Chapter 152 Guardian (Ten)
Just as Qiao Yuan was about to answer the system's question about the senior sister ghost, she suddenly felt a surge of sleepiness. Qiao Yuan realized that something was wrong, after all, she couldn't be so sleepy in the dungeon, but her heavy eyelids closed first.
When I opened my eyes again, the lights in the dormitory were on.
It looked like she had slept all night.
Qiao Yuan remembered that there was a similar situation on the forum, where some dungeons would force players to sleep. Of course, this had nothing to do with letting players rest well, but was simply to make it easier for the ghosts to attack.
So the ghost has already come?
Qiao Yuan looked around the dormitory calmly, and soon discovered that Ren Shirui was missing, and the door latch that was originally inserted in the dormitory was now open.
After Qiao Yuan woke up, the others also woke up one after another.
After Qiao Yuan, the first few NPC students who woke up were those sleeping on the upper bunks. They didn't seem to be fully awake yet, but they had already rolled over and got out of bed with their eyes half closed. When they heard Qiao Yuan say that Ren Shirui was missing, they didn't panic at all. Instead, they bent down to get the washbasin under the bed and said nonchalantly, "Maybe she went to wash up or go to the bathroom first."
"Oh, maybe he got up earlier than us and went to the classroom to study first. It's not uncommon for him to have done that before."
As soon as they finished speaking, they left with their washbasins and toiletries amid the sound of hurried footsteps coming from outside the corridor, obviously in a hurry to get a good seat.
When Tang Huan and Zou Lu woke up, they realized that Ren Shirui was missing, but it was too late to discuss it.
The other roommates had already come back from washing up separately, holding their books and urging the other three to hurry to the classroom, otherwise they would miss the morning self-study time.
Qiao Yuan has now realized the intensity of the school's inspection of morning and evening self-study, so he can only temporarily suppress his doubts about Ren Shirui's disappearance and go to the classroom.
They arrived at the classroom not too early, so there were already quite a few people sitting in the classroom. The head teacher was also sitting on the podium, drinking tea while looking at the people who walked into the classroom and then ticking the names on the list.
When Qiao Yuan and the others arrived, Su Zeyuan and several other male players were already sitting in the classroom.
Qiao Yuan's gaze fell on Su Zeyuan. There were no obvious external injuries on the other person's body. He seemed to have rested well last night and looked radiant, but his brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.
But when she took a look, she found that the other person was holding a workbook, so it was normal for him to frown.
Compared with Su Zeyuan, the other male players seemed a little listless.
It is clear who is enjoying a peaceful life and who is struggling forward with heavy burdens.
As their eyes met briefly, someone had already noticed that there was a missing figure beside Qiao Yuan and the others, but because the classroom was quiet at this time, they could only put aside their doubts for the time being.
After the bell rang, the head teacher picked up the list and said, "Ren Shirui didn't attend the morning self-study class, but she didn't ask for leave either... Who is the head of her dormitory?"
As the head teacher finished speaking, a girl who slept on the upper bunk of Qiao Yuan stood up and reported that she had not seen Ren Shirui since she woke up in the morning.
Hearing what the girl said, he frowned and said, "You're already in your third year of high school and you're still absent from class. Forget it. I'll go over and check on you after morning self-study."
"Also, we are already in the third year of high school, so please stop spreading rumors. Oh, and remember to be careful of bugs, as some of them can bite people."
After the morning self-study ended and the head teacher left, the players gathered around Yang Zhe's seat again, looking at Su Zeyuan who was still sitting quietly at the table.
Fortunately, the class teacher's words reached the ears of the students, which undoubtedly confirmed the news that went viral last night, and thus sparked a new wave of discussion. When several people got together, it didn't seem too strange.
"Is Ren Shirui really missing? Haven't you looked for her in other places in the dormitory building?" Yang Zhe asked.
When Qiao Yuan went downstairs, he quickly glanced at several places, but did not see Ren Shirui.
But she quickly thought of something and turned to look at Zou Lu: "I remember you were lying on the same bed with Ren Shirui before?"
Qiao Yuan still remembers the noise the two made at that time.
But thinking of the horror on Ren Shirui's face after she heard the story, she guessed that it was because of fear, so she didn't pay too much attention to it. But when she looked over in the morning, there was only Zou Lu on the bed, and he looked confused like them.
