When Ye Li woke up again, she did not turn down her deskmate’s invitation to get food. Instead, she took the initiative to urge her to hurry up.
Of course, eating was merely an excuse.
Her real goal was to fish for some inside information about the Wen Xue incident from Tang Qi.
Tang “Goddess of Gossip” Qi did not disappoint. The moment she opened her mouth, out spilled a flurry of reliable insider information.
Wen Xue was a scholarship student with outstanding academic marks, consistently maintaining a rank in the grade's top ten during major exams and earning a scholarship every year.
She was also petite and pretty, gentle and introverted—hardly the type to provoke anyone.
Word had it that her family was destitute. Her parents worked odd jobs out of town, leaving her to live with her grandparents, and she also had a younger brother who was bedridden with illness.
After the incident, her parents came to the school to cause a scene. In the end, out of humanitarian concern, the school paid thirty thousand yuan in compensation.
However, rumors had it that the parents of Yi Lin and her two cronies privately shelled out another hundred thousand yuan, and the matter was swept under the rug just like that.
As for Yi Lin and the other two, because the scandal caused too much of a stir, the school disciplined them by sending them home for “self-reflection,” and they had not returned since.
Hearing this, Ye Li almost laughed out loud.
Without so much as a disciplinary demerit on their records, what kind of punishment was that?
Rather than punishing Yi Lin and the other two by sending them home to reflect, it was more like letting them lie low until the heat died down.
Once the storm passed, they would just come back to study and take the Gaokao. Those who were bound for college would go to college, and those going abroad would go abroad. As long as their academic records remained spotless, bright and boundless futures still awaited them.
Yet when that time came, who would remember the innocent girl whose life had withered away in the prime of her youth?
After asking about Wen Xue, Ye Li took the opportunity to ask about Qi Yezhou as well.
The information she gathered made her inwardly marvel—this top student truly lived up to the title!
If Le Jun had become a campus figure half due to his looks, Qi Yezhou had completely conquered everyone with pure intellect.
Qi Yezhou was also a scholarship student. Ever since entering tenth grade, he had dominated the rankings in first place, served as the school’s student council president and youth league congress representative, and racked up awards and honors by the truckload.
A few months ago, he had even taken first prize in both the National High School Chemistry and Physics Competitions.
A walking, talking academic god!
“I even heard he’s already been guaranteed an early admission slot at Qing University,” Tang Qi said enviously. “Sigh, while the rest of us have to slog through the Gaokao. Comparisons really are odious.”
Ye Li wholeheartedly agreed. Couldn’t agree more!
Comparing yourself to others really could kill you!
When they reached the cafeteria, the moment Tang Qi stepped away to get food, Ye Li turned and left, displaying “discarding after use” to absolute perfection.
Stepping out of the cafeteria, she veered straight into the convenience store nearby, quickly sweeping up a bag of snacks inside.
There were potato chips, cookies, cola, and a large bag of cream-flavored sunflower seeds.
Rushing back to the foot of the teaching building, she found Le Jun already waiting by the vending machines.
His face was pale at that moment, weakly leaning against a vending machine while clutching a large bottle of mineral water, clearly having just gone through an agonizing round of stomach-heaving vomiting.
Ye “Holds Grudges” Li walked up, lifted the snacks in her arms toward him, and asked with utter mischief, “Want some?”
“Blegh—”
The response she got was an involuntary dry heave from Le Jun.
Ye Li beamed with gloating satisfaction.
Shared misery really was wonderful!
By the time they headed over to the library again, the clock pointed exactly to five fifty-five.
The moment they entered, they saw Luo Jiajia dart frantically toward a trash can, vomiting her guts out. Her retching drew the attention of everyone around, and even the teacher on duty hurried over to check on her.
Soon, however, repulsed by the foul, pungent stench, they all pinched their noses and backed away.
Once the six o'clock chime finished ringing, the group of four gathered in the cramped storage room once again.
Time for another recap and discussion!
Luo Jiajia had not recovered yet, sitting listlessly on the floor while hugging a trash can.
Naturally, it was a different, clean one.
Otherwise, Ye Li would probably not have been able to resist tossing both her and the bucket out.
The two boys did not look well either, their faces weighed down with worry.
Only Ye Li was completely unfazed. Leaning against the window, crunching loudly on potato chips and cookies, and gulping down cold cola, she was thoroughly enjoying herself.
Judging from the current situation, even if all four of them survived past midnight, the school would still be blanketed in thick fog and swallowed by the “minced flesh.”
They seemed to be trapped in a total dead end, unable to find any way to escape!
Yet Ye Li did not think so.
“We definitely overlooked something!” she mumbled around a mouthful of potato chips.
Up until now, it felt as though they were trapped in an interlocking series of puzzles; only by finding the key clues could they break the current deadlock and proceed to the next stage.
The only reason they remained trapped was that they had not found the key to solve the puzzle yet.
“But I can’t think of any other clues,” Le Jun said, frowning, his thoughts a tangled mess. “The location is fixed, time is frozen, and all of us are here. What on earth are we missing...?”
“Wait!”
At that moment, Qi Yezhou suddenly interjected with a question: “How can you be sure everyone is here?”
“Right, the number of people!”
Ye Li’s eyes lit up instantly. Prompted by his remark, clarity suddenly washed over her.
Time and location could not be changed, so the only variable left was the number of people!
The academic genius was indeed a genius; his mind worked fast!
Le Jun realized it too, but quickly voiced another doubt: “But the school is so big. Where do we even start looking?”
Between all the faculty, students, and various support staff, there were over two thousand, nearly three thousand people across the entire campus.
Furthermore, based on what they knew, each person’s awakening time was unpredictable. There was no way they could watch everyone at every moment.
“The only way is by process of elimination!” Ye Li said. “Where do students usually gather after school?”
Le Jun counted on his fingers. “The teaching buildings, the cafeteria, the library, the gymnasium, the dormitories... basically those places.”
“The teaching buildings, cafeteria, library, and gymnasium can basically be ruled out,” Ye Li said.
They had stayed in those places at one point or another and had not spotted any other suspicious individuals.
“That leaves the dormitories.”
Le Jun’s brows knit even tighter. “Even if it’s just the dormitories, searching for someone there will be a nightmare!”
The school’s dormitory was a U-shaped building, essentially three buildings joined together. It had eight floors, each with thirty-six rooms, and each room housed eight people.
The lower four floors were the boys’ dorms, while the upper four were the girls’ dorms.
With so many rooms, checking them one by one to find someone was easier said than done!
“It’s not entirely impossible!” Ye Li had a sudden burst of inspiration. “We could grab a loudspeaker and shout for everyone to assemble from downstairs, then keep watch for a few days. If someone’s really hiding in the dorms, they’re bound to notice.”
After all, wasn’t Le Jun drawn to her by her jumping off the building in the first place?
“That method could work...” Qi Yezhou pushed up the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. “But have you considered that the person might wake up at six o'clock, or even after six?”
Ye Li raised an eyebrow. “You mean they might wake up to a ghost domain right off the bat?”
Whoa. Just thinking about it sounded thrilling!
Rate on N.U.
