Chapter 639: Molting
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi breathed a sigh of relief. There were only five nuns in this convent. The head nun was in her room doing her things, Daisy was out cold in her room due to the medication, and the other three nuns were in the hall reciting their rosaries. Therefore, it was easy to sneak out. No one would notice.
Gu Nianzhi looked in the direction of the head nun’s room again and felt disappointed that she could not borrow their telephone. She was worried that the telephone might be bugged, anyway.
After returning to her room, she packed her things. She could definitely not stay here anymore. In order to keep things quiet, Gu Nianzhi used a bolster and made a human figure out of it. She disguised it to make it seem like a person was sleeping underneath the sheets. Then, she put on her jacket underneath the nun’s habit and stuffed her wallet, a small packet of tissue, the Swiss Army knife keychain, Zippo lighter, and mobile phone back into it. She also brought along the underwear that Josephine had given her. That nun’s habit was long and wide. It was easy to hide so many things in it.
Just like that, she wore the nun’s habit out. She peeked at the corridor before making a move. It was empty. The place was huge, but there were not many people. This castle could really hide an army if someone wanted.
Gu Nianzhi walked down the stairs and opened the gates. She left the convent silently and made her way into the forest. Upon entering the forest, Gu Nianzhi increased her speed and began running.
It was quiet in the morning in the forest. Very soon, the sound of a car broke the silence. Heart thumping, Gu Nianzhi hid. Two black police cars sped past on the road in front of her. Gu Nianzhi shivered. She knew it. She had guessed right. The people who were after her life were here again. It had been the “police” the other time as well…
She hid among the bushes nervously and did not move until the police cars were out of sight. Then, crouching, she ran deep into the forest.
…
The head nun caught 40 winks in her room. She had been up the entire night and went to make breakfast early in the morning. She hadn’t done that in a long time. Now that she had stayed up, she realized that her body could not take the fatigue at all. After she was done making breakfast, her eyelids felt so heavy. She couldn’t help but return to her room to catch some sleep until the person called again and informed her that they were on the way to capture the “fugitive” and requested she “hold” the person.
The head nun sat up abruptly and remembered slipping sleeping pills meant for animal hunting into Gu Nianzhi’s bacon. That sleeping pill could even put a bear to sleep, much less that “fugitive.” She would be knocked out and not awaken, even if someone were to blow a trumpet in her ears.
It was the first time the head nun had done something like that, and she felt afraid. The only thing she could do was to cheer herself on continuously. She was, “getting rid of a bad egg for the people” and helping the police catch a “fugitive.” Everyone should cooperate with the police should they require assistance. The head nun repeated this over and over again to herself before the sense of guilt slowly disappeared.
However, she could not get back to sleep. She got up and washed up, and it was seven o’clock when the sounds of cars could be heard outside the convent. The head nun stood up and looked out the window.
There were two police cars outside the iron gates. An armed, uniformed police officer wearing shades got out of the car and kicked the gates open. Then, he returned to the car and both cars made their way onto the convent’s grounds. The moment the doors opened, seven or eight police officers with the same uniform got out and looked up at the castle in front of them.
The head nun came out from her room and knocked on Gu Nianzhi’s door. No one answered. Josephine had just finished saying her rosary and was coming out from the hall. She saw the head nun knocking on Gu Nianzhi’s door and informed her, “She said she would be resting. She should already be asleep by now.”
The head nun nodded contentedly. “Let her sleep, then.” Then, turning to Josephine, she said, “You go back to your room, too. There will be outsiders here today. All of you should not come out. Tell the three others as well.”
Josephine nodded eagerly and went to the rest of the nuns’ rooms to inform them before returning to her own. The head nun walked down the stairs and met the police officers on her own. “May I know if you are Munich district’s police officers, please?” the head nun asked to confirm their identity.
The person in the lead acknowledged and showed the head nun a document. Then, he asked, “Where is she?”
The head nun lowered her voice. “I have given her sleeping pills. She should be sleeping in her room now.”
The police officer smiled widely, showing a set of neat, white teeth. Giving her a thumbs up, he praised her and said happily, “Lead the way! We’ll capture the fugitive!” Then, he took out his gun and waved to the men behind him. “Follow me!”
The group of police officers followed, leaving two of them at the main door to keep a lookout. What if the girl was cunning and really managed to escape? They had to be careful. The rest of them followed behind the head nun into a dark and narrow corridor. The head nun felt uneasy. Shouldn’t police officers take the lead? How could they allow a civilian to lead the way to potential danger?
Pursing her lips, she walked in front with a straight face until they arrived at Gu Nianzhi’s room. “Cereus is in there. She is already asleep. She wouldn’t wake even if you were to take her away.”
“Excellent!” The eyes of the officers lit up. “Thanks, sister!”
The head nun nodded gravely. “I was just helping you police officers to capture a fugitive.”
