Chapter 145
Chapter 145
On the other side, after Jiang Li took Han Xueping away…
The moment she opened the door to the Toilet and stepped out, space-time shifted once again.
The light before Jiang Li’s eyes suddenly dimmed, and she found herself back in the corridors of the Clear Spring Hotel.
Jiang Li looked back. The previously derelict Basement Floor 1 had somehow returned to its former state of golden opulence.
There was quite a lot of foot traffic on the basement level, all guests who had come to the Clear Spring Hotel for vacation.
The hallway was noisy and bustling, completely devoid of the Aberrations that had plagued it before.
The Red Door on the basement floor slowly closed, cutting off Jiang Li’s line of sight.
Jiang Li withdrew her gaze and glanced at the Safe Staircase.
Next, the 2nd floor.
Jiang Li climbed the stairs step by step until she stood before the Red Door on the 2nd floor.
She recalled the second short video that had appeared on the computer screen at the hotel reception.
The video’s perspective was that of Han Xueping peeking into a classroom from the doorway.
Inside the classroom, a student named Wang Xiaoran had brought along three or five of her friends. Taking advantage of the teacher’s absence, she stepped one foot onto the teacher’s stool and the other onto the podium.
Wang Xiaoran held a pointer in her hand, rapping it loudly against the blackboard behind her.
In the center of the blackboard, the name “Han Xueping” was written in large letters.
Surrounding it were all sorts of foul, unsightly insults.
*Fat pig, whore, disgusting, green tea bitch, slut…*
“Everyone in this class, listen up and remember this!”
Wang Xiaoran barked the order. The rest of the class sat obediently in their seats; not a single person spoke up.
Wang Xiaoran belonged to the Wang and Ran Families.
Even the principal held these two families in awe; they weren’t people just anyone dared to provoke.
“Listen well. That dead fat pig Han Xueping-if any of you dare to associate with her, I’ll deal with you the same way I deal with her. Do I make myself clear?!”
The friends standing around Wang Xiaoran on the podium also crossed their arms arrogantly, looking down their noses at the rest of the class.
“Speak up! Are you all mute?” one of Wang Xiaoran’s lackeys shouted.
The lackey snapped a piece of chalk in half and threw it at a Low Ponytail Girl sitting below the podium-someone who occasionally associated with Han Xueping.
The girl was hit in the forehead and let out a muffled groan of pain.
“In the future, when you see that bitch Han Xueping, you aren’t allowed to talk to her or hang out with her. Do you understand!”
Wang Xiaoran picked up a box of chalk scraps-about twenty pieces in total-and began pelting them one by one at the Low Ponytail Girl’s head.
Feeling wronged and miserable, the Low Ponytail Girl covered her head and offered a small, quiet protest. “If you keep doing this, I’ll tell the teacher…”
Hearing this, Wang Xiaoran suddenly stopped throwing chalk and began to sneer with a bizarre expression.
“Pfft, hahahaha! What did she say? Did I hear that right?”
Wang Xiaoran turned her head to ask her lackey, the mockery on her face plain to see.
The lackey repeated the words, and after hearing them again, Wang Xiaoran laughed until tears came to her eyes.
Standing on the podium, Wang Xiaoran began to mockingly imitate the Low Ponytail Girl’s words in a high-pitched, eccentric tone.
“‘If you keep doing this, I’ll tell the teacher~’ Pfft, hahahaha!”
“Hey, did you guys hear what she said? She said, ‘If you keep doing this to me, I’ll tell the teacher.’ Oh my god! My stomach hurts from laughing so hard…”
The lackey joined in the ridicule. “How old are you, still running to the teacher to snitch? You’re so impressive! We’re soooooo scared!”
Once Wang Xiaoran had laughed her fill, she walked down from the podium with a smirk.
She walked up to the Low Ponytail Girl and delivered a backhanded slap to her face.
“That’s a reward for you.” Wang Xiaoran grabbed the Low Ponytail Girl by the hair and shoved her hard several times.
“If I ever see you talking to that dead fat pig again, however she gets beaten is how you’ll get beaten. Do you hear me?”
