Chapter 100 Zhu Ruyuan
Because of Ai Wenrui's words, the three of them looked hesitant.
Lin Qiushi said, "I'll go take a look." He walked to the side of the statue, carefully pinched a corner of the white cloth, and then raised his hand to gently lift it up.
The white cloth fell away, revealing the object wrapped within—a beautiful statue. It depicted a woman, her eyes lowered, smiling. She sat on a chair, wearing a long dress, her long hair draped over her shoulders. Her figure was graceful and lifelike, so lifelike it looked as if it might come alive at any moment.
Although Gu Longming didn't know much about art, he was still shocked by the appearance of the statue and exclaimed, "How beautiful..."
But when Ai Wenrui saw the statue, his face changed drastically. He took two steps back involuntarily and said in a trembling voice, "No...that's not right!"
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi looked at him.
"This statue wasn't like this before!" Alvin Rui was clearly frightened by the statue's appearance and spoke rapidly, "When we saw this statue before, it clearly only had a head. How could it have a body?!"
"What do you mean?" Gu Longming's eyes widened. "Are you saying this statue has grown?"
"Yes, there's an extra part of her body—" Avonri said, "When we came here to make a wish before, I was sure that this statue, this statue really only had one head!"
But now, she has a body. Not only that, she even looks more and more like a human.
Because of Ai Wenrui's words, the originally beautiful statue had a bit of a weird taste, and even the gentle smile on her face became subtle, which made people feel inexplicably creepy.
"Tell me in detail what exactly happened at that time." Lin Qiushi always felt that Ai Wenrui was hiding something.
Ai Wenrui looked at the statue cautiously, a little scared: "Can we not talk about this here?"
"Okay." Lin Qiushi agreed. He also felt that the statue made people feel uncomfortable.
So the three of them left the room and locked the door.
However, they didn't notice that after they left the room and locked the door, the gentle smile on the statue's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a cold expression. The plaster eyes also slowly blinked.
Lin Qiushi and Ai Wenrui returned to the activity room.
Alvin touched his arm, still in fear, and looked towards the storage room from time to time, obviously afraid of the statue that had changed.
"What kind of ceremony did you perform at that time?" Lin Qiushi asked him.
"It was our senior who taught us!" said Ai Wenrui. "She gave us a small wooden doll and asked us to drip blood on it and then make a wish to the statue..."
"Senior?" Lin Qiushi asked, "Where is she now?"
Ai Wenrui looked at the time and said, "He should still be in class at this time."
"She's actually fine?" Gu Longming was a little surprised. "In this kind of plot, shouldn't the person who first proposes suicide be the one who dies the fastest?"
Ai Wenrui had nothing to say about Gu Longming's straightforwardness.
"With so many things going on, you didn't even talk to her?" Lin Qiushi felt something was wrong. "She must know something, right?"
"We were all scared to death, so how could we dare to get together again." Ai Wenrui smiled bitterly, "If Xiaohe and I were not in the same class, I'm afraid we wouldn't even want to see each other." Speaking of Xiaohe, Ai Wenrui's expression dimmed again, as if he associated Xiaohe's death with his own future.
If this matter is not dealt with sooner rather than later, Ai Wenrui's death is only a matter of time.
"Go find her," Lin Qiushi said. "She must be a key figure. And..." He pulled out a group photo from his pocket. "Do you recognize the people in the photo?"
"I know them." Ai Wenrui gave the answer after taking a look. "They...they were the first three people to play the blood dripping game."
"The last one hasn't been played yet?" Lin Qiushi remembered that there was still a survivor up there.
"No." Ai Wenrui seemed to feel a little strange when he said this. "That's not right... He has the best relationship with the senior sister and was also there, so how could he not have played?" He scratched his head, a little confused. "And I didn't even notice this at the time..."
Lin Qiushi checked the time. It was almost time for the last class to end, and night would soon arrive. They wouldn't be able to go anywhere at night. Lin Qiushi said, "Take us to find the senior. I want to talk to her."
Ai Wenrui nodded.
The senior student was a senior, also a sculpture major. The class was right next to the playground, so it didn't take too long to get there.
Outside the classroom, Lin Qiushi heard the bell ringing, and then students came out one after another.
Ai Wenrui tilted his head to look inside, but didn't see the person he was looking for for a long time. He muttered a little puzzledly: "Did she skip class, or did something happen to her..."
Lin Qiushi said, "Let's ask a student."
