Monster - Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Out of Control
Lin Sandie had given one of the notes—the one documenting Feng Li's possible murder—to Glory Road, and had left the other in Xing Meilu's car. Regardless of whether the latter would discover it in time, she had decided not to give Xing Meilu any further opportunity to get close to her.
So, deciding to go all in, Lin Sandie requested annual leave from Yan Ting. She planned to return to her hometown for the Qingming Festival to sweep the grave of her long-deceased mother, Zhao Zhi, allowing her to temporarily escape both Xing Meilu's prying eyes and Yan Ting's surveillance.
She returned to her hometown every year around Qingming. In the past, Yan Ting would have sent Feng Li to accompany her, but with Feng Li's sudden death, Yan Ting was unwilling to press the issue. This created a vacuum, giving Lin Sandie a rare opportunity to catch her breath.
Lin Sandie's hometown was a small village in southern Leviathan. Her father, stepmother, and younger brother, Lin Youceng—who was repeating the twelfth grade—lived there together. Her relationship with them wasn't particularly close, but it wasn't so strained that they couldn't get along.
Her father, Lin Zhenshuo, had originally been the village postman. With the rise of online shopping, he opened a package pickup and delivery station. Her stepmother, Wang Xia, usually helped out in the shop. Lin Sandie's seventeen-year-old brother, Lin Youceng, had failed his university entrance exams the previous year and was now studying to retake them. His relationship with Lin Sandie was closer than that with his father and stepmother; they often exchanged messages. However, since failing his exams, he had grown much more withdrawn.
Lin Sandie knew that Wang Xia put a great deal of pressure on him, and she had privately comforted him on several occasions.
After buying gifts, Lin Sandie drove home alone. The drive from Center City to her hometown took about four hours without traffic, passing through vast stretches of hills and fields. At this time of year, the countryside seemed to be veiled in the light gauze of a spring deity. As far as the eye could see, there was only the fine mist of spring rain and a lush, verdant green.
Only at this time of year could Lin Sandie's perpetually tense heart find a moment of peace.
If she could, she would have stayed there alone, gazing at the beautiful scenery, always and forever, without having to say a word.
But it seemed the god of fate had it in for her, resorting to every conceivable means to hound her, determined to push Lin Sandie into a bottomless abyss.
This had led Lin Sandie to unconsciously adopt a 'one day at a time' approach to life.
By the time she arrived in her hometown, it was already past four in the evening. The setting sun cast a slanted glow, making the tender green seedlings and shallow water of the countryside ripple with a soft, orange halo. Lin Sandie didn't go straight home. Instead, she drove to her father's delivery station, knowing that he and her stepmother were most likely still working.
But when she arrived, she found the station's metal security gate pulled shut. Several villagers were standing outside, chatting among themselves as they tried to call the contact number posted on the gate.
When they saw Lin Sandie get out of her car, they were momentarily stunned before their faces broke into the kind of appreciative smiles reserved for a 'neighbor's kid.' They came forward to greet her.
"Sandie, what brings you back?"
"Yeah, Sandie, your parents haven't opened the shop for two days. A lot of us can't get our packages. Do you know what's going on?"
"Can you let us get our packages first?! I have refrigerated items inside!"
"Hello, Uncle Li, Auntie Xu, uh…" Lin Sandie was a bit dazed. She greeted them while pulling out her phone. "I just got back, so I don't know what's happening either. I'll call my dad and ask."
Lin Sandie had called her father several times before heading home, but no one had answered. She had assumed he was just busy, but now, hearing that the station had been closed for two days, a terrible premonition began to form in her heart.
She dialed her father, Lin Zhenshuo's, number again, but it still went unanswered.
"My dad must be caught up with something. I'll go home and check. I'm sorry for the trouble." Years in the professional world had made Lin Sandie polite even toward these fellow villagers with whom she barely interacted. After saying her goodbyes, she immediately drove toward her house. On the way, she tried calling her stepmother and then her brother, but neither of them picked up.
Lin Sandie felt as if a giant boulder had been dropped onto her heart, which had only just begun to relax. She found it hard to breathe.
She soon arrived at her house. The family's financial situation had improved in recent years, and they had added two more floors to the original one-story bungalow, turning it into a three-story home. Though still a row house, it was considerably nicer than many of the other villagers' homes.
Lin Sandie parked on the side of the road. Forgetting the gifts in the car, she grabbed her backpack and phone, rounded a few corners, and headed for her house. Her face was now pale, her gaze somber. As she was parking, she had spotted a police car on the same street.
Sure enough, as she hurried home, she saw a crowd gathered in front of her house. Several police officers were discussing how to break down the locked door.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" As Lin Sandie approached the crowd, a few sharp-eyed onlookers spotted her and immediately parted to form a path. Her arrival seemed to be the answer they were waiting for, and the morbidly curious crowd eagerly cleared a way, hoping it would lead them to an answer as well.
