Poker bridge means placing two cards top to top to form an A-shaped triangle column, with the distance between each two triangle columns being equal, and placing a poker horizontally on top as the second layer of padding.
The second layer, the third layer, the fourth layer... and so on, and each layer will have a certain number of triangular columns less than the previous layer.
A bridge built with playing cards ultimately lacks stability. When stacked to a certain height, the poker bridge will collapse.
The last person to place the poker bridge before it collapses becomes the loser of the game.
Chen Ling played this game countless times as a child, and lost countless times.
But he couldn't understand why the students in Class 5 wanted to play this. It's fine to play it, but why would they be so scared that they wet their pants
Fearing being exposed, Chen Ling did not dare to send a voice message. His fingertips quickly tapped on the screen:
Who was the last unlucky person? I forgot.
The reply came from the other end: "It's Sun Liping from our class. That kid hasn't come to school yet. I'm wondering if he was scared into a mental hospital."
Chen Ling wrote down the name and asked a question off topic: Was Cheng Le on the first floor really scared to death last night
The other end replied: "Is it fun to lie to you? Cheng Le was so scared that he couldn't sleep last night. He woke up this morning with dark circles under his eyes, like a ghost. Just now he wanted to ask the teacher for leave to go home, but the teacher didn't let him."
Chen Ling: Why not
The other party said: "Sun Liping's absence has had a very bad impact. His parents even came to the school to ask if their child was bullied at school. Later, I don't know what the principal said to his parents, but they were very happy when they left."
After saying that, I felt something was not right. The other end sent another voice message: "How come you don't know anything? Are you in my grade?"
Chen Ling stopped talking and left the forum.
From the series of conversations just now, it can be determined that these students are playing a poker bridge game, and whoever loses will be unlucky.
I'm not a masochist, so I wouldn't be eager to play such a weird game.
The only possibility is that they were forced to play.
Thinking of the private message that Zhou Yuanxin had played before, Chen Ling frowned, suspecting that this incident might be related to Zhou Yuanxin. He got up from his chair and found that Jiang Yu and his master had gone to the fish pond in the next village to fish, so he directly took Wu Weiwei to Rongshen Middle School again.
They climbed over the wall the same way they had done last time.
It was just because Jiang Yu, the expert at climbing over walls, was not there, the two of them were covered in dust and looked very embarrassed after climbing the wall, and they almost fell when they jumped down.
It is now class time, and Chen Ling finds Class 9's classroom.
Most of the students in the classroom were concentrating on doing their homework, but a small number were absent-minded. Ji Nan was one of the latter.
Chen Ling took out a piece of toilet paper from his pocket, crumpled it into a ball, and while the teacher who was supervising the self-study class was writing the lesson plan, he threw the ball at the back of Ji Nan's head.
Ji Nan covered his head and turned around, and was stunned when he saw someone standing at the open back door.
Chen Ling mouthed the word "come out" to him and quickly left.
Ji Nan sat in his seat, a little hesitant.
Seeing that he wanted to raise his hand but didn't dare, his deskmate was very annoyed. He sighed and shouted for him: "Teacher, Ji Nan is about to poop his pants. I want to ask you for leave."
There was a burst of laughter in the classroom, and a few people whistled exaggeratedly.
Ji Nan was so angry that her face turned red. "I didn't..."
The self-study teacher looked up at him, then turned to look at the others, and suddenly slapped the podium hard: "Quiet!" She adjusted her glasses and said to Ji Nan: "Go."
Ji Nan just took out some toilet paper from the desk and pretended that he really wanted to go to the bathroom.
Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei were standing at the corner of the corridor waiting for him. When they saw him come out, they waved and called him over.
Ji Nan nervously held the toilet paper and asked in a low voice: "Do you have something to ask me?"
"Do you know the game of Poker Bridge?" Chen Ling asked bluntly, "Does this game involve randomly selecting people to play, or does it involve designated players?"
"How do you know..." Ji Nan was stunned.
