Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Qin Musong reacted first. Before anyone else moved, his body tensed like a hunting wolf and shot through the door.

“Follow him!” The others still stood clustered around the corpse, but Cheng Miao ignored them and rushed out with Qi Jiajia and Lin Zhu.

“Xiao Ming, should we take a look too?” Qiao Jin smoothed the creases from her dress and tilted her head toward the tall young man beside her.

Qian Ming had a lollipop in his mouth, bulging his left cheek. His eyes curved in a smile. “If Qiaoqiao wants to go, we’ll go.”

After Qiao Jin swept away in her long dress with Qian Ming trailing like an attendant, the remaining players exchanged uncertain looks.

“Should we go too?”

“It’s a corpse. What if there’s a ghost?”

“But we won’t find clues if we stay.”

“They already went. They’ll share whatever they discover, won’t they?”

“Exactly. We’re one team.”

Chen Yu glanced at the group huddling together, linked arms with Freckles, and ran after Cheng Miao.

Xiao Zhao was dead in the women’s restroom.

Her long hair had somehow knotted around a door handle and strangled her.

Cheng Miao stared at Xiao Zhao’s blue-white face. The method of death was bizarre.

Qin Musong knew basic forensic examination. By the time Cheng Miao arrived, he had already taken the body down.

“She died before Brother Zhang.” His voice was grim, and his sharp eyes scanned the restroom from deep-set sockets.

Lin Zhu, terrified of corpses, leaned against the wall. He refused to leave and silently tried to bolster his courage.

Qi Jiajia glanced at him, then crouched beside the body. “So the one sitting behind Brother Zhang in the classroom was a ghost?”

She touched Xiao Zhao’s knotted hair, then looked back triumphantly at Lin Zhu. She would show Cheng Miao exactly how useless he was.

Lin Zhu went pale. He understood now: Jiajia thought he was too weak to protect her. He had to become stronger.

Qi Jiajia stared in confusion when he gritted his teeth and forced his trembling legs toward them. What was wrong with him?

A hand offered her a tissue. Qi Jiajia looked up. Qin Musong held it between two fingers. “Children shouldn’t touch these things.”

The inexplicable paternal concern in his eyes made Qi Jiajia shudder. Rather than snap at him, she rolled her eyes and hid behind Cheng Miao.

Cheng Miao glanced at Qin Musong. He showed no embarrassment and instead gave his first smile since entering the instance, then calmly put the tissue away.

“Looks like this lady’s been dead a while.” The words came out muffled around something in the speaker’s mouth.

Cheng Miao turned. Qiao Jin and Qian Ming had arrived, followed by Chen Yu, Freckles, the bearded man, and an old man with the air of an immortal sage.

“Where is everyone else?” Lin Zhu looked past them.

Qian Ming shrugged. “Waiting in the classroom for us to serve them the answer.”

Cheng Miao ignored those people and narrowed her eyes at Xiao Zhao’s miserable corpse.

Her eyes held disbelief and despair, but no fear.

“She really does look as if she died in an accident.” Unable to understand, Cheng Miao leaned closer.

Lin Zhu marveled at how much braver Sister Miaomiao had become. In the previous instance, Granny Sang’s sudden appearance had still startled her. Now she showed no fear inside a restroom that might contain a ghost.

Qi Jiajia stood silently behind Cheng Miao, keeping everyone else at a distance.

Qian Ming craned his neck forward, only to retreat when Qi Jiajia glared at him. Rolling the lollipop stick around his mouth, he said, “Yeah, it does. That’s not the face of someone who saw a ghost.”

Qiao Jin fell silent, then bent to whisper something to Freckles. The young woman nodded and ran out of the restroom, her ponytail swaying behind her.
Everyone else considered the clues. The restroom smelled unpleasant, so Qin Musong suggested leaving.

Students carrying books hurried through the corridor toward various classrooms. It was the long break, with ten minutes remaining before class.

“Sister Miaomiao, don’t they seem…” Lin Zhu walked beside Cheng Miao with both hands in his pockets, searching the students’ faces for the right word.

“Calm,” the old man supplied. The students had been frightened when they discovered the body, but within minutes, they seemed to have forgotten. Their lives had returned to their usual track.

Cheng Miao saw Freckles gathering the remaining players in the corridor and headed toward her. “The records provided by the Dean show that someone has died at this school every day for the past ten days. The students must be accustomed to it.”

Cheng Miao had another, darker thought, but did not say it. Qiao Jin, walking near the wall, voiced it instead. “And now that we’ve arrived, the dead are players instead of students. They must feel relieved.”

The tense atmosphere grew even more oppressive. Cheng Miao quickened her steps and rejoined the others.

Freckles seriously reported what she had learned. “Sister Li says she saw what happened. After Xiao Zhao argued with this little girl, she never followed us to class.”

Cheng Miao looked toward Sister Li, a woman so thin that skin stretched directly over bone. Her hair lay flat against her scalp, making her resemble a walking skeleton.

Sister Li nodded. “Yes. I deliberately looked back when I entered the classroom. Xiao Zhao went toward the restroom. I almost asked why she wasn’t attending class, but I assumed she had her own plans and didn’t get the chance.”

“Well? You spent all that time in the restroom. Did you find any clues?” The auntie grew impatient when no one spoke.

Qin Musong was a lone wolf who rarely talked and simply followed the group. Qiao Jin and Cheng Miao were both frowning in thought, their forming ideas interrupted by the question.

Qi Jiajia had changed into clean clothes. Refined and expensive-looking, she resembled a precious handmade doll that few could dislike.

She stroked the lace at the hem of her dress and gave the auntie a malicious smile. “You were too scared to come, but now you’re in a hurry to harvest everyone else’s ideas and work?”

The auntie’s face reddened, but she stubbornly refused to admit it. “You’re obviously veteran players. If you went, why did the rest of us need to? Besides, we’re one team. Veterans are supposed to carry newcomers.”

Qian Ming held the bare lollipop stick between his teeth and smiled roguishly, with the same cruelty hidden beneath Qi Jiajia’s expression. “Do you think this is your factory, with veterans training rookies? Guess who suffers in the end if we stop sharing and helping each other.”

The auntie’s eyes reddened. A second later, she began sobbing and cursing. “Young people these days have no conscience…”

The old man rubbed his nose. Apparently, he had been included among the young people.

Several remaining liberal-arts players had formed a small clique around the auntie and joined in attacking the veterans’ behavior.

“I’m not a veteran,” Freckles said calmly. “This is my first instance.”

The auntie’s next sobbing accusation lodged in her throat.

“Stop arguing.” Cheng Miao rubbed between her brows. “I think I know which death conditions they triggered.”