CH 68

Edited by: Dust Bunny

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows, sweeping his eyes around. Suddenly, Gu Xizhou noticed a female student standing on the distant sports field, sizing them up. Bai Dongyang and the others noticed Gu Xizhou’s line of sight and looked over at the sports field. 

Bai Dongyang shouted agitatedly, “It’s her!”

Everyone looked at him questioningly, and Bai Dongyang explained, “The day before yesterday, she gave us directions!”

Off to the side, Xiao Yue looked at the female student and hesitated for a moment before saying, “That day, it seems like… it was her!”

Everyone moved quickly to catch up to the student– Gu Xizhou in particular, who skidded to a stop directly in front of her. 

“Is something wrong?” The female student pushed her hair behind her ear as she spoke, showing a dull smile. Her voice was very soft and mellow.

Being asked this, the people surrounding her actually didn’t know how to reply. Gu Xizhou wanted to speak when he heard Si Yu ask the student, “Who are you?”

She replied indifferently. “I’m Li Jia, a student here.”

“Why did you want to point us toward the death route?” Bai Dongyang demanded, his temper exploding.

Li Jia looked at him with a strange smile. “What death route? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Bai Dongyang trembled with anger. Three people died because of this girl’s directions!

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.” Li Jia raised her eyebrows and quirked the corners of her lips upward, smiling.

“Classmate, I still have a few questions I want to ask you.” Si Yu flashed his standard hormone-packed smile. Its aura instantly sec-killed Li Jia’s off putting smile, warming the surrounding temperature. Presumably because of Si Yu’s smile, Li Jia didn’t immediately leave. 

She spoke. “Ask, ba. I’ll tell you if I know, but if I don’t, there’s nothing I can do.”

Si Yu took out the newspaper article about the female madwoman’s car accident, handing it to Li Jia. “Do you know this woman?”

Li Jia shook her head. “Don’t know.”

At that time, Qi Fei’s dyed head of pink hair abruptly appeared. He looked at everyone. He seemed to have an impression of Gu Xizhou’s group, since he had met him once before in the offices and had found him in the library, and he cheerfully waved to them. 

“Hey,” Qi Fei called, drawing their attention. By the time they regained their wits, Li Jia had already run to the middle of the road, quick as lightning.

“Do we chase her?” Cheng Yue asked, furrowing his brows.

“Forget it, let her go, ba.” Si Yu turned his head toward Qi Fei and said, “It’s you, ah. You look like you’ve dropped a lot of weight.”

“Yes, ah!” Qi Fei looked down at his bony hands, where each knuckle stood out clearly. He scratched his head and said, “I’m also surprised that I’ve lost so much weight. My classmates all think I’m on drugs.” 

A male classmate behind them yelled at Qi Fei, “Hey, Qi Fei, let’s go! Don’t you need to study?”

“Jbwlcu!” Hl Mfl gfqilfv, vfqjgalcu lc j teggs.

Vl Te ibbxfv ja Hl Mfl’r yjmx qfcrlnfis.

Rumble—— 

“Obbxr ilxf la’r ublcu ab gjlc.” Xe Wlhtbe ibbxfv eq ja atf verxs rxs jr atfs kjixfv.

Vl Te kjr rlifca obg j wbwfca yfobgf tf abiv atf batfgr, “Xb ab atf rmtbbi yelivlcu ab ajxf rtfiafg ogbw atf gjlc.”

The others didn’t refute Si Yu, especially Gu Xizhou, after experiencing the last time, where needles fell from the sky. He still had a bit of a psychological shadow about rain.

A sudden clap of thunder flashed across the sky, as if it was split by a sharp sword, and, exactly like thunder from a clear sky, it began to pour in the next moment. The pitter patter of the rain accompanied the gradually darkening sky, enveloping the school in a dark fog. The world outside the fog was a hazy sheet. 

Gu Xizhou and his teammates sat in a classroom. He curled up his lips and leaned on the edge of the window sill.

Si Yu didn’t speak, quietly flipping through the newspapers to look for clues.

Gu Xizhou saw a woman standing outside the window. It was the one Su Xiaomian had asked them to find. She stood in the rain, holding an umbrella.

“It’s her.” Gu Xizhou wasn’t the only one to notice the woman. Several of the others also saw the woman outside the window. She held a big black umbrella that could fit five or six people beneath it and calmly stood on the other side of the glass, staring at them. 

The short-haired woman was obviously holding an umbrella in the rain, but her hair and clothes made it seem like she had just been fished out from the water, rivulets of water dripping from her hair onto the puddles below.

Gu Xizhou could only vaguely see through the rainstorm as the woman turned and walked toward their location in the school building. Everyone was shocked, and soon they started to hear the sound of footsteps.

“Dong, dong, dong——”

The sound of heavy knocking echoed from the hallway, as if someone was pounding on the classroom door. 

The door was pushed halfway open, and wind immediately began to blow in. It was cold and cutting, and the people inside couldn’t help but shiver. There was no one outside the door.

Gu Xizhou looked down and saw a black umbrella laying on the floor.

The surface of the umbrella was dripping wet. Gu Xizhou lifted the black umbrella from the floor, looking at it cautiously.

The others all felt their hair stand on end at the sight of the umbrella. Clearly, this black umbrella was left by the short-haired woman. 

