Chapter 21
Chapter 21 – Bloody Maple Leaf 02
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The Hangzhi Building was the school’s administrative office building .
The easternmost part of the first floor was the security room . The two people deliberately walked past it with light footsteps and Xiao Lou looked through the window . As Yu Hanjiang said, there was a security guard on duty sleeping at the table, a big screen in front of him . It showed countless small squares which were the surveillance cameras of the entire school . Some of the squares were black and they were the monitoring blind spots where the cameras were broken, as confirmed by Yu Hanjiang .
Inside the Hangzhi Building, only the corners of the stairs were monitored and the corridors and offices didn’t have any cameras installed .
The two people looked at each other and continued to move forward .
Apart from the security room, the rest of the rooms were the teacher’s offices .
The first floor was the first grade teacher’s office with a red maple leaf sign used as a logo on the door . The teachers of the nine courses had an office, including political history, physics, chemistry, mathematics and language .
The second and third floors were the offices of the second and third grade teachers and the layout was exactly the same .
Starting from the fourth floor, there were offices for small subjects such as sports, music, fine arts and computers .
The fifth floor was functional organizations such as the School Logistics Office, Student Office, Finance Department, Academic Affairs Office, Awards Loan Centre and Psychological Counseling Centre .
The sixth floor was the office for the leaders of the Youth League Committee, the school union, the vice-principal’s office and the principal’s office .
The entire seventh floor was a multimedia conference centre and it was enough to accommodate hundreds of people at the same time .
Xiao Lou worked at a university and was familiar with the layout of this office building . He only looked through it once but he remembered all the rooms in his heart and marked all the offices on Yu Hanjiang’s book .
The two people carefully examined the layout of the Hangzhi Building and even went to choice the toilets and the water system .
After checking the Hangzhi Building, Yu Hanjiang took Xiao Lou to go through the three teaching buildings to explore, familiarize themselves with the place and find escape routes .
There were a total of 22 classes in the first year of high school and the number of students in each class should be around 40 . In the second year of high school, it started to divide people into arts and sciences . There were 6 liberal arts classes and 16 sciences classes .
Every time they walked through a teaching building, they would mark all the classes, restrooms and corridor distribution of the building onto the book .
The library and gymnasium weren’t open on weekends and they couldn’t enter for the time being . They could only wait for a later chance to explore them .
It was already dusk by the time the two people walked around the campus .
Standing on the air corridor of the fourth floor of the Chongwen Building, they could look down on the entire school .
The sunset glowed like fire and the bloody maple leaves were still falling, making the atmosphere of the entire campus even stranger .
The breeze blew in and sent the aroma from the flower beds downstairs to their noses .
Seeing Yu Hanjiang frown in contemplation, Xiao Lou asked softly, “Group Leader Yu, based on your experience, the probability of a murder at a high school campus isn’t high in reality?”
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Yu Hanjiang nodded . “Now high school students are crazily busy and have to finish their homework after going home . Combined with the strict management of their family, a conflict between students will rarely progress to murder . Of course, it is possible for a psychologically distorted minor to commit crimes . ”
In the previous 2 of Hearts room, the surgeon Zhao Sen directly killed two people, digging out his cousin’s heart, taking his cousin’s body and putting his wife on a rose bed to make a specimen . The first was so bloody and it seemed to be giving the challengers a hint that the murderers in the Card World were much more perverted than they thought .
Therefore, for the school campus of the Card World, the possibility of a psychopathic murderer was great .
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and joked, “I don’t know the high school students of the Card World . Do they need to take the university entrance examination?”
Yu Hanjiang’s tight brow slightly relaxed at the joke and he said, “This place is similar to the real world . Political history, physics and chemistry and even a foreign language . The students’ classes are the same . ”
Xiao Lou leaned against the railing and looked out at the maple forest in the distance . “Yes, I thought their classes would be about card sorting and card fighting . ”
Yu Hanjiang glanced at him . “The things that will happen tomorrow are completely uncertain . Aren’t you nervous at all?”
Xiao Lou smiled . “Don’t I have you, a criminal investigation expert? What is there to be nervous about?”
The trust in the other person’s eyes slightly surprised Yu Hanjiang .
In fact, they weren’t very familiar with each other . They had only met four or five times in total in the real world .
