Superhero
"Wait!" Liu Tianyi's mind went blank. "I mean, I remember what Wanting said."
Zhao Jianyu stopped, turned around and looked at her with a smile.
Liu Tianyi tried hard to mobilize her brain cells and imagine Wanting standing in front of her and telling her the story.
During the whole process of her thinking, Zhao Jianyu always looked down upon her with a faint smile on his face.
His expression was delicately suspended between mockery and indifference, as if the person in front of him was a liar who was not worth laughing at.
"Wanting said she admires you."
As soon as these words came out of his mouth, the expression on Zhao Jianyu's face froze.
It is more like a fear, fear of his brutal abuse of animals; fear of his self-assimilated cruelty; fear of his inner drive to burn himself.
After a long while, Zhao Jianyu said: "You must have heard a lot of rumors. In fact, you can find them on the Internet. It is a big deal in small places."
"Follow me, we will be heard by others here."
Following Zhao Jianyu quietly, Liu Tianyi came to a familiar place - the back of the dormitory building.
They walked along the fence covered with ivy for a while and saw a gate in front of them. Zhao Jianyu turned his head and gave her a strange smile, then climbed up the railing nimbly and skillfully and flipped to the other side.
What a flexible fat guy! The illusionist Liu Tianyi exclaimed.
"Isn't this the high school dormitory?"
"I am a poor student who was specially recruited and I don't have money to rent a house outside. Since it's free, I can live anywhere." Zhao Jianyu's voice sounded like he was calmly stating the facts, and no emotion could be heard.
Behind the fence gate was the door to the dormitory building. Liu Tianyi followed Zhao Jianyu up another floor and entered his dormitory.
There are posters of superheroes and super villains on the dormitory walls, but Liu Tianyi doesn't know who they are.
The Memory Master didn't know either, he only knew that it was a thing that was popular in the early 90s, and people used to be quite fond of entertainment works with super powers as the theme.
Zhao Jianyu sat down and drank a glass of water. He said to Liu Tianyi who was looking around: "Don't be nervous. I am the only one living in this dormitory. The other person can go home if he has the chance."
"Now, let's talk about the past."
"Zhaoyazhuang is a small village, 500 kilometers away from the prosperous and modern Yanqu City. It is the hometown of Zhao Wanting and me."
"As you can tell from the name, everyone in the village has the surname Zhao and makes a living by raising ducks."
Liu Tianyi tried to act as if she had never heard Wan Ting say anything: "Is the rumor the real reason why Wan Ting didn't come to school?"
"The rumor is half true and half false. Zhao Wanting is indeed an illegitimate daughter, but her mother is not a prostitute. She is just a village woman who raises ducks. She was deceived by her father."
"Her father was a famous person in our village. He left the village to work at the age of 17 and had no contact with his family for 15 years. The villagers thought he was dead."
"When he came back, gongs and drums sounded and firecrackers blasted. How does the saying go? If you don't return home when you are rich and powerful, it's like walking in the night in fine clothes."
"Everyone with the surname Zhao in the village was very excited and wanted Boss Zhao to take them out to make a fortune. Boss Zhao rejected all of them, but he did not reject a woman, and that's how Zhao Wanting came into being."
"A few days later, Boss Zhao disappeared. He really disappeared. After he left, the villagers discovered that he didn't leave a detailed address or phone number, and even the name of his company was vague."
"Some people in the village became jealous of the woman and her unborn child. You can't understand it."
"I can imagine a little." Liu Tianyi stammered, feeling more and more guilty towards Wanting.
"Impossible." Zhao Jianyu said contemptuously, "You have never experienced that kind of poverty, you can't understand them."
"This situation has not improved as Zhao Wanting has grown up. Village kids don't bully others in a civilized manner like the school bullying at Yanqu No. 1 Middle School. They do whatever they want in a disgusting way."
"Unfortunately, I am also one of the people who were bullied. As for why, don't ask too much." Zhao Jianyu looked at Liu Tianyi, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and frowned in disgust.
"When they bully people, they just make up some dirty stories between men and women and say that we are a couple."
"I wanted to fight back several times and beat them to death, but Zhao Wanting stopped me every time."
