Chapter 103 Mandala 23
Chi Li took Luo Siwei into the car. Luo Siwei sat in the passenger seat and continued to communicate with Yu Tingting about the situation at the scene.
She was afraid that she was overthinking it, or that Yu Tingting's phone positioning was inaccurate. She hoped that the matter was not as serious as she thought.
"How long have you been away?"
"Aside from the driver and Principal Meng, is there anyone else in the car?"
"Do you know all those classmates? Can you tell me their names?"
Luo Siwei pursed her lips and stared at the screen. She typed very quickly. Chi Li got in the car and was ready. Seeing that she was concentrating, he reached out and helped her pull the seat belt from the side and buckled it on.
The incident happened suddenly, but Chi Li remained calm. He started the car, put the red and blue emergency avoidance lights of the police car on the roof, and drove towards the direction provided by Yu Tingting earlier.
Seeing Yu Tingting's reaction, Luo Siwei frowned. Things didn't seem simple. All signs pointed to the worst direction.
Luo Siwei turned to Chi Li and said, "The bus has been on the road for forty minutes. The students on the bus basically match the list, so they should be the 27 students. But Yu Tingting provided information that three students swapped seats with their classmates, which means that innocent students have sneaked in..."
"Let's head toward the scene first and see if we can stop the car. I'll talk to Director Chen about setting up a command center at the Municipal Bureau to assess the severity of the situation. Maintain communication and have Yu Tingting keep us informed of the situation in the car." Chi Li said this, looking forward and steering past a car. He added, "Tell Yu Tingting to be careful with her phone battery. Also, top up her phone credit by 100 yuan. Make sure she has enough data and can't lose contact."
Luo Siwei said "oh" and hurried to recharge Yu Tingting's phone bill.
While Chi Li was concentrating on driving, he plugged in his Bluetooth headset and communicated with Director Chen and other leaders one by one. Director Chen attached great importance to the situation and said that he would verify it immediately.
Five minutes later, Director Chen's feedback came.
The remaining buses were already approaching the school, and there was indeed one bus missing from the convoy. The school had just discovered this, but they hadn't expected anyone to hijack the buses. They assumed the bus had simply taken the wrong route and were still trying to contact them.
After Director Chen asked, Principal Liang also called Principal Meng and the driver, but found that their phones were turned off, which made him panic.
Chi Li said, "Ask the school to provide a list of students and personnel as soon as possible. Also, ask the three students who were supposed to get on the bus. They might know something. I'll ask Captain Luo to share the current location of the bus with you."
Director Chen asked, "Captain Chi, what other arrangements do you think should be made?"
Chi Li said: "It seems that the other party is only hijacking the vehicle at the moment. We still have time. The Sky Eye surveillance should be able to see the direction of the vehicle's movement. We can send more drones to observe from the air. I suggest blocking the roads along the way and clearing the road to reduce the number of other vehicles."
Director Chen said, "Don't worry. I'll set up a command center at the City Bureau. SWAT, firefighters, and medical personnel will all be on standby. The City Bureau has already dispatched four more police cars, heading in the direction of the vehicle. The SWAT team's car is also ready to go. However, you're the closest of our people, so how long do you estimate it will take to get there?"
Chi Li's car sped up rapidly. Thanks to the emergency lights, he chose the shortest way and was already crossing the city.
He estimated: "If the other car keeps the same speed, I should be able to catch up in about 30 minutes."
Director Chen said, "Okay, have Captain Luo stay in touch. We need to find out what Principal Meng is up to by hijacking this car. Where is their destination?"
In the car, Yu Tingting felt her heart was in her throat and she was about to cry because of the current situation.
According to the time, they should be almost at school, but the car is still driving on an unknown road.
The car was speeding forward with no intention of stopping. It was pitch black outside the window, as if it was heading towards hell. She was terrified.
The policewoman kept comforting her through WeChat, and Yu Tingting forced herself to calm down.
Her phone was topped up, and Officer Luo reminded her to watch the battery level.
Yu Tingting then realized her phone was running low. Old phones drain quickly, but luckily she had brought a spare power bank. Her hands were shaking as she plugged the power cord in.
She followed Luo Siwei's instructions, secretly took pictures of the situation inside the car, and sent them over.
Principal Meng was sitting in the front row with her back to the teacher. From her perspective, she could see that her back was straight, she was dressed in black, and she didn't say a word.
Those students obviously haven't realized the seriousness of the matter.
Someone on the bus stood up. It was a female student who mustered up the courage to come to the front row. She asked cautiously, "Teacher, when can we get to school... I want to go to the bathroom."
After she asked this question, Principal Meng had no reaction at all. Her face was pale and she still sat there upright, looking like a stone sculpture.
The girl thought she hadn't heard it, so she raised her voice and called out again, "Teacher Meng?"
Principal Meng finally tilted her head. Her face was pale, but her pupils were dark. She sternly asked the female student, "Who told you to leave your seat?"
The female student was shocked by this reaction and trembled: "Teacher...I can wait a little longer. I...I don't want to go to the bathroom anymore."
