21

After reading through these messages, Jiang Luo carefully restored the records to their original state and placed them back in the cabinet.

From her academic performance and teacher comments, Fu Yuaner was exactly the good child in parents' eyes, the model student in teachers' eyes. Such an obedient girl always listened to her teachers and parents—back in the dorm before curfew, no dating, no phone use; things she wasn't allowed to do, she generally wouldn't do.

While this imposed some constraints, it at least helped her avoid many dangers.

Changqing High School was a boarding School, and boarding schools generally managed students more strictly, especially regarding their movements and safety—extra caution was warranted.

Even under such conditions, Fu Yuaner still disappeared—something inseparable from the expansion work happening at the time.

During the School expansion, strangers came and went constantly. The workers were busy as bees, the School was overwhelmed by the construction, and there were always some who took advantage of the chaos to do things normally prohibited by the School.

Because everyone was busy, these rule-breaking incidents mostly went undetected.

"Did you notice?" Jiang Luo thought slowly, repeating what the staff had said before the Competition began. "We have three tasks: the first is to find the missing girl, the second is to find out why the worker died, and the third is to figure out what happened back then."

"The first one is strange," Jiang Luo stopped, meeting Zhuo Zhongqiu's and Ye Xun's eyes. "'Find' the missing girl."

"It means that girl is still in this School," Zhuo Zhongqiu understood.

There was something she didn't say, but everyone knew it.

What they were looking for was very likely this girl's corpse.

"The teacher from Class 4 of Senior Three back then is still teaching at Changqing High School," Ye Xun said calmly. "Let's go find them and ask."

The teachers who taught Senior Three in 2012 happened to be teaching Senior Three again this year. They came from the dormitory area to the Academic Zone, just as one of the teachers from back then was about to finish class.

Jiang Luo and his companions waited at the back door of the classroom. The students inside noticed them, sneaking glances back and whispering among themselves.

The teacher up front said, "Quiet."

The students below gradually quieted down.

The teacher was a man who looked just past thirty, still handsome in appearance, his figure unchanged—he must have been working out.

The students clearly liked him; a few of the girls unconsciously smoothed their hair.

Jiang Luo paused, then suddenly pulled out his Mobile Phone and found Fu Yuaner's photo.

He zoomed in on Fu Yuaner's photo with two fingers. Ye Xun asked curiously, "Jiang Luo, what are you looking at?"

Jiang Luo's finger slid from Fu Yuaner's hair to her lips, then to the necklace around her neck. "The way she looks—doesn't it seem like she's in love?"

"Or maybe she has someone she likes and wants to show her best side to them," Jiang Luo murmured. "Her bangs are neat, just above her eyebrows—she must have just had them cut, but boarding school students have to wait until month's end for a break to get a haircut. She didn't apply colored lipstick, but judging by the sheen on her lips, she must have used lip balm."

"And the necklace—the style is a bit too mature and feminine, not the kind a girl her age would wear."

Zhuo Zhongqiu leaned in for a look. "It really is."

Ye Xun thought for a moment. "The information Sailor got was that the male-to-female ratio was unbalanced."

Jiang Luo thoughtfully closed his Mobile Phone. "The person who gave her this necklace was probably much older than her, with a more mature aesthetic. Single, able to get close to her—that way feelings could develop—and also handsome."

A beautiful eighteen-year-old girl—how could she fall for an ugly older man?

The three of them gradually shifted their gaze to the teacher lecturing.

Zhuo Zhongqiu: "...It can't be that much of a coincidence."

Ye Xun: "It could also be one of the workers from the expansion period."

They hadn't talked long before class ended. The handsome middle-aged male teacher walked out. "Are you here to see me?"

Jiang Luo walked over with a smile. "Teacher, we'd like to ask you a few things."

Because of his strikingly good looks, the male teacher couldn't help but glance at him a few more times. "Come to my Office and talk."

Just as they were about to leave, two girls from the class, egging each other on, walked over shyly and handed the male teacher a bottle of water, blushing as they said, "Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Liu."

Zhuo Zhongqiu couldn't help but whistle. The two girls glanced at her, became even more embarrassed, and turned to run off.

The male teacher shook his head, caught between laughter and helplessness. "These girls."

The male teacher's Office had only him back in it for now. While the teacher poured them water, Jiang Luo glanced at his lesson plans, which had the teacher's name written on them: Liu Zhi.

He looked up at the wall beside him, where class schedules and Liu Zhi's attendance record were posted.

The attendance record only showed five months of work for this year, every single entry a checkmark—Liu Zhi had not missed a single day.

Truly remarkable.

Jiang Luo raised an eyebrow and, without seeming to, glanced at Liu Zhi's drawer.

Locked.

Liu Zhi brought the water over, apologetically saying, "Sorry, I only have paper cups here."

The few of them shook their heads.

"Teacher, we came to ask about the girls who disappeared in 2012," Jiang Luo smiled, speaking gently and warmly—easy to put people at ease. "We don't know much about what happened back then. Did any girls disappear from your class?"

Liu Zhi frowned in thought. "2012... I was teaching several classes back then. There were indeed girls who disappeared, but I can't remember which class it happened in."

