El hibisco como pintura

Capítulo 33

Gao Xiaoyuan stood there blankly. Although she had never been to this place before, she felt a sense of déjà vu for some reason, as if it were very similar to the place she had been when she disappeared.

What came into view was a long corridor with classrooms on both sides. Above the classroom doors hung dusty class signs, some of which were about to fall off and the words on them were blurred. Some said Class 2(3), and some said Class 2(1). However, these classrooms looked very old and were obviously not from this era.

"Is this the old school building we're looking for?" Li Biqi asked curiously, not even knowing who she was asking.

"It seems so." Chen Shuai confirmed Li Biqi's guess.

“I don’t know where this is, but this place really makes me…” Li Wenbin didn’t finish his sentence, his voice sounding choked with emotion.

"Why does it smell so strange here?" Lin Nana suddenly felt that there was an indescribable strange smell in the humid air, which greatly irritated her nose.

"Come with me." Li Wenbin's words seemed to imply something. He glanced at the people behind him, then walked forward with a strange expression. The sound of their footsteps echoed down the corridor.

When Li Wenbin reached the first classroom on the left, he stopped and hesitantly pushed open the creaking door.

A rotten smell immediately wafted out.

Everyone instinctively covered their noses, and then Lin Nana let out a scream: "Ah—"

Li Biqi then followed suit with a scream.

The classroom was filled with dilapidated desks, and next to one of them sat Peng Zhi's corpse.

Gao Xiaoyuan subconsciously took a step back, bumping right into Chen Shuai.

"Are you scared?" Chen Shuai asked with concern.

Gao Xiaoyuan shook her head: "I'm not afraid. I've seen it before, but it's a little sad to see it again now." Tears welled up in Gao Xiaoyuan's eyes.

"How did she die?" Xu An asked softly.

"I don't know. When I woke up, I found her body. I was really scared." A look of fear appeared on Li Wenbin's face. Xu An could tell that Li Wenbin must have been in great shock at the time.

“Then Su Siyu…” Gao Xiaoyuan wanted to ask further, but was interrupted by Li Wenbin.

“I don’t know how Su Siyu died. I only learned about her because I heard she was found murdered at the concert hall. I had never seen her before that,” Li Wenbin said quickly, his eyes glancing at Xu An from time to time.

"Who else have you met?" Chen Shuai pressed.

Li Wenbin remained silent, turned around, and continued walking forward.

No one asked any more questions and silently followed behind Li Wenbin.

When Li Wenbin reached the fourth door, his body trembled slightly. He slowly reached out and pushed the door open, and a rotten smell wafted out from inside.

Lin Nana instinctively covered her eyes with her hands.

Li Biqi quickly covered her mouth, but her eyes widened in an instant.

"He is..." Gao Xiaoyuan exclaimed in surprise.

"He is Zhu Yu."

No one spoke; everyone's spirits sank to the bottom. They hadn't held out much hope for Zhu Yu, who hadn't appeared for so long, but they still hoped he was alive. But… another person from Class 0 of the first year of high school had died.

"So he's dead too." Gao Xiaoyuan said regretfully, her voice filled with an indescribable sadness.

Li Wenbin nodded slightly: "I've seen his body; he was strangled to death." Li Wenbin couldn't bear to say anything more.

Xu An stepped forward and examined the body. Judging from the degree of decomposition, he had been dead for a long time, at least a year, or perhaps he had died that very night.

"He...he...how could he have been strangled to death?" Lin Nana's voice trembled slightly, and Chen Shuai patted her shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

Li Wenbin shook his head: "I don't know who did it, but I know that person must be among us." His gaze became unusually terrifying as he stared intently at the crowd.

No one responded, because everyone was feeling very heavy-hearted.

"Phew—" A voice suddenly rang out, and Li Biqi jumped up in fright.

Everyone looked at each other, no one spoke, and they were all listening to the voice.

"Tsk—" It was that sound again, seemingly coming from the other end of the corridor.

Lin Nana swallowed hard, then lowered her voice and asked cautiously, "Um... what was that sound? Has someone come?"

Xu An and Chen Shuai exchanged a glance, and then rushed out of the classroom at the same time.

"I'm going too!" Li Wenbin immediately followed.

"Wait for us." Lin Nana immediately followed, and Li Biqi also chased after them. Gao Xiaoyuan glanced at Zhu Yu's corpse one last time before leaving the classroom.

The sound had disappeared. Chen Shuai and Xu An exchanged another glance, then each pressed themselves against one side of the wall, cautiously moving forward. Lin Nana, Li Biqi, Li Wenbin, and Gao Xiaoyuan stood still, watching the two, none of them daring to speak.

Finally, Chen Shuai noticed that the door to another classroom on his side was ajar. He immediately gestured to Xu An, who nodded slightly and then silently counted down with three fingers. When he reached one, he and Chen Shuai kicked the door open at the same time and shone their flashlights inside.

Time passed by, second by second.

The corridor was eerily quiet.

Chen Shuai and Xu An stood at the door, looking at the classroom with no expression on their faces.

Li Wenbin was losing his composure. He slowly walked to Chen Shuai's side and looked inside. What he saw shocked him. His lips trembled slightly, and he staggered backward until he was pressed against the wall. Then, he slid down the wall, stammering, "It wasn't me! I don't know what happened... I... I don't know how she got here. It has nothing to do with me... She has nothing to do with me..."

"What exactly happened..." Lin Nana rushed over, but upon seeing the scene in the classroom, she was speechless.

Li Biqi no longer had the courage to go over there. She pulled Gao Xiaoyuan aside and whispered to Lin Nana, "What's wrong? Is there something there?" This was also what Gao Xiaoyuan wanted to know.

