Chapter 203 - 88: Catching the "Snake" (Part 2)

Because even if she wasn't the one who did it, he couldn't rule out the possibility of her indirect involvement.

It was like how Li Yipeng had smashed Gu Qiuyan's building blocks. He was the direct culprit, sure, but was Zhou Ziheng completely innocent?

His second reason for being wary was that he found the cause of Gu Qiuyan's death too strange.

The flawless security system, the killer's completely untraceable movements, the fated-seeming location of her death... The suspicious points were endless.

Then there was the sudden heavy snow in this timeline, the frozen snakes, and the figure he'd seen last night. All these things overlapping gave him a very bad feeling.

It seemed Gu Qiuyan's death had moved beyond "realistic" factors. Something unseen and untouchable was at play.

It was impossible to even begin to deduce what was happening, so it was no wonder he was on edge.

And the most mysterious thing on the entire island Zhang Shutong could think of was the Cyan Snake Temple—or rather, the young girl who served as its Temple Priestess.

Not to mention the clue pointed to by the tattoo on his arm.

Although he still couldn't figure out what the third circle represented, the first two at least pointed to the same thing.

That's why he'd asked Qingyi and the others to dig a very deep pit beforehand, building on the snow pit they had made for their game to set a trap in advance.

He had made this decision at home not long ago.

If his previous attitude toward Lu Qinglian had been to keep his distance, now it was to face the vortex head-on.

—Drag her into his own tempo.

When you do something, you can't be indecisive. It's either enemy or stranger, not this constant state of suspicion and timidity.

The fact was, there was no way he could ignore Lu Qinglian's existence and treat her as a stranger. That only left "enemy."

Only then could he seize some measure of control.

Although "snakes" are dangerous predators—patient and cunning, launching surprise attacks on their prey's vital spots—humans are animals with four limbs who, over the course of history, learned to walk upright and master all sorts of tools. The possibility of hunting a "snake" was not out of the question.

This time, Zhang Shutong had come up the mountain to catch this very "snake."

While Lu Qinglian was busy teasing the fox, he took out his phone for another look. A large pit, big enough to hold an adult, had already been dug. Anyone who fell in would find it nearly impossible to climb out on their own.

The area around it was camouflaged and covered with a thick layer of snow. A branch had been placed on top as a marker. If you weren't in on the plan, you would never know it was a trap.

Qingyi sent him the trap's exact location, then retreated with Du Kang and Ruoping, leaving some tools nearby—ropes and shovels.

Even Zhang Shutong's eyelid twitched when he saw it. He thought they had gone a bit overboard.

"This is a bit much."

"Honestly, I think it's overkill too. But since we were already digging, what if we didn't make it deep enough and she escaped? All that work would've been for nothing."

"Fair point."

His thinking back at home had been simple. He didn't have much time to waste testing a dangerous person back and forth. If Lu Qinglian still refused to say anything, he would have to use this method to force her to talk.

After all, no matter how good she was at fighting, she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl.

His rewind ability had "disappeared." By "disappeared," he meant that he wasn't sure if it would still work if something happened to him. Would it rewind to a critical moment before his death, or would he just be... dead?

It was the kind of thing he couldn't test, nor did he dare to bet on it.

He didn't even dare to gamble that if Gu Qiuyan were killed again this time, he would be able to return to eight years in the future to gather intelligence and prepare all over again.

What if he couldn't?

If there was one rule to this ability, it was that it had no rules.

He used to think his ability was simply 'if something bad happens around me, I can return to a critical point before it occurred.' But the truth was, that rule—one he'd spent eight years figuring out—had just been overturned.

So, he had no choice but to harden his heart.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong glanced at Lu Qinglian again.

The girl seemed completely oblivious.