Chapter 20 School for the Blind
In a blink of an eye, two days passed.
Just like he did a few days ago, Xu Zhiyan waited until the principal left and then secretly took food to feed Bai Jin.
It's just that the boy today seems a little strange.
Bai Jin still blinked her beautiful eyes and looked at Xu Zhiyan in confusion. Seeing that the other party was about to leave, she reached out and grabbed the other party's trouser leg again.
"Are you leaving?"
The feeling of being stared at was too strong. Xu Zhiyan paused, bent down, reached his hand into the cage, and waved it in front of the boy's eyes.
No reaction, no expression.
It doesn't look like it can be seen.
Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, Bai Jin hugged his palm, gently pressed his cheek against his, and asked in a low voice: "Are you leaving?"
"Well, I have something to do today and can't stay here for too long." Xu Zhiyan put away the uncomfortable doubt in his heart.
Before Bai Jin could ask again, he pinched the other's cheek.
Still not much meat.
It seems that there is no way to improve the food in the next two days. If we really want to recover, we have to leave here.
"I will take you out. I won't disappear suddenly. Don't worry."
Bai Jin in the cage must have been locked up for too long.
Although Xu Zhiyan came every day, when he left, the other party would still ask if he would abandon him.
After chatting with Bai Jin in the secret room, it was already eight o'clock in the evening.
After leaving the administrative building, Xu Zhiyan headed straight for the small side door of the school.
The moon was rising high in the sky, and the sound of insects chirping could be heard in the grass.
Before reaching the door, Xu Zhiyan saw a large truck parked on the side of the road from afar. As soon as he walked a little closer, a smell of low-quality tobacco wafted over. It turned out that a driver with a fat face was leaning against the side door smoking.
Seeing Xu Zhiyan coming, the driver quickly threw away his cigarette and cleared his throat.
"Little boss, I got the stuff for you."
As he spoke, he shook the paper bag in his hand.
Xu Zhiyan understood what he meant and took out two hundred yuan and stuffed it into the man's hand.
After changing the paper bag, he stuffed out the unopened box of cigarettes he had prepared in advance and lowered his head to check the contents of the paper bag.
The driver took the cigarettes, unwrapped them quickly, took out one and put it under his nose to smell it, showing an intoxicated expression, and said in surprise and joy: "Young boss, you are so generous! You just gave me such good cigarettes as soon as you said so."
Xu Zhiyan looked up at the driver who carefully put the cigarette back into the box, and explained with a smile: "My brother-in-law is the principal of this school."
These cigarettes were all taken from the office.
As for the quality, he had no idea.
Amid the driver's flattery, Xu Zhiyan checked the fake identity and train ticket for Bai Jin in the paper package and breathed a sigh of relief.
After discovering that he could bully others by relying on his status as the principal's brother-in-law, he simply stopped staying in school and slipped out in broad daylight, looking for a way to get rid of Bai Jin.
It’s definitely not possible to find someone from this town. We must find someone who is not nearby or is about to leave.
I waited for two full days.
It was not until this afternoon that he finally waited for a truck driver from another place passing by near a small repair shop.
Seeing that the other person was covered in dirt, he put on his signature smile and used only a bottle of mineral water to figure out the other person's identity and personality. With the addition of his unlucky brother-in-law's collection of cigarettes and alcohol, the driver soon agreed to help him.
And after Xu Zhiyan quoted a price of 2,000 yuan, the driver readily agreed to wait one more day to help him take the person to the train station.
After paying a deposit of 500, Xu Zhiyan made an appointment with the driver.
He planned to wait until tomorrow night when the ceremony began, and take the opportunity to send Bai Jin to the side gate and have the driver take him out of town.
Because only before the ceremony begins will someone come with the key to let him out.
This may not be particularly safe, but it is better than waiting for death.
…
After dealing with the driver's problem, Xu Zhiyan did not stop and rushed to the library without stopping.
When he checked in in the morning, he flipped through the sign-in book and found a person with the same name, also named Xu Zhiyan.
However, after asking around, he found out that the HR department didn't remember this person appearing.
Moreover, the book that appeared inexplicably was made of old and yellowed paper. It didn't look like something from modern times at all, but rather seemed to be quite old.
