abyss
“Tick, tick…”
It was the sound of blood dripping onto the ground.
The blood was not from the man with the earrings, but from the man in black. His head had been smashed by the vase, and blood was flowing from the wound on his scalp onto the ground.
The man raised his head and looked up the stairs.
Shen Anyan took a step forward and stood at the front of the team.
Just when the two sides were in a stalemate, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared downstairs. Before Shen Anyan and his companions could react with shock, they saw the figure snatch the man's axe and kick him to the ground.
The instructor held the man's head with one hand and pinned his arms behind his back with the other. After confirming that the man was unable to move, he raised his head and shouted upwards: "Find a rope, or a bed sheet or quilt cover will do!"
The people on the stairs finally reacted and hurried back to their rooms to search through their drawers and cabinets for something.
It all happened so quickly that by the time everyone came to their senses, the man in black had been tightly tied up by the instructor.
Everyone in the room gathered in front of the stairs. Zhou Tian asked, "Is it safe now?"
The instructor said, "Well, sort of. But don't let your guard down. After all, we're not sure if he has accomplices, and we don't know where else he might have lurked."
Lin Shuang frowned and glanced at the man in black. While he was being tied up, the hat and mask on his head had been removed.
He was a man who looked to be around fifty, with thinning hair, a scruffy appearance, and a face etched with deep wrinkles and dark spots. He showed no sign of panic after being grabbed by the instructor, not even a hint of resistance. He simply lay quietly on the floor, his entire body radiating a dead aura.
The wound on the man's head hadn't healed yet and was still bleeding. Lin Shuang looked at Shen Anyan: "Was he stunned by your vase?"
Shen Anyan touched his nose awkwardly: "Well, do you want to give him some medicine?"
Gu Cijiang said: "I have alcohol here...but won't it be too painful to disinfect with this?"
The instructor said: "It's not a big deal, just wrap it with toilet paper."
He Qingtian couldn't help but ask: "Well, shouldn't we ask why he killed people?"
The instructor had already wrapped the man in black's wound with toilet paper and said, "Alright, let's ask."
Unfortunately, the interrogation did not go smoothly. No matter what they asked, the man in black remained silent.
Zhou Tiandao: "You are not really stupid, are you?"
The instructor sighed and said to the girls, "Forget it, let's leave him alone for now. Let's leave the interrogation to the authorities. Let's deal with the body first."
Everything seemed to be settled. Fortunately, on the next afternoon, the people in the villa heard the roar of a car starting and people shouting.
"Is anyone here—is anyone here—"
Everyone was surprised. Lin Shuang was closest to the window. She took a look outside and turned to her companions and said, "The rescue team is here!"
The instructor couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, finally relaxing her tense nerves. She said to the students, "I'm going to go talk to them. You guys should pack up and get dressed. We're leaving."
The instructor left, and those who remained in the villa followed his instructions and began to pack their bags and change into warm clothes. The dark clouds that had been lingering for days finally lifted from their hearts, and everyone was eager to leave this damn place.
Zhou Tiandao: "I will never participate in this kind of closed-door training again. It's not reliable at all."
He Qingtian comforted her, "But the teacher is still very reliable. It's a blessing in disguise."
The rescuers arrived at the villa quickly and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the students were all fine.
One of the team members whispered: "Captain, the information we received said that there are ten students in total, but here..."
The captain glanced around the room and saw four people missing. She stepped forward, showed her ID to the students, and briefly introduced herself before asking, "Is anyone injured?"
Everyone shook their heads. He Qingtian took the initiative to step forward and briefly explained the situation in the villa. Hearing that four male students had died, the rescuers looked a little solemn.
He Qingtian finally added: "The murderer has been caught and is tied up in the living room. We don't have enough food, so there's not much left for him to eat. He probably doesn't have the strength to resist now."
The captain waved his hand, signaling several team members to go over and investigate the situation.
A round-faced team member heard the last words and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Classmates, you are amazing. You can actually catch the murderer."
He Qingtian said: "We didn't do much, it was our team leader who caught it."
For some reason, the rescuers' expressions suddenly became a little strange when she said this.
The captain said, "Alright, we'll discuss the details once we get back to the city police station. Everyone, get in the car and leave this to us."
A few people from the team were separated and led the group out of the villa. A path had been cleared out of the back mountain, and everyone quickly walked out of the woods, reached the main road, and got into the car.
On the way down the mountain, the accompanying staff member briefly briefed them on what had happened over the past few days and explained the upcoming arrangements: "After returning to the city, we'll first go to the city police station. Of course, don't be afraid. We'll just cooperate with the investigation and ask you some questions. After the investigation, the police station will arrange psychological counseling for you, that's all. The competition team will contact you later..."
