The people from Class 4 had finally dismissed.
"I'm starving to death. What time is it?"
"It's almost seven. Hmm, haven't the ones from Class 3 left yet..."
"Never mind them, hurry up and go. My dad is still waiting at the school gate."
There was a racket of voices outside. Everyone subconsciously looked toward the doorway. By the time they turned their heads back, Lu Qinglian had already crumpled the slip of paper for the dare into a ball using her fingers.
"That's enough."
With that, she stood up and walked out of the room.
"Could Qinglian be a bit angry?" Ruoping asked in a quiet voice.
"I don't think so." Zhang Shutong stood up as well. If she were angry, she would have blown up when she drew the Truth earlier.
He felt that Lu Qinglian had always kept things around her clearly compartmentalized—just like her switching between the identities of a temple priestess and a student, which applied equally right now.
A game was a game, and serious business was serious business. The game was merely a means for her to pass the time. Now that the people from Class 4 were gone, there was no need for her to remain any longer.
A moment ago, she was at a corner of the desks, surrounded by everyone's laughter and noise. Though she still hadn't shown much emotional expression throughout the entire process, she could be considered to have participated. Now, however, the aura of detachment about her grew strong once again.
No longer hesitating, everyone stood up with serious expressions. Someone turned off the lights. In the complete darkness, one couldn't see the situation inside the classroom from the campus outside, but just in case, Zhang Shutong still put the fox statue on the windowsill into his pocket and secretly swapped the sad fox back up there.
He turned back and said to Gu Qiumian:
"Go wait at the stairwell by the rooftop for a bit first. I'll be back soon."
This was something arranged long ago. Gu Qiumian was somewhat reluctant at first, wanting to join the upcoming action as well, but that man's stance was still unclear. After weighing things back and forth, she was still made to stay together with his best friends.
Zhang Shutong tossed the rooftop key to Qingyi:
"Even if you see someone, don't make a sound. Keep in phone contact at all times."
"Okay."
Zhang Shutong went down the stairs, blending together with the Class 4 students in the hallway. As he passed the corner of the stairs, even more people surged into his field of vision.
—Not just Class 4; the lower-grade students had dismissed as well. Not long ago, every single window of the teaching building was lit; at this moment, all of them had gone dark, yet welcomed a new wave of bustle.
In the pitch-black darkness where one couldn't see their hand in front of their face, inside the empty building, some people turned on their phone flashlights. Circular spots of light swayed across the terrazzo floor as students whispered among themselves, stepping briskly.
His job was to inspect the inside of the teaching building once.
When Zhang Shutong went down to the third floor, he saw Lu Qinglian standing at the doorway of a classroom.
"Which classes?"
"Grade Nine Class 1 and Class 2, Grade Eight Class 3, Grade Seven Class 1."
Zhang Shutong reeled off a list of names.
While playing the game, he had been sitting by the window the whole time. Looking down, he could see the situation with the lower grades. He had long memorized the classrooms that turned off their lights early in his mind. In other words, if that man wanted to hide somewhere, these few classrooms were the most suitable spots.
Lu Qinglian nodded in the dark.
They had no communication along the way, keeping even their footsteps extremely light. But they were looking for that man to begin with, trying their best to avoid startling the snake—otherwise, all six of them would have acted together. Zhang Shutong came to Class 1's classroom first, looked around, then bent down to look toward the drawer slot of the multimedia podium.
"Not here."
Next was Class 2.
Then Grade Eight, and Grade Seven.
Soon, he and Lu Qinglian came to the doorway of the teaching building.
"It can be confirmed he isn't inside the teaching building."
There were still students walking out at the entrance. If they were Grade Seven freshmen of a younger age, one could see parents entering the campus to help carry their backpacks; for those even more spoiled, they would prepare food in advance and stuff it into the child's hands the moment they met.
"Stop talking. If you drink the cold wind, you'll be whining about a stomachache again..."
"Why is your mouth so dry? You child only care about playing and don't drink any water..."
This was the night campus. The cold wind was laced with a few nagging domestic remarks. All the lights across the entire campus had gone dark as he and Lu Qinglian stood at the entrance of the teaching building, watching the last student leave.
The two set off once more, walking toward the playground. The administrative building would be locked before school let out, leaving only the warehouse and the library as two locations.
Walking on the campus, there was finally no need to suppress the sound of their voices.
Zhang Shutong lowered his head and sent a message to Gu Qiumian. From now on, everyone was gone, and the movements outside the school would rely on the driver keeping an eye out.