Thinking of Bai Jin who almost strangled him to death in normal time, Xu Zhiyan finally decided to go to the information room to look through the archival materials to see if he could find any clues.
I have to say that without the support of the game system, the difficulty of exploring the campus is greatly reduced.
With the spare key to the principal's office in hand, he found the place where the employee documents were stored with almost no effort.
It is similar to the previous student archive room, but much smaller.
Taking out his newly bought flashlight, he found the janitor's file and began to look through the information inside.
Half an hour later, Xu Zhiyan pulled out a rather heavy oversized file box from the top compartment of the cabinet.
[Junior Worker Profile-Xu Zhiyan]
"Is it filled with stones? It's so heavy, I hope there's a surprise inside..."
The box did come with a surprise.
After opening it, he raised his eyebrows and looked at the Time Box inside. He didn't expect to find it so easily!
The moment you get it, more information pops up on the panel.
[Name: Box of Time]
[Level: S]
[Type: Auxiliary]
[Introduction: A strange box with a strange power of time. ]
[Notes: When you open the box, you can change the time you are in (1/3)]
"Next time, could you please write the instructions on how to use this kind of prop before I use it?" he said fiercely, gritting his teeth.
The game system did not give a positive response, and the same answer was given no matter how many questions were asked.
[Players please return to the correct time as soon as possible! ]
Xu Zhiyan put away the box, and the heavy stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.
In any case, it is now ensured that he can return to the correct time smoothly and will not be trapped here.
It was a pity that the relaxed mood did not last long. Looking at the other things in the file box, Xu Zhiyan picked up one and took a look, then stood there in a daze.
School worker file: Xu Zhiyan, healthy person, height 177, weight...
All the contents inside are exactly the same as his. What is most shocking is that even the signature notes are exactly the same as his.
"……how so?"
After reading it, he put the paper aside and picked up the notebook with the lock inside.
Some of them are like diaries, sold in the school canteen for five yuan each, and are very popular among students.
There are cartoons printed on the orange shell and a four-digit combination lock embedded on the side.
Xu Zhiyan rubbed the digital wheel lightly with his slender fingertips a few times, and with a serious expression, he entered the last digit of his birthday.
“Click—”
After a crisp sound, the code book opened.
The musty smell of old papers was a bit unpleasant and went straight into his nose. He waved his hand to dispel the smell and began to look through the contents.
There was no diary inside. Xu Zhiyan was a little disappointed, but he also felt it was natural for some reason.
He had no habit of recording his daily life, so if this thing was really left by 'himself', it would be unusual to have a diary.
It was filled with newspaper clippings and some school documents, some of which were still original and stamped.
Almost every page deals with good and bad, two extreme things.
Students went missing, committed suicide, employees died, town residents disappeared, people whose bodies were dumped in the wilderness were missing both eyes, big businessmen funded, new campuses were built, and awards were given every year...
Each page seems to be fine when viewed individually, but if you link them together according to the timeline, you will find the problem.
Before 'good' things happen, a large number of people disappear.
This school seems to be devouring the lives of everyone around it.
Xu Zhiyan didn't know who left these things, but the time box inside was his, and the file was exactly the same as his.
Just as he was packing the boxes to take the things away, he suddenly froze in place.
When he shook the flashlight just now, he felt something flash by, as if it was looking at him outside the window!
However, since the other party didn't say anything, he didn't move.
Pretending to organize his things and quietly turning around, Xu Zhiyan picked up the scattered papers, lowered his head, and glanced at the window near the back door out of the corner of his eye.
It seemed to be a person, lying there, observing him in a way that he thought was covert.
It shouldn't be someone on campus.
If it was a teacher on duty at school, he would have spoken long ago. Why would he wait for him to finish looking at everything? And he didn't hear any footsteps just now, which means that the guy outside was either not a human or he had been staying nearby before.
Putting the code book back into his pocket, Xu Zhiyan pretended nothing had happened and pushed the empty file box back to its original place.
The next moment, thick smoke suddenly filled the archive room.
"Hey? Is there a fire? Cough cough cough..."
A strange male voice sounded, it was the man who was hiding in the back door window and looking inside.
