The homeroom teacher snapped out of her daze and stared at everyone. The students in Class 3 all quieted down and lowered their heads to do their homework.
Of course, with a classmate dying, most people couldn't concentrate, and doing homework was just a formality. Even the class monitor, Xie Xinghe, only wrote one line in his homework book after a whole class.
During the second and third periods, the teacher allowed everyone to study on their own, and the entire classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Although the school leaders wanted to suppress the news, the school was so big that some teachers and students passing by inevitably noticed something amiss. Students from other classes gradually learned about Ying Xiaoya's suicide, and by the time school was about to let out in the afternoon, the rumor of a "curse" had spread throughout the entire campus. Students coming and going were discussing the incident, and the rumors became increasingly bizarre.
Everyone says that Ying Xiaoya was cursed by a vengeful spirit, which is why she committed suicide by jumping off a building on her 18th birthday.
Rumors circulating among the students were repeatedly conveying some very crucial information to Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang—
First, the location of Fenglin High School was once a place where criminals were executed, so there are rumors that "vengeful spirits are seeking revenge" and "the school is cursed."
Secondly, five years ago, the year the school was founded, a girl also committed suicide by jumping off a building on her 18th birthday. The situation was extremely similar to Ying Xiaoya's suicide, making it easier for people to believe in the "death curse" theory.
Third, in recent years, some people have gone missing from schools.
The two were somewhat surprised that the curse meant this.
After school in the afternoon, the first and second year students left the school. The third year students were supposed to stay for evening self-study, but because of the incident in Class 3 today, the school leaders made a special exception for all the third year students to skip tonight's self-study and go home early. They will have regular classes tomorrow.
Three buildings
The teaching building quickly became empty.
The teachers left, and the cleaners tidied up the corridors and restrooms. Gradually, only the security guards on duty remained in the school—along with Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang hiding in the blind spots of the surveillance cameras.
Xiao Lou said softly, "A vengeful spirit seeking revenge, a death curse— Captain Yu, do you think there's some hidden meaning behind this?"
Yu Hanjiang crossed his arms and thought for a moment before saying, "This locked room isn't a supernatural theme, so there's no way there could be any evil spirits killing people. The so-called vengeful spirits and death curses are just misleading. I think the girl who jumped off the building when the school was founded, and the people who have gone missing in recent years, are all directly or indirectly related to Ying Xiaoya's death—this could very well be a serial murder case."
Xiao Lou thought so too.
The clues in the escape room of Red Heart 3 are very scattered, but in reality, each clue is like a candied hawthorn on a stick, and there will always be a thread that will string all the candied hawthorns together. He felt that the two of them were about to find that thread through their reasoning.
The idea that the school is cursed, causing people to jump off buildings and disappear, is utter nonsense!
A vengeful spirit seeking revenge?
Actually, there's a terrifying murderer hiding in the school, as horrible as a demon.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and said coldly, "Is the murderer deliberately spreading the terrifying legend of 'vengeful spirits' to cover up his crimes?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded and said, "There must be a connection between these events. The girl who jumped off the building five years ago was definitely not committing suicide."
When Xiao Lou entered Fenglin High School, the first thing he did was check the introduction on the stone tablet at the entrance.
Fenglin High School was built five years ago at great expense. It is a key school project supported by the municipal government, and the municipal education bureau has also assigned a large number of excellent teachers to the school.
For such a prestigious school to have a student jump to their death in its founding year, the school administration would naturally try every means to suppress public opinion and minimize the impact of the incident. The legend of the curse only circulates among students, and official documents will certainly offer a more diplomatic explanation.
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang, who was also looking at him. They both said at the same time, "School archives?"
—To find information about events from five years ago, you can only go to the school's archives.
It was completely dark when the streetlights came on.
The two of them walked quietly, one after the other, to the Book Fragrance Pavilion.
