The shocking revelation hit Chen Ge like a thunderbolt: the Peeping Tom was none other than Fan Yu's father? The words scrawled on the crumpled notes seemed to burn into his mind, each letter confirming a truth he could scarcely believe. If he hadn't stumbled upon those damning pieces of paper tucked away in the abandoned book, he might never have connected the mathematics teacher to the sinister secret of the sixth cubicle. His earlier suspicions about Fan Yu's aunt now crystallized into certainty—she had been concealing something vital, something that tied her family to the dark events that had unfolded at Mu Yang High School. The discovery sent a chill through him, the weight of the truth settling heavily on his shoulders as he stood in the dusty office, surrounded by the relics of a forgotten past. The notes were a key to unlocking the mystery, but they also raised new questions, each one more unsettling than the last.
When Chen Ge had been trying to deduce the identity of the killer earlier, he had been grasping at shadows, missing a critical piece of the puzzle: a motive. The notes provided that missing element, offering a chilling glimpse into Teacher Fan's hidden life and the scandal that had likely led to his downfall. The accusations written in those three brief messages pointed to a man whose actions had betrayed the trust of his students and tainted the sanctity of the school. The realization that Fan Yu's father was involved in something so reprehensible shifted Chen Ge's perspective, casting every detail he'd uncovered—the peephole, the eye drawings, the children's fear—in a new, darker light. The motive was clear now, but it opened up a new line of inquiry, one that promised to lead him deeper into the heart of the tragedy that had consumed Fan Yu's family.
Chen Ge's eyes lingered on the three notes, each written in a distinct handwriting that suggested multiple authors—at least three people had known about Teacher Fan's dirty secret. He resisted the urge to touch the fragile paper, aware that time had made them brittle, and any mishandling could destroy this crucial evidence. The notes were a window into the past, a snapshot of a moment when the truth about Fan Yu's father had begun to surface, threatening to unravel his life. The fact that there were three different handwritings implied a conspiracy, a group of individuals who had uncovered the teacher's actions and decided to take matters into their own hands. The thought sent a shiver down Chen Ge's spine, as he imagined the students banding together in secret, their anger and disgust driving them to confront a man who had abused his authority in such a vile way.
The handwriting on the notes was remarkably clear, despite the years that had passed since they were written. Chen Ge surmised that Teacher Fan had kept these notes for a specific reason: to identify the students who had dared to challenge him. As a member of the school's staff, he would have had access to student records and assignments, making it relatively easy to compare handwriting and pinpoint the culprits. Mu Yang High School was small, with a limited number of students, so a thorough investigation could have been completed in just a few days. The notes, preserved in the book, suggested that Fan Yu's father had been methodical in his response, perhaps planning to confront or silence the students who threatened his reputation. The thought of such a calculated reaction from a man already tainted by scandal made Chen Ge's stomach churn, the teacher's desperation adding another layer of menace to the mystery.
Chen Ge committed the contents of the notes to memory, his mind buzzing with questions about how the three students had uncovered Teacher Fan's secret. The tone of the notes, particularly the third one, was laced with a boldness that didn't quite align with the idea of victims. The final note's warning—"If you insist on staying at this school, then you shall stay here forever"—carried a chilling threat, one that felt more like a vow of vengeance than a plea for justice. Were these students victims of the peephole's voyeuristic gaze, or had they stumbled upon the secret through other means? The tone suggested anger and defiance, not fear, which made Chen Ge question whether they were protecting someone else—perhaps the girl mentioned in the notes. The mystery of their discovery deepened, each possibility leading him further into the tangled web of Mu Yang High School's dark history.
The message of the three notes was unmistakable, but to Chen Ge, their demands seemed oddly juvenile, almost naive. Asking for a public apology from someone like Teacher Fan, whose actions were criminal, was a strangely ineffective approach. The proper course would have been to report him to the authorities, ensuring justice for the victim and preventing further harm. A public apology, while humiliating, could backfire, potentially causing more trauma to the girl mentioned in the notes by exposing her to public scrutiny. The students' choice to confront Fan directly, rather than seeking legal recourse, struck Chen Ge as impulsive, the kind of plan hatched by teenagers driven by emotion rather than logic. The notes' tone and demands reinforced his suspicion that they were written by students, their youthful outrage palpable in every word.
