CH 64

“You two, calm down first!” Si Yu saw the two’s muddled speech and used the gentlest tone he could to speak to his teammates. “Deep breaths, speak slowly. There’s no hurry.”

After Bai Donyang heard Si Yu, he immediately took a deep breath and seemed to relax a little, but he was still very stirred up. 

Xia Hang was still in a highly alert state, and Gu Xizhou could sense his fearful mood.

He was very afraid!

Gu Xizhou found it odd. Xia Hang was hardly a newcomer, and dying in the mission world was very common. Gu Xizhou patted him on the shoulder. At once, Xia Hang began to tremble. He turned around and saw Gu Xizhou, and only then did he calm down a bit.

Gu Xizhou asked, “Did you do anything special?” 

Bai Donyang calmly stopped and thought for a long time. “No. After we asked for directions, we went over directly. We didn’t step on anything on the way there, either. It was too sudden. We were with her the whole time and didn’t do anything at all!”

After Gu Xizhou finished asking, Si Yu tacitly caught on and continued to ask, “When Kong Lingling died, was there anything unusual? What else did you notice?”

Bai Dongyang looked miserable, and he didn’t need any time to recall: “It was as if there was the sound of a strike. It seemed that something hit Kong Lingling!”

“She was hit?” Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrow.

Gu Xizhou was not surprised. He raised his eyes, “Tell us in detail.”

“Just now, the three of us were walking on the path when she suddenly fell to the floor and screamed. When the two of us looked again, she was already dead,” Bai Dongyang explained, pale. Gu Xizhou could sense he was filled with fear— fear of the unknown.

Xia Hang nodded. His face was also very pale, and his body slightly shivered.

“Let’s go over and take a look,” Gu Xizhou asserted. This sentence was directed at Si Yu. 

Si Yu looked at Xia Hang and Bai Dongyang’s sorry state and saw they clearly wouldn’t give any more useful information. He nodded at Gu Xizhou and said, “Okay.”

“Walk straight ahead and turn left!”

After Bai Dongyang and Xia Hang told them the way, Gu Xizhou, Si Yu, and Fang Zhi rushed to the scene to discover Kong Lingling lying in a pool of blood.

Kong Lingling’s eyes were open and staring, and her mouth was agape. Her neck had been snapped, and her body was twisted like she didn’t have any bones until it was in a shape like a fried dough twist. It was dripping with blood. 

Gu Xizhou took a step forward and crouched down to examine Kong Lingling’s dead body. Wasn’t this too cruel?

Gu Xizhou was just thinking this when suddenly, from beside him, he heard Fang Zhi say——

“Xe Xf, la’r ilxf rtf uba tla ys j mjg.”

Xe Wlhtbe vlvc’a ufa j mtjcmf ab jrx yfobgf Mjcu Itl mbcalcefv ab fzqijlc, “Qtfc P qlmxfv eq j ybbx fjgilfg, la abemtfv eqbc j ylu agemx’r tla-jcv-gec mjrf. Bbcu Olcuilcu’r ybvs ibbxr ilxf la kjr mgertfv ys atf ktffi bo j ijguf agemx. Obbx ja atf qijmfr ktfgf tfg ybvs kjr oijaafcfv. Ktfgf jgf rbwf ilcfr.” 

“They look like tire tracks,” Gu Xizhou said after a short period of silence.

That should be the reason why Kong Lingling fell to the ground and screamed. She was run over by a big truck and her body was crushed to death. Although they could rely on their experience as criminal police to ascertain Kong Lingling’s cause of death, they still didn’t know the death conditions.

“What are the death conditions?” Gu Xizhou thought to himself, standing up and walking to Si Yu’s side.

Si Yu seemed to fall into deep contemplation after hearing Gu Xizhou’s statement, and he thought for a moment. He patted Gu Xizhou on the shoulder and said, “Let’s return first.” 

“En.” Gu Xizhou nodded. As he prepared to go, Si Yu called for Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi to stay still.

“Why?” Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi turned around simultaneously and asked.

Si Yu lowered his voice, “Follow these students.”

“Okay.” Gu Xizhou nodded. 

Fang Zhi also nodded.

They didn’t know the death condition Kong Lingling triggered, but in this situation, it was likely related to the road they were on.

Ahead of the three of them was a young female student. The three immediately followed behind her. After they safely arrived at the library, they saw both Bai Dongyang and Xia Hang right where they left them, as well as a sweating Cheng Yue and three other teammates.

“What did you find when you saw the body?” Cheng Yue had clearly already heard about Kong Lingling’s death from Xia Hang and Bai Dongyang. When he saw Gu Xizhou’s group he asked immediately. 

“We saw the state of Kong Lingling’s body. It looked like she was crushed to death by a car,” Gu Xizhou explained. “There were tire tracks on her body, where the flesh was flattened.”

“A Car?” Cheng Yue stared blankly at their surroundings. “There are no cars inside a school…”

Gu Xizhou nodded. Si Yu explained from beside him. “It should be a rule of death. She triggered a death condition.”

The whole thing took less than half a second to say. Si Yu turned his head to the already calmed down Xia Hang and Bai Dongyang and said, “Just now, she definitely did something you didn’t. Carefully recall your memories. This is crucial, or else, who knows whether we’ll suddenly end up dying like her after walking along that road!” 

Bai Dongyang was silent as he scratched his head and tried to come up with ideas for a long time before he shook his head. “There’s nothing, ah! From when we were together and after we separated, we didn’t do anything different! We were even in the same place when we asked for directions!”

