Chapter 52 Leaving
Both photos were of Class 2, one missing Lu Zuozi, the other missing Jiang Xinhong and his friends. The rest of the class stood in almost identical positions, but a closer look revealed slightly different expressions. Xia Rubei made a startling discovery: "Is this photo... taken again with the same people in the same place?"
"Yes," Li Dongyuan said. "It's definitely not photoshopped."
"So why did Lu Zuozi keep this photo?" Xia Rubei didn't dare hold the photo in her hand any longer, and quickly put it down as if it had been burned. "I... I still don't understand..."
But when she looked at the expressions of Ruan Nanzhu and the other three, it was obvious that everyone except her understood what was going on.
Xia Rubei cast a look at Li Dongyuan for help, but Li Dongyuan patted her head lovingly and said, "Don't worry, you'll probably understand in a moment."
Xia Rubai: "..." Are you touching your pet at home with this gesture?
Lin Qiushi truly understood the meaning behind Lu Zuozi's leaving this photo behind. He looked at the two photos and sighed slightly.
School bullying happens in many places, but it has not reached the point where people die. Some teachers are reluctant to intervene, but they don't realize that letting it go will only make the situation worse.
"Let's go." Ruan Nanzhu checked the time. "They're about to have their lunch break. We can go and block them."
"Let's go." Li Dongyuan stood up.
Jiang Xinhong's home was nearby, and they had to leave school for lunch. They found a secluded spot at the school gate and waited for Jiang Xinhong to arrive. But for some reason, Jiang Xinhong didn't show up, and instead, his friend arrived first.
After questioning, Lin Qiushi and the others also learned that the man's name was Mou Kai. He used to be a classmate of Jiang Xinhong. Later, something happened and he was assigned to another class.
Mou Kai was stronger than Jiang Xinhong and seemed a bit irritable. He said, "What are you looking for me for? I don't know anything!"
"Let's talk somewhere where there's no one." Li Dongyuan said, "After all, you wouldn't want others to hear what we're going to tell you."
Mou Kai was about to refute when he saw Ruan Nanzhu took out a group photo and waved it in front of him. When he saw the photo, his face changed drastically. He stammered a few words and finally agreed to Lin Qiushi and the others' proposal.
So the group walked to the hidden grove behind the teaching building. Mou Kai's face looked very ugly, and under his impatient eyes, there was a strong sense of fear.
Ruan Nanzhu got straight to the point: "You guys killed Zuozi, right?"
Mou Kai was startled, and after a moment of shock, he instantly became angry and said, "What are you talking about? I don't understand what you are saying. She clearly died in a car accident—"
"Car accident? How did she get into a car accident?" Ruan Nanzhu asked, "It wasn't you and Jiang Xinhong—"
He was about to say more, but Li Dongyuan gestured to stop. He looked at Ruan Nanzhu and asked, "Do you mind?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Five minutes?"
Li Dongyuan: "Okay."
Ruan Nanzhu reached out and grabbed Lin Qiushi's hand, and the two turned and left.
Lin Qiushi was a little confused by Ruan Nanzhu's pull: "What?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Let's go. Give Li Dongyuan five minutes. He can handle this guy."
Lin Qiushi found it incredible: "...He really can hypnotize people?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Have you forgotten how he almost hypnotized you yesterday? It's not surprising that Chief Bailu has some special skills."
The two of them stayed outside, giving Li Dongyuan some time in the grove. After all, they were still competitors outside the gate, so it was normal for Li Dongyuan not to let them see his cards.
Five minutes, no more, no less, when they returned to the grove again, Li Dongyuan had already got the answer.
"Say it again." Li Dongyuan said.
Mou Kai in front of him was obviously not in a normal state. His eyes were dull, and he repeated what he had just said numbly as if he had lost his mind: "It was Jiang Xinhong and I who killed Zuo Zi. At that time, we wanted to bully her and pushed her onto the trash can on the side of the road, but we pushed her in the wrong direction. She was pushed directly into the middle of the road. A car drove by and crushed her legs..."
Li Dongyuan: "Could you have saved her at that time?"
