Chapter 29
Chapter 29
A flicker of wariness flashed through Huang Xinze’s eyes, but he quickly returned to his usual carefree, roguish manner and laughed. “Are you complimenting my figure? No joke, I’ve been working out for twenty years. Look at these muscles!”
As he spoke, he raised an arm and showed off his biceps.
Just then, the school bell rang across the campus.
Wei Sen did not press him further.
There had to be a reason why their group had ended up in this Eerie World.
If she used her own reason to infer everyone else’s, then it would only prove one thing-
They were all villains!
Of course, that was only her guess.
“Let’s go.” Wei Sen turned around.
Huang Xinze put down the broom and followed. “Where to?”
“The Principal’s Office.”
“Sure!”
Wei Sen glanced at the person beside her out of the corner of her eye. “You’re not going to ask why I’m going?”
Huang Xinze smiled. “What else could it be for? Obviously, to get out of this damned place.”
At least this man had some brains.
Wei Sen thought that and said nothing more.
The two of them soon arrived beneath the teaching building.
“The Principal’s Office is at the deepest end of the seventh-floor corridor. I’m going in to check the situation inside, but the prerequisite is that the principal can’t be there.” Wei Sen stood in front of the teaching building layout map.
“I remember you said in the main group chat that the principal randomly checks on teachers during class. Maybe we can take advantage of that,” Huang Xinze said.
“Mm. I saw Zhou Junjie post in the group chat that the principal came to inspect his class too. Maybe it isn’t a random inspection, but something the principal does for every class. But the window is too short. I need you to help me stall the principal.”
“No problem!”
“Remember not to violate the Teaching Building Rules.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait for him on the third floor. I can also check whether any students sneak out during class, so I don’t violate the Security Guard Rules.”
“Good. There are two staircases in the teaching building, one on the left and one on the right. Once you see him come out from one staircase, I’ll quickly go upstairs from the other side. If you can’t hold him off anymore, tell me which staircase he went back up from. I’ll evacuate in time.”
“No wonder they call you Sister Sen.” Huang Xinze smiled as he looked at her. “You’re really impressive. Very meticulous.”
Wei Sen looked at the figure appearing on the seventh floor. “He’s here.”
Huang Xinze’s expression instantly turned serious. “He’s coming down the right staircase.”
“I’ll leave it to you.” After saying that, Wei Sen quickly headed up the left staircase toward the seventh floor.
Wei Sen made it to the seventh floor in one breath, so exhausted she was gasping for air.
As expected, physical labor really did not suit her!
Hands on her waist, she quickly adjusted her breathing and headed toward the end of the corridor.
This place was very different from the third floor. The walls on both sides of the corridor were snow-white, as if they had been artificially renovated.
There was only one office on the entire floor, at the very end. Its pitch-black door exuded an indescribable strangeness.
After making sure there were no new rules anywhere around, Wei Sen strode toward the office.
She did not know if it was an illusion, but she kept feeling as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at her from all around, just like the feeling she had in the dormitory corridor on the first night.
Wei Sen arrived at the door and turned the handle. It was not locked.
She slowly opened the door and cautiously looked inside. The furnishings were ordinary: an office desk and chair, filing cabinets. Nothing abnormal, and no one was there.
She let out a breath of relief and stepped inside, only to abruptly discover a skeleton standing by the window.
Wei Sen froze in place, staring at the skeleton as it stared back at her.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
The skeleton did not move at all. Wei Sen tentatively walked farther in, but the skeleton still stood motionless by the window.
“Whew…”
It was just a model.
This principal might have taught biology.
Wei Sen looked around the room. The most eye-catching things were the various certificates of honor, silk banners, and awards covering three entire walls.
“With Tireless Dedication, You Nurture Talent; With Boundless Love, You Enrich Generations of Students-In Honor of Principal Zhang’s Selfless Contributions”
“Principal Zhang Zhi:
During your tenure as principal of Zhihui Primary School, you have, with outstanding leadership and profound dedication to education, led all teachers and students in innovating educational philosophy and improving the quality of teaching and learning, while optimizing campus management and creating a harmonious environment for nurturing students.
In recognition of your outstanding contributions, you are hereby awarded the honorary title of ‘Outstanding Principal.'”
…
The three walls of achievements were filled entirely with praise for Principal Zhang.
For someone so capable to stay at a rural primary school like this for twenty or thirty years was indeed rare.
If it had been anyone else, with so many honors to their name, they would surely have climbed the ranks step by step and left this poor, harsh place long ago.
