Chapter 12: Birthday
Chapter 12: Birthday
He couldn’t see it’s face from this angle, but he intuitively knew that it was looking at him.
Lin Yiri said, “What were you doing? You didn’t utter a word for half a day.”
Su Min sensed that Jing Xian was still beside him, so he lied without blinking, “I was too absorbed in looking for information in this photo and didn’t hear you.”
His hand was pinched.
In response, Su Min nipped the ghost’s hand and glared at the air. He didn’t know if he was glaring in the right direction, but he was slightly annoyed.
Jing Xian released his hand, then snuggled closely to his ears and softly whispered, “Your angry appearance is really adorable.”
Since Su Min couldn’t see the ghost, much less beat him up, he simply ignored Jing Xian.
Putting his hands in the safety of his pocket, Su Min said, “It’s not early. We’ve found a clue, so let’s leave.”
If he stayed any longer, he would be eaten clean.
Like before, the silhouette under the ceiling fan continued to sway. It was inevitable for Su Min to pass it if he wanted to see Chen Ke’s corpse.
But he also wanted to see the face attached to that figure.
The ghost didn’t appear to be malicious. It was simply dangling about, like a fine weather doll1.
She seemed to be in love with this action, swaying until the arc grew larger and larger. Sometimes, her tiptoes would even touch Lin Yiri’s neck.
Lin Yiri was extremely terrified. “What is it? What is it?”
Su Min pretended he couldn’t see, and Lin Xiao Yan pretended she couldn’t hear. “Hurry up and go.”
As for Chen Ke’s body, they couldn’t take it away and could only let it remain there. Maybe she would run off to the office building tonight.
Before leaving, Su Min closed the dormitory door.
The ghost had swung like a pendulum under the ceiling fan that was on the verge of collapsing. Su Min thought it wasn’t impossible for her to fall face-flat on the floor.
He quickly shut the door and didn’t dare look inside again.
This time, his loot was a birthday card, a photo, and the knowledge that Teacher Chen was related to this incident somehow.
Now that he had the name of the two girls, it would be easier to dig for their information. Perhaps he would figure everything out by tomorrow.
Su Min wanted to go.
Lin Xiao Yan, “Watch over me tomorrow evening.”
Lin Yiri, “How can we go? We can’t enter the girl’s dormitory again... If we go in, we will be driven away by the dorm-keeper aunt, then the whole school might be informed.”
They would certainly be in big trouble.
Su Min was speechless. “What are you talking about? This matter will soon blow up. When that time comes, there’s no reason for the blame to start with you.”
The female lead still had a preferential treatment.
There was no male lead in this movie. If the female lead dies, wouldn’t the ending go up in flames? These kind of movies generally don’t have such an ending.
Su Min only wanted to live to the end.
At this moment, Lin Yiri glanced around and nervously asked, “Su Min, do you hear the singing?”
Su Min listened carefully, “I hear it.”
Lin Yiri asked, a little awkward, “Why does it sound like it’s singing The Most Dazzling Folk Style...”
The three people stood on the stairs with their ears perked up to listen. The song was coming from the dormitory on the third floor.
They had never been to the third floor.
Lin Xiao Yan asked, “Do you want to go and see?”
Su Min thought for a moment, “Forget it. Maybe they’re partying down there2. We’ll go in after it cools down.”
He still cherished his life.
This dormitory had been sealed up for several years. It would be normal to see a lonely soul or ghost. Ever since he saw Liu Lili’s corpse move, Su Min no longer felt that this sort of thing was baffling.
As they approached the third floor, the singing became clearer.
Once they passed the third floor and continued their descent, Su Min thought he heard a girl’s howling.
–As if wailing why ghosts have bald heads3...
Su Min silently touched his hair.
Fortunately, there was no signs of any baldness. If he became bald at such a young age, he would have a wear a wig and worry about it being blown away by the wind.
The thought was terrifying.
When Su Min came out of the dormitory, he couldn’t help but look back.
What he saw made his back suddenly straighten, and the hairs on both of his arms raised.
Facing him was a dormitory building with six floors, each with dozens of balcony windows, as well as anti-theft shutters.
The very same balconies were filled to the brim with a sea of ghosts. When and why and how they died was unknown.
There was no lack of ghosts whose bodies were badly mutilated; there were countless that lacked an arm and a leg. They were all crowded together, watching as the trio left.
One, who was behind the anti-theft shutters, even stretched out its hand and waved at him.
Su Min watched as that arm fell off the window.
Su Min: “...”
The other party seemed to be aware of this, too. It reached forward but fell off the balcony. Unexpectedly, its whole ghost body dropped and shattered into pieces.
He took back his line of sight and hurriedly left without looking back.
Early the next morning, Su Min awoke.
