Chapter 38.1 Red Embroidered Shoes 05
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It was still dark in the early morning when someone came out to deal with Li Hui’s body. Just as Li Hui had sarcastically remarked, the school was becoming quicker at handling corpses. Not long after her fall, a few people showed up and carried away her body, cleaning the bloodstains from the ground.
The sun had only just risen when the ground dried up, and all evidence was wiped away. Chen Yang didn’t feel any remorse for the death of someone like Li Hui, but he felt disturbed by the school’s actions. He stopped Teacher Li and said, “Tell us everything that happened at the school.”
Teacher Li, the one in charge of disposing of the body, turned around to face Chen Yang and replied, “There’s nothing to say.”
Kou Xuanling: “Aren’t you afraid we’ll leave right now?”
Upon hearing that, Teacher Li displayed a sly smile and said, “Can you really leave?”
Chen Yang furrowed his brow. Li Hui had previously mentioned that those who took the card and participated in the game couldn’t leave the school. After a mocking chuckle, Teacher Li resumed his emotionless expression and said, “I need to prepare my lesson. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”
Chen Yang: “You don’t want to die, do you?”
Teacher Li continued walking without stopping. “Nobody wants to die.”
“Oh, well then.” Chen Yang swayed his feet, and in the blink of an eye, he stood before Teacher Li, firmly gripping his shoulder. “If you don’t talk, I could kill you right now.”
Teacher Li’s expression changed, but he quickly composed himself, “Can a Celestial Master really kill someone?”
“Indeed, I cannot.” Chen Yang tightened his grip on Teacher Li’s shoulder and pulled him along, “But I can drag you to the vacant lot in the back hill and see what happens. I suddenly think it’s a good idea. Maybe I can find the answers without you telling me what happened at the school.”
“Wait.” Realizing he couldn’t break free from Chen Yang’s hold and seeing that they were indeed heading towards the basketball court, Teacher Li quickly showed vulnerability. “Don’t take me to the back hill… Alright, I’ll tell you everything you want to know, okay?”
Chen Yang abruptly turned around, using his thumb and two fingers to firmly squeeze Teacher Li’s shoulder, causing half of it to collapse, resulting in cries of pain. At the same time, he swiftly kicked Teacher Li’s knee, rendering him too agonized to even make a sound. He then said in a low voice, “Teacher Li, your student has died, and yet you remain composed. Now it’s your turn to face death, and suddenly you’re scared.”
Faced with Chen Yang’s anger, Teacher Li knew it was better to say less. Furthermore, Kou Xuanling, who was beside them, was eager to join in, so he didn’t dare to shout angrily and even spoke cautiously.
Afterwards, Teacher Li led the group back to the dormitory, where he was the sole occupant. Accompanying him were Chen Yang, Kou Xuanling, and two other male students. Cheng Dong, with tears streaming down his face, was terrified, while Ling Hao, who had witnessed the gruesome act of Li Hui being dismembered and thrown from the rooftop, was deeply traumatized and took a long time to recover his senses.
Chen Yang kicked the chair, producing a loud noise. Teacher Li and the other two were startled. When they turned around, they saw him sitting upright, appearing calm as he said, “Speak up. Every little detail, tell us everything. If there’s any concealment——”
Kou Xuanling skillfully drew a peach wood sword and split the table in half, leaving the three of them pale-faced. They never expected a piece of peach wood to be sharp enough to split a table. Even more surprising was Kou Xuanling, who usually remained silent, saying with a grin, “Anyone hiding something will be dragged to the back hill.”
To them, the back hill was more terrifying than hell. So, they didn’t dare to conceal anything, only hoping that they would finish their questions quickly and leave, praying that they wouldn’t be dragged to the back hill on a whim. Whoever went to the back hill would surely die.
Chen Yang organized all the questions he wanted to ask, “The game that Li Hui played, the three of you also played?” As he asked this question, he stared at Teacher Li, for he had already witnessed the participation of the other two.
Teacher Li nodded, “I was also forced… Those who get the card must play. If you draw a card and refuse to play, you will undoubtedly be killed.”
“When did you receive the card? How did you get the card? How many people are currently participating in this game… as far as you know? What are the basic rules of the game, and how many people have died so far?”
Teacher Li: “It was two weeks ago, the day after Guan Xinyu’s death. A red card suddenly appeared in my drawer with a number on it. That represented me, and after receiving that card, I participated in a game. Luckily, I survived. Later, I found out that every Monday to Thursday night at 10 p.m., everyone would have a card appear on their bodies. A white card meant exemption from the game, while a red card meant they had to participate. Those who didn’t participate would die in a gruesome manner, and even those who participated and failed would meet a similar fate. I don’t know why the cards appeared. They just suddenly did.”
Ling Hao: “It was three weeks ago, a few days after my roommate was hanged in the basketball court, that I received the card.”
Cheng Dong: “I only received it a week ago, and last night was my first time participating in the game.”
Teacher Li: “As far as I know, there are nine teachers and the Director of Academic Affairs participating in the game. As for the students, three classes are involved. Specifically, it’s Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. However, I’m not sure if anyone from Class 4 or Class 5 is participating.”
Upon hearing Teacher Li’s words, Cheng Dong and Ling Hao took a step back, their faces filled with fear as they looked at Teacher Li. “Why do you know? What’s the use of knowing all this?” Their intuition told them that it was not beneficial for Teacher Li to be so well-informed. Every person participating in the death game kept it a secret, fearing manipulation by others. Furthermore, those who received a red card kept it confidential, while those with a white card hid in their dormitories, too afraid to come out.