Chen Ling said: "From the tone of your voice, you knew it a long time ago?"
Ji Nan hummed, lowered his head, and picked his fingernails unconsciously.
Chen Ling looked around. Although there were no students in the corridor during class time, teachers would occasionally pass by, which was always a bit unsafe.
He still has some plans and can't reveal his face now.
"When do you guys finish class?"
Ji Nan raised his wrist to check the electronic watch and said, "There are still twenty minutes."
Chen Ling: "At this time, where is the least likely place for people to go?"
"The sports warehouse." Ji Nan said.
"Then let's go there." Chen Ling said and dragged Ji Nan away.
The sports warehouse is next to the playground, but can be reached directly through a path behind the high school.
The warehouse was filled with sports equipment and mats of all sizes. Dust was flying in the beams of light cast from the roof, which was a bit choking.
Chen Ling rubbed the tip of his nose, and the itchy nasal cavity felt a little relieved.
He took Ji Nan to a pile of boxes, sat down cross-legged, and got to the point: "Can you tell me more about the poker bridge?"
Ji Nan still looked evasive and nervous.
Chen Ling: "I guess this matter may be related to Zhou Yuanxin, and there are more than two or three people involved in the game, there should be many people."
Ji Nan raised his head suddenly and stared at Chen Ling blankly: "How much do you know?"
"Not much. I just know that Cheng Le from Class 5 was caught last night. When it was his turn to build the cards, the poker bridge collapsed." Chen Ling pulled the man down and sat on the ground together.
Wu Weiwei kept in line with the other two and also crossed his legs.
Ji Nan took a deep breath and suddenly stopped picking his fingers. His tense back seemed to have its vertebrae pulled out and he hunched over weakly.
"You're right. There are a lot of people playing poker bridge. We're in Class 9, Class 5, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3... There are at least a dozen people, and there may be more in the future."
His eyes were focused on the ground, and his voice was light and floating. "In the second week after Zhou Yuanxin's death, red crosses began to appear on his desk. At first, everyone thought someone was playing a prank, so they put a camera in the desk. But when they came to the classroom the next day, they found that the camera could not capture anything from 0:00 to 0:04, only black and white snowflakes."
"And there was another little red cross on the table."
"Even then, no one thought it was haunted, and that night, two students were left in the classroom, hoping to catch the prankster in the act."
Wu Weiwei was a little nervous after hearing this, "Did they catch him?"
"No." Ji Nan said, "No one entered the classroom at all. When it was past 00:04, the two men walked into the classroom and found a newly written cross on Zhou Yuanxin's desk. It was so new that a slight rub would leave a mark on your hand."
"What is it written in?" Chen Ling asked.
Ji Nan's face turned pale, his lips trembled a few times, and he tried to squeeze out a word from his throat: "Blood."
He emphasized again: "Someone took the blood out and asked someone to do a test, and it turned out to be human blood."
Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei looked at each other and asked, "What then? Where is the desk? What does this have to do with poker bridge?"
"Zhou Yuanxin only had me as his friend at school. The rest of the people ignored him because he always kept his head down, was submissive, and even spoke in a low voice. Gradually, rumors spread that he was gay and effeminate. Since then, Zhou Yuanxin has become even more silent, and the malice towards him has increased. Later, the rumors intensified, and Zhou Yuanxin was labeled as promiscuous in addition to being gay."
Ji Nan clutched his pants at his knees, his shoulders trembling slightly.
He took a deep breath, raised his head and said, "They started throwing things at him, scolding him, and even throwing his desk directly from the upstairs. Sometimes when it was broken, they told the teacher that it was Zhou Yuanxin who broke the desk himself."
"Zhou Yuanxin had almost no money on him. I had to borrow money from him three times to pay for his desk. Perhaps because he had no friends, he would often sit alone in his seat and play poker bridge during breaks or after physical education classes. He would often be deliberately interrupted halfway through the game..."
"Didn't he tell the teacher about these things?" Chen Ling became more and more angry as he listened, and his fists clenched tightly.
