Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Yin City Experimental Middle School had been built in 1930 and was the remodeled local charity-built Pigeon Middle School. A few years later, it had grown to become one of the middle schools with the highest scores, most resources, and best students.
On a Monday, at 7:50 a.m. in the morning, the sounds of students reciting the morning reading gradually tapered off as the school bell rang.
The first lesson was about to start. The person on duty in a white-blue school uniform, who was standing by the school entrance, scurried toward the teaching block.
The electric retractable gate closed completely at the scheduled command. Outside the gate, Li Ang, who was carrying a backpack, unhurriedly walked over.
He did not walk through the front gate, instead arriving at the metal fence where there were no surveillance cameras around. The area was also blocked by trees. He then sprinted, kicked his feet against the ground, and leaped up.
Like an athlete high-jumping, he easily flipped over the metal fence, which was as tall as a man. After brushing the loose leaves off his body, he casually walked toward the teaching block.
Thud, thud, thud.
He knocked on the door and entered the classroom. Everyone, including class teacher Shi Qingsong, who was currently teaching history, looked at Li Ang.
“Late again.”
Nerdy, middle-aged Shi Qingsong pushed his spectacles against his nose and knocked on the desk with his knuckles. “What is your reason this time?”
Last time, you said that you were chased by the street vendor and her husband after eating Mapo Tofu.
The time before that, you said that you saw a homeless man sleeping on the street so you placed three tandem bicycles on him to keep him warm.
The time before that, you were in the public bathroom and a person was helping you scrub your body. To liven up the atmosphere, you asked him, “Have you eaten?” In the end, that person thought that you were challenging his professionalism and scrubbed you raw, forcing you to bear the pain and be late for school the next day.
Humph, I’ve remembered almost everything.
Li Ang replied humbly, “Teacher, I had a life-and-death struggle with a monster and killed it, thus successfully proving that ghosts and demons really exist.”
Shi Qingsong was furious. “Such things do not exist in this world.”
Li Ang nodded. “See? This news has been curbed extremely successfully.”
Shi Qingsong’s eyelids twitched. “Return to your seat. See me in the office after class.”
Li Ang, who had been dismissed, returned to his seat.
Wang Congshan was sitting beside him. She was the class monitor and she could be considered Li Ang’s sort-of childhood friend.
In elementary school, Wang Congshan had been afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes. Caring Li Ang had captured a toad by the drain and placed it on her head so that it would eat the mosquitoes that flew close to her.
During the cocoon-nurturing season, the toad had died. Thoughtful Li Ang had captured some white plump maggots to console her. After they had reared them for some time, a bunch of green-headed house flies had been born, occupying the entire classroom.
While playing hide-and-seek, Wang Congshan had hidden inside a huge wooden cupboard. Kind-hearted Li Ang had been afraid of harming her pride and had placed ten stacks of mosquito-repellent incense outside the cupboard. As a result, she had rolled out of the cupboard with red swollen eyes.
It seemed like their childhood memories were indeed quite “wonderful”…
Of course, Wang Congshan, who had known Li Ang for many years, was not simple either. She was capable of frequently getting back at Li Ang.
As he searched for the textbook inside his school bag, he greeted her softly. “Morning, nitwit.”
Used to such behavior, the class monitor glared at him. “Who is the nitwit? Don’t call people such weird nicknames, dumbass.”
“Alright, nitwit. Got it, nitwit.”
Wang Congshan took a deep breath and ignored him.
When the class ended, Shi Qingsong walked out of the classroom to accept a call. He needed to take a document to the newly-constructed teachers’ office building, so he asked Li Ang to find him in the afternoon to discuss his conduct.
The teacher left and the students could finally gossip and chat.
“Did you guys hear? Someone was found dead near the Qianhua Road this morning. More than 10 police cars went there, sealing more than four lanes.”
“Ah, what is happening? Didn’t a car accident happen there a few days ago? A tourist suddenly stuck their head out of a tourist bus window for some unknown reason.”
“In the end, a bus happened to drive by… The body was still inside, but the head was cut off. It flew and landed inside one of the noodle bowls of a group eating nearby…”
The students listening sucked in air harshly.
“It’s not a traffic accident this time. I heard that when the cleaner was working this morning, they saw the body of a man being pierced by the telephone pole near the Qianhua Road crossroad.”
“Pierced? In what way?”
“Have you tried to pierce a bun using a pair of chopsticks? The man was lying flat on the ground with a 12-meter-tall telephone pole extending from his chest…”
“How is that possible? Surely, that is fake news.”
“It is said that he jumped off a high-rise building. However, the tallest buildings near the crossroad are at most four-stories high, which is not high enough.
“In addition, the tip of the telephone pole was completely intact. No bloodstains were left on the entire pole’s length. The body seemed to have naturally ‘grown’ from the telephone pole itself…”
The faces of the group of students looked distorted. The narrating student secretly took out his cell phone to search online and chuckled. “Several hundred people saw that scene. My uncle happened to be there and sent a photo to the family’s group chat on Weibo. Now, no related information on the incident or the words ‘Qianhua Road’ can be found on Weibo articles…”
He showed his phone screen to the rest. Li Ang stole a glance at it as well.
The photo had most likely been taken from some distance away, as it was blurry. One could roughly make out a man wearing a suit lying below the telephone pole, surrounded by officials and firefighters who were carrying saws.
Evidently, even the police had no way of extracting the corpse unharmed without sawing off the telephone pole first.
The strange yet frightening image on the phone screen scared the girls, while the guys pretended to be unaffected.
Imagination and reality were two different things. Over the past few months, many strange and unnatural death cases had kept arising. As people gossiped about them, they felt really frightened as well.
Upon seeing the students’ scared expressions, Wang Congshan hastily instructed them. “Alright, alright. Don’t spread such information at school. Class is about to start. Everyone, return to your seats.”
The crowd dissipated amid this oppressed atmosphere. Li Ang narrowed his eyes while thinking about that photograph.
This was not the work of a serial killer or anyone like that. The only plausible explanation was that this was inexplicable.
This was the real world the players had to face.
Li Ang silently wrote ‘Qianhua Road’ in his notebook.