Joven Primer Ministro, un ermitaño

Capítulo 26

Li Xiao waved his hand and said, "I stayed up all night guarding Chenguan Village the night before last, and I only slept for three hours last night before I was woken up by the explosion. I feel a little dizzy now."

"Then go to my dorm and sleep for a while." Hu Rongrong and Luo Shimin helped Li Xiao up and walked towards their dorm.

Ye Cheng asked, "What should we do?"

Hu Rongrong turned around and said, "You can just sit in the restaurant. Liu Yanting is a well-known figure in the whole school, and everyone knows about her death. If anyone sees her in the school, you will know very soon."

After the three women left, Xia Chen stood up and walked around twice before saying, "I think we should visit Liu Yanting's teacher, Su Youqing. Perhaps we'll have some unexpected gains."

015 Su Youqing's Last Letter

Su Youqing is a pitiful woman, or rather, a woman who appears pitiful, but she was once a happy woman.

She has a husband who loves her very much. She is afraid of thunder, and whenever it rains, her husband will drop everything and rush to her side to comfort her.

She also had a bright student, young, intelligent, beautiful, and talented, who would become an outstanding painter in a few years. Every time Su Youqing saw her, it was as if she were seeing her younger self. Su Youqing did her best to teach her, and she never disappointed Su Youqing, bringing home medal after medal.

But all of that is in the past. Just three months ago, right in her bed, right beside her, her husband was murdered, and she knew nothing about it.

Just a day earlier, her bright student had been murdered in her studio, shattering the last glimmer of hope in her life. Why? She asked the heavens and herself, but no one could answer why.

Su Youqing was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She became paranoid, feeling that everyone around her was trying to harm her. She thought someone was following her, but when she suddenly turned around, there was only thin air behind her. Someone advised her to see a psychologist, but she looked at him suspiciously, as if he had some ulterior motive. A kind neighbor brought her food, but she threw it aside without eating a bite, suspecting it was drugged.

She accidentally saw herself in the mirror, and the ghostly woman in the mirror smiled at her. She was terrified, and from then on she never looked in the mirror again, covering all the mirrors in the house with a cloth. She went nowhere every day, just hid at home, drew the curtains, making the room pitch black, and curled up in the darkness, her mind blank, like a dead person.

She felt something being released from her body, and she would lose consciousness for extended periods. Similar things had happened before, but never this frequently. She had a bad feeling, but didn't know who to tell.

As usual, Su Youqing blocked out the sunlight with thick curtains and curled up on the bed, hugging her legs. A nameless fear crept up her spine and into her brain, making the hairs on her body stand on end. She stared wide-eyed in terror, as if another pair of eyes were watching her in the darkness, emitting a sinister laugh.

Su Youqing got out of bed, turned on the light, and checked every corner of the room inch by inch. Besides herself, there was no one else in the room, not even any other living creature. Su Youqing turned off the light and went back to bed.

The feeling of being watched returned, and this time she was certain that a pair of eyes were indeed watching her. These eyes weren't inside the house, but outside.

It took her a long time to muster the courage to walk to the window and draw back the curtains. She saw something she shouldn't have seen: she fell to the ground, her gaze passing through the French windows, still looking outside.

There was a person standing downstairs, a naked girl, a girl who shouldn't be here.

Su Youqing struggled to her feet. The girl was still standing downstairs. Su Youqing recognized the girl, or rather, she had known the girl before. She was her most outstanding student, Liu Yanting, who had been murdered in the art studio yesterday evening.

"How did you end up here?" Su Youqing muttered to herself.

The girl waved and gave Su Youqing a bright smile. Su Youqing saw her pale eyes. Su Youqing heard the girl say to her, "Teacher Su, I'm waiting for you in the studio, come quickly!"

Su Youqing closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the girl downstairs was gone. Su Youqing was certain that what she saw wasn't a hallucination; the deceased Liu Yanting had really returned and even asked to meet her at the art studio. It sounded a bit crazy, and no one would believe it if she told others, but it really happened. Su Youqing drew the curtains, plunging the room back into darkness. She went back to bed and curled up like a wounded kitten.

Xia Chen and the other two stopped downstairs at Su Youqing's building. Ye Cheng asked, "Su Youqing is such a pitiful woman. What should we say when we go upstairs? Teacher Su, your most prized student is dead, but her body has come back to life. What are your thoughts on this? Has her body come to see you? What did she say?"

Xia Chen said, "I don't know either. Let's go up and talk about it. I haven't taken her class yet. It would be better if Luo Shimin and Hu Rongrong were here."

Ye Cheng suggested, "Why don't we call them over? They can walk here from their dorm in just a few minutes."

