Chapter 49 Lu Zuozi
The first victim of the team appeared, and the atmosphere of the entire team became stagnant.
The new girl looked at the mess in the room and carefully asked if they needed to clean up the place and deal with the body. Ruan Nanzhu shook her head and said, "No, the body will disappear soon." This is the rule of the sect. The body will always disappear in various ways.
The girl didn't seem to understand what it meant to disappear so quickly. Her expression was filled with anxiety, her whole body trembling. She wasn't the only one frightened; the others also looked unhappy. No one even spoke.
Lin Qiushi was used to such things, so he seemed relatively calm. However, Xia Rubei's face turned pale. After taking one look at the corpse, she hid in the house and refused to come out no matter what.
Seeing her so timid, Lin Qiushi was curious about how she had gotten through the three gates. Was it all thanks to Li Dongyuan? Li Dongyuan wasn't the kind of person who would get up early without any benefit. He just didn't know what Xia Rubei had that made him so protective.
"Let's go. Let's go to the archives first today to see if we can find any information about Class 2, Grade 3." After looking at the corpse, Ruan Nanzhu suggested today's itinerary.
"Okay." Li Dongyuan nodded.
So the four of them decided to go out to the cafeteria to have breakfast first, and then go to the archives room.
Perhaps because she had seen the corpse, Xia Rubei had a poor appetite. She didn't eat a single bite of the food in front of her and her brows were furrowed.
Fortunately, Ruan Nanzhu seemed to be thinking about something at the moment, otherwise another drama would have to happen.
Seeing that Xia Rubei had no appetite to eat, Li Dongyuan tried to persuade her a few times, but seeing that she refused to give in, he had to sigh and give up, thinking that she would naturally want to eat when she was hungry.
The archives were located in a remote corner of the school. They spanned three floors and looked quite old. The administrator was a man in his sixties. Ruan Nanzhu approached him, and surprisingly, he didn't stop them, allowing the four of them to enter the archives to search for information.
The archives were filled with a musty smell of old paper, which was very uncomfortable. Xia Rubei started coughing softly as soon as she entered. Li Dongyuan asked her what was wrong.
"I seem to be allergic to dust mites." Xia Rubai said with difficulty.
"Then you wait at the door." Li Dongyuan didn't force her.
Xia Rubei nodded happily. The archives room was dimly lit and filled with tall filing cabinets. It looked quite scary from the outside, let alone inside. Xia Rubei was naturally happy that she didn't have to follow him in. Li Dongyuan told her to sit at the door and not move, and they would come out as soon as possible.
The three of them walked inside. Ruan Nanzhu said with a half-smile, "I didn't realize that the leader of the White Deer would be such a kind and gentle person."
"Mengmeng, are you jealous?" Li Dongyuan looked at Ruan Nanzhu with a smile.
Ruan Nanzhu: "I'm not jealous, I'm just curious, what's so charming about Xia Rubei that you spoil her like this."
Li Dongyuan didn't answer at all, but just smiled and said, "You are jealous as expected."
Seeing that he refused to speak, Ruan Nanzhu stopped asking and turned to go into the archives.
The archives are classified by time. After searching for a while, they quickly found the information of Class 2, Grade 3 from three years ago. At that time, the senior students were still freshmen who had just entered the school.
Ruan Nanzhu reached out and took down their file. When he opened the first page, he saw a group photo. On the back of the photo, the words "Class 2, Grade 2" were written in black carbon pen.
"Found it." Ruan Nanzhu said, "This is their class photo."
Lin Qiushi moved closer to Ruan Nanzhu and saw the photo in his hand.
This photo looks very ordinary and there is nothing special about it. The students in the photo look very young, and teachers of various subjects are standing on both sides.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "There are thirty-four people in their class..." He suddenly frowned, "I feel like there's something wrong with the photo."
Lin Qiushi didn't notice anything wrong, but after hearing what Ruan Nanzhu said, he must have sensed something wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
"Wait..." Lin Qiushi suddenly made a new discovery. He said, "Thirty-four people? But there are only thirty-three in this photo."
