INSIDER Chapter 57

Students from other classes also slowly heard about what happened in the laboratory building, and the whole school was plunged into an eerie silence.

All the teachers were called to an emergency meeting, while the students sat in their seats, anxious, waiting for the next announcement.

The wait was long and anxious.

At this moment, Lu Chu was most worried not about who the murderer was, but whether, following this trend, they would be forced to leave school on holiday after all students and teachers were checked in the afternoon.

After all, his task in this game was not to find the murderer or reveal the truth, but to stay within the school.

Lu Chu speculated that the criteria for judging this “game” successful might be either after the murderer had killed everyone he wanted to or after the murderer was caught and brought to justice. Of course, Lu Chu couldn’t be sure if the “rules” had a sadistic twist, randomly selecting a time point to determine success, requiring him to stay active within the school until that point, after which, regardless of the case’s progress, he could consider it a success and leave the “game.”

Near the end of the morning class, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Lu, hurriedly entered the classroom again.

The entire class fell silent immediately, all eyes on Mr. Lu.

Lu Chu gestured for Liu Yang to wake up Wei Lili, who was still resting on her desk.

Mr. Lu, who had been a teacher for many years, had a keen mind and could easily understand the expressions and emotions of his students.

At this moment, seeing his students’ expressions, Mr. Lu knew that the manner of death of the deceased on the top floor of the laboratory building had probably spread. He was not surprised by this—such a horrifying incident, witnessed by several freshmen along with some teachers, was bound to spread sooner or later.

Without wasting words, Mr. Lu went straight to the point: “I think you all might already know what happened today. In fact, the previous case was not resolved by the school authorities.”

The class was in an uproar.

Mr. Lu gestured for silence, and continued: “But since no suspicious traces were found at the scene, and the forensic examination of the body showed no other injuries except facial burns and burns in the respiratory tract, lungs, and stomach from inhaling hot water, and there were almost no signs of struggle during the drowning in boiling water, it was temporarily ruled a suicide to avoid disrupting your studies.”

Everyone was horrified.

Mr. Lu sighed heavily: “Who knew such a thing would happen again today? The school doesn’t know if the two cases are related, but the police suspect the perpetrator is within the school. We just had a meeting, and all teachers will be questioned this noon, and in the afternoon, it will be your turn. To avoid any potential danger, please do not leave the school or act suspiciously at noon, and cooperate with the school and police arrangements.”

Someone asked, “Teacher, can day students leave?”

“No,” Mr. Lu shook his head, “because the number of teachers and students is large, and the questioning and inspection are conducted one by one. If it is not finished by ten at night, those not yet questioned will need to stay at school temporarily. Police will be on night duty for supervision.”

This seemed like a form of soft detention, but no one objected. No one wanted a ticking time bomb in their midst.

Mr. Lu asked, “Is everyone clear on this?”

The class nodded.

Lu Chu tapped the table unconsciously, organizing his thoughts.

“After lunch, you can stay in the classroom waiting for the investigation, or go rest in the dormitory with your friends. Teachers will be supervising the dormitories, and remember to return to the classroom by 2:30,” Mr. Lu concluded, “That’s all for now. Class dismissed.”

The class monitor and the discipline committee member forgot to call for dismissal, and the homeroom teacher didn’t mind, leaving the classroom quickly after announcing the end of the class.

For a long time, no one moved.

After a while, everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do next.

After another moment, the class monitor was pushed to stand up. He looked around the class and coughed twice, “Well, I think it’s best if we all stick together. If you can rest in the dormitory at noon, do so. We have more boarders than day students in our class, so I’ll assign the day students to different dormitories. Even if it’s a bit crowded, I hope you can all get along. In the afternoon, it’s best to act together as well.”

After speaking, the monitor asked uncertainly, “Does anyone have any objections?”

Everyone shook their heads, indicating no objections.

No one knew if the murderer was choosing targets at random or had specific motives, so everyone knew to avoid acting alone.

The monitor took a few minutes to assign the day students to different dormitories for rest.

