“Thump…thump…thump…thump…thump…thump…thump…”
Chen Yang was listening to the music on the radio, and his long-lost memories came up uncontrollably, without being eroded by time. This was a melody that would move forward with the times, and it was one of the symbols of youth. He stood up from his seat reflexively, wanting to take out his phone to check what time it was.
Suddenly noticing a gaze, Chen Yang took his hand out of his pocket. The head teacher on the podium was looking at him.
"Hurry up, be active and don't dawdle." The head teacher urged.
The front door of the classroom was not far from Chen Yang, but he turned and walked towards the back door, taking the opportunity to observe the situation of his teammates.
Captain Jin Xiao had already gone out with Wen Qing. Bai Tang walked to the back door. His two female students followed him as if he were their support... Before the show started, Lin Chengye insisted that he was the one doing the show and was bending over to pull at his trouser legs. The Qian brothers were still standing in the aisle, with the elder brother Qian Qin looking to the left rear.
Chen Yang glanced in that direction and found a person standing in the fourth row inside the wall. It was the tasker Xiao Zhang. He lowered his head and stood motionless on his seat.
The familiar music for morning exercises was still playing, and the classroom was filled with lively noise. Chen Yang took a look from across a group of seats and knew that it was a corpse.
Xiao Zhang is dead.
How did he die? What did Xiao Zhang do? Chen Yang was about to go around to check, but the head teacher stared at him from the podium, so he had to step out.
After leaving the classroom, Chen Yang subconsciously reached out to the side: "Chao Jian, you said..."
The words stopped abruptly, and the hand stretched in the air stiffened at the same time, with the fingertips curled up and retracted.
Chen Yang suppressed his smile as he walked through the corridor and down the stairs. Qian Han's voice came from behind him: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Chen..."
"What's the matter?" Chen Yang adjusted his state and turned around.
Qian Han has only grown up in the past two years. At the age of 16, he is very short, only a little over 1.6 meters tall, and his face looks young, like a junior high school student. He trotted over to Chen Yang and said in a trembling voice: "My brother said that the man standing in the fourth row of the last group of seats is dead."
Chen Yang nodded.
"You already knew it, you knew it without even getting close to it." Qian Han said stupidly, "How come you all could see it, but I can't? That person looks just like a living person."
Chen Yang couldn't explain it, his accumulated experience contributed to his sensitivity.
Qian Han put his hands inside his school uniform sleeves: "We didn't notice how he died."
Chen Yang said: "Let's gather at the playground first."
"I almost screamed when the broadcast sounded," Qian Han said as he walked downstairs. "It was so sudden, like the soundtrack to a horror movie."
Chen Yang asked casually, "How many missions did you complete after the Nameless Town?"
Qian Han blinked blankly: "No, this is the second one."
Chen Yang felt Qian Qin approaching with caution and immediately quickened his pace and went downstairs.
Qian Han turned his head and looked at his brother who was standing on the same steps as him. "Why did Mr. Chen ask me how many tasks I have completed? Does he think I am just as bad as last time?"
Qian Qin touched his soft hair and said, "Not bad, Xiaohan is very smart."
"What do you mean by smart? I'm so dumb. I was able to find loopholes and survive in that mission, all thanks to what you taught me." Qian Han looked at his brother in admiration. "Simplify the problem, find the most efficient method, and take the direct approach. I remember everything." He whispered, "Brother, is there a loophole in this mission?"
Qian Qin shook his head: "More than 85% of them are not."
Qian Han's face turned pale: "Ah? No? How could there be no..."
"If it's not a dead end, there will be no loopholes." Qian Qinmu said.
Qian Han said "Oh", that's good, as long as it's not a dead end. He hesitated and asked: "Brother, don't you trust Mr. Chen?"
Qian Qin said: "It's not a question of whether you can trust it or not."
"What's the problem?" Qian Han didn't understand. He felt that Chen Yang had a good personality and was capable, and that they were suitable to work on the mission together.
Qian Qin answered irrelevantly: "That person didn't come in."
Qian Han said, "Who?" A chestnut-haired boy appeared in front of him and he understood, "Brother, you are talking about Chao Jian. You broke up, right?" He said that he felt something was wrong when he saw Chen Yang. It turned out that there was someone missing beside Chen Yang.
No wonder Chen Yang lost so much weight, it turned out he was heartbroken.
