Chapter 19
Once the five-day break was over, the crowd arrived by bus at the second level of the competition.
The destination, still in the afternoon, was a residential school called Evergreen High School, which happened to be one of the ten schools Jiang Luo and his team had put together.
When he saw the school, Jiang Luo remembered the information he had memorised before.
Evergreen High School, originally a major high school in the city, was located in a remote area, with old and dilapidated facilities, but had a very good promotion rate. 2012, the Education Bureau funded the expansion of Evergreen High School and divided it into a new and an old campus, the new campus is for senior students and the old campus is for senior students and senior repeaters, because the old campus is more remote and clean, which gives a quiet study environment for the candidates.
It was just an ordinary extension, but there was an accident – a senior girl went missing during the extension.
Evergreen High School was a boarding school and students could only go home once a month. The disappearance of students during the school day was a big deal at the time and over the next three months, several more girls disappeared and two workers died in accidents at the expansion site.
However, there are still many students and parents who are not convinced and secretly rejoice in the lowering of the cut-off mark at Evergreen High School, so that the number of students at Evergreen High School is no less than that of other major high schools.
But this year, there was another incident at Evergreen High School.
The staff member at the front of the room with the loudspeaker said: “The second level of the competition will last for a total of three days. Within three days, you will have to find the girl who disappeared in 2012, the cause of the worker’s death and what happened back then. The dormitory you are placed in is in the old campus, the students from the old campus have moved to the new campus, the second level of the competition will also be broadcast live, before the competition starts, please also sign a death waiver with us-”
“Thirty people?!”
“Holy shit …… this is a straight up elimination of 100 people?”
“Four to one odds, what’s with this level being so tough!”
The chatter exploded, violently drowning out the voices of the staff.
Jiang Luo tsked, “A waiver agreement, that serious?”
Zhuo Zhongqiu calmly reassured everyone, “Don’t worry, my old man was elected as a judge this year and I called him before the competition to tell him to take care of us. Even if this hurdle is more dangerous, we will definitely be safe.”
Ge Zhu exclaimed, “I feel safe when I follow Sister Zhu.”
Zhuo Zhongqiu curled his lips handsomely, “A small matter.”
At her words, the already prepared students of Bai Hua University Class 01 went to sign the death waiver with a straight face and followed the work crew to the hostel.
The dormitory at the old campus was a four-person dormitory with two bunk beds and four desks placed together, making the ten square metre room extremely cramped. As soon as you enter the dormitory, you are greeted by the stench of dampness.
The stench was like a rubbish pile that had been sitting there for a long time, or like the stench from a sewer. Wen Renlian covered his nose and sighed, “It looks like a boys’ dormitory.”
“The boys’ dormitory, of course,” said the smiling staff member at the front, “It’s an old campus and the sewers often break, so bear with me.”
“It’s okay to be tolerant,” Lu Youyi pointed at Zhuo Zhongqiu in confusion, “why is she a woman in our boys’ dormitory?”
The staff’s smile remained unchanged, “There was a mistake when arranging the dormitory, I think, but it’s okay, there’s no difference between boys and girls, Zhuo can come to the ground floor staff bathroom to shower and use the toilet.”
One boy exclaimed from the back, “So we won’t be able to walk bare-chested?”
“Be as naked as you like, you can be naked too,” Zhuo Zhongqiu trailed off lazily, “Dude, I like pretty soft girls, you don’t have to think too much when you don’t have boobs and two extra pounds.”
A roar of laughter rang out.
Every time the staff went to a dormitory, they would call names according to a list, and when they reached the last dormitory on the sixth floor, the staff said, ” Jiang Luo, Zhuo Zhongqiu, Bai Yefeng, Xu Yan.”
Jiang Luo looks sideways just in time to see Bai Yefeng walking up to him with a man in his arms, all smiles.
“What a coincidence,” Bai Yefeng smiled at the dark-haired youth, “that we share a dormitory.”
That oddly familiar feeling comes back.
Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes slightly, “Yeah, I didn’t think it would be such a coincidence either.”
Two people from Bai Hua University and two people from Shanhai University are in this dormitory, which cannot be described as “coincidental”.
The staff took them to the dormitory and left. The four men stood at the door for a while, and the man named Xu Yan, who had been brought over by Bai Yefeng, looked at Jiang Luo warily and hostilely, as if Jiang Luo was already considered enemy number one in the minds of Bai Yefeng’s followers.
Zhuo Zhongqiu put his hand on Jiang Luo’s shoulder and together they walked into the dormitory, “Choose your bed first.”
The rooms on the sixth floor also have a sewer stench, but after being in them for a long time, you can’t smell it anymore.
Jiang Luo and Zhuo Zhongqiu left the dormitory after a few people had finished organising their things.
Needless to say, they were almost in pairs, not prepared to talk much to each other.
In this tournament, people who are not from the same school are rivals of each other, and with only a fraction of the hundred and thirty making it to the next level, anyone is defensive of anyone.
The people of Bai Hua University gathered in the open space in front of the dormitories, Kuang Zheng and Wen Renlian in one dormitory, Lu Youyi and Ye Xun in one dormitory, and Ge Zhu and Sai Liaoer in one dormitory, only to find out after comparison that the four people in each dormitory were two by two in one school.
“Is it all four to a room?” Jiang Luo frowned, “Doesn’t the note say 4-5 people in a room refer to the old campus dormitory?”
“It’s quite possible,” Wen Renlian mused, “that this one is pointing too vaguely to have any information that would match up at the moment.”
He finished and looked to Jiang Luo , ” Jiang Luo , did you see anything?”
Jiang Luo looks back at the dormitory building.
The day is overcast and the old dormitory building is grey and dilapidated, with some of the walls peeling off from the third or fourth floor, revealing the grey and white walls inside.
It is damp, dark and depressing to look at.
“This place makes me feel uncomfortable,” Jiang Luo’s eyes sweep across the sixth floor and stop at the dormitory window at the end, where a man stands, looking down. “I’ve had this feeling since I walked into the old campus.”
Zhuo Zhongqiu was thoughtful, she was of the body-soul dual cultivation school, and was much more sensitive to these things in her spiritual body than the average person, “Although I don’t feel it as strongly as you do, I also feel that something is not right.”
The two men glanced at each other in silence.
Jiang Luo unzipped his school bag and took out a pile of Fu Lu from inside, “Five sheets each, no more.”
The group was moved to tears and wanted to rush over and hug Jiang Luo and kiss him twice, “Jiang Luo, how can you be so nice?”
“And we’ve got so many charms.”
“You must be writing for a long time right oooooh?”
Jiang Luo said modestly, “Your safety is the most important thing.”
He smiled suddenly, “After all, we all work together to get first place.”
After the brief gathering, the sky was completely overcast. The trees were half-bent by the brisk wind and overcast clouds gathered as if rain was imminent.
Ge Zhu looked up at the sky and said, “There’s rain tonight until six in the morning, so everyone should go back to their dormitories and stay there for now.”
On the way back to the hostel, there were still many participants who did not mind the impending rain and went out to look for clues. These were mostly people who were not sure they would make it to the next level, and anxiety kept them from wasting precious time.
Jiang Luo hadn’t walked up stairs as high as the sixth floor for a long time, but luckily he had been working out with Lu Youyi for the past month and didn’t feel too tired when he climbed up in one go.
In the dormitory, Bai Yefeng is still there, but Xu Yan is nowhere to be seen next to him.
Bai Yefeng was sitting on a chair by the window, reading a book, when he saw Jiang Luo and Zhuo Zhongqiu enter, he gave a smile and said, “You’re back?”
Zhuo Zhongqiu nodded towards him and asked curiously, “What are you looking at?”
Bai Yefeng closed the book, the title of which was clearly ‘The Compass in Detail’, and smiled, “I rarely read these basic books, and it’s quite interesting to look at them once in a while.”