He didn't understand where these people, at such a young age, could be so malicious.
"It's useless..." Ji Nan was shocked by the expression on the young man's face and whispered, "Zhou Yuanxin's father received a call from the teacher, and he even went to the principal's office. I thought someone finally supported Zhou Yuanxin, but after his stepfather left, everyone bullied him as before."
"That's not his father, that's his stepfather."
Chen Ling suddenly remembered something and asked, "Have you ever seen any injuries on Zhou Yuanxin?"
"I have seen it. Every time Zhou Yuanxin comes back from his monthly leave, he has new bruises on his body..."
Chen Ling was so angry that he wanted to curse, Tao Zhiyong was really a beast.
He now seriously suspected that Tao Zhiyong came to the school not to protect his stepson, but for the exact opposite purpose!
Wu Weiwei's emotions were even more exposed, and he said directly: "She must have been abused by Tao Zhiyong! Damn it, I should have rushed up and kicked her a few times last night!"
Ji Nan obviously didn't expect there to be such a hidden story. His lips moved a few times and he said in a dry voice, "No wonder he always eats steamed buns at school. Could it be that his stepfather doesn't want to give him money?"
He paused, remembering that Zhou Yuanxin should have biological parents, "What about his biological father and mother?"
"His father died a long time ago." Wu Weiwei thought of what Zhou's mother looked like and spat, "His mother is as good as non-existent."
Chen Ling held his forehead and took a few deep breaths to suppress the anger that was surging in his chest.
"Go on, tell me what happened before Zhou Yuanxin's death."
"Two days before Zhou Yuanxin committed suicide, he was splashed with water and locked in the basement. The basement was next to the abandoned playground of the school and few people went there. I actually knew he was in there... But those people warned me not to meddle in other people's business, or they would beat me up."
Ji Nan had helped Zhou Yuanxin at first, but after being taught a few lessons in succession, his fragile goodwill was completely wiped out.
It's not that he didn't want to help, but the pain and cowardice he once felt made him afraid to take another step forward, afraid to reach out and pull his former friend up from the ground.
There was no big change on Ji Nan's face, but the sadness in his eyes was surging and about to overflow.
Chen Ling waited patiently for him to calm down.
After about two or three minutes, Ji Nan spoke again: "Zhou Yuanxin was rescued by the school workers who were cleaning the next day. At that time, the school had already had a month-long vacation and everyone had gone home. I felt guilty later, so I ran back to school early in the morning to check and found that the door to the basement was open."
He thought the matter was over, but he never expected that when he returned from a month's vacation, he would see Zhou Yuanxin hanged in the woods.
Chen Ling suddenly spoke up: "Why did he choose that position?"
"Zhou Yuanxin was often called to the wall of the woods. Sometimes he was called over to be scolded, and sometimes he was beaten. I think he wanted them to witness his death with their own eyes, so that they would always remember that they were responsible for a life. He wanted to scare the murderer..."
These were all Ji Nan's own guesses. Only Zhou Yuanxin himself knew what he was thinking.
"Ji Nan." Chen Ling put his hand on his shoulder and leaned over to him. "Do you believe Zhou Yuanxin committed suicide?"
Ji Nan was stunned. He had never thought of any other possibility besides this.
"Isn't it?"
"No one saw Zhou Yuanxin hang himself, and no one could explain how he managed to put his neck into the rope hanging from the tree branch without any external force."
Ji Nan's face turned pale. "But the suicide note, he left a suicide note for me..."
"I disagree with you. I think that was not a suicide note. Instead, Zhou Yuanxin simply wanted to leave this violent school with you."
Chen Ling turned Ji Nan's body over to face him. "If school violence is not effectively curbed, it will only get worse. When a victim disappears, they will only look for the next target after a short break."
These targets are often those who are weak and dare not resist.
This sentence seemed to bring back some memories for Ji Nan. His pupils shrank and goose bumps appeared all over his body.
Chen Ling looked him in the eyes and asked, "Did they bully you?"
