Jiang Luo stared under the bed for a long while but saw nothing. Strangely, in the middle of the night, he actually felt a little disappointed.
The ghost hung up, and the phone screen went dark. Jiang Luo sighed and laid back down, then sent the recording to the class group chat “Burn Incense If There’s Trouble.”
The group lit up almost immediately.
[Ge Zhu: I’ve heard that back-to-back ghost story before. Is she under the bed?]
[Jiang Luo: Nothing under the bed.]
[Ge Zhu: Shocked Taoist face.jpg]
[Wenren Lian: Kuang Zheng and I are still outside. Progress is at a bit of a standstill.]
Jiang Luo’s gaze shifted to Xu Yan’s bed.
There were Xu Yan’s shoes by the bed, and the mud splatters around them had grown even more. In this May weather, yesterday’s rain would’ve dried by now. Unless someone had deliberately gone to a damp place, you wouldn’t leave such tracks.
Damp. Hard to dry. Hidden location.
[Jiang Luo: What about the sewer?]
The sewer?
Wenren Lian, who was still searching for clues by the lakeside, paused, then said thoughtfully, “That makes sense.”
He looked up and called out loudly to Kuang Zheng, who was still walking in circles along the lake. “Kuang Zheng, let’s go.”
Kuang Zheng tossed the stone in his hand and quickly walked over without even asking why, as if he would do whatever Wenren Lian said.
Wenren Lian relayed Jiang Luo’s idea. “We really hadn’t considered the sewers yet.”
Kuang Zheng nodded silently, then said, “I’ll go down. You don’t have to.”
Wenren Lian chuckled. “Why?”
Kuang Zheng glanced at him with his dark eyes, then looked again at the dress he was wearing.
“This?” Wenren Lian winked at him. “This doesn’t stop me from crawling into a sewer.”
They found a nearby manhole. Kuang Zheng lifted the cover and jumped in first, then reached out to help Wenren Lian down.
Though Wenren Lian was wearing a dress and a wig, he was a man through and through—tall and well-proportioned. When Kuang Zheng supported him, he was worried he might crush him, but Kuang Zheng remained composed and steadily helped him to the ground.
The smell in the sewer wasn’t pleasant, but the ground along the edges of the water was relatively clean. Wenren Lian stepped down and immediately felt the damp, muddy texture.
He showed a faint smile. “This should be the place.”
The two perked up and cautiously proceeded along the sewer. Kuang Zheng led the way, making sure to keep Wenren Lian fully shielded behind him at every turn.
After walking for about half an hour, Wenren Lian spotted something in the water. They fished it out and found it was a yellow tin can.
Wenren Lian found the production date on it: “April 27th… that was just a few days ago.”
There were still bits of food residue inside. Kuang Zheng leaned down to sniff it and looked in the direction the can had floated from. “It was only just opened not long ago.”
Wenren Lian looked that way too, raising his brows with a smile. “Blessings of the Celestial Lord—finally, something useful.”
***
Jiang Luo had only slept a few hours before waking up again.
There was no air conditioning in the high school dorms, and when he got up, his back was sticky with sweat. He hurried to take a shower, and halfway through, Wenren Lian called, his tone excited: “Meet at the school warehouse. We’ve got a surprise for you.”
Guessing they had found something, Jiang Luo sped up and finished washing in under five minutes, stepping out of the bathroom with a damp face.
Bai Yefeng happened to return to the dorm then. The warm steam from Jiang Luo’s body fogged up his glasses, veiling his face in a layer of mist, making him look more detached and eerily aloof than usual.
Jiang Luo casually wiped his hair, wrapping the dripping strands in a towel, then grinned and asked, “Classmate Bai, you just went out?”
Bai Yefeng calmly removed his glasses and wiped them with a tissue. His eyes, snake-like, slid over Jiang Luo’s body, but he still wore his usual gentle expression. “Yes. Are you all heading out as well?”