Like before, the cinema gave him a reminder:【Hello, Audience Member Su Min. Congratulations on successfully surviving another day. There are still two days left before the movie’s conclusion. Please continue to persist until then. Today’s hint: office building 】
It was still the office building.
Su Min was certain that the root of everything stemmed from there. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been the setting for so many scenes.
The matter of chief importance was to uncover the event that started it all.
Among Su Ya and Jiang Hui, one had jumped off a building while the other had hung herself. It was impossible for there to be no connection between the two.
He didn’t know who did what and could only do some research.
Naeda Translations. Don’t re-upload.
Su Min called the phone number listed under the personal information of the black-and-white photographs. Three had changed numbers, while one was an empty number.
He could only press on. Luckily, the last number got through.
This information sheet belonged to a boy called Sun Chaoyang. It was written here that he had an ordinary family, but his grades were excellent.
An old voice sounded, “Hello?”
Su Min quickly said, “Hi, is this Sun Chaoyang’s parent?”
After his words fell, the person at the other end of the line stayed silent. Suddenly, there was a slam and a beep; the person had hung up without any mercy.
Su Min touched his nose and dialed the number again.
Opposite the line, an elderly voice shouted, “I don’t have anything to say. Don’t call again, or I will call the police!”
Su Min softened his voice, “Hello, I found Sun Chaoyang’s file in the graduation record for this year. I called to ask about what happened that year, because I recently ran into some strange events...”
He chose a few and explained them.
Perhaps the mention of the dead people at school shocked the old man. He was silent for five whole minutes before saying, “Death is death, there’s nothing more to say. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have let him return to school.”
Su Min kept that sentence in his heart as he asked, “If I may be so bold as to ask, how did Sun Chaoyang pass away?”
The other person’s breathing became heavy. “Burned!”
After uttering that word, he hung up, and the call disconnected. No matter how many times Su Min called after that, there was no answer.
Su Min suddenly remembered something.
When they found Zhang Yuan’s body on the seventh floor, he tried to open the door but brushed against a black substance.
At that time, he only thought that it felt familiar but didn’t recall what it was. Because the doors looked normal during the day, he never thought of it again.
That door was made of wood; wooden things leave traces after being burnt; the black thing should be burnt wood...
The reason behind the office building’s renovation was the fire on the seventh floor.
So Sun Chaoyang died in the office building?
Lin Yiri rushed in from the outside, shouting, “I found out who Teacher Chen is!”
Su Min turned around, “Who?”
Lin Yiri took a sip of water. “He was a professional teacher, that’s for sure. I heard that his failing rate was really high, but he looked very handsome.”
He took out his phone and pulled out a screenshot.
“He stopped working at this school a few years ago,” Lin Yiri said. “There were some younger sisters in the web forum asking why he resigned. The answer: he passed away.”
Su Min subconsciously frowned.
Why did they both die?
Lin Yiri said, “The cause of death wasn’t made public; it looks like the school wanted to suppress the news. I found a senior from that year and after some inquiry, she told me that he was burned to death. There seemed to have been a fire in the office building.”
Su Min suddenly realized how they fit into one another.
If he guessed correctly, this Teacher Chen should’ve been on the seventh floor of the office building when the fire broke out. Later, the floor was blocked for a renovation, and the incident was never made public.
As for the reason why it was kept hidden, only the school headmaster would know.
Presumably, troubles started popping up one after another, and the school headmaster grew anxious.
Lin Yiri added, “The incident didn’t happen during a school day but several days into a holiday. There wasn’t that many people left in school, so she doesn’t know the rest.”
Su Min held the birthday card by the edge.
The date written on the outmoded card was July 16, Teacher Chen’s birthday.
Su Min wondered, “This birthday card was for Teacher Chen. Did those people go to celebrate his birthday?”
Then why jump off a building and hang yourself..?
There wouldn’t necessarily be that many people celebrating a teacher’s birthday, especially one whose failing rate was high. It would be strange if he had high popularity among students even if he was good looking.
Was everyone there all students or all teachers?
Su Min thought that this matter wasn’t simple.
Lin Yiri switched topics, “Lin Xiaoyan said she doesn’t dare sleep alone or go off campus. What should we do tonight?”
Su Min, “She can’t come to our dormitory.”
Lin Yiri, “But you can go to hers.”
Su Min hesitated, “I’m not a female student, how can I go in? Did the ghost kick you too hard in the head?”
Last night, when the hanged female ghost swung, she had kicked Lin Yiri’s neck lightly, but he had a deep memory of it.
Lin Yiri said with complete confidence, “You can completely fool the dorm-keeping aunt by just wearing a wig and skirt.”
Su Min, “...Wake up, it’s already dawn.”