Typically, the fishing ban period is concentrated around the spring and summer months, coinciding with the fish breeding season.
However, on Yuanlong Island, there's a unique species of fish called "Huani" (Flower Croaker). Locals refer to it as "Flower Dog." It has bluish-green, flower-like skin, tender meat with few bones, and is often used for fish fillets or steaks. There's even a subspecies suited for ornamental fish. This fish only appears in the surrounding lakes and spawns in the winter.
To protect it, the island's fishing ban period is during the winter. These fish are fierce, often longer than the usual black fish, and while they appear docile, they can bite unexpectedly. Zhang Shutong's small wound on his thumb was, if he remembered correctly, from when he was retrieving a fishing hook and got bitten.
The island also has several protected species, like the "Yellow Heron," a bird now nearing extinction. The city's museum has its specimen. Years ago, it was said that animals like foxes, bears, and wild boars could be seen in the mountains, but since it was just "said," no one from their group had seen them. Their interest, however, lay in the fish.
Fishing was purely for enjoyment.
The island might be remote, but their generation lived comfortably. They didn't have the extravagant lifestyle of Gu Qiumian's family, but they didn't worry about food or clothing either.
They weren't poor or gluttonous, so the two main obstacles to eating fish were eliminated. They didn't sell or eat the fish they caught; they'd take photos when reeling in their catches, and later share them as proof on social media.
Then they would release the fish back into the water. The one who caught the most fish would treat the others to soda, and they would all laugh and chat while riding home.
To the young people, eating fish was more trouble than it was worth—if you caught one, you had to take it home, keep it for a few days, find a container, and then figure out how to kill it and cook it.
If you made too much, you had to eat it for days. It was far less hassle to just go fishing and release the fish back. It was similar to when you bought a pet as a kid—excited at first, but after a few days, feeding, cleaning, and dealing with it became the parents' responsibility.
Thus, even during the fishing ban, since they were just enjoying the activity and practicing a release spirit, they felt they were accumulating "virtue." A few of them still dared to sneak out and fish, never guilty as long as they weren't caught.
This was also why the stern police officer, Officer Xiong, didn't actually pursue them. If he had taken them seriously, Zhang Shutong would have been arrested on the spot.
However, two things coincidentally came together, leading Officer Xiong to suspect that Zhang Shutong was making fun of him. Moreover, the reasoning behind it was quite insulting to his intelligence.
Zhang Shutong was innocent, but he could only accept the consequences of his past actions. Reluctantly, he became a lone ranger and decided to check out the "forbidden zone" to see what was going on.
Along the way, he passed food vendors. The island's specialty fish and shrimp were central to local snacks. One of the specialties was fried shrimp cakes—fresh lake shrimp caught daily, about the size of a fingernail, no need to peel them.
They were salted, mixed with shredded carrots, potatoes, scallions, and onions, then combined with flour, water, and eggs to make a batter. This was then fried to a golden crisp, with a tender inside and a fragrant aroma.
As a side note, his breakfast had been the same shrimp cakes—fast and convenient. Eight years later, Zhang Shutong remembered that he had hurried to the dock without eating breakfast and grabbed a couple of shrimp cakes from a vendor on the island for five yuan each.
He bought one, bit into it while continuing his journey, not because he was craving it but because he wouldn't have time for dinner. Plus, he had a pack of tissues in his pocket, so he didn't have to worry about getting greasy hands.
Zhang Shutong had always been a person with low material desires. Part of it was his nature, and part of it stemmed from the experiences of the past years.
There were a few times during his time travel when he could have bought lottery tickets. While he couldn't win a fortune, he could have easily earned a few thousand. If he kept buying, he might have made a decent amount.
But his thoughts were: what would he do with that money? He couldn't spend it, couldn't travel, didn't plan on buying a car. As for phones or computers, he had what he needed.