Still… the feeling of being trusted wasn’t bad .
Yu Hanjiang opened his mouth . “As a criminal policeman, I have seen all types of murders . ” The man paused, leaning against the railing like Xiao Lou as he looked at the distant maple forest . “However, this world and the real world are completely different . The most crucial thing is that in this world, I don’t have the power to enforce the law . ”
Xiao Lou quickly understood Yu Hanjiang’s meaning .
In the real world, Yu Hanjiang was a policeman . He had a police officer’s card and could stop witnesses to investigate and inquire, or take people who he thought were suspicious to the police station to make a statement . The public would generally cooperate with a police investigation and his identity provided great convenience .
However, in this world, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were just passersby .
They couldn’t directly stop the students to ask for details of the murder or make the school cooperate by giving them surveillance videos . They also couldn’t be discovered by the security guards . They could only reason as a bystander .
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment before speaking . “You might not be able to directly interrogate suspects as a policeman but I believe in your rich experience of handling cases . If you can’t break a case in a C-grade secret room, won’t the other challengers be even worse?”
Yu Hanjiang turned to him . “Do you have such faith in me?”
Xiao Lou didn’t hesitate . “Of course . ”
Yu Hanjiang’s originally cold face gradually eased and a bit of warmth floated in the dark eyes . He stared into Xiao Lou’s eyes and whispered, “You can trust me . Just like you said, this is a C-grade secret room . If a criminal policeman and forensic doctor can’t solve this secret room, the Card World isn’t giving people a way to live . ”
“Yes, so there is nothing to be nervous about . ”
The two men smiled at each other .
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The original suffocating atmosphere suddenly became a lot easier . Xiao Lou found that Yu Hanjiang usually had a cold face and sharp eyes but when he smiled… he was really handsome .
Yu Hanjiang quickly put away his smile . “It is going to be dark . Where should we sleep tonight?”
Xiao Lou glanced around the campus and spoke helplessly . “Let’s go to the teaching building and find a place to sleep . ”
The conditions were limited and they could only do this for one night .
The sky quickly darkened and the streetlights of the school turned on .
The school’s streetlights were very distinctive . The light was soft and the top was decorated with a few maple leaf shapes, making them look like planted maple trees with artificial lights .
Xiao Lou accidentally discovered that several streetlights were broken near the maple forest . An area of nearly 100 metres was completely shrouded in darkness .
Yu Hanjiang obviously discovered this as well and Xiao Lou glanced over .
The two people didn’t need to say much . They tacitly turned to go downstairs to check the situation of the broken streetlights .
Yu Hanjiang stood at the junction between warm light and darkness and frowned . “There are eight streetlights broken on the right and left sides . ”
Xiao Lou touched his chin thoughtfully . “The maple forest should be the focus of this secret room . Does the streetlights breaking mean the murder is likely to happen at night? After all, nothing can be seen in the darkness and it is more convenient to commit crimes . ”
Yu Hanjiang agreed . “There is this possibility . Tomorrow evening, we must focus on this area . ”
A single person alone in this darkness would definitely be sweating with fear . Fortunately, there was a double secret room and there was a companion . They could exchange information, discuss things with each other and their psychological state would be much better .
In the darkness, Yu Hanjiang walked in front and his pace was always stable .
Xiao Lou followed him around the maple forest and asked, “Is there anything else to discover?”
“Nothing unusual . It seems that today is just to let us familiarize ourselves with the environment . Something will happen once school starts tomorrow . ” He glanced back at Xiao Lou . “Go back to rest first and recharge our batteries . We will wait until tomorrow . ”
Xiao Lou nodded and followed him back to the teaching building, sitting down on the stairs in a corner of the first floor and leaning against the wall to rest .
The secret rooms made them very tired and they soon entered dreamland .
XIao Lou slept very restlessly .
In his dream, his mother spoke gently . “You are an adult and it is up to you to make your decisions . Your parents won’t interfere with you . ” Then his female cousin spoke excitedly, “I will report to Jiangzhou School next year and look for you to eat with!” A moment later, his white-haired grandmother grabbed his hand and asked him, “Little Lou, when will you bring back a partner to see Grandmother…”
The loving faces of his family members were unusually clear in the dream .
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Xiao Lou felt his entire body freezing up and he became so cold that he shivered .
