Case Files Chapter 49: Campus Suspicions (11)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

Everything had happened without warning.

Tang ZiYou and a group of eight people walked into the pitch-black and eerie old laboratory building, and she trembled a little. She had only joined this club out of curiosity, but she didn’t really like actually exploring things.

“Senior, you’re very bold, so we won’t escort you. Let’s go in pairs.” Cheng JiaoJiao waved to WenWen and went to the east side of the first floor with Wang TianPeng.

Tang ZiYou quickly caught up to Fang YuTian and went to the west side of the first floor, which they had planned out before. Gao Yun and Li Qiang went to the east side of the second floor, and Chen Jing and Lu MinMin went to the west side of the second floor.

Tang ZiYou followed Fang YuTian closely and took some pictures of the sculptures in the corridor. The flashes from the cameras in the darkness were unsettling.

“Fang YuTian, let’s go upstairs to find them,” urged Tang ZiYou.

“Let’s go.” After Fang YuTian finished taking pictures, he walked towards the stairs.

“Um, does JiaoJiao really have to do this? What if she gets frightened?” When Tang ZiYou recalled what everyone had said, she felt worried.

“It’s just for fun. She’s really bold, and she’s been talking about how we’ll find ghosts here all the time, so nothing’s going to happen,” Fang YuTian said casually.

They went up to the second floor, and Tang ZiYou went to find Lu MinMin and the others to regroup.

At this time, Gao Yun was excitedly shining a flashlight around a specimen exhibit.

“Li Qiang, what kind of insect is this? It looks like a blade of grass.”

No one replied.

“Li Qiang? Li Qiang?” Gao Yun shone the flashlight around, but Li Qiang was nowhere to be seen.

Gao Yun ran out of the exhibit room, but the hallway was also empty.

“Li Qiang? Where are you? Don’t scare me.” Gao Yun suddenly felt a little scared. She quickly walked through the hallway and turned a corner, walking towards the stairs.

Suddenly, a figure seemed to dash past the top of the staircase.

“Who is it? Who’s there? Is it you, Li Qiang?” Gao Yun walked up the stairs, unnerved.

She shone her flashlight around at the top, but there was no one there. Gao Yun trembled and began to fumble for her phone. She abruptly sensed that there was someone behind her, so she whirled around.

A distorted, white skull was facing her, and it tilted its head at her under its large, black cloak. Its empty eye sockets seemed to be staring at her. Gao Yun felt her head buzz, and her scream was stuck in her throat. She subconsciously took a step backwards.

The ghost-like thing raised its arms and walked towards her, and it seemed to want to grab her. Gao Yun’s entire body felt weak as she staggered backwards, about to run away.

“Don’t——” The ghost seemed to say something, but it was too late.

“Ahh! ——” Gao Yun had already lost her balance and rolled down the stairs.

The ghost mask was pulled down, revealing Cheng JiaoJiao’s shocked face.

“Gao Yun!” Tang ZiYou was the first to rush out of the classroom the others had been hiding in, and she ran down the stairs. The others seemed to snap awake and also rushed out.

“Her head’s bleeding…” Lu MinMin’s voice cracked from her fear.

Tang ZiYou took off her scarf and used it to cover where Gao Yun was bleeding from. “Quick, call an ambulance! Quick!”

“We can’t call them with our phones!” Fang YuTian stopped the people who were pulling out their phones.

“Why not?” Cheng JiaoJiao asked anxiously.

“It’ll leave traces. If Gao Yun fell because of Cheng JiaoJiao’s prank, then we’ll also be related to the incident. Think about the consequences! At the very least, we’ll get in big trouble, and we might even get expelled!”

“Then what about her?!” exclaimed Tang ZiYou.

“Don’t panic, there’s a public phone booth nearby. Chen Jing, you have a telephone card with you, right? Go outside and call for an ambulance.”

Chen Jing, who was still in shock, ran towards the window they had come in from.

“Then what about us? Should we stay here?” asked Cheng JiaoJiao.

“What do you mean?” Li Qiang shouted, “It’s all your fault, you just had to scare her, and now she’s injured!”

Cheng JiaoJiao paled. “How could I have known this would happen, and didn’t you guys all agree? Just now, I wanted to stop her, but she moved too quickly!”

“Even if we sneaked away, WenWen would know, and he wouldn’t keep silent. He’s probably in the history room on the west side of the third floor. In a bit, we’ll go to the west staircase and create a commotion, and say that we saw something scary, and that Gao Yun already left. Then, we’ll pretend to be scared and ask to leave. We’ll just lead him down the west staircase and leave,” Fang YuTian said calmly.

