Tap, tap, tap. Footsteps came to a stop beside Li Cuinian's corpse. Jiang Rou crouched down, searched the body for a moment, and found what she was looking for.
She wasn't worried about triggering a ghost's killing condition. Li Cuinian had been killed by Zhong Qing, and from start to finish, Jiang Rou had nothing to do with it.
As for Zhong Qing—
She stood up, casting a disgusted glance at the corpse, but still walked over, suppressing her revulsion at the blood, found her student card, and tucked it away.
Such a scheme came with its own risks, but without it, she couldn't have fooled Zhong Qing.
Finally, Jiang Rou approached the red machine nearby, first using Li Cuinian's card, then Tan Shuyue's.
"That leaves two more."
"But Pan Long already knows the rules, and that woman Su Mu—it won't be easy to trick her."
Muttering to herself, Jiang Rou's brow furrowed slightly, as if struggling with a difficult decision.
"If it comes to it, I'll have to consider forming an alliance..."
"The jumper ghost's trap should be about undone by now."
With another disgusted look at the two corpses on the ground, Jiang Rou reluctantly moved to the side, laboriously dragged Li Cuinian's body to the main door, and shoved it out with effort.
"The body's still here, which means the haunting ghost has left."
The jumper ghost's attack and Liu Yuan's mysterious disappearance from the restroom both indicated that other ghosts existed in the haunted school. However, these ghosts didn't seem as eager to kill them as the flashlight ghost did.
Since it wasn't about killing, it might be a clue-providing ghost. Could there be another path to survival in this mission?
Unfortunately, she had too few clues now. If she encountered such a ghost, she might be able to deduce another way out.
After pondering deeply with no clear leads, Jiang Rou finally left the teaching building and headed elsewhere.
She wasn't afraid of encountering other ghosts—jumping students, hanging ghosts, whatever. As long as they weren't ghosts on a killing mission, she not only wasn't scared but even felt a faint anticipation, because a ghost's appearance might also be where the clues lay.
As she stepped out of the building, sensing something, Jiang Rou paused and looked back at a classroom on an upper floor. Through the window, she saw a dim yellow light flicker a few times.
That classroom was exactly where Tan Shuyue had hidden. Jiang Rou glanced up, her face expressionless, then turned and left.
--
"Found it, right here."
At that moment, in the U-shaped building on the fifth floor, several beams of phone light flickered. After aiming at a protruding doorplate, Lin Tianheng shouted excitedly and waved at the others.
The sixteen participants in this mission were all students of Class 7, Grade 12, so Class 3, Grade 12 should be near the starting point.
Realizing this, the group immediately returned to the U-shaped building and, sure enough, on the fifth floor, found the classroom for Class 3, Grade 12.
Jiang Xiaohui, Sun Jingyan, and Xu Meiqian—these individuals were highly likely from this class, each dying and becoming wandering ghosts on campus. This Class 3, Grade 12 truly seemed like a cursed class.
Lin Tianheng pushed the door, and with a creak, it swung open easily, revealing the entire classroom.
Inside the pitch-black room, rows of neatly arranged desks and chairs sat before a podium and blackboard. It looked like an ordinary classroom.
The only difference was that on this classroom's blackboard, something seemed written in chalk. Lin Tianheng shone his small flashlight at it and read aloud.
"Class 3, Grade 12, Midterm Exam Rankings. First place, Chen Jingyue. Second place, Xu Meiqian..."
"Look, Xu Meiqian is indeed a student of Class 3!" Lin Tianheng touched the blackboard, and chalk dust fell in a flurry, suggesting it had been written some time ago.
"Not bad, Xu Meiqian's grades are decent, but she's not first."
Chen Mo ignored him, his attention drawn to the podium in front of the blackboard. On it lay something white. He picked it up and found it was a class roster, with each name corresponding to a seat number.
"Jiang Xiaohui, No. 33. Sun Jingyan, No. 51. Xu Meiqian, No. 14...!"
Correspondingly, only this classroom had seat numbers posted on each desk.
This seemingly ordinary classroom was far from it. All the differences were hints for the participants, and the seat numbers on the roster clearly matched the students' seats.
"There are clues hidden here..."
Through the previous two incidents, Chen Mo had roughly understood what happened to Jiang Xiaohui and Sun Jingyan. The remaining mystery centered on Xu Meiqian.
Xu Meiqian, No. 14. Chen Mo shone his small flashlight, searching the dark classroom, and soon found the desk with the No. 14 seat number.
Xu Meiqian's seat!
The desk was covered in crisscrossing scratches from a knife, as if venting someone's anger and resentment. Chen Mo bent down, looked into the desk drawer, and found a crumpled piece of paper. Opening it, he saw it was another report card, identical to the blackboard's content, with Xu Meiqian ranked second.
But Xu Meiqian seemed deeply dissatisfied with this result. The report card, which should have been kept carefully, was crumpled in anger.
Chen Mo's heart stirred: Could Xu Meiqian be unsatisfied with second place? Or did she think she shouldn't be second at all?
Aside from this report card, the desk drawer was empty. Just as Chen Mo stood up to check Jiang Xiaohui and Sun Jingyan's desks, a sudden scream from a girl rang out from outside the window!
"Ah—!"
With the scream, a dark figure flashed past the window, followed by a heavy thud as something hit the ground below!
Someone had fallen!
Dai Minghan and Lin Tianheng's faces changed instantly. They rushed out of the classroom one after another, ran to the corridor, and looked down.
Chen Mo was certain he'd seen a student fall, but when they peered down into the U-shaped building's courtyard, there was no one there!
It was as if the scream and figure had been an illusion, but everyone knew it wasn't. It was a supernatural event—a ghost's attack and a story hint.
Another ghost student had appeared!
Without waiting for Chen Mo to speak, Lin Tianheng charged toward the stairwell, followed closely by Dai Minghan. As veterans of multiple missions, they knew that hints in tasks were fleeting. Though they hadn't seen it yet, the ghost student reenacting the fall must be hiding somewhere!
Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump! Urgent footsteps echoed in the silent stairwell. Chen Mo ran a short distance but suddenly stopped, pressing a hand to his chest, a strange feeling washing over him.
No, something's wrong. Something's definitely off!
--
PS, here's the second update today. Hope the author's recent diligence earns some support. Also, the book club welcomes all participants to join the group (laughs).