The walls repaired by these people are extremely eerie, with sharp edges at the top that resemble a knife’s blade, forming a contracted arc. After Li Cu climbed up, he took a deep breath. Not having a flashlight was a big problem, but fortunately, the moonlight was bright enough. Additionally, it was a good thing that there were no shards of glass embedded above. He lay on the wall’s edge and looked inside. The courtyard was filled with various vegetables and green plants, and there was even a three-tiered shelf to hold the flower pots, clearly indicating that the homeowner was a gardening enthusiast.

Li Cu felt a surge of joy in his heart. He pushed off with his toes, exerted force with his waist, and with a swift motion, flipped himself over from one side of the wall to the other. Then he relaxed his hands and slid down smoothly. Due to the slight friction between his body and the wall, his descent was slow, allowing him to land almost silently.

In that moment, Li Cu felt like an assassin from a storytelling performance, hanging upside down from a roller door, landing without a sound. It was truly fortunate that there were no dogs in this courtyard. He sighed and noticed that all the lights inside the house were off, so he stealthily made his way to the other side where the flowers were placed, moving each pot one by one to the wall adjacent to the neighbor’s property, slowly stacking them into a pyramid.

Next, Li Cu used the pyramid to climb up to the topmost platform. With a strong push from his feet, he sprang up, aiming to grab the edge of the wall leading to the neighbor’s house. However, the sight he suddenly encountered made him immediately retract his strength and pull his hands back.

If anyone had seen this move, they would have thought he looked foolish, as his feet hadn’t even left the flower pot before he pulled back, resembling a stretching exercise. This was because he saw that the top of the dividing wall was covered in iron nails. Damn, Li Cu thought it was increasingly strange; why did these people reinforce the wall against their neighbors so tightly while leaving the street-facing wall unprotected?

Li Cu couldn’t see clearly, but if they were iron nails, it was actually a good thing for him, as he had a unique skill to deal with such things, and these nails would greatly facilitate his climbing.

Placing steel nails at the top of a wall is a common method, but these nails generally don’t penetrate deep into the wall; many are simply inserted into the cement while pouring the top of the wall. These nails are not very secure, and a heavy blow can easily dislodge them from the cement. However, at this late hour, Li Cu clearly couldn’t use that method. If he didn’t knock the nails out, even if they weren’t secure, they could still pose a significant psychological threat and cause injury if he made contact with them.

Li Cu was not afraid, though, because he knew that when nails are too densely packed, they are nearly as good as not being there at all. This is a physical law: the more support points there are, the larger the area of force, and the lower the pressure. If the nails on a board reach a certain density, Li Cu would even dare to walk directly on them.

But even so, there must be something to act as a buffer between these steel nails. Li Zuodong fiddled around, looking this way and that, and finally found a basin turned upside down on the eaves of the wall in the courtyard. He pressed down hard on it. The steel nails struggled and immediately broke through the basin, but they didn’t penetrate too deeply. While lying there, Li Zu slowly moved his body to the edge of the wall. He knew that as long as he moved slowly enough, the pain from the nails would be nothing at all. Moreover, since the nails were easy to grab onto, they became an ideal climbing tool for him.

Halfway up, Li Zu was already panting heavily; after all, it wasn’t like before when he could just push off with his feet and flip over easily. He gripped tightly, allowing his arms to gradually adapt to the pain caused by the nails, and then slowly exerted force to push his lower body against the top of the wall. At that moment, just as Li Zu was about to look into the courtyard on the opposite side, he suddenly discovered a strange face peeking over the wall, facing him directly.

The face was incredibly pale, with a pair of enormous eyes coldly staring at him. Li Zu was stunned for two or three seconds, then suddenly gasped three times and fell backward. This kind of fear is really hard to understand unless experienced firsthand. After climbing to the top of the wall, suddenly something appeared on the opposite side, face to face with him, almost about to touch. For someone with a weak heart, they might just die of fright on the spot.

As Li Zu fell backward, his clothes got caught on the iron nails, and he didn’t immediately drop down from the wall; instead, he hung there for about four or five seconds until his clothes were torn, and then he fell into the flowerbed below.

He fell hard, crashing down onto the pyramid of flower pots, which collapsed under his body, scattering everywhere in a mess.