The Book Fragrance Building is a very special building on campus, shaped like an open book, with a wide horizontal area and five stories high. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang couldn't go inside this building over the weekend because it was closed, but it's open today.
The two entered the Shuxiang Building. A green sign at the top of the stairs showed the layout of the entire building. The first and second floors were the school's laboratories, where all the experimental classes for subjects such as chemistry, physics, and biology were held. The third floor was the computer center, the fourth floor was the library, and the fifth floor was the school's archives.
Yu Hanjiang's gaze swept quickly across the distribution map. Just as he was about to speak, warnings rang in both of their ears simultaneously: "Security guards are approaching, 50 meters, 49 meters away..."
A conversation among security guards could be heard not far away: "There seems to be a light over the Shuxiang Building. Is someone there?"
Another person said, "Let's go take a look. The principal said we need to be on high alert these next two days; we can't afford any more accidents."
Yu Hanjiang inwardly cried out in alarm!
When they came in, they turned on their flashlights, and the light caught the attention of the security guards who were patrolling.
Hearing the rapidly approaching footsteps, Xiao Lou froze, wondering whether he should activate his speed boots and run away, but the next moment, Yu Hanjiang suddenly grabbed his arm.
Yu Hanjiang forcefully pulled Xiao Lou to a corner and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "Shh...don't talk."
This was a blind spot, an extremely narrow space. The two of them were crammed into the corner, their bodies pressed tightly together. Xiao Lou was half-embraced by Yu Hanjiang, and they could almost hear the rapid heartbeats in each other's chests. Both of their backs were taut with tension.
The security guard approached, shining his flashlight around the building, almost illuminating the two people's faces.
The security captain on duty asked, "Xiao Liu, have you noticed anything amiss?"
Xiao Liu said, "There's no one here? You must have seen wrong."
Security Captain: "Hmm. The students and teachers have all left, there shouldn't be anyone at the school. Lock the Shuxiang Building."
The security guard turned and left, followed immediately by the sound of the gate being locked.
The two people locked inside the Book Pavilion: "..."
Only after the security guards had left did Xiao Lou breathe a sigh of relief and say, "Luckily, Captain Yu reacted quickly enough."
Yu Hanjiang has excellent counter-surveillance skills and is very good at finding blind spots. It was fortunate that he found a hiding place in time; otherwise, if the two of them had run into the security guard head-on, all their efforts would have been in vain.
This little incident turned out to be a close call, but ultimately harmless.
Yu Hanjiang let out a breath, released his grip on Xiao Lou's hand, and whispered, "We need to be careful. Don't move here. I'll go check if there are any security cameras in this building."
He then left swiftly and decisively.
Without a flashlight, moving in the dark, Yu Hanjiang's steps remained unwavering; he seemed to be able to see things in the darkness. Xiao Lou, however, could not; everything was pitch black, and he could only stand there, trembling with fear, waiting.
A moment later, Yu Hanjiang returned to Xiao Lou's side and said, "The security cameras in this building are all broken. Let's search the chemistry lab first."
Recalling the theory that Ying Xiaoya was poisoned, Xiao Lou couldn't help but ask softly, "You suspect that the poison in Ying Xiaoya came from the chemistry lab?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Today, the chemistry teacher of Class 3 happened to be on leave. I don't believe it's a coincidence."
Xiao Lou agreed with this deduction and immediately followed Captain Yu's lead.
The corridor was lined with laboratories, and the interior was not visible from the outside of the building, so there was no need to worry about being noticed by security guards. Yu Hanjiang then turned on his flashlight with peace of mind.
On the left are five chemistry labs side by side, and on the right are five biology labs.
All the laboratory doors were locked. Yu Hanjiang picked up a flashlight and shone it into the room through the window. The chemistry laboratory was full of glass instruments, the tables were very clean, and the medicines in the cabinets were neatly arranged.
The blackboard in Lab 3 was covered with a jumble of chemical formulas…
Before Yu Hanjiang could react, Xiao Lou suddenly said, "It's right here!"