Luo Xie said, "I smell a bloody odor here, which is a little different from ordinary human blood."

Ye Cheng and Xia Chen took two deep breaths. "We didn't smell anything."

Luo Xie took a deep breath. "This smell of blood is very similar to the smell in the art studio yesterday evening. The girl named Liu Yanting came here just now, stayed for a few minutes, and then left."

Ye Cheng said in surprise, "You can smell this? What's the structure of your nose?"

"The smell of blood is something you become very sensitive to once you smell it a lot. She stayed here for a while, and her smell was very distinctive, so I was able to smell it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go upstairs quickly." Xia Chen led the way and rushed into the stairwell.

When Xia Chen arrived at Su Youqing's house, he stopped. The door was slightly ajar, but the house was pitch black inside, even though it was broad daylight. "Teacher Su, are you home?" There was no answer.

Ye Cheng and Luo Xie caught up shortly after. Seeing the open door, Xia Chen said, "The door is open. I called for Teacher Su, but no one answered me. Should we go in or not?"

Xia Chen and Luo Xie both looked at Ye Cheng, who asked curiously, "Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Luo Xie felt it necessary to remind Ye Cheng, "Although I often do things like barging in uninvited, we have a policeman with us now."

"Then come in!" Ye Cheng pushed open the door and carefully walked in. The air in the room was stale, with an indescribable unpleasant smell. If Ye Cheng had to use his limited vocabulary to describe how he felt about this room, he could only think of one word—a grave. Just a few months ago, he had been to this room, and it didn't feel like this then.

Ye Cheng drew back the curtains and opened the window, letting sunlight stream into the nearly moldy room and fresh air flow in. Luo Xie immediately covered his nose upon entering. "Is this a place for humans to live? Even a pig's place would be better." Xia Chen, a bit of a germaphobe, looked pitiful; he almost threw up.

After more than ten minutes, fresh air filled the room, and the three of them felt a little better. Ye Cheng said, "Everyone, split up and search to see what you can find. Since the moving Liu Yanting came looking for her, it can't be anything good. Two people have already died; we can't let anyone else die."

The three of them walked around the house and found moldy food, piles of dirty clothes, and garbage all over the floor. Xia Chen found a piece of paper on the bed in the bedroom. When he picked it up, he realized it was a suicide note. The handwriting was so messy that it was almost impossible to tell if it was written by Su Youqing.

Xia Chen read it aloud: "When you read this suicide note, I am no longer in this world. There is no place in this world worth my attachment."

My husband is dead, my favorite student is dead, and now I'm going to die too. If there's another world after death, I can see my husband and my student again, which seems like a good option.

Looking back on my life, it has been so chaotic. The only things I can be proud of are two: first, finding a loving husband who doesn't mind my many little flaws, and who didn't mind hitting him when I lost consciousness; and second, meeting such an outstanding student as Liu Yanting. I am unable to have children, and I treated Liu Yanting like my own daughter, doing everything I could to teach her, hoping she would become an exceptional painter. But now I have lost them both. Someone ruthlessly shattered my hopes. I don't know why she did this to me. I curse her; one day, she will suffer a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times more than I have.

Suddenly, a possibility occurred to me, one that might help in catching the murderer of Liu Yanting. My husband is involved in an operation codenamed 'Project Nuwa,' and I overheard him mentioning something called a blood core when he was on the phone. They found it in the brain of an infant. Blood cores possess many incredible functions; once activated, they can prolong life in another way. However, this method has a drawback: it must live on blood, forever dependent on fresh blood, like a vampire in Western horror stories. As far as I know, Dr. Wu in the medical department has been conducting experiments on blood core activation, and it's possible he's succeeded. It's quite possible he's the one who killed Liu Yanting.

I saw Liu Yanting; she was waving at me from downstairs. No one might believe me, but I knew it wasn't a hallucination. I'm going to find her. Goodbye, ugly world! The suicide note ended there.

After reading it, Xia Chen asked, "What do you two think of this suicide note? The mysterious killer we've been searching for is actually Dr. Wu, who has been dead for almost three months? Do you believe it?"

Ye Cheng spread his hands. "The world is full of wonders, isn't that a phrase you always say? Now that you mention it, I remember that there wasn't a single drop of blood in Dr. Wu's body that you and Luo Shimin found in the sewer. At the time, we thought someone had drained it. Now we have an even more unacceptable explanation. Fortunately, I'm used to breaking through my own thinking and accepting new things."

Xia Chen frowned and said, "I just find it strange that Su Youqing, who isn't a member of the Nuwa Project, knows so much detail. She also mentioned that she often loses consciousness and does things that we've never heard of before. What is this other form of continuation she mentioned? Could it be related to the fact that the deceased Liu Yanting has come back to life?"

