Nineteenth Day (2) Phantom in a Locked Room

  Since the deal was settled, and the sky began to turn yellow, with mountain rain approaching, everyone rushed down the mountain, and on the way, they didn't know how many times they fell, finally entering the hotel door in a drizzle.

  Everyone returned to their rooms for a brief rest, changed clothes, and appeared in the dining hall at noon as scheduled. Ma Tiancheng seriously checked the number of people, then said, "You don't trust me, that's okay, but this matter must be resolved." He turned to Brother Ding, "Or you come here and ask some questions carefully."

  I didn't expect this errand would fall on me, but thinking carefully, I seem to have become the intermediary between the inn and the student, and it seems that no one is more suitable than me.

  I stood up and said to the students, is it okay? If this matter is not resolved, everyone will be in danger.

  The students all nodded, and the tall girl named Aiyu looked pale as she stared at me. She should also know that I could only start with her. I walked over to her, softly said sorry, then asked: How did you find out... what happened?

  Ai Ya lowered her head, speaking in a low voice. She said, this morning I called her to get up, shouting several times but she didn't respond to me. I used my hand to push her gently and felt that her body was very cold. I lifted the quilt and...and...

  Tears welled up in Aiyue's eyes again, and Fengyue wrapped her arms around her shoulders, softly comforting her. I felt a pang of sympathy, but I had to press on with the questioning. "Was your bedroom door locked from the inside last night?"

  Ai Ya nodded and said, "I locked it myself, I remember very clearly. It was also me who opened it in the morning."

  I said, what about the window?

  Ai Ya said, "It was raining so heavily last night, it's impossible that the window was open, they were all locked."

  I said, so did you come back with her yesterday?

  Ai Ya nodded and then shook her head, saying that it was too dark yesterday and nobody could find anyone. When I came back, I didn't know if I was with her or not.

  I nodded and said, if the doors and windows were all locked from the inside, then the only possibility is that something happened when you two came back from outside last night. Did you enter the room first or later?

  Ai Ya said, when I went in she was already asleep, I locked the door from inside and also lay down to sleep.

  I said, is she asleep? Did she just fall asleep as soon as she came back from outside?

  Ai Ya didn't even have a chance to speak, when Feng Yue beside her said, "No, we were all scared when we came back from outside yesterday and talked for a while, right?"

  Ai Ya nodded and said, "Yes, we girls talked for a few sentences and stood in the corridor."

  I looked at Siyao, and Siyao nodded and said, "Right, the four of us stood in the corridor, chatted for a while, and then each returned to their own room."

  I asked, can you see if anyone entered that room at that time?

  Ai Ya said, I didn't notice.

  Siya said, it was too dark at that time, and people couldn't even see each other's faces when speaking.

  Fengyue said, "Yes, but I can still tell by the voice, there were only four of us at that time."

  The old woman interrupted, right, the four of us. But we weren't too far from Ai Ya's room either, I'll add a sentence. If someone was stabbed to death, wouldn't they have let out a scream? Who heard anything yesterday?

  This sentence reminds me that the distance between us is not far, if there was a fight or quarrel yesterday, I couldn't hear it in the next room. Several girls mutually vouch for each other, unless they dare to conspire to murder together, otherwise all four of them are not suspicious.

  What about the second half of the night? The doors and windows were locked from the inside. Was it a closed-room murder? And the sound was also eliminated?

  This doesn't sound like something a human would do either.

  I asked all these questions and then my gaze fell on Ai Ya, and then everyone else's gaze also fell on Ai Ya. It had to be admitted that among all the people, only she was possible.

  Seeing everyone staring at her, Ai Ya became flustered, her face pale, staring at me with a gaze that seemed to regard me as a murderer.

  I know what she's afraid of. In this situation, if I accused her of being the murderer, others might not object. But I won't be so irresponsible. I continued to ask, was she still alive before that loud noise yesterday? Did she go out with you when the loud noise happened? Did she make any sound?

  This is another possibility, what if she was stabbed to death yesterday? To know that at that moment it was very dark, no one could see anyone, and no one knew whether the fat girl came out or not. Since there was no fighting sound after the loud noise, then before?

  Ai Ya said that at the time of the huge explosion, she was still shouting in shock. I ran fast and didn't think too much before rushing out. As for whether she followed or not, I don't know.

  I nodded and said, "Are you sure she screamed?"

  Ai Ya said, I'm sure she was still shouting behind me, wait for her, wait for her, but I didn't dare to turn back.

  So to say, the fat girl was still alive at that time. Was it really a murder in the second half of the night? Isn't the suspicion falling on Ai Ya again?

  At this time, Ma Tiancheng said, "Could it be that when the loud noise occurred, we all ran out and someone moved their hands?"

  It seems that this is the only possibility now, but Siyao spoke up and said, I checked the number of people in the dark at that time, our people are not missing.

