Chapter 82: Didn’t Expect You to Be Here Too?
The master of Chinese studies, Mr. Ji Xianlin, once said, “In this life, I have no other hope. I only hope to ________, and to interact with women from various places.”
What Mr. Ji hoped for was exactly what He Zhe was practicing during his lifetime.
Even someone like Luxianbei, who had just enrolled and had little contact with classmates, had heard some gossip about He Zhe during breaks.
It is said that any girl who caught the attention of He Zhe would almost certainly not escape misfortune.
Luxianbei felt that he was practically a campus version of Water Brother.
Of course, Water Brother and He Zhe were still somewhat different. According to Water Brother himself, he approached every woman with true love.
Luxianbei rolled his eyes at such scumbag remarks.
Yet, such a remarkable person had died. Although there is a saying, “You laugh, and the brother dies early; the brother laughs, and you have fewer days to live,” he was indeed dead. When a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out; his story would soon be drowned under the vast waves of campus gossip.
…
Finally surviving until class was over, as soon as the bell rang, Professor Ma stood up from his chair on the podium and walked out of the classroom, seeming to be even more eager to leave than the students who were ready to spring into action.
Seeing Professor Ma’s movement, Luxianbei understood and followed him.
On the way from the classroom to the experimental building, Luxianbei briefly inquired about He Zhe from Professor Ma but found that he knew very little, so he fell silent.
Luxianbei originally wanted to subtly hint at some content from the bamboo slips to Professor Ma, but after considering his mindset, he felt it was best not to tell him about that diary full of curses for the time being.
When Luxianbei and Professor Ma entered the College of Arts and Literature experimental building, they saw, from a distance, a small door leading to a utility room on the -0.5 level, marked off with caution tape in a somewhat secluded corner of the hallway. A few police officers stood next to the tape, while some brave students and teachers watched the spectacle from a few meters away.
Professor Ma and Luxianbei glanced away from the scene of He Zhe’s m*rder and exchanged resigned shakes of their heads.
The two initially wanted to avoid focusing too much on the location where He Zhe was murdered and instead quickly head to the special text research room to handle the bamboo slip issue.
However, just as they were preparing to go upstairs, a tall girl rushed into the experimental building, her eyes red as if she had been crying, and streaks of tears were still visible on her fair cheeks.
Upon entering the experimental building, she headed straight for the location of He Zhe’s m*rder, and soon her heartbreaking cries echoed through the hallway.
“Woo woo woo! Why did this happen!? I just made a joke with him, wanting him to stop pestering me! I—I didn’t mean to k*ll him, I… woo woo woo—!”
The sudden appearance of the girl and her bizarre behavior left even the police officers by the caution tape stunned for a moment.
He Zhe’s d*ath was already strange, almost certainly a case of an urban legend attack, and they were just waiting for the coroner’s report to draw conclusions.
Now, with a girl claiming she was the cause of He Zhe’s d*ath appearing, was she part of an urban legend?
Seeing the girl collapse on the ground and crying out, Professor Ma hesitated slightly, frowned, and walked toward the utility room where He Zhe was murdered.
Luxianbei usually didn’t like to watch the commotion, but…
Just as he was about to slip away, he heard Professor Ma say, “Let’s go, we should check it out.” As he spoke, he put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him along.
Looking at the hand exerting slight pressure on his shoulder, Luxianbei was momentarily at a loss for words, “…”
What should he do? Should he push Professor Ma away and slip away on his own?
Forget it, I’ll just stay at a distance, standing on the outskirts to avoid trouble. Luxianbei thought.
The two stopped several meters away from the caution tape, just like the crowd of onlookers, watching from a distance. At that moment, they finally picked up bits and pieces of the events surrounding He Zhe’s discovery from the murmurs of those around them.
…
He Zhe’s body was discovered just after seven in the morning, close to eight, by a school worker who came to collect tools for cleaning.
At that time, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the hallway was dimly lit. The school worker walked through the long hallway and soon caught a faint whiff of a bad odor.
Several days prior, another professor had suspected there were mice in the experimental building and had put out rat poison, so initially, he thought it was just a dead mouse or something hidden in an invisible corner, not taking it seriously.
However, when he took out his keys, opened the utility room door, and saw the horrific scene inside, he nearly fainted on the spot.
The police quickly arrived, surveyed the scene, set up a caution tape, and the body was taken away; reportedly, they did not use a typical corpse bag but rather two buckets.
The scene was truly frightening; He Zhe’s body had almost decayed into a puddle of black goo, and by normal reasoning, it should have taken weeks or even months to decompose to that extent.
