Episode 3 (Part2) : Beneath the Falling Blossoms

The safe. He must have checked the safe!"

Lin Yi grabbed her hand instinctively. "What safe? Edith, what aren't you telling me?"

She thrust the diary into his hands. "Page 47. Read it tonight, but be careful. My mother's involvement in your mother's death isn't what you think – it's so much worse." She started to pull away, then suddenly turned back. Before Lin Yi could react, she pressed her lips to his cheek, leaving behind the ghost of a kiss that burned like ice. "Trust no one, Lin Yi. Not even me."

As she hurried away, a piece of paper fluttered from the diary. Lin Yi snatched it before the wind could carry it away – a photograph, newer than the one he'd received that morning. In it, his mother and Mrs. Harrington stood before a massive painting in what appeared to be the Harrington mansion's gallery. Both women were smiling, but their eyes held fear. In the background, barely visible in the painting's reflection, stood a figure in black, watching.

The photo was dated one day before his mother's murder.

Lin Yi flipped it over, his blood freezing as he read the words written in his mother's familiar handwriting: "If you're reading this, my dear son, then they found the painting. And if they found the painting, then Edith is in danger too. The truth lies in the cherry blossoms."

As if in response, another gust of wind showered him with pink petals, and somewhere in the distance, a car engine roared to life. Lin Yi looked up just in time to see a black sedan with tinted windows pulling away from the school, and through the back window, he glimpsed Edith's terror-stricken face.

She hadn't left voluntarily – she was being taken.

His mother's diary felt like lead in his hands as a chilling realization struck him: he wasn't the only one seeking revenge. And now, the game has changed entirely.

Without hesitation, Lin Yi sprinted toward the school parking lot, his heart thundering in his chest. The black sedan was already turning the corner, its tires screeching against the asphalt. As he reached for his phone to call the police, it buzzed with a message from an unknown number:

"Follow the sedan, and she dies. Stay away, and both of you might live. You have until midnight to deliver the painting. Your mother made her choice – now it's your turn."

Another message flashed across his screen, this one from Edith's phone: "Cherry blossoms. Gallery. Mother's painting. 8-14-7."

Lin Yi clutched the diary tighter, its worn pages crinkling under his grip. The numbers... they had to be coordinates, or a code, or... His eyes widened as he remembered the massive cherry blossom tree in the Harrington's gallery. Could it be...?

A petal landed on the diary's cover, and as Lin Yi brushed it away, he noticed something peculiar – tiny numbers, almost invisible, etched into the leather binding.Time was running out, and Lin Yi had a choice to make: follow the kidnapper's warning and potentially lose his only chance at uncovering the truth, or risk everything – including Edith's life – to solve the mystery his mother had died protecting.

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