"What did you say?" The man addressed as Teacher Chen was momentarily stunned. "Xu Meiqian, what nonsense are you spouting? What does this have to do with me, a teacher?"
"Chen Mingyuan, don't play dumb with me here. Others might not know, but I know it all too well—Chen Jingyue is your daughter!"
"You've taught at Shizhu Middle School for decades, but you only know how to work, not how to play politics, so your position never got promoted. You'd complain about your fate at home all day, and your wife couldn't stand it, divorced you, and took your daughter away. But by some twist of fate, Chen Jingyue still got into Shizhu Middle School, this key high school, and was assigned to your class. As her homeroom teacher, to favor your daughter, you pulled strings behind the scenes—not only tampering with grades in various exams but also giving every opportunity to your daughter. Did you think that would make up for your guilt?"
"What's worse, you only care about your own selfish interests, completely ignoring others' feelings and situations!"
"Every exam, I was clearly supposed to be first, so why should I have to step aside for you? Why should I become a sacrifice for your selfish desires? Even more ridiculous, at first, I didn't realize you were the one messing things up behind my back. Do you know how high my parents' expectations are for me? Do you know how desperately, how hard I study? Do you know what it feels like to have all that effort and talent crushed by a hidden hand?"
"Not only that, but my relentless effort became the laughingstock of the whole class. Everyone said that no matter how hard Xu Meiqian tried, she could never surpass Chen Jingyue. Everyone mocked me! And your precious daughter? Chen Jingyue doesn't need to do anything—she just plays the innocent white lotus, and she gets everything!"
"So, Teacher Chen, I... hate you... I hate you so, so much... Maybe in your eyes, those scores are just numbers, but to us students, they're everything—the only way to gain recognition..."
"Since I was little, I've always been the best. I, Xu Meiqian, will never allow myself to be second to anyone!"
"But what does this have to do with Sun Jingyan? Why did you kill him?"
"Hehehehe... Teacher Chen, it seems you still don't know..."
At this point, the girl's voice suddenly turned sinister with laughter. "Since you already know one of my secrets, I might as well tell you another. Do you think Chen Jingyue's death was really an accident?"
Chen Jingyue's death?!
At that moment, Chen Mo, who was still climbing up, also heard the voices coming from the rooftop. Jiang Xiaohui, Sun Jingyan, Xu Meiqian... If you added Chen Jingyue, that would be exactly four ghost students?
Four ghost students—this was no coincidence, but a deliberate arrangement of the story. Solving the mysteries of the four ghost students would yield four ghost student ID cards. And in this mission, each production team had exactly four participants.
Using your own student card to check in would trigger a ghost's mark and kill you. Stealing someone else's student card to check in would also trigger rules that bring ghosts to kill. Only using a ghost student's ID card to check in would be completely safe!
Then, Chen Mo immediately saw the red-dressed female ghost floating in the air, and Su Mu, pale-faced like a specter. It seemed the red-dressed ghost's sensing had directly led Su Mu here.
The female ghost in this bracelet was really strong.
By now, everyone had reached the top floor, separated from the rooftop by only an iron door. The voices were coming from behind that door.
"Xu Meiqian, what nonsense are you talking about! Do you even know what you're saying?"
Perhaps due to shock, Chen Mingyuan—the teacher speaking with Xu Meiqian—his voice trembled slightly. "No! You know something, don't you!"
"Hahahahaha..." Xu Meiqian then burst into manic laughter. "Chen Jingyue, she deserved to die. She acted like a pure little white rabbit. Every time I saw her innocent, smiling face, it reminded me of your ugly self, Chen Mingyuan. Ever since I discovered what you were doing behind the scenes, I decided to get revenge on you. But just exposing your grade tampering? With your decades of hard work at the school, they wouldn't do much to you. At best, they'd make you apologize, and then it'd be swept under the rug!"
"To get back at you, to make you suffer more than me, there was only one way..."
"You..." Chen Mingyuan stammered. "So you..."
"That's right. To truly hurt you, there was only one way—destroy what you treasure most! And that bitch Chen Jingyue deserved to die anyway! Every time I saw her clueless face, it made me sick to death!"
"You... you... you vicious monster!"
"Chen Mingyuan, do you think others are innocent? I'll tell you everything! I wanted to kill Chen Jingyue. Even though she was a girl, it would've been hard for me alone. But then, by chance, I discovered Jiang Xiaohui's secret of stealing. As the price for keeping his secret, he had to be my tool. Chen Jingyue was killed by Jiang Xiaohui—it was all my arrangement!"
"But oh, Jiang Xiaohui was too stupid, too careless. When we were doing it, that bastard Sun Jingyan saw us. And he, thinking he was clever, didn't call the police but instead tried to use it as leverage to blackmail me, the top student, into helping him cheat. Hmph, he was asking for death!"
"Xu Meiqian... you, you're a devil! Chen Jingyue..." Chen Mingyuan's voice was filled with extreme pain. "All of this, A Yue, she really knew nothing. If you hated me, you could have taken revenge on me directly. Why did you have to go after A Yue..."
"Shut up! Chen Mingyuan, even if I'm a devil, you made me this way! Don't you bear any responsibility yourself?"
"Chen Mingyuan, even if you go to the police, what good will it do? Chen Jingyue is still dead... You destroyed my hope, so I destroyed yours. We're even now... Ah... Chen, Chen Mingyuan, what are you doing?!"
"Aaaah—!"
A sharp female scream suddenly rang out from the rooftop, followed by the heavy thud of something hitting the ground. At the same time, Chen Mo shoved the iron door open with force. Before him... was indeed a rooftop. There was no sign of Chen Mingyuan, but lying on the ground was a corpse with limbs twisted at odd angles, dark red blood slowly seeping from beneath its head, as if it had just fallen from somewhere!
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PS, second chapter~ Please support with your recommendation tickets and monthly votes, thank you.