There are three rows of eleven people in each row, and everyone's position is neatly aligned. You can count the number of students in the class at a glance.
"Yes! That's the number of people!" Ruan Nanzhu said, "The information says it says 34. Where did the other person go?"
Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu exchanged glances, seeing the same expression in each other's eyes. Clearly, they both felt that the missing person was Zuozi.
"There should be detailed information about my classmates." Li Dongyuan took the file and began to carefully flip through it. He soon found the student's file. "...This page has been torn off."
The file was supposed to have 34 pages, but now there were only 33 pages left. One of the pages had been torn away, just like the person who disappeared in the photo.
"We've seen this person before." Ruan Nanzhu suddenly pointed at someone in the photo.
"Have you seen it?" Lin Qiushi was startled by Ruan Nanzhu.
"You don't remember?" Ruan Nanzhu said, "The senior high school student we met at dinner yesterday."
Lin Qiushi naturally remembered: "But isn't he from Class 3, Grade 3?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Of course he's in Class 3 of Senior 3. It's even a question whether this school even has Class 2 of Senior 3."
Lin Qiushi: "Are you saying that everyone in Class 2, Grade 3 is dead?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "It's possible."
Since that person didn't die, it means that he must have done something special to escape from the disaster. This is a very important clue.
The three of them flipped through it for a while, wanting to see if there was any other information.
Just as they were looking for information with their heads down, Lin Qiushi heard footsteps coming from the bookcase next to them. At first, he thought it was Xia Rubei and even called out to her, but then he felt something was wrong, because the footsteps were not the rhythmic left and right footsteps, but very subtle "dong dong dong"... just like the jumping sound he had heard in the teaching building before.
Lin Qiushi reached out and grabbed Ruan Nanzhu's hand, raising his chin in gesture.
Ruan Nanzhu obviously didn't hear the sound, but seeing Lin Qiushi's expression, he knew that he must have discovered something.
"Let's go," Lin Qiushi said, "We've almost found everything anyway."
Li Dongyuan was about to say something, but Ruan Nanzhu made a gesture to silence him, so he understood and said, "Okay."
The three of them put the files down and started walking towards the door.
Just as they took a few steps forward, the heavy filing cabinet behind them suddenly fell down and hit the place where they had just stood.
The loud noise attracted the administrator, who was very angry when he saw the fallen filing cabinet and started scolding them.
Ruan Nanzhu did not argue, but just apologized in a low voice. After all, she was a pretty girl, and her submissive look was really pitiful. The archivist finally let them go and did not blame them anymore.
The three of them were able to leave. After reaching the door, Ruan Nanzhu whispered, "Did you see it?"
Lin Qiushi: "What did you see?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "There's a bloody handprint behind the cabinet."
Lin Qiushi: “No.”
Li Dongyuan said enthusiastically, "I saw it."
Ruan Nanzhu: "It doesn't matter. It's useless to see it."
Li Dongyuan: “…”
Lin Qiushi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry while listening to the conversation between the two.
The three of them arrived at the door and saw Xia Rubei sitting on a chair by the door, looking bored. When she saw them come out, she said, "You guys in such a hurry? Is there something wrong with that noise inside?"
"The filing cabinet fell over," Li Dongyuan said. "Someone pushed it."
"Was he pushed by someone? Was it the person who just went in?" Xia Rubei asked.
"The person who just went in? Is there anyone else entering the archives?" Ruan Nanzhu grasped the key point of her words.
"Yes, a woman who said she was a student at the school, so the person in charge of the files let her in." Xia Rubei crossed her arms, looking extremely scared. "Didn't you see it?"
"No." Ruan Nanzhu shook his head.
Lin Qiushi did hear the sound of someone coming in, but based on what had just happened, the person who came in might not be a human at all.
"What does that student look like?" Li Dongyuan said.
"A woman, she looked quite young. I couldn't see her face clearly, but she had long hair." Xia Rubei said, "Just an ordinary young woman."
