Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 1045: East

She held the candy wrapper in her palm, examining it carefully. The orange pattern printed on it had faded, but the vibrant color of its day was still visible. She remembered how, as a child, every time she got a perfect score on a test, her grandmother would reward her with one of these orange-flavored hard candies. Peeling back the shiny wrapper, the rich orange fragrance instantly filled her nose, and holding it in her mouth, the sweet taste would brighten her whole day. Just then, a clear, childish voice echoed without warning, like the gurgling of a spring in a mountain stream: "Sister, can you help me find something?" The sudden sound startled Lin Mo, causing the broom in her hand to drop to the ground with a clatter, the bristles spreading and picking up some dust. She took a deep breath, suppressing her slight panic, and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw a child in a blue cloth jacket crouching in the corner, drawing circles. Her thin pigtails clung to her cheeks, the red string at the end of her hair faded. The blue cloth jacket was the uniform of the nearby Experimental Elementary School, though the washed-out fabric still bore a few long-dried dark red stains, like congealed blood, glaring in the morning light. Lin Mo gathered herself, slowly walked over, and crouched down, trying to sound gentle and kind, just like when she'd tended to young patients at nursing school. "What are you looking for?" The boy—or rather, girl, for the pigtails clearly belonged to a young girl—raised his head, revealing a childish face. Her eyes were as dark and bright as two plump black grapes, but strangely, Lin Mo couldn't see his own reflection in them, only a bottomless emptiness. "My mom gave me some candy, orange-flavored, and I dropped it... I dropped it where there were so many cars that day," the girl's voice laced with a subtle hint of grievance and anxiety, her fingers unconsciously tracing circles on the ground as she spoke. Lin Mo's heart sank, as if struck by a boulder, instantly heavy. Of course, she knew where "where there were so many cars that day" referred to. The chain reaction at the intersection three years ago remains a painful memory for residents of Old Street, reluctant to speak of it. The news detailed a mother who had taken her child to school and died instantly. A little girl, wearing the same uniform as the girl before her, was trapped in the deformed backseat. Firefighters struggled to free her, but when they pried open her tightly clenched hands, they found only a crumpled piece of candy wrapper. At that moment, Lin Mo looked at the frail, hollow-eyed girl before her, and an indescribable pang of sorrow welled up in her heart. She reached out and gently stroked the girl's braided head. Her fingertips traversed a cold void, touching nothing, yet she felt a tangible tenderness that belonged to a child. "I'll help you find it," she said, her voice choked with emotion, yet resolute. At these words, the girl's dark eyes seemed to gleam, and the corners of her mouth curled up into a faint smile, like the first ray of a rainbow appearing on the horizon after a rainy day. "Thank you, sister." That afternoon, Lin Mo left her wonton stall with a familiar woman next door and rode her electric scooter to the intersection. The sun was getting fierce, scorching the asphalt, and the air was thick with heat, making it hard to breathe. The clamor of traffic at the intersection was a stark contrast to the early morning tranquility of the old street. She first went to the nearby traffic police station and explained that she wanted to review the surveillance footage of the car accident three years ago. At first, the staff was hesitant, saying that surveillance footage is not usually released to the public. But Lin Mo persisted. She patiently explained that she had been asked by the family of the victim to find something that held special meaning for them. Perhaps it was her sincerity that touched the staff, or perhaps it was the fact that the incident was truly memorable, but an elderly traffic officer finally led her to the monitoring room. In the dimly lit room, the image on the screen was blurry, but the horrific accident was still clear. The screech of brakes seemed to penetrate the screen, echoing in her ears. In the picture, a red car was sandwiched between two trucks and deformed instantly. At the moment of the collision, a figure in a blue cloth jacket flew out from the back seat, like a fallen leaf blown by the wind. Lin Mo's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She stared at the screen and saw the candy in the little girl's hand slip from her hand, rolled several times on the asphalt road, and finally stopped in the roadside gutter. "That's it." Lin Mo pointed to the location of the gutter on the screen, his voice trembling with excitement. After leaving the traffic police brigade, Lin Mo walked straight to the gutter. She put on a mask, squatted down, and began to search carefully. There were a lot of debris piled up in the gutter, including plastic bags, waste paper, and some silt. The sun shone on her back, burning her. Sweat slid down her cheeks, dripped into the soil, and evaporated in an instant. At this time, a sanitation worker in orange overalls passed by pushing a garbage cart. Seeing Lin Mo rummaging through the gutter, he couldn't help but stop and ask, "Girl, what are you looking for?" "Uncle, I'm looking for a piece of orange-flavored candy. I dropped it here about three years ago." Lin Mo raised her head, wiped the sweat from her face, and explained. The sanitation worker shook his head, a trace of regret on his face. "Something from three years ago? Then don't look for it. This place has been cleaned countless times. Not to mention a piece of candy, even a needle would have been cleared away long ago." A sense of disappointment crossed Lin Mo's heart, but she didn't give up. "Thank you, uncle. I'll look again. Maybe I can find it." The sanitation worker sighed, said nothing more, and slowly walked away with the garbage cart. Time passed little by little, from afternoon to dusk. The sun gradually set, dyeing the sky a warm orange. Gradually, more and more people were walking on the road, including office workers going home from get off work and students returning from school. They were all in a hurry, and no one noticed the persistent figure squatting on the roadside. Lin Mo's hands and feet were already numb, and her fingers were cut by sharp stones in several places, bleeding, but she didn't care. She had only one thought in her mind, that she must help the little girl find the candy. It was not just a piece of candy, but also a child's last thought for his mother, her unfulfilled wish. Until dusk, the sunset in the sky was breathtakingly beautiful, and Lin Mo's fingertips suddenly touched a hard object. She was delighted and quickly used her hands to push away the mud around it. It was a piece of candy covered with mud, which had turned black and lost its original shape.