After the other party finished speaking, Lin Shuang asked, "Auntie, do you know where our team leader went? We didn't see her along the way. Did she go to the police station in advance?"
The staff member was surprised when he heard this: "What team leader?"
Shen Anyan recalled the situation when she came here, and vaguely realized something. She asked: "Auntie, can I ask how you found this place?"
The staff member said, "It's like this. We received a report this morning that the contestants who came to Fanhua City for training have disappeared..."
Lin Shuang couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, let me interrupt. We've been here four days ago. Why did the competition team report the case only now?"
The staff member explained, "That's exactly what I was going to say. The competition team said their training was scheduled for today, but when we went to the meeting point today, no one was there. We then contacted the school and learned that the contestants had actually left four days in advance."
Everyone was stunned. Zhou Tian said, "No, the person who picked us up four days ago..."
The staff member continued, "We subsequently investigated your travel records from four days ago, but only found your transportation records to Fanhua City and your hotel check-in records that day. We couldn't find any records after that. Therefore, we couldn't determine where you were taken, so we had to search the entire city. Fortunately, we found you here in Changqing Mountain."
Everyone fell silent after hearing this.
Liang Xiaonuo hesitated for a while, then stammered, "Actually...actually, last night, Sun Zhui and I went out because we received a message from Wang Zhou."
Sun Zhui is the man with earrings who lives with Liang Xiaonuo.
Everyone looked at him, and Zhou Tian asked in surprise: "Isn't he dead?"
The staff member asked in confusion: "Who is Wang Zhou?"
He Qingtian explained to her: "It was the contestant who disappeared the next day."
Liang Xiaonuo shrank his neck and whispered: "I don't know either. Sun Zhui showed me his phone and Wang Zhou said on it that we should not trust the instructor. She is in cahoots with the murderer and asked us to run away quickly..."
Shen Anyan frowned: "Then you came out? Why..."
She wanted to ask why she didn't tell other people about this and let them come out to help, but she felt that there was no point in saying these words now, so she didn't say anything more.
Liang Xiaonuo lowered her head, and her voice sounded like she was about to cry: "I... I didn't know what to do, so Sun Zhui pulled me away. We went out and originally planned to stay in other rooms, but after a few steps, we met the murderer... and then... and then..."
Everyone knows what happened next. The man with earrings fell down the stairs while escaping and was chopped on the neck by the murderer with an axe.
He Qingtian asked: "You just received the news at that time, and you didn't inform us because of time constraints. But why didn't you tell us after the murderer was caught?"
Liang Xiaonuo shrank his neck again and explained: "I'm afraid..."
He paused, as if feeling unconvincing, and added, "Besides, we just came out and ran into the murderer. I don't think that information is reliable. Maybe he was deliberately trying to lure us out... And the murderer was eventually caught by the teacher. This made me think that the news was fake even more. I'm afraid that telling it out would cause trouble..."
Although Liang Xiaonuo's actions were ill-considered, he was safe now, and his concealment did not cause any serious consequences. Therefore, no one said anything else, but comforted him with a few words, telling him not to be afraid.
Liang Xiaonuo nodded and retreated into the corner to serve as a backdrop. The people around him seemed to be discussing subsequent arrangements, but he no longer had the heart to listen.
In fact, he went to see his instructor yesterday and told him about the text message received by the red-haired man.
He stumbled and asked, "Teacher, this is a misunderstanding, right?"
The instructor did not deny it immediately. Instead, he smiled gently, looked at him and asked, "What do you think?"
Liang Xiaonuo was a little scared. He forced himself to shake his head and said, "I...I think it must be a misunderstanding. You have been protecting us all these days. How could you be an accomplice of the murderer?"
The instructor smiled again and patiently said to the other person, "Don't be afraid. If those messages are true, do you remember the first message we received?"
Liang Xiaonuo was a little confused: "What information?"
The instructor said: "Just one more person and we'll be complete."
"Sun Zhui is dead. That's the last person left, isn't it? No one else will die after this."
The instructor looked at him and added: "And isn't it good? If the four of them are dead, no one will bully you anymore. Isn't this something to be happy about?"
"Right, Xiao Nuo?"
Liang Xiaonuo began to tremble again. He Qingtian noticed his condition and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Liang Xiaonuo said with a trembling voice: "I... I'm just a little cold..."
The staff also heard what he said and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Is it cold? Then I'll turn up the heater in the car. There's a blanket here, you can use it to cover yourself."
He Qingtian was closer, so he took the blanket and handed it to him.
The car finally drove out of the forest, and the sunlight outside the mountain shone through the car window, shining brightly on everyone.
Liang Xiaonuo was basking in the sun, but still felt cold.
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