"That should be it." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Congratulations, you may be the first to see the BOSS."
Xia Rubei: “…”
Ruan Nanzhu: "With your good luck, you might even get double the experience bonus."
Xia Rubei was almost scared to tears by Ruan Nanzhu.
Li Dongyuan helplessly asked Ruan Nanzhu not to scare Xia Rubei. It would not be a good thing to scare this girl.
Ruan Nanzhu leaned against Lin Qiushi and sobbed, saying, "I'm scared too, why don't you worry about me."
Li Dongyuan: "..." Are you afraid? Why do I feel like you're braver than me?
"I want to go to the bathroom." As the three of them walked out, Ruan Nanzhu suddenly said, "Linlin, come with me."
Li Dongyuan said: "Let's all come together."
Lin Qiushi thought, "Friend, why are you so nervous? Did you know he could actually use the same restroom as me?" But the restrooms in this school all have locked cubicles, otherwise Ruan Nanzhu might have been caught.
The four of them arrived outside the restroom. Xia Rubei and Ruan Nanzhu went into the women's restroom, while Lin Qiushi and Li Dongyuan went into the men's restroom.
Lin Qiushi entered the cubicle and was about to take off his pants when he heard someone knocking on his toilet door. He was about to say, "Li Dongyuan, why are you knocking on my door?" but he felt something was wrong... Li Dongyuan had clearly entered the toilet to his right, so why was the knock on the left?
"Yu Linlin." Li Dongyuan's voice rang out, "Are there any words on your wall?"
Lin Qiushi was stunned when he heard this, and found that there were indeed several rows of words on the wall behind him. However, after seeing these words clearly, Lin Qiushi felt a chill on his back.
On the white wall, a few lines of small words were written in red font: Sachiko has called herself Sako since she was a child. How ridiculous! She loves bananas but can only eat half a banana at a time. How pitiful! Sako will probably forget me if she goes far away. I feel so lonely Sako...
The last row of these words is the forbidden phrase that cannot be read out loud: I have lost my legs, can you please give me yours?
"Did you see it?" Li Dongyuan said.
Lin Qiushi looked at the characters in silence for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to read."
Li Dongyuan on the left: "..."
Lin Qiushi: "My family was poor, so I never went to school. I can barely read. Why don't you come and see for yourself later?"
There was silence from the other end. Lin Qiushi guessed that the thing that was trying to get him to read out those lines of words was shocked by his ignorance.
However, Lin Qiushi did not dare to continue using the toilet and hurried out of the cubicle. But when he reached the door, he saw the other three people already waiting outside.
"Why did it take so long?" Ruan Nanzhu asked him.
"Kidney deficiency?" Li Dongyuan made a personal attack on Lin Qiushi with a smile.
Lin Qiushi ignored him: "How long have I been doing this?"
Ruan Nanzhu looked at his watch: "About ten minutes."
Lin Qiushi sighed: "I just ran into Zuozi in there."
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the other three froze for a moment, especially Xia Rubei. Her already tense nerves were clearly about to break. She took a few steps back in fear: "Zuozi? Is it the Zuozi in the clue?"
"Yeah," Lin Qiushi said, "She imitated Li Dongyuan's voice and asked me to read the words on the wall. If there hadn't been any clues, I might have actually read it."
"Let's go in and take a look." Ruan Nanzhu said.
The four of them re-entered the men's restroom. Xia Rubei was frightened and a little embarrassed, but Ruan Nanzhu was not at all uncomfortable - after all, this was his home.
Lin Qiushi found his own restroom cubicle and pushed open the door, only to discover the white walls were covered in dense, red bloody handprints, completely obscuring the handwriting he had just seen. The bloodstains were even more pronounced in the left cubicle, leaving a thin layer of blood on the floor. It looked as if someone had been seriously injured and had spent a considerable amount of time in this cubicle.
"Wait, I suddenly remembered—" Xia Rubei's eyes widened when she saw all the blood, "The girl who just entered the archives room was a cripple!!"
Speaking of lame people, they immediately thought of Sako's missing leg.