“Yes, of course! Sister is so nice to help us police to solve crimes. We’ll inform our boss when we get back!” The police officers became serious before waving at the head nun. “Leave this to us. You can go now. We don’t want to scare you.”
Then she turned around and saw Josephine staring at her, wide eyed. The other two nuns were looking at her in shock as well. “What are you looking at?! Return to your rooms, now! The police are here to capture a fugitive! Do not hinder them!” The head nun rolled her eyes at them, especially at Josephine. “You! Go and recite the rosary 500 times! No dinner for you until you’re done!”
Josephine was scared stiff, and tears welled up in her eyes. She turned and went back to her room, slammed the door, and began crying. She could tell that the adorable Cereus would most likely not live past today. However, she could not understand why someone that young and beautiful would become a fugitive.
The police officers held the keys to Gu Nianzhi’s room and opened the door carefully. The moment the door was unlocked, an officer kicked it open and began shooting relentlessly across the entire room! On and under the bed, in the bathroom, behind the door, the wardrobe, windowsill—as long as it could be seen with the naked eye, they shot it.
The quilt had become tattered due to the shots. White feathers floated all around and obscured vision. The police officers stood nervously at the door and waited until the feathers were all on the ground before rushing in and shouting, “Hands up! Get on the ground!”
There was a human figure on the bed. It wasn’t moving. Should be dead by now, shouldn’t she? A daring officer rushed over and removed the quilt before shooting it again!
Bam!
This time around, the entire bolster exploded. Countless feathers floated out and engulfed the officer. The officer screamed and ran out. The police officers who were outside shot up the entire room again until they’d run out of bullets. Then, they holstered their guns and blanked out looking at all the feathers in the room.
“Where is she?!”
“What bullsh*t kind of human is that?! It’s a bolster!” The police officers knew that they had been tricked and shot into the air. “Nun in charge! Nun in charge! You get your ass in here now!”
The head nun heard the gunshots from her room and knew something was wrong. She opened the door slightly and looked at the police officers. Seeing that they were firing shots into the air and calling for her like that, her heart sank. The “fugitive” wasn’t in the room?! It wasn’t possible… The pill was used for the most ferocious of animals. Would it not work on humans? Moreover, Josephine had told her that the “fugitive” was sleeping in her room.
The head nun came out from her room and asked the police officers meekly, “Did you manage to capture her?”
Seeing that the head nun was out, they dragged her over by her collar and demanded fiercely, “Look! Where is she?! Where is she?!”
Seeing that they had thoroughly ruined Gu Nianzhi’s room, but no one was in sight, the head nun was shocked as well. Straightening up, she said, “But she was sleeping here just now…”
“Bullsh*t!” The officer whacked the door with the handle of his gun. “Go and find her for me if she’s really sleeping in the room!”
The head nun went into the room meekly and looked around. The mattress was shot open. There was only an exploded bolster underneath the sheets and no one else. What’s going on?! The head nun shouted towards Josephine’s room, “Josephine! Come out! Tell the police officers where Cereus went!”
The police officers turned around and saw a plump nun with a double chin peeking out from the door. Stammering, she said, “I… I… Do..n’t… know. The last time I saw her… she did say that she was tired and wanted to rest in her room… then… then we went to the hall to recite our rosaries…”
“Damn! She must have fled!” An officer understood. He glared at the nuns. “Which one of you told her that we were coming?!”
Seeing their fierce expressions, the head nun replied quickly, “I did not tell anyone! They didn’t know that Cereus was a fugitive! It must be because she was too cunning! I heard her lying to Josephine last night. That was why I decided to help you!”
The police officer looked at her angrily. He was really tempted to shoot this stupid nun! However, his colleague nudged him and whispered, “Don’t create trouble for boss…” They could explain why they killed Gu Nianzhi, but if they were to kill these nuns and make this a big issue, they’d be made to be scapegoats instead.
They were so deeply immersed in a moment of fury that they had forgotten that murderers would not have the right to blame others for pushing them out to be scapegoats. The police officer who was about to shoot was finally convinced. Putting his gun away, he began interrogating the head nun and Josephine, re-emphasizing Gu Nianzhi’s whereabouts.
Josephine had no other choice but to narrate the entire process of meeting Gu Nianzhi, from the time she met her last night, to this morning before she said she was tired and headed into her room. She even told them about how Gu Nianzhi had switched breakfasts with Daisy, and that Daisy was still out cold as of now.
The head nun was taken aback and brought them to Daisy’s room immediately. Daisy was totally out cold. She did not even budge when they slapped her. The police officers finally understood—the “fugitive” was extremely cunning. She must have swapped her breakfast when she sensed that something was amiss and escaped when no one was looking!
“Damn this b*tch. How could she know?! Now we’ve made a wasted trip!” The police officers whacked the wall again and picked up their walkie-talkies to communicate with people on the other end.
