Chapter 35
Chapter 35
An indescribable chill crawled up from the soles of Wei Sen’s feet, climbed her back, and shot straight to the crown of her head.
He was right here?
Wei Sen looked around, but she saw nothing.
“Why can’t Teacher see him?” Wei Sen continued asking.
The little girl tilted her head and looked at the empty air beside her. “But he’s right here.”
Wei Sen looked beside the little girl. She still couldn’t see anything.
“Yu Ming, are you here? If you are, can you answer Teacher?” Wei Sen tried.
But the only response she received was a long silence.
So what exactly did the little girl mean?
If Yu Ming really was standing beside her, then why couldn’t any of them see him?
“Teacher, I have to go back, or the PE teacher won’t be able to find me,” the little girl said again.
“All right.”
It was obvious she wouldn’t get anything more from the little girl, so Wei Sen could only watch her leave.
Inside the Infirmary, Xu You had seen everything as well. Only after the little girl disappeared from view did she open the Infirmary door again.
“Sister Sen, how are you?” Xu You came over and asked.
“I’m fine. Did you find anything on your end?” Wei Sen asked.
Xu You nodded. “Yes. That little boy from this morning came again. This time, I found out his name. He’s Sun Qiang from fifth grade! I asked him about Wang Hua and Yu Ming, but he only said Wang Hua and Yu Ming were both his underlings. I couldn’t get anything else out of him.”
“Oh, right. Here’s his photo.” Xu You sent the photo of Sun Qiang she had taken on her watch to Wei Sen.
Wei Sen studied it carefully. She had not seen this person anywhere in the school.
But Class 2, Grade 3 was the only class in the entire school with students. So where was this Sun Qiang the rest of the time?
Like Yu Ming, invisible?
“Sun Qiang, Wang Hua, Yu Ming, Guo Xiaolan, Doctor Xie, Principal Zhang… I feel like we’re getting close to the truth.” Wei Sen took a deep breath. The fog over the playground was growing thicker and thicker, but the fog in her mind was beginning to clear.
After leaving the Infirmary, Wei Sen returned to the playground to meet up with Chen Lin. There were still ten minutes before class ended.
“Sister Sen.”
On the playground, Chen Lin nervously grabbed Wei Sen’s hand, her body trembling uncontrollably.
“What’s wrong?”
Fear was still spreading across Chen Lin’s face. “I just asked Wang Hua about Yu Ming. He… he said Yu Ming was right here! But I couldn’t see anything…”
Wei Sen was also rather confused. Wang Hua’s answer was exactly the same as Guo Xiaolan’s.
“Don’t be nervous. I asked Guo Xiaolan, and she gave me the same answer,” she said.
Only then did Chen Lin slowly let out a breath. “I thought it was some kind of supernatural event…”
A hint of teasing entered Wei Sen’s voice. “Everything we’ve experienced so far isn’t supernatural enough for you?”
Chen Lin’s face flushed faintly again. “I-I’ve been scared of this stuff since I was little. If it weren’t for you all, I might’ve already died of fright.”
“Don’t be afraid. At least as long as you don’t break the rules, they can’t hurt you.”
“Mm.”
Wei Sen had learned from Huang Xinze that the school gate would open briefly for ten minutes after school in the afternoon.
So she wanted to come and see if there were any clues. By the time she arrived, Bai Xue and the other three members of Group A were already there.
“You’re here to see what’s outside the gate too?” Bai Xue came over and struck up a conversation with Wei Sen.
“Mm.” Wei Sen was no longer curious how they had found out that the school gate opened after dismissal. It was obvious Group A had just as much information as they did.
At that moment, Huang Xinze walked up to the sheet-metal gate with the keys. He looked at everyone and reminded them, “I’ll open the gate in a bit. Remember to stand farther back. Don’t go outside the gate. If something happens, I won’t take responsibility.”
“Don’t worry. We’re just taking a look,” Zhou Junjie said.
Huang Xinze glanced at his watch. There were three minutes until school let out.
Everyone stood where they were, braced and ready.
No one knew what they would see when the gate opened, or what would happen.
“What is Group A’s Clearance Condition?” Wei Sen looked at Bai Xue beside her and asked directly, deliberately speaking loudly enough for the other members of Group A to hear.
Bai Xue did not panic at all. Instead, she smiled faintly. “Oh? Looks like you found Group B’s Clearance Condition rules.”
Wei Sen gave a cold smile. So every member of Group A knew that Group A and Group B had different Clearance Condition requirements.
“We can exchange information,” Wei Sen said.
Bai Xue sighed. “What a shame. Our cooperation ends here.”
Bai Xue’s refusal to exchange information was within Wei Sen’s expectations.
If Group A’s Clearance Condition was something that could be stated outright, Bai Xue would not have gone to such lengths to deceive them. Refusing to trade that information was only natural.