"She was limping at the time, and I didn't pay much attention to it. Now that I think about it..." Xia Rubai's whole body was shaking even more violently.
"Let's go," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Now that we know the specific conditions, just don't read them out loud."
This is when the importance of clues becomes apparent. If you don't know in advance, it's really hard not to fall for it. The worst thing is that you might die without understanding what happened. And this Saeko actually knew to destroy the evidence...
The four of them walked out of the archives. The not-so-strong sunlight shone on them, dispelling some of the coldness.
"What should we do now? Go find that senior high school student?" Lin Qiushi asked.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let me see..." He took something out of his arms. Lin Qiushi took a closer look and found that Ruan Nanzhu had brought out a group photo of Class 2.
Lin Qiushi: "...When did you make the move?" He stood next to Ruan Nanzhu the entire time and didn't see him hide the photo.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Just now."
Lin Qiushi: “…” This guy can pick locks and steal things so well. He has begun to doubt Ruan Nanzhu’s real occupation.
Ruan Nanzhu seemed to know what he was thinking, without even raising his head, "I'm not a thief."
Lin Qiushi: "Oh..."
Now, looking at it from outside, the sunlight made the photo look even stranger, the colors dim, and everyone's expressions stiff. Ruan Nanzhu looked at it for a while, then suddenly asked, "Can you see it?"
Lin Qiushi: "What did you see?"
Ruan Nanzhu said: "The mist on their faces."
Lin Qiushi carefully looked at the photo in Ruan Nanzhu's hand and shook his head to confirm that he did not see the fog that Ruan Nanzhu mentioned.
"Oh, forget it." Ruan Nanzhu stopped talking.
Li Dongyuan looked thoughtful.
After spending some time in the archives, it was already noon time, so we could go to the cafeteria to eat something and discuss what to do in the afternoon.
While eating, Lin Qiushi also paid attention to see if he would run into that senior high school student again, but the low probability event still didn't happen.
Xia Rubei didn't eat anything in the morning and had no appetite at noon.
Li Dongyuan tried to persuade her a few times, but she refused to give in, so he decided to give up.
Ruan Nanzhu, on the other hand, ate with relish. After finishing his own dish, he even acted coquettishly and asked Li Dongyuan to buy him two more chicken legs.
"I want chicken too!" Xia Rubei, who had originally not planned to eat, suddenly spoke up and said to Li Dongyuan who had stood up, "Brother Meng, I want three!"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I want four."
Xia Rubei: "I want five!"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I want six."
Xia Rubei gritted her teeth, her eyes reddened, and she said abruptly, "I want seven—"
Lin Qiushi: "..." What on earth are you guys competing for? Also, Ruan Nanzhu, why are you bullying that little girl so skillfully? Isn't it unfair to compare a grown man's stomach capacity with that of a little girl...
Li Dongyuan looked helpless: "Do you want to finish all the food?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I can finish twice as much, but I don't want to eat too much." He smiled shyly at Xia Rubei, "I'm afraid of gaining weight." He also deliberately glanced at Xia Rubei's waist.
Xia Rubei almost fainted from Ruan Nanzhu's anger. She was furious: "I can finish it all!! I'm not afraid of getting fat!!"
Li Dongyuan had nothing to say and got up to buy chicken legs for the two men.
A few minutes later, Ruan Nanzhu and Xia Rubei picked up the chicken legs and started eating. The chicken legs in the school cafeteria tasted quite good. They were braised until tender, with rich gravy and very soft, and full of the unique aroma of spices.
Xia Rubei hadn't eaten for a day and was actually a little hungry. Gnawing on the chicken legs whetted her appetite, so she ate four in one go, forced herself to eat the fifth, and then stared at the remaining two and began to worry.
Ruan Nanzhu slowly finished off four chicken legs, picked up the fifth, and after gracefully finishing it, waved at Lin Qiushi, "I can't eat any more."
After he said that, Xia Rubei breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "Brother Meng, I can't eat anymore either."
