"I think the solution I proposed before is still feasible. Wait until lunch break or after school, find a few people to talk to."
"Simple but useful."
Paul stated his intentions. Unfortunately, Colin did not agree with that.
"So have you ever thought about how many students this school has? If we're lucky, we can probably know who we're looking for. If we're not lucky, how much time will cost for you to walk around and ask questions?"
"Lunchtime and after-school time are too short, not enough to ask all the students. It takes so much time just to find the target, so where do we find the time to solve it? Remember, the deadline is only three days."
"Not to mention the case, if our target is only one or a few people, and they are not even in the school right now. Then your method is simply useless."
Having Colin analyze the three problems in the solution he had just confidently proposed, Paul felt extremely embarrassed. However, he still stubbornly spoke.
"But it doesn't make any sense for you to go look for the principal."
"Unless you reveal the existence of our mission and university then the principal will be able to trust you. But we are forbidden from revealing anything."
"I have my own thoughts."
Seeing that neither side was willing to give in, Kane now stepped forward to mediate.
"This is not good, guys. We can discuss a bit..."
"No need. My thoughts are difficult for you to trust at this time. It must be tested."
"If my thoughts are correct, then from now on we don't need to worry about this problem."
Colin didn't want to explain too much, he wanted to talk privately with the principal as quickly as possible. Time is limited, the sooner something can be determined the better.
"Besides, you don't have to follow me. Even though we're on the same team, I'm not your leader, I'm just giving my opinion."
"If you have other ideas and don't agree with me, you can absolutely do it yourself."
After finishing speaking, Colin opened the door and entered the principal's office. Matthew also followed behind him.
The three people, Kane, Orson, and Paul, were very afraid that everything would be revealed, but they themselves did not know what else to do, they could only stand rooted to the spot.
"You two feel that this guy Colin is very arrogant? He always thinks he is right."
Paul whispered to Kane and Orson, looking extremely nasty. Obviously because Colin exposed him.
"I think it's okay. At least he has the courage to try, which is much better than us not daring to try."
"Anyway, we have to unite now, the test is still there."
"I know, I'm just saying a little."
After the three of them finished their small talk, the door to the principal's office was opened again. The people who came out were not the principal, but Colin and Matthew.
"There are no more problems."
Colin said. Causing the other three to freeze for a moment.
Then, all five people saw the principal leave the room and politely greeted them.
The principal promised to help them find the whereabouts of the students and teachers recently. Including students absent from school.
"What did you say to the principal? Why did he…?"
"Nothing much, really. I just showed him my student ID card. Then created a reasonable explanation."
"What? Student card? Did you talk about the university to the principal? Or did you give him money?"
Paul is skeptical. Colin now felt a bit uncomfortable when this person intentionally confronted him many times.
If Paul had done that at another time, Colin wouldn't have cared, but this was in a test involving survival. And Paul's attitude, other than causing more trouble for the team, didn't help anything.
"I showed the principal the student ID card. Then told him we were police investigators coming to the school to investigate."
"But the principal believes it? Are you trying to trick us?"
Once again, Paul questioned.
At this moment, Matthew stood on the side and could no longer listen to the troubles of this overweight "teammate".
"Otherwise, why would the principal agree to help? Even a simple-minded person like me can understand, so why the hell are you asking?"
Colin didn't say anything, but from his expression you could see that he was gradually losing patience.
"As you probably know, we have been reminded many times that student ID cards are very important, not only in determining our identity but also in helping us perform our tasks. So I ask myself how it will help us."
"You mean… this thing isn't just an ordinary student ID card, it can have some kind of supernatural power?"
"Yeah, probably some kind of hypnosis or something like that. And I used it to impersonate a police officer."
"A student ID card for us is just a student ID card, but for others, it is something that can disguise our identity."
"Thinking about the future, our mission will encounter all kinds of different people. If we don't have a suitable identity like a police officer, it will be very difficult to investigate."
Colin explained. Right after that, Matthew smiled and put his arm on his shoulder.
"You are such a genius!"
"Just a little analysis and risk."
"I don't care, to me you're a genius. Not someone who's clearly not qualified but is still stubborn and causes trouble for others."
The people here knew clearly who Matthew was mocking, but no one exposed it.
Paul was very angry, but when he saw everyone's eyes looking towards him, he gradually changed. Paul knew that the best option right now was to say nothing.
After this time, they seemed to agree with Colin's wisdom.
"Actually, because we still adhere too much to our old thinking, we don't pay attention to the fact that the place we are studying is an extremely magical place, I must say."
"Finding the causes of these things is still too far away. For now, we just need to know how to use the utilities that the university has given us."
The morning passed quickly, and Colin and the five of them sat down to lunch at a fast food restaurant. While eating, Colin checked the list that the principal had provided.
Although the list is not short, most of the people on this list have returned to school normally so Colin can eliminate them very quickly.
Only those who had not yet appeared caught Colin's attention.
However, it cannot be said that those who have returned to school are completely unrelated.
So to be sure, it is still necessary to explore each person one by one.
"Dude, I'm just wondering why these people?"
Matthew wondered. Actually, this is also a common question of the other three people.
For this one, Colin gives a relatively clear answer.
"Monsters when hunting will not immediately kill their prey, but will exist for a period of safety. During that time, the monster will tease the victim, causing the victim to become panicked, afraid, etc.
"In short, victims who are targeted by monsters will behave differently from normal people. And that's what we need to find."
"But… why are they the ones who miss school?"
"Normally when you're scared because something threatens you, what do you do?"
"Hiding somewhere? Ah, I see."
"That's good, because we still have a lot of work to do."
In the afternoon, the whole group began to split up to ask each person on the list and gauge their reactions.
The results were not very positive, those people either quit due to illness or other reasons. But there are no scary stories.
They gained nothing except eliminating the subjects that needed to be tested.
This was already in Colin's plan, now they will move on to investigate those who have not returned to school.
Sure enough, there was a clue that caught Colin's eye.
Four students in the same class simultaneously skipped school two days ago, but until now no one has returned to school. Coincidentally, all four of these people are friends, it seems like they are quite close to each other.
This may just be a coincidence.
But when more than one coincidence appears, for example Colin's group happened to be searching for a monster here.
So the coincidence is no longer a coincidence.
"Focus on these four people first."
"Why?"
"Because the possibility that they are the ones we need to find is very high. Even if they aren't, we won't waste time, because we still have to check each person."
Through the principal, Colin found the phone number of the parent of one of the four students. Then Colin called.
"Hello, may I ask, are you Joe's father?"
"Yes, who are you?"
"I'm a math teacher. Joe's situation doesn't seem too good, so I want to ask you a little about Joe these days. Has he encountered something difficult to talk about?"
"I don't know, I haven't been home these past few days, only Joe has been home alone. He also didn't call me."
"Has my son been in trouble at school?"
"Sir, your son has been absent from school for two days. We are very worried so we had to inform you."