There had to be something about Group A’s Clearance Condition that needed to be deliberately concealed. Or perhaps one of Bai Xue’s rules restricted her from saying it aloud…
After thinking it through, Wei Sen looked at the person before her and said coolly, “Fine. Then I wish you a smooth departure.”
Bai Xue curved her lips into a meaningful smile. Looking into Wei Sen’s eyes, she said, “You too.”
Just then, the dismissal bell rang. Huang Xinze used the key to unlock the huge padlock on the sheet-metal gate.
When the gate was pushed open, everyone held their breath and stared.
Unexpectedly, however, there was only thick fog beyond the gate. Nothing else.
Wei Sen did not see Yu Ming’s Grandmother, nor any Eerie Entity.
Inside the school, numerous students in uniforms, schoolbags on their backs, began heading toward the gate. The place bustled with noise and movement, nothing like the desolate silence of daytime.
“So there were this many students in the school?” Zhao Yue said in surprise.
Wang Wenlei, who had kept both hands in his pockets the whole time, clicked his tongue and said, “Other than Class 2, Grade 3, where we had class, every other classroom was full of fog. So these guys were in the classrooms all along, huh? Good thing none of you wandered into the other rooms.”
Everyone watched for a while before Zhou Junjie said, “This looks no different from a normal dismissal. Let’s go. It’s time to eat at the cafeteria.”
Bai Xue considered it for a moment, then nodded. “All right.”
Before leaving, Bai Xue did not forget to glance at Wei Sen again.
This woman was very clever. Bai Xue had expected that she would discover the two groups had different rules sooner or later. She just had not expected Wei Sen to figure it out so quickly, on the very first day.
If not for the convenience afforded by her own assigned role, Bai Xue probably would have found it very difficult to uncover so much in a single day.
This woman truly could not be underestimated.
Fortunately…
She was not in the same group as her.
Thinking this, Bai Xue withdrew her gaze and let out a quiet breath of relief, then headed toward the cafeteria with the others.
When the ten minutes were up and no more students appeared, Huang Xinze hurriedly shut the sheet-metal gate according to the Security Guard Notebook, then locked the heavy padlock again.
“Sister Sen, let’s go. Food time.”
After finishing all that, Huang Xinze walked toward Wei Sen, but Wei Sen was still standing in place, deep in thought.
“Sister Sen?”
Wei Sen looked up at him, her expression grave. “Guo Xiaolan, the Little Girl in Red, didn’t leave the school. Neither did Wang Hua or Sun Qiang.”
Huang Xinze’s eyes widened. “There were that many people. You saw them all clearly?”
“Mm. Let’s go to the cafeteria first and discuss it there.”
The two of them headed to the cafeteria together.
When Wei Sen arrived, she deliberately took note of the color of Wang Mei’s clothes at Window 1. They were still the normal blue.
She thought of the Hidden Rule Bai Xue had mentioned: do not mention Wang Mei’s husband in front of her…
Wei Sen secretly checked her watch. Her current Merit Points were 425, still 75 short of 500. She had no idea whether she could raise them before the ticking time bomb that was Wang Mei exploded.
And even then, she would still have to get lucky enough in the Card Draw to draw an Anomalous Artifact capable of dealing with Wang Mei…
Wei Sen stopped dwelling on it and headed over to Lin Xiaoxue, Chen Lin, and Xu You with Huang Xinze.
Everyone gathered again, ready to share information and discuss their next move. Not far away, the members of Group A and Xia Susu were also discussing something.
“Does that woman still not know our two groups have different Clearance Conditions?” Lin Xiaoxue asked, shooting a disdainful glance at Xia Susu, who was in the middle of an enthusiastic discussion with Group A.
Chen Lin asked quietly, “Should we still remind her…?”
Lin Xiaoxue curled her lip. “I’m not talking to her, anyway.”
Huang Xinze gave an awkward laugh. “Uh, about the two groups having different Clearance Conditions… I already messaged Susu privately about it.”
Lin Xiaoxue shot to her feet. “You traitor!!”
“Hey, I can’t just leave a pretty girl to die! Besides, all I said was that they’re different. I didn’t reveal any specifics!” Huang Xinze explained anxiously.
Wei Sen looked at him. “So did she believe you?”
Huang Xinze grew even more embarrassed. Scratching his head, he said, “Well, you know, it’s just…”
“She didn’t,” Wei Sen said for him.
“Mm… I’ll try to talk some sense into her again. If she still doesn’t believe me, then forget it. Ugh!” Huang Xinze sounded rather helpless too.
Xu You shook her head and said in Sichuan dialect, “Stop playing saint. When Heaven brings disaster, you can still survive. When you bring disaster on yourself, there’s no saving you!”