Meng Qing rubbed his eyes forcefully, stood up, and strode toward the bedroom. Spider could only see his back, hearing him mumble to himself, “Alright, starting tomorrow, I’ll start over.”
The day after learning of Yu Laoshi’s death, Meng Qing began searching for his past.
He found the record of his entry into the orphanage. He entered the orphanage in December eighteen years ago, still an infant. Because he had been abandoned in the hospital for too long with no one caring for him, the hospital called the police. The police first sent him to a foster family, then searched for his parents. After three months of unsuccessful searching, they sent him to the orphanage.
So while his exact birthday was unclear, it could be roughly determined to be between July and August. His time was limited; before truly turning eighteen, he needed to leave.
They now trusted him like a comrade. When he decided to leave, it wasn’t difficult.
The challenge was how to avoid their subsequent tracking.
The game of tracking and counter-tracking, which Meng Qing had played with the police for nearly nine years, had been accompanied by Spider for two to three years. Spider was familiar with his preferred escape methods, and Meng Qing was equally familiar with Spider’s tracking routines.
Whether Spider intentionally went easy on him was unclear, but he escaped extremely easily.
He didn’t choose to report to the police, not just because of the experience of being beaten after reporting as a child, which instinctively made him distrust the police, but also because he wasn’t naive enough to think he could avoid responsibility for his past actions.
Moreover, he didn’t want to send Spider or his other accomplices to prison with his own hands.
He just wanted freedom. He just didn’t want to commit crimes anymore.
More than a month later, Meng Qing arrived in a small city in the central region.
He asked himself: Why did he come here?
During his days of escape, he had no specific goal. The money Yu Laoshi had saved in the account could support his escape expenses without stealing, but that money would soon run out. He needed a stable income and wanted to settle down.
