Chapter 86: The Last Classroom
"The person hiding in the sixth stall is Fan Yu's father!" Before reading the note, Chen Ge had never considered this direction. "It seems Fan Yu's aunt concealed something crucial."
When Chen Ge had previously speculated about the murderer, he had been missing a very important piece—the motive. Now, the appearance of these notes pointed him in the right direction.
"There are three notes in total, each in different handwriting, meaning at least three people knew about the filthy things Teacher Fan had done. This shouldn't be false accusation or malicious intimidation."
Chen Ge didn't touch the notes in the book because, with so much time having passed, the paper was extremely fragile. He was worried about destroying this key piece of evidence.
"The handwriting on the notes is very clear, with no attempt to conceal it. Teacher Fan must have kept these three notes to compare handwriting and catch these three students. After all, Muyang High School isn't that big, and he could use his position to his advantage. Three days would be enough to check all the students' handwriting."
Chen Ge memorized the content of the notes. In truth, he was also curious about how these three students had discovered the secret in the stall. "Could they all be victims? But the tone between the lines doesn't seem like it, especially the last sentence—'If you don't want to leave, then stay forever'—that doesn't sound like something a victim would say at all."
The information conveyed in the three notes was very forceful, but the demands they made seemed childish to Chen Ge. For behavior like Fan Yu's father's, the correct course of action would be to call the police and let him face legal punishment, not some so-called public apology. Because once certain things are made public, they cause secondary harm to the victims, exposing the pain buried in their hearts.
"Judging by the content, it really does seem like students wrote these. Could they be the ones who threw Teacher Fan into the well?" The motive was there, but the method and timing didn't add up. Two adults had gone missing that night. Silently disposing of two adults, covering up the scene, and leaving no trace—that didn't seem like something a few students could pull off.
"I must be overlooking something." Chen Ge tried to think from Fan Yu's father's perspective.
A public apology was impossible for Fan Yu's father. If this got out, he would be ruined and face legal consequences. He had already made a mistake before coming to Muyang High School; another incident would make him a repeat offender, subject to harsher punishment.
Fan Yu's father must have known this, which is why he kept the notes, hoping to identify the threatening students by comparing handwriting. But judging by the outcome, he searched for three days and found nothing.
"Let me summarize what I know: three notes written by different people; Teacher Fan compared everyone's handwriting in the school and found none of them; these three people also discovered the secret of the sixth stall, but strangely, they didn't call the police or notify the school. Instead, they used the worst, most self-exposing method—directly threatening Teacher Fan; and finally, the content of the notes actually came true."
These three points were what Chen Ge found unreasonable. Stringing them together: three people who couldn't be found in the school discovered Teacher Fan's peeping secret, warned him to no avail, and then made him disappear.
"Someone who fits all three points basically doesn't exist." Chen Ge already had an idea of who the murderer was, but he couldn't confirm it yet.
"The notes mentioned a girl. They wanted Fan Yu's father to apologize to her. If I can find her, many problems will be solved." After recording everything with the live stream camera, Chen Ge closed the book and put it back in its place.
"These notes were tucked inside the book. If I hadn't specifically searched the drawer, I would have missed them. It seems that to figure out the whole story, I still need to start with the details." Chen Ge left the math office and thoroughly searched the other rooms on the second floor, but found nothing else.
"Ten thirty. If this keeps up, the remaining two side quests will be very hard to complete." Chen Ge came out of the office building with his flashlight. He searched for the well in the rainstorm, but after a full hour, he still hadn't found it.
"Where's the well? The black phone can't be wrong!" Chen Ge ran all over the campus without seeing a well opening. His shoes and pants were soaked through, and he looked a bit disheveled.
"Half an hour until midnight. I'll put the deep well task aside for now." Chen Ge grabbed the brim of his raincoat and walked toward the teaching building. He wanted to check out the last classroom before midnight. If that classroom task was also too difficult, he was ready to cut his losses and run.
Water had gotten into his shoes, making his steps feel heavy. Every step left a footprint on the ground.
Entering the teaching building, Chen Ge headed straight for the last classroom. Since he was here, not going in for a look wasn't his style.
Standing outside the window, he looked in. Only the desk in the middle of the classroom had textbooks, paper, and pens on it, which felt very out of place.
"It does look eerie."
The original site of Muyang High School was a crematorium. Chen Ge had seen in online posts that some people said the last classroom corresponded to the crematorium's morgue, with heavy yin energy, which was why the old principal had locked it up.
Others said that when a class from Muyang High School went on a field trip, their bus had a fatal accident, killing multiple people. The students from that class kept coming back to attend class, forcing the school to vacate this room.
The last theory was more uplifting. Before Muyang High School was shut down, it was the worst-performing school among all middle schools in Jiujiang, with students' average scores indisputably at the bottom. To change this, the teachers suggested dividing students into good and bad classes based on grades, with worse classes placed further back. But the old principal vetoed this proposal and locked the last classroom to encourage students: no one is born last, and labeling them as good or bad is wrong.
There were many other legends about Muyang High School's last classroom, but Chen Ge only remembered the three most discussed ones.
He checked the time again. At 11:36 PM, he pried open the door to the last classroom and entered.
Chen Ge moved quickly, his goal clear: to take a close look at the items on the middle desk.
As soon as he entered the classroom, he didn't feel much different from outside, just a bit quieter.
Approaching the desk in the middle, Chen Ge flipped through the textbook and blank paper. There was nothing on them. But when he picked up the textbook, he suddenly noticed many words carved into the wooden desktop.