As soon as Teacher Lü finished speaking, chaos erupted. Some female students even covered their ears and closed their eyes, clearly not wanting to hear any more.
Liu Yang was also startled. He moved his stool closer to Lu Chu, wiped his sweat, and whispered, “What’s going on lately? Why is it so chaotic…”
Lu Chu gave him a reassuring look. “Don’t panic. Let’s hear what the teacher has to say.”
Liu Yang quickly nodded.
“We suspect,” Teacher Lü said, looking around the room, “that the killer is someone from the school.”
The class erupted in shock again, with everyone looking at each other in terror.
In fact, Teacher Lü didn’t mention one thing: compared to suspecting the killer was someone from the school, many believed this incident wasn’t man-made at all, otherwise, the horrific crime scene couldn’t be explained.
Teacher Lü continued, “This afternoon, I hope everyone stays in the school to be questioned and investigated by the police.”
“Teacher!” Meng Yu raised her hand.
Teacher Lü nodded. “Go ahead.”
Meng Yu stood up and said, “We don’t quite understand what’s going on. If, as you said, the killer is someone from the school, isn’t it unsafe for us to stay here this afternoon?”
Teacher Lü signaled her to sit down and addressed the class, “Don’t worry about that for now. There will be police officers here, and everyone should stay in the classroom and avoid being alone. Each class will have several teachers accompanying you.”
Regardless of the panic in the class, Teacher Lü gave a few more instructions before hurriedly leaving.
Lu Chu turned around and exchanged a knowing look with the person behind him.
When the bell rang, no one dared to leave their seats. The girls huddled together in the middle of the room, seeking comfort and safety.
Zhang Cheng passed a note to Lu Chu, asking what was going on. Lu Chu replied that he planned to go out and find out what had happened.
Zhang Cheng, who wasn’t particularly timid, quickly agreed. The two left their seats, and the person behind them also stood up. Their friend Qian Wenhao saw this and immediately followed them out of the classroom, while the rest of the class looked at each other in confusion.
There were few people in the corridor, indicating that everyone had heard the news and preferred to stay together in their classrooms.
Lu Chu and the others went down two floors to the area where the first-year students were having classes. Unlike the quiet upstairs, it was noisy here, but the noise was out of fear and chaos.
Lu Chu saw a few first-year students with pale faces discussing something and approached them to inquire.
These students were from Class 5 of the first year.
There were several laboratories on the fifth floor, mainly for chemistry and biology. The teacher who had the accident was in charge of the biology lab. The strange occurrences, however, were not limited to the biology lab, leading to the entire fifth floor being sealed off.
After sealing the top floor, the equipment inside was not moved, and new equipment was bought for the new lab. Students, curious as they might be, couldn’t go upstairs due to the strong locks, and teachers with keys avoided the place due to its grim history. Over time, the stairs from the fourth floor upwards and the inside of the labs gathered a thick layer of dust.
On an otherwise calm morning, during the third period, Class 5 of the first year had a chemistry lab session on the fourth floor.
The students were chatting happily as they headed up the stairs. Suddenly, one of them pointed to the stairs leading from the fourth to the fifth floor and said, “Hey, is that a footprint?”
“What?” The student’s remark drew everyone’s curiosity, and they gathered to look.
The staircase, covered in thick dust, had a conspicuous footprint on the second step.
Following the footprints upwards, they saw a series of footprints, each spaced a step apart, all from a left foot.
Initially curious, the students soon felt chills as they realized that the staircase from the fourth floor upwards was behind a locked gate, which extended to the ceiling. It was impossible for anyone to get through.
Moreover, the footprints were barefoot.
One student screamed and ran downstairs, bumping into the chemistry teacher.
The chemistry teacher scolded, “What’s going on? I’ve told you not to run in the corridors. What if you get hurt?”
The student stammered, pointing upstairs, “Teacher, there are… there are…”
After a long time, he couldn’t explain. The chemistry teacher, puzzled, said, “What is it? Come with me. We’re running late; today’s experiment is complicated and will take the entire period.”
The student reluctantly followed the teacher upstairs, and the commotion attracted more students out of the lab to see what was happening.
As the crowd grew, the tension eased, and students started guessing the origin of the footprint.
One joked, “Maybe the thief hopped up on one foot after taking off his shoes?”
The others laughed.
The chemistry teacher, seeing so many students gathered, was annoyed. “It’s time for class. Shouldn’t you be in the lab, familiarizing yourselves with the experiment and equipment? Can you all finish your reports?”
Seeing the teacher, everyone straightened up.
A student said, “Teacher, there’s a thief in the lab building!”
“A thief?” The chemistry teacher frowned. “What would a thief steal here?”
The student replied, “The lab equipment is quite valuable. Maybe the thief was after that. Look, there are footprints from the fourth to the fifth floor!”
The teacher looked and saw the strange footprints. Though it felt odd, she thought if it were a thief, the school’s losses would be significant, and she couldn’t ignore it.
She asked the students to step aside and informed the on-duty lab teacher, who brought the key to the fifth floor. The students moved aside, and the teacher unlocked the large padlock and opened the gate.
The chemistry teacher asked the students to return to the lab while she and the lab teacher went upstairs to investigate.
A tall male student offered, “Teacher, I’ll go with you. If there’s a thief and he’s still there, it’s safer to take a few strong boys.”
The teacher agreed, “Alright, thank you. Get a few more boys to come along.”
Several boys volunteered to go upstairs with the teachers, while the rest, although curious, returned to the lab.
As the teachers and students ascended, they avoided the footprints.
Turning into the lab corridor, they saw the single footprints leading into a lab.
The lab teacher, sweating, said, “This is the lab where the accident happened…”
The chemistry teacher paused, “Let’s take a look.”
“We can’t,” the lab teacher shook her head, “We need the key.”
She added, “I’ll go get the key. Wait here.” She then went downstairs.
The corridor was extremely quiet, and the white floor, covered in dust, had those strange single footprints leading into the lab.
A male student swallowed, “I don’t think it’s a thief.”
Another student nudged him, “Don’t talk nonsense in broad daylight.”
Soon, the lab teacher returned with a set of keys.
Due to rust, the key barely fit into the lock. No one spoke, and the lab teacher tried to ease the tension by talking as she unlocked the door, “I should have brought some oil; this key is…”
The door opened.
She stopped mid-sentence. The chemistry teacher covered her mouth and gasped.
“Teacher, what’s wrong?” The students, curious, looked over the teachers’ shoulders.
The air felt heavy.
A male student’s face went pale, and he stepped back.
The lab was in disarray, with dust and dried blood mixing on the floor. The single footprints, now bloody, were all over the place.
In the center, a boy sat tied to a chair with a rope around his neck, the other end attached to a ceiling lamp. His upper and lower eyelids were pinned open with small bamboo sticks, causing small blood spots.
On the lab table was a microscope, and the dead boy’s lifeless eyes seemed to be looking through it, as if he were doing an experiment. Under the microscope was a thin slice of meat.
Next to the microscope were more similar slices, neatly arranged, looking fresh. Nearby was a dismembered right leg, missing a piece of flesh, matching the meat slices. A knife was stuck in the leg, as if someone had been cutting it.
The boy in the chair was missing his right leg.
