Chapter 113: Enough understanding

"Then let me ask another question..." Lin Xi pointed the dagger in his hand at Teacher Gao: "Did you kill Zhu Zhu?"

Teacher Gao was kneeling on the ground, crying with her face covered. But after Lin Xi asked the first question, she raised her head and looked directly at Lin Xi. When she asked the second question, Teacher Gao's reaction was even more shocking. She even subconsciously asked back: "What?"

Lin Xi sneered: "I'm asking you, how did Zhu Zhu die? Did you kill her?"

Faced with such a question, Teacher Gao of course immediately denied it: "What are you talking about?! How could I possibly kill Zhu Zhu! I love Zhu Zhu so much! How could I possibly kill her?!"

Lin Xi didn't ask this question out of the blue; it was the product of careful consideration. Of course, she'd always considered herself unintelligent, so her so-called careful thinking was just a random thought that popped up in her head. That day, she'd been back to the lecture hall repeatedly, and she'd discovered the name "Zhu Zhu" there. When she touched the inscription, she felt something sticky and smelled a hint of blood.

The person who committed suicide here was Zhu Zhu, and the bloody smell was Zhu Zhu's blood.

Needless to say, she died in the same way she had just performed, most likely by stabbing herself in the chest or neck with a dagger. But where did she get the knife?

Lin Xi still remembered that in the first copy, minors were not allowed to hold knives. She had watched videos of other anchors and found the rule to be the same.

Therefore, it is a general rule in the kitchen at home that minors are not allowed to hold knives.

Could it be a box cutter? The covers of art and music classes were so evil, so it was hard to guarantee that knives would not be used. But when Lin Xi asked Lin Lin, the answer she got was still: "Children are not allowed to use knives. Even if there are knives in art class, they are used under the supervision of the teacher, and the teacher will take them away after class."

Even the convenience store at the school gate will not sell knives to minors.

With such strict management of children, where did Zhu Zhu get the knife? There is only one answer: someone else gave it to her. Students who are also children cannot hold knives, which means that the knife can only be given by the teacher. Other teachers should not give Zhu Zhu a knife for no reason. It can only be Teacher Gao or Principal Di who have a particularly good relationship with her.

Twenty years ago, the only people still at the school were Teacher Gao, Principal Di, and Lin Lin. After ruling out Lin Lin, the remaining two became extremely suspicious. No matter which of them came today, Lin Xi would only say this.

However, Lin Xi still felt that Teacher Gao was more likely. This was because it was obvious that Teacher Gao spent more time with Zhu Zhu. The photos outside the lecture hall were the best proof. Why would Teacher Gao, who was smiling so gently in the photos with Zhu Zhu, kill Zhu Zhu?

Lin Xi didn't care about her explanation. Instead, he continued, "Teacher Gao, what was your reason for killing Zhu Zhu? Even if you didn't do it yourself, you must have hinted at it. Zhu Zhu is a simple child who is under great psychological pressure. It's easy for her to go to extremes in such a situation."

"Teacher Gao, why did you kill your beloved child?"

Lin Xi's indifferent words finally broke Teacher Gao's psychological defenses. She screamed, "I didn't want her to die! I just wanted her to become like us! Only by becoming a ghost can she live with us forever! I just wanted Zhu Zhu to be a happy child forever. I didn't know! I didn't know it would be like this! Why didn't she become a ghost?!"

Teacher Gao slumped to the ground, her dark eyes overflowing with tears. These tears were black, and as they fell to the ground, they transformed into a thick, black liquid. She, too, seemed to be stained by the darkness, her entire body slowly becoming a mass of black. Under Lin Xi's gaze, the person kneeling and weeping on the ground became Principal Di.

Lin Xi opened her eyes wide and turned to look at Lin Lin, who also looked confused.

"They are actually the same person?!"

"No! Definitely not!"

Lin Lin immediately objected, but the truth was, Teacher Gao had pulled off a magical trick in front of everyone, which was even more exciting than their play. Lin Xi found the incident eerie, but Principal Di had already climbed up from the ground, tears streaming from beneath her messy bangs. Unlike Teacher Gao's tears, they were tears of blood.

"..." Principal Di didn't say anything, but just quietly shed tears and stared at Lin Xi. Lin Xi also pursed her lips, knowing whether she could pass this copy or not, she would give it a try.

She said, "Principal Di, why did you agree to the committee to set up this copy?" Principal Di still didn't speak, but that didn't stop Lin Xi from continuing, "I heard that the committee promised you a lot of things, and even agreed to let you join the committee." After hearing Lin Xi's words, the audience seats, which had been quiet all the time, suddenly heard some noisy discussions.

It seems that the committee is not particularly secretive in this world. At least some people know of its existence.