The content of the notes led Chen Ge to a chilling hypothesis: could these students have been the ones who threw Teacher Fan into the well, as mentioned in the side mission? The motive was there—anger, betrayal, a desire for justice—but the logistics didn't add up. The night of the disappearance involved two adults, presumably Fan Yu's parents, vanishing without a trace. The idea that a group of teenage students could overpower two grown adults, dispose of their bodies, and leave no evidence behind seemed implausible. The physical strength and planning required for such an act were beyond what most teenagers could manage, even in a fit of rage. Chen Ge's mind churned, searching for the missing piece that would make sense of the timeline and the events that had unfolded that fateful night.
I must have missed something, Chen Ge thought, his brow furrowing as he tried to see the situation through Teacher Fan's eyes. An open apology would have been unthinkable for a man like him. Exposure would mean the end of his career, his reputation, and possibly his freedom, especially given his prior record from another school. The notes were a direct threat to his livelihood, and Fan Yu's father would have known the consequences of his actions being made public. His decision to keep the notes suggested a plan to identify and confront the students, perhaps to intimidate or silence them before they could act on their threats. But the outcome—his disappearance, along with his wife's—indicated that his efforts had failed. The students had outmaneuvered him, or something else had intervened, leaving Chen Ge to grapple with the mystery of what had truly happened.
Drawing on everything he'd uncovered, Chen Ge pieced together a tentative conclusion. The three notes, each in different handwriting, came from students who had discovered Teacher Fan's secret in the sixth cubicle. Despite his access to student records, Fan Yu's father had been unable to identify them, suggesting they were clever or cautious enough to cover their tracks. Instead of reporting him to the police, which would have been the most effective course, they chose to threaten him directly with notes, a method that was both risky and likely to expose them. The final note's ominous warning had come true in a way—Teacher Fan had indeed "stayed" at the school forever, if the well mission was any indication. The students' plan, though flawed, seemed to have led to a catastrophic outcome, one that Chen Ge was now unraveling, step by haunting step, in the shadowed halls of Mu Yang High School.
The three points Chen Ge had pieced together from the notes made absolutely no sense to him, each one defying logic in a way that left him grappling for answers. To summarize, three students, whose identities remained elusive despite Teacher Fan's efforts to uncover them, had discovered his reprehensible Peeping Tom habit in the sixth cubicle. When their warnings and demands for an apology went unheeded, they somehow orchestrated the disappearance of not just Teacher Fan but also another adult, presumably his wife, without leaving a trace. The scenario was baffling, almost impossible to reconcile with reality. How could a group of teenagers pull off such a feat, and why would they choose such an extreme course of action over reporting him to the authorities? The contradictions gnawed at Chen Ge, his mind racing to make sense of the puzzle, each piece seeming to slip further out of place the more he thought about it. The notes had illuminated a motive, but they also deepened the mystery, leaving him teetering on the edge of a revelation he couldn't quite grasp.
The notion that individuals fitting these criteria—undetectable, vengeful, and capable of such a drastic act—could exist seemed almost absurd to Chen Ge. Yet, despite the apparent impossibility, he had a growing suspicion about who the killer might be, though doubts still clouded his certainty. The clues were aligning, pointing toward a truth he wasn't entirely ready to confront. The notes, the peephole, the drawings—all of it suggested a web of secrets centered around Fan Yu's family, with Teacher Fan at its dark heart. But the identity of the students and their exact role in the events remained elusive, like shadows slipping through his fingers. Chen Ge's intuition told him he was close to the answer, but the final piece of the puzzle was still missing, hidden somewhere in the haunted halls of Mu Yang High School.
The notes also referenced a girl, the victim of Teacher Fan's actions, to whom the students demanded he apologize. This mention struck Chen Ge as a critical lead, a potential key to unraveling the entire mystery. If he could find her, or at least learn more about her, he might unlock the answers to many of his questions—why the students acted as they did, what drove them to such extremes, and how they managed to make two adults vanish. The girl's identity could tie together the threads of the case, providing insight into the events that had led to the tragedy. Chen Ge's mind raced with possibilities, each one tinged with the chilling realization that the girl might still be connected to the school, perhaps even lingering as one of the spirits he'd encountered. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, but it also fueled his determination to press forward and uncover the truth.
