Zhang Shutong turned around:
"Did you find anything?"
"Almost exactly what you said." Lu Qinglian said in a low voice. "The date of its appearance was December 16, 2008. It disappeared on April 4 of the following year, almost four months later."
"But this time, it appeared on December 5?" He leaned against the door frame. "Looking at it this way, there's no pattern at all."
"It appears about once every four years. Of course, the sample size is too small right now."
"Do you have any similar legends in your temple about four years or eight years?"
"No."
"We've hit a dead end again." Zhang Shutong was silent for a while. "If you have any other information, it's best to exchange it."
Zhang Shutong knew that her expectations were bound to be dashed. Lu Qinglian came here hoping to find out about the "fake Lu Qinglian," but Teacher Song had only seen his ex-girlfriend and Gu's mother. Even in the notebook, there were no clues about that thing.
It was very likely that only he had seen that person.
"There's nothing to say."
Lu Qinglian's voice carried a hint of fatigue, as if she was a little disappointed. Her emotions were always shallow, but if you looked closely, you could always see some clues:
"Only a fresco."
Saying this, she briefly described it. Zhang Shutong thought about it:
"It's not very clear just by telling me. Can you find time to take a picture?"
"Photos are not allowed in the temple."
"Are the rules in your temple a bit much?"
"You could put it that way." Lu Qinglian didn't seem willing to say more. She added, "But we can draw one conclusion. December 12 should be a special day. On this day in 2010, there was a sentence written: 'It's already the third year.' I believe this is a day of remembrance or the date of the funeral."
"Today is December 12." Zhang Shutong frowned.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence."
Zhang Shutong then said:
"If the records in the fresco are correct, can I understand it this way: if you put a deceased person's body into the restricted zone, a 'clay figurine' will appear?"
"That's right."
"But if that's the case, Teacher Song's girlfriend's funeral was on December 12. He saw the clay figurine for the first time on the 16th. Wasn't the person already buried? And she was cremated, right?" Zhang Shutong said. "You can't be telling me that if I put the urn in the restricted zone, a clay figurine will still appear..."
"Not necessarily cremated." Lu Qinglian interrupted. "The customs in some places on the island are for burial, and there's no crematorium here at all."
It was the first time Zhang Shutong had heard of this. He wasn't a local and knew very little about the island's customs:
"What about a water burial?"
"It used to happen, but it has almost disappeared now. But it's not impossible."
"Since the restricted zone is by the lake, did someone use a water burial method and accidentally bury the body there, and as a result, a clay figurine was born?"
Lu Qinglian was noncommittal:
"Both unintentional and premeditated are possible. You should think about Gu Qiumian's mother."
"That's also true. A big boss wouldn't bury his wife by the water..." Zhang Shutong said to himself. "So now we can confirm that at least a person's body is needed?"
The body of a person who had already been buried would appear by the water, but didn't that mean...
Zhang Shutong's expression hardened:
"Someone dug up the body after the funeral?"
If that was the case, everything made sense. Although the cause of the clay figurine's existence was still uncertain, the clay figurine was far from the end, and it was not a coincidence.
There was also a person behind the scenes. This person dug up the bodies, whether it was Teacher Song's girlfriend or Gu Qiumian's mother.
Regardless of who this person was for now, the most important thing was to confirm this speculation.
Thinking about this, Zhang Shutong hesitated for a moment and then said:
"Actually, there's a way to confirm our guess."
Lu Qinglian lightly nodded her chin:
"Go to the graveyard."
—It was to go to the graveyard.
If it was a resurrection, then these people's bodies should no longer be in the coffins.
But digging up a grave and opening a coffin were considered a desecration of the deceased in general. Neither side would easily agree.
Zhang Shutong couldn't just go and secretly pry open the coffin with the thought of "I'm doing this for your own good." Besides, it was daytime. It was also impossible for the two of them to just run to the graveyard and dig up the soil. There were caretakers in the graveyard. This matter could only be discussed at a later time.
Zhang Shutong felt an even worse headache coming on:
"Let's walk and talk."
He said and, being a little wiser this time, he pried the lock off the window.
There was nothing else to check in the dorm.
He was the first to leave the dorm. Lu Qinglian, on the other hand, silently looked at the photo of Teacher Song's ex-girlfriend for a while, lost in thought.
Zhang Shutong got to the hallway, and the sky turned dark in an instant.
