After a while, the pain raging through her head subsided slightly. It had come and gone swiftly.

“Are you alright?” Shi Ting’s concerned voice sounded again.

Yan Qing slowly lowered her hands and gave him a grateful smile. “I’m fine. My head suddenly started hurting.”

“Is it still the cold from last time that hasn’t fully healed?”

“Probably.” As she spoke, she realized Shi Ting was crouched in front of her, no more than two fists’ distance away. The cool composure that usually surrounded him carried a rare layer of warmth, and his clean uniform held the faint fragrance of soapwort.

“Good, as long as you’re alright.” Shi Ting stood, and before any awkwardness could settle in the air, he changed the subject. “Have you thought of anything?”

“Yes.” Though that bout of headache had left her drenched in cold sweat, she hadn’t come away empty-handed.

She lifted a pair of bright eyes. “During casual conversation, Jing Lan once mentioned that every night she was kept awake by the sound of ironworking and trains. Especially when trains passed, she said it felt like an earthquake — even the lights would sway. But there are too many places trains pass through, and the sound of ironworking…”

“Tongguan Camp.” A sharp gleam flashed in Shi Ting’s long, narrow eyes. “Based on normal human sleeping patterns, Jing Lan’s rest time is likely between 9 and 11 PM. Within those two hours, seven trains depart from Shun Cheng station, pass through the city, and head outward.”

Yan Qing looked at him in surprise.

“Of those seven trains, only the T1005 service departing Shun Cheng bound for Qianjiang passes by Tianrong Iron Foundry at 9:35 PM. Tianrong Iron Foundry operates twenty-four hours a day and has even caused protests from residents disturbed by the nighttime metalworking noise. The foundry occupies a vast area and is surrounded by three relatively concentrated residential zones. The residential areas to the north and south are far from the railway tracks and would be unlikely to hear trains at night. Therefore, I deduce that Jing Lan lives on the western side of Tianrong Iron Foundry, in Tongguan Camp, which backs against the railway.”

When Shi Ting finished, Yan Qing didn’t react for quite some time. He raised an eyebrow. “Did I analyze something incorrectly?”

Yan Qing made no effort to conceal her astonishment. “I suspect you’ve memorized Shun Cheng’s train timetable and map.”

Dozens of trains entered and exited Shun Cheng each day. Not only did he know every train number and its origin and destination, he even knew precisely what time each one passed through any given location.

As for Shun Cheng itself — it was enormous, yet he could pinpoint a specific neighborhood and street from a single sentence.

Such memory and analytical ability was comparable to a computer.

“Surprised?”

Not surprised — more like stunned.

Shi Ting, however, was unfazed. “The killer is more cunning than we imagined. So we can only become smarter than them.”

All Yan Qing could say was that any criminal who encountered a hunter like him was truly in a very bad situation.

“Are you going to Tongguan Camp now?”

“Yes.” Finding Jing Lan’s home might yield evidence to confirm her as the killer. Given how composed Jing Lan had been, she must have felt confident about her hiding place.

“Can I come along?” Yan Qing pleaded. “Murong is still at school — she can come with me. I won’t slow you down.”

Shi Ting met her earnest gaze, and his heart softened. “No need for Murong. I’ll take you.”

—