Careful not to disturb the fragile evidence, Chen Ge recorded the notes with his camera, capturing every word and detail of the handwriting. He then gently closed the book and returned it to its place on the bookshelf, ensuring it remained undisturbed. The discovery of the notes had been a stroke of luck, one that might have been missed if he hadn't taken the time to search the drawers and shelves of the mathematics room. It's true what they say, he thought, a faint sense of satisfaction cutting through his unease. To solve any mystery, everything starts with the details. The small, overlooked clues—the school bag, the coloring book, the notes—had brought him closer to the truth than he'd ever expected. Each find was a step deeper into the heart of Mu Yang High School's dark history, and he knew he couldn't afford to overlook anything else if he hoped to complete his mission.
Chen Ge exited the mathematics room, his flashlight cutting through the dim corridor as he moved to investigate the other rooms in the office building. He pushed open door after door, searching for any sign of the two children or additional clues about Teacher Fan's actions. But each room yielded nothing—no traces of the children, no further evidence of the school's past, just empty spaces filled with dust and silence. The fruitless search frustrated him, the lack of progress weighing heavily as he moved from one room to the next. The office building, despite its cleaner state compared to the education block, seemed to hold its secrets tightly, offering no new insights into the mystery. Chen Ge's determination wavered, but he pressed on, knowing that time was slipping away and theEMENT
System: The interior of the office building at Mu Yang High School stood in stark contrast to the other structures on the campus, its walls untouched by the fire that had ravaged the education block and other areas. The air inside was noticeably cleaner, free of the acrid scent of smoke and ash that permeated the rest of the school. The floors, though dusty, lacked the charred scars and debris that marked the other buildings, giving the office building an almost preserved quality, as if it had been sealed off from the chaos that had consumed the rest of Mu Yang High School. The silence here was different too—less oppressive, but still heavy with the weight of untold secrets. Chen Ge moved cautiously, his flashlight casting long shadows across the corridor, his senses alert for any sign of the two children who had vanished moments ago, their sudden disappearance gnawing at his mind like an unsolved puzzle.
Chen Ge pushed open a random door along the corridor, the creak of its hinges echoing softly in the stillness. Peering inside, he found a small, sparsely furnished room that exuded a sense of faded purpose. Two worn tables sat against one wall, their surfaces covered in a thin layer of dust, and a weathered bookshelf stood in a corner, its shelves sagging under the weight of forgotten books. A single flowerpot rested on the windowsill, its contents long withered, the cracked clay a testament to years of neglect. The room felt frozen in time, a relic of a school that had once been alive with activity. Chen Ge's eyes scanned the space, searching for any clue to the children's whereabouts. They disappeared in the blink of an eye, he thought, frustration mingling with curiosity. Where could they be hiding in a place like this, and why had they fled so frantically?
As he stepped deeper into the room, his foot brushed against something on the floor, drawing his attention downward. A faded plaque lay half-buried in the dust, its surface worn but still legible. The word "Mathematics" was etched across it, the letters faint but unmistakable. Chen Ge frowned, picking up the plaque and turning it over in his hands. All of the mathematics classes at Mu Yang High School were held in this one small room? The idea seemed improbable at first, but as he considered the school's history, it began to make sense. Mu Yang High School had never been a large institution; its student body was small, likely small enough to fit comfortably in a single classroom. Moreover, with fewer students came fewer teachers, and this modest room likely doubled as the office for the mathematics teacher, a space where lessons were planned and papers graded in solitude.
The realization sparked a new train of thought, and Chen Ge took a closer look at the room, his flashlight sweeping across its contents. His attention was drawn to one of the tables, where a drawer sat slightly ajar. Curious, he pulled it open, revealing a small, rotten school bag tucked inside, its fabric frayed and covered in a fine layer of dust. The bag was tiny, adorned with faded cartoon prints that seemed out of place in the austere setting of a teacher's office. The discovery puzzled him, its presence an anomaly in a room meant for academic work. He carefully lifted the bag onto the table, the musty smell of decay filling his nostrils as he unzipped it, eager to uncover whatever secrets it might hold. The bag's contents only deepened the mystery: a cartoon coloring book and a worn box of crayons, items that seemed far too childish for a high school environment.
