Chapter 36.1 Red Embroidered Shoes 03
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“Malevolent ghost killing people?” Chen Yang smiled. “Student, please be logical. Without seeing it with your own eyes, it’s very likely that the killer is just playing tricks.”
The male student said, “Who said we didn’t see it ourselves?”
“Did you see it yourself?”
“Though I didn’t see it myself, many people witnessed the supernatural events. I heard it even scared a girl terribly. Ah, I was sick back then, so I couldn’t be there, or else I would have definitely captured that ghost on my phone.”
“You had your phone with you.”
The male student immediately became nervous, made a shushing sound, looked around, and didn’t spot a teacher. He whispered, “Big Brother, please don’t tell anyone. If the teacher finds out, not only will my phone be confiscated, but my parents will also be informed. I’ll surely get expelled.”
“Is it really that strict? It’s just about having a phone.”
The male student scoffed, “Well, you’ve never attended Jinshui High School. Other schools might just give students a punishment for having a phone or dating. But here, if you get caught, they drag you to the playground for criticism. After that, they call your parents to pack up your stuff and kick you out. Immediate expulsion, no discussion.”
“That’s really strict.” The strictness of Jinshui High School was evident from their requirement of silence during meals. Chen Yang changed the subject and said, “I won’t tell your teacher, but you have to tell me about the so-called supernatural events and the deceased.”
The male student looked around nervously again, clearly afraid of being caught by the teacher. “Jinshui High School has strict rules. The teachers explicitly forbid us from spreading rumors about the school, including student suiicdes… You probably think that Jinshui High School is an elite school, producing only top-notch students.”
Kou Xuanling: “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” The male student chuckled, his smile strange and peculiar. “But all the students who come in are bad students. Some students who went out have turned bad, and some become even more bad.”
Chen Yang sensed a difference between the two uses of ‘bad’ in their conversation. It was later explained that the first ‘bad’ meant ‘destructive’ while the second ‘bad’ meant ‘corrupted’. Apparently, Jinshui High School considered the troubled students as bad and aimed to transform them into so-called elites through intense supervision.
“By the way, let’s get back to the supernatural events.” The male student picked up his chopsticks and spoke while eating. “Three meals a day, if you miss the designated time, you’ll go hungry… The supernatural events happened twice, one was a month ago, and the other was a week ago. The incident a month ago occurred during a PE class, near the basketball court. One of the boys threw the basketball over the wire fence into the vacant lot. Others encouraged him to go and retrieve it. The school strictly forbids students from going to the vacant lot in the back hill, especially crossing the wire fence. I heard that at that time, others surrounded the PE teacher to distract him while he secretly went to retrieve it.”
The male student took a sip of soup, checked the time, and continued, “The vacant lot in the back hill is quite big, and there’s a row of empty bungalows back there. He spotted the ball and went to pick it up. Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the direction of the bungalows, like something falling. Honestly, there have always been scary rumors about the vacant lot in the back hill. People even ran over there during the holidays, in broad daylight, and just standing on the empty space gave them chills. The boy didn’t dare to stay any longer. He grabbed the basketball and hurried back. But after a few steps, something grabbed his ankle, and he fell down. When he looked back, there was a rotten hand reaching out from the ground, gripping his ankle. He was terrified, but he managed to break free, and ran away. He didn’t dare to talk about it when he got back. It took a few days before he dared to mention it secretly.”
“Did you all know about it?”
“We didn’t know at first, but once someone dies, rumors spread everywhere.”
“Someone died? Did that boy die?”
“Yes, he died. They found him hanging from the basketball hoop on the court, facing the vacant lot in the back hill. We have a morning jogging routine in our school, so many people saw it. The school said it was because of stress, that he took his own life, but it’s not true. There’s something strange about it. He must have angered something unclean in the back hill and got caught up in it.”
“How can you be sure he was murdered and not actually committed ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ?”
“Our school’s basketball court has specific opening hours, and only the janitor has the keys. If nobody let him in, how did he get in? You could argue that he climbed over the wire fence to get in—but that wire fence is not easy to climb.” The male student shrugged. “And most importantly, there was nothing beneath his feet at the time. How was he hanged on the basketball hoop?”
Chen Yang nodded. “Indeed, it’s strange. But we can’t dismiss the possibility of it being a murder case. Maybe the rotten hand was made up by someone. After all, there was only one person involved in the incident.”
“You’re right. But the second supernatural incident happened right in front of everyone, just last Wednesday night during the self-study session at 9 o’clock. The school suddenly lost power, and at first, the students made a commotion, but as soon as the teachers arrived, everyone quieted down. However, they all heard the sound of high heels, ‘clank, clank,’ coming from the quiet hallway outside. Some brave students sneaked a peek out of the windows but didn’t see anyone. The sound of high heels echoed through the corridor. Later, a teacher and the student council president went out to investigate, and then all the students heard the scream of the student council president.”
Kou Xuanling: “What did they see?”
“A pair of red high heels.” Seeing Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling’s skeptical expressions, the male student continued, “It’s true. The red high heels were right in the middle of the hallway. The student council president happened to shine a flashlight on them. The teachers and students who were closer ran over and also saw the red high heels. The teacher took the red high heels back, but they mysteriously disappeared two days later. Some say that those red high heels used to belong to a female teacher who committed ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ in the school.”
The male student shrugged. “But who knows if the rumors are true? Before anyone saw the red high heels, there were no rumors about the female teacher’s ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ in the school. Most likely, it was made up.”
“What about the student council president?”
“Dead.”
Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling exchanged a glance, their eyes showing a hint of shock. How could both of the individuals directly involved in the supernatural incidents end up dead?