Mou Kai's expression twisted, as if he wanted to struggle, but ultimately failed. He honestly recounted what Lin Qiushi had heard last night: "Yes, we could have saved her, but we didn't. We left... Jiang Xinhong dragged me away. He said we'd go to jail for doing something like this, and I didn't want to go to jail..."
When Lin Qiushi heard Mou Kai's words, he suddenly felt a surge of anger.
It was probably winter at the time, and if Mou Kai and Jiang Xinhong had called an ambulance in time, perhaps Zuozi would not have died. But they didn't, instead choosing to flee in a cowardly manner. Zuozi, who had lost a leg, was abandoned in the cold winter night and died in loneliness and despair.
"That's too much." Lin Qiushi frowned.
Li Dongyuan snorted softly, "The more extreme things are yet to come." He glanced at Mou Kai, "It's okay if she's dead, but why did your class make up a song to mock her?"
When the word "song" was mentioned, Mou Kai's body trembled, and the expression of fear on his face was even more obvious than before. He pursed his lips and said slowly, "This... this is not my intention. They... insisted on doing this. Jiang Xinhong and I tried to stop them, but failed."
"Did you sing?" Finally, Ruan Nanzhu asked the most important question.
Mou Kai slowly shook his head: "No, Jiang Xinhong and I didn't sing, we didn't dare... didn't dare..."
After all, they were the murderers of Rusako, so how could they dare to sing that strange song without restraint? However, except for them, everyone in the class sang it, so they died too.
The two murderers who should have been killed first escaped the disaster because of their fear of the song.
After listening to all the stories, Li Dongyuan smiled gently. He slowly took out a notebook from his pocket and handed it to Mou Kai: "Come on, do you know how to do it?"
Mou Kai looked at the words on the notebook, cold sweat began to break out on his forehead, and the fear on his face became even more intense. He wanted to say something, but Li Dongyuan's voice rang in his ears. Li Dongyuan said, "You wanted to sing anyway, why are you afraid? Don't be afraid, it's safe here, you can sing without worry."
Mou Kai's throat moved, and his lips finally opened, singing the song: "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 has gone far away and must have forgotten me. I'm so lonely Sako..."
As he sang, Lin Qiushi heard the sound of something moving beneath their feet. He said, "Step back a few steps. There's something underfoot."
"I have no legs left, can you give me yours?" - As soon as the last line of the lyrics came out, countless pale arms stretched out from under Mou Kai's feet and grabbed his feet tightly.
Lin Qiushi originally thought that these hands were going to grab him and bury him in the ground, but he found that Lu Zuozi had also appeared at some point.
She lay down deep in the forest, slowly crawled to Mou Kai with both hands, and then grabbed Mou Kai's legs...
Mou Kai woke up from Li Dongyuan's hypnosis and saw the horrifying scene in front of him. He screamed miserably, his expression distorted with fear: "Zuozi, I'm sorry - I'm sorry - forgive me, Zuozi -"
Saeko grinned, tilted her head, grabbed Mou Kai's left leg and pulled hard.
With a click, Mou Kai's left leg fell.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!" Mou Kai screamed.
"It hurts so much, Sako, it hurts so much..." Sako was bathed in blood, with a satisfied smile on her face. She said, "It hurts so much, Sako, can you give my foot back to me?"
Due to the massive blood loss, Mou Kai's body weakened rapidly. Zuozi hugged the foot with a look of happiness. She did not look at Lin Qiushi and the others, but just stretched out her hand, pointed in a certain direction, and then raised her finger to make the number one.
Then, everything in front of him disappeared, and the dead Mou Kai was dragged into the ground. Apart from the blood on the ground, there was nothing to prove his existence.
"Ugh--" It was probably the first time that Xia Rubei saw such a bloody scene. She couldn't help but hold on to the tree and vomited heavily. The expressions of the other three people were still calm.
Ruan Nanzhu took advantage of Xia Rubei's vomiting time to take out the photo that Zuozi left for them. He took a look at it and handed it to Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi saw the photo, and as expected, there was an extra person in the photo that Zuozi left for him. It was Mou Kai who had just died.