"Yeah." Ai Wenrui nodded, stretched out his hand to stop a student who was walking out, and said, "Classmate, do you know Zhu Ruyuan?" Zhu Ruyuan was the name of that senior student.
"Who?" The student looked confused. "I don't know him."
Ai Wenrui was stunned: "You don't know her?" He had a bad feeling, so he quickly stopped the next student and continued to ask him if he knew Zhu Ruyuan.
Who would have thought that after asking four or five students who walked out of the classroom, facing Ai Wenrui's question, they all shook their heads and said that there was no such female student named Zhu Ruyuan in their class.
Ai Wenrui was completely terrified, goosebumps appeared all over his body, and he was a little upset: "How could it be - how could she not know them? She clearly took classes with these people!"
Lin Qiushi thought about it, walked into the classroom, stopped the teacher, and asked him if he knew Zhu Ruyuan.
Who knew that when the teacher heard this name, his face changed slightly and he said, "Who are you? Why are you asking such questions in our school?"
"We were hired by the school to investigate a death on campus." The identities given to us by the NPCs were quite useful in a situation like this. Lin Qiushi explained, "You know Zhu Ruyuan, right? Can you tell us about her?"
The teacher looked hesitant and said hesitantly, "She...her story was actually quite famous in the school at the time, but after a few classes of students changed, no one knew about it anymore."
Ai Wenrui had already heard the hidden meaning in his teacher's words. He said in horror: "Could it be that Zhu Ruyuan has already -"
"Yes, she's dead," the teacher said. "She's been dead for more than five years."
Ai Wenrui was so frightened by these words that he trembled all over.
Gu Longming was afraid that he would start crying again, so he quickly held his shoulders and comforted him, saying, "It's okay, don't be nervous, we are all here."
Ai Wenrui nodded with a tearful voice.
"What happened to her?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"She was a student in the sculpture department," the teacher said. "I think she was participating in an award outside the school. Not getting a result was a huge blow to her, and she later committed suicide."
He put it simply, but judging from the teacher's expression, there was definitely more to the matter than just this, because when he was talking about these things, there was a hint of fear in his expression, and it seemed that he didn't want to talk about it any more.
"Suicide? How did he commit suicide?" Lin Qiushi didn't intend to just brush the matter off. "Can you tell me in detail?"
The teacher said, "I'm not very clear either..." He didn't want to mention it anymore.
"If this matter is not handled, more students may be harmed." Lin Qiushi said, "You really don't know? These students are all in their twenties, and they died in vain..." He glanced at Ai Wenrui next to him, and the guy started sobbing again.
Whether it was Lin Qiushi's words or Ai Wenrui's tears, the teacher finally relented and said, "She committed suicide in school."
"Inside the school?" Lin Qiushi was a little surprised.
"Yes, inside the school, and the way she died was... a bit strange," the teacher said. "Not winning the award was a huge blow to her. She slashed her wrists and poured her blood over her artwork... By the time she was found, she was gone."
Speaking of works, Lin Qiushi immediately thought of the statue. He hurriedly asked, "Have you seen her work?"
"I saw it once," the teacher said. "It was a statue of a woman. It was quite beautiful, but the work lacked soul, so it's understandable that it didn't win an award."
He sighed, a hint of regret in his tone, "She was a good seedling, it's such a pity to leave like this." After saying this, he looked at his watch and said, "I have to go first."
"Thank you, teacher." Lin Qiushi thanked him.
The teacher nodded at him and left the classroom with his briefcase.
Ever since he knew that the senior sister was not human, Ai Wenrui had been in a state of shock. Now that the teacher had left, Gu Longming slapped him on the back and said, "Brother, are you okay?"
"I'm not okay—" said Avonri.
"How long has she been among you?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"I don't know, I don't remember." Ai Wenrui said, "It seems, it seems like she has been in the club's activity room since the beginning. We even joked at the time that the senior sister called the activity room home..." He shuddered, "Yeah, she's not even a human, so isn't it normal for her to call the room home?"
Lin Qiushi didn't know what to say. He glanced at the sky and said, "Let's go have dinner first. We'll talk in detail when we get back tonight."
The three of them went to the cafeteria and had something to eat.
Ai Wenrui was hesitant to speak the whole time, and only after he finished eating did he hesitate and said, "Um, where are you staying tonight?"
"Classrooms and dormitories." Gu Longming understood what Ai Wenrui meant. "What are you doing? You don't want to live with us, do you?"
