Chapter 4: A Knock At The Door

He blinked blankly. It took him a few seconds to process that sentence.

 

The tranquility of the morning had been shattered by that scream, and the sound of players rushing upstairs, inquiries, and low sobbing slowly filled the corridor.

 

Shen Qingcheng threw his quilt off and walked to the door, standing in his doorway in heavily creased clothes. “Someone died?”

 

The person who had died was Shi Juan, the woman who lived across from Shen Qingcheng.

 

Shi Juan’s door was wide open now, and several players were inside checking the situation. Except the man who had left with her the previous day, the rest of the players were all present.

 

Shen Qingcheng was so far that from his position he could only see half of an ankle hanging off the bed, pale and bloodless.

 

At the door, Xue Tong was half hugging the crying Bai Yi to comfort her. Shen Qingcheng thought back for a second, and realized that the scream had sounded like Bai Yi’s voice.

 

To have faced a murder scene first thing in the morning… How terrible.

 

Chen Ge was the first person who came out of Shi Juan’s room. He was covering his mouth, and looked like he wanted to vomit but couldn’t. His face was as white as the ankle of the dead woman.

 

He walked to Shen Qingcheng and called in a low voice, "Shen-ge."

 

Shen Qingcheng glanced at him. "What's going on inside?"

 

Chen Ge's face paled again. "Shi Juan is dead."

 

Bai Yi had told them Shi Juan’s name. She had had dinner with Bai Yi the night before, and then had left first before Bai Yi had returned with Xue Tong.

 

“I know she’s dead, so I’m asking you how she died.” Bai Yi had screamed so loudly, and he wasn’t deaf.

 

Chen Ge hesitated: “I didn’t see very clearly, but it seems she was suffocated to death.”

 

Shi Juan’s whole face had turned purple, and her eyes were bulging. He shuddered whenever he thought back to her dead face. This copy was really too dangerous--it was just the first day, and someone had already died.

 

“No blood?” Shen Qingcheng raised his eyebrows.

 

“There didn’t seem to be any.”

 

“Why does Shen-xiangsheng think there should be blood?” Zhou An’an asked, coming out of the room. “Why don’t you share your thoughts with everyone?”

 

Bai Yi was still crying, her head on Xue Tong’s shoulder. She was almost choking on her tears.

 

Zhou An’an was upset by her crying, and said angrily: “Can’t you stop crying? What, do you think you can get away with it just because you’ve been spoiled? Which one of us hasn’t grown up being pampered and spoiled by our parents, huh?”

 

Xue Tong really couldn’t get used to Zhou An’an. Every time she said something, he had the urge to fire back a few words.

 

Luckily, Liu Zimei rushed to smooth things out, saying, “Alright, alright, let’s discuss Shi Juan first.”

 

She paused. “First, we have to find out if it was a ghost who killed her, or…”

 

She didn’t say the remaining two words, but all the players present knew what she meant. They had to check if the death was man-made or not.

 

If it was really done by a person, they would have to stay on guard not only against elusive spiritual creature¹, but also their fellow players.

 

Zhou An’an and Xue Tong each took a step back, and Zhou An’an said, “Let’s gather in the hall downstairs and discuss what happened last night.”

 

“Oh, I’d like to take a shower first,” said Shen Qingcheng, tugging at his wrinkled clothes as several heads turned to him. “I mean, if you guys don’t mind, I can just do it later.”

 

His tone was very generous.

 

“Ten minutes.” Zhou An’an left as soon as she’d finished her sentence.

 

“Shen-ge, I’ll go down first,” Chen Ge whispered as he followed behind the others.

 

You said ten minutes, but it’s not like I agreed…

 

Shen Qingcheng pouted and stepped into Shi Juan’s room.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ten minutes later, Shen Qingcheng appeared in the hall right on time. He had not only taken a shower and changed into clean clothes, but had also gone to the cafeteria to pick up breakfast.

 

The death had been discovered very early, so everyone had been woken up before they had the chance to eat breakfast. Smelling the aroma of the food coming from Shen Qingcheng’s food containers, they couldn’t help but think of how they had had to wait in the hall for him, and they felt quite resentful.

 

They were both hungry and angry.

 

“When did you buy that--how did we not see you in the hall at all?” Xue Tong asked with a frown.

 

“There’s a back door by the stairs that’s closer to the cafeteria. I just discovered it,” Shen Qingcheng said, then found a place to sit. He offered the food bag. “Do you want any?”

 

Lu Qi turned his head to look at him, and after a brief moment took two shaomai².