Qian Qin and his brother were thinking in different directions: "It seems that this is the first time that Chen Yang has been separated from his partner. He needs to adapt. Maybe he will perform better than when his partner was with him, or maybe he will collapse. There are many uncertain factors."
Qian Han seemed to understand: "That means we will investigate our own affairs and not cooperate with him?"
"Act according to circumstances." Qian Qin corrected him. He looked at his brother who was not sitting with him. "Xiao Han, the key point of the task is not to affect others." Qian Qin added, "Write these words on your hand."
"No need for that. I know everything and I will never forget it," said Qian Han.
"It's not enough to just remember it. Sometimes people can't help but wander, and they can be trapped by their own habits and do stupid things subconsciously." Qian Qin's expression was cold and serious. "The more nervous you are, the more likely it is to happen."
Qian Han broke into a sweat when he heard this: "I'll write it when I get home after I finish my exercises!" When he saw three boys coming down together, he quickly gave them a friendly smile as if they were classmates.
One of the boys had a loud voice, and there was a smile in his deep and loud voice: "Qin Han, let's go together!"
Qian Han was distracted. This name was too intimate and familiar. He and his brother had been called that many times.
The three boys and the Qian brothers walked out of the teaching building and headed for the playground. They were arm in arm, laughing and giggling, looking childish and innocent.
"Is there another dynasty between the Qin and Han dynasties?"
"No? I only remember that after Qin and Han there was Jin."
"The Chu Dynasty."
"Ah? Yes, yes, Xu Lulu is right, the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu."
"What the hell! How could I forget about my idol?!"
"… "
The boys were discussing heatedly as they walked. When they talked about historical figures, it was as if they saw iron cavalry and icy rivers. Their saliva was flying and their blood was boiling. They seemed ordinary yet real.
There is only one class in the spacious playground.
The boys were in one team and the girls were in another team, standing in line according to their height. The head teacher came after a while, looking unhappy.
Chen Yang speculated that the head teacher had discovered Xiao Zhang's death. But morning exercises still had to be done...
Qian Han was the leader of the boys' team. The girl standing next to him in the first row was about the same height as him. He looked at her and wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Although this was a mission and the situation was very dangerous, Qian Han still felt embarrassed and ashamed. He couldn't help but make a bold statement to the girl: "I will be taller next year!"
The girl was very cute, but she was frightened by his reaction and didn't react. She said hesitantly, "... Then you do your best."
Qian Han blushed in embarrassment. The girl spoke up for him considerately: "Actually, you are not short, it is me who is tall. The average height of girls in our class is taller than that of boys."
A finger poked her back, and she twisted her body to avoid it in pain: "What are you doing?"
"Wang Juan, didn't you say you wanted to pursue the campus hunk Jin Xiaochang? Why have you changed your mind now?" The girl behind her winked at him in an ambiguous way.
"You, you, you, keep your voice down!" Wang Juan covered her mouth in embarrassment and glanced at Qian Han.
Qian Han had liked someone and been liked before. He was familiar with the glances coming at him, so he pretended to catch his female classmate peeking at him accidentally. I just wanted to find someone to get closer to and get clues from, and that person is you.
At the back of the team, Chen Yang, who was standing second to last, saw the conversation between Qian Han and the girl. If they wanted to find out the ins and outs of this task, they could only start with the sixteen students and the class teacher.
Chen Yang planned to build a good relationship with his nerdy deskmate. He glanced at Qian Qin standing in front of him, and in front of him was the literary youth.
Before, Chen Yang was thinking that one of them treated the task as a math problem, being cold-blooded but rational. He wanted to not only solve the answer but also find the simplest formula. The other treated the task as a game. He was passionate and free-spirited. He did not seek results but only enjoyed the process. What they had in common was that they did not care about the casualties of their teammates and focused on their own path.
Chen Yang was curious about what kind of chemical reaction they would produce in a mission, but there was no chemistry between the two. It should be because Qian Qin could solve Wen Qing's problem and see through his disguise, so Wen Qing would not solve it for him.
There was a slight sound from behind. Chen Yang turned around and found Jin Xiao holding his stomach. He frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Jin Xiaochang: "My stomach is hurting."
Chen Yang didn't bring a backpack with him. He only brought a cell phone, his ID number, half a pack of tissues, and some milk tablets.
