Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The cultural festival had been quite a success.

After taking Lin Xiaoyu, Meng Mo, and the others to participate, Li Que earned another fourteen Good Teacher Points, bringing his total to 328.

An ordinary class usually earned him only one or two points.

From that perspective, taking his students to social activities, field experiences, and similar events was clearly worthwhile.

As Li Que planned more activities for the future, he carried a stack of documents into the classroom.

All four students were already seated.

“The school requires a file for every student, so each of you needs to fill out a family-background form.”

Li Que walked to the lectern and handed the forms to Nian Youyu, who distributed them.

The form requested fairly detailed family information, including home address and household members.

Li Que had tried to learn more about Lin Xiaoyu the day before, only to discover that the school had no information at all.

Its recordkeeping was far too sloppy.

Of course, he understood that every student sent here had different problems-autism, violent tendencies, depression, and more. In many cases, those problems were caused by family circumstances.

A family survey could therefore hurt these students. They might not want anyone prying into their home lives.

Respecting their privacy, Li Que added, “Just fill in whatever you like. If you don’t remember something, you can leave it blank.”

Lin Xiaoyu and the others lowered their heads and began writing.

Before long, everyone was finished. Nian Youyu collected the forms, and Li Que skimmed through them.

Lin Xiaoyu had listed her home address as Dragon-Transforming Slope, Five Dragons Mountain. Under family members, however, she had written only an older sister and an aunt.

Her sister’s name consisted of a single word: Frost. The aunt’s information was equally sparse. She was apparently called Auntie Miao.

There was nothing else.

Li Que felt a headache coming on. Did that mean Lin Xiaoyu and her sister were orphans?

Had Auntie Miao raised them?

At last, he understood why Lin Xiaoyu was so withdrawn, even autistic.

The other students’ family-background forms were just as sparse.

On Meng Mo’s form, he listed his father’s name as Great Demon King Meng and wrote nothing else.

Bai Lu only listed her mother, giving a single name: Bai Yan.

Nian Youyu was the most direct. Under family members, he simply wrote: None.

Li Que’s expression grew complicated. None of the four children in his class had a complete family.

Meng Mo in particular-no wonder he was always causing trouble in class. He wouldn’t even write his father’s real name, putting down something ridiculous like Great Demon King instead.

Li Que merely sighed inwardly. He showed no surprise or shock on his face.

He knew that any expression or look from him might hurt these students.

So he acted as though everything were normal, set the forms aside, and said, “All right. Let’s begin today’s lesson.”

“Sooner or later, all of you will have to take exams. Starting today, I’m going to teach you some academic subjects-primarily language arts, mathematics, and a foreign language.”

In truth, special schools had no academic requirements. Parents who sent their children here had usually given up on their grades long ago.

Most teachers didn’t concern themselves with academics either. As long as the students remained safe at school and nothing serious happened, that was enough.

Li Que didn’t agree.

In his view, these children only had problems because their past experiences had covered their hearts in a layer of dust. Brush it away, and they could shine just as brightly as anyone else.

Over the last few lessons, Li Que had already seen hope.

The habitually withdrawn Lin Xiaoyu had given someone else the paper boat she folded the night before. She had learned to share.

Before that, the students had even made dumplings with Granny Zhang and allowed the old woman to pass away in happiness.

That proved they were good-natured and kind at heart.

Li Que decided to take responsibility for their education so they wouldn’t miss these precious years of learning.

“We’ll start with language arts today. Meng Mo, did you memorize the classical poem I assigned a few days ago?”

Meng Mo’s face fell. He rose and lowered his head.

“Sir… I only know a few lines.”

“Recite as much as you can,” Li Que said.

Meng Mo gathered his courage.

“The ornamented zither has fifty strings for no reason. Each string, each bridge… recalls the flowering years.”

“Zhuangzi… dreamed at dawn and lost himself in a butterfly… Emperor Wang entrusted his spring heart, entrusted…”

He couldn’t get any further.

Li Que sighed. The Ornamented Zither was required memorization for the college entrance examination.

“That was a good start,” he encouraged. “Keep practicing after class. I know you can do it.”

Then he began explaining the poem.

“Zhuangzi dreamed at dawn and lost himself in a butterfly. This line has profound philosophical meaning. Within the dream, was it the butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi, or Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly?”

As Li Que continued, he noticed that every child in the classroom had inexplicably fallen asleep.

He sighed softly.

Sure enough, nothing was more soporific than sitting in class and learning.

But he didn’t disturb them. These students were still growing. If they wanted to sleep, he could let them rest for a while.

At that moment, Li Que’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. It was Leng Qingyan. He stepped into the hallway and answered.

“Teacher Li, it seems a new horror escape room has opened in the city…”

Leng Qingyan sounded hurried and oddly hesitant, as though she desperately wanted to tell him something but had to weigh every word.

“A lot of students went inside to play and were frightened to death…”

Li Que was baffled. A horror escape room had opened in the city. Why did she need to tell him specifically?

…

At that moment, outside a bustling commercial complex on Liuyi Road in Mingjiang City…

Xu Changjiang stood with every officer in the Anomaly Suppression Bureau, staring solemnly at the shopping center ahead.

Leng Qingyan was on the phone.

Early that morning, the police had forwarded them a possible anomaly case. Something had happened inside an escape room in this shopping center.

Several groups of students had entered one after another, and none had come back out. Their parents and the police had sent people inside to search for them, but every one of them had disappeared as well.
The horror escape room seemed to have become an abyss that devoured the living.