  Ma Tiancheng said, isn't there less? Not a single one is missing?

  Siya muttered for half a day and then said, "There's one more."

  Except for me, everyone else was stunned. They looked at each other in dismay. Siyao glanced around and seemed to have made up her mind. "I was very scared last night in the dark," she said. "I quietly checked our numbers, and indeed there is one more person. I think it's Dapeng who has come back."

  As he said this, a clap of thunder suddenly rang out. The light had been somewhat dim to begin with, and accompanied by the lightning and thunder, it flashed once violently.

  The light went out and came back on.

  It's unclear who let out the first scream, but soon almost everyone was screaming.

  Everyone was frightened, after all, this is a matter of death, and it's such a strange death.

  It's finally calm down, I turned around and looked at Ma Tiancheng, then said, Brother Ma, what do you think? I'm completely confused now.

  Ma Tiancheng said, "I think this matter is not simple. The fact that it has blown up so big must mean there's a conspiracy involved. He asked, 'You students, who exactly are in cahoots with each other?'"

  So, the students didn't buy it. Those few boys suddenly stood up and pointed at Ma Tiancheng, saying that this was a black shop and they suspected it was them who did it. Where were you guys yesterday? Do you have any evidence?

  Ma Tiancheng turned around and entered the kitchen, pulling out a kitchen knife. He pointed at the students with his hand, about to scold them, when the dwarf on the other side raised his hand. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything," he said. "I think that fat girl's death wasn't simple. Why did she have to be the one who died? I think it has something to do with what she said two days ago. What was it again?"

  I suddenly remembered that Fatou had clearly shouted out the name "Mei Xue" when she saw Fēng Yuè Guǐ (Wind Moon Ghost) possessing her body two days ago. Originally, this was a private matter among students and didn't have much to do with me, but after what happened later, which put everyone in danger, it's not possible to let the matter drop without investigating clearly.

  As soon as this name appeared, I felt the entire air suddenly solidify, and even the temperature seemed to drop a lot. I took a deep breath of cold air and asked Aiyue slowly, "What is Mei Xue's relationship with you guys?"

  Ai Ya's face turned pale, she glanced around and her classmates all avoided eye contact with her. Finally, she looked at me and slowly said, "You're my friend too."

  I said, is he dead?

  Ai Ya nodded slightly and didn't answer, it was clear she was avoiding this question.

  I said, how did he die?

  Ai Ya looked around again, and I followed her gaze to the group of boys. Actually, these students may have introduced themselves to me before, but maybe not. In any case, among these four boys, I only knew one named Xiao Bin, and the other three didn't know their names, nor did we seem to have interacted with each other.

  Ai Ya looked at them, but no one responded. She seemed a bit desperate, then she said, "We're not from the same school, we're all friends who love sports and traveling."

  I nodded, Aiyu said that we all met at the university sports meet, young people get along easily and have similar interests. Meixue is also one of them, she's on the table tennis team and very pretty.

  After saying this, she looked at Fengyue and said, almost as beautiful as Fengyue.

  The wind and moon seem to be against this name as well, without a sound.

  Ai Ya said, Feng Yue is a later one, Si Yao and Mei Xue don't know each other, but everyone else knows Mei Xue. Right? Say something, you guys.

  The air was still frozen, no one responded, Ai Ya seemed to be a little scared, she hesitated for a long time, then sobbed alone for a while, during which no one opened their mouth, including me.

  Everyone was forcing Ai Ya to answer this question alone, and finally Ai Ya said, "We went out for a trip together, mountain climbing. The mountain wasn't very high, but an accident happened, Mei Xue's climbing rope broke, and she fell down... We were all very scared at the time, but we also looked for help, didn't we? We all looked for help, so why do they still want to find us? Why?"

  When he said this, he looked at Fengyue, as if Mei Xue was still attached to Fengyue's body at this moment.

  I interrupted A'Ya's hoarse voice and asked, "Is this an accident?"

  Ai Ya nodded and said, "It's unexpected, don't believe me? Ask them."

  I took a look at the group of boys, and they all nodded, but each one looked listless. I felt that this matter was not simple, so I asked another question: "Is it really an accident?" If there's something hidden, you'd better speak up now; the current situation is very unfavorable to you. We need to figure out what we've gotten ourselves into in order to help you. By the way, Zhang Tian Shi, you all saw his skills too - if it's really a ghost, he'll have a way to deal with it.

  I brought out the dwarf, and everyone's eyes were on him. The dwarf gave me a fierce look and said, "If there's anything to say, let's all speak openly and honestly, or else I suspect we'll all die here. After all, the storm has already trapped us here, and this murderous thing, we still don't know what it is."

  Fengyue suddenly spoke up and said, "I think it's not a ghost."