She suddenly smelled a sweet, fishy smell, like expired rust mixed with rotten seaweed.
"Should...should we open it and have a look?" Chen Xiangling heard her own trembling voice. "What if this is someone's luggage that fell into the water..."
"Don't touch!"
Chen Xinran's warning was still a step too late. Chen Xiangling's fingertips had already touched the buckle of the box, and the cold touch of the metal parts made her shudder.
Just as she hesitated, the rusty lock suddenly "clicked" open, and the lid of the box slowly opened like a gaping bloody mouth.
Black plastic bag.
It was bulging and had been wrapped with electrical tape more than a dozen times.
Chen Xiangling's pupils contracted sharply. She saw clearly what was visible through the gap in the tape: a bluish-gray finger, the nails filled with black mud, the knuckles twisted at impossible angles.
The moonlight shone on the swollen skin, giving it a deadly glow like mother-of-pearl.
"vomit--"
She suddenly covered her mouth, stomach acid mixed with the hot cocoa rising up her throat. Chen Xinran grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. The camping lantern was kicked to the ground, and the rolling spots of light illuminated more details: dark stains seeping from the corners of the plastic bag, and a few white particles that looked like teeth were lying at the bottom of the box.
"Don't look." Chen Xinran blocked her view with his body, his fingertips pulling out his phone with terrifying stability. The blue light of the dial interface reflected on his face, giving the child's soft outline a metallic texture.
"Human remains found on the east side of Lakeside Park." His report was concise and precise, even including the coordinates: "31°12' North Latitude, 121°30' East Longitude."
The night wind suddenly grew biting. Chen Xiangling found herself shivering, the sound of her teeth chattering frighteningly loud. She unconsciously grasped the hem of her brother's clothes, the muscles in her arms beneath the fabric stiffening like steel.
"Sister, breathe."
A warm little hand suddenly touched her cold cheek. Chen Xiangling then realized that she was holding her breath, and her lungs felt like they were burning with pain.
She gasped for breath and smelled the lingering scent of milk shower gel on her brother's hands - this was the children's version she had just changed for him last week. The sweet vanilla scent became a lifesaver at this moment.
When the sound of sirens reached him in the distance, Chen Xinran was fiddling with the evidence in the box with a branch. His movements were too professional to be childish, and the tip of the branch always avoided the vital parts.
"Dead for over two weeks, but the lake water slowed down the decay," he muttered to himself, just loud enough for his sister to hear. "The incision is clean, a professional must have done it..."
"Xiao Ran..." Chen Xiangling suddenly grabbed his wrist, "Aren't you... afraid?"
Chen Xinran turned his head, the moonlight casting two silver-blue arcs beneath his eyelashes. The twenty-two-year-old soul gazed at her through the eyes of a child, and the sense of dissonance that transcended time and space made Chen Xiangling's heart skip a beat.
"Is it useful to be afraid?" he asked softly, wiping away the cold sweat from his sister's temples with his fingertips.
The gesture was incredibly gentle, in cruel contrast to his calm demeanor as he examined the body parts.
"Until you know the threat level, fear only clouds your judgment."
The red and blue lights of the police car pierced the night sky. Chen Xinran quickly took two steps back and instantly switched back to the state of an ordinary child.
Officer Wang, who was on duty that day, quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area.
They were taken to the police station, where they were briefly asked to give a statement, and someone was sent to safely send them home.
Before arriving home, Chen Xiangling hugged her younger brother Chen Xinran tightly and refused to let go.
After returning home...
"I want to sleep with Xiaoran."
This time, Shen Xinran agreed readily, "Xiaoran, are you not afraid at all?"
She hugged Shen Xinran and said to her.
Shen Xinran could smell the faint fragrance on her sister's body, and replied mischievously: "Sister is so timid."
"Xiao Ran, how can you say that to your sister?"
Then he knocked him on the head.
In fact, Chen Xiangling is quite brave among ordinary people. Most people would probably be scared to death.
Chen Xinran just laughed softly after listening to her sister's words.
"Xiao Ran..."
The other party's voice sounded low, and Shen Xinran immediately replied: "What's wrong, sister."
Any little emotion of Chen Xiangling would cause ripples in Shen Xinran's calm heart.
"It's okay, I just wanted to call Xiaoran."
Chen Xiangling gave Chen Xinran a warm smile, and then added: "Xiao Ran, who has become a child, is so cute. I am so happy. For a moment, I felt like I was back in my childhood..."
"When I was little... huh..."
Shen Xinran was unexpectedly silent, with no light in his eyes.
Everything was so simple back then, the time before the genocide, those happy moments seemed to have happened yesterday and today.
They can no longer go back, but it doesn't matter, they still have a future.
The morning light filtered through the gauze curtains, casting a soft golden hue across the wooden floor. Shen Xinran's biological clock was always precise. At exactly six o'clock, he slowly opened his eyes, his ruby-like pupils tinged with a faint blood-red hue in the dim light.
Chen Xiangling was still sleeping soundly, breathing evenly and slowly, with one hand unconsciously resting on his shoulder, as if she was afraid that he would disappear in the middle of the night.
Chen Xinran gently tilted her head and looked at her sister's sleeping face - her eyelashes trembled slightly, her brows were relaxed, and there was a hint of relief at the corners of her mouth.
He carefully moved her arm away, as gently as if he were defusing a bomb.
"Hmm...Xiao Ran..." Chen Xiangling hummed in a daze, and her fingers scratched subconsciously, as if trying to grab something.
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