Jiang Luo nodded, tossed the towel onto the bed, and just as he and Zhuo Zhongqiu were about to leave, he suddenly stopped and turned with a smile. “See you tonight, Classmate Bai.”
Bai Yefeng smiled back. “See you tonight.”
It wasn’t until they’d exited the dorm building that Zhuo Zhongqiu frowned and said hesitantly, “Bai Yefeng…”
Why did she suddenly feel like something was off about him? When they passed by just now, a chill of terror had run straight through her soul.
For a moment, Zhuo Zhongqiu had even thought she was facing something utterly monstrous.
But when she looked at Jiang Luo—who was calm and even had a strange smile on his lips—her anxiety eased.
Jiang Luo was much more sensitive to these kinds of things. If he hadn’t reacted, she must’ve just imagined it.
The school warehouse was behind the teaching block. When Jiang Luo arrived, he saw Wenren Lian waiting by the door.
Zhuo Zhongqiu asked, “What did you find?”
Wenren Lian turned with a smile. “Why don’t you go in and see for yourself?”
Inside the warehouse, a group of students were gathered in the corner, whispering. Jiang Luo patted Lu Youyi’s shoulder and peeked over.
In the corner sat a man, filthy and unkempt like a wild beast.
He looked terrified, reeking all over, like he hadn’t bathed in centuries. Jiang Luo crouched and looked at him carefully, suddenly finding him familiar. Using a tissue to avoid direct contact, he lifted the man’s face, brushed his matted beard and hair aside, and studied him closely.
This was one of the three workers who had killed Wang Xinhui.
And he was the one who had never spoken.
Jiang Luo tested, “Wang Xinhui…”
At the name, the man flinched violently, curled up tightly, and shrieked, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me…”
Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes and yanked the man’s hair sharply. “What’s your relationship with Wang Xinhui?”
The worker was too frightened to even understand him.
Zhuo Zhongqiu dumped a bucket of cold water over his head. The man shivered and momentarily regained his senses. The tall and intimidating Lu Youyi and Kuang Zheng flanked him, their expressions fierce. “Speak.”
The man shrank back, his eyes wide with fear. Jiang Luo pulled up a photo of Wang Xinhui on his phone and held it out. “What is your relationship with her?”
The girl in the photo was smiling shyly, hair neatly tied, fresh-faced and youthful.
The man stared at the photo and murmured, “She was my girlfriend.”
Jiang Luo pulled up another photo—this time of Fu Yuaner. “And her?”
The man flinched. “She… she was Liu Zhi’s girlfriend.”
Jiang Luo put his phone away. “And what about you and Liu Zhi?”
“We… we were close friends…”
…
This was a case of a group crime.
Fu Yuaner’s first relationship had been a taboo romance with a handsome teacher—a shocking move for a typically obedient and conservative girl.
But she had quickly become intoxicated by the sweetness of love.
However, she was too naive and innocent, repeatedly folding her dreams into Liu Zhi’s life. As graduation from senior year approached, she anxiously and constantly asked Liu Zhi about their future.
Liu Zhi grew increasingly annoyed by her questions and gradually developed the idea of getting rid of Fu Yuaner.
During the school’s expansion, Liu Zhi’s close buddy, Jin Yuangao, got to know Fu Yuaner through Liu Zhi’s introduction.
In Liu Zhi and Jin Yuangao’s generation, there was a significant gender imbalance—out of every five men, three would remain single. Jin Yuangao wasn’t very old, looked decent, but had no education. Seeing his buddy’s beautiful girlfriend, he was both envious and itching with desire. During a meal, he pestered Fu Yuaner to introduce him to a girlfriend.
Fu Yuaner had no choice but to introduce her best friend to him.
Her best friend, Wang Xinhui, was also a well-behaved girl. Having long been moved by the sweet romance Fu Yuaner had spoken of, she hesitantly agreed to meet Jin Yuangao.