"Here you go." Chen Yang took out a few milk slices and handed them to Jin Xiaochang.
Jin Xiaochang didn't answer, "I won't give you a chance."
Chen Yang: “…”
"You won't be soft-hearted after eating it. I did it for Chao Jian." Chen Yang looked at his anime face and snorted, "I hope you can go back alive and help Chao Jian control his condition so that he can go home earlier."
Jin Xiao, who was about sixteen or seventeen years old, had eyes that were not entirely green, but mixed with some blue, like clear glass beads. When he looked at people, he seemed to be able to reflect that person's inner world and soul.
Chen Yang felt inexplicably uncomfortable, as if he had nowhere to hide. When he was about to turn back, Jin Xiao raised his long, curled eyelashes and said, "His home is in Germany."
"Then let's go back to his boyfriend's house." After saying that, Chen Yang threw the milk slices into Jin Xiaochang's arms and turned away.
Chen Yang did not hear the sound of the milk slices falling to the ground, nor did he hear the sound of the milk slice packaging bag being torn open. Since he had sent them out, he would no longer pay attention to their life or death.
The words just now were Chen Yang's inner voice. Jin Xiao had to leave this mission alive, and Chao Jian was still waiting for him to treat him.
Of course, he also had to get out alive, and he had to wait for Chao Jian to come home.
The team had already stood in line, and the radio was still playing the "Athletes' March" for assembly, but it had not yet turned into the music for the radio gymnastics.
Chen Yang's casual gaze suddenly focused. He stared at the empty space next to him and his breathing tightened.
How did the dust on the ground rise up if there was no wind
Chen Yang controlled his expression and blinked. A stone flew out of his sight and fell on the ground not far away.
It felt like being kicked.
This scene was strange and creepy. Chen Yang looked around the large playground where only two teams were, and a drop of sweat slid down his forehead.
After two or three minutes, the melody on the radio changed.
"Now let's start the eighth set of radio gymnastics. March on the spot... Go!"
When Chen Yang stepped on the steps, he felt the laziness and casualness of youth. He was lazy every time he did exercises. He didn't dare to do that today.
"First quarter, stretching exercises, ready, go! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, three, two, three, four..."
"… "
While Chen Yang was following the actions in his memory, he was observing everything within his field of vision. Gradually, he noticed a phenomenon: everyone he saw from this angle was very serious.
The tasker was afraid of offending someone and tried his best to demonstrate, but the students gave him the feeling that they cherished and loved high school life, including doing morning exercises.
Chen Yang also discovered one thing. Among the sixteen students in this class, most of them had skin that had been exposed to the sun, and only a few of them with fair skin were the type that could not get tanned.
This made Chen Yang feel that they had just finished military training and had just begun the three-year journey of high school, which was also in line with the self-introduction session not long ago.
After finishing morning exercises and returning home, the task participants gathered together.
Chen Yang revealed Xiao Zhang's death, and what responded to him were desperate and confused cries and gasps. After just one class, the twenty people became nineteen.
"Why did he die?" Wen Qing hugged Chen Yang's arm. "He died just as we started the mission. How scary."
Chen Yang pushed away the head that was pressed against his arms and turned to look at Zeng Jin who was at the end of the team. When he mentioned Xiao Zhang, this man's reaction was different from the others.
Guided by Chen Yang's gaze, Zeng Jin had nowhere to hide.
"Ah!" Wen Qing exclaimed as if he just remembered something. He pointed at Zeng and shouted, "You, that's you, you were sitting in the back seat of our Xiao Zhang! You must have seen or heard something!"
The team exploded.
"Yes, they are in the front and back seats!!!"
"No, Mr. Zeng, what do you mean? You didn't tell us about the mission before, and now you know about Xiao Zhang's death but you don't tell anyone. Do you think it's a game where you grab the heads and open the boxes? It's no good for you to hide it from us."
"There are no props for this mission. We can only avoid death conditions and search for clues to find a way out. We should cooperate, and we must cooperate. We can only cooperate."
"… "
"Why waste your words on him? People like him who have no sense of teamwork deserve a beating. A single rotten apple spoils the whole barrel! Tui!"
"Pah" "Pah"
The young intellectuals who watched the play clapped their hands and said, "This student said it well!"
The man who was speaking confidently wanted to smile with his vanity satisfied, but when he met his dark eyes, he somehow felt a hint of chill.
