I Came from the Mountains, Carrying Orchids

(No rebirth, no twists, no redemption, no romance)

Pan Qiudi had heard the village elders say that, at the moment of death, a person’s whole life flashes before their eyes like scenes from a revolving lantern.

So why, at this moment, was she still thinking about how she mustn’t be found? It would be fine to rot in the ground and become fertilizer.

She couldn’t run anymore. It didn’t matter who dragged her away, or whether they beat and abused her. She no longer had the strength to break free from the precious cage fate had imposed on her...

The person summoned to the police station to identify the body was a classmate who was barely connected to Pan Qiudi at all.

Her parents were the ones who had called to report her missing, yet the person who showed up was a boy of seventeen or eighteen.

The handsome boy wore a hearing aid. It was unusually large, a whole circle wider than his ear, and completely at odds with his elegant, immaculate suit.

As he listened to the officer, he tilted his head slightly, his expression stricken.

His hands trembled as he lifted the white sheet covering her. He staggered, and an unreadable emotion flashed in his eyes.

It was the anger of a child whose toy had been broken by someone else, and the helplessness of a child who had lost his toy...

He couldn’t believe that only half a month ago, Pan Qiudi had confidently declared that she could finally escape, and now she lay here, her face ashen.

“Pan Qiudi, the game isn’t over. Who said you could call it quits on your own...”

Breaking news: “The bodies of a family of three have been discovered near the border between Province X and Country T. They are suspected to have been shot while attempting to cross the border.”