Lu Chu’s dormitory got a few boys. They ate lunch together and then went back to the dormitory to rest.

Saying they were resting, but no one could sleep. Even the usually talkative Zhang Cheng didn’t have the energy to chat. No one lay down; they sat in a row on the lower bunk, leaning against the wall or the rail, lost in thought.

Lu Chu noticed that Zheng Wei, like everyone else, was sitting on the bed, thinking about something.

.

The noon passed quickly in a daze. Seeing the time, everyone got restless and went back to the classroom early.

On each floor, only a few teachers who had already been questioned were patrolling the classrooms, and it took a long time for the teachers to come. By nearly 3 PM, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Lu, hurried over.

Mr. Lu took out the attendance book: “All teachers have been questioned, now it’s the students’ turn. We’ll go by student number, one by one.”

“The questioning will be in the office. Now, the first one, student number one, Cheng Ming…”

This process took a long time because there were so many classes, each with fifty or sixty students, and each grade had over ten classes. Grade one even had twenty-one classes. In this situation, the progress was slow, and it took a long time for each student to return. By nearly 10 PM, some students hadn’t been questioned yet. The homeroom teacher, Mr. Lu, was exhausted, constantly rubbing his temples.

After a while, Mr. Lu was called out, and when he returned, he said, “Today’s questioning ends here. Those who have been questioned and cleared can go home. There will be a break for a while, and the reopening time will be notified by text. Those who haven’t been questioned, please stay in the school dormitory tonight.”

Hearing this, some cheered quietly, while others were frustrated, some even cursed under their breath.

Lu Chu, Zhang Cheng, and two others from their dormitory hadn’t been questioned yet. Only Qian Wenhao and Zheng Wei had been questioned.

They had no choice but to accept this result.

.

The dormitory managers and teachers on duty announced that the lights would not be forced off tonight, but after a certain time, unless for emergencies, no one was allowed to leave their dormitory.

After washing up within the allowed time, the group in dorm 318 sat in a row on the lower bunk again.

Xu Yuan hadn’t been questioned either. Besides the four of them, two other unquizzed day students temporarily stayed in their dorm.

Zhang Cheng sighed, “I heard the questions are just about what you were doing in the morning and if you knew the deceased. Honestly, I think such a large school with so many students, this kind of forced stay and inspection is useless.”

Lu Chu nodded in agreement.

Xu Yuan said, “What can we do? We have to follow the arrangements.”

“Are the ones allowed to go home definitely cleared?” Lu Chu frowned.

He thought of Zheng Wei, who had successfully gone home. Although from his perspective, there was no opportunity for Zheng Wei to commit the crime, he was still concerned.

“Probably,” Zhang Cheng nodded slowly, “I still think it’s a waste of a day, no use at all.”

“What do you think…” Xu Yuan asked, “the motive for the murder is?”

Zhang Cheng said, “Definitely revenge. But don’t you suspect…”

The others asked, “Suspect what?”

Zhang Cheng lowered his voice, “That this isn’t done by a human?”

Everyone gasped.

Lu Chu thought for a moment, then said, “Actually, I have this suspicion too.”

Xu Yuan, though scared, urged, “Tell us why.”

“Firstly, the first case: if, as Mr. Lu said, there were no suspicious traces at the scene, and the deceased died in such a way with almost no signs of struggle, it’s already very strange;” Lu Chu explained, “Secondly, regarding the second case, even without considering the bizarre and terrifying manner of the deceased’s death, the fact that there was only one set of large left-foot prints in the dust-covered stairway from the fourth to the fifth floor and the laboratory, with no other footprints or traces, makes it impossible for a ‘human’ to commit the crime.”

Zhang Cheng rubbed his goosebumps, about to say something, but his gaze swept to the dormitory door, and he froze in place.

Though the dorm lights were on tonight, the corridor lights were voice-activated and remained dark when there was no movement, making the corridor long and eerie.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Chu noticed Zhang Cheng’s odd behavior and asked.

“There’s a head,” Zhang Cheng said in a daze, “in the window of our dormitory door.”