The female student turned around and hurried back, even running away.
Seeing this, Principal Meng unbuckled her seat belt, stood up, faced the car full of students, and swept her eyes over the children.
Then she took a step back, walked to the driver's side, and patted his shoulder: "Master Liu, it's time to wake the children."
The driver nodded solemnly, and he honked the car horn repeatedly. The harsh sound woke up the students in the car, and the ceiling light in the car also lit up.
"What's that sound?" The students frowned, and some of them were blinded by the light and covered their faces.
A boy was suddenly awakened from his sleep and yelled, "Fuck! What are you doing? I was sleeping so soundly."
The fat kid sleeping next to Yu Tingting stretched out and asked, "Are we there yet?"
More students asked, "Why haven't you come to school yet? Where is this?"
Yu Tingting sensed what was about to happen. She pulled her head back and turned down the volume on her phone, thinking about how to get the message across.
The signal here is not good, and the video will probably be stuck. She secretly made a voice call to Luo Siwei, and the other party picked up the call quickly.
Before Principal Meng spoke as usual, she clapped her hands to attract everyone's attention, and then she took a few steps forward.
Facing the car full of teenagers, Principal Meng said solemnly, "Dear students, I have a few words to say."
The students sat up straight, perking up and looking at her. This was probably just another boring group project, singing, reciting, and shouting slogans, the kind teachers loved to do.
Principal Meng said seriously, "I still remember when we first enrolled, I asked each of you to fill out a survey. One of the questions asked what you wanted to do in the future. Before we set off on this autumn outing, I found all the surveys you filled out."
As she spoke, she pulled out a stack of papers from her pocket and read them one by one: "Ma Mingsha, you said you wanted to be a lawyer. Liu Jinyuan, you wanted to be a designer. Wang Yao, you said you wanted to be an astronaut."
Principal Meng read a few of them, then looked up and shook the papers in his hand. "Some of you want to be doctors, some want to be lawyers, some want to be bosses, athletes, programmers..."
The car fell silent. The children looked at her, and no one knew what she was going to say or do next.
Principal Meng also stared at each student, her eyes sweeping across each child's face. Under the overhead light, her eyes were filled with deep despair, which made people shudder.
"I gave a speech back then, saying I hope you can achieve your dreams. I hope you'll study hard during your three years of high school and get into the university of your choice. I said the future belongs to you." Principal Meng spoke these words with a cold expression on her face, a stark contrast to her passionate opening speech.
Her voice dropped. "Now, I'm going to cut short your dreams. You're not worthy of being that kind of person."
All the students were stunned, with confusion and bewilderment in their eyes. They didn't understand why their usually gentle teacher would say such a thing.
"You've all played the Whisper app, right?" Principal Meng looked around.
The car became quieter.
They have played it, and they have played it for a long time, and their levels are not low.
Previously, police were present on campus and some of them were approached and interviewed.
The teenagers seemed to have their soft spot poked, and their eyes turned into fear and anxiety.
Yu Tingting wanted to cover her ears with her hands, but every word was drilling into her ears.
"You all participated in those games. You insulted and bullied the couriers, delivery drivers, and waiters at will. You looked down on poor workers, thinking they were stupid. You were selfish and only cared about yourselves. You looked down on your teachers, your classmates, your brothers and sisters, and even your own parents."
"On the afternoon of the 28th of last month, you bought sesame-flavored pancakes from an old man on West Street... 16 boys, 11 girls, 27 of you, every one of you participated in that game..."
The students became agitated and tried to defend themselves.
Yu Tingting knew that the ones who were most wronged were the fat boy sitting next to her and two other classmates. However, they sat in the back, staring at Principal Meng in astonishment, their legs weakened with fear, and they dared not say a word.
A boy in the front row had a bad feeling. He stood up and asked, "Teacher Meng, what are you going to do..."
Principal Meng stared at him. "Liu Xinlin, you were the twelfth person to pass by the stall that day. You bought twenty yuan worth of sesame cakes, and you were the one showing off in the anonymous section. You said that old woman was an old bastard who deserved to die. You said you were helping society get rid of useless garbage and saving pensions."
The boy had no words to refute and lowered his head in shame.
Principal Meng passed by a girl and patted her shoulder. "And you, Jiang Yinglu, you brought a friend with you, and the two of you bought one together. You walked away smiling, and the two of you finished the pancakes on the way."
The girl's face flushed red and she covered her face with her hands.
Principal Meng refused to let her go. She lowered her head and said, "You said in the anonymous section that the sesame sauce pancakes were terrible, and if they weren't given to you for free, you wouldn't have wanted them at all. You said she died of a heart attack, and it would have happened sooner or later, and it was bad luck for you. You said you had the guts to come and arrest you, but no one would know who you were anyway..."
At this point she stood up again and raised her voice.
"And you, Hu Ziling. You said she was so stupid and deserved to be scammed. You said you didn't do anything wrong and everyone's life is hard, so why is she so fragile, willing to die for a few hundred dollars?"
