Chapter 27: Longing

  The snow was getting heavier and bigger, standing in the snowy ground, their feet had lost all sensation, and their bodies were so cold that they could hardly move.

  "No way, we can't stand here, we'll freeze to death, let's move forward!"

  "Jin'er, listen, what's that sound?" Lin Yuan put his index finger in the middle of his mouth, making a silencing gesture.

  A rustling sound came from the snowy ground.

  "It seems to be coming from under the snow."

  Two people stood closely together, hand in hand, tensely watching the movement on the snowy ground.

  Lin Yuan sighed and said, "I wonder if we've entered a university or a ghost cave."

  "No matter which one you enter, you have to solve the problem in front of you first."

  Suddenly, five meters away from them, a black thing sprang out from the ground, its whole body covered with black hair, and quickly ran towards their position.

  They stared at the strange thing with wide eyes. The thing had two sharp teeth and ran towards them in a crazy manner.

  "It's a mouse! What a huge mouse." Su Jiner exclaimed in surprise. Having grown up so big, she had never seen such a huge mouse before.

  "This is also too big!"

  As they spoke, the huge old mouse had already run in front of them.

  The two dodged the mouse and ran backward in the snow, one foot deep and one shallow.

  "I don't want to be bitten to death by rats!" Lin Yuan shouted loudly.

  "How can there be such a big mouse?!"

  Two girls were running while paying attention to a giant rat behind them, without noticing where they had run to.

  "We're completely lost." Su Jin'er looked at an even more unfamiliar place and for a moment, she actually forgot about the terrifying rat behind her.

  "Could it be that the forest in front of us is the one Xianan was talking about?"

  Su Jiner first looked back and found that the big rat had disappeared at some point, she let out a breath, then turned her head to look at the woods that Lin Yuan was talking about.

  This is a small forest, similar to what Du Xiaonan said. But why did Li Yiqian come here? Where is she now? Or has she been killed by the murderer?!

  "It's really 'after traveling extensively and searching everywhere, I finally found it without any effort'!" Su Jiner said with a smile.

  They cautiously walked into the forest, where the air was heavy with moisture. They could distinctly feel the cool dampness clinging to their skin, which made them feel very uncomfortable.

  The leaves have almost all fallen off, leaving only the bare branches intertwined to form a huge net that makes it hard for them to breathe. The snow also doesn't know when to stop.

  "Xiao Yuan, what you said is right. We have indeed fallen into a trap. The murderer has been leading us to the wrong information all along. I think Li Yi Qian is still alive."

  "How did you know?"

  "I don't know, I'm guessing, but I think the murderer is right next to us, very close." Su Jiner shrugged.

  "But what about that strange mouse? Why did it chase us all the way here and then disappear?"

  "Who knows? I'm really curious about the killer's purpose in bringing us here, so let's go take a look! Maybe we'll gain something!"

  In the depths of the forest, they saw a stone house, a simple bungalow with a rusty red iron gate and a large lock on it. They walked around the house and only found a small window near the top of the back wall.

  "This is the forest and house that Xiaonan mentioned. I wonder what's inside?" Lin Yuan said, stroking his chin and furrowing his brow.

  "This house is higher than a general family's house, it's probably about five meters."

  "Jin'er, you just said that the murderer is among us and even intentionally left fake clues. Can you explain it to me?"

  Su Jiner thought for a moment and said, "Do you still remember all the stories we heard when we came to this school?"

  Lin Yuan nodded slightly.

  "After we arrived at school, all the stories we heard were about Li Yiqing, saying that she became a vengeful spirit to take revenge, but none of us knew what happened to Li Yiqing, nor did we know who she wanted to take revenge on. However, the new student Xu Mengguang, who just arrived at school, was killed. Isn't this very strange? Five years ago, Xu Mengguang was still a junior high school student, how could he have had a feud with Li Yiqing?"

  Lin Yuan agreed and said: "Exactly! I also find it strange!"

  "Later, I thought that perhaps Xu Mengguang had discovered something, so the murderer wanted to kill him to silence him. The clues found by Chu Feifan and others proved that the key figure in this case might be Zhang Junsheng. According to Zhang Junsheng's information, he was in the same class as Li Yiqing, but two years senior to us. Logically speaking, Li Yiqing should have been a student three years ago. Then who died five years ago?"

  "My goodness! How complicated is this?! What were you thinking?! And didn't someone die in the middle of it all?! Li Ran! Isn't he Li Yi Qing's boyfriend?!"

  "As for Li Ran's death, I don't have any leads at all. Now I always feel that something is off, like I've missed something, but can't think of what it is."

  After their recent escape, their frozen bodies regained temperature and warmed up a lot.

  After thinking for a while, she couldn't think of anything else to say, so she kicked the branches by her feet and said, "Forget it, let's go back! If we don't leave now, it'll be dark!"

