Pristine Darkness

Chapter 44

Another attempted murder, and it seems that Ke Qian has really returned from the dead . . . or has he? Read on to find out how the evidence is stacking up against him . . . what do you think is really happening?

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Translator: shl

Editor/ Proofreader: Anks

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Zhu Momo was a student at the Qingdao University's Faculty of Chemistry. That day, in the afternoon, she braved the hot sun and went to the laboratory. Then, she saw that someone was already there.

Zhu Momo was very surprised. "Ke Ai? You're here. I thought you . . ."

Ke Ai was her usual calm and gentle self. It was only upon looking more carefully, one would notice that her eyes were slightly red and swollen.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice low and soft. "It's just that, the police . . . have not found my younger brother yet."

Zhu Momo felt sad. The day before, the others had also been shocked and scared when Ke Ai was taken away by the police out of the blue. Although they were surprised, even suspicious, in the end, in all fairness, nobody believed that such a good person as Ke Ai could have committed a crime. A few months ago, there was a period of time when Ke Ai had seemed somewhat depressed, and did not join in their activities for a while. However, she had gradually resumed her normal behaviour. Yesterday, when Ke Ai had returned from the police station, she had told everyone that her younger brother had been murdered, which is why the police needed to question her. Everyone immediately sympathised with her.

"Why don't you rest at home for a few more days?" Zhu Momo asked with concern. "I can manage the experiments on my own."

Ke Ai shook her head. "How can I do that? Life must go on, and I can't dump my problems on all of you as well. Let's get started."

Zhu Momo reflexively nodded. Although Ke Ai was gentle and easy-going, she had also always been highly assertive. This was also the reason why people liked her, whether they were male or female.

"I'm going into the inner room to carry out the observations. Can you take charge of the outer room?" Ke Ai asked.

"Oh . . . ok."

"Momo." Ke Ai paused before resuming, "I'd like to be alone for a while. I want to do things without being distracted. Otherwise I'll . . . I'll keep thinking about my younger brother. Don't come in during the experiment, ok?"

Zhu Momo quickly agreed.

Ke Ai smiled gently and said, "Thank you." She turned, walked into the inner room and shut the door. Zhu Momo took some test tubes and equipment from the cupboard. When she looked back, she saw that the inner room curtains had been tightly closed.

Zhu Momo was not overly concerned.

This experiment was not too complicated, but neither was it that simple. There were two parts to it: she would work in the outer room, mixing various chemical compounds and operating the apparatus. In the inner room, Ke Ai would have to observe the variations in data generated by the computer in real time and record them, then produce the experimental report. The entire process required four to five hours.

As the bulk of the experiment fell to Zhu Momo, Ke Ai would be relatively idle. However, after thinking about how Ke Ai had suffered such a severe misfortune, to ask her to undertake a delicate experimental operation that required a high degree of concentration would not be appropriate. So, Zhu Momo immersed herself in the work.

In the inner room.

When Ke Ai pulled the curtains across, she felt a momentary despondence. She looked up and stared out of the window. The weather was wonderful, the clouds were so white, and the sky was so blue. All across the lush, green campus, people were walking, some people were quietly waiting. Their lives were so tranquil.