Ji Nan raised his head stiffly, nodded, and shook his head.
He swallowed a few times, his voice tightened. “After they confirmed that the red cross was not a prank, they began to suspect that Zhou Yuanxin had returned for revenge, but no one dared to move the desk away.”
Wu Weiwei: "They let you go?"
"Yeah." Ji Nan said, "I was actually a little scared and didn't want to go, but I ended up getting slapped in the face."
Ji Nan's family was well off, he was doted on by his parents and he had never been slapped.
That day was the first time, but not the last.
Because he used to be Zhou Yuanxin's good friend, Ji Nan was forced to buy incense, candles and paper money for everyone to burn, and was forced to go to the classroom late at night to plead for all those who had bullied Zhou Yuanxin.
"Wait a minute." Chen Ling interrupted, "Those dark burn marks in the classroom were all caused by you alone?"
"Not entirely, someone else may have burned it..." Ji Nan realized it belatedly and widened his eyes in surprise, "How did you know?!"
Chen Ling confessed: "I saw you burning paper in class. As for why I saw you, don't ask me. I won't tell you even if you ask me."
Wu Weiwei: “…”
"…Okay." Ji Nan really didn't ask any more questions and continued, "In fact, there are some students in the class who are not bad-hearted. They felt guilty for not helping, so they secretly went to the classroom in the middle of the night to burn paper and repent. I hope Zhou Yuanxin can be reborn into a good family as soon as possible and not be bullied in the future."
"By the way, where did you move the table?" Chen Ling asked, and stood up on his knees.
Students are gathering on the playground, indicating that the physical education class is about to end and they will soon move the equipment in.
"In the basement where he was imprisoned before." After saying this, Ji Nan suddenly laughed, with a sense of satisfaction that only he could understand.
"After the desk was put in, Cheng Le, who had initially bullied Zhou Yuanxin, found a deck of playing cards in his desk..."
The playing cards are very old, and some of them have worn edges.
Cheng Le didn't think too much at the time and just threw the poker into the trash can.
The next day when he went to morning self-study, he found the deck of cards in his desk again.
No matter if the cards were burned, thrown away, or torn into pieces and flushed down the toilet, Cheng Le would find an identical deck of cards in his desk early the next morning.
Cheng Le knew that he was haunted by a ghost, but he couldn't leave the campus, and every time he got a leave note from the teacher, it would disappear.
He also tried to call his parents for help, but as soon as the call was connected, a strange gurgling sound came from the receiver.
It was like something coming from a strangled throat, gulp... gulp... gulp... It was a sound that could only be made by opening the mouth very hard.
Cheng Le is not stupid. After he guessed that playing cards were the ghost's tool of revenge, he built a poker bridge one by one according to the way Zhou Yuanxin played when he was still alive.
But the cards seemed to be deliberately against him. Every time he built the first layer, the poker bridge collapsed.
Cheng Le was scared half to death, but his heart was as evil as before.
He dragged several people who had bullied Zhou Yuanxin into the trap, and when they didn't know the origin of the playing cards, he pretended that it was just an ordinary game that required everyone's cooperation.
"The first person to lose is not Cheng Le, right?" Chen Ling said with certainty, otherwise Cheng Le would not have been so scared after losing the game this time.
"No, it's Cheng Le's good buddy, Fang Hexi." Ji Nan said with a sneer, "He got up to go to the bathroom that night and fell out of the second-floor window and broke his leg. He's still lying in the hospital now."
Wu Weiwei exclaimed, "Why did he go out through the window? Did he fall asleep?"
Chen Ling reminded: "The ghost covered my eyes."
Ji Nan looked over and said in surprise: "You also know about ghost covering eyes? When I was a child, my grandma told me that ghosts cover the eyes of living people and push them to a dead end."
Chen Ling asked: "What happened next?"
"After that, the deck of cards seemed to have its own life and would choose the participants of the game on its own. Different people would pick up different cards, and the remaining cards would still be in Cheng Le's hands."