"Later, they tied us up with ropes and led us to the village riverside, where they forced us to kneel down in the mud in front of the ducks and get married."
"Just when I couldn't help myself and wanted to take action, a tall and strong man suddenly jumped out from the reeds and beat the leader to death."
"The other kids were all scared away. The two of us were tied up with ropes and couldn't move. The strange but mighty man helped us untie the ropes and then disappeared."
"Where's Wan Ting?" Liu Tianyi stared into Zhao Jianyu's eyes with courage, "Wan Ting also saw that man."
"Zhao Wanting was so scared that she didn't dare to look up, and she kept her eyes closed until the man left."
"What happened next?"
"Then the police came and gathered everyone from home to record their statements. They brought a group of people to search around the village for several days and drew a portrait of him based on the children's description."
Looking at him deeply, Liu Tianyi recalled the questions that had been lingering in her mind for the past few days. She recalled the lines in the TV series and novels, and tried her best to ask professionally and appropriately.
"According to your description, he must have left fingerprints when he killed the victim. The police will take someone over and extract the fingerprints and then compare them to identify the murderer."
"Oh, yes, yes, you are the smartest." Zhao Jianyu said sarcastically, "Why can't the police think of something you can think of? But several years have passed and they still haven't caught anyone."
The courage that Liu Tianyi had accumulated with great difficulty dissipated in an instant. He looked at the poster behind Zhao Jianyu. On the poster, there was a group of superheroes on the left and a group of super villains on the right, with both sides facing each other with ferocious faces.
She couldn't help but ask curiously: "Which superhero do you like best?"
Looking up at her, Zhao Jianyu showed that inexplicable smile again: "I don't like any of them."
Liu Tianyi decided to change the topic to one that he might like to ease the tense atmosphere: "You mentioned twice that you wanted to fight back, but they are a group of people. How are you and Wanting going to beat them?"
Sitting steadily on the bed, Zhao Jianyu was visibly happy: "You can tell from the looks of it that you've never been in a fight. Oh, you're a woman, it would be strange if you've ever been in a fight."
"There are some skills when one person fights a group of people. All you need to do is to use your limbs to tightly entangle one of them, preferably the leader. Protect your own frontal weaknesses while attacking his weak points, and scare the others."
Imagining the posture he described, Liu Tianyi felt a chill: "Leave your vulnerable back to others, and then tear their eyes and ears with your teeth."
Zhao Jianyu was even happier: "You know a lot. If necessary, use your forehead as well. The bone on the top of the head is very hard. It would be best if we could see some blood. Then those wimps will -"
"Wanting doesn't need to be involved in this plan." Liu Tianyi interrupted him, "Why did Wanting stop you, and why were you stopped?"
Zhao Jianyu was upset now: "How do I know why she stopped my daughter? She is just like that. She is scared to death."
With her understanding of Wanting, Liu Tianyi found that she was not so afraid of Zhao Jianyu. She even tried to take the initiative in the conversation by using the tone of a teacher scolding a student.
"Based on Wanting's personality, I can probably guess the reason. If you are punished or even expelled for fighting, you will not be able to enter Yanqu No. 1 Middle School and will not be able to escape from the village. Why use one mistake to punish another mistake——"
"What's it got to do with you or Zhao Wanting? She's just a coward and doesn't want to cause trouble!" Zhao Jianyu roared.
He was angry, but Liu Tianyi seemed to have found a flaw:
"Of course it's my business. Zhao Wanting is my friend, and her business is my business. And she hasn't come to class for a week. You know where she is now."
Zhao Jianyu stopped talking again.
After staring at her for a while, Zhao Jianyu sneered: "You are going to the ends of the earth to find your friend just for her."
"Otherwise, don't you have very important relatives and friends? If she sacrifices for you, you will sacrifice for her as well."
"Shut up, that's disgusting." Zhao Jianyu touched the goose bumps on his arm and said with disgust, "I don't have any, and I don't need any."
"As for Wan Ting, even if she is not the kind of friend I mentioned, she has also experienced misfortune with you."
Zhao Jianyu squeezed out a few leaky laughs from his throat: "That's called misfortune. This is how you understand misfortune."
"Forget it. For her sake, I advise you not to come to school tomorrow."
“Why can’t you come to school?”