He paused, looked down at the door lock carefully, and found that it had indeed been pried open. He was about to say that Xiao Lou was very observant, but the other person said seriously, "The chemical structure written on the blackboard contains a carbon-phosphorus bond, which is a common organophosphorus compound. Below it is the chemical reaction equation for calcium phosphate. This chemistry class should be about the difference between organic and inorganic substances."
Yu Hanjiang, a science-challenged student: "..."
I didn't understand.
Although their evidence differed, they both pointed to the same conclusion—there was something wrong with the laboratory.
Yu Hanjiang handed the flashlight to Xiao Lou, stretched out his hands, and forcefully pried open the door lock. A soft "click" echoed in the dark corridor. The door lock had indeed been tampered with; it looked locked, but it could be forced open without a key.
The two exchanged a glance and quickly slipped into the laboratory.
Xiao Lou stood in front of the blackboard, shining a flashlight on it to carefully observe the difference between organic and inorganic phosphorus. The chemistry teacher's chalk writing was very neat, as if it had been printed on.
Yu Hanjiang quickly scanned the surroundings with his flashlight and found a notebook pinned to the back of the door. It was probably the lab's signature book. All the boxes for "Drug Recycling" and "Instrument Cleaning" on the form were checked off. At the end was the date and the inspector's signature: " Xie Xinghe ".
Yu Hanjiang narrowed his eyes slightly: " Professor Xiao, come here for a moment."
Xiao Lou walked over and was startled when he saw the signature: "It seems that the chemistry experiment class of Class 3 in the third year of high school was held in this laboratory last week. The content was about organophosphorus and inorganic phosphorus. Xie Xinghe was in charge of the final inspection of the experimental reagents and instruments. He may have taken the poison away from the scene. Of course, the chemistry teacher is also a big suspect."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Let's go check the medicine cabinet."
The medicine cabinet was also locked, but the lock couldn't be opened. However, the condition of the medicines could be clearly seen through the glass. All the bottles were labeled with the names of the chemical reagents, mostly commonly used experimental items in high school chemistry. But in the corner of the top shelf, there was a bottle labeled "organophosphate ester," and the reagent inside... was only half-full.
Xiao Lou's eyes lit up: "It must have been taken."
Both Xie Xinghe and the chemistry teacher are suspects. However, the chemistry teacher took leave from school today and was nowhere to be seen all day. The only information we heard from the PE teacher was that her father went to the hospital and she had to accompany him for a check-up, so she took leave.
How could she control things remotely while she wasn't at school? Or did she have an accomplice? Is Xie Xinghe an accomplice?
The two were deep in thought, and a brief silence fell over the room.
Yu Hanjiang quickly came to his senses and said, "Let's leave here first. The chemistry teacher will definitely come to work tomorrow, so we'll keep a close eye on her then."
Xiao Lou nodded and followed Captain Yu out of the lab.
The two arrived at the archives on the fifth floor.
There were rows of bookshelves, with countless blue folders neatly arranged inside. The door was locked, but Yu Hanjiang had a way of getting in—he simply pried open a window and climbed in through it.
Seeing Captain Yu nimbly climb through the window and enter, Xiao Lou had no choice but to follow.
He had always been a model student in the eyes of his teachers and parents, but today was the first time he had ever done something like "climbing out of a window"...
The archives are categorized by year, and the two walked to the front row to look up the materials from when the school was founded five years ago.
Five years ago, urban planning led to large-scale demolition and reconstruction in the northern part of the city, resulting in the establishment of Fenglin High School, the largest high school in the area. Several high schools in the northern part of the city were directly merged into one school, which had more than 3,000 students at the beginning.
After the merger, the senior high school students were re-divided into classes. The top students in both the humanities and science streams were selected to form two honorary classes. The teachers assigned to these honorary classes were all experienced teachers with the best teaching records, most of whom held the title of "Senior High School Teacher (Level 1)".
