Winter Returns

Chapter 197 Operation Name: The Oriole
"This wig seems difficult to put on."

"broken?"

Zhang Shutong muttered to himself, "Yesterday went so smoothly, how did it turn out like this after I spent the whole day in my bag?"

Lu Qinglian simply shook her head, opened the door, and gestured for him to come up and talk.

Zhang Shutong then realized that she had already changed her clothes, choosing the most inconspicuous brown cotton coat, which was also very simple in style.

Zhang Shutong had anticipated this. He glanced at the plastic bag on the ground again. If Ruoping hadn't been completely without a black coat, Lu Qinglian would definitely have chosen that one without hesitation.

The remaining cashmere coats, down jackets with cute hoods, and even hats with pom-poms were all left untouched in their original places, and Ruoping's little scheme was all in vain.

However, Zhang Shutong still didn't understand why the wig wouldn't go on. He looked at it for a few moments and seemed to have figured out the problem.

Lu Qinglian had already pinned her long hair up behind her head. Rather than saying there was a problem with the wig, it would be more accurate to say that her hair was loose and limp. Even if she managed to tie it up in a ball, it would fall down again after a while.

It would be fine for someone with thin hair, but she has thick, long hair, and when it's coiled up, it looks a bit like an ancient lady, so the wig is a size too small. Besides, it's not easy to wear; the hair not only has to be coiled up, but it also has to be coiled neatly and smoothly, otherwise it will fall off with the slightest movement.

"How did that boss teach me yesterday?" Zhang Shutong recalled, "I remember it went very smoothly..."

“I just washed my hair,” Lu Qinglian sighed softly. “And there’s no mirror here.”

As she spoke, she tried again. Lu Qinglian had always been a smart person who could quickly learn anything and do it well in one go, but now she was repeatedly frustrated with a wig.

But no anxiety or impatience appeared on her; Lu Qinglian merely frowned slightly.
"Take a look and see where it's not tied properly."

She held a hairband, gathering tens of thousands of strands of hair with one hand and tying them together with astonishing dexterity with the other. But in Zhang Shutong's eyes, it was like a lump of dough, its volume unchanged. If you wanted it to be shorter, the "dough" would become fatter.

For example, right now, the hair on the left side is noticeably bulging.

"To the left, try to pull it in a little more, hmm, can you tighten it a bit more... It seems like the right side is bulging up again."

The two of them, one giving instructions and the other doing as instructed, worked together like robbing Peter to pay Paul. After some patching and repairs, it was barely passable. Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief and watched as Lu Qinglian put on the hairnet. Then, she habitually tossed her hair, and her long, flowing hair cascaded down.

failure.

It didn't even last a second.

Zhang Shutong never expected that tonight's operation would stall here, but the truth is that plans are always subject to change. He thought for a moment, then turned on the front camera of his phone, intending to hold it close to Lu Qinglian's face so she could see herself in a mirror. However, it was already late, and the features of the person in the photo had become blurry, let alone the fine strands of hair.

They don't have much time to waste here:
"Go to the restroom, there's a mirror there. If you're worried about being seen, I'll keep watch outside."

Lu Qinglian said:
"wrong."

She picked up a strand of hair with her fingers, lost in thought:
"It has nothing to do with the mirror. It's because my hair is too loose. It's easy for it to come undone when I tie it with only one hand."

After saying that, she turned around abruptly:
"Zhang Shutong, come and help me tie my hair up."

"Uh... how do I tie it?"

“You tie them together, and I’ll tie them with both hands.”

Zhang Shutong had also considered this plan, but Lu Qinglian had said that she didn't like others touching her. First it was her waist, then her hands, and then her hair.

"Hurry up, time is tight." Lu Qinglian seemed to have guessed what he was thinking and said in an unquestionable tone, "I'm not that pretentious."

Zhang Shutong responded, but for a moment he felt at a loss, as he had never tied a girl's hair before.

Then he gathered his thousands of strands of hair into a bundle:
"so?"

"Use less force."

"Oh……"

As she spoke, Lu Qinglian tied them together with such force that Zhang Shutong's eyelids twitched.

"Won't it hurt?"

"Stack it up."

"it is good."

The hair quickly clumped together.

"let go."

Lu Qinglian said.

Zhang Shutong lowered his hands.

He took two steps back, and Lu Qinglian immediately put on the hairnet. She tried to turn her face, and this time she finally succeeded.

"I'm leaving." Then Lu Qinglian bent down and picked up the plastic bag on the ground, as if nothing had happened.

