Wenn die Liebe naht, ist es wie Schnee

Kapitel 47

Hu Rongrong turned around and saw Wang Shaoyi, the director of the Academic Affairs Office, standing behind her, smiling at her. Hu Rongrong hurriedly stood up and bowed slightly, "Hello, Director Wang."

"I recognize you," Director Wang said with a kind smile. "Your name is Hu Rongrong, and your best friend is Luo Shimin. You two are very famous at Yishi Academy. Many freshmen don't know me, but everyone knows Hu Rongrong and Luo Shimin. Yesterday, a student who repeatedly made mistakes was called to the disciplinary office. No matter what the teacher said, he refused to admit his mistakes. Until one teacher said, 'If you make another mistake, I'll transfer you to Hu Rongrong's class and make you sit next to her.' The boy was terrified and promised never to make a mistake again. I never expected you to be so capable. How about we switch places? You can be my disciplinary director."

Hu Rongrong gave an awkward smile, "It has nothing to do with me, it's all Luo Shimin's fault. I'm still an obedient student." What are friends for? In critical moments, friends are for betraying you.

Director Wang patted Hu Rongrong on the shoulder, "I didn't say you two did anything wrong. You're both good kids and good students. Because of you two, many difficult students have become very well-behaved, which is a good thing and reduces our workload. This is the archives room, what are you doing here?"

Director Wang has been cleared of suspicion, and since Hu Rongrong has always had a good impression of him, he didn't hide anything. "I'm waiting for some of my friends. They're coming to check some things, some old files."

Director Wang lowered his head, his face twitching slightly before quickly returning to normal. "Your friends are those two policemen, right? They found a clue to solve the case? That's really fast."

"We've not only found clues, the case is about to be solved! Just a quick look through the old files will narrow down the suspect's range, and with a little more investigation, we'll find the killer!" Director Wang was startled; his face turned deathly pale, his legs gave way, and he stumbled back three steps. Hu Rongrong rushed over to support him, touching his cold hand. "Your hands are so cold, and you don't look well," she said with concern. "Should I call a doctor?"

Director Wang waved his hand and said, "No need, it's nothing serious. I've just been too busy lately and haven't been sleeping well at night. I'll be fine in a little while. You can't deny getting old, and in a few years I'll be retiring. I'm a little reluctant to leave here." As he spoke, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Hu Rongrong's attention immediately shifted, and she gently comforted them, "Even if you retire, your students will still remember you. Whenever you have time, you can come back and visit." The two sat on the steps in front of the door and chatted back and forth.

After a while, Director Wang's complexion regained some color. But Xia Chen and the others hadn't arrived yet. Director Wang got up and opened the door to the archives room. Inside were two rooms: the archives room and the document room. Director Wang said, "I've rested enough. I need to go to the document room to get some documents for the meeting later. Young lady, I won't keep you company. Unfortunately, I don't have the key to the archives room. It seems you'll have to wait a little longer."

"Go on with your work, and take care of yourself," Hu Rongrong waved goodbye to Director Wang.

"I will." Hu Rongrong watched as Director Wang walked into the archives. Five minutes later, Director Wang came out of the archives carrying a thick stack of folders. Seeing Hu Rongrong still standing at the door, he smiled and said, "Your friend hasn't arrived yet. You're so unpunctual."

"They should be here soon; it's already past nine. You have quite a lot of stuff; would you like me to help you carry it?"

Director Wang smiled and said, "No need, it's just a pile of papers, the old man can still carry it. I'm leaving, I won't close the door. If I see a teacher with the archives key on the way, I'll tell her to come over quickly."

"Thank you!" Hu Rongrong watched as Director Wang, carrying a large stack of documents, walked away with faltering steps. Hu Rongrong just couldn't understand how such a lovely and kind old man could be the murderer. She also wondered what Luo Shimin was thinking. Director Wang was probably the best person at Yishi Academy.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Xia Chen and the others still hadn't appeared. Hu Rongrong sat by the door of the archives room, idly drawing circles on the floor with her toes. After a while, she smelled something burning in the air. Looking around, she didn't see anything burning. But the smell grew stronger. Hu Rongrong turned around and saw thick smoke billowing from under the door of the archives room—it was on fire!

