No one can stand the bad smell of breath that goes straight to the head.
Mingqiao had digested the little food he had eaten the day before long ago, and now there was nothing in his stomach. All he vomited was sour water. Not only did he feel nauseous, but even the "giant" threw him back on the table in disgust. He hurriedly tore off a few pieces of paper from the notebook to wipe the vomit that splashed on his face and clothes.
Shi Xin took two quick steps forward and grabbed Ming Qiao.
"Let's go first."
Although the "giant" looked like a human, he was actually not much different from the crazy monsters in the restaurant. Compared with the "giant", the two of them were like normal people seeing a little mouse, and could be manipulated at will. Moreover, judging from the "giant"'s appearance, it was obvious that he wanted to tear Mingqiao apart and eat him. If a living person was chewed and eaten like this, it would be a torture.
Mingqiao's legs were weak, but he didn't dare to slow down even a bit, for fear of being caught again and not having the same luck as this time.
Before the giant could come to his senses, Shi Xin had already pulled him into the shadow behind the bedside table.
Here is a sunken angle formed by the desk panel and the bedside table. It is basically invisible unless you open the table.
In the previous room, when Mingqiao was looking for the closet, Shi Xin had been struggling between the bed and the desk and only discovered this corner by chance. He almost overlooked it at the time and made a quick note of it, but he didn't expect it to come in handy now.
Ming Qiao was out of breath, but he held his breath deliberately. From the time he was discovered by the "giant" to the time he was hiding now, a series of events had made him so frightened that he couldn't even catch his breath.
"Mr. Ming, relax."
Shi Xin's gentle voice came from the side, and Ming Qiao trembled violently. He had been tense all the time, and now he suddenly heard this, and he couldn't help but panic for a moment.
Shi Xin looked calm. He lowered his voice and soothed her, "Don't be afraid. It's okay."
Mingqiao looked at the man in front of him who was younger than him but calmer than him. He felt a strange and awkward feeling, but he actually calmed down for a moment.
The "giant" was still looking for them, and was rummaging around making a lot of noise.
Shi Xin quietly leaned over to take a look. The "giant" had already shifted his attention to the cabinet and obviously didn't notice them.
Shi Xin finally relaxed completely, leaning against the bedside table behind him and crossing his arms: "Teacher Ming, I find that you are really charming."
"What do you mean?"
"Even the giants eat you and not me. Doesn't that prove how charming you are?"
Mingqiao smiled bitterly: "Your argument is a bit far-fetched."
"Mr. Ming, you are really... mysterious." Shi Xin carefully chose his words and asked, "With a stable career and outstanding looks and talents, you must be a popular choice among blind dates. How come you don't have a girlfriend?"
"Personal reasons." Ming Qiao avoided his gaze, struggling over whether to say that he was gay. If Shi Xin knew that he liked men and distanced himself from him, it would be a loss, but he didn't want to hide it, lest it be exposed in the future and become even more embarrassed.
"Well, forget it. It's not appropriate to talk about this now." Shi Xin changed the subject in time: "Let's discuss what to do next?"
"Um."
Mingqiao was very pleased with this timely termination of the exchange, and at the same time he was more satisfied with Shi Xin. The young man was neither arrogant nor impatient, and his EQ and IQ were online, which made people feel comfortable.
"Our initial goal was to find the trapped students and then find a way to escape from the playground." Ming Qiao sorted out his thoughts, sat down and began to think: "But there is no one else in the playground, so if someone is trapped, they must be in this basement. After entering, we found a strange meat grinder and a trap door in the room. The meat grinder produced something that was suspected to be the acid water from the playground, and we came to where we are now through the trap door."
Shi Xin nodded and followed Ming Qiao's thoughts to sort out his experiences.
Ming Qiao said: "Here we met an NPC, this 'giant', who interrupted our original plan."
"We haven't achieved either of our goals, so should we continue to look for mechanisms in this room?" Shi Xin was a little worried: "Everything here is too big for us to operate."
"Indeed." Ming Qiao sighed, "We can only take it one step at a time and take it slow."
After such an experience, both of them were completely exhausted. Now there was a place where they could rest and catch their breath. The movement of the "giant" became smaller and smaller, as if it no longer wanted to find them, and lay back on the bed and fell asleep.
Just now, when they were flipping through the book, they had only read two pages when they were discovered, and they did not see clearly what the "giant" wrote. When the time was right, the two decided to set out again.
They were more careful this time and walked on tiptoe for fear of making any noise and repeating the same mistake.
The book had several pages torn off by the "giant" and its location had also moved, further away from where the two were. Ming Qiao and Shi Xin moved over and opened the cover of the book with difficulty.
The "giant" tore off the principal's message on the title page, leaving only a rough gap in the paper.
Mingqiao smoothed out the uneven parts of the paper to make it easier to turn the pages.
Excluding the pages that were originally torn away, after turning over four or five blank pages, Mingqiao found a full book of notes.
It contained the installation method of mechanical equipment, with pictures and texts explaining it in a very neat and careful manner. He had also seen this handwriting before - the handwriting on the note in the crack outside the rostrum was exactly the same as the handwriting here. Mingqiao had kept the note in his pocket since he found it. He was afraid of making a mistake, so he took it out and compared it carefully, and found that it was indeed written by the same person.
In fact, he seldom paid attention to a person's writing habits, but the reason why this character is easy to recognize is that when he writes the horizontal line, he always writes it at a slightly upward angle and likes to hook it back at the end.
He remembered that students in his class who had practiced soft brush calligraphy seemed to have this habit.