“Are we really going to leave Gao Yun here by herself?” Tang ZiYou looked at Gao Yun, who was still unconscious, and her heart sank.

“We’ve already called an ambulance, so even if we stayed, what’s the use? Can anyone perform emergency first-aid?” said Fang YuTian.

“Then let’s go, quick.” Wang TianPeng had already run up the stairs.

At this time, Chen Jing ran back, panting. “120 s-said that they’re going to come as soon as possible!”

“Let’s go!” Fang YuTian pulled Tang ZiYou up and explained it again to Chen Jing.

“Gao Yun’s phone is here.” After Cheng JiaoJiao stuffed the mask and cloak into her purse, she picked up the object she had nearly stepped on. “Right, I’ll use it to send a text to WenWen and say that I felt uncomfortable so I went back first. This way, we can pretend that we didn’t even see her leave.”

“Let’s do it!” Li Qiang nodded approvingly.

“But tomorrow, WenWen is still going to know about how there was an accident here.” Chen Jing seemed to have recovered a little from his shock and regained some reason.

“It’s okay, as long as he doesn’t know about the prank, I can convince him to remain silent,” said Fang YuTian.

A few days later, besides WenWen, everyone else met up.

“Is Gao Yun in a stable condition?” Lu MinMin was still very nervous.

“I heard she’s still unconscious…” Chen Jing had been tasked with asking a teacher about her condition.

“It seems like WenWen has already agreed to not bring up what happened that night. At this point, we all need to be consistent. Make sure you remember, until this whole thing is over, never bring this up again!” said Fang YuTian.

*****

“I can’t believe there would be such a thing, what an undeserved disaster… It seems like Cheng JiaoJiao’s and Wang TianPeng’s deaths are the heavens punishing them.” Lu YunYang sighed.

“I’m just afraid that there’s someone doing the punishing for the heavens.” Wen JingHan also sighed.

“But everyone played a part in harming Gao Yun, and the only person who didn’t know about it, WenWen, went abroad,” said Chen QiaoYu.

“Another person who didn’t participate in it but might know inside information is Qin Xiao,” added Guan Jin.

“Qin Xiao? That’s a possibility.”

“It might also be WenWen. Although he’s in a different country, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have orchestrated these murders,” analyzed Gu Xiang.

“You think that he has a partner, or in other words, is controlling someone to take revenge for him?” asked Lu YunYang.

“Mn. But, that person must also want to avenge Gao Yun. Take Fang YuTian, for example. He’s indeed very calm and reasonable.”

“Not necessarily.” Wen JingHan shook his head. “If WenWen has enough control, he could completely coerce anyone. YunYang, what do you think?”

“That’s also possible. But the mastermind would need to have a dominant personality and know some tricks to manipulate people. As for the partner’s personality, they would need to be cowardly or timid. Chen Jing, Li Qiang, and Lu MinMin can all be controlled, but only because their personalities are a little in line with this speculation, so we can’t use this as a foundation.”

“Then can we eliminate Tang ZiYou?” asked Ding Ding, who had been listening the entire time.

“Perhaps she was just shifting the blame.” Chen QiaoYu smirked a little. “Ha, don’t act so innocent, I’ve seen plenty of criminals like that.”

“Ah… after talking so much, anything is still possible.” Lin Bai was frustrated.

*****

When they returned to the apartment, Guan Jin sat down and spaced out.

“What are you thinking about?” Lu YunYang handed him a cup of water.

Guan Jin took a sip of it without saying anything, and he continued to sit there, holding the cup and lost in thought.

Lu YunYang looked at his slightly moist and parted lips, and the color of his eyes seemed to darken by a lot.

In that case, there was no time like the present. He resolutely took the cup in Guan Jin’s hand and placed it on the coffee table before pulling Guan Jin’s body towards himself.

“Hey, what are you doing——”

Before Guan Jin could finish expressing his dissatisfaction, his mouth was blocked by warm lips. Lu YunYang gently and forcefully occupied those lips that he had had his eye on for a long time.

Guan Jin had completely crashed, and he tried rebooting a few times to no avail. He was stunned and remained where he was, letting Lu YunYang do as he pleased. When Lu YunYang’s tongue reached into his mouth, he finally came back to his senses. Before Guan Jin’s fist could reach him, Lu YunYang unwillingly retreated outside of his range.

“Little Jin, you’re quite pure.” Lu YunYang licked his lips, yearning for more.

Fuck!!! Ten thousand horses seemed to stampede through Guan Jin’s mind.