Even fishing, his only hobby, had gradually been set aside. The only big purchases left were buying a house or getting married, neither of which could be solved by buying lottery tickets. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in women, but fishing had been his true passion.
In high school, he was well-liked. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed to be the girls who liked him. He even received a few love letters. Back then, people didn't really confess with paper letters anymore, but he got a few through the school group chats.
He would return home after his "heroic deeds" and find screenshots from classmates on his phone asking if the boy mentioned on the school wall was him.
In his memories, this kind of thing happened often. Maybe it wasn't that frequent, but the impact of time travel made him experience the same event multiple times. How did he feel about these confessions? It was more the exhaustion of time-space distortion than anything else.
He had thought his social skills were pretty good because he would receive unexpected birthday messages from classmates he didn't even know. He would reply seriously, feeling pleased.
He thought his high school life had surpassed his middle school years in terms of friendships, but later someone told him the truth. That was all girls. "Girls! You bastard! Can you at least introduce me to a few?"
Zhang Shutong was confused. He could understand Du Kang's liking for Lu Qinglian, as they grew up on the same island, went to the same elementary and middle schools.
If there was a pretty girl constantly in his life, it made sense he'd develop feelings for her. But the girls his classmates liked? They didn't even know each other, and he couldn't wrap his head around it.
If he couldn't understand it, there was no way to deal with it. So, he came up with a solution: lock his social media, change his birthday. Unfortunately, by the second year of high school, he dropped out and never had a chance to use these measures.
Throughout high school, he only liked one girl—a senior in the same club. She had countless admirers, and Zhang Shutong felt nervous about pursuing her. She was the "school flower," and he didn't think there was any reason she would like a normal guy like him.
Even though, back then, he wasn't really "normal"—he was always doing heroic things in and out of school. But those things didn't help in dating.
He couldn't just say, "I have superpowers," and expect her to swoon into his arms, right? Like Peter Parker trying to win Mary Jane's heart—it wasn't that easy.
He later transferred schools, and she came to visit him once. They sat on a bench in the park, talking aimlessly in the moonlight. She looked down at her shoes, while he looked up at the moon.
She spoke about the future, but he didn't say anything because he couldn't see a future. That night, he realized he wasn't cut out for relationships. What was supposed to happen in a relationship? Dating, watching movies, eating together, holding hands under the moonlight, kissing during romantic moments… But as long as time travel existed, he would never be able to live a normal life. It's said that everyone has their own mission in life, and Zhang Shutong's mission was to battle this damn ability until the end. Unexpectedly, just a few hours ago, he truly fought to the death.
After traveling back to his student days, an entire afternoon had passed. The environment had changed him significantly. Though the time wasn't long, he felt a sense of relaxation. If he were to restate his current thoughts in a light tone, he might say:
"I always thought my only ability was time travel."
"But I didn't expect there was a second one: being a prophet." With that thought, Zhang Shutong smiled.
He thought he was a bit humorous, even if others didn't think so. It was like Gu Qiumian never thought her drawing was of a ghost face—everyone just entertains themselves in their own way.
As he thought about it, Zhang Shutong was curious about the "Forbidden Zone" and decided to approach it with extreme caution.
Thinking about Du Kang's words earlier—the fishermen saw someone near the forbidden zone—it was December 5th today, and in just five days, the tragedy involving Gu Qiumian would unfold.
He believed he might uncover some clues. Though he should focus on the murderer's motive, Zhang Shutong wasn't a professional detective. He didn't know Gu Qiumian well enough to make assumptions. Instead, he decided to focus on her disappearance and started thinking about the possible scenarios.
Three possible explanations came to mind:
An accident—though unlikely, maybe she just decided to wander off alone that day, and the murderer took advantage of the opportunity.
The murderer had planned ahead and lured her to this location to attack.
The murderer first kidnapped her before bringing her to the forbidden zone to carry out the crime.
Zhang Shutong dismissed the first theory and focused on the latter two, especially given Du Kang's comment about the murderer being familiar with the area.
