Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Qiao Yu turned around, his gaze settling intently on the class attendance sheet in front of him.
September 1, 2022: All present.
Afternoon: No. 17 got into a fight.
Punishment: Sent to the Psychological Clinic.
Afternoon: No. 01 dyed his hair and failed to deal with it.
Punishment: Solitary confinement.
No. 59 sent to the Psychological Clinic.
September 3, 2022: All present.
Morning: No. 03 was late.
Punishment: Standing punishment.
(Discovered by the passing principal to have failed to carry out discipline strictly according to the School Rules. Head Teacher Tong was docked one day’s wages.)
No. 59 was once again sent to the Psychological Clinic.
September 16, 2022: All present.
Noon: No. 35 left food unfinished in the cafeteria.
Punishment: Three strokes of the “rattan cane.”
No. 59 sent to the Psychological Clinic.
September 21, 2022: 59 present, 1 excused from evening self-study.
Evening self-study: No. 56 bullied a classmate.
Punishment: Solitary confinement + sent to the Psychological Clinic.
No. 59 sent to the Psychological Clinic.
No. 60 excused.
(Two students failed to return at night and went missing. Request to call the police was rejected. Parents of No. 56 and No. 59 contacted. Head Teacher Tong docked three days’ wages.)
September 28, 2022 (after one week of suspended classes): 57 present, 1 excused.
No. 56 and No. 59 have not returned to this day. Handled with a public notice of criticism.
No. 60 excused.
September 31, 2022: 58 present.
Morning: No. 03 was late.
Punishment: Solitary confinement.
After Qiao Yu finished reading the attendance records, his suspicion toward the Painted-Skin Ghost vanished in an instant.
The Painted-Skin Ghost was clearly different from the teachers here. It was obvious she did not approve of this school’s teaching policies. She had even once tried to guide the students in her class according to her own educational ideals-but she had failed, and her wages had been docked for it.
And then there was that resignation letter she had never submitted… If not for the need to pay off her credit card, she might have quit long ago.
But there was one thing that was very hard to understand.
Why had the Painted-Skin Ghost given him the wrong information?
Was it so he would search for clues?
But…
Qiao Yu glanced at the long bill in his hand.
The Painted-Skin Ghost definitely would not have wanted him to see all this. He was sure of it.
So where exactly had things gone wrong…
Qiao Yu lifted his head and looked at the small, delicate makeup mirror on the desk, a subtle shift passing through his eyes.
Just then-creak… creak…
In the quiet room, the sound that appeared out of nowhere was especially conspicuous.
Luo Yunmeng tightened her grip on the Five Emperor Coins, her entire body tensing. “What is that? Come out!”
Her stern demand made the sound stop inexplicably for a moment. The next second, the creaking grew even more frequent.
An unknown, eerie wind swept through. One bloody handprint after another appeared in the room for no reason. The handprints spread from above the window all the way to the space over their heads, then finally stopped after leaving a complete palm print beside the cabinet.
Bang, bang, bang, bang-
Immediately afterward, the unlocked storage cabinet began shaking violently.
“It… it wants to come out!” Luo Yunmeng took a step back, her voice trembling slightly with fear of the unknown.
Smack-
A pale hand suddenly slapped the slightly open cabinet door shut again.
Qiao Yu held the cabinet door down and frowned. “Can you stop doing this whole ‘coming out of the closet’ routine every time nothing’s going on? Can’t you try something new for once?”
Handprint Ghost: ??
-Pfft, I’m dying. The streamer got PTSD from Sister Li coming out of the closet last time, hahahaha.
-Sweet mother of all grandmas, what is going on? The streamer in this Live Stream Room is so vicious.
-Heeheehee, another new ghost came to the Live Stream Room. Welcome to your beating.
Bang, bang, bang…
The Handprint Ghost slammed against the cabinet door again and again, but it still couldn’t get out like it wanted.
At last, its shrill voice rang out from inside the cabinet. “Let me out!”
“You’re the one who insisted on going in. Who can you blame?” Qiao Yu clicked his tongue and mocked, “You ghosts are seriously no fun. Would it kill you to just come out openly? You had to pull all this creepy, passive-aggressive crap, and now you’re stuck. Why bother?”
The Handprint Ghost: “…Let me out.”
“Why should I let you out?”
“Let me out and I’ll tell you a story…”
Qiao Yu continued blocking the cabinet door. “You can tell it just fine like this. Otherwise, find another way out.”
The Handprint Ghost: “…”
This thing was easy to get into and hard to get out of. If it could get out, would it have waited until now??
Furious, the Handprint Ghost scratched at the inside of the storage cabinet, making a sharp, sizzling sound.
“Two years ago, a girl transferred into this school. Her student number was No. 60!”
The Handprint Ghost’s voice was hoarse and drawn out, as if it were deliberately trying to create a terrifying atmosphere.
Luo Yunmeng stared at her teammate calmly blocking the cabinet door, her expression complicated and her head full of question marks.
So… what was happening right now?
What he was doing was absolutely bizarre, but… why did she feel so incredibly safe?
It made no sense!
“And then?”
“Then, because she was the principal’s daughter-and an unloved daughter at that-she became the target of school bullying.
“Her homework was torn up. Her desk was piled with trash every day. After school, her classmates would shove her into the bathroom and press her head into the sink for what they called ‘atonement.’ Guess what happened after that?”
Qiao Yu lightly traced one long, slender finger across the cabinet door and said, “After that, you killed her.”
“That’s right. Hahahahaha, I killed her. A fruit knife! I killed her with a fruit knife. Red blood sprayed everywhere, splattering all over the room. I was so excited I soaked my hands in the blood. That blood… was so cold…”
Inside the cabinet, the Handprint Ghost waited quietly, occasionally ramming the cabinet to build a terrifying atmosphere, expectantly waiting for the other party to scream in fear.
But nothing happened.
After a long while, the person outside the door suddenly let out a scoff. “That’s it?”
The Handprint Ghost: “??”
“Your story isn’t exciting at all. Anyone could guess the ending from the start. How about I tell you a story instead?”
Without waiting for the Handprint Ghost to agree, Qiao Yu began, “In a faraway capital, a princess was born in a castle one day. Because she was incredibly pale, the king named her Princess Whiteblood.”
“Princess Whiteblood’s stepmother was jealous of her beauty and wanted to kill her, so she fled into the forest and met seven little neighbors. Since she was wearing a red dress when she ran away, the neighbors in the forest affectionately called her Little Red Dress. Guess what happened next?”
The Handprint Ghost: “I don’t know. What happened?”
The corners of Qiao Yu’s mouth curved up, his smile full of malice. “I’m not telling you.”
The Handprint Ghost: “…Are you even speaking like a person??”
Qiao Yu ignored her. His finger followed the patterns on the cabinet, drawing circles again and again, looking utterly patient.
After quite some time, just as Luo Yunmeng thought the Handprint Ghost had fallen into an existential crisis, an impatient growl came from inside the cabinet. “So what happened after that? Say it, say it, say it already!”
Shang Yan and Luo Yunmeng: “…”
Qiao Yu, however, leisurely tapped the cabinet door with his fingertip and drawled, “Don’t rush. How about we make a trade? I’ll finish the rest of the story for you, and you break this ghostly loop.”
The Handprint Ghost was so angry its teeth chattered. “…I. Agree. Now talk!”