 

“Thank you.”

 

“No need for thanks,” Shen Qingcheng said happily, dumping the whole bag into his arms. “I have a small appetite, so you might as well finish all this.”

 

Chen Ge, silently watching their interaction, felt his heart sour. Shen-ge might have had a small appetite, but he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet…

 

“Okay, it’s not 8 yet. The faster we finish this up, the faster we can go eat,” Zhou An’an said, then she looked at Bai Yi, huddled next to Xue Tong.

 

“Bai Yi, you discovered Shi Juan’s death first. Can you explain to everyone why you went to find Shi Juan so early in the morning?”

 

Bai Yi’s hands clenched in her skirt again. She had stopped crying, but her voice was choked when she said, “I made an appointment with her last night to have breakfast together today. We all got up a little early, so I went to Shi Juan’s room after I washed up to find her.

 

“Her door wasn’t closed. I called for her twice, and she didn’t answer, so I pushed the door open,” she said, trembling with fear. “And then… and then, you all saw what happened to her.”

 

Shen Qingcheng had seen Shi Juan’s body, and she had indeed been suffocated. Not only that, but he was sure that it was not the work of a ghost.

 

He had been a celestial master for 20 years--it was impossible not to be able to tell if it was a ghost who had done it. He could do it even with his yin-yang eyes blocked.

 

Shen Qingcheng, feeling proud of himself, sipped some soup. Ah, delicious~

 

“I can confirm that Bai Yi did say yesterday that she was going to have breakfast with Shi Juan today,” said Xue Tong.

 

The reason he knew was because he had invited her to breakfast yesterday and been rejected.

 

However, his word along could not clear the suspicion on Bai Yi.

 

“Who here lives on the fourth floor?” It was Tian Haimeng who had spoken, despite having previously kept a low profile.

 

Xue Tong was one of the players who lived on the fourth floor. Upon hearing that, even Bai Yi couldn’t keep him appeased, and he immediately exploded. “What do you mean? Are you trying to accuse us of killing her?!”

 

The other players’ expressions were unreadable. It was obvious that they were still unsure whether Shi Juan had been killed by a player. Speaking out so defensively--no matter how they looked at it, it must be because of a guilty conscience.

 

Shen Qingcheng leaned towards Lu Qi, speaking into his ear, “I think he’s kind of stupid.”

 

“Don’t get so close to me.” Lu Qi frowned, speaking in a low voice. As he met Shen Qingcheng’s innocent gaze, he pursed his lips and moved away.

 

“Me, Xue Tong, Shi Juan-jie³, Lu Qi, and Shen Meiren live on the fourth floor,” Bai Yi supplied in a whisper, restraining Xue Tong.

 

Zhou An’an took over. “Those of you on the fourth floor, tell me if you heard anything last night.”

 

Xue Tong said first, “No!”

 

Lu Qi said lightly, “Footsteps.”

 

“Wow, what a coincidence, I also heard footsteps~” Shen Qingcheng immediately answered as well.

 

Everyone turned their attention to Bai Yi.

 

She seemed a little nervous to have so many eyes on her. She lowered her head, not daring to look up, and said stutteringly, “I-I also heard footsteps. In addition, I also heard someone knocking on the door.”

 

Shen Qingcheng looked at her, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Who was knocking? Whose door was it? Was it Shi Juan?” Zhou An’an asked.

 

“Um, I don’t think it was.” Bai Yi raised her head and glanced at Shen Qingcheng carefully. “I live next to Shen Meiren, and the sound seemed to be coming from his door.

 

“And, besides,” she hesitated, her gaze alternating between Shen Qingcheng and Lu Qi.

 

“And what? Say it now!”

 

Bai Yi gritted her teeth. “And I heard someone call Shen Meiren’s name, and it was Lu Qi’s voice.”

 

She added quietly, ears red, “All of you know that Lu Qi’s voice sounds very special. I wouldn’t hear it wrong.”

 

“It’s very special, very nice, very deep.” Shen Qingcheng nodded in agreement.

 

Chen Ge wanted to cry when he saw that he still had the heart to tease others. For the first time, he felt that choosing to hug this thigh was a mistake. Shen-ge might be the rookie king, but he wasn’t reliable at all!

 

“Are you the only one who heard it?” Chen Ge asked, reminding everyone that it was just Bai Yi’s unilateral claim.

 

Lu Qi also added, “I didn’t leave my room last night.”