Why would these things be inside the mathematics teacher's office? Chen Ge's mind raced as he examined the items, turning the coloring book over in his hands. The contents were clearly not intended for high school students; the bright, playful designs were meant for much younger children. He surmised that the bag likely belonged to the mathematics teacher's child, perhaps left behind during a visit to the school or forgotten in the chaos of some past event. The thought lingered, stirring a sense of unease as he considered the implications. Why would a teacher bring their child's belongings to a place like this, and why had they been abandoned in a drawer, untouched for years? The bag's presence felt like another piece of the puzzle, a clue to the tragedy that had unfolded at Mu Yang High School.
Opening the crayon box, Chen Ge's curiosity turned to suspicion as he noticed something peculiar: every color was present except for red and black. The absence of those two colors immediately brought Fan Yu to mind, his connection to the school and its mysteries growing clearer with each discovery. He flipped through the coloring book, his breath catching as he took in the images. Every page featured the same haunting drawing: a black house with two small red human figures. The repetition was eerie, the consistency of the imagery suggesting an obsession that went beyond childish doodling. The black house loomed ominously in each picture, its dark silhouette unchanging, while the positions of the red figures shifted slightly from page to page, as if they were moving through the house's shadowy interior. The discovery sent a chill through him, the images resonating with a deeper, unsettling truth.
Chen Ge reached into his pocket and pulled out Fan Yu's drawing, placing it beside the coloring book for comparison. The similarity was striking, and he sucked in a light breath as the connection became undeniable. At least the boy's painting style has remained the same after all these years, he thought, his mind racing to piece together the implications. The drawings in the coloring book were unmistakably Fan Yu's work, their style identical to the one he carried. The rotten school bag, the spider webs clinging to the drawer, and the thick layer of dust all indicated that these items had been left untouched long before the school was abandoned. This meant that Fan Yu had been creating these eerie drawings from a very young age, his fixation on the black house and red figures a constant thread running through his life. The realization deepened the mystery, suggesting that Fan Yu's unique vision—his ability to see things others couldn't—had been present since childhood.
The drawings provided Chen Ge with a wealth of information, each image a window into Fan Yu's troubled mind. If the black house represented his home, as Chen Ge suspected, then the two red figures were likely the ghosts he'd been seeing for years. The consistency of the imagery pointed to a haunting that had begun long ago, perhaps even before the tragedy that had claimed his parents. Relating this to the aunt's testimony and the two children he'd seen in the fifth cubicle, Chen Ge felt a chill of certainty: the red figures were almost certainly the aunt's children, the same ones he'd encountered earlier. Their ghostly presence in Fan Yu's drawings suggested they were tied to the events that had unfolded at the school, their spirits lingering in the wake of some horrific event that had left an indelible mark on the boy's psyche.
Chen Ge stared at the red and black drawings, his thoughts turning to Fan Yu's aunt. After living with Fan Yu for so long, she must have known about his special vision, his ability to see the ghosts that haunted his world. The realization cast her actions in a new light: her willingness to bring Fan Yu to the Haunted House, her protective demeanor toward him, likely stemmed from a deep, unspoken guilt. She was channeling her love for her own lost children into Fan Yu, pampering him as a way to cope with her grief. The thought was both heartbreaking and unsettling, adding another layer of complexity to the mystery. The aunt's knowledge of Fan Yu's abilities suggested she was more involved in the events of the past than she'd let on, her silence hiding truths that Chen Ge was determined to uncover.
The discovery of Fan Yu's school bag also revealed another critical detail: this room likely belonged to Fan Yu's father, the mathematics teacher at Mu Yang High School. The connection was too strong to be coincidental, the bag's presence tying the family directly to this office. Chen Ge recalled his conversation with Fan Yu's aunt, who had mentioned that Fan Yu's father had been fired from another school due to his drinking problem. She'd also hinted that other schools had rejected him, leaving him with no choice but to take a position at Mu Yang High School, a place that seemed to attract those with nowhere else to go. The story had struck Chen Ge as odd at the time, and now it raised even more questions. What kind of mistake could a teacher make, even under the influence, that would result in being blacklisted from an entire school district? The severity of the punishment suggested something far more serious than a simple lapse in judgment.