"No way!" Hu Rongrong touched the door of the archives room and almost burned her palm. She immediately dialed the fire department and ran out shouting for help. However, the archives room was located in a remote area and was rarely visited. By the time she found someone, the fire had already started.

Li Xiao and Ye Cheng were removing the last security camera in the dormitory corridor when a loud commotion erupted outside. Li Xiao, having removed the last camera, said, "Go see what's going on. Why is it so noisy on campus all of a sudden?" Ye Cheng walked to the window at the end of the corridor and saw thick smoke billowing from a corner of Yishi Academy.

Xia Chen and Luo Shimin were in the infirmary. The doctor was using tweezers to insert a piece of cotton wool into the wound on Xia Chen's leg. Xia Chen gritted his teeth in pain, large beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. Hearing the commotion, Xia Chen also asked Luo Shimin to go out and see what was happening. Standing at the door, Luo Shimin saw thick smoke billowing out and accurately determined that it was coming from the archives room. Xia Chen, having found an excuse, shouted for the doctor to hurry up and bandage the wound.

Five minutes later, Xia Chen and the others arrived at the archives room and saw Hu Rongrong, covered in soot, directing people to pour water into the room. The fire showed no signs of abating, and flames were shooting out of the windows. Even standing five meters away, one's cheeks were burning from the intense heat. Ye Cheng grabbed Hu Rongrong, "What happened? Why did the archives room suddenly catch fire?"

Hu Rongrong shouted angrily, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? I don't know how this fire started either."

The fire trucks arrived quickly, and the fire was extinguished after five minutes of high-pressure water spraying. Ye Cheng rushed into the archives room first, only to find the walls and ceiling blackened by smoke. Most of the documents stored in the archives were paper-based, and the fire had almost completely reduced them to ashes. The few that survived were then soaked in water after being sprayed by the high-pressure water guns. Ye Cheng picked up half a sheet and looked at it; the writing on it was so blurred that it was difficult to decipher.

Li Xiao found the fire chief and asked, "What caused the fire?"

The team leader wasn't sure either, "It seems to be a short circuit caused by aging wiring. There was also a lot of paper inside, so even a small spark could start a fire."

Li Xiao muttered to himself, "This fire came at just the right time. Of all times, it had to start just when we were looking for the files."

The captain added, "This isn't the first time. Many years ago, when I first joined the fire brigade, there was a fire in this archive room, which also seemed to be caused by aging electrical wiring."

Xia Chen limped over and asked, "Is it possible that it was arson?"

"Man-made? Impossible. We didn't find any traces of accelerants at the scene. The door was an iron door, and it took us a long time to break it open with a hammer. The windows had bars, so it was impossible for a person to get in. How could someone commit arson? You know, arson always leaves traces."

"I know a way to start a fire without leaving a trace. All you need is a cigarette and a few matches. First, light the cigarette and place the matches at the end of the cigarette. Then place it around flammable materials like paper. When the cigarette burns to the match, it will ignite the match, which will then ignite the surrounding paper. The resulting fire will burn everything to ashes. As long as the wind blows or water washes it away, there won't be any trace left."

The fire chief looked Xia Chen up and down and said sternly, "Kid, you know a lot. Could you have started this fire?"

Li Xiao quickly explained, "I'm a police officer, and he's my friend. He's been in the infirmary for a while now, and the doctor can testify to that."

The captain chuckled, "I was just teasing him. There's nothing more for us here, we'll head back now."

Li Xiao saluted, "You've worked hard."

"Of course." The fire chief left with his men.

Ye Cheng walked out of the archives room. "It was burned to the ground, nothing was left. Thank God, Yishi Academy should have computer archives, right?"

“There definitely are, but…” Luo Shimin pointed to the archives room. Ye Cheng turned around and saw the computer burned to a pile of scrap metal, and tears almost welled up in his eyes. Ye Cheng was still unwilling to give up, “‘Yishi Academy Most Contribution Award’ is a great honor. Surely someone will remember these people’s names.”

