"He died in the underground parking garage in sector B, and his deep resentment has affected the entire university. Our goal is to destroy his body!"
"Only by destroying his body can we possibly end the curse!"
"Interestingly, when we first entered the university, we brought a very powerful weapon... but that thing was left behind in a vertical shaft in the western underground parking garage, labeled 'Polluted Fire,' after it was attacked by Chen Qiong's spirit."
"That special weapon requires identification, but it won't take long. As long as you can help me distract Chen Qiong's spirit, I will be able to activate the weapon soon and destroy Chen Qiong's body!"
Yang Linlin bit her lip.
"How long will it take?"
Li Sheng replied:
"It will take about three minutes in total!"
Yang Linlin looked at Zhao Yi with an inquiring gaze.
Zhao Yi reached out and shook hands with Li Sheng.
"When should we take action?"
Li Sheng pondered:
"It's too late tonight. Tomorrow night, when it gets dark, come back to the water tower and I will take you to the western underground parking garage!"
Zhao Yi asked:
"Can we scout the area first?"
Li Sheng scratched his head:
"I almost forgot... since you're not familiar with the terrain, it's necessary to scout the perimeter first!"
After making their arrangements, they sat in silence for about four hours until the mist outside disappeared. Zhao Yi then led Yang Linlin out of the water tower and headed towards the dormitory building.
The next day, they took their seats according to the seating chart.
Several students in the class sat in the wrong positions and had their heads chopped off on the spot!
Blood was cold and foul-smelling.
But in the blink of an eye,
all the bodies vanished.
The two of them safely survived the day.
While eating in the cafeteria that night, Zhao Yi scooped rice into his mouth and asked Yang Linlin:
"Do you have fishing line?"
"Or thread... it needs to be thin, long, and strong enough."
Yang Linlin was still thinking about tonight's events and had no appetite for food.
"Yes, I do."
"But... what do you need it for?"
Zhao Yi replied:
"To kill someone."
Yang Linlin froze.
"Who do you want to kill?"
Zhao Yi:
"Li Sheng."
Yang Linlin continued to stare at Zhao Yi, who was casually eating his meal. His tone seemed nonchalant, as if he was describing something insignificant.
But only the person involved knew how crazy his words were!
"Are you insane?"
"If we kill Li Sheng, who will help us break the curse?"
Yang Linlin didn't know what madness had possessed Zhao Yi, but from his tone, he didn't seem like he was joking!
He really wanted to kill Li Sheng!
After finishing the last bite of his meal, Zhao Yi looked up, gracefully opened a bottle of soy milk from 1982, and said earnestly:
"If you still expect him to help us break the curse, then death is not far away."
Yang Linlin glanced around the noisy cafeteria, leaned closer, and whispered:
"What do you mean?"
Zhao Yi tapped the table lightly with his index finger and recalled everything from last night, explaining:
"First, he's just an investigator, not a student in Class 8 of Grade 1. Don't you think his description of Chen Qiong is too detailed?"
"Detailed to the point where he knows about Chen Qiong seeing the mayor's son, Pang Xiao, reach into Zhang Ya, the class flower's, clothes during class."
Yang Linlin's body stiffened.
"Second, three people are missing from the class roster."
"Chen Qiong, Pang Xiao, Zhang Ya."
"These three individuals are not listed in the class roster."
"If things were exactly as described by Li Sheng, then I believe that Chen Qiong, who possesses the ability to cast an eerie force over the entire school, would not let Pang Xiao and Zhang Ya go—especially Pang Xiao."
"Because Pang Xiao is the source of his tragedy!"
Yang Linlin fell into contemplation.
Zhao Yi continued:
"Thirdly, the basement of that water tower was not something he stumbled upon by chance... in fact, I suspect he built that basement himself."
Raising her head, Yang Linlin gazed at Zhao Yi, her face full of puzzled question marks.
While she could understand the first two points, this third point made her feel like Zhao Yi was just making things up!
"The curse of this school has spread to most of its corners, involving all the teachers and students inside. Where did he find the time to build such a large basement in front of so many evil spirits?"
Zhao Yi's gaze was deep.
"No dust."
"Huh?"
"I'm saying, there is no dust in the basement."
Recalling the events of last night, Zhao Yi explained:
"Last night, I deliberately checked many corners."
"The lampstand, the sofa, even... those odds and ends, had almost no dust, very clean."
"Normally, no one would clean the basement."
"Unless someone was living down there."
"As you said, it's almost impossible for him to build such a basement in front of the evil spirits after the curse, so the basement must have been built before the curse."
"The entrance is so concealed, there's no lighting, and the mechanism is hidden behind bricks that people wouldn't think of... do you think it's more likely that he stumbled upon the basement while being chased by evil spirits, or that he already knew about the existence of the basement?"
Yang Linlin was dumbfounded.
This Zhao Yi's observational skills... aren't they a bit too terrifying?
"But if he deceived us, what could be his purpose?"
Zhao Yi explained:
"In psychology, purposeful lies are usually a mix of truth and falsehood."
"To make the lie more logical and authentic, some true elements are often added."
"For example, even if there is no Chen Qiong with an evil spirit-like appearance in the western district's underground parking lot, there are definitely dangers we can't imagine."
"And Li Sheng truly wanted to enter the vertical shaft with 'tainted fire' written on it."
"It's just that once he goes in, he won't come out, so he lied to me to help him lure the evil creature outside."
Layers of analysis.
At this point, Yang Linlin already believed that Li Sheng, who seemed completely harmless, was actually a fraud!
...
Live chat barrage:
: Damn, his powers of observation and judgment are truly amazing!
: To be honest, I also feel that something's off about this Li Sheng!
: This poor kid actually tried to outsmart this lunatic Zhao Yi, his ending will probably be very tragic!
: But since Zhao Yi discovered the problem, why didn't he kill Li Sheng last night? Why wait until today to kill him?
: It's normal to not understand, after all, we are normal people, and he is a madman!
...
Taking out a fishing line from her body, she handed it to Zhao Yi.
After Zhao Yi accepted it, Yang Linlin asked:
"What do you need me to do tonight?"
Zhao Yi said:
"You don't need to do anything."
"Whether we can succeed or not depends on tonight."
"If we're lucky, we can dispel this curse tonight!"