Hearing Qiao Yuan's words, Zou Lu's confused expression paused, and then changed to a pitiful expression: "Yes."
"Could it be that Sister Ren's disappearance is related to the dream I had..."
Cheng Xiao couldn't help but be stunned: "What dream? Why didn't you tell me just now?"
Facing everyone's gaze, Zou Lu stammered and told the story. According to her, she and Ren Shirui found the female ghost lying on the upper bunk while half asleep and half awake. She was so scared that she couldn't move her body. Ren Shirui ran away first because she slept on the outside.
After the other person left, Zou Lu lost consciousness. She thought she was going to die, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself lying safely on the bed . She thought she had a nightmare because of what the person above her had said before, so she didn't immediately connect the matter with Ren Shirui's disappearance. After all, if she really encountered a ghost, how could she survive?
Uncle Man was confused: "So is it a dream or not?"
"Did Xiao Ren and the others really...really encounter a female ghost?"
As he spoke, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva before finally squeezing out the word "female ghost". After he finished speaking, he looked around nervously, as if the female ghost's name would appear in front of him in the next second.
Yang Zhe was busy comforting Zou Lu, but Tang Huan answered his doubts: "It is probably true, but we still have to see if the head teacher finds the person later."
Yang Zhe agreed in his heart with Tang Huan's pertinent conversation.
Of course, for novice players like Zou Lu and Man Shu, it might be difficult to confuse the difference between encountering a ghost in a dream and in reality. But for an experienced player like Yang Zhe, he was already 80% sure that Zou Lu and Ren Shirui must have encountered a ghost.
It seems that Zou Lu was lucky enough to escape, but Ren Shirui did not, and she must have been in danger a long time ago.
Because Zou Lu was obviously very scared and even his voice was trembling, the story was retold by Tang Huan. After listening to it, he thought about it for a while and quickly figured out the trick.
"The reason is that Zou Lu didn't move at that time." Qiao Yuan explained in her heart and to the system that almost had another unsolved mystery. She already had this guess in her mind when she heard the girl in the dormitory telling this story.
Now it seems that her guess was correct.
According to Ren Shirui's personality, the most likely behavior when facing a ghost would be to not dare to move at all, but what the other party finally did was to run away.
Moreover, the method of escaping from the senior sister ghost is not difficult to guess. Almost any player with a little experience can guess it. Zou Lu is not a real novice player...
So did the other party really not think of it at the time and hit the right one by accident, or did he think of it but did something else?
Qiao Yuan's gaze fell on Zou Lu.
The other party was trembling, with a mixture of fear and relief on his face.
While Yang Zhe was lost in thought, Song Yanchi immediately took over the conversation and introduced Qiao Yuan to their evening situation. The five of them were not assigned to the same dormitory as Su Zeyuan. Fortunately, the latter had transferred to another school midway and was temporarily living in a dormitory with only one person.
In order to facilitate moving in after checking the dormitories, Yang Zhe, the most sociable of the group, went to get closer to Su Zeyuan before lights out. Su Zeyuan also recognized that the group had helped him and enthusiastically let them move in.
They did not enter a state of forced sleep like Qiao Yuan and others, so they formed groups of several people and took turns to guard Su Zeyuan. Fortunately, the other party was sleeping very soundly, otherwise he would see someone staring at him as soon as he opened his eyes.
Keeping an eye on one person all the time and paying attention to even the slightest movement of the other party is much more mentally exhausting than ordinary night watch, but fortunately, nothing happened to Su Zeyuan that night.
Even the energetic Song Yanchi found it a little too much to bear.
"So this ghost is not coming for him, but for us players?" Cheng Xiao's originally calm face showed signs of breaking when he heard Song Yanchi mention Su Zeyuan. Fortunately, he remembered not to speak loudly, so he lowered his voice.
"Not necessarily." Yang Zhe consoled her, "Ren Shirui may not be in trouble yet. Let's wait and see the result of the head teacher."
Although he appeared calm on the surface, he had actually sighed several times in his heart.
He still hoped that Ren Shirui was okay, but not because he cared about other players, but because he was more worried about himself in the dungeon.