The folder contains a list of students from all classes, as well as their college admission results after the college entrance examination.
They are all recorded by student ID number, so it is very convenient to look them up.
Yu Hanjiang quickly scanned the list of information, while Xiao Lou compared it with the admission information.
The two quickly realized something was wrong.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "The top class in the humanities stream is missing one person?"
Xiao Lou said, "The class roster has 40 people, but the admission list only has 39. The missing name is... student number 1733, Si Han?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned and said, "After the school merged, classes were reassigned based on grades. She was assigned to the honors class, which means her grades were among the top in the entire grade. She wasn't admitted after the college entrance examination, either she failed the exam, or... she was the student who jumped off the building."
Xiao Lou said, "If a student really jumps off a building, the education bureau will investigate, and the school will definitely have to write a report."
Yu Hanjiang turned to check the official documents from that year. The school's documents were very disorganized, what...
Youth League activities, selection of outstanding teacher lessons, speech contests... Yu Hanjiang scanned through rows of folders and quickly spotted his target.
He pulled a folder out of the cabinet, quickly flipped through it, and sure enough, he saw a stack of reports.
—A detailed report on the circumstances surrounding Si Han's fall from the building.
Si Han was an excellent student, consistently ranking in the top ten of her class. However, she failed her midterm exams last month, ranking last in the class. On her 18th birthday, she left a suicide note and jumped from Xingzhi Building.
This report includes detailed descriptions and evaluations of Si Han by all the teachers, as well as a photo of her suicide note.
The suicide note was very simple: I'm sorry to my parents and teachers, I want to end my life quickly.
The last page of the report is a detailed psychological analysis report.
The report pointed out that Si Han had a fragile mental constitution. Unable to cope with the blow of failing her exams, and lacking parental care and support, she tragically committed suicide by jumping from a building. The report concluded that future efforts should focus on students' mental health, providing more psychological counseling and education, and offering regular counseling courses to help students overcome psychological difficulties.
All the documents were stamped with the official seal of the school office.
The lines of text were shocking to read!
Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine: "It's almost exactly the same situation as Ying Xiaoya's."
Yu Hanjiang's expression was also somewhat grim: "This student's fall from the building and Ying Xiaoya's fall from the building might be the work of the same murderer, and the suicide notes left behind are also very similar."
He paused, then suddenly remembered some suspicious points and said, "When I saw the suicide note today, I felt something was off. Now that I think about it, the handwriting is indeed Ying Xiaoya's, but it wasn't written by her. It's possible that someone else copied it from her notebook, which is why it was written as concisely as possible."
"Furthermore, the statement 'I'm sorry, Mom and Dad' doesn't fit Ying Xiaoya's family situation. She was staying with Yu Hui, and her parents weren't around. If she really committed suicide, the people she would be most sorry to are her cousin and aunt's family who care about her. The person who copied the suicide note obviously didn't know the relationship between Ying Xiaoya and Yu Hui, nor did they know her family situation."
Ying Xiaoya had a notebook at school, especially since she often wrote compositions in Chinese class. She would pick some words from the notebook and copy them onto another piece of paper, which was not difficult at all.
Similarly, the suicide note left by Si Han when he fell to his death five years ago might also have been copied.
What was the relationship between the two girls who both left suicide notes?
The case is getting more and more complicated.
The two cases of girls falling to their deaths, both young and beautiful, led Xiao Lou to a terrifying suspicion—had the two girls been sexually assaulted or even raped by a pervert at school? Did they not want to jump, but were they killed to silence them because the perpetrator was afraid they would report them to the police?
But this is just his speculation, without any basis.
Moreover, the chemistry teacher who is currently the most suspicious is a woman.
Just then, a clap of thunder suddenly rang out outside the window, startling both Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang.
The two left the archives, turned off their flashlights, and went to the end of the corridor on the fifth floor, looking out the