I hastily ran back to the apartment building. The elevator was on the 12

th

 floor and stayed there for quite a long time. I gritted my teeth and kicked open the door to the emergency staircases, climbing my way up.

I had never sweated this much in my life, nor had I climbed so many steps. I didn’t know how long it took to reach the 27

th

 floor, but my legs were shaking when I got there. The door to Mr. Song’s apartment was open. I gasped for my breath and calmed down. Then, I cautiously entered the suite.  

As soon as I entered the apartment, a stench overwhelmed me. I had no time to think and rushed to the balcony. The window was open. Although there was no wind, the window panels were moving, which created a rhythmic squeaking sequence. It somewhat sounded like the ticking sound of a clock.  

The walls of the balcony and the floor were filled with sticky mud mixed with dark green moss, which looked rather creepy. 

What the heck is this?

Li Mazi finally caught up to me. His face was still pale. 

“Little Brother Zhang…” 

“Why did you come up here?”

“You left me there facing a dead body, which isn’t different from wanting my life! We should seize the time and get out of here. Someone’s dead, and I’m sure people will call the police. If the police see us here, we won’t be able to explain ourselves.” Then, Li Mazi didn’t wait for my answer and pulled my hand to usher me out.

As the elevator started descending, Li Mazi suddenly screamed, “Crap, our footprints are in that apartment. The police will start searching for us soon. Should we go back there and clean things up?” 

“I didn’t expect you to be this meticulous in such a situation. No wonder they call you Careful Mazi…” 

Before I could finish, Li Mazi put on a smile that looked uglier than his crying face. “Little Brother Zhang, how are you still in the mood to joke now?”

I was also tense, but what else could I do in this situation? I took a deep breath and tried to find some words to calm him down. But then, I caught that strange stench again in the elevator. 

“Li Mazi, is it just me, or is there a strange smell in this elevator?” I asked. 

Li Mazi shook his head. “It’s not just your imagination.” 

He pointed at the elevator wall behind me. “Brother, turn around and see for yourself.”

I turned and saw that some dark mud was oozing down the elevator wall. 

“Little Brother Zhang! Think of something!” Li Mazi was so tense that his voice shivered.

I hastily hit the button, and we felt the elevator descend faster.

Li Mazi was still restless. “Little Brother Zhang! Do something!”

“Shut up!” In a moment like this, we had to keep our heads clear. I leaned against the elevator wall. The moment my hands touched the wall, it didn’t feel like metal but cold bricks. I even felt the rough texture and the sticky, damp surface.

Things were getting weirder and weirder! 

Li Mazi’s legs started shaking. “It’s over! I’m going to die here! Who will take care of my son?” 

Luckily for us, the doors to the elevator opened on the 6

th

 floor. Li Mazi and I didn’t think twice before dashing out.

We bumped into a well-dressed madam who held a little white dog. She lost her balance and stumbled. When she lifted her head, we had already disappeared. She couldn’t help but curse, “You bastards! Are you rushing to the crematory? You didn’t even look where you were going. I’m wearing branded clothes from head to toe. You will have to work for your whole lives to compensate me. You two bastards!”

We couldn’t hear what she was yelling afterward. We moved like rockets from the sixth floor to the ground floor. A group of people had already surrounded Mrs. Chen’s dead body. Li Mazi and I didn’t dare to look and rushed out of the building area. 

We still heard people discussing the accident behind us. 

“It’s very strange, isn’t it?” 

“Her body position is the same as Mr. Song’s!” 

“She was Mr. Song’s housekeeper, right? I’d seen her twice before…” 

Li Mazi and I sprinted as quickly as we could to the car. Without giving it a second thought, we drove away. 

After we had been driving for a long time, Li Mazi gradually pulled himself together. “If we run like this all the time, we could win an Olympic medal for sure. I’m sure I just ran faster than Usain Bolt.”

I took a deep breath. The stench still lingered in my nostrils. 

Li Mazi turned and checked on Old Gang, who was in the back seat. He shook the man twice, but he was still sleeping. Li Mazi sounded envious. “This bastard. We ran so fast that our legs were shaking. Meanwhile, he was just here sleeping the entire time like a dead pig!”

I gripped the wheel so tightly that green veins bulged on the back of my hands. 

Li Mazi asked, “Little Brother Zhang, what should we do now? If I may, we should leave this case alone. No one knows about it, so your reputation will be safe. If we get another shock like this, I’m afraid I won’t survive.”

After thinking about Mrs. Chen’s horrible death, I said through my gritted teeth, “You want to run now? When you agreed to this deal, what did you have in mind? Someone has died already, do you really think you can run away from this? Even if you could hide in a turtle shell, do you think that the clock won’t find you?”

Li Mazi looked at me glumly. “What should we do then? We have no clues. We can’t just run around like a headless fly.” 

“Who said we don’t have any clues? Mrs. Chen disclosed something, didn’t she? Mr. Song got the clock from a farmer who works at his tea farm. We’ll go to that farm.” 

Li Mazi frowned. “But where’s that tea farm? We can’t visit each farm to figure it out.”

“When you have free time, you should shake the rust off your brain. Don’t just leave your brain to rot. Even if a person has died, they definitely left some traces while they were alive. Mr. Song was from this area, which means that many people knew him.” I drove to the city, found a good-looking tea shop, and parked the car outside.

“I’m going inside to ask,” I said to Li Mazi as I got out of the car.

As I had expected, as soon as I mentioned Mr. Song, the shopkeeper nodded. “Yeah, he was a big shot, but I’m sure he didn’t know me. Anyway, I’ve heard about him as I’m part of this business.” 

“Do you know where his tea farm is?” I asked.

“Of course, I do.” The shopkeeper smiled. “I’m not gonna lie to you, but we’re just a small business family. We can only take pieces of food from the slits between those big shots’ teeth. They care about quality, so they only collect the young leaves on the top to make high-quality tea. We don’t have much capital, so we have to build a good relationship with the tea farmers. They will sell us the cheaper tea leaves.”

But when I asked him for the address, he glanced at me suspiciously. “Sir, every business has its own rules. You’re asking me for an important address, and I can’t give it to you just like that. We’re just a small shop, and it's already hard to live. If you claim my supply, I will have to close my shop…”

“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t work in the tea business,” I said sincerely to assure him. 

“Even if you say so, you can still take my supply, and I can’t even call the police!” The shopkeeper was resolute. 

Feeling helpless, I searched my pockets and collected one thousand renminbi. I placed the money on his counter. “I want to buy that address from you. Will you sell it to me?” 

His eyes moved around. “This price… is a little low.” 

I collected my money on the counter. “Forget it. I’m going to ask the shop over there.” 

The shopkeeper held my hand. “Oh, sir, don’t be in such a rush!” 

He took out a piece of paper and wrote down an address. “Here you are. But you should never tell anybody that I gave you the address. Otherwise, I won’t be able to survive in this business.” 

I agreed and left with the note. 

As soon as I got in the car, Li Mazi asked, “Did you get it?”

“Of course,” I rose my brows contentedly. “If I do something, I’m definitely going to make sure it succeeds.” 

Li Mazi nodded. “Right, right!”