Xia Hang: “There’s really nothing. The whole time we were just walking while trying to see whether we could catch sight of that woman on the way, but we didn’t do anything…”

When Cheng Yue heard the two, he was obviously very disappointed, and he angrily kneaded his forehead, saying, “This garbage mission world— what should we do, ah!”

Now everyone’s mood had frozen, and their complexions weren’t good. Kong Lingling suddenly died while walking on the path. If they couldn’t find the death condition, then it was very possible that they might accidentally trigger it while walking around the school! 

“I don’t know whether this counts as different,” After being silent for ages, Bai Dongyang suddenly spoke. “She walked in front of me and Xia Hang. Right ahead.”

Gu Xizhou recalled seeing the position of Kong Lingling’s body just now. “Did she turn left or right before you?”

“Yes! Yes, at that time, we were at an intersection. The playground was on the right. She turned right first and suddenly fell to the ground!” Bai Dongyang seemed to think of something. “Will we immediately die if we turn right at a corner?”

Si Yu shook his head. “No. A moment ago, the three of us went from the library to the position you mentioned and turned left. When we returned, we followed behind a schoolgirl and turned right.” 

“Moreover, all of us have turned right in the school.” Si Yu said quietly, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head.

Gu Xizhou also nodded. If turning right caused you to die, it would really be too easy to satisfy this condition!

“Do you still remember the directions the student gave you to the playground?” Si Yu asked.

Bai Dongyang and Xia Hang both looked at each other and made a thoughtful expression. 

“We came from the dining hall and didn’t know the route. Then we looked for a student to ask for directions. She told us: turn left from the dining hall and go straight. Then turn right and go straight. Turn left, turn left… After that, finally turn right and go straight!”

Xia Hang remembered, “It seems like there’s no problem, ya!”

Gu Xizhou heard him but shook his head and said, “No, there’s a problem!”

“What’s the problem?” Xia Hang asked, puzzled. 

Gu Xizhou pointed at the dining hall a short distance away, raising his eyebrows as he said, “Do you see? You can see the library from the dining hall. This is a straight path. Just now, we walked straight from the library to the playground and turned left to where Kong Lingling died. In other words, despite what that student told you, you only need to go straight, turn right, left, then right from the dining hall.”

When Fang Zhi heard that, he wrinkled his brows and and, after a period of silence, said, “The death condition should be related to walking a specific route.”

Si Yu nodded. “Like this, ba. We’ll follow these students to see how they walk. We’ll look at which routes they don’t take to eliminate the death conditions. On the way, ask a student for a sheet of paper to write it down!”

“What about the others?” Cheng Yue lowered his voice and asked. There were only eight people here. There were still three more absent! 

Gu Xizhou lowered his voice, “If we see them while following these students, warn them. Right now, we don’t know all the causes of death, so don’t move blindly.”

“Oh, that’s right. Just now, when we were in the library, we came across Qi Fei. Qi Fei said he saw a woman with long hair.” Gu Xizhou told Cheng Yue the information they just asked for. “The woman went to the teaching building.”

“Then let’s go to the teaching building! We’ll be safe when we get there!” Xia Hang suggested.

Si Yu shook his head. “We passed through the teaching building this morning, but when we return, the lefts and rights will be the opposite. Who knows whether that’s a method of killing. We must eliminate the death conditions first.” 

“I agree,” said Gu Xizhou.

The rest of the group also showed their approval. Xia Hang was still very afraid when he saw the path, and his body trembled as he walked, most likely due to Kong Lingling’s death.

Gu Xizhou looked around, then broke the group’s silence, “Oh, by the way. When you follow someone, don’t follow them continuously. After entering a building, you go in, then come out again.”

Si Yu looked at Gu Xizhou with slight appreciation in his eyes. He used a pleasant voice to add, “Right. When you follow those students into a building, it’s equivalent to clearing the path’s memory. If you don’t clear the path’s memory and follow someone at will, you might inadvertently trigger the death conditions!” 

“Okay!” Cheng Yue looked at Gu Xizhou, somewhat astonished. He didn’t think of that just now. He only wanted to write down the path.

“I’ll follow him, ba.” Gu Xizhou said carelessly. He pointed at a schoolboy ahead of them who was holding a basketball and wearing a basketball uniform.

Walk while writing down the route: Left right left… Left…

After walking for approximately half an hour, Gu Xizhou ran into Si Yu when the two students they were following entered the same dormitory.  Because no one left the dormitory, they didn’t dare to walk around at random. They just sat on the stairs at the door of the dormitory. 

“These are some of the people I followed. Take a look.” Gu Xizhou had recorded the whole journey while walking after looking for a student with an itinerary to write it down.

“En.” Si Yu nodded and took it from Gu Xizhou’s hand, looking over it slowly.

The cicadas buzzed outside while the sun beamed down on the two people sitting on the stairs. Gu Xizhou propped his jaw on his hand and stared at Si Yu.

The man’s eyes shone in the light and gave off a faint radiance. The shade of the trees fell on his cheek, light and shadow intertwined, shining on his porcelain skin so that it looked transparent. 

Gu Xizhou looked at him. No wonder NPCs were always bewitched by him. This face really looks like a brave, scholarly youth dressed in pure white. It’s very dazzling. 

“It must be left left right!”

Crooked: The rules are going a little over my head ;-;