“Is there something wrong with this umbrella?” Xia Hang asked in a whisper.

Gu Xizhou looked at him. “Look for yourself.”

“…Aren’t you looking at it already?” Xia Hang took a step back, as if afraid to be anywhere near the black umbrella.

Gu Xizhou didn’t pay him any mind. He curled up his lips and leisurely went over to Si Yu, saying, “It’s just an ordinary umbrella. It’s alright.” 

After Gu Xizhou held the umbrella, Si Yu turned toward the hallway and saw a figure flit by.

There seemed to be someone in front of them. Everyone exchanged glances and tacitly moved forward as one. When they arrived, the only thing that remained was a puddle of water on the ground.

“We should split up and look,” suggested Gu Xizhou. “She’s in the school building.”

Cheng Yue looked at the puddle on the ground and said somewhat hesitantly, “Maybe she’s not human… If we split up and look for her, could she…” 

Si Yu said lightly, “Since she’s capable of replacing another person, then she’s definitely not human. Remember not to go to the fourth floor, and don’t walk the path of death.”

Because Si Yu had spoken, the others didn’t object.

Everyone was going to split up. Two young girls in the group spoke with trembling voices. “Si Ge, we’re very scared. Can we form a group with you? We’re afraid we can’t remember the death conditions…”

Si Yu had yet to speak before Gu Xizhou directly hugged Si Yu’s right hand side. Simultaneously, he sent Fang Zhi a meaningful glance. Fang Zhi intuitively learned from Gu Xizhou and hugged Si Yu’s left side. 

Gu Xizhou: “Wuwuwu, but the three of us came in a team! Big thigh, don’t abandon us! I’m so scared!”

Si Yu: “……”

Hearing Gu Xizhou’s deliberately pinched tone, the two girls clenched their teeth and glared at him fiercely.

Gu Xizhou: “Glaring at me is useless, I won’t give in to you.” 

Upon hearing this, the two girls were forced to give up on the notion clinging to a thigh.

The nine people each formed groups of three and split up to look for traces of the woman inside the teaching building. Before leaving, Si Yu told Gu Xizhou to grab the umbrella on the ground and bring it along.

“Is this umbrella useful?” Gu Xizhou asked.

Si Yu nodded. “It should be. Bring it, ba.” 

The windows in the hall weren’t closed, and from time to time rainwater was blown inside.

Rumble——

The pitter patter of the rain outside was incessant.

“Step step step——” 

“It’s footsteps,” Gu Xizhou said, turning to Si Yu. Si Yu and Fang Zhi also heard the noise, followed by the sound of water droplets. Evading the path of death, in the middle of the third floor hallway, stood the vague outline of a figure.

Rumble——

In the dim light, Gu Xizhou finally saw that the figure was the short-haired woman.

The woman entered one of the classrooms, and Gu Xizhou’s group didn’t think before chasing after her. 

After they entered, Gu Xizhou didn’t see a classroom, but another strange room. The room was completely empty; there was no one in it. On the ground lay a corpse.

It was a dead woman’s body… Her face was bluish-white, looking straight ahead. Her mouth was open, and her features were twisted. She should have died in agony.

Si Yu and Fang Zhi also entered, and the three people all looked at the body on the ground. The corpse was the short-haired woman.

She lay on the ground, her hair and body were wet, and her appearance was similar to the case Gu Xizhou previously handled with the male corpse. A typical case of death by drowning. 

“She drowned,” Gu Xizhou stated.

Si Yu nodded and didn’t speak, beginning to search the room instead. Gu Xizhou immediately began to help him look. Located within the most interior cupboard, Gu Xizhou found a photo album.

All of the photographs inside the album were of her and a man. Each photo was taken inside this narrow room. Her smile looked very stiff as the woman and the man posed for the pictures.

Gu Xizhou saw a one hundred yuan note on the window ledge. Its owner seemed to want to throw it outside the window. 

“Open it up,” Si Yu said. “There should be something we’re searching for inside.”

Unfolding the note and smoothing out the wrinkles, Gu Xizhou saw a few words—— “Who can rescue me? I was imprisoned. My name is Su Xiaomian, ID number xxxx, I’m at 705-11.”

Gu Xizhou said, “She’s called Su Xiaomian, just like that NPC.”

Si Yu was silent for a moment, then he said, “I understand.” 

“What do you understand?” Gu Xizhou asked.

Si Yu pointed at the woman’s corpse on the ground and said, “More than one person has disappeared. Do you remember when we just saw Qi Fei?”

Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi nodded. “Remember.”

“He suddenly lost weight not because he was taking drugs, but rather because he was very hungry!” 

Fortunately, Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi’s IQs could still be considered online. “Li Jia corresponds to the madwoman, Qi Fei’s counterpart is the vagrant, and Su Xiaomian matches this short-haired woman. More than one person was replaced.”

“Why choose to replace them?” Fang Zhi questioned.

Si Yu pointed at the name on the opened slip of paper. “If my guess isn’t wrong, then their names are the same as the people who died in the newspaper.”

Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi asked simultaneously, “Why?” 

Si Yu said lightly, “Do you think that Qi Fei could pass the university entrance examination?”

Gu Xizhou: “…En, probably not.”

Si Yu: “They attend school in the name of another person and exchange the first half of their lives, so it becomes an equivalent exchange. The dead exchange with them for the second half of their life.”