He parked his bike and carefully surveyed the surroundings, but didn't see anyone. Zhang Shutong had thought that with the recent snowfall, he could track any signs of activity nearby by examining the footprints, but for some reason, the snow here had already melted away. So, his only option was to move closer.
The lakeside road hadn't been paved yet, so the ground beneath was just a regular dirt road. The further he went, the muddier it got.
That's why he parked his bike further away, adjusted the angle, and made sure he could quickly ride away if anything seemed off.
The day was nearly over, and it wasn't necessary to cover his face.
Zhang Shutong held a flashlight in his left hand and a telescopic stick in his right, exhaling a breath of mist as he stepped lightly into the reed bed.
He furrowed his brows immediately because something felt wrong underfoot—
He squatted down and poked at the earth with his fingers. At first, he felt ice shards and muddy water, but when he pressed deeper, he hit hard frozen soil.
This wasn't the case eight years later. He recalled that earlier, when he had walked here that evening, the ground was covered in muddy sludge, making walking difficult—one foot deep, the other shallow.
But now, the ground was firm and solid. He couldn't recall any rain falling eight years later... What was going on?
More memories started to resurface, and then it clicked: His parents worked in geological exploration, and they had come to the island under the guidance of Gu's father to investigate something about the "subsidence zone." The island, surrounded by lakes on three sides, had been under development since the end of the last century.
As more buildings were constructed, the ground layers had slowly compressed, causing the surface to sink over time. Gu Jianhong had wanted to carry out a project on the island but was worried about the possibility of buildings collapsing due to instability, which is why they had set up a geological survey office.
Perhaps the "forbidden zone" was within the subsidence area.
Eight years ago, the ground was firm; now, with the sinking of the land and the rising water levels, it was covered in mud. Zhang Shutong never imagined that his work would someday be linked to his parents' profession.
But now, that was troublesome... He had originally planned to use the footprints to track the murderer's movements and verify his hypothesis, but now that the snow had melted and the ground was frozen, he could only grit his teeth and move forward.
Winter nights arrived early.
The sunset faded, and the sky was covered by a blanket of gloomy clouds, with the moonlight hazy and faint.
The reeds around him were almost as tall as he was, blocking his view entirely. The only sound was the rustling of his body brushing against the reeds as he moved.
He held his breath, turned on the flashlight, and directed it at the ground as he carefully advanced. Rocks... Grass stalks... A packet of instant noodles... The noodle packet was old, almost faded, and was embedded in the mud.
Zhang Shutong glanced at it but didn't touch it. Then, he spotted something dark. Turning it over, it turned out to be a dead turtle...
What?
Yes, it was indeed a dried-up turtle, nearly the size of an adult's palm, almost mummified, shriveled and desiccated. It was a local grass turtle.
Normally, finding a turtle's carcass by the water wasn't that unusual, especially since it was the time of year when turtles hibernate.
Occasionally, you could even find a turtle shell. But this one... The turtle hadn't withdrawn into its shell. It was positioned in a very odd way, almost as if it was alive—its head was raised, its limbs stretched out as if it was resting on a rock.
When Zhang Shutong first saw it, the turtle was lying on its back, but this made it even stranger. It looked like this turtle had been basking in the sun, and then something happened—like the city of Pompeii being buried in volcanic ash. Its body had been instantly desiccated by the wind. But how could a turtle by the water die from dehydration?
Zhang Shutong swallowed.
For now, he decided to ignore the strange turtle and continued with the flashlight. He suddenly felt like he had stepped on rubber, something elastic.
Goosebumps spread all over his body. He quickly moved his foot and shone the light down: It was a strip of dark red "stone." About two fingers wide, half a foot long, covered in mud. He forced down his disgust, pressed on it with his hand, and confirmed his suspicion.
It was indeed a piece of meat. The surface of the meat was dried out, and it was hard to tell how long it had been there.
