Chapter 132: Chapter 127: The Erased Middle School_2
Any normal person would not consider opening the door at this moment. Yang Xiao held his breath, retreating little by little, his instincts driving him away from the door.
The door only sounded twice before stopping. Yang Xiao could not determine whether the other party had left or not. The next second, he couldn’t help shuddering as a chill arose from behind him.
He turned around abruptly, but there was nothing behind him, just a bed. Behind the bed was a small balcony with a sliding glass door, the kind that could be opened. The balcony was separated by thick blackout curtains.
His gaze swept inch by inch around the room, and Yang Xiao could distinctly feel that something was off. Moments later, as his gaze landed on a particular spot, he froze, his eyes twitching violently.
From the gap between the thick blackout curtains and the floor, a pair of shoe tips were visible.
They were old-fashioned black leather shoes, the kind men wear, and the tips were pointed right at Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao felt a chill of fear. If he had continued to retreat from the door just now, he would have fallen into a trap. Should he have approached the curtains, he would have collided with whatever it was.
What would happen next, Yang Xiao did not know, nor did he want to find out.
Now he was faced with two options: either stand his ground and watch how things unfolded, or open the door, rush out, and flee the place of trouble.
In fact, Yang Xiao was more inclined to stand his ground, but what happened next was beyond his imagination. The pair of shoe tips began to move, inching forward in small, shuffling steps. The curtains were pulled, and the silhouette of a person emerged.
Gradually, the black leather shoes were fully revealed, then the lower legs. This entity was wearing a pair of beige plaid trousers, and to Yang Xiao’s shock, there was a military green sandbag tied around each ankle. The weighty sandbags dragged on the floor, making a rustling sound.
Yang Xiao dashed to the door. He did not immediately open it but peered through the peephole. The corridor outside was empty.
Cracking the door slightly and ensuring there was no ambush waiting for him, Yang Xiao immediately flung the door open and rushed out. He dared not take the elevator, sprinting down the emergency stairs all the way until he reached the lobby on the first floor. Only when he saw the apartment’s duty staff and passersby did he stop.
His odd behavior immediately caught the attention of the apartment’s staff. A man looking like a security guard approached, eyeing the panting Yang Xiao, "You... are you okay?"
"I’m fine," Yang Xiao exhaled deeply, "I’m just exercising."
The security guard looked at him with a puzzled expression, "Do you live here?"
"Yes, Room 619. I just moved in today." Yang Xiao did not engage in further conversation with the security guard. He walked outside the apartment building and stood across the street, looking up at his own room.
An astonishing scene occurred: the previously closed curtains of his room had been parted slightly, allowing light to seep through.
With this faint light, Yang Xiao suddenly noticed someone standing in a corner of the balcony. Due to the angle and lighting, he could only make out a silhouette.
The person was dressed in an all-white suit. What was terrifying was that their neck was disproportionately long compared to their body, almost half the length of a head. Standing in the shadows, Yang Xiao couldn’t see the person’s face, but he was certain that they were watching him.
Moments later, the figure slowly receded and finally vanished into the darkness.
After regaining his calm, Yang Xiao returned to the apartment lobby and sat on the couch. He made a call to Beibei. Picking up the phone, Beibei sounded confused and evidently had drunk quite a bit, not fully sober and likely just asleep. But upon hearing that Yang Xiao had received the "Ghost" script, there was a crash on the other end of the call, as if something had been knocked over, followed by the rustling sound of rummaging, "Find a place with people and wait for me, I’m coming to get you!"
It took less than 20 minutes for Beibei to arrive by taxi, followed by Da Xiong. After the two inquired about Yang Xiao’s situation in detail, Beibei received a phone call, and then the group returned to the Patrol Defense Bureau. It wasn’t long after they entered the office that the office phone rang.
Beibei answered the phone first, exchanged a few words, and then handed it to Yang Xiao, indicating that it was a call from the technical department, and that they were ready to help Yang Xiao restore the Ghost script information.
On the other end was an older man with a somewhat hoarse voice. Yang Xiao explained to him the content of the Ghost script, especially the name Fu Lin Middle School, and the characteristics of the Ghost he encountered—a man, black dress shoes, a cream-colored checkered suit, two sandbags tied around his ankles, and most notably, an extraordinarily long neck.
After jotting everything down, the man on the phone hung up without any additional pleasantries.
After putting down the phone, Beibei consoled Yang Xiao, saying that his situation wasn’t too bad since he had seen the place name in the Ghost script, namely the school called Fu Lin Middle School. Generally speaking, as long as there was a name, it would be manageable.
Early the next morning, all members of the investigation team who had received the news rushed over. Everyone found it hard to believe that Yang Xiao had received the Ghost script so quickly. After all, according to common sense, there should be at least a two-month interval between the first and second receipt of the script, but Yang Xiao had only had two weeks, which was clearly abnormal.
After some thought, Da Xiong analyzed that this might be related to Yang Xiao’s frequent use of the Resentful Eye ability. As is well known, using the Resentful Eye frequently could greatly accelerate the arrival time of the next Ghost script.
However, this guess was refuted by the reticent Zhuge Zhijie, who said that theoretically, it shouldn’t have happened so quickly and that there must have been some other change of events.
The team discussed back and forth for an hour without coming to any conclusion, while Yu Shu looked at Yang Xiao with a gaze full of apology.
It took a moment for Yang Xiao to realize that she must suspect it was because of him, as he had used the ability of the Resentful Eye to enter her dreams and save her. After thinking for a moment, Yang Xiao believed the most likely cause was that this incident had accelerated the arrival of the Ghost script.
However, he didn’t want Yu Shu to feel guilty about it, so he gave her a look to say there was nothing wrong, as such matters were best not to be publicized widely, which was also Director Nalan’s intention.
Besides, even if Yang Xiao had known the consequence, he couldn’t just watch Yu Shu die in her dreams.
Noon came, the time to get off work, but everyone was still anxiously waiting. Xi Menxiu attempted to call the technical department several times to urge them, but was stopped by Da Xiong each time.
Finally, at 1 p.m., the office phone rang. Yang Xiao took a deep breath and answered. It was still that older man on the other end, but this time his tone was full of apologies, "Sorry, Captain Yang, we haven’t found any relevant clues."
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment; then Beibei snatched the phone, her tone rising involuntarily, "What do you mean?"
"Sorry, literally what I said. We’ve been searching up until now but haven’t found a single clue. This time, I’m afraid Captain Yang will have to handle it on his own," the man on the other end answered.
Beibei was dumbfounded, and it took her a moment to come to her senses, "How could that be? Isn’t there a name? That... what’s the name of the school?"
"Fu Lin Middle School!" Xi Menxiu reminded her.
"Right, right, Fu Lin Middle School. It’s supposed to be in a remote little town, with low-rise bungalow areas around the school. Aren’t these clues enough?"
"We checked all the data for schools named Fu Lin Middle School. In the official database, there are a total of 36 schools that have used the name Fu Lin Middle School. We looked at every one of them, including their exact location, campus buildings, and surrounding environment, but none matched the information provided by Captain Yang—not even a similar one."
"Impossible! Our captain clearly saw this school. The events in the script are real historical events that have happened; it makes no sense that we can’t find it!" The development of events was completely unexpected to everyone.
"Sorry, we still don’t have any leads on this matter, but we’ll continue to investigate. Captain Yang should also prepare to handle this alone," the man concluded.
