The call was from Zhang Guangyin. I hesitated whether to answer. This jerk is definitely not up to any good when he calls me now.

Did he know I wouldn't be sleeping at the courier station tonight?

The phone kept ringing. Never mind, I'll answer it and see what he says. If it doesn't work out, I can quit.

I swiped to answer the call and put it to my ear.

"Zuo Changming, are you in your dorm right now?" Zhang Guangyin's familiar yet annoying voice came through the phone.

"What is it?" I was startled, but I quickly realized that I wasn't sure if Zhang Guangyin was bluffing me, so I asked him coldly.

"It's nothing, haha, just don't take today's events to heart. I was just saying that in anger. Remember to come to work tomorrow." Zhang Guangyin's chuckling voice came through the receiver, which I found incredibly annoying.

Fortunately, Zhang Guangyin asked me if I was in the small room; it was just a routine opening line, not a deliberate attempt to trick me.

"I understand." After learning the purpose of Zhang Guangyin's call, I lost all interest in talking to him and hung up the phone immediately after saying that.

I put my phone on the bed in the bucket, and smelled the strong odor of sweat emanating from my body, so I took my clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

After I finished showering and dried my hair, my phone rang again.

I picked it up and saw that the caller ID showed it was An Lili. I answered the phone, "Lili, what's up so late?"

"Brother Changming, are you at the factory right now?" An Lili's anxious voice came through the phone.

I hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Yes, what's up?"

"I've lost my house key. I don't know if I left it on my desk. Could you go check for it for me?" An Lili asked anxiously.

"Um, Lili, I'm already lying down to rest. Your key is there, no one will take it." Since I wasn't at the courier station, I made up an excuse to try and get away with it.

"Okay then, Changming, goodnight, sweet dreams, bye." An Lili said and hung up the phone.

I touched my nose, wondering if he was angry. I wondered if I should go back and check if the key was at the courier station, but the thought of that little hut by the wall sent chills down my spine.

wrong.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that An Lili's keys weren't left on her desk. When I left work, I saw her riding her electric scooter home from afar. I recognized her keychain; the house keys and the scooter keys were linked together.

So what exactly did he mean by calling me?

Could it be that you want to know if I'm at the courier station?

So what exactly is her purpose?

I felt uneasy thinking about how An Lili had secretly tried to open that brass lock that day. I wanted to suspect that An Lili was behind it all, but deep down I didn't want to doubt her.

In short, it's very contradictory, extremely contradictory.

I put my phone on the bed, and the more I thought about it, the more agitated I became. So I took out a cigarette and lit it. The strong smell of tobacco stimulated my anxious nerves. I slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and felt much better.

There are some things that need to be understood. I remember there was a small surveillance camera behind the courier station that could capture the back door of the station.

If An Lili really opened the copper lock, then he must have gone out through the back door in the past two days.

You can view the surveillance footage in Zhang Guangyin's office. During the Spring Festival cleaning, Zhang Guangyin even asked me to climb a ladder to clean the camera lens.

I'll see if I can sneak in tomorrow and take a look. If it was An Lili who did it, what should I do? I'm suddenly at a loss.

I took another drag of my cigarette, not wanting to think about these messy things. I put the cigarette down and was about to go get the ashtray, but there was no ashtray at Tong Liu's place, and I had already thrown away those empty wine bottles.

I looked around but still couldn't find anything to put the cigarette ash in. Finally, out of desperation, I opened a bottle of mineral water, took a few big gulps, and, adhering to the principle of not wasting too much, took a few more gulps. Looking at the little bit of water at the bottom of the bottle, I finally flicked the cigarette ash into it with satisfaction.

After finishing my cigarette, I threw the butt into an empty bottle, lay on the bed, picked up my phone and started scrolling through Douyin (TikTok). Suddenly, I felt listless and wanted to call Tong Liu to chat, but I was afraid of disturbing him while he was learning skills from Hu Ergou.

It's already past nine o'clock at night, time to go to sleep, but I'm not sleepy at all. I tossed my phone aside, lay back on the bed, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Oh right, I suddenly remembered something.

I hurriedly got up, pulled the cardboard box out from under the bed, picked it up, and headed towards the DVD player. My phone wasn't fun; I wanted to watch some classic martial arts movies to kill some time.

I plugged the TV and DVD player into the power supply, and then plugged in the power to the stereo system. Suddenly, I noticed from the back that the stereo's signal cable wasn't connected to the DVD player. I like the immersive experience when watching movies, and I certainly can't miss out on the sound system.

I turned the volume up to halfway, which I think is loud enough without disturbing anyone.

I haven't played with a DVD for at least ten years. I remember when I was a kid, Bao Si's family had one. Tong Liu and I collected bottles and sold them for more than ten yuan. We took the money and bought a zombie movie by Uncle Ying in town. We went to Bao Si's house to watch it that night. That night, I was too scared to go home to sleep. I even had to get up to go to the toilet with Tong Liu.

I randomly picked up a disc, pressed the disc release button, and the TV started displaying a blue screen with the words "Welcome to our company's DVD player" on it.

Could it be that the power button is broken? I pressed it several more times, but there was still no response. No wonder someone gave it to me; it was a piece of junk. Well, considering it's over ten years old, it's already pretty good that it can even turn on.

Just as I thought the machine was beyond repair and was about to pull my hand back, the DVD player's compartment door opened.

I was overjoyed and quickly put the disc in my hand.

Since there was no remote, I sat back on the bed to watch it, thinking to myself, "The release button isn't working, so I'll just watch this movie tonight. I'll probably be sleepy after I finish it."

The TV screen displays "Reading disc".

About ten seconds later, the words "Memory Playback" reappeared on the TV screen, followed by a spinning circle.

I thought to myself that it must be something that Tong Liu had seen before. DVDs with this memory playback function were quite valuable back then, and at least the one that Bao Si had didn't have this function.

I was very patient, eagerly anticipating what would happen on television.

A few seconds later, the screen finally appeared, but what I saw left me speechless with astonishment.

On the TV, two foreigners were naked, performing the most primitive acts, and loud moans came from the speakers, so loud that my ears hurt.

After a moment of stunned silence, my expression changed drastically. I rushed toward the DVD player and frantically tried to press the release button, but nothing happened after a few tries.

The blonde woman's screams continued. I remembered something, got up, and unplugged all the power cords. The loud noise disappeared, but I could still hear a faint echo.

Just then, my phone rang. I took it out and saw that it was Tong Liu calling.