He didn't expect there to be so much smoke inside, and he panicked for a moment. He held onto the wall and coughed a few times, then wanted to turn around and find a fire extinguisher.
The moment he turned around, he was knocked to the ground by a force from behind. Something cold pressed against his neck, which frightened him so much that he began to tremble and even coughed with a sobbing tone.
Xu Zhiyan didn't expect this man to be so fragile. He fell down with just a push.
"Who are you?" He put one knee on the peeper's back, poked the back of his neck with the knuckles of his ungloved right hand, and spoke coldly.
"Cough cough cough... I, my name is Liu Yi, and I'm a reporter!" The man made a muffled sound and trembled like a sieve, as if there was some evil ghost riding behind him, and he was afraid that he would be killed to silence him.
"Reporter? What are you doing here?"
"I, I want to expose this school..."
Xu Zhiyan paused.
He thought a lot before coming out, but he really didn't expect that he would be a reporter.
Damn, what a waste of a smoke/fog/bomb!
He had few weapons to begin with, and now every wasted bit pained him.
Moreover, he discovered before using it that the props given by the system usually would not hurt the user. This is so useful!
In the live broadcast room, the audience who were originally guessing what the box was like suddenly became excited.
[Look at Xiao Baiwan's expression. It makes me laugh to death! ]
【Hahahahaha, heartache.gif】
[This bandit, wasting a little weapon is like killing him, he is extremely stingy, I didn't see this expression on his face when I passed the eyeball tunnel yesterday.]
[hhhhh I am sick, let me tell you first, I just like to see beautiful women frown! ]
[Regret, I really regret it now.jpg]
[Me too! I hope someone else can bully him soon! 】
[Did the above person forget why Xiao Baiwan is called Xiao Baiwan? Aren’t you afraid that the mysterious boss will catch you and punch you two so carelessly? ]
[How is it possible? How can a big boss who can spend a million care about me! ]
Inside the library, Xu Zhiyan had adjusted his mood, but his expression was extremely cold, as if the person holding down the murderer of his father was him.
"Aren't you afraid that I will kill you if you say that?"
"I'm scared, woo woo woo, but I have to be exposed even if I'm scared!"
“…”
Okay.
After a while, Xu Zhiyan sighed, withdrew his hand, stood up and brushed the dust off his pants.
The two then came to the library utility room.
There are no windows here, and the dim light is not very bright, so Xu Zhiyan can only barely see the appearance of the reporter Liu Yi in front of him.
If he hadn't just talked to him, he wouldn't have believed that the man in front of him was a young man in his twenties.
With an untidy beard and dirty clothes, if he goes out and says that he grew up picking up trash at the age of 50, I'm afraid some people will believe him.
He frowned slightly and asked in disbelief:
"You said you've been lurking in this school for three months?"
I didn't move around with my normal identity for three months. I stayed in various corners of the school, carrying a bag of compressed biscuits. When I was thirsty, I drank tap water. The most valuable thing I had was my hidden camera.
No wonder he fell down after being pushed just now. The man in front of him is a ruthless person, Xu Zhiyan thought silently.
"Well, at first it was just a neighbor's sister who went missing after entering school. I didn't take it seriously at the time, but then a senior schoolmate said her family was also killed that week, and then I noticed something was wrong here."
Liu Yi sighed and told the story.
He is not a local. The reason he came here is that several people around him who have connection with this place have disappeared.
Whether it was the neighbor’s sister or the senior’s family, they both received large compensations after the accident and there were no further entanglements.
But after a brief understanding of the situation in this small town, Liu Yi could not ignore the problem.
How could a remote town that doesn't even have a telephone, has an outrageously low average wage, and is almost isolated from the world immediately pay a large sum of compensation after someone is killed, as if it were just a sprinkle of water?
Why don’t you even install a telephone line if you’re so rich?
"I felt something was wrong, so I went to check it out, but there was very little information about this place. Apart from the accidents and awards, there was nothing else... Especially this school, the outside world didn't even have any photos of it."
"Later, I took some photos of some high-ranking officials coming here. They were all rich people. It was strange that they all came together in one place!"
"Some unknown transaction must be taking place here."
However, the ceremony is only held once every three months, and Liu Yi has only filmed it once. After learning that a ceremony will also be held tomorrow, he decided to stay one more day, take the risk to attend the ceremony, and leave after filming.