A middle-aged police officer saw Lin Sandie and, recognizing her as the daughter of the family, immediately approached. "Sandie, your parents and your brother haven't been seen for three days. Do you have a key?"
"Uncle Zhang, yes, I do." The village wasn't large, and its population was small. Unlike the younger generation who communicated primarily by phone, most of the older residents knew one another. Lin Sandie recognized the officer as her father's friend, Zhang Fan, and quickly retrieved a key from her backpack.
"You two, don't let anyone else inside," Zhang Fan said, taking the key from Lin Sandie. He glanced at her and, noticing her distress, immediately instructed two of his subordinates.
Zhang Fan unlocked the door and entered with Lin Sandie. The first thing they saw was a room of about twenty square meters. To the right was a stove, and to the left, a dining table. This was the typical layout for the local row houses. Unlike the refined interiors of the city, the rural décor was simple and coarse.
The outer room served as a kitchen and dining area. Near the main entrance, to the lower left, was a hand-pump well used for washing up. A separate, partitioned-off washroom was located to the lower right of the entrance.
"You're back to sweep your mom's grave, right?" Zhang Fan asked as they moved from the outer room into the house.
Lin Sandie just hummed in affirmation. The boulder weighing on her heart was so heavy she couldn't bring herself to say another word.
Moving inward from the first room, they opened a screen door and entered the living room, which was furnished with a sofa, a coffee table, and a television. No one was there, but the moment they stepped inside, both Lin Sandie and Zhang Fan detected an ominous, rust-like smell.
Zhang Fan glanced up toward the second floor. After a moment's thought, he turned to Lin Sandie with a grave expression. "You wait down here. I'll go up and take a look."
"Okay," Lin Sandie nodded. She was certain her face must look dreadful.
As Zhang Fan headed upstairs, Lin Sandie slowly sank onto the sofa. She hunched over, covering her face with her hands, a ringing sound filling her ears. A single question echoed in her mind: Why is this happening…
Even though she hadn't gone upstairs, Lin Sandie knew with absolute certainty what that decaying, rust-like smell was. It was the smell of blood.
"…Send a few more people over. Disperse the onlookers." The house wasn't well soundproofed, and Zhang Fan's voice drifted down faintly from the second floor as he spoke on the phone. After hearing those words, the expression in Lin Sandie's eyes, hidden behind her hands, grew even more vacant.
And yet, for some reason, her mind began to churn automatically.
If her father and stepmother had been murdered, Lin Sandie thought, it couldn't have been Yan Ting's doing. Her father had never been one to meddle in her affairs and had never pressured her to marry. Her stepmother, with whom she had a distant relationship, had never brought up the subject either. There had never been any family pressure on her about who she chose to be with. Although her relationship with Yan Ting had to be kept secret, it had never been threatened by her family.
Yan Ting had no reason to harm them.
So what on earth had happened?
Lin Sandie wondered wearily. As if in answer to her question, Zhang Fan's voice drifted down from upstairs again. "Send people to guard the main exits of the town. Find Lin Youceng."
When the words "Find Lin Youceng" reached her ears, understanding dawned on her. A tremor started deep in her heart and spread through her entire body. Lin Sandie gripped her arms tightly, feeling a deathly chill.
Could Lin Youceng have been infected with that virus that turns people into monsters? Had he lost control of his emotions and hurt their father and stepmother?
Come to think of it, Lin Youceng had been extremely dejected ever since failing his entrance exams. And his mother—her stepmother, Wang Xia—had put immense pressure on him.
Wang Xia had always hoped that her own son would be more successful than Lin Sandie, who worked in Center City. It would validate certain things that were important to her…
The thought of her younger brother turning into one of those faceless monsters made Lin Sandie tremble uncontrollably. She hugged herself, burying her face between her knees, desperately wishing the thought would leave her mind.
Her life felt like a runaway train, hurtling toward an unknown destination. Perhaps it was already moving so fast that it was about to fly off the rails, ready to plunge off a cliff and shatter her to pieces.
"Sandie, why don't you stay at my place tonight?" Zhang Fan asked, coming down from the second floor. Seeing her in such a state made him feel uneasy.
"Uncle Zhang." Lin Sandie lifted her bloodless face and stood up unsteadily, trying her best to appear composed.
"Your… your parents… they probably didn't make it," Zhang Fan said gently.
"What happened?"
"We're not sure yet. You should go to my place for now. I just spoke with your auntie about it."
"No, that's alright. I can handle it myself." Lin Sandie felt dizzy. She forced herself to finish the sentence before turning to leave. Just before stepping out of the room, she turned back to Zhang Fan. "Uncle Zhang, I… I'm going to sweep my mom's grave tomorrow. If anything comes up, please call me. I'll be staying in the village for the time being."
"Are you sure you're alright?" Zhang Fan asked with concern, looking at her deathly pale face and her forced display of strength.
Lin Sandie just hummed in response and left her home.
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