Still shaken, Li Zu got up, gasping for breath, trying to calm down when suddenly all the lights in the house behind him turned on. Li Zu reacted quickly; seeing that something was wrong, he rushed to the door, hoping to see if he could open it from the inside. But he knew deep down that the hope was slim, as most farmers’ houses are double locked.

After a few attempts to open it and finding it impossible, he immediately dashed to the other side, randomly moved a few flower pots that hadn’t shattered yet to use as stepping stones, and climbed back up the wall to flip out.

Outside, Liang Wan was smoking, and upon hearing noises in the courtyard, she hadn’t yet reacted, clearly unaware that something had happened.

After Li Zu landed, he grabbed Liang Wan and ran. The two of them ran out of the alley, randomly picked a direction, and started sprinting until they were both out of breath, at which point Li Zu finally let go. He leaned against a tree with one hand, panting heavily, even feeling nauseous. Li Zu was in such a state, and Liang Wan was even worse. She rubbed her hand that Li Zu had pulled, nearly tilting to one side. Li Zu noticed that it seemed her high heel had come off.

Liang Wan asked him, “What on earth did you do? If it’s really too much, can you please not show off in the future?”

Li Zu replied, “You have no idea what I saw, wow, it was terrifying. There’s someone living in that house.”

Liang Wan said, “There’s someone in that house? Are you sure?”

Li Zu responded, “I’m not sure if it was a person, but there was definitely something.”

“Really?” Liang Wan confirmed again.

Li Cuoxin thought to himself, why is there so much nonsense? He nodded and said, “You’re absolutely right. You’re just too reckless.”

“Didn’t you say there was no one inside?” Liang Wan pondered for a moment and waved at Li Cuoxin. “Let’s go back.”

“Back?! If we go back, you’ll have to go to the police station to bail me out. No, the people here might not be so merciful. They might tie me to a tree and give me a beating, and maybe throw some rotten eggs at me too.”

“You have to understand people’s psychology. Who would return right after a thief has just run away?”

Li Cuoxin pointed at his torn clothes. “My clothes are still hanging on their wall. I don’t think they’ll find it strange that I came back; they’ll just think it’s great that I did.”

Liang Wan looked at his clothes and sighed. “Then you wait here. I’ll go back myself. They definitely won’t think I’m the kind of person who climbed over the wall just now.”

“You absolutely mustn’t! It’s late at night, and they’re probably furious. Be careful of what they might do to you,” Li Cuoxin quickly tried to stop her.

Liang Wan smirked, about to argue back, when suddenly a police car drove past. Both of them instinctively shrank their necks and hid behind a tree.

“They called the police,” Li Cuoxin said. “See, they must be really angry. I trampled all over those flowers, and I don’t even know what kind they were. If they were orchids, I could be shot!”

Liang Wan thought for a moment and said to him, “You wait here. I’ll go by myself. If they’ve called the police, I’ll be safer.”

“But…”

“There’s no ‘but’ about it.” Liang Wan patted him and stuffed two hundred yuan into his hand. “You quickly go change your clothes.”

“Where am I supposed to buy clothes at this hour?”

“Take care of your own business. We’ll meet under this tree early tomorrow morning.” Liang Wan scratched the tree with her nails twice, then turned and left.

Li Cuoxin sighed, watching the woman limp away in the direction they had just come from, feeling quite frustrated. He wandered around for two hours before arriving at a busier part of the small town. It was already past eleven at night, and the only shops still open on this bustling street were bathhouses and some food stalls.

He looked at the money in his hand and thought the chances of finding clothes at a food stall were slim, so he walked into a foot massage shop. Fifteen minutes later, he came out wearing a massage therapist’s uniform, with one hundred and fifty yuan left. Although he felt a bit silly, it was better than being questioned by the police in that torn outfit. He then entered a nearby internet café.

Once in a familiar place, he felt much more at ease. After sitting down, he logged into his online gaming account and played until three in the morning. Suddenly, he jolted awake: Am I being too calm? That woman told me to find her in the morning; am I really going to go look for her? First of all, why should I be so obedient? Second, can she handle it on her own? The police can’t possibly stay at the scene all night. If she has already blended in, couldn’t I blend in too?

With that thought, Li Cuoxin wrestled with himself for a moment, as it was always hard for him to leave the chair in an internet café. After some effort, he finally got up and left.