"With these evidences, I can definitely expose the problem here! Let all the dead rest in peace!"
Xu Zhiyan nodded. Listening to Liu Yi's enthusiasm, he was almost infected by his passion. However, compared to the enthusiastic Liu Yi, he asked more realistic questions.
"How are you going to leave?"
"...I haven't thought about it yet." Liu Yi was stunned. He had never thought about this question at all.
"Do you think these powerful people will let you leave with the evidence so easily?" Xu Zhiyan said, looking at him with sympathy. He doubted whether reporter Liu in front of him had eaten too many compressed biscuits and his brain was not working.
"…Maybe, maybe not."
Liu Yi lowered his head, as if he had encountered great difficulties.
But thinking about what the other party had done and the hardships he had endured in the past few months, Xu Zhiyan decided to help him.
"I'm going to deliver something out at 8 o'clock tomorrow at the north gate. If you can catch up, you can take a ride to the train station."
He didn't say what to do if he couldn't catch up.
Xu Zhiyan wasn't sure if, assuming there was another timeline, he would have given up on Bai Jin because of reporter Liu in front of him.
But that didn't happen.
At least now, in his consciousness, these things did not happen.
Since it hasn't appeared yet, there are endless possibilities. He won't give up on any of them until the real trolley problem appears.
The next day was Friday and the weather was sunny.
The air quality in the remote town is very good and refreshing.
Xu Zhiyan used a cane to report for work, and it was a rare occasion that he sat at his workstation for the entire morning.
Probably because the ceremony was about to be held in the evening, Wang Lai was extremely excited. Before noon, he said that the leaders of the inspection team would come to inspect the campus’ fire prevention and disaster safety in the afternoon, so he asked everyone to leave work early and the students were also required to stay in the dormitory and not come out.
The ceremony is in the evening, and people are released at noon?
Xu Zhiyan understood what was going on, and he walked to the back of the school and took a look at the playground. Sure enough, there were already several cars that looked inconspicuous but were actually very expensive.
In this slightly poor and remote town, these cars would cause a big sensation. No wonder Wang Lai wanted the workers to leave early to avoid any impact.
He walked over with the help of a cane, passed several men in black who looked like bodyguards, pretending to appreciate the flowers, and pointed the camera lens of reporter Liu, who was crouching in the flowers and was too conspicuous, into the flowers.
When being driven away by the bodyguards, Xu Zhiyan's mind was full of: I hope reporter Liu doesn't let me down.
Relying on his status as the principal's brother-in-law, he ignored all dissuasion.
I wandered around the campus until the evening, and finally arrived at the tea room next to the principal's office at almost seven o'clock.
Time is ticking.
Finally, at about half past seven, a noisy sound of footsteps was heard at the door, heading towards the principal's office.
Xu Zhiyan put his ear against the wall and listened as the secret door was opened and the cage was carried out from the neighboring room.
When he heard the sound of the chain being opened, he picked up his crutch and went out the door, took out his key, pretended to know nothing, and swaggered into the principal's office.
As he expected, Bai Jin had indeed been released from the cage.
Besides him, there were three bodyguards in black in the room.
When several bodyguards saw someone unlocking several doors, their first reaction was that it was the principal. When they realized that the person was not the principal, they immediately pulled out their pistols and pointed them at the person's head.
However, Xu Zhiyan did not take any action.
He tapped the crutch on the ground, groped his way to the desk, and started talking to himself as if he didn't notice the group of men in black around him.
"Hey? My brother-in-law asked me to come to his office to get some documents... It's so annoying. I can't even tell what the documents are."
"Why not give it all to him? But he said it's on the table... Why isn't it on the table?"
He was mumbling something and his expression was full of confusion, as if he really was a blind man who came to help the principal's brother-in-law get documents.
The bodyguards looked at each other.
One of them slowed down, walked forward, and pointed the gun at the young man's forehead.
But the young man who was shuffling the documents did not react at all. His hands kept moving, and he seemed to be very troubled. His eyes were still blank as before.
The bodyguard put away his gun, shook his head at his companions, and gestured for silence.
The other two also put their guns back on their waists.
