In the hotel, Xu Yintang was pondering the plot while eating.
Actually, the easiest way to find out what happened at Ping City No. 3 Junior High School back then is to directly ask the two individuals/ghosts sitting in the hospital. Even if Xu Zhongping is as silent as a clam, Yu Kongyou remembers everything clearly. He’s definitely not the type of ghost whose memory gets wiped clean with a single keystroke of death.
Xu Yintang wanted to go directly, but Yu Kongyou only gave him a big roll of his eyes, filled with resentment and anger. He cursed irritably, “Do you have any common sense? Even if I remember, I can’t say it! If I reveal anything, Pingping would be the first to lose his life!”
He was a powerful ghost!
Death for him was like being touched at his weakest point. No matter how clear-headed and normal he appeared, as soon as how he died was brought up, he would go berserk in a minute. And then the first to suffer would be Pingping. He was already fragile, a gust of wind could knock him over. Ninety-nine percent chance he’d die.
There’s a detailed explanation of the mathematical relationship between ninety-nine percent and certain death here, but what you need to know is that Xu Yintang ultimately admitted his mistake honestly, swearing that he would conduct investigations earnestly in the future and never take shortcuts again.
In short… hmm…
“Let’s discuss this in two parts.” Xu Yintang held up two fingers. “The real world, and this sub-world.”
Shi Yuebai nodded in agreement with this approach. His eyes were tearing up from the spicy oil in his noodles, and his tongue was numb and painful, making it difficult to speak.
—Even though after becoming an adult, he could eat very spicy hotpot without changing his expression.
Xu Yintang pushed a glass of milk towards him and started with the more familiar real world, “The anomalies at the Ping City No. 3 Junior High School started about a year ago, with rumors of haunting at the old site of the school.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The broken loudspeakers would suddenly play the broadcast exercise music from over a decade ago. Late-night passersby would see figures of students moving inside the school buildings, and the long-abandoned school looked as if it had just been renovated a decade ago, with morning roll call sounds coming from inside.
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According to the investigation report at the time, the old site of No. 3 did have slightly heavy Yin energy and some wandering spirits, but as an old school that had been abandoned for many years, all indicators were within normal ranges.
“Until five months ago, when the first victim, Xu Qiang, was found on the old playground of the No. 3.” Xu Yintang recalled the task information Xiao Qing had given him. “Xu Qiang was the father of Xu Zhongping. He had moved back to Ping City from another place six months earlier. His body was found after he had been missing for more than three months.”
“Shortly after, Xu Qiang’s wife, Wang Juan, who had come from out of town to handle his affairs, also disappeared, along with her brother, Wang Qiang. A week after their disappearance, Wang Qiang’s body was found at the entrance of the old school building, having died from a ruptured spleen due to severe beating. Wang Juan was found a month later, hanged in a classroom, a month after she had disappeared.”
“Three deaths—cough, cough, three dead people—” Shi Yuebai gulped down a large mouthful of ice-cold milk, ignoring Second Treasure’s mockery about “a male mistress who can’t handle spicy food,” and continued.
“The three dead bodies had extensive beating marks. Both Xu Qiang and Wang Juan’s bodies were extremely emaciated and dehydrated, showing severe malnutrition. Wang Qiang, possibly having died faster, had less severe malnutrition symptoms.”
“Additionally, between the discovery of Wang Qiang’s and Wang Juan’s bodies, six more bodies were found at the No. 3, each missing for two weeks to a month. Their deaths varied, but they all showed signs of beating and severe emaciation, and dehydration. The common point among them… although they had no current connections, they had all attended or worked at the No. 3 and had overlapping periods with Xu Zhongping’s time there.”
Shi Yuebai finished speaking in one breath, then downed more ice-cold milk, deciding to give up on the remaining half bowl of noodles.
Xu Yintang compassionately refilled his glass of milk and pulled out a box of pizza, placing it on the table. “Eat this. I brought it back from the last side world. I remember it is the creamy spinach chicken flavor.”
Xu Yintang found the taste to be pretty good, the kind you’d want to bring back from a side world, and in Tiantian’s precise words, the deliciousness was about one-twentieth of Sugar Daddy’s street performance picture.
So Tiantian traded ten pizzas and a full set of popular crepes, for which she waited three hours in line, for Xu Yintang’s perspective replay of the side world showing his street performance picture.
A world-famous picture…
It was so worth it, so worth it, her phantom limb was perfectly straight, slurping and hissing…
…
Xu Yintang nonchalantly skipped over the small transaction behind the delicious pizza, took a slice, and steered the topic back on track. “In short, based on the clue that the other six deceased were at school during the same period as Xu Zhongping, five more missing persons fitting this pattern were found. Among them, three bodies have been discovered in the past month, and two are still missing.”
Shi Yuebai also grabbed a slice of pizza and remarked, “But this time, even though the National Science Department sent people to investigate and they staked out the No. 3 for over two months, they didn’t catch even a glimpse of a ghost.”
“And despite so many deaths, which clearly have a connection to Xu Zhongping, all relevant personnel are very tight-lipped. They all claim to know nothing and refuse to speak. The only person willing to provide information disappeared right after contacting the National Science Department.”
As a result, no one else was willing to speak up.
If it weren’t for this, the National Science Department wouldn’t have resorted to hiring temporary workers like them—hiring players to complete tasks is very expensive.
“Forget it, back to the side world,” Shi Yuebai quickly transitioned to the other storyline after briefly summarizing the main plot, “The preliminary storyline of the side world is simpler. According to Wang Laowu, recently there have been reports of school violence, teachers taking bribes, and molestation at No. 3. Although these reports were found to be false, the principal of No. 3 still hired us through Wang Laowu to infiltrate the school as students and find out who made the reports.”
Xu Yintang blinked, “Is Yu Kongyou and Xu Zhongping part of this No. 3?”
“The intelligence doesn’t mention it.” Shi Yuebai shrugged. “But from my experience, at least Xu Zhongping will definitely be there, and we will meet him soon after we enter the school.”
This person is currently the core of all intelligence, the connecting point of all relationships, in other words, the “protagonist” of the plot. Even if an ordinary player who knows nothing about the real Xu Zhongping enters the side world, the storyline will create opportunities for them to meet Xu Zhongping for the plot to progress.
Xu Yintang pondered, “Then I think the person who made the report… we can take a wild guess and say it’s Xu Zhongping.”
“I think so too.” Shi Yuebai agreed, a sly smile forming on his face. “But this job is paid by the day.”
The longer they drag it out, the more wages they get. No worker would save money for their boss.
He just needs to present the hotel bill to the boss and justifiably demand reimbursement.
“Oh, and the travel expenses,” Shi Yuebai added a taxi receipt to the bill, looking sincerely at the increasingly stiff-faced principal, “Alipay or WeChat?”
Author’s Note –
Shi Yuebai: Since we’re paid by the day… let’s take our time and do a thorough job.
Shi Yuebai: The hotel and taxi expenses also need to be reimbursed. We can’t let the boss exploit us even a little. [Thrifty and frugal/jpg]
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If I were paid by the day like this too, I too would also do a very thorough, detailed, and comprehensive job for my dear employer~ I will work very hard to ensure there isn’t even a 0.01% mistake and strive for 110% success to whatever job that is, hehe, which means I’ll spend a lot of time on that job to achieve perfection~ 😇