In the photo, Mou Kai is standing next to Sako with a stiff smile on his face.
Saeko's brilliant smile at this moment made people feel cold all over, and next to her, there was an empty seat...
"Since I can't take a photo with you when I'm alive, please fulfill my wish after I die." Li Dongyuan said this, "You are really a romantic girl." He smiled gently.
Lin Qiushi had always thought Li Dongyuan was a bit perverted, but now he seemed to have a serious problem. He glanced at Ruan Nanzhu again and saw that Ruan Nanzhu was actually smiling... In some ways, these two people really were similar.
Lin Qiushi silently took a step closer to Xia Rubei, whose face was pale with fear.
"Let's go, there's only one left." Li Dongyuan said.
"Why don't you go check the door first?" Ruan Nanzhu suddenly said.
"Door? Where is the door?" Xia Rubei asked in confusion. She felt like she had only vomited for two minutes, so how could she have missed a century's worth of plot?
"Didn't Zuozi point it out?" Ruan Nanzhu said, "...you don't care about the little girl at all."
Lin Qiushi: "..." He also saw Zuozi's gesture, but he didn't think about the door. It was a blessing that Ruan Nanzhu could call Zuozi "little girl" so calmly.
"Okay." Li Dongyuan said with a smile, "Let's go check the door first."
Then they followed the direction indicated by Saeko and walked for a distance. They found that the direction was pointing to the old school building, and it seemed that the door was there.
They went straight to the location where Class 2 was originally located, and as expected, they found that the ordinary security door had turned into an iron door. It seemed that as long as they found the key, they could leave smoothly.
"Mengmeng, how about we make a bet?" Li Dongyuan suddenly spoke.
"What are you betting on?" Ruan Nanzhu asked.
Li Dongyuan: "Let's bet on who can guess the location of the key."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Where's the bet?"
Li Dongyuan: "If I guess right, you tell me your real identity. If I guess wrong... I will never bother you again."
Ruan Nanzhu smiled faintly: "Li Dongyuan, aren't you a little too cunning? You don't even know my identity, so how can you pester me?"
Li Dongyuan smiled and said nothing.
"How about this," Ruan Nanzhu said, "Since we're going to play, let's play big. If I guess wrong, I'll leave Obsidian and go to White Deer. If you guess wrong, you'll leave White Deer and go to Obsidian."
Li Dongyuan stopped smiling, and there was a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
"What do you think? Do you dare to play?" Ruan Nanzhu raised his chin slightly, his expression cold and with a hint of contempt.
Lin Qiushi was very familiar with this look; it was an expression unique to Ruan Nanzhu outside the door.
"I really don't dare." Li Dongyuan actually admitted his fear. He looked a little helpless. "I can only guess, I can't be sure... Are you sure?"
Ruan Nanzhu didn't answer and turned away.
Li Dongyuan muttered behind her, saying, "Mengmeng, you are so heartless." As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi was bewildered by the look on his face.
The afternoon class was still going on and Jiang Xinhong was in the classroom.
To prevent him from running away, the four of them squatted at the entrances of the stairs, intending to catch him as soon as the get out of class was over.
Perhaps because they were worried that Lin Qiushi would be hypnotized by Li Dongyuan again, Ruan Nanzhu was paired with Li Dongyuan this time, while Lin Qiushi was paired with Xia Rubei.
Xia Rubei didn't look like she was going through four doors at all. She was either trembling or daydreaming the whole time.
Ding-dong, the bell for the end of get out of class rang, and the students rushed down the stairs with their schoolbags on their backs.
Lin Qiushi watched very carefully, fearing that Jiang Xinhong would slip away from the crowd, but when most people had left, he still didn't see Jiang Xinhong, so he went up the stairs to see if Jiang Xinhong was with Ruan Nanzhu and the others.
However, as soon as he went up, he met Ruan Nanzhu, who was also looking for Lin Qiushi - Jiang Xinhong was missing.
"I don't have any here either," Lin Qiushi said. "Where can he hide?"
