Chapter 35: Blood Mist (Part 1)

Chapter 35: Blood Mist (Part 1)

After finally finishing copying Song Wuyi's self-criticism and handing it to Song Xianting, Li Su still had the punishment of cleaning the gymnasium after school.

Lin Qiushuang quit after two days and paid a cleaner to take his place.

Lin Qiushuang wanted to take Li Su go-karting, but Li Su refused.

He was afraid that skipping the punishment would give Song Xianting a handle to use against him, so he decided to honestly stay at the gym and clean with the other janitors.

Seeing that he couldn't drag the stubborn Li Su away, Lin Qiushuang gave up on going go-karting too, following Li Su around, carrying trash bags and picking up water bottles for him.

"Only a true buddy sticks with you through thick and thin. If Tao Tao were here, she'd ditch you in a second and never help you clean."

Lin Qiushuang tried to drive a wedge between them without restraint.

Since enrolling, Li Su had rarely socialized. His circle of friends in class didn't exceed five people, and the closest ones were him and Tao Tao.

For some reason, Lin Qiushuang rarely felt such a strong feeling—he was proud to be Li Su's best friend, as if it were only natural.

If only Tao Tao didn't exist.

Speak of the devil, and she appears.

Tao Tao suddenly showed up, holding two bottles of water.

"Lin Qiushuang! Are you badmouthing me again!"

Tao Tao threw one bottle at Lin Qiushuang, who caught it with ease.

Tao Tao jogged over to Li Su, unscrewed the cap of the other bottle, and handed it to him.

Lin Qiushuang glared at Tao Tao unhappily. "What are you doing here?"

Tao Tao was certainly not there to help. Lin Qiushuang deserved his punishment, and Li Su deserved it even more for choosing to hang out with Lin Qiushuang instead of her!

"I ran into a senior student who inspects the gym just now. He said the equipment room is filthy. Since you two are on punishment duty this week, I came to tell you—hurry up and clean it. If he checks tomorrow and finds it still dirty, he'll report you again."

Lin Qiushuang found it a hassle and pointed at the cleaner wiping down basketball hoops. "I already hired someone. They'll go over after finishing the court."

Tao Tao pulled Li Su aside, sneering. "Do you think President Song is dumb? There are cameras everywhere. You'll easily be caught hiring someone to do your work. Don't drag Li Su down with you!"

Tao Tao then softened her tone toward Li Su. "Come on, I'll go with you to clean the equipment room. Don't hang out with rule-breakers like Lin Qiushuang—he'll get you in trouble."

Li Su was pulled away by Tao Tao. Lin Qiushuang called after him a couple of times, then caught up in a few quick steps.

"I'm coming too!"

The equipment room was in a remote area behind the gym, shaded by tall trees, with dim light.

Li Su was pulled left and right by Tao Tao and Lin Qiushuang as they shoved him toward the equipment room door.

As Tao Tao pushed the door open, she continued cursing Lin Qiushuang. "You dumb straight guy, you'll never find a girlfriend. You'll be single forever."

"Don't worry about me. You'd better break up with Li Su soon, so he can find a better girlfriend."

Tao Tao was about to retort, but as half her body entered the equipment room, she stopped mid-sentence. She froze.

After a long moment, Tao Tao suddenly stumbled back out and ran under a tree to dry heave.

Li Su and Lin Qiushuang were both stunned.

Li Su quickly went over to pat Tao Tao's back, handing her the water bottle he had just drunk from to rinse her mouth.

Lin Qiushuang snatched Li Su's bottle and shoved his own untouched water into Tao Tao's hands, telling Li Su, "No sharing bottles between genders."

Li Su wanted to say that he and Tao Tao had shared chopsticks while eating instant noodles before, so that kind of thing didn't matter to them.

Trembling, Tao Tao couldn't even hold the bottle—it dropped to the ground.

Lin Qiushuang thought she was deliberately fussing. "I haven't drunk from it! It's brand new!"

But with red-rimmed eyes, Tao Tao nearly burst into tears, pointing at the equipment room, unable to speak.

Puzzled, Lin Qiushuang walked toward the room. "What's the big deal? Is there a ghost in there or something?"

When he reached the door and looked inside, he froze just like Tao Tao.

Li Su's heart pounded. Instinct told him this wasn't a joke they were putting on.

He wanted to see too, but as he stepped behind Lin Qiushuang, Lin Qiushuang immediately reacted, turning and pushing Li Su back toward Tao Tao.

"Don't look!"

Li Su sensed something serious from Lin Qiushuang's stern expression.

His voice trembled. "What... is inside?"

Lin Qiushuang uttered two heavy words.

"A dead body."

Li Su's heart pounded in shock. He couldn't believe it.

Lin Qiushuang forced himself to stay calm and told Tao Tao and Li Su to get away quickly.

He saw the blood inside—it was flowing, still giving off steam. The murder had clearly just happened, and the killer might still be nearby.

"Now, you two hurry back to the basketball court—there are people there. I'll go find the security guards."

Hearing Lin Qiushuang's plan, Li Su didn't ask questions. He grabbed Tao Tao's hand and ran back the way they came.

As they ran, Tao Tao sobbed, "It's so disgusting... Slow down, Li Su... I feel like throwing up."

A feeling of dread rising from the soles of his feet wouldn't let Li Su stop. He didn't know exactly what was in the equipment room, but he knew the place wasn't safe.

When Tao Tao resisted running, Li Su half-dragged her, pulling her until it hurt, to get her away from the area.

"Hang in there, Tao Tao. I see someone. Come on, just two more steps."

Li Su spotted a cleaner throwing out trash by the back door.

He shouted to the cleaner, "Help! There's a dead body here!"

His voice caught the cleaner's attention.

The cleaner paused for two seconds upon hearing him, then grabbed a broom, glancing around as if searching for a tool, but finally ran toward Li Su gripping the broom.

"What's going on, young man?"

Li Su pointed towards the equipment room.

.

The incident happened after school when there were few people on campus, so it didn’t cause a big stir.

To Li Su's surprise, after the security guard arrived, he merely cordoned off the scene and didn't call the police right away.

Lin Qiushuang said it was a matter of the school's reputation, and they needed to conduct an internal investigation before deciding to alert the police publicly.

Tao Tao chimed in, "If this gets out, it will definitely cause panic, so we need to keep it under wraps first."

Tao Tao whispered to Li Su, "There are surveillance cameras everywhere here, so finding the killer will be easy. But the tricky part is who the killer is. This is the gymnasium in District A; every student has a special background. The school first needs to figure out if the other person's background lets them settle this privately."

Li Su was stunned, his mouth hanging open, and he muttered, "But someone is dead. Shouldn't it be a life for a life? How can it be settled privately? By paying money?"

Tao Tao said somewhat dejectedly, "Every life actually has a price tag. If the compensation received exceeds the value of that life, then nobody will pursue the matter anymore."

Li Su suddenly felt that this world was somehow unfamiliar.

Life was actually being weighed on the same scale as money.