However, there were no signs of decay on his head at all.
In fact, when the police arrived, his skin still had some elasticity, his eyes were wide open, pupils constricted, mouth agape, his cheekbones dislocated, his entire face very distorted.
Some said he looked as if he had seen something extremely terrifying and had died of fright.
His roommate, during questioning, said he had seen him just the afternoon before and had attended classes together a couple of days prior.
…
“Professor, I also remember He Zhe attended your class a few days ago.” Luxianbei glanced at Professor Ma next to him and said expressionlessly, “That day he brought a very beautiful girl with him to class, not this one crying now; many people were covertly watching.”
“You probably didn’t notice because you were worried about Luxu,” Professor Ma remarked, slightly taken aback, then quickly continued, “Let’s not talk about it, let’s not talk about it; it’s creepy.”
The accounts of the bystanders regarding He Zhe’s d*ath were largely similar, but there was much speculation about the exact time of his d*ath, as the police had yet to draw conclusions.
Some said it had happened the night before.
Others claimed he had encountered something related to an urban legend, having died long ago and turned into a living dead, only to find a place to collapse into a puddle of pus yesterday.
The fantasies of the voyeurs were still quite large, enough to make Professor Ma a bit uneasy.
When he thought about a student who might have died several weeks ago and had previously sat in his class, a chill ran through him.
However, Luxianbei wasn’t too concerned about when exactly He Zhe met his fate; just knowing someone had died miserably up ahead made him feel uncomfortable, and he didn’t want to stay for another moment.
“Professor, how about we leave now? Aren’t you worried about the bamboo slip issue?”
From several meters away, his eyes already started to sting slightly; he suspected that if he got any closer, reached the utility room door, he would see visions of He Zhe being attacked by the urban legend.
But Luxianbei didn’t want to see that!
According to Professor Ma, He Zhe’s d*ath was likely related to the bamboo slips, so wouldn’t it be better to directly look at the bamboo slips?
Why should I endure another fright?
It’s not that I’m cowardly; it’s just that I can look but don’t need to. Luxianbei thought.
“Alright, let’s go, let’s go!” Professor Ma hastily said twice and was about to turn to leave; he didn’t want to linger in this creepy place either.
However, just as the two were preparing to leave, the crying girl seemed to calm down somewhat, and she blurted out important information, causing an uproar among the onlookers.
“Officers, actually, last night, it was—I who lured him here and locked him inside.”
The nearest police officer was taken aback and asked, “What? What do you mean?” A serious and tense expression crossed his face.
The girl’s words immediately raised her suspicion to a high degree.
“I—I…” A flicker of panic crossed the girl’s eyes as she stammered for a while before explaining, “He kept pestering me, but I really didn’t like him at all, so I thought of tricking him into here and locking him in a little dark room to teach him a lesson, to make him back off.”
“But, but I really didn’t mean to k*ll him; I didn’t know something like this would happen; I swear, I really didn’t expect… woo woo!”
The police officer stared at the girl solemnly for a few seconds, then turned to exchange glances with his colleague and nodded slightly before taking off the handcuffs and walking toward the girl.
Although the meaning behind the girl’s words indicated that her actions were not directly related to He Zhe’s d*ath, since she was involved, it was still necessary to take her back for questioning and observation.
However, just as the police were about to cuff the girl, another change occurred.
Several tall men approached from the other end of the hallway, pushing into the crowd.
“Please step aside, please step aside.”
Seeing the group of tall men approaching the utility room, Luxianbei frowned slightly; the leading man, who seemed very pleasant and gentle, was someone he recognized—Li Xuan, who had knocked on his door late at night a couple of days ago.
Li Xuan stopped in front of the police officer holding the handcuffs and showed him his identification, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.
“You are…”
Before the officer could finish his sentence, he saw Li Xuan smile gently at him, made a silencing gesture, then turned to the girl sitting on the ground, dazed, and said, “Just leave her to us. We’ll take over this case now.”
“Uh…” The officer was stunned for a moment at his words, then awkwardly smiled and said, “Of course, it might be better for you to handle this case.”
Li Xuan nodded at him, then turned and exchanged a glance with the tall men accompanying him. They stepped forward; some replaced the police to secure the scene, while others took the girl away from the scene.
At that moment, Li Xuan’s gaze swept over Luxianbei in the crowd, and a slight smile appeared on his lips as he walked over.
“Didn’t expect you to be here too?” Li Xuan said, looking into Luxianbei’s eyes, a hint of a meaningful smile appearing on his face.
