Chapter 31 Campus Life
"Dean Ning," the director and teaching assistant bowed and scraped as they greeted the woman who stepped out of the van, "we were truly at our wits' end, that's why we're bothering you..."
Dean Ning, dressed in a formal suit, looked at the charred fifth floor after getting out of the car, his expression grim.
Vice Dean Zhang followed her out of the car, "Are you sure those four employees who were absent from work the other day were...?"
The director nodded hurriedly, "This kid found Xiao Li's phone, and this is what the message on it said."
"They even said the body was dumped at a sharp bend in the mountain road leading down from our college..."
"Keep everyone in the college quiet!" Dean Ning said coldly. "Anyone who dares to call the police and expose this will be in big trouble!"
The director wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Yes, yes, I've already arranged for someone to handle the public opinion within the hospital."
"Vice Dean, take a few trusted men to search the mountainous area below the sharp bend and see if it's really as Xiao Li said on his phone," Dean Ning instructed, then got back into his car and left. "I'm going to find a security company; the academy's security needs to be strengthened again."
Vice President Zhang agreed and set off down the mountain with his few trusted followers.
The director and teaching assistants were also brought along.
As the sun set, a cry of alarm came from the trusted confidant who was scouting ahead.
The remaining people's expressions immediately turned ugly.
"Old Wu, you take him ahead," Vice Dean Zhang gestured to the director and teaching assistant to lead the way, "Go and take a look."
The two men gritted their teeth and led the way.
"It's...it's our college's van!" the teaching assistant exclaimed, pointing to the wrecked van. "At the time, the administration department thought those employees had run off with our vehicle."
Vice Dean Zhang slowly walked over.
Through the deformed and broken car window, he saw the grotesque corpses twisted and turned in the driver's seat and the back seat.
Upon smelling the stench of decay that had already begun to emanate, Vice Dean Zhang's expression changed, and he quickly walked to the side, vomiting with a "whoosh."
The remaining people, seeing the horrifying scene inside the car, couldn't help but vomit violently.
“Bury them directly,” he said, gradually calming down from the overwhelming nausea. “Also, investigate the backgrounds of these people and have the administration prepare a compensation budget.”
"If family members come to cause trouble, find a way to delay them until after the investigation, and then say it was a work-related injury... no, they died in a car accident because they weren't paying attention to the road."
The director noted them down one by one, but then, remembering the few undiscovered bodies on the fifth floor, he couldn't help but ask, "What about those charred and mangled bodies on the fifth floor of the teaching building...?"
“I asked the teaching assistant to arrange for someone to handle it using the old method, but I felt it wasn’t very reliable.”
Vice Dean Zhang pondered for a moment, then said, “We can’t leave the bodies at the college. We need to take them out and bury them with these absentee workers.”
“Okay,” the director said, seeing that Vice President Zhang was not flustered at all. “I’ll take people to handle it right away.”
"And the eldest daughter sent by the Xin family, she also died in the fire?" Vice Dean Zhang was deeply troubled.
The director looked at the teaching assistant.
The teaching assistant racked his brains for a long time, then shook his head. "The bodies were either charred or smashed to pieces... It was impossible to tell if there was anyone named Xin Que among the remains."
"But in the last surveillance video, it can be confirmed that Xin Que was taken into the reformatory room... It is estimated that she was already on the electric chair at that time. If the restraints on the electric chair were all on, there was no way she could have come out alive."
Vice Dean Zhang fell silent.
This is troublesome.
This person just had to die in the reformatory; what if the Xin family uses this as an excuse to cause trouble for them...?
"Vice Dean," the director leaned closer and whispered, "if all else fails, just like we did with the other trainees before, say she had an improper relationship with those two instructors?"
Vice Dean Zhang frowned. "The Xin family is no ordinary family. How could they allow such a scandal to spread in their own home?"
“But isn’t the Xin family a blended family?” the director advised. “We certainly can’t go directly to Xin Fengcheng, to his remarried wife…”
"By helping us, she is helping herself get rid of Xin Que, the daughter of the first wife."
"With our interests at stake, if we lower our stance, it will be hard for her not to help us."
Vice Dean Zhang's gaze towards the director gradually shifted from suspicion to admiration. "You certainly know how to handle things..."
The director smiled obsequiously, "Investment investigation is a major event concerning our college. As a member of our college, how can I stand idly by?"
Vice Dean Zhang took off the bracelet on his wrist, twirled it, and chanted a Buddhist prayer. In the end, he decided to take the director's advice and said, "Let's do it your way."
"You've sacrificed so much for our college. If the college can successfully secure this investment, you'll definitely get a promotion."
The director no longer cared about the corpses and the fire; he smiled from the bottom of his heart, "Thank you for your guidance, Vice Dean."
"Oh, by the way," the director said, turning his gaze away from the bracelet in the vice dean's hand, "these people have suffered a great calamity after all. After this is over, I will arrange for Master Zhen to perform a proper rite of passage and chant sutras for them."
"It's also a good deed for the academy."
Vice Dean Zhang patted him on the shoulder, looking pleased. "Good, you've thought of everything."
......
The commotion during the morning classes seemed to last only a short half-day.
New recruit Xin Que died a violent death, teaching assistant surnamed Li went missing, and two instructors were burned alive...
The director swiftly covered up the matter.
Apart from the teaching assistant who stayed by the director's side and the confidant who handled the bodies from the fire, no one knew what else had happened on the fifth floor besides the fire.
"Hello, Director Wu." The lecturer greeted the warm-hearted director before entering the classroom.
Director Wu nodded in acknowledgment and led the teaching assistant beside him toward the administration building.
"Xiao Wang," Director Wu said, clearly disapproving of Assistant Professor Wang's timid and hesitant demeanor, "you need to get back on track. How are you going to receive investors with your current panicked and anxious state?"
Teaching Assistant Wang forced a smile. "I'm sorry, Director Wu, I still have some psychological trauma. I'll try my best to change..."
Director Wu thought to himself, "If you weren't one of the witnesses, I wouldn't bother having such a useless piece of trash around."
But he didn't show it on his face and didn't continue the topic.
......
The lecturer glanced at the time; it was already 7 p.m.
"Classmates," she said with a smile, walking up to the podium, "there was a slight mishap during the morning class on the playground, so we'll now make up for the missed content..."
She removed the bracelet from her wrist, saying, "First, let us confess to the Lord the original sin we were born with..."
The melodious chanting and music came from the loudspeakers on the classroom roof.
The atmosphere gradually calmed down.
The lecturer strolled down from the podium, casually walked over to a girl kneeling on a prayer mat, and pinched her ear hard.
The girl stood up shakily, "I...I was born a sinner..."
"Click—"
The sound of machinery being pulled came from somewhere, and suddenly all the lights in the building went out, plunging everyone into darkness in an instant.
The chanting also stopped abruptly.
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