, but just then, Chen Mo suddenly noticed something was off!

"Hold on, Teacher Li. Let me see that knife," Chen Mo stopped him.

"What’s so interesting about this filthy thing?" Li Yan asked, a bit puzzled. He flipped the knife around, handing it to Chen Mo with the tip pointed inward and the handle facing out.

It was a purely reflexive action, which just went to show that Teacher Li was truly a gentle and friendly person.

Chen Mo took the fruit knife and examined the blade closely. His expression changed in an instant.

The light had been too dim for him to see clearly before. He never imagined that a section of the blade was slightly rolled.

It was clearly caused by Zhou Hao using it to cut something hard.

A knife with a rolled edge like this, even a slight one, would leave a noticeably different kind of wound on a human body.

The autopsy report made no mention of anything like that. In other words, the fruit knife used in the crime wasn’t this one with the minutely rolled edge. ’I’ve identified the wrong murder weapon!’

This type of fruit knife wasn’t custom-made, after all. It wouldn’t be strange for a few households to own the same kind. But for two identical fruit knives to appear at the same crime scene on a stormy night like this was just too much of a coincidence.

It was no wonder Chen Mo had gotten it wrong.

After all, how could he have ever imagined that two different people would show up in the same area on a stormy night, both carrying the same type of fruit knife?

He immediately flicked his wrist to glance at the time. It was already 11:00 PM.

’This won’t do. I have to get back there. The real killer might be showing up right now!’

A sense of urgency gripped him. Chen Mo quickly handed the towel back to Su Huirong and said, "Sorry, Teacher Li, it’s getting late. I won’t bother you any longer. I need to hurry home. I’ll just borrow your raincoat."

Chen Mo placed the handle of the knife back in Li Yan’s hand, threw on the raincoat, and immediately dashed out into the downpour.

Li Yan didn’t even have a chance to say anything.

"The roads are slippery in this downpour! Be careful on your way!" Li Yan could only shout after him.

But the downpour was too heavy, and Chen Mo couldn’t hear what he said. Even so, he knew Teacher Li must have been shouting words of concern.

"You silly goose, you scared me half to death! Bringing a young man home like that... It’s a good thing you didn’t just use your key to open the door," Su Huirong said, her face flushing as she looked at Li Yan after Chen Mo’s figure had disappeared.

"Ahem. I couldn’t just leave him. Look at this weather. The kid was soaked to the bone. How could I have the heart to watch him take shelter alone under that tattered awning?" Li Yan said with a wry smile.

"What about... the thing? Did you get it?" Su Huirong didn’t dwell on it, instead turning back to Li Yan and asking, a little shy.

The two had been married for two years, but they still acted like newlyweds, which was a rare thing.

"I ran into that kid as soon as I got there," Li Yan said with an embarrassed smile. "I really couldn’t bring myself to buy it in front of him. How about we just get it delivered? Trying to go out in this weather without a raincoat or umbrella is hopeless."

"How could we have *that* delivered? That’s mortifying," Su Huirong said, blushing, the picture of bashfulness.

"It’s fine," Li Yan said after a moment of thought. "I’ll just ask them to leave it at the door. We can bring it in after they’ve left. The delivery guy has never seen our faces, and he won’t know who we are."

"Okay," Su Huirong finally relented.

Otherwise, all the effort they’d put into this grand celebration for the third anniversary of the night they met would be for nothing.

After all, they still had no plans of having children yet...

Through the curtain of rain, Chen Mo sprinted all the way back to the crime scene.

There was no one in sight. He circled the area several times. A few people passed by during that time, but they were all hurrying on their way, not looking at all like someone who would stop midway to commit a crime.

The time soon reached 11:30 PM. By now, the street was deserted. He pulled out his phone to check the surveillance feed—Su Yuqing was still curled up on the sofa, her eyes drooping with sleep. She kept bobbing her head like a chicken pecking at rice. In a moment of semi-consciousness, she suddenly glanced toward the door. Seeing that Chen Mo hadn’t returned, she rubbed her eyes and forced herself to stay awake a little longer.

Chen Mo pulled back the hood of his raincoat, letting the rain beat against his face.

’The killer... where the hell are you!’ He clenched his fists. The wind whipped up the hem of his raincoat, splashing his pant legs with muddy water.

Chen Mo’s steps grew heavier. He finally ripped off the raincoat, which he’d never gotten used to wearing in the first place.

He continued to wander around the pitch-black crime scene for another half hour until it was midnight. Still, he saw no one who looked like the killer. In fact, he didn’t see another soul for that entire half hour.

Rainwater streamed over his soaked clothes. The cold drops struck his face like countless tiny whips, each lash sending a piercing pang through his heart.

The downpour raged around him. The streets were empty. Only the occasional flash of lightning tore across the sky, bringing a sliver of light to the dim night.

However, the sight before him only made Chen Mo’s heart grow heavier.

He had been lingering at the crime scene for so long, yet his surroundings remained utterly empty. He could hear nothing but the sound of the rain, the wind, and the thunder.

There wasn’t the slightest sign that a killer might appear.

Chen Mo let the rain wash over him like a tidal wave, indifferent to the bone-chilling cold that soaked him through.

Because at that moment, his heart was already filled with a different kind of cold—the cold of helplessness, of being unable to find the answer.

"How is this possible... Did I really miss my chance?" Chen Mo muttered to himself, his voice barely audible in the rain.

Even if the killer didn’t commit the crime here in this lifetime, he still desperately wanted to know what kind of person could commit such an act.

Moreover, this person was a dangerous potential offender. Chen Mo knew he couldn’t keep Su Yuqing by his side every second of the day. It was entirely possible that, by a twist of fate, she would cross paths with the killer again and be harmed again. Chen Mo couldn’t just give up.

For so many years, he had poured over the case files again and again, conducted countless follow-up investigations, and endured endless days and nights of torment. This case was a constant ache in his heart.

Even with no clues, even when it seemed the case was long cold, he had stubbornly chased that faint glimmer of hope. Sometimes, even he himself didn’t know why he was so insistent.