 

One person said he had never left his room, the other said she heard his voice at Shen Qingcheng’s door, and it was unclear who was telling the truth.

 

“I wonder,” Bai Yi said, realizing something. “So Lu-dage⁴ never left his room. But I just saw Shen Meiren specially bring you breakfast, so you should have a good relationship. Why didn’t he open the door for you?”

 

Yes, since their relationship was so good, why didn’t he open the door? Regardless of whether the voice was Lu Qi who knocked on the door or not, why did Shen Meiren choose not to open the door?

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Did he not hear? Or was he not in his room at all?

 

Seeing everyone looking at him, Shen Qingcheng took out a tissue to wipe his mouth and burped, “What are you looking at me for? Isn’t it about time to work on the storylines?”

 

It was early in the morning and the weather was cool, so it was time to go on a walk. He was a celestial master, not a policeman--solving a case was way beyond his ability.

 

Zhou An’an stood up. “Shen Meiren, please explain Bai Yi’s words, or else…”

 

She wouldn’t kill him, but she definitely couldn’t let Shen Meiren move freely before she completed her clearance task, or she would die unaware of how she was killed.

 

“Or else what?” Shen Qingcheng was curious.

 

Shou An’an: “Or else we can only lock you up.”

 

In this supernatural world, being trapped in one place was just waiting for death.

 

“Oh, I’m so scared.” It would’ve sounded more realistic if his expression wasn’t so indifferent.

 

Lu Qi: “All your guesses are based on the assumption that what Bai Yi said is true.”

 

“Yes, yes,” Chen Ge echoed quickly, “If what she said was false, wouldn’t you have gotten the wrong culprit?”

 

“I-I didn’t lie, I really did hear Lu-dage’s voice.” Bai Yi lowered her head aggrievedly, “I just said what I heard, if it wasn’t true then Shen Meiren could’ve just denied it. Why did he suddenly change the subject?”

 

They had clearly just been discussing Shi Juan’s death.

 

What she said was very reasonable, and Shen Qingcheng almost believed her.

 

Little girls today didn’t study, instead spending all day long thinking of who knows what.

 

He grabbed the person next to him. “Did you change your name?”

 

Lu Qi: “What.”

 

“Why else would she call you Lu-dage? Did you change your surname to Lu-dage?”

 

“Shen Meiren!” His attitude angered Zhou An’an. “Please be more serious, this affects the lives of all of us players!”

 

“You won’t believe me even if I say I didn’t do it,” he shrugged innocently. “Okay, okay, I’m serious. Bai Yi, are you really sure I did it?”

 

Bai Yi: “I didn’t say that.”

 

Shen Qingcheng: “You didn’t say that, but it’s what you meant. Do I look good with dirty water⁵ on me?”

 

All of the players’ attention was on the two of them. Bai Yi flinched and stepped back, as id frightened by his tone. “It could’ve been a ghost…”

 

Shen Qingcheng’s expression changed subtly. Instead of being as aggressive as before, he raised his eyebrows and asked, “Did you hear a knock at the door last night?”

 

Bai Yi didn’t understand why he suddenly asked that, but after hesitating for a moment she nodded.

 

Shen Qingcheng’s eyes became complicated and full of sympathy, but he was too embarrassed to pursue it further.

 

The two sides each remained insistent that they were right, and the scene fell into a stalemate. As everyone was silent, he sneaked up to Lu Qi and asked, “Do you really not know who the murderer is?”

 

Lu Qi looked down at him, his black eyes appearing particularly deep. He didn’t say if he knew who the culprit was, but he was very sure when he stated, “You knew it was a person who killed her.”

 

“!” Shen Qingcheng covered his mouth.

 

If he didn’t want to answer, he didn’t have to answer, jeez. Why was he exposing him? He angrily walked away from him.

 

After a few minutes.

 

“Is everyone here?” Liu Wangyu came in and was met with everyone gathered in the hall. He smiled and said, “Perfect. Your jobs have just been arranged, and they should’ve been sent to everyone.”

 

He was dressed the same as yesterday, with black rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. His eyes were much less red. It seemed that he had had a good rest last night.

 

Shen Qingcheng copied the others, finding out:

 

“Identity: Xingxing Kindergarten Class 1’s PE teacher. Attachment: Exercise Classroom password xxxxxx.”

 

He forgot all his previous anger at Lu Qi, and asked, “What did you get?”

 

Lu Qi: “Security.”

 

Yo yo yo, his figure definitely suited his job very well.