"What does it matter?" Luo Xie walked out of the bedroom. "Once we find them, everything will be clear."

Ye Cheng said, "Your suggestion is indeed good, but where should we start our search? Yishi Academy is neither too big nor too small. There are many places where people can hide. Who knows how many more secret rooms exist? If they want to hide, they will not let us find them easily."

“I guess I know where we should look for her.” Luo Xie held a photo frame in his hand, a picture of Su Youqing and Liu Yanting, both smiling happily, showing their white teeth. “I found the photo frame on the bedside table, in a very conspicuous place. This photo must be very important to the lady of the house. Do you think the background of the photo looks familiar?”

Xia Chen recognized it at a glance: "It's that art studio."

Ye Cheng walked to the door and shouted, "Brothers, what are you waiting for?"

016 The Art Studio Horror

The three of them left Su Youqing's house at around nine o'clock in the morning. Ye Cheng asked Luo Xie, "The stock market has already opened. Don't you need to go back and direct your subordinates to acquire Xia Group's shares?"

“If they can’t even handle this little thing, what’s the point of me supporting them? It’s more fun being with you guys. I also promised my sister that I would take good care of Xia Xiaozi and make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

"I don't need anyone to take care of me," Xia Chen muttered softly.

The three ran quickly toward the old building. Ye Cheng sprinted with all his might, trying to overtake Luo Xie, but no matter how hard he tried, Luo Xie remained in the lead. What a monster! Ye Cheng was forced to abandon his plan, and the three reached the old building in less than five minutes.

The weather was great today, with bright sunshine outside, but the old building felt eerie and terrifying, as if something in the air was blocking the sunlight from getting in.

The classrooms on the first floor were all empty, but the sound of teachers lecturing could be heard from several classrooms on the second floor. The three of them easily found the art studio. Looking out the window in the corridor, they saw Su Youqing sitting in front of an easel, painting, wearing a nurse's uniform. Xia Chen asked curiously, "Where did Su Youqing get a nurse's uniform? I've never seen this style before."

Ye Cheng said professionally, "It looks like an old-fashioned nurse's uniform; the newer ones have very low slits at the hem!"

Luo Xie sighed, "You've even researched this?"

Ye Cheng chuckled and said, "You'll know if you watch too many Japanese dramas; the Japanese love filming nurse uniforms."

Xia Chen was about to push the door open when Ye Cheng grabbed his hand. "Since Su Youqing is alright now, let's just wait here. Maybe that moving corpse will come looking for her. That way, we'll save Su Youqing, and I'll find Liu Yanting's body. The director will definitely look at us differently."

Xia Chen looked around. "But there's nothing here in the corridor. Where should we hide?"

Ye Cheng looked up and glanced around, noticing that one of the studio windows was open, facing a basketball court. "Come with me." Ye Cheng led the two out of the studio, out of the old building, across the basketball court, and sat down by the open window. "This place is nice, isn't it? We can keep an eye on what's going on inside the studio, and we can also soak up the sun. Comfortable, isn't it?"

Xia Chen slowly peeked out. From this angle, he could see the painting Su Youqing was working on: a dark house with a fierce wind raging outside the window. A woman lay on the ground, but the other half of the painting was obscured by Su Youqing, so he couldn't see what was depicted. Disturbing someone's creative process was incredibly annoying, so Xia Chen sat down.

The sun was warm and comforting. Luo Xie said lazily, "I really like this feeling. A few good friends, chatting about our feelings, basking in the sun. Many years ago, my father often took my sister and me to watch the sunset. The golden sunlight shone on the three of us, and my father would tell us his happy and unhappy stories, like a friend. He would tell us about the brother who was killed to save him, or the brother who betrayed him for money. My sister and I would listen very attentively. Sometimes, when my father talked about sad things, he would shed tears, and my sister would gently wipe them away. From then on, I secretly made up my mind that I would take my father's place, let him stay away from the world of gangsters, and have a happy old age, like other old people, playing chess, playing cards, and basking in the sun like us."

Ye Cheng was startled again. Legend had it that Luo San Nu was the most cold-blooded, terrifying, and fearsome demon king in the martial arts world. In his youth, Luo San Nu single-handedly wiped out a gang of over five hundred people in one night with just a knife. This story, along with Luo San Nu's catchphrase, "Don't be obsessed with me, I'm just a legend," still circulated among petty thugs. Ye Cheng asked Luo Xie about this. Unexpectedly, Luo Xie burst into laughter, almost alerting Su Youqing in the art studio.

