Sha Qing

Chapter 2: The Wolf Hung Upside Down

"None of that can be classified as evidence. It could be that he's just a 'zealous fan of killers' or perhaps he just prefers to imagine himself as a crazed psychopath..." Alden wasn't so sure if his remark was meant to reassure Roy or to comfort his own self.

"Then we'll find some evidence." Roy pulled his trousers up, quietly went down from the bed, and took the lighter from the small round table. He didn't dare turn on the lights, and under the dim glow of the lighter's flame, he searched through Quinn's clothes, his trousers and his jacket that he laid on the sofa.

While digging through the pockets of his trousers, his fingers touched an object with a hard, flat surface, and he immediately yanked it out.

"It's a notebook," he whispered, stuffing the lighter into the Alden's hands and quietly reading through the pages.

The notebook was brittle, it wasn't any larger than the size of one's palm. Pen and pencil markings were scribbled all over, the handwriting was scratchy, the lines were messy, and there were many indications of corrections. The owner must have valued it quite a bit; he read and wrote in it so often that the edges of the sheets started curling.

"...he stumbled as he ran, crying out for help, constantly looking over his shoulder. He was terrified, a helpless lamb being chased by a wolf, waiting to be tied by his feet, dragged back. His screaming voice made one's blood boil with passion..." Alden leaned forward; he wrinkled his brows as he read aloud. "Is this supposed to be a fantasy novel? If it is, then the writing style is truly lacking. And what's this?" He pointed at the crooked geometric shape right below the text

Roy attentively examined it, "Is it an inverted pentagram?" His fingertips moved upwards along the ink dots on the middle of the page, coming to a stop at the top of the page. Because they were too preoccupied with the text, the ink scrawls at the upper corner of the page were completely overlooked by them-a few rigid dark curves, presumably signifying tree branches, a long hanging shadow indicating...a corpse! And the ink dots represented the blood dripping from its body!

Roy's hand trembled, he nearly flung this gruesome and evil object far away!

Alden put the lighter away, grabbed his wrist with one hand, and drew him into his arms, embracing him tightly. "Calm down...Don't make any noise, let's sneak out of here."

Roy took a deep breath, "Should we call the police?"

"For a damaged notebook? We'll first end up being made fun of by the police. Although it's definitely evil, it's not something that will be considered sufficient proof. Listen to me, let's get out of here first. Grab anything you need and drive your car to the hotel. In the meantime, I'll go and wake Jessica up. We have to leave now."

"...Okay," Roy said, "I'll listen to you."

Alden carefully tucked the car keys into Roy's hand before he left, then tenderly kissed his lips in the darkness, "Go fast, baby."

Roy had to go back and forth twice; he drove both the Volvo and the Chevrolet to the roadside all the way from the small parking lot behind the hotel. When he finished, he saw Alden hurrying out the door, but he was alone.

"What about Jessica?"

"I knocked on the door several times, but she still didn't respond. Later, I went around outside and checked the window, the curtains were opened, but she wasn't even in her room. I think she probably...went to look for a place to drink." Alden shrugged. His eyes flashed with a faint emotion which he quickly tried to hide, but Roy sharply managed to catch it and deduced the meaning behind that expression: an undeniable feeling of revulsion and hatred.

"You have zero obligations to take care of a drug addict," Roy patted his arm in comfort, "Since this is the case, let's just leave her. We'll go by ourselves."