Luo Shimin poured cold water on Ye Cheng again, "Don't have too high hopes. Some of the award winners are older than my dad. Do you think anyone will remember their names?" The case was about to be solved, but the clues suddenly went cold. This was the second most frustrating thing Ye Cheng could think of besides finding out he didn't have any toilet paper after finishing in the bathroom.

After washing her face, Hu Rongrong came over. Xia Chen pulled her aside and asked, "You were the first one here, and you were the one who called the fire department. Did you see anyone suspicious?"

Hu Rongrong replied without hesitation.

"No suspicious persons were seen. Only Director Wang went to the archives to take some documents and came out quickly."

Luo Shimin exclaimed, "It's him again!"

Hu Rongrong said anxiously, "You don't suspect him of being involved in the fire, do you? Haven't we already confirmed that he's not the murderer? Besides, the fire started after she left."

Ye Cheng said, "That makes it even more suspicious. The fire happened right after he left, and the suspicions about him haven't been completely ruled out. The murderer might not be alone; he might be an accomplice."

Hu Rongrong stubbornly believed that Director Wang was not the murderer. "No, Director Wang is a good person. He wouldn't set a fire."

Li Xiao walked over with her phone in hand. "I have a major discovery to share with everyone. The fire chief just told me that there was a fire in the archives of Yishi College many years ago. I found that strange, so I called the bureau and asked my colleagues to check it out. Guess what I found?"

Ye Cheng complained, "How could we possibly guess that? You'd better just tell us already."

Li Xiao spoke slowly. "The last fire in the archives of Yishi Academy occurred less than a month after the tragedy at the former Huangtai Mental Hospital. What's even more bizarre is that within a year of the fire, people associated with the archives disappeared or died mysteriously. The investigation went on for a long time without any results, making it a cold case. I just asked the administrator, and the archives mainly contain teacher files, medical records, social security records, and the like. It's impossible to guess what the motive for the murder and arson would be."

Luo Shimin asked a rather silly question, "What is the connection between Yishi Academy and the former Huangtai Mental Hospital?"

“There is only one connection,” Xia Chen said, emphasizing each word. “The Xia Group is the largest shareholder of both.”

Ye Cheng looked around and suddenly asked, "Where did everyone go?"

Only then did everyone realize that everyone else had left, leaving only five people standing in front of the archives room. The wind howled in through the broken window, sounding like a woman's mournful weeping, and the hairs on everyone's bodies stood on end. The wind swirled dust past them like a ghost.

010 Attack

A cold wind blew by, rustling the leaves of the trees around the archives. Amidst the rustling, everyone could clearly hear a woman's intermittent sobbing. Hu Rongrong was frightened; cold sweat broke out on her back, her hands and feet were icy, and she said in a trembling voice, "How can there be a woman crying? Is this place haunted?"

Ye Cheng said seriously, "There are no ghosts in the world. Maybe it's just the sound of the wind blowing through a crack. It sounds similar to a woman crying. Besides, this isn't a graveyard, so how could there be ghosts here?"

"You're wrong about that," Li Xiao corrected seriously. "People have died in the archives. After the last fire, the female administrator of the archives hanged herself there. Also, ghosts do exist. Scientists have confirmed that after a natural death, the brain can still exist for a certain period of time and can emit brainwaves. Ghosts, in layman's terms, are special brainwaves formed by human brain activity. These brainwaves persist for a while after death, and some particularly strong brainwaves can affect other people's brains, causing hallucinations—that's what's commonly known as 'seeing a ghost!'"

Hu Rongrong shrank behind Ye Cheng. "I really should thank you. You've successfully made me even more afraid."

The crying suddenly stopped, and the unexpected silence was somewhat unsettling. It was like being in a noisy disco when suddenly all sound went out; the quiet was a little eerie.