At the same time, the material of the note is exactly the same as that of the notebook in front of you. Combined with the fact that several pages of the notebook have been torn off, it can be confirmed that the note came from here.
"The handwriting is the same? The paper is the same?" Shi Xin came over to take a look. When he saw the long sections on how to install mechanical equipment, he already understood.
He pointed at the "giant" on the bed and asked: "Did he make the meat grinder in the basement?"
"It should be."
Mingqiao continued to flip through the pages, and then found a random remark while slowly taking notes.
[Can it really help me pay off my gambling debts? ]
The question mark at the end was traced over and over again, almost tearing the paper.
Mingqiao and Shixin looked at each other and grasped two key points.
it.
and debt.
Shi Xin took the crumpled note and silently read: "The giant was trapped somewhere, without food or water, and it was raining outside. 'It' asked the 'giant' to do something, but was refused."
Combining all the known clues now and with a little imagination, it is not difficult to speculate that the "it" on the note and the "it" written on the notebook should be the same person or... a monster. They formed a contract around gambling debts, which led to a series of phenomena such as the meat grinder and acid water on the playground.
Mingqiao lowered his brows and turned a few more pages of the notebook. There were fewer and fewer notes related to mechanical equipment, and the handwriting became more and more sloppy. Later on, there were times when one word took up an entire page. Each of them was so written that it could be felt through the paper. Anyone who read it could feel the anger, anxiety and other emotions contained in them.
There was no substantial content in the later part of the "Giant's" notes, and Ming Qiao could not find anything meaningful, so he simply closed the cover and retreated to the corner where they had been hiding with Shi Xin.
However, just when they were at a loss, the old cell phone next to the "giant" rang, and the outdated music was played out through the speakers with extremely poor sound quality. After repeating several times, the "giant" moved his eyelids a few times and woke up.
He turned off the alarm clock, trudged away tiredly, walked to the desk with a frown, picked up the notebook, read a few pages, then turned around and stood in front of the cabinet.
Mingqiao stuck his head out and stared at the movements of the "giant", with Shi Xin stacked on top of him, not blinking.
The "giant" opened the door of the cupboard. Instead of the meat grinder that Mingqiao and Shixin had been waiting for, there was a toolbox half a person's height. He pulled out the toolbox and spread it on the ground. After picking and choosing for a long time, he finally took out a flat-blade screwdriver and a wrench.
He slammed the toolbox shut in a bad temper, took out his keys, locked his cell phone in the desk drawer, and walked out with his things.
Mingqiao and Shixin looked at each other, with doubts lingering over their heads.
Mingqiao spoke first: "Tell me, is it possible that we are experiencing what happened in the past?"
Shi Xin narrowed his eyes: "You mean before the strange things happened in school?"
"Yes." Ming Qiao nodded. "Let me first tell you something that can prove my idea. First, you saw that closet, there is no meat grinder, which means the meat grinder has not been installed yet. Second, the old phone used by the 'Giant' is the one we found in the desk in the previous room, the pattern and style are the same. Third, all of the 'Giant's' keys are still on him, we found them all over the place when we searched for them before."
"Time goes back." Shi Xin nodded thoughtfully: "I agree with you."
Ming Qiao suggested: "Then let's wait here for a while."
"good."
While there was no one in the room, Ming Qiao went through the notebook again. After confirming that there was nothing there, he ran back and squatted with Shi Xin.
"Teacher Ming, your beard has grown stubble." In the darkness, Shi Xin looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Mingqiao reached out and touched his short stubble. It was indeed a bit prickly. He was a little helpless: "Who cares about this in this situation?"
"Is the small shop under the school's boys' dormitory still open?" Shi Xin said, "If we pass by the shop, we can go there to get some snacks and daily necessities."
"Open." Mingqiao said, "But it's no longer a small shop. It's now called the Student Supermarket."
"Expanded?"
"Yes. It was just built during the winter vacation this year. It is said that former alumni came back to donate money and specifically requested the expansion. The old principal was still in office at the time, and he hesitated for a long time before being convinced."
Shi Xin leaned his head against the wall and sighed, "If the principal hadn't been changed, maybe there wouldn't be so many troubles."
"The old principal is old and it's almost time for him to retire," Mingqiao said. "Plus, the new leader has a great title. Reports say he can double the enrollment rate of his school wherever he goes. School leaders, some teachers, some students, and most parents are satisfied. Changing the principal is what everyone wants."
“Perhaps this is why the No. 1 Middle School in the city cannot compare to the affiliated middle school,” Shi Xin said. “Everyone regards the enrollment rate as the only indicator, and quality education loses its meaning.”
"You understand a lot." Mingqiao smiled.
"Mr. Ming, if you have the opportunity in the future, please go to teach at the Affiliated Middle School."
"No." Mingqiao shook his head. "Since No. 1 Middle School is not good, I will try my best to make it better. Education is not something that can be done overnight. If educators want to completely change the current situation of No. 1 Middle School, they must devote a lot of energy and time. You always say that the Affiliated Middle School is good, but the Affiliated Middle School was established more than 50 years earlier than No. 1 Middle School. It has a profound cultural heritage and has been refined over the years to establish an environment that is most suitable for students to grow. No. 1 Middle School should also do the same. Only by making lasting changes can we welcome a better future."
When Shi Xin heard Mingqiao say this, he wanted to clap his hands and cheer.
But before he could say a word, the door was pushed open again.
To be more precise, it was knocked open with great force.
The "Giant" is back.
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