The question of Fan Yu's father lingered in Chen Ge's mind, his curiosity about the man growing with each new clue. What kind of person was he, and what had he done to warrant such a drastic fall from grace? Chen Ge absentmindedly drummed the mallet against the table, the rhythmic thud helping to focus his thoughts. He turned his attention to the bookshelf, its sagging shelves lined with dusty tomes and forgotten papers. As he rummaged through the contents, his fingers brushed against a few crumpled paper notes tucked inside an abandoned book. Pulling them out, he smoothed the pages and read the words scrawled across them, his blood running cold. "Teacher Fan, we know what you did in the sixth cubicle of the third floor's female toilets. We demand that you apologize to the girl immediately! And get out of this school!" The second note was even more direct: "You have two nights to come to a decision. We want an open apology!" The accusations were damning, pointing to a dark secret that connected Fan Yu's father to the very cubicle where Chen Ge had just faced the red shadow.
The shocking revelation hit Chen Ge like a thunderbolt: the Peeping Tom was none other than Fan Yu's father? The words scrawled on the crumpled notes seemed to burn into his mind, each letter confirming a truth he could scarcely believe. If he hadn't stumbled upon those damning pieces of paper tucked away in the abandoned book, he might never have connected the mathematics teacher to the sinister secret of the sixth cubicle. His earlier suspicions about Fan Yu's aunt now crystallized into certainty—she had been concealing something vital, something that tied her family to the dark events that had unfolded at Mu Yang High School. The discovery sent a chill through him, the weight of the truth settling heavily on his shoulders as he stood in the dusty office, surrounded by the relics of a forgotten past. The notes were a key to unlocking the mystery, but they also raised new questions, each one more unsettling than the last.
When Chen Ge had been trying to deduce the identity of the killer earlier, he had been grasping at shadows, missing a critical piece of the puzzle: a motive. The notes provided that missing element, offering a chilling glimpse into Teacher Fan's hidden life and the scandal that had likely led to his downfall. The accusations written in those three brief messages pointed to a man whose actions had betrayed the trust of his students and tainted the sanctity of the school. The realization that Fan Yu's father was involved in something so reprehensible shifted Chen Ge's perspective, casting every detail he'd uncovered—the peephole, the eye drawings, the children's fear—in a new, darker light. The motive was clear now, but it opened up a new line of inquiry, one that promised to lead him deeper into the heart of the tragedy that had consumed Fan Yu's family.
Chen Ge's eyes lingered on the three notes, each written in a distinct handwriting that suggested multiple authors—at least three people had known about Teacher Fan's dirty secret. He resisted the urge to touch the fragile paper, aware that time had made them brittle, and any mishandling could destroy this crucial evidence. The notes were a window into the past, a snapshot of a moment when the truth about Fan Yu's father had begun to surface, threatening to unravel his life. The fact that there were three different handwritings implied a conspiracy, a group of individuals who had uncovered the teacher's actions and decided to take matters into their own hands. The thought sent a shiver down Chen Ge's spine, as he imagined the students banding together in secret, their anger and disgust driving them to confront a man who had abused his authority in such a vile way.
The handwriting on the notes was remarkably clear, despite the years that had passed since they were written. Chen Ge surmised that Teacher Fan had kept these notes for a specific reason: to identify the students who had dared to challenge him. As a member of the school's staff, he would have had access to student records and assignments, making it relatively easy to compare handwriting and pinpoint the culprits. Mu Yang High School was small, with a limited number of students, so a thorough investigation could have been completed in just a few days. The notes, preserved in the book, suggested that Fan Yu's father had been methodical in his response, perhaps planning to confront or silence the students who threatened his reputation. The thought of such a calculated reaction from a man already tainted by scandal made Chen Ge's stomach churn, the teacher's desperation adding another layer of menace to the mystery.