After a while, nothing happened. Ye Cheng said smugly, "See? I wasn't wrong. It was just a rumor. Only you guys could make that connection."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew out of the archives, the chill instantly spreading throughout their bodies, raising goosebumps. More than a minute passed, and the cold wind showed no signs of abating. Cold sweat soaked their backs, clinging uncomfortably to their skin. They turned back; the archives seemed to still have some lingering smoke, the light dimmed, making it appear exceptionally cold and quiet.

A soft clang came from the archives room. Ye Cheng called out, "Who's there? Come out, I see you." No one came out, and there was no answer.

Ye Cheng turned around and said, "You guys wait here, I'll go in and take a look."

"No!" Hu Rongrong grabbed Ye Cheng's hand. "There's nothing inside but ashes. What would you do going in?"

Ye Cheng gently brushed Hu Rongrong's hand away, smiled slightly, and said, "You said there's only ashes inside, so it won't be dangerous for me to go in and take a look. I didn't check carefully enough just now, so I might have missed something. I want to go back and check; maybe I'll make some new discoveries. Besides, I'm a policeman; this is the kind of work I should do. Xia Chen is injured, and the three of you are girls."

Hu Rongrong grabbed Ye Cheng's arm again and said stubbornly, "I'll go with you."

Ye Cheng politely declined, saying, "There's a lot of dust inside, it'll get your pretty clothes dirty. Don't worry, I'm a well-trained police officer."

Xia Chen also said, "If there is really danger, Ye Cheng can definitely escape on his own. If you go with him, you will only hold him back."

"Okay, be careful." Hu Rongrong let go of her hand.

Ye Cheng walked into the archives alone. Hu Rongrong stood to the side, looking anxiously towards the door. Luo Shimin watched Hu Rongrong's every move with a mischievous smile.

Five minutes passed, and Ye Cheng still hadn't come out. Hu Rongrong grew anxious and asked, "Why is there no sound at all? Could something have happened to him? This archives room is so quiet."

Li Xiao pulled Hu Rongrong back, "Don't worry, he'll call us if anything happens. Just wait patiently for him a little longer, he'll be out soon."

Another five minutes passed, and Ye Cheng still hadn't come out; the archives room was deathly silent.

Hu Rongrong completely lost her patience. "I can't wait any longer. I need to go in and see what happened!" Just then, Ye Cheng exclaimed from the archives. Hu Rongrong immediately ran in, followed closely by Li Xiao, with Luo Shimin supporting Xia Chen at the very back.

"Come quickly and see what I found!" Ye Cheng used a small stick to brush away the thick layer of ash covering the electrical wires in the corner. Beside the wires was a bluish-white worm, covered in black ash, exactly like the bone worm that Luo Xie had broken in two last night. There were bite marks on the wires next to it. "Looks like I've found the cause of the fire. This worm bit open the wires, causing a short circuit, and the sparks fell on the paper and started the fire."

Xia Chen picked up a branch and touched the insect twice, but the insect didn't react. "Is it dead?" Xia Chen's fingers trembled slightly; he still remembered how terrifying it was.

Ye Cheng stomped on the insect twice, but it didn't move. Instead, his feet hurt from the pressure. "It didn't react even after being stomped on like that, it must be dead, dead as dead as can be."

Li Xiao speculated, "It seems the murderer discovered that his watch strap was missing a section, and knowing we would come to check the files, he destroyed the evidence in advance. If only we had been one step ahead of him."

Xia Chen's eyes darted around. "Do you think it's possible that the murderer might come back for this bug? This freakish bug must have taken a lot of time and effort to create; would it just be carelessly discarded?"

With a loud slap, Ye Cheng clapped his hands hard, pointing at Xia Chen with both fingers. "Dude, you're too smart. We'll just wait here for the culprit to come looking for the bug, then I'll catch him red-handed, drag him back to the police station, give him a good beating until he confesses to everything, and finally lock him in a dark, gloomy little room where he'll only have cockroaches and rats for company until he dies of old age."

Luo Shimin stared at Ye Cheng with wide eyes, as if she were seeing him for the first time.

Seeing that everyone's reaction wasn't strong, Ye Cheng said in a low voice, "I think the atmosphere is a bit tense, and I want to ease everyone's tension."