Wang Xiaoran’s anger hadn’t fully dissipated, so she raised her hand and slapped the Low Ponytail Girl a few more times.
Wang Xiaoran rotated her wrist, her face full of smug triumph.
The Low Ponytail Girl’s face was swollen from the repeated slaps.
She tried to fight back, but several of Wang Xiaoran’s companions swarmed her, taking turns beating her. They kicked her thighs and yanked her hair.
After struggling for a long time, the Low Ponytail Girl finally managed to push through the crowd and ran out of the classroom in tears.
At the classroom door, she collided with Han Xueping. Han Xueping tried to offer comfort, but the girl shoved her away. “It’s all your fault! I hate you!! You’re a jinx!”
Han Xueping’s eyes filled with hurt, and her words of comfort died in her throat.
Watching the scene from the doorway, Wang Xiaoran began to clap loudly, laughing with immense satisfaction.
“See that? That’s what happens when you don’t listen. Is there anyone else who wants to be ‘besties’ with Han Xueping? If so, step forward.”
Wang Xiaoran asked again. The rest of the students kept their heads down; the room was deathly silent.
The bell was about to ring for class.
Han Xueping wiped away her tears and walked into the classroom with her head lowered. Wang Xiaoran sneered, “Oh, look, the ‘jinx’ is back?”
Han Xueping kept her head down, sniffled, and went to wipe the blackboard clean. Standing on the podium, she tried her best to keep her voice steady.
“Teacher Wang’s assignment from yesterday-please pass it to the front row. I’ll collect it now.”
Everyone turned a deaf ear to Han Xueping’s words. Not a single person in the class acknowledged her.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to respond; they didn’t dare to. Without Wang Xiaoran’s permission, no one dared to cooperate. After all, Wang Xiaoran had decreed that no one was allowed to interact with Han Xueping.
Everyone was to treat Han Xueping… like an Invisible Person.
The looped video on the 2nd floor was several seconds longer than the one on the -1st floor. When Jiang Li had finished watching it, she felt a suffocating tightness in her chest.
It was hard to imagine how Han Xueping had endured those days, isolated and with nowhere to turn for help, inside this Closed Boarding School built halfway up a mountain.
The Wang Xiaoran of the 2nd floor had come to the Clear Spring Hotel as an adult to enjoy life with her family. Yet, overnight, Wang Xiaoran had encountered strange events and lost her memory. She became an Invisible Person whom no one could see, and in a fit of madness, she murdered her entire family.
None of these bizarre occurrences were accidental. This was Han Xueping’s revenge on Wang Xiaoran.
The 2nd floor of the Clear Spring Hotel was Wang Xiaoran’s personal Lonely Purgatory.
Jiang Li pulled her thoughts back and looked at the bamboo basket next to the Red Door. Among the many items, Jiang Li chose a Glass Bottle Filled with Black Smoke.
According to the survival rules of the 2nd floor, blowing black smoke on someone would make them invisible. Tied to the side of the glass bottle was a Small Spray Bottle filled with hot spring water.
Jiang Li took the glass bottle and the Small Spray Bottle. The moment she pushed open the Red Door, she pressed the button on the Converter to enter the 2nd floor.
Jiang Li arrived in a classroom. The blinding light forced her to raise a hand to shield her eyes. Outside the classroom windows, the orange-red glow of the setting sun bathed the windowsills. It was a beautiful sight, but at this moment, it felt exceptionally piercing.
“Wang Xiaoran, come out for a second.”
Standing at the classroom door, Jiang Li beckoned to the person on the podium.
Wang Xiaoran, who had been about to start shouting again, froze when she saw the unexpected intruder. “Big sister, is there something you need?” Wearing her school uniform, Wang Xiaoran’s tone immediately became polite and sweet.
Wang Xiaoran shot a look at her lackey, who nodded slightly and quickly wiped the foul language off the blackboard.
Jiang Li gave a faint smile. “Ran Xinxin is waiting for you at the school gate. Come out for a moment.”
Wang Xiaoran looked puzzled. “My cousin? Why is she here?”
Wang Xiaoran followed Jiang Li out. As they passed the Storage Room by the stairwell, Jiang Li kicked Wang Xiaoran inside.