Although Jin Yuangao thought his girlfriend wasn’t as pretty as Fu Yuaner, she was still sweet and pleasant. Happy with the match, he bought food and went to Liu Zhi’s faculty apartment to treat Liu Zhi and Fu Yuaner to a meal. During the meal, Jin Yuangao drank too much beer, and when he came back from relieving himself, he saw Liu Zhi smashing Fu Yuaner’s head against the table.
Fu Yuaner was already dead.
Jin Yuangao was stunned. Liu Zhi, drenched in sweat, looked up and said, “Yuangao, you have to help me.”
Jin Yuangao nodded reflexively.
That nod sealed his fate. He panicked, but Liu Zhi was his buddy—he couldn’t let him go to jail. So he called two old workmates who were always mingling on the fringes of society and invited them over for food and drinks.
Once the two had drunk themselves tipsy, Liu Zhi brought out Fu Yuaner’s corpse. The wound on her head was covered with a towel, her clothes disheveled. She looked like she had just passed out drunk on the couch. Liu Zhi barely had to say anything before the two men, driven by lust, pounced on her.
Halfway through, they noticed something was off.
Why wasn’t she making any sounds or movements?
They pulled off the towel—and were shocked to see her pale, lifeless face. Terrified, they rolled off of her.
At that moment, Liu Zhi’s expression changed. Coldly, he said, “You must help me dispose of the body. Otherwise, I’ll report that you raped and killed my girlfriend.”
The two had no choice but to agree. Under the cover of night, they carried the body downstairs. As they were debating how to dispose of it, they were spotted by Wang Xinhui.
Initially, they hadn’t noticed her, but Liu Zhi saw a piece of her jewelry that had fallen when she tried to flee.
The men’s expressions darkened. Liu Zhi carried Fu Yuaner on his back, looked chillingly at the others, and said, “You handle her.”
Then he walked off with Fu Yuaner in the opposite direction.
To avoid exposing himself—and partly to make amends for dragging the two workers into this—Jin Yuangao stayed silent, watching helplessly as Wang Xinhui was horrifically killed and flushed down a toilet.
Jin Yuangao never knew where Liu Zhi hid Fu Yuaner’s body. But within a year after the school’s expansion, the two workers who had r*ped and killed Wang Xinhui also died, one after another.
Jin Yuangao, tormented by fear, suffered a mental breakdown. He went to Liu Zhi again. Liu Zhi told him to hide in the school’s sewer system. As long as the female ghost couldn’t find him, she couldn’t kill him.
So Jin Yuangao went into hiding—and has stayed hidden to this day.
…..
Jiang Luo immediately said, “Call the police.”
The police arrived quickly at the warehouse, along with some staff members. It was as if they had been waiting for this moment. Without much explanation from Jiang Luo’s group, they arrested Jin Yuangao.
One of the staff eagerly asked, “Are you ready to submit your answer now?”
Jiang Luo shook his head. “We’ll submit it later.”
There were still five hours left before the end of the competition, and only one of the three key questions remained: Where was Fu Yuaner’s body hidden?
Ye Xun said, “There’s only one clue we haven’t used.”
“The 4-5 person dorm,” Jiang Luo said with a bitter smile. “I checked under the bed, smashed through the walls, and still couldn’t find her. Could she be in the space between floors?”
Lu Youyi casually said, “Liu Zhi’s office is a four-person room.”
Ge Zhu laughed. “You don’t really think he’d hide the body in his office, do you?”
Jiang Luo suddenly remembered Liu Zhi’s attendance record and his eyes lit up. “It makes sense.”
“Liu Zhi killed Fu Yuaner and hid her body in the school. No one discovered it. Why didn’t he leave Evergreen High?” Jiang Luo sprinted toward the office. “He attended work every single day, rain or shine, without being late once for five months. You can’t use normal logic to understand a pervert’s mind—maybe to him, the safest place to hide the body was right under his nose!”
That way, he could watch over it and prevent anything from going wrong—because the killer was always guarding the body.
Lu Youyi ran after him, puzzled. “…How are you so good at thinking like a psycho?”
Author’s note:
Lu Youyi: scratches head in confusion