The students who were called out by her wanted to crawl into the ground.
They realized that Principal Meng knew all the words posted in the anonymous section.
All their ugliness and ugliness, their most disgusting and vicious thoughts, were stripped away and displayed before the public.
"I've taken screenshots of all your messages and saved them, setting them up for dispatch. Tonight at 8:00 PM, those messages will automatically be sent to your parents, your homeroom teacher, your classmates, and everyone online will see them," Principal Meng said. "The day you send those messages, remember that one day someone will find out what you said, and you'll have to bear the consequences!"
The students seemed to have sensed the end of the world, and as long as those remarks were made, they would be completely socially dead.
Some students started crying: "Teacher, we are just playing a game..."
"I...I said that because everyone else was saying it, and I was afraid of being looked down upon."
Others cried and said, "Teacher Meng, I know I was wrong... I will never do it again."
"Teacher Meng, please, please let us go..."
"Game? Let her go?" Principal Meng sneered, his smile terrifying. "Is this how you brainwash and hypnotize yourselves? I'll let you go, but will you let that old woman go?!"
She stepped forward, and the truth she spoke out was like a cold ice blade, piercing the students' chests mercilessly.
"You don't know her, so let me tell you today. That woman's name is Shao Xiayue. She used to be my family's nanny. After my family's business went bankrupt, it was Aunt Shao who funded my education. I was able to go to school because of the pancakes she sold one by one. She provided for my living expenses for several years, and after I started working, I saved and paid her back."
"I told her that I could help her with her old age and she wouldn't have to work so hard anymore, but she said she liked selling sesame cakes and wanted to be self-reliant and didn't need my money."
"I came to No. 3 Middle School because of her stall here. She likes to stay near the school and watch me pass by. She likes to watch you students eat the sesame cakes she made. She told me that as long as others like it, her life has meaning and she can feel happy. She said she is willing to do this until she is too old to move, and then she will die without regrets."
Hearing these words, more students started crying.
The crying echoed throughout the carriage.
These are the truths they have never known. She is a living person who also has relatives and friends.
In the end, Shao Xiayue didn't expect that her love did not win the respect of others. She fell down because these naughty students were going to play a scam game.
"I was on a business trip that week and didn't even get to see her for the last time."
When Principal Meng said this, tears rolled down her eyes and the corners of her eyes turned red.
"I saw the video of you passing by the scene. I saw Aunt Shao collapse and convulse helplessly. I saw your comments on that app. You are mean, participating in cyberbullying, spreading malice. You are cruel and unrepentant! You enjoy the joy of anonymity every day, hiding behind the screen, saying those disgusting words. Are you still human?! You are all murderers! Not only did you kill people, but you also cursed and bullied people recklessly."
"You are high school students. You have studied for so many years, but you still don't know what is right and wrong?"
"If the police hadn't come, you wouldn't be afraid! Even if the police were investigating these things on campus, you still think the law doesn't hold everyone responsible! You still think you'll be fine! You are lawless and think no one can punish you!"
"I am sad about Aunt Shao's death, but I am even more heartbroken because the one who committed such a cruel act was my student! Your cruelty has no bottom line, and this cruelty makes me feel scared. As a teacher, what is the point of teaching and educating people? People like you who have no conscience don't deserve to have dreams anymore!" Principal Meng roared.
The students sat in the car, shivering and not daring to make any sound.
Principal Meng tore up the 27 pieces of paper filled with wishes and threw them out. The white papers fluttered down and scattered in the carriage like flying white butterflies.
Half a piece of paper also fell in front of Yu Tingting.
The paper said, "I want to be a doctor."
She recognized it. It was exactly her handwriting, and it was still very childish. It was written when she entered the school. When did everything change?
Was it because her parents divorced that she started to rebel?
Is it because the heavy workload is making her breathless and she wants to resist?
Was it because she turned on her phone and began to feel the malice of the online world?
Or was it because she wanted some pocket money, so she downloaded the Whisper software and started playing those games?
There is no regret medicine, why can't everything be repeated? If she has the chance, she will never do such a thing again.
Principal Meng looked down at the pieces of paper and the pale-faced students in front of him.
With tears in the corners of her eyes, she sneered and pointed at the young faces.
"So what if you have good grades? You can become a journalist, lawyer, doctor, host, programmer... If one day you become what you aspire to be, that would be even more terrifying! If you become a malicious adult, our society will truly be doomed!"
Her words were like whips, slapping every student in the face.
"You've long lost respect for life, you've lost the most basic human ethics. You think you're superior, looking down on ordinary people. You'll blackmail, doxx, curse, and swear online just because someone's views differ from yours. You think you can insult and bully real people without taking responsibility just because you're on screen."
"You are callous and cruel. Even after someone dies, you don't reflect on your actions. You just shout 'good death'."
"Do you think Shao Xiayue's death has nothing to do with you? You are wrong. She was killed by every one of you. I will avenge her today!"
Her teeth were chattering and her body was shaking. "I don't want to leave my future to you. So today, I will accompany you to die together."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