Jiang Luo squinted at him and the book, only to feel that the stench in the room was getting worse and worse, to the point where he felt like he was getting the stench on himself.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Jiang Luo took out a bottle of shower gel and went into the dormitory bathroom.
The dormitory bathrooms at the old campus weren’t much better, but thankfully they were cleaned and had little clutter. Jiang Luo settled himself with a bottle of shower gel and was washing his hair when he suddenly caught a whiff of rust.
Jiang Luo opened his eyes only to see that the hot water left over his head had turned the colour of blood, the water gurgling and the smell of rust growing stronger.
Jiang Luo : “…… grass.”
He shook it off, took a yellow charm out of his trouser pocket and stuck it on the water pipe. A moment later, the rusty smell was gone and the blood-like water flow became clear again.
Jiang Luo washed again with his head and face covered in red liquid.
When he turned off the water and started to get dressed, there was a knock on the door outside the bathroom, ” Jiang Luo, are you finished? I want to take a shower too.”
It is Bai Yefeng.
Jiang Luo went over to show him the door, and when he looked outside, Zhuo Zhongqiu was not there.
“She’s gone to the ground floor to take a shower,” Bai Yefeng said with a smile, “and asked me to let you know before she left that she’ll be back soon.”
Jiang Luo smiled kindly at him, “Thank you.”
Walk back and continue dressing.
Bai Yefeng looked at him and smiled meaningfully as he gently closed the bathroom door and took off the short sleeves he was wearing.
In the mirror, the fair and slender dark-haired youth was buttoning his trousers with his head down, and behind him, a more robust figure walked slowly.
” Jiang Luo,” Bai Yefeng looked in the mirror, “did anything happen to you when you were taking a shower?”
Jiang Luo looked up and locked eyes with Bai Yefeng in the mirror, his lips lifted abruptly in a florid, compact smile, the red mole on the back of his hand as fresh as a drop of blood, “Why do you say that?”
Bai Yefeng pointed to the yellow talisman on the water pipe, “I don’t remember this being there before.”
“Oh, this,” Jiang Luo lifted his hand and took off the yellow talisman, tucking it into his trouser pocket, “I have a habit of putting talismans around me when I take a bath, occupational hazard, do you mind?”
“No,” Bai Yefeng said with a smile tacked to the corner of his mouth, “it’s a safe habit.”
Jiang Luo had a few words of courtesy with him, put on his clothes and then prepared to go outside, but Bai Yefeng suddenly reached out a hand and touched Jiang Luo’s shoulder, Jiang Luo reflexively yanked his arm and gave him an over-the-shoulder slam, then fiercely held his knee against Bai Yefeng’s neck and grabbed both of Bai Yefeng’s hands with both hands. His eyes were sharp and cold, like a sheathed knife, “What do you want?”
Bai Yefeng was restrained so hard on the ground, but he didn’t seem to feel any pain, instead he laughed lowly, “No, it’s nothing, I just want to say, student Jiang Luo, your collar is turned out behind you.”
Jiang Luo looked down at him, his wet hair on the side of his shoulder, part of the water absorbed by his shirt and part of it dripping down onto Bai Yefeng’s chin. Bai Yefeng slowly stopped laughing and looked at him innocently, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Luo tugged on his lips, stood up and pulled Bai Yefeng up, patting Bai Yefeng’s shoulder affectionately, “Sorry Bai, I don’t really like people tapping me on the shoulder from behind, I’m really sorry for hurting you.”
Bai Yefeng smiled gently, “It’s okay.”
Jiang Luo flashed him a thankful smile and turned to leave the bathroom. When the bathroom door closed behind him, he suddenly remembered something and dug into his trouser pocket.
But instead of the Fu Lu, I only found a handful of paper dust.
Jiang Luo’s fingers twitched and he turned back to the bathroom door, the corners of his pretty eyes lifting slightly and the corners of his mouth curling slowly.
Ah.
He seemed to have discovered a very interesting secret.