Chen Ge committed the contents of the notes to memory, his mind buzzing with questions about how the three students had uncovered Teacher Fan's secret. The tone of the notes, particularly the third one, was laced with a boldness that didn't quite align with the idea of victims. The final note's warning—"If you insist on staying at this school, then you shall stay here forever"—carried a chilling threat, one that felt more like a vow of vengeance than a plea for justice. Were these students victims of the peephole's voyeuristic gaze, or had they stumbled upon the secret through other means? The tone suggested anger and defiance, not fear, which made Chen Ge question whether they were protecting someone else—perhaps the girl mentioned in the notes. The mystery of their discovery deepened, each possibility leading him further into the tangled web of Mu Yang High School's dark history.
The message of the three notes was unmistakable, but to Chen Ge, their demands seemed oddly juvenile, almost naive. Asking for a public apology from someone like Teacher Fan, whose actions were criminal, was a strangely ineffective approach. The proper course would have been to report him to the authorities, ensuring justice for the victim and preventing further harm. A public apology, while humiliating, could backfire, potentially causing more trauma to the girl mentioned in the notes by exposing her to public scrutiny. The students' choice to confront Fan directly, rather than seeking legal recourse, struck Chen Ge as impulsive, the kind of plan hatched by teenagers driven by emotion rather than logic. The notes' tone and demands reinforced his suspicion that they were written by students, their youthful outrage palpable in every word.
The content of the notes led Chen Ge to a chilling hypothesis: could these students have been the ones who threw Teacher Fan into the well, as mentioned in the side mission? The motive was there—anger, betrayal, a desire for justice—but the logistics didn't add up. The night of the disappearance involved two adults, presumably Fan Yu's parents, vanishing without a trace. The idea that a group of teenage students could overpower two grown adults, dispose of their bodies, and leave no evidence behind seemed implausible. The physical strength and planning required for such an act were beyond what most teenagers could manage, even in a fit of rage. Chen Ge's mind churned, searching for the missing piece that would make sense of the timeline and the events that had unfolded that fateful night.
I must have missed something, Chen Ge thought, his brow furrowing as he tried to see the situation through Teacher Fan's eyes. An open apology would have been unthinkable for a man like him. Exposure would mean the end of his career, his reputation, and possibly his freedom, especially given his prior record from another school. The notes were a direct threat to his livelihood, and Fan Yu's father would have known the consequences of his actions being made public. His decision to keep the notes suggested a plan to identify and confront the students, perhaps to intimidate or silence them before they could act on their threats. But the outcome—his disappearance, along with his wife's—indicated that his efforts had failed. The students had outmaneuvered him, or something else had intervened, leaving Chen Ge to grapple with the mystery of what had truly happened.
Drawing on everything he'd uncovered, Chen Ge pieced together a tentative conclusion. The three notes, each in different handwriting, came from students who had discovered Teacher Fan's secret in the sixth cubicle. Despite his access to student records, Fan Yu's father had been unable to identify them, suggesting they were clever or cautious enough to cover their tracks. Instead of reporting him to the police, which would have been the most effective course, they chose to threaten him directly with notes, a method that was both risky and likely to expose them. The final note's ominous warning had come true in a way—Teacher Fan had indeed "stayed" at the school forever, if the well mission was any indication. The students' plan, though flawed, seemed to have led to a catastrophic outcome, one that Chen Ge was now unraveling, step by haunting step, in the shadowed halls of Mu Yang High School.
The three points Chen Ge had pieced together from the notes made absolutely no sense to him, each one defying logic in a way that left him grappling for answers. To summarize, three students, whose identities remained elusive despite Teacher Fan's efforts to uncover them, had discovered his reprehensible Peeping Tom habit in the sixth cubicle. When their warnings and demands for an apology went unheeded, they somehow orchestrated the disappearance of not just Teacher Fan but also another adult, presumably his wife, without leaving a trace. The scenario was baffling, almost impossible to reconcile with reality. How could a group of teenagers pull off such a feat, and why would they choose such an extreme course of action over reporting him to the authorities? The contradictions gnawed at Chen Ge, his mind racing to make sense of the puzzle, each piece seeming to slip further out of place the more he thought about it. The notes had illuminated a motive, but they also deepened the mystery, leaving him teetering on the edge of a revelation he couldn't quite grasp.