He had always maintained a strong and calm appearance in front of the keepers . However, he couldn’t control his sadness when he thought of being dead and thought of his family .
At the end of the dream, he and his cousin were playing Fight the Landlord, followed by a sudden voice in his ears—Welcome to the Card World .
Xiao Lou suddenly woke up .
He woke up and found that he was wearing a dark grey jacket . It was Group Leader Yu’s jacket and still contained the other person’s body temperature . Wrapped in this strange warmth, Xiao Lou felt stunned and embarrassed . He hurriedly took it off .
Yu Hanjiang glanced at him with rare gentle eyes . “Did you have a nightmare?”
Xiao Lou nodded and took a deep breath to adjust his mood before handing the coat back to Yu Hanjiang . “Thank you . ”
“You wear it, I’m not cold . ” Yu Hanjiang didn’t accept it .
In fact, Xiao Lou had been wearing a jacket when he came to the Card World . However, he discarded it in Zombie Town in order to make it more convenient to escape . He was born with a low body temperature and afraid of the cold . Now he was only wearing a thin sweater . In the later autumn weather, he sat in a cold corridor after sleeping all night and his teeth were trembling from the cold .
Yu Hanjiang saw him curled up and covered him with a jacket .
Xiao Lou wrapped himself in the jacket and whispered, “Didn’t you sleep?”
“I also had a nightmare and just woke up . ”
Xiao Lou found it difficult to fall asleep again after being awakened by a nightmare and smiled . “I can’t sleep . Is it almost dawn?”
Yu Hanjiang also wasn’t sleepy . The two people had common ground and didn’t chat casually .
The east side soon became white . Gradually, a sharp ray of light split the darkness and shone on the earth . The golden-red sun slowly rose from the horizon .
At 6:30 in the morning, the sky was completely bright .
The two of them exchanged looks and immediately left the school building . They found a hidden place near the school gate and watched the gate with vigilance .
The security guard on duty in the Hangzhi Building woke up .
The security guard yawned and walked to the school gate to open it .
Students in twos or threes walked through the school gate with their bags and entered different teaching buildings . Some teachers carried bags and walked into the administration building while the teacher in charge of this week’s duty stood at the school gate to check the student IDs . The cleaning auntie carried a bucket and mop to clean the hallway and bathrooms .
The campus was becoming livelier .
What was going to happen? The two men were completely uncertain .
The first morning class of Maple Forest High School started at 7:30 .
During the period between 7:00 and 7:30, a large number of students flocked to the school . The students were all wearing red and white sportswear and even if Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou’s eyes were good, they also had face blindness .
Thousands of students wearing the same clothes… who could remember this?
Both of them had stunned expressions .
In the 2 of Hearts room, there was someone dead as soon as they entered and the goal was very clear . Was the 3 of Hearts room asking them to find the protagonist in a vast sea of people? It was impossible when thinking about it . Therefore, there must be some clues .
At 7:30, the clear and pleasant class bell broke the silence of the campus .
There were no movements at the school gate for a while .
7:35 .
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were planning to leave when at this moment, a girl rushed through the school gate in a panic . She wasn’t wearing a school uniform, only jeans and a thin white sweater . Her cheeks were red and she was panting . She was clearly afraid she would be late and ran all the way .
The male teacher on duty at the school gate frowned and stopped her . “What class are you in? Why aren’t you wearing a school uniform? Your student ID card?”
The girl hurriedly pulled out her student ID card from her pocket and gave it to the teacher . “I-I am Ying Xiaoya from the senior class 3 . I forgot my school uniform, forgot to wear it…” She looked down nervously at her watch . “Teacher, I am going to take an English word test in my morning class . Please let me in…”
The teacher wrote a few notes in his book . “Tell your class teacher that your class will have 2 points deducted today . Go ahead!”
The girl’s face was pale as she bowed to the duty teacher and quickly ran into the third grade Chongwen Building .
Senior class 3, Ying Xiaoya . This was the first student to have her name revealed and she wasn’t wearing a school uniform . Her characteristics were obvious .
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other and nodded .
The two people had nothing to say . They tacitly turned around, avoided the gaze of the security guard at the door and quickly followed the girl who was late .
The key role in the 3 of Hearts room was her!
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