I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 274: Chapter 272: What’s to the Southwest?

Su Miaoyi had her stitches removed in the morning.

She had lunch with Shen Shilan.

In the afternoon, she went shopping with Shen Shilan and Xia Ye for half the day, and in the evening, she went to Cheng Yong and Ge Yu’s house.

After moving into the rental apartment, Cheng Yong found a job at a supermarket as a clerk in the produce section.

Cheng Jue would occasionally go to the film studio to audition for small roles and the like.

This was the first time Su Miaoyi had stayed over since they moved.

The things they had brought over from the old district were still in boxes, untouched by anyone.

Ge Yu had replaced all the bedding with new sets.

Su Miaoyi unpacked her boxes and arranged her things, putting them in roughly the same places as they had been in the old house.

After dinner, they watched a movie together, chatting about this and that.

They also talked a bit about Kang Hong.

His whole family of three had been locked up.

In the days after Kang Hong’s family was imprisoned, it was the only topic of conversation among their relatives, all of them gossiping about the family’s affairs and mixing in all sorts of speculation.

A little after ten, everyone went to their rooms to sleep.

”Wanna play some games?” Cheng Jue asked.

”Nah, I’m going to go enjoy my new bed. You can play by yourself,” Su Miaoyi said.

”Alright then.”

Cheng Jue went back to his room and played a few rounds. At around 11:20, he came out to get his charger from the sofa.

As soon as he entered the living room, he saw the balcony door was open. Su Miaoyi was standing on the balcony, staring outside.

”Sis, is the new bed not comfortable?”

Su Miaoyi didn’t respond.

Cheng Jue picked up the charging cable and looked at her again. ”Sis?”

Still, Su Miaoyi didn’t respond.

Cheng Jue sensed something was wrong and quickly walked out onto the balcony to stand beside her. ”Sis? What’s wrong? Why are you just standing here?”

Su Miaoyi remained unresponsive.

Cheng Jue watched her for a moment, then reached out and poked her arm.

Still no reaction.

”Sis, you... It’s so late, don’t mess with me. I get scared easily. You’re going to give me a heart attack,” Cheng Jue said, suspecting she might be teasing him.

Su Miaoyi didn’t speak.

Cheng Jue craned his neck to look at her eyes and waved a hand in front of her face.

Su Miaoyi stared into the distance, her eyes unblinking.

”Sis.” Cheng Jue grabbed her arm and shook it. Seeing that everything from her body to her expression and her eyes was completely still, he felt that something was seriously wrong. ”Sis.”

He called out to her, but then he remembered what she had told him about how she would sometimes see things. He let go of her arm and stood beside her, waiting quietly.

He had only heard her talk about it; he had never seen it happen himself.

He was worried about interrupting whatever she was seeing, but he was also worried that something had happened to her.

Cheng Jue stood beside her, watching her anxiously.

He noticed she was staring fixedly into the distance.

In one direction—to the southwest.

Cheng Jue followed her gaze, looking into the distance as well.

All he could see was building after building. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

After a long moment, Su Miaoyi suddenly took a step forward.

Cheng Jue immediately grabbed her arm.

Su Miaoyi’s foot hit the wall.

”Sis,” Cheng Jue called out anxiously.

Su Miaoyi snapped back to her senses and looked around.

”Sis. What just happened?” Cheng Jue asked, watching her.

Su Miaoyi shook her head and looked around again. ”What just happened to me?”

”You were just standing here, like this...” Cheng Jue quickly reenacted her posture, expression, gaze, and the direction she was facing. ”You stood there just like that. I called you, but you didn’t react at all.”

He then lowered his voice. ”Did you see something?”

Su Miaoyi shook her head. ”No.”

”Then what was it?” Cheng Jue asked.

Su Miaoyi was silent for a moment, then looked southwest again. ”I was just standing here the whole time? I didn’t do anything else?”

”You were staring southwest the whole time. Right before you snapped out of it, you took a step forward.”

Su Miaoyi said nothing.

’I had another blackout. I don’t know how I got here from my bedroom.’

’I remember sitting at the desk in my room, reading the real Su Miaoyi’s handwritten novel manuscript, and then suddenly I was here.’

Su Miaoyi thought hard. ’I think I heard someone crying for help, saying ’save me.’’

’This kind of thing has happened before.’

’Usually, when this happens, I have a blackout and end up in a strange place where I find a dead body.’

’But this time... I didn’t go to a strange place.’

’I just walked from my bedroom to the living room balcony.’

’There can’t be a body on the balcony, can there?’

Su Miaoyi looked down at the floor beneath her feet.

’No, it’s not here. If it were, Cheng Jue would have seen me prying at the floorboards.’

’Then is it to the southwest?’

’But that’s just a direction. The potential area is huge.’

Seeing that she was lost in thought, Cheng Jue didn’t dare to make a sound.

Su Miaoyi gazed southwest again.

’If there really is a murder, why did I just stand here this time instead of going straight to it?’

Su Miaoyi couldn’t figure it out.

”Sis?” Cheng Jue called out to her tentatively, his voice low.

Su Miaoyi looked at him. ”Why did you come out?”

”To get my charging cable.” Cheng Jue held up the cable in his hand. ”Are you okay?”

”I’m fine.”

”Your... Special Ability... it wouldn’t make you jump off of here, would it?” Cheng Jue asked, a little worried.

Su Miaoyi said, ”It won’t.”

Her tone was certain.

’After all, I’ve always taken the stairs before. And according to Zhuang Yanzheng, I even avoid obstacles in well-lit areas.’

’So jumping off a building probably won’t happen.’

Cheng Jue relaxed a little.

”Go to bed,” Su Miaoyi said. ”I’m going to go sleep in my new bed.”

”Are you really okay?”

”I’m fine. Go to sleep.” Su Miaoyi returned to her room.

Cheng Jue went back to his room too, but after a moment, he came back out with a blanket.

He was still a little worried. If he slept in the living room, he’d be able to hear any disturbances.

He draped the blanket over his stomach and went back to playing his game.

After returning to her room, Su Miaoyi didn’t sleep either. She kept thinking about the southwest, wondering where in that direction a murder might have occurred.

After mulling it over, she decided to tell Zhuang Yanzheng first.

The two of them spoke on the phone, studying a map of southwest Jinghai. They identified a few possible locations, and Zhuang Yanzheng arranged for people to search them. She didn’t get to sleep until just before dawn.

The next day, Su Miaoyi didn’t wake up until almost noon.

Zhuang Yanzheng had sent her a message: the locations they had identified were all normal. There were no bodies.

After lunch, Su Miaoyi returned to Weiyang Palace.

On her way upstairs, she ran into her upstairs neighbors, who were in the middle of moving out.

The upstairs neighbor looked awkward when she saw her, but after a moment, she greeted her, ”Oh, heading out?”

Su Miaoyi nodded.

”We’re...” the woman said with a smile. ”It’s not very convenient to get to school from here, so we found a place closer and decided to move.”

Su Miaoyi nodded again, understanding. ”Is your little one all better now?”

”All better,” the woman said. ”And your injuries, they’ve healed up too?”

”Yes. All healed.”

”Thank you for saving him.”

Su Miaoyi shook her head. ”It was nothing.”

...