Chapter 5: Surveillance

The bullet comments in the Live Stream Room had long been covered by a row of bright red national slogans, followed immediately by all kinds of shouting and screaming.

“Who was the one saying this was a ghost movie or ‘Approaching Science¹‘ earlier? Show yourself, I know you’re a devious dev lurking in here.”

“Damn! I almost pissed myself! Thank god it’s daytime and I’m still in my dorm.”

“A boss is a boss. Even if she’s a coward at heart, she still acts tough as an ox on the outside.”

“Seriously. For a split second, I actually believed this boss. If Sanyao’s emotional fluctuation warning hadn’t nearly blinded me, I wouldn’t have believed she was actually that terrified.”

“Too much is happening, I… I’ll cheer her on first!”

“What’s wrong with this dorm? Do they hate Wang Dongyan that much? To actually pull a stunt like this.”

“A sudden twist. After clearing away feudal superstition, does it turn out to be school bullying after all?”

“Could Zhou Nansong have been scared to death? 【Pondering】”

“Or maybe they’re avenging Zhou Nansong? I feel like if you analyze the first few things they said, they’re actually quite interesting. And who was shining the light from outside?”

“High school life is actually this eventful? I guess I was just too ordinary.”

Fang Qi was somewhat surprised. For Qiong Cang to exhibit such a strong physiological response, she had clearly entered a state of stress, and it was likely beyond a normal psychological stress response. Yet, there was no record of this in his files.

What was Qiong Cang’s stressor? Fear of ghosts, or fear of the dark? Or perhaps it was a specific element that suddenly appeared in the scene. The sound of grinding teeth, or the play of light and shadow.

·

Night in the game quickly passed, and sunlight broke over the horizon. Everyone walked out of the dormitory, feeling the cool morning breeze. The air carried a fresh, slightly sweet scent.

Crowds poured from the dormitories to the cafeteria, and then from the cafeteria to the academic buildings.

Qiong Cang held up her skirt and squatted rather inelegantly on a rock, recounting the events of the previous night to He Jueyun, who had come to meet her.

He Jueyun stroked his chin. “So you’re saying your roommates teamed up with other students to play ghost and scare you… Wang Dongyan? And then your Suicide Progress showed a significant increase.”

Qiong Cang nodded.

He Jueyun tried to process this information, then asked, “Besides your roommates, who else?”

Qiong Cang shook her head.

He Jueyun asked in surprise, “You didn’t go out to look?”

Qiong Cang replied calmly, “I was scared stiff.”

The expression on her face as she said this was no different from saying “today’s food is too salty,” making it hard to believe.

He Jueyun studied her closely, unable to imagine this face expressing any emotion related to fear. Or rather, whatever could make her feel fear would have to be some kind of world-class mystery.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “…Your sense of humor is too dry. It’s not very funny.”

“Oh, really?” Qiong Cang looked up and said dryly, “I’m so disappointed.”

He Jueyun looked down to meet her gaze, while Qiong Cang stared back with innocent eyes.

After a long pause, He Jueyun asked in surprise, “You’re serious?”

“Yep,” Qiong Cang said. “I’m afraid of the dark.”

He Jueyun: “…”

Qiong Cang added, “Extremely.”

He Jueyun could only rack his brain for words to comfort her. “Well… that’s pretty normal?”

Qiong Cang said, “Yeah.”

A dead silence fell between them.

Qiong Cang couldn’t help but say, “Stop thinking. Your brainstorming is too loud. All it’s doing is screaming ‘holy shit, holy shit’ and ‘what do I do, what do I do’.”

He Jueyun felt deeply wronged. “Don’t slander me!”

Qiong Cang: “It’s written all over your face. It’s annoying to look at.”

How is this woman so difficult to deal with?! He Jueyun thought. In all his years, this was the first time someone had called him annoying, and it was when he hadn’t even uttered a single word.

“A straight guy²‘s comfort…” Qiong Cang couldn’t stop herself from complaining. “It’s usually along the lines of, ‘What’s there to be afraid of in the dark?’, ‘There are no ghosts in this world’, ‘Ghosts are probably more afraid of you’, ‘It’s fine, it’s just psychological’, and so on.”

“That’s not just a regular straight guy.” He Jueyun took a deep breath. “I petition to classify straight guys into tiers. You’re stigmatizing me.”

Qiong Cang squinted and gave him a sidelong glance.

She felt that this guy might… not be very bright.

He Jueyun also felt like an idiot. He gestured downward with his finger. “Can you come down and talk first?”

Qiong Cang jumped down from the rock and stood opposite him.

The two looked at each other in silence.

He Jueyun reached up and scratched his hair.

Honestly, he had met many eccentric geniuses; he had quite a few working under him. But none of them made his heart react the way Qiong Cang did.

Except, while a normal person’s heart fluttered with affection, his reacted with a spasm. His heart was enduring a pain it shouldn’t have to bear.

Qiong Cang had already started walking away.

He Jueyun followed her and asked, “What’s your assessment of the roommates? Could Zhou Nansong have gone through something similar?”

It was class time now. Aside from the two of them, there was no one else chatting or walking around the campus. At a glance, the entire school looked like an empty city.

Qiong Cang: “Based on my previous search, Wang Dongyan’s relationship with her roommates used to be decent. For it to deteriorate to this point, there must be other factors at play.”

Qiong Cang thought for a moment, then added, “When they mentioned ghosts yesterday, they brought up Zhou Nansong’s name. The tone they used was too deliberate. They were clearly saying it for my benefit.”

