A File

Things seemed to be getting strange.

Judging by the ornate epaulettes on the skeleton behind the desk, his rank was not low. Why would he die here?

Logically, high-ranking officials would have fled far away before the nuclear bombs fell. What high-ranking official would die in such a heavily irradiated area?

Was he abandoned by his superior and then put on his superior’s clothes? The way the skeleton sat upright didn’t suggest that.

It was all a mystery.

“Miss Yanlan? Do you have any ideas? Why would a police officer stay here and wait for death instead of running for his life?”

Unable to figure out the answer, I softly asked Su Yanlan beside me.

She was hugging her arms, looking thoughtful, seemingly pondering the same question.

After a moment’s hesitation, I cautiously stepped forward.

The first step. The archive room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. With the second step, I could only hear my own breathing.

A silent environment always makes people involuntarily fall into fantasy, and I was no exception. At this moment, I was constantly worried that a mutant was hiding behind some bookshelf, ready to tear me to pieces as soon as I got close.

Third step, fourth step… I reached the desk without any incidents.

As expected, fantasies are just fantasies. There aren’t that many surprises in the world.

On the messy desk in front of me, the files on both sides had yellowed with the passage of time. There were also a few scattered footprints on them.

Left by rats. The mutant rats had undoubtedly been here before. As for why there was no stench? Probably because the police station was huge, and the rats already had enough space to nest when they entered.

The past was a tangled mess. All I needed to know was that this place was a small sanctuary untouched by those hateful rats.

I pushed aside the skeleton sitting in the chair. Watching it fall to the floor and scatter, the bones hitting the floor tiles made crisp, hollow sounds.

In the spot where the skeleton had rested its arms, a well-preserved file folder lay quietly on the desk.

Unlike the unimportant, yellowed files, this folder showed no signs of age. The pale yellow cover and the red wax seal looked exactly like newly packaged documents I had seen years ago.

Moreover, this folder hadn’t suffered any rat damage. There wasn’t a single footprint on it, as if all the rats avoided it like the plague.

Realizing the folder was unusual, I carefully picked it up from the desk and sniffed it gently.

An indescribable smell, like the white mothballs people used to use, but stronger and more pungent.

“…Miss Yanlan? This file… there’s something wrong with it.”

After a brief hesitation, I chose to call out to Su Yanlan softly. For no other reason than that reading it alone might displease her.

In my vulnerable position, I didn’t dare to be the first to read any secret I encountered.

“Mhm.”

Nodding, Su Yanlan walked slowly to my side. She stepped on the skeleton I had pushed to the floor, making crisp cracking sounds.

Aren’t these bones a bit too brittle?

I complained silently but immediately collected my thoughts when Su Yanlan placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Phew…”

Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened the folder’s cover and pulled out a stack of stapled white papers.

The sound of paper rubbing against paper was exceptionally clear in the quiet archive room, making both Su Yanlan and me tense up. I could even feel the warm breath from Su Yanlan’s nose hitting my neck from behind; it tickled.

What exactly was in this document that made it worth such heavy protection?

Driven by curiosity, I turned to the first page of the stack, but what I saw was utterly disappointing.

Black. A sea of black.

The black text of the document had been covered over with a black marker. Almost not a single word was spared, coated in a thick layer of ink. No information could be gleaned.

“…”

Behind me, Su Yanlan went silent. I could feel her disappointment. It was like being invited by a friend to watch a movie, and when you excitedly get to the cinema, you find the film is ruined, and you can’t see anything.

Anyone would be disappointed.

“Miss Yanlan, don’t be disappointed. There’s still so much more here, right?”

Sensing the subtle change in Su Yanlan’s mood, I wasn’t worried she would hurt or scold me in a fit of rage, but I still tried to comfort her a little.

Why? She was very gentle to me; maybe that was the reason.

Touching the heavy stack of papers, I continued flipping through, but I was met with disappointment time and time again.

Blacked out.

Blacked out.

Blacked out.

Almost every page had been maliciously redacted. I flipped all the way to the end and got no information; it was a pure waste of time.

Like Su Yanlan, I began to feel disappointed. I thought a folder like this would hide some heaven-defying secret that could change one’s fate, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase.

As expected, one shouldn’t have expectations for anything.

“Miss Qin Yue.”

Just as I slumped dejectedly into the chair the dead man had sat in, Su Yanlan called my name.

I looked up in surprise and met her black eyes, still shining like stars.

She leaned down, her long pink hair carrying the scent of lavender, calming my irritable heart for a moment.

There was still something inside.

Picking up the folder I had casually tossed on the desk, Su Yanlan reached two fingers inside. After a rustling sound, she pulled out a single, forgotten piece of paper.

Although the snow-white A4 paper also had traces of redaction, there were more or less a few omissions. It was slightly better than the stapled stack of documents.

Overjoyed, I hadn’t expected Su Yanlan, who hadn’t shown any particularly strong observational skills before, to notice a detail I had missed.

This forgotten document was stuck tightly to the folder’s cover. When I opened it, I only cared about taking out the completely redacted stack and ignored this single, thin sheet.

“Can you read it to me? Miss Qin Yue.”

Her eyes sparkling, Su Yanlan made a request I had never heard before.

Well, my answer was, of course, yes. It was just reading a document; no big deal.

“Mhm… As you wish, Miss Yanlan.”

I stood up, gave her the chair, took the thin A4 paper from Su Yanlan, carefully examined its contents, and considered where to start reading.