 

After confirming that everyone knew their identities, Liu Wangyu said, “One set of the childrens’ class uniforms and textbooks will be delivered today. Teachers, please arrange your classrooms as you like.”

 

After saying this, he smiled at everyone and quickly left.

 

“What do we do now?” Liu Zimei asked. She was a good-natured person, honest and gentle, but she didn’t have very strong opinions.

 

“Let’s eat first,” Zhou An’an said tiredly. “With your identities, the locked places we found yesterday should be open. Everyone should hurry up and collect information.”

 

“Does Shi Juan’s death not matter?!” Xue Tong was dissatisfied.

 

“Do you know who did it?” She snorted coldly, stepping forward with her high heels clicking loudly and pushing Xue Tong away.

 

Shen Qingcheng and Lu Qi had already had breakfast, so they didn’t go with the others.

 

After everyone left, Lu Qi, the newly appointed security guard, went straight to the kindergarten security office. Shen Meiren, the PE teacher, followed Lu Qi at a sedate pace.

 

Lu Qi didn’t say a word and didn’t ask why. Shen Qingcheng couldn’t hold back, “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m following you?”

 

“Do whatever you want.”

 

“You can’t take back what you said now! Security guard-dage has to protect me. You saw how they targeted me in the hall just now--I’m so scared!” He clutched at his chest, acting heartbroken. “I can’t believe they wanted to lock me up! I’m super afraid of being locked in a little black room⁶.”

 

“My surname is Lu.”

 

He was taken aback. “What?”

 

He didn't speak again. Shen Qingcheng thought for a while, then hesitantly said, “Lu-dage?”

 

Lu Qi’s footsteps stopped, and when Shen Qingcheng didn’t react in time, he suddenly accelerated.

 

“Hey, wait for me!”

 

Lu Qi didn’t say a word.

 

Wait, hadn’t he forgotten something?

 

Xingxing Kindergarten’s security office was next to the classrooms. There was a sign with white characters on a blue background on the door frame. Lu Qi was standing at the door. He was about to push it open.

 

“You’re walking too fast! It’s way too hot to be running.” Shen Qingcheng complained behind him. He had to jog for two minutes before catching up, and he felt overheated.

 

Seeing Lu Qi waiting, he pushed the door open, and cool, dusty air billowed out.

 

Cough. He immediately hid behind him, waving his hand through the air to clear it. “How long has it been since this place was last opened? It’s so dirty.”

 

The security office wasn’t very big, its natural lighting was dim, and it looked very bare. In the center of the room were two desks, placed side by side. Two computers were on the desks, turned off.

 

Opposite the table was a monitoring screen. The screen was black, and several wires had been violently torn away and hung to the side. In addition, blank papers were scattered across the ground.

 

“A month and a half,” said Lu Qi as he turned on the lights and walked in.

 

A month and a half. There were 20 days left before school started, but none of them would be getting to relax and have a summer vacation.

 

“Are you here to adjust the monitoring screen?”

 

“En.⁷”

 

Shen Qingcheng hesitated over whether or not to go inside. There was too much dust, and he had only just taken a shower. Suddenly, he felt a great force at his waist, and Shen Qingcheng was pushed in.

 

Then, with a bang, the door closed.

 

 

 

TLN:

¹ As far as I know, the only spiritual creatures in this WN are ghosts. You can generally think of these two terms as interchangeable unless this changes, at which point this footnote should change as well.

² Shaomai (烧卖) are a type of dim sum dumpling, made of a pleated wrapper around a meat and veggie filling.

 

 

Source

³ Jie (姐) is the female equivalent of ge. It means elder sister, and it is a close form of address used on slightly older women.

⁴ Dage (大哥) is basically ge but more demonstratively affectionate.

⁵ Throwing dirty water on someone is like throwing them under the bus--it means you’re framing or putting the blame on them.

⁶ A little black room (小黑屋) is a place where someone is confined so they can reflect on their wrongs, and is sometimes used to refer to getting banned. It is often used humorously.

⁷ En (嗯) is a sound of affirmation.

 

Thankfully, fewer footnotes this time.

 

Since I’ve caught up to Foxaholic, chapters should now be coming out on a weekly basis, where previously I’ve been posting as soon as I finish a chapter. I’m off this whole week, so here’s hoping I can build a nice stockpile.

 

This also means less changes in previous chapters, since I’ve got most of the terms ironed out by now. Still, some things are subject to change. (For example, I might change God 7 to 7-shen; any opinions on this are welcome. Previously I felt it looked clunky, but it would make the honorific use more consistent…)

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