They went down from the rooftop, walked through the corridor, and finally came out of the teaching building, walking through the campus in the evening.

No one knows what happened in between. A few minutes ago, the person who walked onto the rooftop with Zhang Shutong was a long-haired girl in a green robe. A few minutes later, the person standing next to him was a short-haired girl in a cotton-padded coat.

Zhang Shutong turned to look at Lu Qinglian and suddenly felt that short hair didn't look so out of place.

An ordinary cotton-padded coat looks retro and trendy on her, just like someone who deliberately dresses in a loose-fitting Korean style.

She usually wore a simple blue robe, keeping a low profile. But now, she had changed into a short jacket, which revealed her long, slender legs. People with long legs naturally walk very fast. The two of them walked together and pushed their bikes out of the shed.

"Sit in the back and try not to show your face."

Zhang Shutong gave the instructions and then drove towards the hospital. He slowed down as much as possible, and this time he didn't take shortcuts, but deliberately drove on the wide main road.

"It's most likely a car, not a pedestrian. Be careful."

Zhang Shutong moved his lips.

He's been thinking a lot about that man these past few days.

Zhang Shutong felt that they had overlooked a key detail: according to the information on the Weaver Girl's Thread, Ruoping was targeted on Sunday night.

But Zhang Shutong felt that this wasn't the first time. Imagine the other person driving on a deserted road, suddenly noticing a girl, and then suddenly noticing the fox in her arms—the possibility of that was extremely small.

The only conclusion that could be drawn was that they had met the man somewhere before this.

The other side had noticed them long ago; their chance encounter with Ruoping that time was simply a way for them to narrow down their target.

The fact that no one had been to that basement for a long time suggests that the other party had a completely different range of activities. Yet, the fact that he was able to discover the anomaly in the tunnel in time indicates that the man usually lived on the island and was not far from the hospital.

The fact that the other person also has a car indicates that his living conditions are not bad, and he may have a decent job. To be honest, considering all these factors, his first thought was to become a doctor at a hospital.

On the day she rented the wig, Zhang Shutong asked the nurse about several doctors of similar age. The one who matched best was the male doctor with bald patches who had treated her cold before.

But the other person used to be a doctor in the city, and was only transferred to the island in recent years, and doesn't know how to drive.

The two quickly arrived at the old house. Zhang Shutong checked the surrounding area and found that the miscellaneous items and mineral water bottles were all thrown around the entrance, and from the outside, it looked the same as when he left the day before yesterday.

Then they went down into the tunnel, first to the fox's altar, and then to the other side.

Zhang Shutong was well aware of what he was about to face—

If we assume the worst-case scenario—which is also the most favorable one—that the man does manage to track them down, then the best course of action would be to wait at the entrance to the tunnel, rather than rashly coming down and alerting him.

Just like Ruoping's experience in the Weaver Girl's Thread, she took the fox statue to the tunnel, where the man was already waiting for her. During the struggle, the old house collapsed, causing her to lose a leg.

So Zhang Shutong planned to directly recreate Ruoping's experience that day, except that the two of them would not stay in the tunnel to wait together. Instead, one of them would stay underground while the other would follow the tunnel and flank back from Lao Song's dormitory.

Even if someone were lying in ambush outside, it would be like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

However, there was a disagreement about who should play the role of "Cicada".

Zhang Shutong originally planned to stay behind himself—his reasoning was simple: since they were planning to encircle the man from the opposite direction, and his own combat skills were low, he might as well let Lu Qinglian be the one to catch him.

“What if he’s carrying a knife?” Lu Qinglian asked calmly. “At such a short distance, you can’t dodge it.”

"Also, your guess is that he's hiding at the entrance. There's also the possibility that he just barged in, and you wouldn't be able to control the situation then."

She put it concisely and clearly:
"I'll stay here. Go outside and agree on a signal. If I see the other side, I'll make my move."

Zhang Shutong wondered what would happen if the two of them stayed in the tunnel—

It will put you in a very passive position; as long as the other party stays outside and doesn't come down, you'll never know if there's anyone outside.

However, if both of them try to flank from the dormitory, another problem arises. The tunnel is not very long, but it is not short either. It takes seven or eight minutes to walk there. If they approach the basement and the other person just enters the tunnel, with hundreds of meters between them, they may not be able to detect each other's arrival.

In the end, instead of being outflanked, they will be outflanked themselves.

Zhang Shutong no longer hesitated:
"Okay, be careful."