The young man in front of them was not only Wang Lai's brother-in-law, but also a blind man who could not see anything, so there was no need for them to deal with him, so as to avoid any further problems.
The three of them even quietly lifted the cage while Xu Zhiyan was rummaging through something, to prevent the young man from accidentally bumping into it when he finished looking for the documents.
But the moment the cage was lifted up, a large amount of smoke suddenly appeared in the room!
“Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—”
After three quick sounds, the three bodyguards fell to the ground without even having time to shout.
Bai Jin, who had just gotten out of the cage, narrowed his eyes and finally dared to speak.
"You're here! Are you here to take me away?"
Hearing the uncontrollable joy in the boy's voice, Xu Zhiyan nodded: "Well, let's go tonight."
Time was running out, so he removed the effects of the smoke/fog/bombs and had no time to search for supplies. Qian took a gun and quickly left the principal's office with Bai Jin.
The sun had just set and the monster hadn't appeared yet.
However, Xu Zhiyan felt a little dizzy and his overall condition was not very good.
I called up the panel as I walked, and the situation was not very optimistic.
[Name: Xu Zhiyan]
[Status: Weak, low mental strength]
[Mental Threshold: 0-59]
[Current Spirit: 19 (low)]
[Tip: When the mental strength is lower than 20, the player's overall physical fitness will begin to slowly decline, which may be accompanied by occasional headaches and dizziness. Players are requested to replenish their mental strength in time. ]
The safe house in the past version cannot restore mental power. It seems that he still needs to go back to the correct time to find the safe house. Otherwise, this state of continuous low mental power will only affect his judgment of the current situation, making his already tight prop backpack even worse.
Xu Zhiyan shook his head and felt that his symptoms were slightly relieved.
Instead of taking Bai Jin directly to the side door, he took him to a teaching building not far from the administrative building.
The obedient Bai Jin let Xu Zhiyan pull him without showing any sign of resistance.
In a place where Xu Zhiyan couldn't see, his eyes seemed to have light again, staring at the back of the young man, as if the man in front of him was a god who could save the world...
However, this emotion was slightly discounted after entering the utility room of the teaching building.
Bai Jin was holding a bag of clothes, his expression changing from confusion to shock.
“What…what is this?”
"Change your clothes quickly. The driver is waiting outside and we are short on time." Xu Zhiyan replied.
"But, but why is this dress different from what I usually wear?" Bai Jin touched the lace on it, as if his soul had left his body.
Xu Zhiyan thought the other party was embarrassed, so he bent down and touched the boy's hair.
He said in a matter-of-fact tone, "We have to disguise ourselves, otherwise if you run away and they find you, everyone will chase you and find you in no time."
After saying that, he grabbed the clothes and shook them open. It turned out to be a blue dress that was fairly well made. The knee-length skirt was decorated with many lace pink bows, giving it a kind of beauty that made one lack a brain stem.
"I picked it out for you myself, don't worry! It's not ugly!"
After throwing the clothes to Bai Jin, Xu Zhiyan also took out a suit jacket and a top hat from the pile of miscellaneous items beside him.
As soon as the dress appeared, the barrage of comments in the live broadcast room was almost overwhelming, the layers upon layers were quite spectacular.
[Hahahahahahaha what kind of country princess is this? I need rescue! ]
[hhhh, look at Xiao Baiwan, he still thinks he dresses up pretty well? ]
[Wait, don't you want to know where this child came from? ]
[I guess he was caught in the principal's office. Xiao Baiwan has a new item in his right hand. Maybe it's the price of rescuing this NPC. ]
[My eyes hahahaha]
[God is not ugly, how can he say that! ! ]
A few minutes later, a young man wearing glasses and in a suit appeared on the playground, holding the hand of a tall, frail young lady. They seemed to be going to attend a ceremony, but the young lady walked quite slowly.
Bai Jin was completely stunned.
He walked step by step, like a duck.
Xu Zhiyan was very confident in his craftsmanship. He touched Bai Jin's wig and even tied it into two ponytails.
“Although it’s my first time to tie my hair, it feels pretty good!”
“…”
Bai Jin touched his loose ponytail, which was uneven in color, and felt that the road under his feet was becoming more rugged.
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