The fish pond was about half an acre in size, surrounded by overgrown weeds and a few old trees with dense foliage that cast a tranquil shade.
Nearby lay the forest.
You Mingxu stood by the pond, observed for a moment, then put on shoe covers and began examining the muddy path along the bank. Jing Ping followed her example, donning shoe covers and trailing closely behind.
The mud was soft, leaving clear footprints with every step. However, whether they could find useful traces remained uncertain.
After walking a short distance, You Mingxu crouched down. The path was narrow, so Jing Ping knelt behind her. A trail of footprints descended from the slope nearby onto the muddy path by the pond. The prints appeared to be roughly size 42, from sneakers, neither too deep nor too shallow, with a normal stride width, suggesting the person was a man of average build and weight.
Noticing the footprints led straight down from the slope, You Mingxu paused, leaned forward, and parted the grass by the water’s edge. Here, the footprints were incomplete but still indicated the person had rushed all the way to the water.
Had they run into the water?
You Mingxu opened her phone and scrolled through photos—earlier, at Guo Xing’s home, thanks to his meticulous and tidy habits, all his shoes and shoe boxes had been photographed and cataloged by her team, including the soles.
She flipped through the images one by one, with Jing peering over her shoulder. Suddenly, his ear brushed against her cheek, but You Mingxu didn’t even lift an eyebrow, simply shifting her face slightly aside. Jing Ping’s eyes remained fixed on her phone, as if he hadn’t noticed anything.
After a quick comparison, she concluded, "These aren’t Guo Xing’s footprints."
Jing Ping stood up and pointed ahead, "There are more over there."
You Mingxu looked and indeed spotted another set of footprints about two meters away. For no apparent reason, her heart skipped a beat. Even though three days had passed and there was no confirmation these prints were related to Guo Xing’s disappearance, they seemed peculiar.
The two moved to examine the second set of footprints. Having just reviewed all of Guo Xing’s shoes and soles, You Mingxu’s eyebrows rose, "Guo Xing has a pair like this!" She pulled up a photo of a footprint collected at Guo Xing’s doorstep and compared it side-by-side. Sure enough, the tread pattern and length matched perfectly, even the wear on one part of the sole was identical. Moreover, Guo Xing’s home had the shoe box for this model. It was almost certain these were left by Guo Xing.
You Mingxu immediately stood up and called Ding Xiongwei, requesting support from footprint identification experts.
After hanging up, she saw Jing Ping still kneeling on one knee, his expression grave, lost in thought.
"What’s wrong?" You Mingxu asked.
He responded with his usual lazy smile, "Nothing, just learning."
You Mingxu would bet that, despite his amiable appearance, he had never truly been one to blend in during his previous work. If he had ten things on his mind, he’d share at most one or two. The rest were tucked away in that shrewd heart of his.
But You Mingxu didn’t dwell on it, continuing to examine the trail of Guo Xing’s footprints. She quickly noticed something unusual: the strides were longer than normal, slightly deeper, with mud splattered around—thanks to the cold weather and lack of people, the prints were well-preserved—meaning Guo Xing had been running.At first, she was crouched on the ground, examining each footprint carefully, but soon she stood up and began following the trail in the opposite direction—the direction from which the footprints had come, tracing them back along the fishpond. Lost in thought, she suddenly felt a hand grab her wrist. The man’s thumb and fingertips bore the faint calluses of someone who had held a gun for a long time, rubbing distinctly against her skin.
She turned her head and glanced at Jing Ping.
He raised an eyebrow, gesturing toward a patch of loose, crumbling soil beneath her feet, then released her hand.
“Thanks.”
He replied leisurely, “You’re welcome.”
For some reason, You Mingxu smiled faintly. A hint of amusement also appeared in Jing Ping’s eyes, though he remained as composed as ever, unruffled.
Guo Xing’s footprints extended all the way to a large tree. You Mingxu’s eyes lit up.
Here, they discovered more clues.
Two footprints belonging to Guo Xing were deeply imprinted and showed signs of being dragged and shifted in place. Behind them were four small, deep holes, alongside a circular mark about the size of a football, also pressed deeply into the ground.
With just a little imagination, a complete scene unfolded in You Mingxu’s mind:
Guo Xing had been sitting under the tree, using a small folding stool for fishing. A bucket filled with water held the fish he had caught. He had stayed there for quite some time.
Why had he suddenly stood up and hurried off in that direction?
Another person’s footprints descended directly from the slope and plunged into the water.
What kind of bizarre scenario was this?
“What’s on your mind, detective?” Jing Ping’s voice sounded beside her ear.
“I’m thinking…” You Mingxu replied slowly, “that Guo Xing seems rather unexpected.”
A tidy room, meticulously organized. A passion for fishing, and a consistent taste in food. He kept the fish he caught and even sold them to the fish restaurant’s proprietress. Both the proprietress and the owner of the place considered him a kind and amiable man.
This image didn’t quite align with You Mingxu’s impression of a drug dealer—a heinous criminal. A living, breathing person seemed to emerge before her eyes.
However, appearances could be deceiving. Whether someone loved life or was amiable had no bearing on whether they were secretly involved in murder, arson, or drug trafficking.
She looked up and met a pair of deep, penetrating eyes that seemed to hold a trace of warmth, yet also a hint of mockery. You Mingxu found it rather irritating when men like him looked at her that way. Yet, behind those eyes was the unwavering integrity of a seasoned veteran detective. After a brief exchange of glances, they both averted their eyes.
You Mingxu continued searching along the fishpond, looking for other clues. Jing Ping followed silently as before.
After circling another small section, they came across a chaotic cluster of footprints ahead. You Mingxu crouched down again. Some of the footprints overlapped and were indistinct, but it was still easy to distinguish four different types.
One belonged to Guo Xing, another to the person who had earlier rushed down from the opposite side of the fishpond.
The other two were both around sizes 42 or 43, also from athletic shoes—one from a shorter person, the other from a taller one, both of moderate weight, neither fat nor thin.
You Mingxu furrowed her brow, carefully observing the trajectory of each set of footprints.
First, she noticed that Guo Xing’s footprints and those of the initial person actually emerged from the water. Guo Xing’s footprints were deep, while the other person’s were shallow and chaotic, unevenly pressed—some deep, some shallow. With this, she had a rough idea of the first half of the events that had unfolded by the fishpond.Afterwards, the footprints of the two individuals stopped on the muddy path. At this point, Guo Xing's footprints faced the fishpond with his back to the grove. These two footprints were relatively deep and clear, indicating Guo Xing had stopped here. The other person's footprints disappeared, replaced by large flattened impressions on the ground, suggesting that person had lain down.
The subsequent two individuals left light, shallow footprints with small strides, indicating they had jogged over from the grassy thicket until reaching a position behind Guo Xing.
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