He left the baton to Lu Qinglian.

"As for the code..." he thought for a moment, "How's the sound?"

"it is good."

The two then parted ways, and Lu Qinglian went to the fork in the road to wait.

Zhang Shutong then walked alone towards the basement.

He ran very fast, as if he wanted to seize every second, but he also had to keep an eye out for any sounds of fighting behind him. He calculated the time, and when the basement was about to appear in front of him, Zhang Shutong stopped again, panting. He even thought that the other party might be in the basement. Although the possibility was almost zero, if it were true, he would be delivering himself to the enemy.

Zhang Shutong slowed his breathing and tiptoed. He first listened intently at the door for a moment, then took off his coat, crumpled it into a ball, kicked open the door, and threw the coat inside.

Two seconds later, in complete silence, Zhang Shutong walked into the basement.

He forcefully turned the valve on the iron gate and then climbed the stairs a few steps.

Separated by a thin wooden board, Zhang Shutong knew that he had blocked Lao Song's bed from the outside. He took a deep breath, leaned his shoulders and hands against the door, and slowly exerted his strength. The whole process was almost silent. Soon, a gap large enough for a person to pass through appeared in front of him, and Zhang Shutong squeezed through.

As the sun sets and the room grows dim, the already emptied dormitory comes into view.

He glanced at his phone. It had only taken him five minutes to get here. There was no signal in the tunnel, so he and Lu Qinglian had temporarily lost their means of communication. But even if she was really waiting outside, they wouldn't have met so quickly.

Zhang Shutong put his phone back in his pocket and calculated the time it would take to get from the old house to the hospital. The two locations were very close. The tunnel was a straight tunnel, but in the city, it would be a longer, more circuitous route. He took a few deep breaths, trying to recover his strength. A race against time awaited him. Then Zhang Shutong started running.

The sound of the shoe sole hitting the ground reached my ears.

But it wasn't his own.

Zhang Shutong looked up instantly, his heart skipped a beat, confirming that he hadn't misheard. It was indeed the creaking sound of footsteps on roof tiles. This was a very old building, still covered with tiles, and even the slightest sound would travel up the roof into the house. But who was that person on top of him?!

There's really no need to guess anymore.

His heart sank instantly—

The praying mantis did not appear at the tunnel entrance, but instead observed the old house from the dormitory building!

Yes, how could the other party ensure that they could detect someone entering the tunnel? Zhang Shutong had previously guessed that the man was a hospital staff member, but he did not expect that the other party was observing from the roof of the dormitory building. They could see exactly when and how many people entered the old house!
Zhang Shutong was on edge. He watched the footsteps on the rooftop, then silenced his phone and slowly turned around.

If it were here, things would be easier...

He quickly adjusted his plan. If the man was here, he could call Lu Qinglian over directly, or the two of them could ride their bikes to the dormitory. But the only thing he couldn't understand was, since the other party had already noticed that someone had entered the dormitory, why was he still waiting on the roof?
What is he waiting for?
Zhang Shutong decided to stop thinking about it. He quietly walked towards the hidden door, but suddenly the footsteps started moving. It wasn't just a single sound like before, but a series of click-clack click-clack click-clack! Walking recklessly on the rooftop.

Zhang Shutong immediately stopped in his tracks. He cursed under his breath. He had tried his best to keep the noise down when he moved the planks, but he was still discovered!
As he confirmed the sound of footsteps above his head, the other person was also checking for any movement inside the house!
With a rustling sound, footsteps came into the corridor ahead!

Just one door away!
Can't wait any longer!
He didn't bother to hide his presence and was about to turn around and run into the tunnel when the window started to shake. Zhang Shutong immediately guessed the other party's intention. It turned out that the man was not sure if the noise just now really existed. Maybe the sound was very faint, but the other party still noticed it. Therefore, the man just wanted to confirm that there was someone in the house, not to find that there was someone in the house. Otherwise, he would have directly broken down the door!
Zhang Shutong also remembers that the window of Lao Song's dormitory was a little loose, and could be pushed open with a very small gap. Just by looking at this gap, one could confirm whether anyone had been there.

In other words, you can find yourself as soon as the other person opens that window!

But where can we find shelter here?

Zhang Shutong looked around. The room had long been emptied, except for a bed and a desk. He knew he couldn't hesitate any longer; he either had to run away immediately, or...

The window shook more and more violently, and with a teeth-grinding sound, the rusty window frame was finally pulled open a crack—

An eyeball appeared in the gap.

(End of this chapter)