Wen Qing floated to the side of Jin Xiaochang who was standing outside the team: "I was scolded. My teammates said I was a rat shit. I deserved a beating."
"The fact." Jin Xiaochang said.
"I'm so sad. Not only did you not help me, but you also said this to me." Wen Qing covered his chest, "I put you first among my old teammates."
Jin Xiaochang lifted his hand and put it to his right side: "Qingqing, your heart is here, you are holding it upside down."
"..." The literary youth always forgets that he is different from the general public, because even if his heart is beating, the feeling of being alive is still very weak.
"There's not much time left for physical exercises during breaks." Chen Yang spoke up to break the noisy atmosphere, and his reminder made the air flow condense.
Jin Xiao lifted the sleeve of his school uniform to look at his watch. Wen Qing also leaned over to take a look. He quickly walked up to Zeng Jin and said earnestly, "Student Zeng, it will be difficult for us to communicate when we go to the classroom. If you have anything to say, you have to hurry up. Time waits for no one."
Zeng Jin's facial muscles trembled: "I don't know." He squatted down and buried his face in his arms, "I don't know, I really don't know..."
Someone was overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, and wanted to kick and hit Zeng Jin madly, but Wen Qing pulled him away.
"We can't do this as classmates." Wen Qing said, "Our classmate Zeng is already trying very hard to organize his words, so everyone should give him a chance."
Chen Yang's eyes wandered between his phone and the teaching building. They couldn't go back to the classroom after the bell rang, as that might affect other people's studies. The desire to go home impacted his emotions. The mission couldn't fail, he had to go home. He growled, "Zeng Jin!"
Zeng Jin's body trembled, and he said two words with difficulty: "Plum..."
Just as Chen Yang was about to hear what he was saying next, there were shouts of surprise from the team.
"What plums?"
"Please make your words clear!"
"Which plum? What does it have to do with Xiao Zhang?"
"… "
Several people were talking at once, making a lot of noise. Chen Yang had a headache listening to them. He frowned and glanced at them coldly. Those people shut up at the same time.
"Oh wow." Wen Qing made a small sound, "That look is like Chao Jian, so handsome."
Director Jin Xiao did not express his opinion.
Chen Yang squatted beside Zeng Jin and asked about what happened as quickly as possible.
Xiao Zhang was very nervous about introducing himself. His desk mate comforted him and gave him a bag of plums from his desk pocket. He ate one and somehow put his head into his desk pocket.
Zeng Jin initially thought that Xiao Zhang was looking for a textbook in the desk pocket. When he found that he wanted to stuff his entire head in there, he looked at him twice in surprise. Those two glances almost scared him to death.
Because he saw Xiao Zhang keeping his face pressed against the table pocket without moving, and his body twitching and shaking constantly, he knew that the evil ghost was in the table pocket.
Then Xiao Zhang jumped up strangely. Zeng Jin realized that the person sitting in front of him had become a corpse.
Zeng Jin was just an ordinary office worker. He usually didn't watch supernatural movies and even avoided news pictures that were slightly bloody. This time, he could be said to have witnessed a living person die with his own eyes, which was too terrifying for him. If it weren't for the music coming from the radio just as the get out of class was over, he would have screamed and ran out of the classroom, and he would be dead now.
"It's not that I don't want to save him, it's just that I can't..." Zeng Jin cried and told his teammates, and also comforted himself, "The evil spirit is in the table pocket, no one can save him."
"Is it a table ghost?" Bai Tang thought.
"There is also a table ghost?" Wen Qing pretended to ask for advice humbly, "Professor Bai, how did you come up with this word?"
Bai Tang was a little embarrassed.
Chen Yang on the side was organizing his thoughts. The evil ghost should not have been in the table pocket all the time. It was only there when it killed Xiao Zhang.
"The bell for class is about to ring, let's run!" Chen Yang said and ran straight towards the teaching building.
Everyone was also running, and the one with strong explosive power rushed to the front, but was overtaken by Chen Yang. The group took out the spirit of participating in the Olympics and outran the god of death. There is no gold medal, but it can save lives.
Wen Qing was running with several female taskers. He tilted his head and smiled gently, "Don't be afraid, sisters. I'll be at the bottom for you."
Before the girls could start to feel moved, they saw him being carried on the shoulders of the school hunk and beauty, who easily left them behind.
"… "
"!!!!!!"