Lin Xi collected her thoughts for a moment and continued, "If it were someone else, I'd understand being recruited by the committee. But you're different. Your life has been turned upside down since Zhu Zhu died. How could you possibly care about whether you can join the committee? Principal Di, instead of asking what I can bring to you, what answer do you want us humans to give you?"

Now standing under the stage was Principal Di, who was standing in the exact same position as Teacher Gao, looking up at Lin Xi, who was under the lights. After a moment, Principal Di lowered her head, but her voice came through.

"I don't understand Zhuzhu," she said. Principal Di's voice was sharp, almost aggressive, but she tried to remain calm. "She's a human child I found 29 years ago. The first time I saw her, I thought to myself, what a miraculous child she is—tiny, soft, and warm."

"I brought her home. I was the Dean of Studies at the time, and as you know, I didn't live alone, so we adopted Zhu Zhu together. I was scared at first because she was so small, so soft, and so weak that she could be killed easily. So I protected her and didn't let her go out."

"But she said no."

Lin Xi knew that the "she" here referred to Teacher Gao.

Principal Di didn't want to call Teacher Gao's name, because objectively speaking, Zhu Zhu died at the hands of Teacher Gao.

But there was one ominous point. As Principal Di spoke, her hair grew longer, soon covering the entire first row of the auditorium and then slowly spreading backwards. Her red tears of blood fell to the carpet beneath her feet, creating ripples. The soft carpet was transformed into a sticky, dark pool of blood.

The black hair, curving like tentacles, crawled toward the stage. But when it came into contact with the stage lights, it shrank back and chose to circumvent them. Lin Xi frowned. She knew this was a crucial moment and couldn't interrupt Principal Di. So she simply gave Lin Lin a look, telling her to quickly find a way to escape.

It was impossible for her to ask Shen Sangning to help Lin Lin. To put it bluntly, they were just fake mother and daughter, bound together by the rules of the live broadcast room. Even though their relationship had eased a little recently, it was not time for them to help each other. Lin Lin gritted her teeth, knowing that she could no longer be a match for Principal Di. She had no choice but to leave the stage.

At this time, Alan Jones appeared out of nowhere. He turned on the stage lights. Except for the one that was directed at Lin Xi, all other lights were turned on and shone on the living people in the audience. The stage lights did have a restraining effect on Principal Di's tentacles... Lin Xi actually felt that Principal Di's hair was more like black pythons than tentacles. It was much thicker than the tentacles at home or the funeral home.

Seeing that the living people were temporarily safe, Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief and gave Alan Jones who was standing next to the stage curtain a thumbs up. Alan Jones waved his hand, indicating "you're welcome", and then quickly found a lamp to light himself.

Principal Di continued his story. Teacher Gao suggested that Zhu Zhu go to kindergarten. After a debate, Teacher Gao finally agreed with Zhu Zhu's opinion. Zhu Zhu beamed and said she wanted to go. Principal Di had no choice but to enroll Zhu Zhu in the kindergarten affiliated with the Central Primary School.

Zhu Zhu's life in the world of Guiju Kaidan was actually pretty good. Teacher Gao was only considered an average-strength ghost at the time, but Principal Di was already the Dean of Studies and much stronger than the average ghost. So she was able to protect Zhu Zhu and prevent her from being harmed by other ghosts.

Everything was fine, and Teacher Gao wanted to stay by Zhu Zhu's side, nurturing her growth. But everything changed when she started elementary school. Zhu Zhu, so kind and intelligent, was constantly criticized by her teachers for her poor academic performance, and she would often cry when she got home.

Zhu Zhu never told Teacher Gao about this, nor did she show it in front of her. She just kept smiling and participated in various competitions with Teacher Gao, and won awards without any surprise. She only cried in front of Principal Di, timidly saying that she was tired and didn't want to perform, and didn't want to face the audience who couldn't see her face clearly.

But after crying, she would make an agreement with Principal Di: "Only the two of us know about this, and you can't tell Teacher Gao!"

Principal Di and Zhu Zhu made a pinky promise not to tell anyone.

She thought there was no problem. Zhu Zhu smiled as usual. Although Teacher Gao was a little anxious for a while and even quarreled with Principal Di, she said, "You know nothing! Zhu Zhu's academic performance is very poor. If this continues, she will be disliked by other teachers! She has grown up and doesn't listen to me anymore. I can't control her! Sooner or later, she will leave us!"

Perhaps the conflict arose from that day on, and even though there was a period of peace afterwards, it could not change the final outcome.

Principal Di remembered that day, Zhu Zhu clearly told her that she was going to rehearse for a while, but ended up dying in the lecture hall.

"I often think that if I understood Zhu Zhu well enough, perhaps none of this would have happened."