Ruan Nanzhu looked around the teaching building: "There are only two staircases here. Xia Rubei, you stay here and call me if there's anything. We'll go look in the classroom."
Xia Rubei nodded tremblingly.
They went to Class 3 classroom, but it was empty of students.
Ruan Nanzhu walked to Jiang Xinhong's seat and saw his schoolbag inside: "He didn't go back."
"I'll go to the bathroom and take a look," said Lin Qiushi.
They split up to look for Jiang Xinhong, and Lin Qiushi went to the men's restroom nearby.
There were several stalls in the restroom. After sweeping around and seeing no one, Lin Qiushi planned to leave. But as he reached the door, the broom he had been holding next to it suddenly fell over.
Lin Qiushi paused and turned around.
"Is anyone there?" Lin Qiushi felt something was wrong. After careful observation, he finally found the problem... the toilet window was opened.
The window looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time, its slots rusted, yet it had been forced open. Lin Qiushi walked to the window and was about to look outside when he heard a sudden whistling sound of wind. He reacted quickly, taking two steps back as something sharp grazed the tip of his nose.
Lin Qiushi looked closely and found that there was a person lying outside the window. He was standing on the small balcony next to the window, holding a sharp dagger in his hand. It was Jiang Xinhong they were looking for.
"Fuck!" Lin Qiushi cursed and shouted, "I found it!! He's here!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Xinhong seemed to be frightened by his cry, his feet slipped, and he fell directly from the balcony. He stretched out his hand to grab the edge of the balcony and screamed: "Help!"
The next moment, his hands that were tightly grasping the balcony seemed to be pried apart one by one by something.
"Ah ...
All this happened so suddenly that Lin Qiushi didn't even have time to react.
When Ruan Nanzhu and the others arrived, they only saw Jiang Xinhong's body lying below.
Ruan Nanzhu cast a surprised look at Lin Qiushi and said, "Sure, Linlin, just throw it away like that. It'll save us a lot of trouble."
Lin Qiushi: "...Where would I get the strength to throw someone out?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "If it wasn't you who threw it, then he jumped on it? Oh, you still need to relieve stress in your third year of high school. It seems that too much pressure will easily lead to accidents."
Lin Qiushi's face was filled with pain: "Please stop talking."
While Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi were chatting about this and that, Zuozi appeared again.
She stood quietly beside Jiang Xinhong's body, saying nothing and doing nothing.
Lin Qiushi actually felt that she was a little lonely. That's right, the person you wanted to kill finally died, but ended up committing suicide, which always makes people feel a little frustrated.
Jiang Xinhong's body began to disappear, and like Mou Kai, he was dragged into the ground by Wushou.
Ruan Nanzhu took out the photo from her bag again, and saw that there was another person in the photo. Jiang Xinhong stood beside Zuozi with a numb expression.
And Saeko's smile became even brighter.
This group photo finally brings together the entire Class 2, a total of thirty-four people, not one missing.
Just as they were looking at the photo, it suddenly caught fire. Ruan Nanzhu was afraid of being burned by the fire, so he let go of it. The moment the ashes of the photo fell to the ground, Lin Qiushi heard the crisp sound of metal hitting the ground.
The others had obviously heard it too. Ruan Nanzhu bent down and picked up a familiar key from the ashes. He raised his eyebrows and said, "This Zuozi is quite a down-to-earth person."
Lin Qiushi: "People?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Okay, it's really weird."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
Now that I have the door and have found the key, I can finally leave here.
The four of them headed straight for the old school building, not wanting to stay there any longer.
Xia Rubei asked on the way, "What about the others? Should we tell them the door is open?"
"No need," Li Dongyuan said, "If they continue investigating, they will definitely find the door inside the old school building. Besides, there are no strange creatures guarding the door in this world."
Lin Qiushi recalled their previous escapes. Although the door had opened each time, there were monsters guarding it, and he didn't know if they could escape safely. However, when they escaped, they hadn't given any thought to the others; they had already given their all to save their own lives.