"No?" Ai Wenrui said, "You can't ask for me when you need me during the day and then abandon me when you don't want me at night. You can't be so heartless, right?" He was very emotional when he said this, which attracted some strange looks from the students around him.
After all, this is an art school, and both homosexuality and lesbianism are very common, so it's natural that everyone would think more about it.
Gu Longming: "I didn't abandon you..." After he said this, he felt that there was a misunderstanding and quickly explained, "If you want, you can squeeze in with us!"
"That's great." Ai Wenrui said, "I'll just squeeze in with you guys for a bit."
Lin Qiushi looked at Gu Longming's bitter face and inexplicably felt like laughing.
After dinner, they returned to the classroom and dormitory. Other members of the team also came back one after another. Some went into the house, and some stood in the corridor to rest.
Judging from everyone's expressions, today's progress was not very smooth.
However, Lin Qiushi felt that they were fine because at least they had found the key person - a senior student who should not have existed.
"Hey, who is this?" Zuo Sisi, the pretty girl whom Lin Qiushi had some impression of, asked curiously when she saw Ai Wenrui brought back by Lin Qiushi and his group, "Did you bring N... students here as well?" She probably wanted to say NPC, but swallowed the words back when they reached her lips.
"Yeah." Lin Qiushi said, "Gu Longming likes it."
Gu Longming: “???”
"Oh, it's nice to have such a leisurely life." Zuo Sisi glanced at Gu Longming and said, "Take care of yourself, young man."
Gu Longming had nothing to say and could only glare at Ai Wenrui. Ai Wenrui looked innocent and wanted to explain something, but fell silent in grievance under Gu Longming's glare.
The three of them returned to the room. After Lin Qiushi simply washed up, he began to organize the clues he had obtained today.
That senior was not human. She sneaked into the sculpture club where Ai Wenrui was and guided the students to make wishes under a strange statue. In the end, the students' wishes came true one by one, but they had to pay a heavy price to realize their wishes - they all died.
There were four beds in this room. Ai Wenrui sat on the upper bunk of Gu Longming, leaning against the quilt with a look of dying.
Gu Longming pulled out a tomato from somewhere and chewed it while asking, "So, what wish did you make then?"
"Me?" Ai Wenrui said, "My wish is the same as theirs..."
"Same?" Gu Longming said, "So you won the award with them?"
"No." Ai Wenrui answered honestly.
"No?" Gu Longming was incredulous. "Could it be that even supernatural powers couldn't help you win the prize? How bad are your carvings?"
"It's not that I'm bad." Ai Wenrui said angrily, "I didn't participate at all." He sighed, "Otherwise, do you think I would be sitting here talking to you now?"
The winners died one after another, and their deaths were extremely miserable. If Ai Wenrui had participated in the competition, he would not have survived for half a year.
Although his wish did not come true, the power of that thing seemed to be slowly growing stronger, and it even tried to attack him.
Lin Qiushi was looking down at a group photo and said, "The last survivor in the photo is called Zhou Hanshan, right?" He had seen this person's information in the library archives.
"Yes." Ai Wenrui nodded. "The four of them have a very good relationship. Who knew something like this would happen later?"
He thought for a moment, "But there was one thing that was particularly strange at the time."
"Where?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"He didn't participate in this game." Ai Wenrui had mentioned this before, but now he explained it in more detail. "It's really strange now that I think about it, because he was the one who came up with this game in the first place."
"Where is he now?" Gu Longming asked.
"Still in school," Ai Wenrui said. "I'm in my third year now and will soon start my graduation project and look for a job. Everyone is very busy and should be in school."
"He must know something," Lin Qiushi said. "This person might be connected to Zhu Ruyuan."
Ai Wenrui nodded and said, "But then again, I hope the senior sister won't come to my house now..."
Gu Longming and Lin Qiushi did not respond after hearing what Ai Wenrui said. It was obvious that no one was very sure about this matter.
Night fell, shrouding the school in darkness.
Ai Wenrui went to bed early and tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Lin Qiushi actually couldn't fall asleep either, but even if he couldn't sleep, he didn't like to move, because moving around would make him more energetic.
The two of them couldn't sleep, but Gu Longming was not affected at all. Soon his steady breathing could be heard in the room.
"Are you asleep?" Ai Wenrui asked in a low voice.
Lin Qiushi was silent for a moment: "No."
Ai Wenrui: "What should I do if I can't sleep..."