Li Xiao poked the oblivious insect with a small stick. "The idea is good, but are you sure he'll come?"

“You’ll know once you try. Before I find a hiding place, let me take care of our little darling. Come to Daddy.” Ye Cheng pinched the insect between two fingers and pulled it out of the dust. The three girls screamed and jumped away from him. Xia Chen had a leg injury and couldn’t run fast, so he could only look at Ye Cheng coldly, expressing his opinion with his eyes—stay away from me.

Another gust of wind blew by, signaling a change in the weather. The sky grew increasingly dark, the gray-black expanse seeming to press down on everyone's heads, creating a sense of oppression. The gloomy sky was gradually being scribbled over by clusters of black clouds, forming strange faces. Xia Chen looked up at the sky and seemed to see Su Youqing's face.

Hu Rongrong exclaimed, "Be careful! What if it's just stunned by the electric shock? When it wakes up, it might bite your finger off!"

"Relax, it's dead, beyond dead." Ye Cheng waved the bone worm in front of Hu Rongrong's eyes twice, causing her to scream repeatedly. Xia Chen turned his head and saw a small figure in bright red clothes standing at the entrance of the archives. The face, initially a blurry blur, suddenly became clear, its blood-red eyes filled with black, pinprick-sized pupils. Dark red tears of blood overflowed from her eyes, her face as pale as paper. Where the tears slid down, thin cracks appeared on her pale face, from which blackish-red liquid gushed out. Xia Chen felt no horror, because he knew she wouldn't harm them.

Su Youqing, it's Su Youqing again!

Su Youqing opened her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, slowly saying, "Run! Get out of here quickly, or it will be too late. The bugs are coming."

"Xia Chen, are you alright? What are you looking at?" Luo Shimin noticed Xia Chen staring blankly at the door. She glanced in that direction but saw nothing.

In the blink of an eye, Su Youqing was gone. He murmured, "I saw Teacher Su. Didn't you see her? She was just at the door."

Hu Rongrong was so scared she almost cried. "Xia Chen, I'm already terrified. Please don't scare me anymore. Teacher Su is dead. You can't possibly see her again."

Xia Chen said with certainty, "I really saw Teacher Su. Actually, I saw her last night. The insects spew out paralyzing poison, so I shouldn't have been able to wake up. But when I was attacked by the insects, I had a dream about Teacher Su. She told me to be careful. When I woke up, I found something on my left leg."

Ye Cheng knew Xia Chen very well; he wouldn't joke around at such a crucial moment. He asked seriously, "What did Teacher Su just say to you?"

Xia Chensheng ignored Su Youqing's horrified expression and simply said, "She told us to leave here quickly, saying that the bugs are coming and it will be too late if we don't leave soon."

"Insects?" Ye Cheng's words had barely left his lips when a bright flash of lightning seemed to tear the sky apart, blindingly bright and instantly turning everything a pale white. The ensuing thunder drowned out Ye Cheng's voice. In that instant, Ye Cheng sensed danger. The insect in his hand suddenly twitched. Although he reacted swiftly, shaking off the insect, it was too late. The bone insect bit down hard on his hand, tearing off a large chunk of flesh and skin. "Get out of here quickly!" Ye Cheng shouted.

It was too late. Li Xiao saw two bone worms appear at the door. They were only the size of a finger, but they were more terrifying than two tigers crouching at the door. Hu Rongrong screamed.

"Look at the windows!" There were three bone worms on each of the two windows in the archives. They were surrounded by nine worms, each no bigger than a finger.

Hu Rongrong screamed, "They're going to eat us, just like they ate Xu Zihua!" Li Xiao also shouted, "This isn't just waiting for them to run into a trap; it's luring them into a snare and then setting up an ambush from all sides. These little things are much smarter than us. We're going to be their breakfast." Li Xiao glanced at the time, "Uh...maybe lunch."

"Thank you for your humor." The insects slowly approached the group. Ye Cheng shielded Li Xiao and Hu Rongrong behind him, and Xia Chen also used his body to block Luo Shimin. The Nine Bone Insects surrounded everyone in the middle.