"Actually, it's pretty interesting, isn't it?" The cold wind gave one a jolt of spirit. Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief. "Playing a game with everyone occasionally."
Lu Qinglian didn't say a word, as if she hadn't heard those words.
Zhang Shutong had no choice but to say to her back:
"That photo has been deleted. I really forgot about it last night, wasn't keeping it on purpose."
She merely nodded, indicating she heard it.
"That last pen wasn't intentionally spun toward you either. Consider it a blunder?"
"Mm."
"Oh, at the beginning, it wasn't on purpose either..."
Well, that one really was on purpose. Zhang Shutong stopped, feeling a bit guilty.
Lu Qinglian merely let out a soft sigh:
"Classmate Zhang Shutong, if I had kept that requirement, I would definitely make you a bit quieter right now."
Zhang Shutong spoke no more.
This feeling was somewhat familiar. Zhang Shutong remembered it was the time they saw Old Song off onto the boat. One could tell her mood was average, and this time, perhaps she was vexed over her slip of the tongue just now?
They soon walked to the library. The library and the school gate were in a straight line. Zhang Shutong kept paying attention to the movements at the main gate, which was completely empty.
"How is it?"
Zhang Shutong turned his head and asked again.
"The door is locked."
"That's good then."
Zhang Shutong knew some students would borrow the library for rehearsals.
Qingyi sent a message. The four of them were already sitting on the steps. Qingyi himself was fine, while the other few were a bit excited amidst their nervousness. Waiting anxiously at this moment, they asked if there were any discoveries on his side.
Zhang Shutong glanced at the time. Actually, only a little over ten minutes had passed, but darkness indeed made one lose judgment over the passage of time. He replied briefly, then walked toward the warehouse with Lu Qinglian.
The two didn't use flashlights to clear the way, merely walking briskly through the campus.
The main door of the warehouse was left ajar. This time, Zhang Shutong lost his mood to be paranoid, merely stepping back a pace to watch Lu Qinglian push open the main door.
Inside were replaced desks and chairs, covered in dust.
The light inside the warehouse was still an old-fashioned bulb, its switch a string. Zhang Shutong pulled the light on:
"Not here either."
He said thoughtfully:
"Let's go back. The sweep is over."
"You had better be sure he really will come," Lu Qinglian said with a frown.
"That's why it's an open scheme. Previously, it was us searching the whole street for him; starting from now, at least the scope is narrowed down to a very small circle." Zhang Shutong gestured with his hands. "If it weren't for them wanting to stay a bit longer, according to my idea, we'd wait for ten minutes after everyone left, and once time was up, we'd leave regardless of whether the person came or not."
Zhang Shutong truly thought so, but those few always had a notion of rubbing their hands to do something big.
Time at night wasn't worth much. Even if they didn't stay at school, they would just go out to find a place to wander around. At least there was heating in the classroom—though Zhang Shutong didn't feel any warmth at all, breaking into a cold sweat instead.
He checked the time again. Only five minutes had passed since the last student left the school gate.
Zhang Shutong knitted his brows.
"How are those few doing?" Lu Qinglian asked again.
"Waiting bored out of their minds," Zhang Shutong turned off his screen. "Du Kang is even yawning."
"By the way," Zhang Shutong asked as he closed the warehouse door, "there's a question. The day Old Song left... oh, forgot you arrived late. You only rushed over when we were already in the car, so forget it. But I was thinking about another matter just now, which I could never figure out."
Perhaps because his tone unconsciously turned solemn, Lu Qinglian turned her face over for the first time.
"Why..."
"What?" The young girl knitted her brows slightly, which was her expression when taking things seriously.
"Did you subconsciously choose a dare at the end?" Zhang Shutong asked in confusion. "When answering 'none' would have been just fine?"
"..."
Zhang Shutong could truly feel a wave of chill surging out from her.
"Classmate Zhang Shutong," she said slowly, "why was it that when you chose Truth, you could only answer once? I happen to know a few of the answers to those."
With that, Lu Qinglian gave him a deep look and turned her body around.
Zhang Shutong shrugged. So everyone had some secrets on them; it was better not to pry into them.
They returned to the campus along the original route. Lu Qinglian walked in front as usual. On this return trip, he held a flashlight. Zhang Shutong frequently looked in the direction of the main gate, and when walking to the entrance of the teaching building, he noticed a piece of paper stuck to the exterior wall.
In the past... had such a thing ever been stuck outside the wall?
Zhang Shutong knitted his brows. He moved his flashlight over. There was a section of words on the paper.
Written above was:
"I give up. The fox is useless now."