Lin Nana slowly turned her head to look at Biqi and Xiaoyuan, then pointed inside and said in a sad tone, "She is also a student in our Class 0 of Grade 11."

Upon hearing this, Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly stood at the door, pushed Xu An and Chen Shuai aside, and looked into the classroom.

There was indeed a corpse in the classroom. A bloody wire was tied around the corpse's neck, and the blood was still wet, as if she had just died. It was Fang Manting.

"How could this be!" Gao Xiaoyuan exclaimed, and even Lin Nana was so frightened that she didn't know what to say: "Impossible, how could she be here? What's going on? Has someone been here? Or is it a ghost?"

ghost.

Everyone fell silent.

Chen Shuai walked blankly over and squatted down beside Fang Manting, looking at her sadly; 'You're dead too, so where am I supposed to find her?'

Gao Xiaoyuan walked to Chen Shuai's side, looked at him sympathetically, and said softly, "Principal Chen will be alright."

Chen Shuai gave a wry smile and asked, "So where is she now?"

Gao Xiaoyuan was speechless; she couldn't answer Chen Shuai's question. Principal Chen should have been with Fang Manting when he disappeared, but Fang Manting was now unable to speak. This meant the trail to Principal Chen had gone cold. Gao Xiaoyuan lowered her head.

Peng Zhi, Su Siyu, Fang Manting, Zhu Yu, and Gao Qixian are all dead. Who is the murderer? Why torture people like this?

Suddenly, Gao Xiaoyuan noticed that Fang Manting seemed to be holding something under her right wrist. She mustered her courage, squatted down, and carefully took it out. To her surprise, she found that it was a photo frame with a picture inside. The frame looked exactly like the one she had found before, except that the picture inside was different. It was a yellowed old photo with five boys and five girls, ten unfamiliar students. However, judging from their clothing, they must have been students from decades ago.

How could there be such similar photo frames, and how could there be five men and five women in the photo? Just as Gao Xiaoyuan was puzzled, Chen Shuai appeared beside her without her noticing. When he looked at the photo, he couldn't help but exclaim, "That's...!"

When Gao Xiaoyuan saw Chen Shuai's surprised look, she quickly looked at the yellowed photo and found that one of the young female students looked somewhat similar to Principal Chen.

Could it be...?

Three Black Invitations

The photo shows five men and five women, but their clothing looks to be several decades old.

This is an old photograph.

Gao Xiaoyuan glanced at Xu An, then at Chen Shuai, and finally focused her gaze on Li Wenbin.

"Have you seen this photo before?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked.

Li Wenbin frowned and shook his head, saying, "I've been here for so long, and I've never seen this photo before."

"How did this photo end up here?" Gao Xiaoyuan couldn't understand.

"This might be a commemorative photo that my mom's classmates found together," Chen Shuai said, taking the photo.

"Don't you find it strange that there are exactly five men and five women?" Xu An suddenly asked.

Chen Shuai was stunned, and everyone else was stunned.

Suddenly, a melodious tune drifted over.

Gao Xiaoyuan, Xu An, Chen Shuai, Li Wenbin, Lin Nana, and Li Biqi all looked in that direction at the same time.

The group followed the direction from which the sound came, passing through corridor after corridor, until they finally found the source of the sound.

It was a corridor with almost all the paint peeling off the walls, and the dim lights flickered on and off. There were no classrooms on either side, only a large green door at the end of the corridor, the paint on which was already chipped.

“Here…” Yes, this is it. Gao Xiaoyuan remembered that this was the secret place she had been to. She looked at Xu An and Chen Shuai with surprise: “This is it. This key can open that door.” Gao Xiaoyuan said as she held up the key in her hand.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Chen Shuai asked quickly.

"I'm sure, this is it." Gao Xiaoyuan excitedly ran to the green door, inserted the key into the lock, but her body froze instantly. She suddenly remembered what had happened to her after opening the green door before.

What might be behind that door? Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly had a strange premonition; perhaps behind that door... lay the truth, or perhaps...

Xu An suddenly grabbed the key from Gao Xiaoyuan's hand: "Let me do it."

Gao Xiaoyuan looked at Xu An without saying a word, slowly let go of his hand, and stepped back behind him.

Xu An gently turned the key.

Chen Shuai's expression turned serious, and he stared intently at the door.

Lin Nana held her breath and snuggled up to Li Biqi.

Li Wenbin clenched his fists.

"Bang—" The door was easily pushed open by Xu An.

A lamp hung in the room, casting a dim, yellowish light.

This is an ordinary classroom. The desks and chairs are arranged very neatly, the floor is swept very clean, even the blackboard is spotless, and the walls have been freshly painted, but they still look like they did decades ago.

"This place is really strange. It's an old school building, yet it's so clean. It's like someone deliberately cleaned it." Lin Nana looked around at everything in front of her.

"Why only clean this one room?" Li Biqi asked. "Is this classroom that important?"

“This should be Principal Chen’s class, but there’s no class sign.” Gao Xiaoyuan said as she walked to one of the guest tables and sat down. Her hand casually reached under the desk, and she found that she actually touched something. She froze, and then slowly took the thing out from under the desk.

A black card, entirely black, except for three gold characters on the front: Invitation.

Gao Xiaoyuan slowly opened the card, her gaze lingering on its contents, her expression somewhat strange.

Xu An noticed that Gao Xiaoyuan's expression was a little strange, so she went over to look at the card, but her expression froze instantly, and she immediately snatched the card away. The card contained a simple sentence: Please attend the Gao Yiling Class reunion on October 20th at 8 pm.

The card was unsigned, but it bore the name of the invitee—Prince Qiu.