"That's understandable," Jiang Luo said with an understanding expression. "It's been so long, the School has changed completely—it's not easy to remember things from back then."

Liu Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you for understanding. I'll try my best to recall—if I think of anything, I'll let you know."

Jiang Luo pulled out his Mobile Phone. "Then, Teacher, let's exchange contact information?"

Liu Zhi paused, then gave his phone number.

They didn't stay long with Liu Zhi, because ten minutes later he had to go teach his next class. The three of them retraced their steps, walking back slowly.

On The First Floor of the dormitory, Jiang Luo and Ye Xun went to the Toilet together while Zhuo Zhongqiu waited outside, saying with boredom, "Even if we know Fu Yuaner was in a relationship, it doesn't seem to help us clear the level."

Jiang Luo said casually, "Who says? What if it's a crime of passion?"

Ye Xun couldn't help but shiver.

He gave Jiang Luo a complicated look, recalling how in Hotel 129, anything Jiang Luo casually jinxed would inevitably come true.

Around noon, the group reconvened for a meal. Wenren Lian shook his head and sighed. "It only rained yesterday, so everything is still damp. We walked through places that would be wet even before heavy rain—like Lake Side, Near Faucet—but found nothing. We'll probably have to wait until tonight or tomorrow when the ground dries before we can figure out where Xu Yan went."

But tomorrow was already the third day.

Jiang Luo made up his mind. "I've decided to go search Liu Zhi's Office tonight."

Zhuo Zhongqiu said, "Take me with you."

They didn't waste the afternoon either, going out to gather a lot of information. As night fell, the warm yellow lights in the dormitory lit up one by one. Jiang Luo and Zhuo Zhongqiu finished washing up early, planning to nap and then get up in the middle of the night to look for clues.

At one in the morning, Jiang Luo opened his drowsy eyes. He took a moment to shake off sleep, and Zhuo Zhongqiu had already gotten out of bed to signal him to move.

Jiang Luo gave an OK sign, sat up, and put on his shoes. Because of the phone call in the middle of the night yesterday, he had only slept a few hours, and was now somewhat lacking in energy.

But staying up late was routine for a designer. After splashing his face with water, Jiang Luo was fully awake. He opened the bathroom door and nearly crashed headfirst into Bai Ye Feng's chest.

Bai Ye Feng asked with a smile, "Are you going out?"

This guy was like a Yin Soul that wouldn't disperse. Jiang Luo replied with a forced smile, "We're going to the Toilet."

"Oh?" Bai Ye Feng looked meaningfully at Zhuo Zhongqiu, then at Jiang Luo. "The two of you going to the Toilet together?"

Jiang Luo didn't change expression: "She's accompanying me."

"Zhuo is a girl, after all," Bai Ye Feng said with a smile. "If Jiang Luo is afraid, I can accompany you to the Toilet. Having a girl go with you isn't really appropriate."

Having said that, Bai Ye Feng turned to Zhuo Zhongqiu: "Zhuo, you go rest. I'll accompany Jiang Luo to the Toilet."

The picture of helpfulness.

Jiang Luo: "..."

Zhuo Zhongqiu: "..."

Jiang Luo smiled falsely. "Besides the Toilet, we have other things to do. Bai, you'd better wash up and go to bed early."

Bai Ye Feng, as if he couldn't read rejection, asked curiously, "What things? Can I come with you?"

Jiang Luo was about to refuse, but suddenly thought of something. He looked deeply at Bai Ye Feng, then his eyes shifted and he raised a smile. "Sure."

The three of them got ready and went out. To make his lie convincing, Jiang Luo made a special trip to the Toilet.

Bai Ye Feng actually followed him in.

Jiang Luo cursed Chi You silently in his heart, calmly pulled up his zipper, but when he looked at the urinal, he noticed something off.

"The degree of wear..."

The walls were very worn, but the urinal was newer than the walls.

Jiang Luo thought to himself, "So the boys and girls switched dormitories."

That's why the urinal was installed later than the walls were built.

It was common in schools for boys and girls to switch dormitory buildings every few years. But this meant the dormitory building they were staying in was very likely the same one the girls who disappeared in 2012 had lived in.

Just as Jiang Luo finished this thought, the light on the ceiling suddenly began to flicker.

In the wavering light, a stench suddenly grew thick. A viscous, wet sound approached across the floor, as if signaling the arrival of something.

Jiang Luo instinctively sensed danger. He straightened up, on guard. Just then, Bai Ye Feng, standing behind him, suddenly reached out and grabbed Jiang Luo, pulling him into the innermost stall of the bathroom, cluttered with supplies.

The stall was small, and even more cramped with two tall boys inside it.

Jiang Luo's hair brushed past Bai Ye Feng's cheek and neck, bringing an itch that seemed to seep from skin into bone. Bai Ye Feng slowly reached out and tucked his hair behind his ear.

Jiang Luo turned his head away in disgust, about to speak, but Bai Ye Feng covered his lips.

"Shh."

Bai Ye Feng's tone was gentle, but listening closely, there seemed to be a hidden, purely malicious amusement woven in. "Something's coming."