Chapter 166: Chapter 150: The Disappearance of the 17th Person
Rushing to the campus’s tallest five-story new teaching building, several classes of students had already gathered in front of the building under the direction of a few teachers.
The uniforms worn by these students were the same as those worn by Yu Mi and Pei Qiuyu.
"Why are there only female students in this middle school?"
With a puzzled look on her face, Pei Qiuyu remarked, as the students were getting into order and teachers were organizing them in the middle.
With his arms folded, Lu Ji sneered, "Isn’t that obvious? Based on the direction of the film, the investor, Ms. Shengnan, is a speculator who plays the gender card; she will definitely try to incite male-female opposition deliberately."
Yu Mi came to the realization belatedly and exclaimed, "You mean tomorrow’s guest to the school is Ms. Shengnan?"
"Of course, if not for her, who else has the clout to make the school call nearby students at night for this exercise break filming, if not sick?" scoffed Lu Ji.
"What... what is she doing here?" The two remaining women who were newcomers would ask Song Yan directly whenever they encountered any perplexing issue.
Song Yan was silent for a moment, "I think it’s probably because of the slow progress of the shooting. The production spends a lot each day and the school isn’t very cooperative. Ms. Shengnan’s visit is likely to negotiate terms with the school. After all, according to the plot, I think she and Principal Wu and others are acquaintances. The female teacher played by Xia Xiuyan in the story should be the former Ms. Shengnan."
"Of course, this is just the appearance; what the reality actually is, we still need to continue looking for clues."
Just thinking about having to stay here made Pei Qiuyu increasingly nervous, "Only if we find out the whole truth can we leave this cursed place, right?"
"Right." Song Yan nodded, then looked at her seriously and said, "Let me correct you on one thing. This is not a cursed place, this is Nightmare World."
"Is there a difference?" Pei Qiuyu was startled by the sudden change in Song Yan’s demeanor.
Song Yan sighed and said no more.
"Scrape."
"Scrape."
"Scrape."
...
A short time later, several floodlights in front of the teaching building came on, instantly enveloping most of the space in front with bright white light.
Centered around the student formation, there was one in each of the four cardinal directions. However, the farthest floodlight to the north flickered a few times and then abruptly went out, prompting a few teachers to check on it.
At the ages of 13 and 14, at their liveliest, these students began whispering to each other as soon as they were out of the teachers’ sight, and the formation started gradually to loosen.
"Quiet down! Quiet!"
"What are you doing, class president from class three? Can’t you see the formation is all messed up?"
"Your class’s red flag honor for next week is canceled."
A man’s deep voice came over the loudspeaker, a voice that Yang Xiao found familiar – it belonged to a middle-aged male teacher who often accompanied Principal Wu.
"Oh, you guys... how can you still be in the mood to watch the excitement here?" Behind them, a woman, out of breath and bent over with her hands on her knees panting heavily, chided, "Hurry, to the teaching building, 5th floor, Director Ding is looking for you."
Having learned from the previous experience, nobody dared to act rashly this time. After confirming the woman’s identity – right, everyone agreed, she was a makeup artist from the crew.
In haste, they arrived at the 5th floor, where Director Ding and several school teachers were present. As soon as Yang Xiao entered, he sensed something was off. Director Ding’s face was gloomy, and Nie Hexiang was sitting in the corner on a chair, looking down, occasionally sobbing, obviously having just cried, with a female crew member beside her offering comfort.
Scanning the room, Yang Xiao did not see Xia Xiuyan.
Whatever several teachers and Director Ding had discussed, in the next second, Director Ding exploded, shouting, "Don’t talk to me about that! The case was closed long ago, done and dusted. What suspicions? If there are suspicions, take them up with Ms. Shengnan, would you dare?"
At this point, a slightly younger male teacher with glasses could no longer restrain himself, slammed the table and stood up, "Done and dusted? Bullshit done and dusted! The case was not closed at all back then. The police also said there was no conclusive evidence. It was a doubtful case. You can’t just film it however you want!"
Director Ding dismissed him with a wave of his hand, obviously not intending to waste words, "Save your breath, if you have something to say, have Principal Wu come talk to me. Who do you think you are?"
"How can you speak like that!"
"That’s how I speak. I’d say the same even if Principal Wu was here. Back then, you covered up for the perpetrator, and now you’ve gone further, even daring to abduct our crew’s actor. Who gave you the guts? Is this still a rule-of-law society?" Director Ding refused to lose face in front of his crew, his voice rising louder than the male teacher’s.
As the situation threatened to spiral out of control, people from both sides stepped in to defuse the tension, resulting in the male teacher being pulled away by several other teachers.
"Director Ding, do we have an arrangement for tonight?" Waiting until Director Ding’s face looked a bit better, Song Yan approached him.
Taking Song Yan and the others beside the window, Director Ding pointed outside towards the grounds, "You see those students out there? In a little while, I’m going to take the team back to the hotel to deal with some things. You stay behind and shoot whatever you like."
Quickly grasping the implication, Song Yan said with an embarrassed tone, "Director Ding, we are actors, not skilled in professional filming techniques. How about this, you leave a couple of filming teachers with us..."
"No, I have my reasons. I’ve seen Lu Ji’s filming technique. It’s decent enough. Relax, tonight is just a dress rehearsal. We just need some assorted shots for the b-roll. Too professional of a shooting would actually be inappropriate."