“Over! Over! Target escaped! Target escaped! Not at the convent! Not at the convent! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!” The headquarters connected to the Copernicus satellite navigation system again and attempted to track Gu Nianzhi. However, as Gu Nianzhi’s phone was not manufactured in Europe, it did not have the postern of the Copernicus satellite navigation system installed. Therefore, they could never track her unless she made a phone call.
“Roger. Group Two, return; Group Three, go.” Their boss had changed her tactics and did not require them to search in the convent any longer. The police officers drove off, their car disturbing the peaceful silence in the area.
With her eyes red, Josephine looked at the head nun reproachfully and asked in a loud voice, “Sister! Shouldn’t you explain what is going on?!”
The head nun did not back down and replied coldly, “Sister Josephine, may I know what attitude this is? I was cooperating with the police…”
“Cooperating with the police?!” Josephine clenched her fists and took two steps forward before saying furiously, “Are they really police officers? They’re bandits! I am going to lodge a complaint against them! Lodge a complaint against these bandits who barge into peoples’ properties and ruin them!!!”
So she only wants to lodge a complaint… Breathing a sigh of relief, the head nun took a step back and said more gently, “I want to lodge a complaint against them as well; go ahead to my room and use the telephone to call the Munich District Police to lodge a complaint against them.”
With her head held high, Josephine said, full of determination and confidence, “I will go immediately!” Rushing to the telephone in the head nun’s room, she dialed the number of the Munich District Police station feedback hotline and said unhappily, “Your station just sent about eight officers to our convent to destroy it! How could you do that?!”
The feedback department took Josephine’s complaint very seriously and replied hastily, “Please don’t worry. Hold on, madam. Let me check who was sent out on patrol today and get back to you. Please hold on; I will definitely give you an answer!”
The anger in Josephine’s heart subsided a little upon hearing the person’s response, but she still replied firmly, “They shot countless times in our convent and almost killed someone!” Had Cereus been really sleeping in the room, she definitely would have been killed!
After checking for five whole minutes, the officer returned to the call and replied, seemingly confused, “Hello, did you mean that the police officers whom you met were from the Munich District Police station?”
“Yes. We all saw their documents of identity.”
“But we haven’t sent anyone out on patrol today.” The officer on the other end was extremely confused. “The day has just begun, and our officers are not even here for work yet. There were not any orders to send anyone out on patrol.”
“What?! Then those people were impersonating police officers?! How could they?! How could you let people like that roam around freely?!” Josephine was so angry that she scolded the officer for a good half an hour. The officer could not do anything but just smile awkwardly, taking down her complaint and reporting information before forwarding it to the crime department. Using the identity of the police and entering private property was enough to put the case through to the crime department, as they had broken the law.
After she was done with calling the feedback hotline, Josephine went to the head nun with her brows furrowed. “Sister, the police station said that they did not send anyone out on patrol today. The people who were here were not real police officers.”
The head nun covered her mouth in shock and asked in a hushed voice, “Really? Those men were really impersonating police officers?”
“The chances are extremely high.” Josephine nodded. “The moment they opened fire in the house, I felt that something was amiss. However, I really did not expect them to be fake police officers!”
She clenched her fists and waved them around again. “Since they’re imposters, then Cereus must not have been a fugitive! They wanted to kill her! Sister, I am extremely disappointed in you! Mother Mary would never have forgiven you!”
The head nun blushed furiously. Hanging her head, she took her rosary beads and went to the hall to seek forgiveness.
Josephine could not focus enough to recite any rosaries, so she returned to Gu Nianzhi’s room to clean up. Seeing that she had taken the nun’s uniform and the underwear with her, she breathed a sigh of relief. However, the moment she realized how Cereus must have felt when she sensed that the breakfast the head nun had made was drugged she thought, how horrible would she have felt?
Her heart sank again. “Mother Mary! Please protect your children…” She knelt down at the head of the bed and began to pray for Gu Nianzhi.
…
Just when Josephine was feeling heavy hearted, Gu Nianzhi had already returned to the place she had been before she made her way to the convent. The sunlight reflected on the river, while the fluffy white clouds in the sky made the sunlight less glaring.
The weather in the mountains had cooled, so she did not feel warm, even though she was wearing the nun’s habit. However, she did not want to wear something that felt like too much of a burden. Therefore, the moment she returned to the forest, Gu Nianzhi removed the nun’s habit and placed it neatly on the rock beside her, only wearing the torn and tattered sports attire. As it had already been washed, it was clean despite being tattered.
Touching her long hair, Gu Nianzhi sighed. She was hungry again. Without further ado, she found branches and made them into rods. Then, she proceeded to the river to catch some fish again.
The fish living in this section of the river did not know Gu Nianzhi’s skills, so they did not even try to hide from her. Therefore, Gu Nianzhi managed to catch a good number of fresh, plump fish. Placing them on the barbecue rack she had built previously, she began to grill her catch.