PTYS Chapter 78

She opened the door to the rooftop and quickly descended the stairs. By the time she reached the fourth floor, she saw students running down in a panic and others gathered in the hallway, shouting frantically, “Someone jumped off the building!”

“Ah, who is it? How could this happen?” Xiao Muyu followed the crowd down, overhearing two girls nearby discussing the incident.

“I don’t know. Could it be… Class 7 of Senior Grade 3 again?” The short-haired girl looked terrified and whispered.

Xiao Muyu sharply caught their words—Class 7 of Senior Grade 3, again?

As she was lost in thought, a girl patted her shoulder, her tone anxious, “Muyu, where did you go?”

Xiao Muyu looked at her but didn’t speak. Clearly, in this scenario, she had an identity—that of a student.

But she had no memory of anything, nor did she know who she was supposed to know, so she couldn’t respond recklessly.

The girl seemed very anxious and didn’t wait for her to answer, quickly saying, “We heard someone jumped off the building. We also found out you and Luo Zihao were missing and were extremely worried.”

Xiao Muyu’s face turned pale instantly, looking terrified. She just shook her head without answering.

Soon, they followed the crowd downstairs. The student who had jumped had already been found, and the school security and teachers had rushed to the scene. The area was cordoned off, preventing students from getting close.

The area was surrounded by layers of people. Through the gaps in the pushing crowd, Xiao Muyu saw the student who had fallen.

He had landed headfirst, his skull shattered on impact. Blood mixed with a white substance spread around him.

The students who saw it clearly turned pale, some couldn’t take it and vomited on the side, and many girls screamed, causing chaos on the scene.

“Is that Luo Zihao from Class 7 of Senior Grade 3?”

“It seems so. It’s Class 7 again. What’s going on?”

Luo Zihao? The girl earlier said that she and Luo Zihao were missing, which means, according to the setup, she and he went up to the rooftop together, and then he jumped off.

Seeing a young life end right after entering the scenario, even knowing it was just a setup, made Xiao Muyu uncomfortable.

While she was thinking, she suddenly felt a cold gaze fixed on her. It accurately penetrated the bustling crowd to capture her.

The chill of the gaze made her spine tingle. Xiao Muyu looked around and finally raised her head with a frown.

From the height of the five-story rooftop, about sixteen or seventeen meters high, the vertical distance made it hard to see clearly, but Xiao Muyu immediately noticed a red figure floating at the edge of the rooftop, looking down at her.

The figure was fiery red, wearing a bright red outfit, smiling at her. Xiao Muyu couldn’t see her face clearly, but she inexplicably felt she was smiling. And that smile made her hair stand on end. When she tried to look again, the red figure had disappeared.

Xiao Muyu scanned the area, finally staring gravely at the body on the ground.

The boy’s mysterious fall, and her being a witness—what did it mean? Who was that red-clad ghost?

This boy’s fall was clearly abnormal. Was it the ghost’s revenge?

Just as she thought of Shen Qingqiu, she suddenly felt a gaze from the crowd. She quickly looked up and locked eyes with a girl with loose hair draped over her shoulders.

Xiao Muyu stared at the girl, stunned for several seconds. In this setting, she shouldn’t be laughing, but she couldn’t help herself and smiled briefly before returning to a serious expression.

When Shen Qingqiu saw her, she was equally stunned. The pretty and delicate face was unmistakably Xiao Muyu.

But the girl had her hair in a ponytail, exposing a clean, smooth forehead.

Her brows and eyes carried the innocence of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, indescribably charming.

That brief smile made her lose the mature demeanor she shouldn’t have at that age, turning bright, pure, cute, and lovely.

This was sixteen-year-old Xiao Muyu. This realization made Shen Qingqiu forget about the awkwardness of her own outfit, just staring at Xiao Muyu.

The reason Xiao Muyu smiled was because of Shen Qingqiu’s current outfit. She didn’t wear her uniform properly, her hair was unkempt, and she wore an earring, looking like a school delinquent.

If it were the previous Shen Qingqiu, this outfit would be both seductive and cool, but the current Shen Qingqiu, shrunk to seventeen, looked awkwardly mature, like a childish rebel.

Shen Qingqiu naturally caught that smile and walked over. As she approached, people around her backed away in fear, avoiding her gaze. Xiao Muyu found it strange but noticed her legs and her expression changed.

