The pouring rain was coming down heavily, and the wind chimes at the bookstore's entrance jingled as a young girl in her early twenties hurriedly pushed the door open and walked in, looking a bit disheveled.

The store clerk looked up at her and noticed that the girl's bangs were all wet, sticking to her forehead. Sympathetically, the clerk asked, "Did you come in to escape the rain?"

"Yes, the rain is too heavy," the girl replied with a smile. She had a particularly sweet appearance, and her two adorable dimples when she smiled were very endearing.

The clerk didn't say anything more, watching as the girl folded up her black umbrella and placed it by the bookstore door with the other customers' umbrellas. She then straightened out her damp sweater.

It was November 3rd, and the autumn chill was getting stronger. The air was damp and cold, and the girl was already dressed a bit lightly, so she shivered even more at that moment.

Fortunately, the bookstore had warm air blowing, or else she might have caught a cold.

Seeing that the heavy rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon, the girl sighed lightly, found a seat, ordered a cup of milk tea, and casually picked up a detective novel to read.

Her black hair fell softly over her shoulders, making her look very gentle and attracting attention.

In the corner, a person wearing a thick jacket, a black mask, and a matching duckbill cap lifted their eyes to gaze at her, their gaze cold and excited.

The girl's phone on the table vibrated.

She glanced at the caller ID and swiped to answer the call.

"What's wrong, Jiang Pan?"

On the other end of the phone, a man's voice sounded a bit helpless as it entered her ears.

"Xin Yi, is it raining heavily over there? My flight has been delayed, and they said the flight to Flower Market couldn't take off due to the heavy rain."

Han Xinyi touched her wet clothes and laughed softly, saying, "Yes, the rain is heavy, and the wind is strong. I was planning to go to the nearby mall to buy something, but halfway there, my clothes got all wet, and even an umbrella couldn't save me."

"Then, where are you now?" Jiang Pan sounded a bit concerned.

Han Xinyi's gaze fell vaguely on the book in front of her. On the page she had opened, it read:

"The girl cowered in fear under the bed, and the bedroom door was pushed open, revealing a pair of cheap rain boots stepping in. From her perspective, she could only see the intruder's knees and a small section of a rusty knife tip."

She suppressed the inexplicable chill that ran down her back and took a sip of the sweet milk tea. "Now... I found a bookstore on the way to take shelter from the rain. I'll wait for the rain to ease up a bit before I leave. When can your flight take off?"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't miss the old classmates' gathering tomorrow. I just wanted to have a good time in Flower Market for a couple of days." Jiang Pan had a good personality, and he spoke about it with a smile, making the mood light.

The two chatted for a while, and Han Xinyi restrained her voice, trying not to disturb the others reading. But as they chatted, she always felt like someone was watching her.

With a hint of suspicion, she looked around, only to see everyone reading with their heads down, and a few middle school students were huddled together doing homework.

Everything seemed normal.

She furrowed her brows and thought to herself that it might be because she was reading a detective novel with some horror elements, which made her feel like she was being watched.

She pursed her lips, and the brief silence was noticed by Jiang Pan on the other end of the phone. Jiang Pan asked, "What's wrong, Xin Yi? Did I say something wrong?... Do you like sweet or savory tofu pudding?"

"It doesn't matter, I can accept both sweet and savory." Han Xinyi chuckled helplessly, not wanting to get involved in the debate between sweet and savory. She was about to continue chatting when Jiang Pan suddenly remembered something.

"Xin Yi, I heard that there's a serial killer in Flower Market recently?"

Han Xinyi was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. "Ah... yes."

"I heard that the psycho killer likes to commit crimes on rainy days. You have to be careful, and absolutely do not go to places with few people."

Upon hearing Jiang Pan's concern, Han Xinyi sweetly smiled, even though the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see it. "Actually... the person he killed were all young men, so I should be quite safe. It's probably someone who has a grudge against a certain type of man. Thank you for your concern."

After chatting for a few more sentences, the call ended.

Han Xinyi continued to read with her head down, flipping to the next page, where the book read:

"The intruder seemed to know she was there, but like a cat playing with a mouse, he leisurely roamed around the bedroom, as if he knew she wouldn't dare to come out from under the bed. The collision of the soles of his shoes with the floor made a dull sound, and he was waiting for her to gradually break down. He wanted to enjoy her most fearful expression, and this understanding made the girl cover her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes."

"He finally finished inspecting this area like an inspector, and the rain boots stopped by the bed. Now, the girl could only see the tip of a shoe. Suddenly, the intruder squatted down, and the hand wearing gloves also entered the girl's line of sight. She watched as the intruder tightened the sharp knife and cruelly scraped it back and forth on the floor, making a piercing sound.""Her nostrils flared, and her whole body stiffened like a corpse. The only difference from a corpse was the increasingly rapid sound of her breathing. Am I going to die? Will that knife cut my skin like it's cutting the floor, it must be so painful... The girl closed her eyes in despair. See, Dad, you were right before you died. Some people are as humble as rats in the sewer in order to survive, while others only need to cross a line called humanity to start deciding the life and death of others."