Lin Qiushi: "Close your eyes and stop playing with your phone. You'll fall asleep soon."
"But I'm scared," said Avonri. "I'm afraid she'll come looking for me."
Lin Qiushi: "If you don't sleep with her, she won't come to see you?"
Ai Wenrui: “…” There is actually some truth to that.
"Go to sleep," Lin Qiushi said. "If it's a blessing, it won't cause trouble. If it's a disaster, it can't be avoided."
It was not known whether Lin Qiushi’s words comforted Ai Wenrui, but he turned over a few more times, then calmed down and seemed to have fallen asleep.
Lin Qiushi half-closed his eyes, in a state of half-asleep and half-wakefulness. In this state, he could wake up from sleep with just a little sound.
"Knock, knock." A subtle sound woke Lin Qiushi. He opened his eyes in the darkness and looked towards the source of the sound... It was the ceiling.
The sound seemed to be separated from them by a wall and they could not hear it clearly. If it was on the first floor, it would be okay, maybe someone on the second floor was walking around, but they lived on the second floor now, which meant that there was no one on the rooftop...
"Knock, knock." The noise from the ceiling continued.
Lin Qiushi felt something was not right when he heard the sound, because it sounded like someone was banging on the ceiling, as if looking for something.
Lin Qiushi thought of something, and he immediately got up from the bed, walked to Ai Wenrui and patted him awake.
Ai Wenrui woke up from his sleep in a daze. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Lin Qiushi's face so close to him. He was about to shout, but Lin Qiushi covered his mouth with his hand.
"Get off the bed." Lin Qiushi whispered in his ear, "Don't talk, don't make any noise."
Ai Wenrui nodded heavily. He obviously heard the subtle sound coming from above his head. This sound definitely could not belong to human beings. Since it did not belong to human beings... Ai Wenrui got up from the bed in a panic and quickly got out of bed.
As he got out of bed, a loud crash erupted from the ceiling. Lin Qiushi looked up and saw that the ceiling had been smashed by a massive sculpture. The sculpture, a bust, had fallen directly onto Ai Wenrui's bed, deforming the steel plate.
It is conceivable that if Ai Wenrui was still lying in bed at this moment, he would definitely be in great danger.
"What the hell!" Gu Longming was also awakened by the noise. He opened his eyes and asked, "What happened?"
Lin Qiushi said, "Hurry up and get up—something's happened."
Gu Longming quickly climbed up from the bed, only then he saw a big hole in their ceiling. But this hole was not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing was that he clearly saw a pair of black eyes emerging from next to the big hole. There was no white in those eyes, only black pupils, and they were looking into the room from the big hole with ill intentions.
He looked around but didn't seem to find what he was looking for, so a bit of anger appeared in his eyes and then he disappeared into the night.
The three people in the room didn't dare to speak. Gu Longming stared at the big hole for a long time, and finally uttered, "How the hell can I sleep like this?"
"I can't sleep--" Ai Wenrui wanted to cry again.
"Let's change rooms." Lin Qiushi glanced at Ai Wenrui. "It's almost dawn."
Fortunately, there were still plenty of spare rooms. The three of them quietly packed up their things and moved to other rooms. Of course, before moving, Lin Qiushi checked the statue that had fallen on Ai Wenrui's bed. He discovered that the statue looked almost identical to the one in the library...
Lin Qiushi thought that being a ghost was not easy. He had to kill a person and then move the statue from far away.
The three of them changed rooms because they couldn't sleep at all.
Ai Wenrui sat by the window, staring blankly out.
Gu Longming asked him what he was thinking about.
"I was thinking, how good it would have been if I had changed my wish at that time." Ai Wenrui said, "You said that if I had made a wish at that time, I could live forever..."
Gu Longming: “…”
"Wouldn't I have made a lot of money then?" Ai Wenrui regretted it.
"Yeah." Gu Longming said quietly, "But haven't you ever thought that there are many ways to live? Becoming a vegetable is also a way to live."
Ai Wenrui: "...Yeah." He became sad again, "I shouldn't have done this. Even if you're the protagonist, most horror movies don't have a good ending."
Gu Longming patted his shoulder: "Besides, you may not be the protagonist."
Ai Wenrui: "I'm going to cry."
Gu Longming quickly added: "Even if you're not the protagonist, you're still the important second male lead!"
Ai Wenrui: “…” But don’t the second male leads in horror movies all die more miserably than the last?
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