A few minutes ago, it was still a sunny scene here, but now it was covered by a thin layer of dark clouds, hovering over their heads.
The weeds below rustled in the wind, and a few stalks spun and flew into the air.
He waited for Lu Qinglian to lock the door. The two of them went down the stairs one after another, in silence.
Zhang Shutong had always wanted to ask her what was going on with that fake Lu Qinglian, and what she herself thought about it.
But Lu Qinglian never took the initiative to mention this. This trip had brought her no new discoveries, and the last clue had been cut off just like that. She was probably not in a good mood.
Zhang Shutong only knew that their current cooperation was going very well. He had lost his ability to act, and having Lu Qinglian by his side would make things much easier.
But the most important thing was not just a teammate with a superhuman fighting ability—it was that he finally didn't have to keep so many things to himself. Being able to talk to someone always made him feel better.
So, even for the sake of maintaining their partnership, Zhang Shutong chose to be tactful and shut up.
He changed the topic and talked about something else:
"Where did you learn to ride a bike?"
"Such a simple thing doesn't require learning." She said dismissively.
"But you even had to ask how to eat an Oreo..."
Lu Qinglian's eyes narrowed:
"Student Zhang Shutong, if you can tell that I don't want to talk right now, please be quiet."
Okay, so she did react when she was in a bad mood.
Zhang Shutong stopped talking, but Lu Qinglian added coldly:
"And you'd better figure out how to explain things to the homeroom teacher."
"Explain what?"
"The fact that you've been absent for half a class."
Zhang Shutong looked at his phone. It had been half an hour since the end of the lunch break. It was more than being absent. Class was almost over.
His scalp suddenly tightened:
"What was the first class again?"
"English."
Zhang Shutong's eyelid twitched. He thought, "This is not good."
English.
That was the new homeroom teacher, Ms. Xu's class.
And the two students who had just been designated as "role models" in the morning had skipped the first class of the afternoon.
Moreover, the other person already disliked him.
He felt a bit regretful for not getting a receipt from the driver. By the way, can an ambulance give you a receipt?
In short, this matter told him that life was more than just the current mess... No, it should be that life was more than just the current unsolved case. There was also the homeroom teacher he needed to answer to.
Zhang Shutong suggested:
"Let's come up with an excuse beforehand. We can back each other up later."
As soon as he said this, he was rejected by Lu Qinglian:
"No need."
"Almost forgot. You have a special attack against middle-aged women."
Lu Qinglian said calmly:
"No. It's because I'm the study committee member. I can directly write down your name."
"Don't. That's a bit cruel..."
"I've been wanting to ask this since morning," Lu Qinglian stopped beating around the bush. "What exactly is this 'special attack' you're talking about?"
Zhang Shutong didn't know how to explain. Where did the term "special attack" originate from?
In any case, he learned about it from Pokémon. Well, so he should ask Gu Qiumian about this. She was a Pokémon master.
Zhang Shutong joked:
"It means you're very well-liked."
"I'll take back my previous evaluation."
"What evaluation?"
"You're even more childish than I thought."
Zhang Shutong's mouth was slightly agape. He wondered how long ago that evaluation was. It was probably that time when she sprained her foot. She was soaking her feet and mentioned the classmates in her class. Her tone was, "Oh, that child."
He decided to discuss some mature topics:
"So, how do you think that person disappeared?"
"Although you are very childish, don't ask me to do everything."
She was a woman who didn't mince her words.
Zhang Shutong was choked up.
The two of them stood side by side under the dorm building entrance. He thought the conversation was over, but Lu Qinglian looked at the front and said:
"I also have no clue, but I would suggest you narrow your focus. Trying to investigate everything will only lead to no results."
Zhang Shutong thought for a moment:
"Can I take that as comfort, or a warning?"
"It's a warning." Saying this, Lu Qinglian looked at the sky. "It's going to rain. Hurry up."
As her words fell, a gust of cold wind swept past. Lu Qinglian's hair was pushed against her face, and her green robe fluttered with the wind.
The world was a vast expanse. The wind blew the grass low. She took a step, and her slender figure disappeared into the overgrown weeds.
Lu Qinglian's steps were always very fast. Even though the weeds around her were knee-high, it couldn't hide her long legs.
Zhang Shutong took one last look at the rooftop and then followed her.
He couldn't ride a bike right now, and he needed her help. It would be terrible if he was left behind.
Even though her foot injury hadn't healed, it was hard to say if she was deliberately walking so fast.