With that thought, Wei Sen made the most of her time and began searching the office.
On the desk, Wei Sen found a notice of public criticism.
Disciplinary Decision Regarding the Misconduct of Students Wang Hua and Sun Qiang
Zhihui Primary School [2002] No. 15
Following an investigation, after school on April 4, 2002, Wang Hua, a student of Class 2, Grade 3 at our school, arranged to meet his classmate Yu Ming at the school Gymnasium. Together with Sun Qiang, a student of Class 1, Grade 5, he extorted Yu Ming, forcibly demanding 1.5 yuan in cash. During the incident, a physical altercation broke out between the parties. This conduct seriously violated school rules and discipline and had a harmful impact.
In accordance with Article 15, Chapter 3 of the Zhihui Primary School Student Management Regulations, and after deliberation at a school administrative meeting, it has been decided that Wang Hua and Sun Qiang shall be expelled from student status and placed under school probation.
This notice is hereby issued.
Zhihui Primary School
April 6, 2002.
The Gymnasium. Yu Ming…
Wei Sen had learned more clues, but the information was limited. For now, there was no way to connect these things into a complete line.
After putting down the notice, Wei Sen immediately went back to the filing cabinet and began flipping through the documents.
There were a lot of files, so Wei Sen could only skim through them as quickly as possible.
The first one was the history of Zhihui Primary School.
Zhihui Primary School was founded in 1996. It had been built with donations from a company called Ether Group, and every year, the group established the Ether Scholarship at this rural primary school to support students from struggling families who also had excellent grades.
There was also an old group photo in the school history, already yellowed and faded. Eight men were in it. The two men in the center were facing the camera and shaking hands, while behind them hung a conspicuous banner that read, “Warmly Celebrating the Completion of Zhihui Primary School.”
She could just barely make out that the man in the very center was Principal Zhang when he was younger. The man beside him looked under thirty, very young, with a Western face and a bright, spirited smile.
Wei Sen used the camera function on her watch to take a picture of the photo. This might be useful information, something she could sync to the others later.
The rest of the school history recorded the outstanding students who had received the Ether Scholarship over the years. Each of them held a certificate in their hands as they faced the camera, their smiles especially simple and sincere, except for one girl.
The girl wore a school uniform, her face devoid of expression. Her eyes looked far more mature than those of her peers.
Wei Sen found it strange, so she took a photo of her as well.
After putting down the school history, Wei Sen continued checking the other files. Every file had keywords on it, likely to make them easier to browse.
“2002 Zhihui Primary School Faculty and Staff Information?”
When Wei Sen saw a file related to the current timeline, she checked it first.
Principal: Zhang Dexin
Vice Principal: Lin Qiao (female)
Academic Affairs Director: Bai Xue
…
Wei Sen discovered that the names of all twenty people who had entered this Instance were listed inside. But it was obvious that their names had originally been covered with white correction fluid, and their names had been added afterward.
The names in the places that had not been covered were the real faculty and staff who had originally worked at this school.
There was another strange detail in this faculty and staff information. After the cafeteria worker Wang Mei’s name, the word “spouse” had been specially noted, but the information following “spouse” had been erased with correction fluid, and no new name had been filled in.
The cafeteria worker Wang Mei was the person at Window 1 this morning.
Wei Sen thought it over.
Generally speaking, if there were family relationships between faculty and staff members, they would be specifically noted in the files. That meant Wang Mei’s husband was probably also a member of the school staff.
But who was he? Why had his name been erased?
And all twenty of their names had been written over other corrected names, so why had Wang Mei’s husband’s name not been covered by a new name?
Too many questions tangled in Wei Sen’s mind, and she could not make sense of them. She tried using her fingernail to scrape away the correction fluid over Wang Mei’s husband’s name.
The method worked, but it required extreme care. Otherwise, she could easily tear the paper.
After working at it for a while, Wei Sen saw the person radical on the left side emerge.
At the same time, her watch vibrated.
“He’s back! From the right!”
“He’s moving fast!”
“Run!”
Seeing the three messages Huang Xinze had sent one after another, Wei Sen hurriedly put the file back where it had been.
Didn’t Principal Zhang look like he had trouble walking, moving very slowly?
Why was he suddenly moving so fast?
Could it be… he knew she had sneaked into the office?!
As the thought flashed through Wei Sen’s mind, she immediately rushed to the door. But out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the skeleton again.
The skeleton that had originally been by the window was now beside the desk!
It could move!
Wei Sen’s pupils contracted sharply, and she instantly charged out of the office.