So far, apart from knowing each other because they had cooperated in playing and clearing the death game, they had no idea about the number of cardholders. No one knew as much as Teacher Li did. Suddenly learning about so many cardholders shocked them.
Currently, apart from the cafeteria staff and some patrolling security guards, the school only had students from five classes, fourteen teachers, four directors, and the principal and vice principal. More than half of the people had been dragged into this death game. What was even more terrifying was that there were people playing the game whom even Teacher Li didn’t know about.
“How do you know all this?”
“I’m the grade leader, and I have the student roster for each class. Based on the highest number of deaths occurring in the first three classes, we can estimate how many people are participating in the game. Moreover, I have more interactions with the directors and other teachers, so I can make some guesses. Every person who starts playing the death game is emotionally off the next day. By observing carefully, you can tell.”
“With so many deaths, why haven’t you informed the police? Don’t the other students find it strange? Haven’t their parents come to inquire?”
Teacher Li: “Every month, the senior high students at Jinshui High School get a half-day off. The time it takes to travel from the mountainous area to the city and back is simply not enough. So, most students only go home once every two or three months. Even though they are currently in their second year of high school, they will soon enter their final year. The parents are aware of this.”
“In other words, the parents don’t even know if their own children have dead? You didn’t even notify them?”
Teacher Li sneered, a smile that resembled Li Hui’s. “We don’t even know if we can survive ourselves. We are trapped in the school, cut off from the outside world. There is no signal, we can’t make emergency calls, and we can’t reach out to parents. We are helpless.”
Chen Yang frowned, “You can’t contact the outside world? Then how did we come here? And how did you manage to post orders on the app?”
Teacher Li paused for a moment and replied, “I don’t know about that. Director Jin is the one who posts the orders… Can he contact the outside world? Then why hasn’t he reported it to the authorities?”
Immediately, Teacher Li and the other two boys had dark expressions on their faces, clearly angry at Director Jin for being able to contact the outside world but not informing them or calling the police. Who knew how much they wanted to leave this cursed place!
“What’s in the back hill?” Chen Yang stared at Ling Hao.
Ling Hao was reluctant to recall the vacant lot in the back hill, but he knew that now, if they wanted to survive and escape from Jinshui High School, Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling were their only hope. So, he explained, “There are many bodies buried in the vacant lot in the back hill. I didn’t know at first, but after my roommate mysteriously hanged himself on the basketball court and his body disappeared, I went to the vacant lot. There, I discovered numerous skeletal remains. Some were just white bones, which means they had died a long time ago, while others had only decomposed after more than a decade. I also found the body of my missing roommate there.”
“Why did you think of going to the vacant lot?”
“Because my roommate came back.” Ling Hao’s eyes filled with fear. “He came back on the third day after his death. Others don’t know, but I do. That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep, no matter how hard I tried. Maybe it was because someone died in the dormitory, and I felt uneasy. Everyone else was fast asleep, so I took out my phone to check the time. It was just past one o’clock. Then, I noticed the light from my phone illuminating the bed across from mine. There was a person standing there. It weirded me out because I slept in the top bunk, and that person was standing on the bottom bunk.”
The person on the bottom bunk was asleep, and the top bunk belonged to the deceased roommate. Ling Hao’s bed was directly facing his dead roommate’s bed, which made him feel uncomfortable. The figure at that moment stood motionless with his back to him on the bottom bunk. Ling Hao found it strange, thinking that his roommate might have gotten up in the middle of the night to call him, but then he noticed his roommate on the bottom bunk sleeping soundly. Shocked, he immediately checked the beds of the other three roommates and found them all lying there.
Who was this figure in front of the roommate’s bed? Why are they standing in front of the roommate’s bed and staring at him? Soon enough, the figure on the bottom bunk provided an answer. It turned around slowly, and Ling Hao quickly pretended to be asleep, switching off his phone. He cautiously opened his eyes. Moonlight shone upon the figure, revealing his already deceased roommate who had hanged himself. His neck had long been broken, his face contorted and horrifying, as he stared in Ling Hao’s direction.
Terrified to the extreme, Ling Hao tightly shut his eyes, not daring to speak a word. Then, he heard the bed shaking, as if something was crawling up along the bed ladder, and then it stopped. There was silence for a while, and Ling Hao cautiously opened his eyes, only to find himself face to face with the twisted face of his deceased roommate. Overwhelmed by fear, he fainted right then and there. The next day, he discovered marks around his neck, making it clear that his deceased roommate had indeed returned.
“That’s why I went to the vacant lot. I knew he went there and encountered something that led to his death. He had mentioned before that a hand emerged from the ground and grabbed his ankle. I saw the black handprint on his ankle, as if it had sunk in. But he felt no pain, and within two days, he was dead. So, I went to the security guard to ask for some paper money and incense to offer a tribute in the back hill. The security guard is a Buddhist.” Ling Hao’s expression turned strange as he continued, “But later I found out that his death wasn’t because of the encounter in the back hill, but because he received a card and failed the game.”
Chen Yang nodded, his gaze sharp, scanning the three individuals before him one by one. “I heard that Guan Xinyu saw a pair of red high heels before her death, and those red high heels are related to the teacher who committed ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ a year ago. Was there any hidden secret behind that teacher’s ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ?”
Ling Hao and Cheng Dong looked bewildered. “A teacher committed ꜱᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇ a year ago?”
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