"Mm..." For some reason, or perhaps because Jiang Pan mentioned the recent serial killer case that had caused widespread panic, Han Xinyi felt that familiar sense of being watched again.

This time, she noticed a person in the corner wearing a black duckbill cap and a mask.

The person was reading with their head down, but Han Xinyi's unease was aroused by their heavily armed appearance.

"What am I thinking..." After staring at the person for a while, Han Xinyi was shocked to realize how impolite it was to maliciously speculate about a stranger.

"Sorry, sorry." She silently repeated in her mind twice, no longer letting her thoughts wander, until the rain subsided a bit, and she decided to leave.

She had read a quarter of the book and found it quite interesting, so she glanced at the title and the author.

It was a book called "Decay of Reasoning," and the author used the pen name "Yuanxia."

"I'll come back to finish this book next time!" Han Xinyi packed up and headed towards the bookstore's entrance.

However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something black move.

She stiffened, realizing that the person wearing the black duckbill cap from the corner was standing up and following her.

The person in the black duckbill cap walked towards her, as if they also wanted to leave.

"It's just a coincidence," she thought, but her heart skipped a beat.

The brim of the other person's hat was pressed down so low that their face couldn't be seen from a normal angle.

She pursed her lips, thinking that under normal circumstances, she should have picked up her umbrella and left, and then this person would follow her out of the bookstore and into the deserted rain outside... No, although it was very impolite to maliciously speculate about others, she was indeed a little worried.

The bookstore was in a somewhat remote location, and with the heavy rain, there was not a single pedestrian in sight.

But what if the other person was really a bad person? If she stopped suddenly, would she be noticed? Would she provoke them... Ah, it's all because of the recent serial killer, causing widespread panic in the Flower Market!

Perhaps seeing her standing at the door without moving, the clerk kindly said, "Did you forget something? Look, the ten dollars, is it yours?"

Ten dollars?

Han Xinyi's eyes lit up as she looked back at the seat and saw a banknote lying underneath.

Whether it was hers or not, she now loved that ten dollars!

Because while she went back to get the money, she could let the person in the black duckbill cap leave first!

After observing the other person walking in that direction, she could leave in the opposite direction, either going home or to the mall, taking a detour.

Han Xinyi waited for the person in the black duckbill cap to approach before saying to the clerk, "Thank you, it should be mine, I'll go check."

Then she brushed past the person in the black duckbill cap.

As she picked up the money, she sneakily glanced at the person from the corner of her eye.

The person in the black duckbill cap had actually stopped as well.

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"No way, no way, I must be scaring myself, right? He wouldn't really..."

It was probably just her scaring herself. For some reason, the person wearing the black duckbill cap stopped for a moment, then continued to push the door with an umbrella.

Han Xinyi breathed a sigh of relief.

She walked to the counter at the door and watched the person leave to the right, deciding to go left and head straight home.

Before that...

She smiled sincerely at the female clerk who had shown goodwill to her twice in a row and said, "Thank you so much!"

The female clerk tilted her head, as if to say: It's just ten dollars, is it necessary to be so sincere in thanking me?

"No need to thank me."

Han Xinyi chatted with the female clerk as a way to wait for the person in the black duckbill cap to walk away. "It's six o'clock already, dinner time, aren't you off work yet?"

"I'm about to get off." When the topic of getting off work was mentioned, the female clerk couldn't help but smile.

"Oh... Bye, you're really nice, I'll come back next time." Han Xinyi smiled sweetly and then walked out of the bookstore.

She opened her umbrella in the rain and walked in the direction of her home.

Occasionally, a few cars would pass by, and at one point, a motorcycle, in a hurry for some reason, splashed water all over Han Xinyi as it sped past a puddle.

"Ugh!" Han Xinyi turned around, only to see the motorcycle speeding away.

"..." A bit unlucky.

But she would have to shower and change clothes when she got home anyway, so, it didn't matter...

Wait, what's that?

She was feeling a bit down, but suddenly she saw a figure.

The moment she saw this figure, Han Xinyi felt a chill run down her spine!

It was... it was actually the person wearing the black duckbill cap.

He had turned back and followed her all the way!

When... no, why did he follow her? She had seen him walk to the right, so his excuse of living in the same direction didn't hold up.If it were a coincidence, it wouldn't have caused someone to turn around and follow her, right?

The person wearing the black duckbill cap paused in his steps, clearly having noticed that she had spotted him.

He glanced around.

Han Xinyi inwardly cursed her luck; on this road, apart from the motorcycle that had splashed her with water earlier, there wasn't a second passerby!

She took a deep breath, just about to turn around and quickly find a place with people, when she saw the man in the black duckbill cap suddenly quicken his pace towards her.

As he got closer, the hand hidden in his sleeve was revealed, and a shiny fruit knife slid out, now firmly grasped in his hand!

m.x