What Cheng Xiao feared might be the best situation in the current copy, that the ghosts were just the other party, but that was obviously impossible. After all, the mission almost made it clear that Su Zeyuan was in risk.
After all, judging from the descriptions of the other three female players, Ren Shirui was normal before going to bed, and it didn't seem like she had violated any taboos that led to the summoning of ghosts. So there was only one other possibility, that is, the ghost that Qiao Yuan mentioned at the time regarded them as obstacles to killing Su Zeyuan.
In that case, this copy would be much trickier than he had imagined.
Unfortunately, Yang Zhe's prayers were unsuccessful. After another class, he found that Qiao Yuan and several other roommates were called away by the head teacher. The head teacher's rough voice came from the corridor, saying don't be nervous, he just wanted to ask them about some things.
And this is obviously related to Ren Shirui, who has not appeared until now.
Although they were called away together, they were questioned one by one.
In a vacated teacher's office, Qiao Yuan saw Officer Ling again, but this time he was alone.
The other party obviously recognized Qiao Yuan and showed a look of surprise, but it was soon replaced by a serious expression. He asked some questions related to Ren Shirui in a serious manner.
After Qiao Yuan answered, he looked at Officer Ling and said, "Officer, so you haven't found Ren Shirui yet?"
Officer Ling seemed to want to sigh, but after realizing Qiao Yuan was present, he coughed stiffly: "Not yet, but we will do our best to find him."
"I have some questions about Wang Hao that I would like to know."
"Wang Hao? Why are you suddenly mentioning him?" Qiao Yuan pretended to be puzzled: "Could that weirdo in the hospital really be him?"
She seemed to have thought of something, and added: "Yesterday I heard from my classmates that the bodies of Duan Chao and his three companions were found. I heard that they were similar to the weirdo we saw in the hospital before. Today, the teacher also told us..."
"I told you before that I suspected it was him..."
Officer Ling did not expect Qiao Yuan to be so perceptive and guess it right away, but after hearing her supplement, he understood why she was able to guess it, and could only nod: "Yes, it is indeed him."
At the same time, Officer Ling's forehead was also aching, because it was in the school where they were the ones who went to the place where Duan Chao and the other two were found last night.
The young couple who first discovered the three people were so nervous that they went to find a teacher in public. The first and second year high school students were at an age when many people were looking for novelty. When they arrived, the scene was already surrounded by a circle of students who were looking around. They were busy maintaining the scene and looking at the bodies, so they had no time to care about the people around them. They didn't expect the news to spread throughout the school so quickly.
Like the strange corpse in the school hospital before, these three bodies were also declared dead and sent for autopsy. However, the forensic doctors had never seen a corpse with no organs after dissection, only insects. They had never seen this kind of insects before, and they turned into ashes and died shortly after leaving the body.
Although they found Duan Chao's student ID card at the scene , they decided to do a DNA test out of caution.
However, Duan Chao's body seemed to have been hollowed out by insects, and not even a drop of blood could be drawn, so they finally took some hair for testing.
As Duan Chao's identity was confirmed first, the identities of the other three people also came to light. They were indeed Wang Hao and the other party's two younger brothers.
He was investigating the case with Officer Liu and learned that before this, Wang Hao had a conflict with a classmate named Su Zeyuan. Unexpectedly, he received news that a female classmate was missing. The surveillance in the corridor happened to be broken at that time, so he could only investigate his roommates again. Unexpectedly, he met this classmate named Qiao Yuan.
For Officer Ling, it was a coincidence, after all, he was planning to visit Qiao Yuan today. He had seen Su Zeyuan's photo in the student database and recognized him as Qiao Yuan's boyfriend. After all, when they were in the school hospital, they held hands tightly, which left a deep impression on him and reminded him of his youth.
Looking at Qiao Yuan who was sitting opposite him, Officer Ling immediately asked, "So, did Su Zeyuan and Wang Hao ever have a physical conflict?"
"I remember he had injuries on his body at the time. Was it because of the fight?"
"The school doctor said that besides you and another male classmate who sent Su Zeyuan here, there were several other people. Who were they?"
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Don't worry, we just want to try our best to deduce Wang Hao's whereabouts from the people who have had contact with him. We don't suspect that you are the murderer..."