Leng Qingyan and the others hurried to the scene. Their investigation left them stunned: the anomaly reading had already surpassed B-class.

It was probably A-class.

An A-class anomaly exceeded the Anomaly Suppression Bureau’s capacity.

Mingjiang City usually saw D-class and C-class anomalies at worst. Even its only B-class cases had been the Stray Cat and the Cat-Faced Crone.

Now A-class anomalies were appearing one after another.

Xu Changjiang judged that this was most likely related to Rain.

He immediately told Leng Qingyan to notify Li Que.

But dangerous currents were moving beneath Mingjiang City. The Eclipse Organization and Hall of Anomalies were both watching hungrily, and their call might be monitored. Leng Qingyan had to speak in circles.

She was certain someone as intelligent as Li Que would understand what was happening.

After considerable effort, she finally managed to give him a rough description of the situation.

In the hallway at Mingjiang No. 7 Special School, Li Que couldn’t make head or tail of it.

An escape room had opened in the city. So what?

Was that really worth a special phone call from Leng Qingyan?

From the sound of things, it had to be horror-themed. Why else would she use an exaggeration like frightened to death?

“Are you recommending that I try the escape room?” Li Que finally ventured.

“Uh…”

Leng Qingyan seemed to freeze on the other end. Then she gave an emphatic answer.

“Yes!”

“Teacher Li, I think it might be more suitable for young people!”

Li Que smiled. Had Leng Qingyan really talked around the subject for so long just to invite him to an escape room?

“All right. I need to finish class first, but I’ll definitely go try it afterward.”

He ended the call and returned to the classroom.

Nian Youyu, Lin Xiaoyu, and Bai Lu were all awake.

Only Meng Mo remained fast asleep.

“Sir… I want to go.”

Lin Xiaoyu timidly raised her hand. A trace of yearning shone in her eyes as she looked at Li Que.

He froze. Had they overheard his call?

They wanted to try the escape room?

Ordinarily, leaving school in the middle of class would be out of the question.

But something might have happened to Lin Xiaoyu’s family, and she was already upset. She was emotionally fragile even at the best of times.

She had finally taken the initiative to ask him for something. How could Li Que bring himself to refuse?

“All right. I’ll take you to the escape room.”

He agreed on the spot.

The three students immediately brightened. Apparently, anything that got them out of class made them happy.

Li Que glanced at Meng Mo. The boy was sleeping like the dead, so he decided not to wake him. He took Nian Youyu, Bai Lu, and Lin Xiaoyu outside, hailed a taxi, and headed for the location Leng Qingyan had mentioned.

…

At that moment, inside an elegant café on the second floor of the Liuyi Road shopping center…

A woman in a short white skirt entered carrying a handbag. She wore sunglasses, her hair fell in voluminous waves, and her graceful figure drew admiring looks from customers nearby.

She casually ordered a coffee and took a window seat overlooking the Southern Suburbs Escape Room across the way.

She lifted her cup, took a small sip, and smiled.

Then she picked up her phone and sent a message: “Have you found Qin Zhenye?”

“Not yet. Every trace of Qin Zhenye has vanished.”

The reply arrived quickly.

A faint shadow crossed the beautiful woman’s eyes. Qin Zhenye had personally called the day before to confirm Rain’s situation.

How had he suddenly vanished today?

There was nothing she could do about it now. She set the matter aside and made a call.

“Is the Water God’s Knot in place?”

Inside the Southern Suburbs Escape Room opposite the café, an employee answered.

“It’s in place. The Haunted House Anomaly is guarding it, so there won’t be a problem.”

The beautiful woman nodded. “Rain will come once she senses the Water God’s Knot. It is her companion object, after all. You may not be her match, but doing your best will be enough.”

She ended the call and leisurely savored her coffee.

“Rain has arrived. She’s entering the shopping center.”

Before long, her phone screen lit up.

The beautiful woman glanced at the message and slowly rose. At the first-floor escalator, an ordinary, neatly dressed man was coming up with three school-age students.

Her gaze landed on the quiet girl among them, and a smile curved her lips.

…

Outside the shopping center…

“Teacher Li and his students have gone inside.”

Leng Qingyan was about to get out of the car and meet Li Que first.

“Wait!”

Xu Changjiang’s expression suddenly changed as his phone began to ring. He looked at the caller, his face darkening, and answered.

When the call ended, he said, “People from the Provincial Department are about to arrive. We need to go back and receive them.”

Leng Qingyan grew anxious. “How can that be more urgent than this?”

Xu Changjiang slowly shook his head.

“If we remain here, the Provincial Department will come as soon as they hear the news. Teacher Li will be exposed, and our plan will become useless.”

Mingjiang City’s greatest trump card was Li Que.

Xu Changjiang was almost certain there were more Eclipse Organization spies inside the Provincial Department. They couldn’t allow those people to meet Li Que.

“Dashan, stay here. Conceal every lead and don’t let anyone else discover anything unusual.”

He looked at Leng Qingyan. “You and I will go back and keep the Provincial Department people occupied.”

“I trust Teacher Li can handle the anomaly here.”

Leng Qingyan could only sigh deeply.

Xu Changjiang was right. The greatest danger to Li Que wasn’t these anomalies.

It was the traitors inside the government.

Besides, even if they stayed, they couldn’t help Li Que against an A-class anomaly.

Their most important job was to delay the people from above and protect Li Que’s secret.

Leng Qingyan nodded, and their vehicle immediately sped back toward the Anomaly Suppression Bureau.

…