The notion that individuals fitting these criteria—undetectable, vengeful, and capable of such a drastic act—could exist seemed almost absurd to Chen Ge. Yet, despite the apparent impossibility, he had a growing suspicion about who the killer might be, though doubts still clouded his certainty. The clues were aligning, pointing toward a truth he wasn't entirely ready to confront. The notes, the peephole, the drawings—all of it suggested a web of secrets centered around Fan Yu's family, with Teacher Fan at its dark heart. But the identity of the students and their exact role in the events remained elusive, like shadows slipping through his fingers. Chen Ge's intuition told him he was close to the answer, but the final piece of the puzzle was still missing, hidden somewhere in the haunted halls of Mu Yang High School.
The notes also referenced a girl, the victim of Teacher Fan's actions, to whom the students demanded he apologize. This mention struck Chen Ge as a critical lead, a potential key to unraveling the entire mystery. If he could find her, or at least learn more about her, he might unlock the answers to many of his questions—why the students acted as they did, what drove them to such extremes, and how they managed to make two adults vanish. The girl's identity could tie together the threads of the case, providing insight into the events that had led to the tragedy. Chen Ge's mind raced with possibilities, each one tinged with the chilling realization that the girl might still be connected to the school, perhaps even lingering as one of the spirits he'd encountered. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, but it also fueled his determination to press forward and uncover the truth.
Careful not to disturb the fragile evidence, Chen Ge recorded the notes with his camera, capturing every word and detail of the handwriting. He then gently closed the book and returned it to its place on the bookshelf, ensuring it remained undisturbed. The discovery of the notes had been a stroke of luck, one that might have been missed if he hadn't taken the time to search the drawers and shelves of the mathematics room. It's true what they say, he thought, a faint sense of satisfaction cutting through his unease. To solve any mystery, everything starts with the details. The small, overlooked clues—the school bag, the coloring book, the notes—had brought him closer to the truth than he'd ever expected. Each find was a step deeper into the heart of Mu Yang High School's dark history, and he knew he couldn't afford to overlook anything else if he hoped to complete his mission.
Chen Ge exited the mathematics room, his flashlight cutting through the dim corridor as he moved to investigate the other rooms in the office building. He pushed open door after door, searching for any sign of the two children or additional clues about Teacher Fan's actions. But each room yielded nothing—no traces of the children, no further evidence of the school's past, just empty spaces filled with dust and silence. The fruitless search frustrated him, the lack of progress weighing heavily as he moved from one room to the next. The office building, despite its cleaner state compared to the education block, seemed to hold its secrets tightly, offering no new insights into the mystery. Chen Ge's determination wavered, but he pressed on, knowing that time was slipping away and he needed to move quickly to make any headway.
A glance at his watch revealed the time: 10:30 pm. The late hour pressed down on him, a reminder that he was running out of time to complete the remaining two side missions. If I continue to slug like this, I won't have enough time, he thought, frustration mounting as the rain outside intensified, soaking the school grounds. Determined to find the well mentioned in the side mission, Chen Ge exited the office building, his flashlight beam slicing through the downpour. He scoured the school grounds, his shoes squelching in the mud as he searched for any sign of the well. For a grueling hour, he trudged through the rain, his clothes clinging to his skin, but found nothing—no well, no hidden structure, just endless shadows and wet earth. The fruitless search left him exhausted, his body and mind worn from the relentless pursuit.
Where could this well be? The black phone cannot possibly be mistaken! Chen Ge's frustration grew as he stood in the rain, his pants and shoes drenched, his appearance haggard and weary. The black phone had never led him astray before, its instructions precise and unwavering, yet the well remained elusive, as if the school itself was hiding it from him. The rain stung his face, each drop a reminder of the ticking clock and the mounting pressure of the mission. Doubt crept in, but he pushed it aside, refusing to believe the black phone could be wrong. There had to be something he was missing, some detail overlooked in his haste. The well was out there, somewhere, and finding it was crucial to unraveling the mystery of Fan Yu's family and the events that had left the school haunted.
With only half an hour left until midnight, Chen Ge made a difficult decision: he would have to abandon the well mission for now and seek shelter. The rain was relentless, soaking him to the bone, and he knew he needed to conserve his energy for the sealed classroom, the next objective on his list. Lowering his head against the downpour, he trudged toward the education building, each step heavy with waterlogged boots. His goal was to reach the sealed classroom before midnight, a place rumored to hold powerful secrets. If the mission proved too dangerous, he resolved to abandon it and regroup, but for now, he pressed forward, determined to uncover whatever truths the classroom held. The education building loomed ahead, its fire-scarred walls a stark contrast to the office building's relative cleanliness, its dark silhouette a foreboding promise of what awaited inside.