Liu Tianyi wanted to ask more questions, but Zhao Jianyu ordered her to leave: "You should leave. This is the men's dormitory."
"Now go."
Standing in front of the dormitory door, Liu Tianyi took a last look at Zhao Jianyu and the poster behind him: "You should know better than me that there are no superheroes in the world."
"I will definitely find Wan Ting and find out the whole truth."
The Memory Master couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this declaration that sounded like a comic book protagonist.
January 1, 94 years in the Gregorian calendar.
Liu Tianyi sat on the sofa in the principal's office. The principal, the class teacher and the parents surrounded her. Opposite her sat two thin and shrewd men.
There was a crescent moon hanging in the sky outside the window. It was a windless and moonlit night.
The two men were dressed casually and looked kind and friendly. They also told Liu Tianyi not to be nervous.
The illusionist could tell at a glance that they were police officers, and she even dared to assert that the younger one was a super-powered detective.
Sure enough, the older man said gently: "Student, we are the police, we just ask a few questions."
"Did the deceased Zhao Wanting say anything to you before committing suicide?"
Liu Tianyi was silent for a moment, and under the gaze of all the adults in the room, he slowly spoke: "Nothing, Wanting didn't come to see me."
"Why did you stay alone in the classroom after school today?"
"I wanted to wait for Wanting, but I fell asleep while waiting."
There was another silence. The head teacher saw the principal winking at him and quickly said, "Zhao Wanting asked for leave on Monday and hasn't come yet."
"How many days off did she take on Monday?" the young policeman asked in a deep voice.
"One day, on Tuesday morning I couldn't contact her, so I had to call her mother, and her mother said she must have returned to her hometown."
Young police officer questioned: "Should"
The head teacher gave an awkward smile:
"Her mother seems to be a stepmother, but I don't know the details. The family relationships of students are quite complicated, and students of this age are sensitive. As teachers, we dare not ask too many details."
The gentle night breeze blew in through the half-open window and brushed the ends of Liu Tianyi's hair. She seemed to wake up from hibernation: "It's so late already"
Her mother immediately responded: "Yes, it's so late and the child hasn't had dinner yet. Officer, I see she doesn't know anything, so we took her home."
The older policeman opened the window completely, and in the moonlight, his voice became softer: "Wanting hasn't been to school for several days. How did you know she would come after school today?"
"I don't know. I just want to wait for her. If I don't wait for her today, tomorrow will be the weekend, and there will be no chance to wait for her on the weekend."
The two policemen looked at each other and their eyes separated immediately, as if they agreed with this statement.
“You are her good friend”
"They are all classmates." Her father smiled apologetically, "They are not particularly good friends. This child has good relationships with everyone. She just attended a classmate's birthday party last week."
"Has Wan Ting gone?"
"Wanting didn't go. That was the last time I saw her." Liu Tianyi stared at the moon, as if she wanted to see a hole in it. "I wanted to apologize to her every day, but she didn't come to school."
“Why apologize to her?”
"She didn't want to go to the birthday party, but I forced her to go. We had a fight and ended up parting on bad terms."
Liu Tianyi's mother stood behind her, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
The young police officer asked: "Besides this incident, is there anything else? Or is there anyone else, someone she has a good relationship with, someone she has a bad relationship with, that made her feel upset?"
The shadows of the girl with the hairpin and Zhao Jianyu flashed before his eyes, and Liu Tianyi shook his head vigorously, as if he could get rid of them all by doing so.
Her stomach growled at the right moment and her mother again asked to take her home for dinner, so the officers obliged.
"Go back with mom. Come home on time after school. If you remember anything, you can contact us."
Liu Tianyi stood up shakily. It is said that the stomach is the organ of emotions. She felt the belated hunger and a kind of confused anger with her stomach.
If she was like being covered by a layer of gray glass before, then the feeling of hunger brought her back to reality briefly.
"I remember now."
The police stood up immediately.
"Wanting mentioned a murder case in her hometown. Could it be related to this?"
"When did the murder happen?"
"Three years ago, in the fourth grade of elementary school."
"Thank you for providing this information." The older policeman nodded, "Go back and have a rest first."
Liu Tianyi and her family walked into the night.
The moonlight is like water.
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