He Jueyun: “Let’s assume they believe Wang Dongyan is the murderer who killed Zhou Nansong, and they are acting out their own brand of justice.”

“Mm…” Qiong Cang said. “Their ghost-playing tricks aren’t very sophisticated, not enough to drive Wang Dongyan to suicide. Furthermore, if it were really just because of her roommates, given Wang Dongyan’s family background, she could have easily switched to being a day student to escape the bullying.”

He Jueyun: “Unless…”

Qiong Cang: “Unless Wang Dongyan herself harbored intense guilt over Zhou Nansong’s death. Her roommates’ actions merely forced her to constantly relive what she had done, leading to mental self-punishment. After prolonged torment, she chose to end her own life.”

He Jueyun turned the details over in his mind, feeling that something was off, but Qiong Cang was already shaking her head. “Still, I don’t believe someone with such a strong sense of morality would do something so extreme and persistent without a compelling reason. Wang Dongyan had clearly noticed something before Zhou Nansong committed suicide. There are too many inconsistencies in the logic of all this.”

He Jueyun shifted his gaze to the high school girl beside him, who had completely shed her childishness.

Admittedly, working with Qiong Cang was a rather enjoyable experience. As long as she didn’t crack jokes out of nowhere.

Before they knew it, the two of them had walked back to the path leading to the dormitory building.

Qiong Cang looked up at the old dormitory building.

Because it was old and neglected, vines crawled all over the high side wall. The dark green foliage grew wildly in the shadows, showing none of the beauty of life, but rather looking a bit eerie.

He Jueyun stood beside her, waiting.

Qiong Cang stared for a long time before asking, “Have you watched the surveillance footage near this dormitory building on the day of Zhou Nansong’s death?”

“I have. Zhou Nansong came alone that day. Judging by the timeline, she went straight to the rooftop after going upstairs, and without hesitation, jumped to her death. Wang Dongyan never showed up; she has a perfect alibi.” Knowing what she was getting at, He Jueyun said with certainty, “Zhou Nansong definitely wasn’t directly killed by Wang Dongyan.”

Qiong Cang asked, “Which camera’s footage did you check?”

“One camera in front of the dormitory building’s main entrance, and another mounted on that pole along this path. Both cameras can capture everyone coming and going. That dormitory building only has this one entrance.” He Jueyun gestured to show her, then, recalling the agony of combing through the footage yesterday, he couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose to relieve the tension. “But to be honest, those cameras are models from several years ago. The resolution is poor, and they only have basic recording functions. I watched for a long time and only managed to identify the people by relying on the timeline. Finding any detailed evidence will probably be very difficult. It would require other technology and more time.”

“Is there only the footage from the day they died?” Qiong Cang asked.

“Yes. Only the video from that day was preserved as evidence,” He Jueyun explained helpfully. “First High School’s surveillance footage is only kept for anywhere from two weeks to a month. By the time Wang Dongyan committed suicide, it was already May. Even if the police realized something was wrong and went back to First High School to look for the footage, it would have been gone. So it wouldn’t be in the system either.”

Qiong Cang nodded, turned around, and looked at the convenience store nearby.

She said, “I’m going in to buy something first.”

He Jueyun asked casually, “What are you buying?”

“A dog-beating stick³,” Qiong Cang replied.

He Jueyun was bewildered. “Huh?”

The convenience store was privately owned. Although the shop wasn’t large, it sold all kinds of random things.

First, Qiong Cang went to the broom section and selected a wooden broom. She tested its weight in her hand, but found it too heavy, which would hinder her performance. So she turned to the section with the clothes drying poles and picked out a long stainless steel one.

Lightweight and easy to carry. This was good.

If anyone dared to come tonight, she would make sure they stayed to get a taste of a thrashing with a steel rod⁴.

No, as a crucial plot point, they would definitely come.

Having chosen her weapon, Qiong Cang went to the next aisle to grab a few snacks, cradling them in her arms as she went to pay.

She placed her meal card on the card reader, her eyes scanning the surroundings as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Listening to the electronic beeps, she raised an eyebrow and looked at the shopkeeper.

While scanning the items, the shopkeeper stole a few glances at her out of the corner of his eye. It wasn’t a casual look, but one filled with scrutiny.

For most people, a hunch was just a hunch. But Qiong Cang’s hunches were usually right.

She said tentatively, “Long time no see.”

The shopkeeper mumbled, “Yeah.”

Qiong Cang paused, then asked, “Do you still have the things I usually buy?”

“The prank toys?” the shopkeeper said. “Not many left. Bottom of the first shelf.”

Qiong Cang followed his directions and took a look. The shelf was lined with relatively common small toys, similar to the cheap novelty items that were popular on Taobao at one point. They had plain packaging but contained a small hidden mechanism inside.

She only took a glance without buying anything, then walked back.

The shopkeeper handed her the bag of paid items. Qiong Cang took it and walked out the door.

He Jueyun was pacing in circles on the empty ground out of sheer boredom.

Squeezing her yogurt with one hand, Qiong Cang said, “Go inside and ask the shopkeeper a few questions.”

He Jueyun asked, “Huh? Ask what?”

Qiong Cang said, “Just go and ask. I get the feeling he remembers me.”

He Jueyun cast a few more glances at the “Golden Cudgel⁵” on her back, even suspecting that Qiong Cang had beaten someone up inside and was tricking him into going in to clean up her mess. With suspicious steps, he walked toward the convenience store.

Author’s Note:

“The military might sweeps across the vast desert, and the murderous aura pierces the vault of heaven.” The term “Qiong Cang” has existed for a very long time; it is not a reversal of word order.

Translator’s Notes