So Zhang Shutong couldn't walk slowly either. He sped up and went around the side of the dorm building:
One step, two steps, three steps, four steps... seven steps, eight steps, nine steps... eleven steps.
It wasn't until the twelfth step that he arrived at the back of the dorm building.
But Zhang Shutong stopped again.
He looked at the dorm building again.
"Student Zhang Shutong," Lu Qinglian sighed without looking back. "If you still don't want to leave, I can leave the bike for you."
"That's not right."
Zhang Shutong suddenly said.
He ignored Lu Qinglian's indifferent gaze and walked back along the side of the dorm building.
Zhang Shutong counted again.
It was still twelve steps this time.
He stared at the side of the dorm building, his brows furrowing more and more. He asked seriously:
"How wide do you think this wall is?"
Lu Qinglian's eyebrows also furrowed.
It seemed she had thought of something:
"Are you saying..."
"At least seven or eight meters, right?" Zhang Shutong didn't wait for her to speak and unconsciously sped up his voice. "Something like that. It takes at least a dozen steps to walk across. But how wide was Teacher Song's dorm?"
"Only five or six steps, about three meters."
The more Zhang Shutong thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong:
"I know this building has a public hallway, but the hallway is less than a meter wide. Even if you add the thickness of the walls, let's say it's two meters in total. So..."
He looked at the outer wall incredulously:
"Where did the rest of the space go?
"Why doesn't the entire back wall of the building have a single window?"
Zhang Shutong stared intently at the building. It was only two stories high, built in the last century. The plaster had already peeled off, and the roof was still covered in tiles...
From any angle, this was just an old staff dorm, as ordinary as it could be.
But in an instant, Zhang Shutong's hair stood on end.
The problem was not just the falling figure!
Or rather, it was not just the falling figure!
It was the entire dorm building!
He quickly turned around and rushed into the dorm. This time, it was Lu Qinglian who followed him closely. The two of them quickly went up the stairs and arrived at the door.
While Lu Qinglian was putting the key in the keyhole, Zhang Shutong noticed even more anomalies:
"In this kind of dorm, one room is one unit. You saw it just now. It's a very regular rectangle. You walk a few steps from the door and then you hit a wall. It's already a building from the last century. Even if there was no shoddy work and they were very conscientious, the problem is, who would build a wall that's a full two meters thick?
"Even if you didn't count your steps carefully, do you remember that clothesline in Teacher Song's room? How many meters long do you think that wire is?"
Lu Qinglian didn't say anything. She pushed the door open with a bang.
Zhang Shutong took in the scene inside.
That's right. On the surface, this was really just an ordinary room.
He first went to the side of the wall and made a fist, knocking on the wall with force.
The solid cement wall returned a heavy sound.
Zhang Shutong continued to knock along the wall. Lu Qinglian simply pulled Teacher Song's single bed away. With the obstacle removed, he didn't bother to thank her. His movements became faster and faster until...
He stopped in front of that huge poster.
This time, the echo was hollow.
Zhang Shutong stared at the poster for a long time without saying a word. The poster was indeed very big, about the size of a teenager's body. It was only a head shorter than him. But the point was not the poster at all.
It was that—
There was really something hidden behind it.
If he hadn't paid attention to his steps just now, he would have never discovered it.
He looked at Lu Qinglian, and Lu Qinglian returned his gaze:
"A secret room?"
"It should be."
"Is it related to Teacher Song?"
"...I don't know."
"Pry it open," she said calmly. "Nothing will happen with me here."
"Okay."
Zhang Shutong turned around to look for tools. He quickly looked at Teacher Song's desk. There was a pen holder on the desk, and an art knife was in it.
He wasn't in a hurry to damage the scene. He carefully used the blade to scrape off the poster. The double-sided tape behind it had long dried out, so the process was easy. It was just that the latex paint on the wall had turned into a powder. As the powder flew, Zhang Shutong coughed a few times.
He waved his arm, clearing the white mist in front of him, and looked at the wall again.
Teacher Song had a heavy smoking addiction, so the four walls had already turned yellow. Only the spot where the poster was left a blank space.
And at the intersection of the blank space and the yellow, Zhang Shutong found a thin crack. Although the entire wall had been painted with latex paint, when his finger ran across it, he could feel an uneven texture.
Zhang Shutong used the blade to cut into the paint. He quickly carved out a clearer rectangular mark. It was very obvious—
This was the shape of a door!