Zhang Shutong found it difficult to decide whether he should be familiar with it or surprised.
After all, he had used meat as bait for fishing before. Finding it by the water wasn't surprising—like the noodle packet.
While few people came here to fish, there was still the occasional fisherman. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with the murderer. He frowned and took a few more steps.
His last discovery was a bottle of mineral water, quietly floating by the lake's edge. He picked it up and checked: the production date was October 27th. Water droplets clung to the inside, but since it had snowed earlier that day, it was hard to say what caused the moisture. He still couldn't determine the timeline.
There wasn't a single clue that could confirm anything.
At first, Zhang Shutong had believed that the murderer had come early to scout the area.
Once the main premise was established, he could investigate further, but now, he found it hard to even make a basic deduction. Let alone identify the murderer. For now, he had a headache.
There was no need to stay any longer. He took out his phone, took pictures of the clues, not that they would necessarily be useful, but at least he could review them later, especially that strange turtle. He even took several shots from different angles.
Thinking about it, the phone's camera quality was terrible. His 2012 smartphone hadn't yet unlocked the "night mode" feature, and the turtle looked like something straight out of a horror movie—twisted and grotesque on the screen.
This was the old phone his mom had handed down to him. He couldn't remember if it was an iPhone 4 or 4S, but it had been valuable to him back then.
Now, it didn't feel right, and the signal was poor—likely due to the few cell towers on the island. The status bar barely had any reception. At that moment, Zhang Shutong found himself missing the technology of eight years later.
He wouldn't even have to come here himself; a drone or a small camera would do the job, monitoring everything 24/7.
Speaking of surveillance, an idea began to form.
He had always been handy, and after spending some time on the island, he had learned various skills from Qing Yi, such as tying knots and survival skills.
Qing Yi had read many books and was skilled in these things. Though he had never thought it would be useful—after all, were they going to live out a real-life "Robinson Crusoe" story on this island? No one wanted to play Friday. But for boys, anything that looked cool was enough. It turned out that today, his skills came in handy.
He returned to his bike, opened the back compartment, and had to admit that he was a pro when it came to fishing. He still had fishing line and scissors in there.
Zhang Shutong cut a few pieces of fishing line and tied them between the reeds on either side, making a knot in the middle. This type of knot would come undone easily if pulled with a little force, but that was exactly what he wanted—set at shoe-level, it would be just the right tightness to trip someone without them noticing the fishing line.
They'd probably assume it was just some nearby weeds. Now, every time he passed by this area, he'd know immediately if someone had come here.
With the trap set, Zhang Shutong felt a chill as the warmth from the shrimp cake wore off. He inhaled, thinking that tomorrow would surely bring results.
After scanning his surroundings to ensure no one was around, he hopped on his bike and began to head back. Just a few steps away, he suddenly remembered that he had an appointment to fish with his friends. He smacked his forehead, realizing he'd taken too long and his friends would probably be hounding him by now.
He quickly pedaled harder. As he reached a spot, his phone seemed to catch a signal, and it vibrated repeatedly. Opening the messages, he saw that Ruoping had called him multiple times—four missed calls in a row.
That woman sure was persistent. Zhang Shutong laughed helplessly, connecting to the data network and about to send a message when QQ notifications began flooding in.
Ruoping: "Something feels off."
Ruoping: "Answer the phone! Answer it!"
Ruoping: [Picture]
Ruoping: "Come quickly!"
What was going on? Zhang Shutong froze.
It was just after six in the evening, but the last message from Ruoping had come in at 5:40 PM. A sudden chill washed over him.
He quickly opened the QQ chat box and froze in shock, nearly losing control of his bike. In the picture Ruoping sent, the background was familiar—where they often went fishing. A few friends had already set up their spot, everything looked like it always did. But the main subject of the picture was someone unexpected—
It was a girl in a blue robe, sitting on a small folding stool. She was holding a fishing rod.