This time Ruan Nanzhu did not open the door, but handed the key to Li Dongyuan.
Li Dongyuan said, "Come here, Rubei."
Xia Rubei nodded, picked up the key and opened the iron gate in front of her impatiently.
With a creak, the iron door opened, revealing a tunnel filled with white light behind it. At the same time, a piece of paper fell to the ground. Xia Rubai quickly picked it up and rushed into the tunnel.
Li Dongyuan smiled and said, "Mengmeng, see you later."
Ruan Nanzhu looked at him expressionlessly and didn't say a word at all.
Li Dongyuan wasn't angry either. He walked into the door in front of him with a smile on his face. Ruan Nanzhu extended his hand to Lin Qiushi, "Let's go."
Lin Qiushi nodded, held Ruan Nanzhu's hand, and the two entered the tunnel together.
The warm light dispelled the cold atmosphere inside the door. After passing through the tunnel, Lin Qiushi completed the transition between the two worlds.
He walked through the scary door and returned to the sun-drenched villa. Toast and Chestnut, who were running and playing in the house, appeared before his eyes again.
Lin Qiushi sat on the sofa, picked up the water in front of him and took a sip.
Cheng Qianli came down from upstairs and saw Lin Qiushi and asked, "Are you back?"
"Yeah." Lin Qiushi responded.
"Is it going well?" Cheng Qianli asked.
"It went smoothly." Lin Qiushi said, "Is Nanzhu upstairs?"
Cheng Qianli nodded.
Several days passed inside the door, and he only disappeared outside for more than ten minutes. Lin Qiushi sat on the sofa to rest for a while before going upstairs to find Ruan Nanzhu.
He knocked on the door and found that it was not locked and opened easily.
"Nanzhu?" After pushing open the door, Lin Qiushi took a step into the house and stopped. He saw Ruan Nanzhu in the house who had just taken off all her clothes. There was a skirt next to her and she was changing clothes naked.
Lin Qiushi's expression instantly grew awkward. He turned to leave, but Ruan Nanzhu said slowly, "We're all men, why are you reacting so strongly?"
Lin Qiushi: "...Oh!" It dawned on him. That's right, Ruan Nanzhu and he were both men, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. But even so, he still felt a little awkward, as if the transition between Zhu Meng inside the door and Ruan Nanzhu outside hadn't been perfect yet. Seeing Ruan Nanzhu like this, he couldn't help but think of Zhu Meng's beaming smile.
Thinking about this, Lin Qiushi blushed inexplicably.
"So beautiful?" Ruan Nanzhu put on his clothes and turned around to see Lin Qiushi's expression. "My face is red."
Lin Qiushi: "No... I..." He didn't know how to explain for a moment.
Ruan Nanzhu: "No? Then it doesn't look good?" He walked in front of Lin Qiushi. His height of nearly 1.9 meters and powerful aura gave people a huge sense of oppression.
Lin Qiushi even wanted to step back, but he forced himself to hold back: "That's not what I meant. I just feel a little uncomfortable."
"Oh." Ruan Nanzhu responded indifferently and asked a question: "So do you think Zhu Meng is better, or am I better?"
Lin Qiushi: "..." Aren't you all the same person? What kind of a question is that?
Ruan Nanzhu: "Hmm?"
Lin Qiushi's desire to survive told him the answer. He suppressed his conscience, which was about to burst out, and replied calmly, "Of course it's Brother Ruan."
Ruan Nanzhu then revealed a faint smile. Lin Qiushi looked at his smile and breathed a sigh of relief.
The author has something to say: Lin Qiushi: This is the first time I've seen someone jealous of themselves...
Ruan Nanzhu: Humph, you can’t like Zhu Meng anyway.
Lin Qiushi: ………
In fact, everyone has a complex side. As long as they have not done anything particularly extreme, they cannot be simply judged by the words good or bad. Li Dongyuan is such a person. He has his own stance. He can do good things but also cheat others. His love for Zhu Meng is obviously not just love. There are more interests and other things mixed in.
From this point of view, Ruan Nanzhu and Li Dongyuan are actually a bit similar.
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