"It's okay." Li Dongyuan said, "Let me do it." He was worried that Ruan Nanzhu would continue to stimulate Xia Rubei and damage her stomach, but he didn't expect Ruan Nanzhu to still have a sense of propriety.
After eating the chicken leg and wiping his hands, Ruan Nanzhu suggested that they go to the place where the senior high school students had classes.
Everyone agreed.
So a few people walked towards the teaching building.
Ruan Nanzhu was studying the strange photo again. He seemed to have found some clues in it, but Lin Qiushi couldn't see the black mist coming out of his mouth at all... It seemed like the same reason why they couldn't hear the sound that Lin Qiushi could hear.
"They seem to be in class." When Lin Qiushi walked to the bottom of the teaching building, he heard the teacher's voice talking from above.
"Aren't they going to have their final exams soon?" Ruan Nanzhu suddenly remembered, "How many days are left until the final exams?"
"I don't know. I need to ask." Lin Qiushi shook his head.
There were still more than ten minutes left before class ended, and the four of them walked around the teaching building. This building was mostly filled with senior high school students, with a total of sixteen classes, covering four or five floors, in the arts and sciences.
Before the get out of class ended, they found Class 3 of Grade 12 and took a group photo in the classroom where the students were.
The four of them waited outside for a while and finally the get out of class was over.
After the teacher left, Ruan Nanzhu walked directly into the classroom and headed straight for his goal.
When the student saw Ruan Nanzhu, he obviously remembered their chance encounter in the cafeteria yesterday, and his expression became a little nervous.
"Can I talk to you?" Ruan Nanzhu said.
"What are you talking about?" The student's attitude was very alert.
"Just say it here?" Ruan Nanzhu looked around.
A dazzling person is dazzling wherever he is. Because of Ruan Nanzhu, the eyes of the entire class are focused on the two of them.
The student pursed his lips, his expression tense, and stood up. "Go outside and tell me." He replied, "I don't know anything."
The four of them followed the student to the small balcony at the end of the corridor. Ruan Nanzhu asked, "Would you mind telling us your name?"
"My name is Jiang Xinhong," the student said. "If you have any questions, just ask me directly. I'm about to start class."
"We're investigating something about your class," Ruan Nanzhu said straight to the point, pulling out the photo they'd found in the archives. "We'd like to know the name of the person missing from the photo."
He took out the photo, and Jiang Xinhong's face changed drastically after just one look: "Where did you find this?"
Ruan Nanzhu raised an eyebrow: "Is this photo special?"
Jiang Xinhong remained silent, but Lin Qiushi could see a fear deep in his eyes, as if the photo before him wasn't a photo at all, but a ghost seeking his life. He swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "I don't know what you mean."
"Literally," Li Dongyuan suddenly said, his tone very calm. "We don't mean to embarrass you. We just want to know who is missing from the photo and what her name is."
Jiang Xinhong stared at the photo without saying a word, but he involuntarily took a step back.
"Don't you want this to end soon?" Li Dongyuan's voice was gentle, like a devil leading people to Pantula, with a charming flavor. "Speak, just say it, you are scared too."
Jiang Xinhong's mouth moved slightly, and he uttered a name: "Lu Zuozi."
Li Dongyuan: "Lu Zuozi?"
"Yes, it's her." Jiang Xinhong said, "Someone who shouldn't be in our class..."
He was about to continue speaking when the class bell suddenly rang, waking him up. He seemed to realize what he had said. His expression was extremely terrified. He no longer paid attention to Li Dongyuan's words and turned and ran away.
Li Dongyuan looked at his back, his face showing helplessness: "Just a little bit."
"That's right." Ruan Nanzhu gave Li Dongyuan a serious look. "It was just a little bit off. What a pity."
The author has something to say: I just... I really want the nutrient solution, so... I'll turn my cat over and expose its white belly for you to touch so that you can change the nutrient solution.
Cat: Looking aggrieved.
To explain: there is only one door, and as long as it is opened, everyone can go out. As for whether there are monsters guarding the door when you go out, it depends on luck...
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