Hearing this, Fatty couldn't help but shrink his neck, feeling somewhat empathetic towards the girl the boss was talking about.

The boss stopped there, vigorously rubbing his face, his figure also becoming hunched. For a long while, he didn't speak again. Jiang Cheng and Xia Qiang silently accompanied him, without urging him to continue.

"I... I want to smoke a cigarette," the boss said, looking up, his voice trembling slightly as he pleaded.

"This is your shop; feel free," Xia Qiang said softly, his originally firm face becoming gentle, worried about upsetting the man.

The boss pulled out a cigarette pack from his pocket, then searched all over his body before finally finding a lighter in the innermost pocket of his clothes.

"Click—"

"Click—"

......

The boss tried several times in a row, but couldn't get the lighter to work.

It wasn't entirely the lighter's fault; the boss's hand was shaking continuously. The knuckles of his fingers, as he gripped the lighter tightly, had turned white from the excessive force.

Perhaps reminded of something, the boss's emotions became even more agitated. Finally, a hand reached over and steadily took the lighter. With a "click," it lit the flame for him.

The boss was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly put the cigarette in his mouth and leaned forward. With the sound of burning tobacco, Jiang Cheng flicked his wrist, extinguishing the flame.

The boss took a deep drag of the cigarette, as if trying to suck the entire thing into his lungs in one go. Then, he coughed violently.

As he coughed, he waved his hand at Jiang Cheng and Xia Qiang, indicating that he was fine and they didn't need to worry.

When the cigarette had burned to its end, the boss casually threw the butt away. He crossed his hands, lowered his head slightly, and, in a hoarse voice, continued where he had left off.

"I... I rushed back the next day. After something like this happened, how could I sleep at night? I rushed back overnight and arrived at the shop the next morning."

"When I got there, she..." The boss paused, explaining softly, "That is the di..."

"But as she spoke, I felt that her eyes and tone weren't quite right. Her hands were clenched into fists, her long nails digging into her flesh. She paused for a moment before asking me in a tentative tone where I had bought the script."

"I told her not to be nervous and asked if she had encountered anything strange."

"Her eyes flickered, as if recalling something terrible. She stammered, saying she felt like someone was following her."

"She had felt it yesterday on her way home. It was like an intuition, that a pair of eyes were staring at her from behind."

"But she stopped and looked back several times, but couldn't find the person."

"She also made several turns into shopping malls and cafes, then quickly left through other doors, trying to shake off the person following her, but that gaze was like glue on her body. No matter what she did, that cold feeling remained."

"She changed several modes of transportation: taxis, buses, shared bicycles..."

"Until she boarded the subway, exhausted." The boss took a deep breath and continued, "By then, it was already slightly dark, the peak of rush hour. Precisely because there were so many people, she thought of taking the subway. She was terrified at the time and just wanted to stay in a crowded place."

"The subway car was crowded; all the seats were taken, and the aisles were full of people. She walked to a spot on the left side of the car and stood there."

"It seemed that because there were more people around, she felt a little safer. But before long, that feeling of being watched reappeared!"

"This time, she clearly felt it was right behind her."

"She turned around. There were many people standing behind her, a whole train car full of people."

"Her gaze gradually swept across the car. In a spot far away from her, at the other end of the car, she suddenly noticed a figure."

"It was a man, tall and large, a full head taller than the people around him. His head was wrapped tightly with layer upon layer of transparent tape. The face beneath the tape was grotesquely twisted, the corners of his mouth were torn open, and a pair of bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at her through the crowd."