  Lin Yuan looked up at the gloomy sky and said, "Where are we going to go? It seems like our school is really far from here!" She didn't want to walk on the night road back to school!

  "We're going back to town, I still want to hear the mournful cries at night!"

  "No way!"

  They didn't go back the original way, but instead went around to the back of the house. Su Jin'er found a small path while checking the house and thought it might be possible to escape from there. After all that had happened, she knew that being afraid was useless because the murderer wouldn't let you off just because you were scared; your fear would only arouse their desire for victory. She bravely stood up and fought back against him (or her), no matter whether they were human or ghost.

  They didn't notice that after they left, in a corner of the house, a blurry figure appeared, wearing a terrifying devil's mask, with a sinister smile at the corner of his mouth, and a hoarse voice came out from his dry, cracked lips: "Things are getting more interesting."

  Many things are always beyond our imagination, just like the incident of a big man beating an old man that they encountered today, and it was only when they returned to the town that they knew the truth.

  When they returned to the town, it was already completely dark. The cold wind blew on their faces like a knife cut. They tightened their clothes and walked into the restaurant where they had eaten during the day. This restaurant not only provided meals but also offered accommodation.

  "Auntie, are there any rooms available here?" They walked into the house and the enthusiastic landlady from daytime happened to be by the door.

  "Is it you! There is a room, are you going to stay?"

  "Yes! It's late at night, can't go back."

  "Alright, I'll go get you a clean room, are you staying in one room?"

  "Yes, thank you, Auntie."

  The landlady shouted at the apprentice to pour water and ran upstairs herself.

  They sat down in front of the table they had occupied during the day, and because of their haste during the day, they hadn't had time to observe the store. Now, with the tea water brought by the shop assistant in hand, they looked at this not-so-large but still clean store.

  This is a nearly square house, on the right side of the entrance there is a table with various cold dishes that have been sold out, behind the table is a cabinet filled with all kinds of wine and drinks, next to it is a refrigerator and an electric kettle, on the ground are many empty bottles of wine and drinks, then there is a door, inside is the kitchen, dim yellow light faintly shines from inside.

  On this side, there were over a dozen tables set up for guests to dine on, each table marked with a number. They sat at table 5. Although it couldn't compare to the restaurants in the city, it was still quite good for this small town.

  Here is the translation:

  "Here comes the waiter with a plate: 'The sugar and vinegar spare ribs you ordered, enjoy your meal!'"

  The young fellow was a very thin young boy, looking about the same age as Jin'er and her friends. When he saw Jin'er, his face turned red involuntarily.

  "Look at him, his face turned red." After the fellow walked away, Lin Yuan covered his mouth and said with a sly smile.

  "Don't talk nonsense, eat quickly!"

  "Look, he's still sneaking glances at you!"

  Su Jiner looked up and happened to see the gaze of that fellow, he awkwardly turned his head, wanting to pour water, but accidentally poured water on his own hand.

  "How stupid!" Lin Yuan continued laughing.

  Su Jiner glared at her fiercely, and she was about to savor the taste when she picked up a piece of ribs and put it in her mouth, only to forget that the ribs were still very hot, scalding her tongue.

  Su Jin'er poured a cup of water in front of her and said, "You've got what's coming to you!"

  Lin Yuan rolled his eyes and stopped talking, while Su Jin'er was secretly smiling.

  She has been under mental stress recently and finally has time to let her temporarily forget those terrifying things.

  Lin Yuan also wanted to make her feel at ease, and the scalding tongue earlier was also something she did on purpose for Jin Er.

  After dinner, they went upstairs to the room that the landlady had cleaned up. It looked very clean, with a double bed in the middle, a bedside table next to it, a desk and TV on the opposite side of the bed, a shoe rack beside it with two pairs of slippers on top, and a bathroom near the door.

  "It looks okay." Lin Yuan suddenly fell onto the bed: "I've been running around all day, I'm so tired!"

  Su Jin'er walked to the window, pulled open the pink curtains and looked at the pitch-black sky.

  It's very secluded here, no city lights, no colorful neon lights, only the black wind blowing through the leaves at night making a "rustling" sound.

  Suddenly, she felt a pang of sadness, gazing at the night sky, thinking of her dad and mom, wondering what they were doing now, whether they were performing endless surgeries or standing by the window thinking to themselves like her.

  My eyes gradually blurred.

  "What's wrong?" Lin Yuan walked over and asked.

  "Suddenly I miss Dad and Mom so much, wonder how they are doing?"

  "I also miss them, it's been more than three months since I came to school and I haven't gone back to see them yet!" Lin Yuan's eyes were also red.

  "Yes! If they knew what we've been through, they'd be shocked." She could even imagine the look of terror on her mother's face.

  "So we definitely can't let them know our situation." Lin Yuan said firmly.

  "Hmm! But I swear to find out the culprit behind the scenes and make him/her receive the corresponding punishment!" Su Jin'er looked into the distance, her eyes firm.

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