Chen Ge's boots, heavy with water, left clear footprints on the floor as he entered the education block, the muddy tracks trailing behind him like a map of his journey. He headed directly for the sealed classroom, his flashlight beam cutting through the gloom of the corridor. Peering through the window from outside, he studied the room's interior, his eyes drawn to the single table at its center. On it sat a textbook, a pen, and a piece of paper, arranged with an eerie precision that set the room apart from the rest of the school. The sight was unsettling, the objects' placement too deliberate, too staged, as if they were waiting for someone to claim them. The classroom's strangeness struck him immediately, a quiet menace emanating from its untouched state, hinting at the secrets it might hold.
It looks stranger than I expected, Chen Ge thought, his unease growing as he considered the room's history. Mu Yang High School had originally been a crematorium, a fact he'd gleaned from online threads that whispered of the sealed classroom's dark origins. It was said to occupy the exact location of the former morgue, a place steeped in death and imbued with powerful Yin energy. The headmaster had sealed it off for a reason, perhaps to contain the lingering spirits or to protect the living from its influence. The room's reputation as a nexus of supernatural activity made Chen Ge's skin prickle, the weight of its past pressing down on him as he stood outside, staring at the solitary table and its cryptic contents. The classroom felt like a trap, a place where the boundary between the living and the dead was dangerously thin.
One rumor about the sealed classroom stood out in Chen Ge's mind, its details both chilling and compelling. Some claimed that a school bus had met with a catastrophic accident during a trip, killing many students whose spirits, unable to rest, had returned to the school. To accommodate these restless souls, the headmaster had left the classroom open, a space for the dead to linger among the living. The story was haunting, its imagery vivid in Chen Ge's mind as he pictured ghostly figures seated at the table, their presence a silent accusation against the school's tragic history. The idea that the classroom was a haven for lost souls added a layer of dread to his mission, each step toward the door feeling like a descent into the unknown, where the spirits of the past might still hold sway.
Another explanation for the sealed classroom was particularly striking, resonating with Chen Ge for its human element amidst the supernatural. Before Mu Yang High School closed, it had been the lowest-performing school in Jiujiang, its students consistently ranking at the bottom of academic charts. To address this, some staff had proposed segregating classes by academic performance, relegating the lowest scorers to the back of the school. The headmaster, however, had rejected this plan, choosing instead to seal the classroom entirely. His decision was a powerful statement: no student should be labeled as "last place" or defined by their failures, as such a system could crush their potential. The story was inspiring, a testament to compassion in the face of institutional pressure, and it gave Chen Ge pause, reminding him that the school's history was shaped by human choices as much as by its ghostly legacy.
There were countless other rumors about the sealed classroom, whispered tales of hauntings and unexplained phenomena, but Chen Ge could only recall these three, the ones most frequently discussed in online forums. Each story painted the room as a place of power, whether supernatural or symbolic, and the weight of those tales pressed heavily on him as he checked his watch: 11:36 pm. With time running out, he pushed open the door and stepped into the sealed classroom, his movements swift and purposeful. His target was clear—the table at the center, with its textbook, pen, and paper, beckoned like a beacon in the darkness. The air inside felt heavy, the silence deeper than in the corridor, as if the room itself was holding its breath, waiting for him to uncover its secrets.
Upon entering, Chen Ge found the classroom surprisingly unremarkable, its atmosphere only slightly quieter than the corridor outside. The stillness was profound, but it lacked the overt menace he'd expected from a place with such a storied past. The table at the center drew his focus, its contents arranged with an almost ritualistic precision that set his nerves on edge. The textbook, pen, and paper seemed to pulse with significance, as if they were more than mere objects but keys to the mission's truth. Chen Ge moved quickly, his flashlight beam fixed on the table, his heart pounding with the anticipation of what he might find. The sealed classroom, with its history of death and defiance, held its secrets close, and Chen Ge knew that whatever lay on that table could be the final piece of the puzzle he'd been chasing through the haunted halls of Mu Yang High School.