After laughing, Luo Xie said, "I once asked my father about this, and his reaction was the same as mine. At that time, it wasn't just my father alone; he already had more than a thousand underlings. Wiping out a gang of more than five hundred people was not difficult at all; anyone who wasn't an idiot could do it. Since that's what everyone in the martial arts world was saying, and it was in his favor, my father didn't correct it. This incident taught me a lesson: never, ever believe a legend."

Xia Chen tilted his head, looking at Luo Xie. This man wasn't as unapproachable as he seemed; he'd become friends with a policeman in less than an hour. In reality, he was just like him, wrapped in layers of pretense. Such a life must be exhausting. Xia Chen dropped the pretense, closed his eyes, and smiled at the sun, feeling truly refreshed.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. The sun was warm, and Xia Chen was almost asleep. Ye Cheng and Luo Xie were still chatting quietly, looking like old friends who hadn't seen each other for years. Luo Xie even put his arm around Ye Cheng's shoulder. If you told Luo Shimin, she definitely wouldn't believe you.

The bell rang... the bell signaled the end of get out of class.

A stream of students surged out of the old building like a flood, leaving it empty except for Su Youqing in an instant. Xia Chen peeked out and saw Su Youqing still painting. He glanced casually at the door and saw a white figure standing there—it was Liu Yanting, who had disappeared from the police station morgue.

Xia Chen patted Ye Cheng and Luo Xie, and the two turned over to look at the studio.

Su Youqing was still painting when she said softly, "You've arrived. I've been waiting for you for a long time." Because she had her back to the three of them, they couldn't see her expression.

Ye Cheng whispered, "I feel like Su Youqing is acting strangely, like she's become a different person. How can she not be afraid of a moving corpse? Any normal person would be scared."

Luo Xie covered his mouth, "You'll find out soon enough."

Liu Yanting sneered, "Do you know why I'm here? I'm here to kill you, just like I killed your students. How about that, are you scared?"

Su Youqing said, "You can't kill me, Wu Tao!"

Liu Yanting was shocked. "How do you know my name? Who are you?" Ye Cheng and the others were also surprised. It really was Wu Tao inside Liu Yanting's body.

A person they had long thought was dead.

"I am Su Youqing, Liu Yanting's teacher, an ordinary woman as ordinary as can be."

"Then what makes you think I can't kill you? If I just raise my hand, all the blood in your body will be drained like water."

Su Youqing sneered, "Because I have friends here, the three of them won't let you kill me."

Oh no, we've been discovered! The three exchanged a glance and stood up. Xia Chen was puzzled; Su Youqing had never turned around, so how had she discovered them? Ye Cheng climbed into the studio through the window, Luo Xie was the second, and Xia Chen was the last.

"Hands up." Ye Cheng drew his pistol and pointed it at Liu Yanting. Luo Xie pulled out a large knife from behind his back, startling Xia Chen. How could he hide something so big on his back? And it didn't affect his movements? Ye Cheng was stunned when he saw Luo Xie's knife. A string of copper rings on the back of the blade exuded a strong sense of antiquity, and the blade itself shimmered with a mercury-like luster. Even a glimpse of the cold light reflected from the tip of the blade felt painful. "This is...this is..." Ye Cheng stammered for a long time without finishing his sentence.

Luo Xie said, "After coming out of the dark room, I realized the importance of carrying a sharp blade with me. This one is the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, but I don't know if it's real."

Xia Chen gasped, "The historical record, the *Book of Jin, Biography of Helian Bobo*, also mentions forging a hundred-times-refined steel sword, shaped like a dragon and sparrow, called the Great Xia Dragon and Sparrow. The inscription on its back reads: 'An ancient weapon, the Zhanlu of Wu and Chu, the Great Xia Dragon and Sparrow, renowned throughout the capital. It can pacify distant lands, it can subdue fugitives; like the wind sweeping through grass, its might subdues the nine regions, treasured for generations.' This is a national treasure-level blade, and you're using it to kill people?"

Luo Xie retorted, "Isn't a knife meant to be used to cut people?"

Xia Chen was speechless.

Liu Yanting said with dissatisfaction, "I'm still here. Can you wait a while before discussing that broken knife?"

Xia Chen stood in front of Su Youqing, saying, "No matter who you are, we will not let you hurt Teacher Su."

Liu Yanting laughed loudly, "Just the three of you? With a broken gun and a broken knife, you're too naive. Who can stop me from doing what I want?" Liu Yanting walked towards Su Youqing step by step.

"Stop! Or we'll shoot!" Ye Cheng's warning was ignored.

Luo Xie swung the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow sword at Liu Yanting, but Liu Yanting didn't take the sword seriously at all; any physical attack was ineffective against her.