Just now, Shen Qingqiu was hidden in the crowd, her lower body obscured. When she emerged, Xiao Muyu saw her uniform pants stained with blood, even with white specks.

No wonder people looked at her in horror; it was clear the blood and fluids from the fallen boy had splashed onto her.

Xiao Muyu quickly walked over. The girl beside her reached out to stop her but couldn’t hold her back.

“Are you okay? Any injuries?” Xiao Muyu’s eyes scanned Shen Qingqiu up and down.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t respond immediately, just looking at her, then shook her head and smiled slightly. She liked Xiao Muyu’s unintentional concern.

“I’m fine. I just happened to be nearby when he fell.” Shen Qingqiu whispered in her ear, then looked around, “You look really nice and cute. If the setting were different, I wouldn’t take my eyes off you.”

Xiao Muyu: “…”

She thought Shen Qingqiu would say something important, but she just whispered this frivolous remark, almost making Xiao Muyu roll her eyes.

“All students, return to your classrooms immediately. No crowding, no panic! Homeroom teachers, quickly take your students back!” The school’s PA system broadcasted repeatedly, and students started to disperse.

The girl who had come down with Xiao Muyu called out to her, but Xiao Muyu didn’t respond. Then a middle-aged man in his forties walked over and shouted, “Muyu, get back to class. Don’t linger here. And you, Shen Qingqiu, stop chasing the excitement and go back.”

He looked anxious and pale, as if he hadn’t rested well for a long time, looking very haggard.

He reached out to pull Xiao Muyu, as if he didn’t like her standing with Shen Qingqiu.

Then he turned urgently to deal with the incident. A student from his class jumping off the building was a severe matter, enough to keep him busy for a long time.

“Teacher, her clothes are dirty. She needs to change.” Xiao Muyu, though unfamiliar with the man, knew he should be their homeroom teacher. She mentioned it to let Shen Qingqiu leave the scene.

The man finally noticed Shen Qingqiu’s clothes and turned pale, “What happened?”

“I was passing by when he fell.”

The homeroom teacher’s face changed repeatedly. He hesitated, and before he could say anything, Xiao Muyu dropped another bombshell: “I was on the rooftop when Luo Zihao fell.”

This couldn’t be hidden. Her and Luo Zihao’s presence on the rooftop would be discovered. If she didn’t speak up first, it would cause more problems when found out later.

But strangely, upon hearing this, the homeroom teacher paused, then looked at Xiao Muyu with a complex expression, muttering to himself, “It’s starting again. It’s starting again.”

Then he turned and walked away, as if he didn’t care about what she said.

His reaction was entirely abnormal. A student jumped off the building, another was a witness. Shouldn’t his first reaction be to have her cooperate with the investigation?

Xiao Muyu glanced at Shen Qingqiu. Both had questions in their eyes, but this wasn’t the place to talk. Using the excuse to change clothes, they left the scene together.

“This scenario is odd. It seems like a role-playing setup, and our identities should be students. Also, I haven’t seen other players or Su Jin, but it’s likely we’re the only team here.” Xiao Muyu analyzed the situation, speculating.

“Do you mean this is a team scenario?”

Shen Qingqiu looked puzzled. The first A-level scenario being a team scenario—was this good or bad luck?

“Very likely. I’m not sure how much our roles will restrict us, but it will be more troublesome than B-level. As soon as I arrived, I was on the rooftop with the deceased. Before I could say anything, he mumbled something and jumped.”

“Why were you on the rooftop?” Shen Qingqiu’s expression darkened. This was not a good sign.

In a paranormal scenario, jumping to death likely wasn’t suicide. Even if it was, the soul might linger, and being involved wasn’t good.

“Troublesome, indeed. I don’t remember why I was there. When Luo Zihao sat on the railing, I entered the scenario.”

“What did he say?” Shen Qingqiu’s sharp mind quickly caught the key detail.

“I told him it was windy and to come down. He said, ‘Windy, huh? That day was windier and colder,’ then mumbled it wasn’t cold but hot. He said I couldn’t save him.”

Xiao Muyu remembered every expression and word of Luo Zihao.

“That day? Both cold and hot? Seems like this boy had a story.” Shen Qingqiu muttered, confused.

“Yes. But I saw something else up there. A woman in a red dress, grinning at me, standing on the railing where Luo Zihao fell.”