“She died in a particularly gruesome manner.” The male student shivered, his face filled with fear. “The student council president was an exemplary student in Class 1, and she was also the principal’s daughter. I’m in Class 5, and coincidentally, I was absent on both occasions, so I didn’t witness either of the supernatural incidents or the scenes of their deaths. But I know that anyone who saw the principal’s daughter dead ended up vomiting, and the two people who discovered the council president’s body also died on the spot. It’s gruesome.”
“Two days had passed since the red high heels vanished. We were in PE class, and I was looking forward to going back to the classroom and turning on the fan. The temperature in the mountains doesn’t get too high, so we only turn on the air conditioner when it’s over 30 degrees Celsius. We usually just use these big fans,” he said, pointing to the big ceiling fan above his head. “They’re even more comfortable than air conditioning when they’re on high.”
“The student council president was dismembered, with her limbs and head placed on top of the big ceiling fan, while the torso was nowhere to be found. Upon returning from the physical education class, the students in the classroom turned the fan on to its maximum setting. The severed limbs were flung down, some landing on students’ heads, others in their laps. It seemed as if someone had the misfortune of catching the president’s head and faced it directly. What was even more nauseating was that some were drinking water, only to have severed fingers and eyeballs land in their cups.”
Kou Xuanling interrupted the enthusiastic male student mid-speech: “Please get to the main point.”
“…The main point is that the large ceiling fan couldn’t withstand the weight of the body. It was already teetering on the brink, and when turned to the maximum, it didn’t even complete two rotations before crashing down. The fan blades lodged directly into the heads of two students below, who were already petrified by the student council president’s body parts.” The male student raised with four fingers. “In just a short month, there were four murder cases.”
“Hey, chubby, aren’t you leaving? It’s almost self-study time.”
The male student’s classmates were calling for him, so he stood up and said, “I also heard that the student council president died wearing those red high heels.”
After saying that, he walked away with his classmates. As they walked further, one could faintly hear his classmates expressing displeasure, “Don’t spread school matters outside. If the teachers find out, we’ll all be in trouble…”
“Do you find what he said believable?” Kou Xuanling asked Chen Yang.
Chen Yang: “He’s not present at the scene both times. Most of it relies on others’ accounts. The student council president was a student in Class 1. Let’s go ask the students in Class 1. As for the red high heels, the teacher’s suiicde… I’m not sure of their authenticity either. We need to investigate and verify everything.”
“I’ll go familiarize myself with the school environment. If possible, I’ll head to the back hill first,” Kou Xuanling said.
“Alright. Stay safe.”
So the two of them went their separate ways. Chen Yang went to find Teacher Li first to ask if they could investigate the situation inside the academic building. After a cold and scrutinizing gaze from Teacher Li, he finally said, “You can’t disturb the students’ studies.”
Chen Yang frowned slightly. “I’ll only ask during non-class hours, so it won’t disturb the students.” Teacher Li’s attitude was unsettling, not because he was indifferent to his own concerns, but because upon hearing Chen Yang’s request, his immediate worry wasn’t about the students’ well-being but rather the disturbance to their studies.
It seemed that in Teacher Li’s eyes, studying was the most important aspect of life. This attitude made Chen Yang feel quite uneasy.
Chen Yang followed Teacher Li to the academic building, heading first to the teachers’ office. There were still six or seven teachers in the office, sitting around a table and chatting. They fell silent as soon as they saw Teacher Li approaching, only resuming their conversation in hushed tones after he returned to his seat. Chen Yang glanced at them and then approached Teacher Li’s desk.
Teacher Li’s desk was in a corner, and standing here, he couldn’t hear the voices of the others. Chen Yang looked up, and behind the desk was a window that faced a lush and leafy tree. The swaying branches cast eerie shadows on the window.
Teacher Li drew the curtains shut and turned around. “Is there something else?”
“I would like to inquire about the supernatural incidents in the school. Who were the victims? How did they die? Why did they die?” Chen Yang paused for a moment and added, “If you want me to solve the supernatural incidents in your school, then please do not hide anything.”
This statement successfully prevented Teacher Li from refusing. He furrowed his brow and contemplated for a while before taking out a file from the drawer and handing it to Chen Yang. “It’s all recorded in here. Take a look for yourself. If you have any questions, ask quickly. I need to go to the classroom to check on the students at seven o’clock.”
Chen Yang took the file and quickly skimmed through it, finding that it indeed matched the description given by the male student earlier, except for omitting the red high heels and the sudden appearance of a decayed hand grabbing the male student’s ankle in the vacant lot in the back hill. “You mentioned earlier that the supernatural incident occurred in the vacant lot in the back hill. Can you tell me more about it?”
“Really? Did I mention that?” Teacher Li replied, unfazed. “Oh, my mistake. It should be the basketball court. The student died on the basketball court, and the cause of death was strange.”
Chen Yang silently stared at Teacher Li, his gaze sharp and calm. The latter averted his eyes and said, “Master Chen, you’re the celestial master responsible for capturing ghosts and solving supernatural incidents in the school. Just ensure the safety of the students.”
“Every grievance has its cause, and every debt has its debtor,” Chen Yang closed the file and returned it to Teacher Li. “Killing ghosts is no different from killing living beings. We must not indiscriminately harm the innocent. Therefore, we shouldn’t catch every single thing that is not a ghost.”
Teacher Li’s gaze flickered, and he placed the file back. “Few people go to the back hill. The students fabricate rumors among themselves, but in reality, no one has seen anything with their own eyes. I need to take attendance in the classroom.”
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