Chapter 190: “Disappearance”: Bianca’s Death

Chapter 190: "Disappearance" - The Death of Bianca

Orff sent Everly a total of four links.

After reading them, Everly felt that the case at Moss College was extremely tricky.

Although these deaths weren't necessarily related to Bianca's disappearance, they all happened at the same school. If Everly went to investigate Bianca's disappearance, she couldn't rule out running into—or even getting dragged into—similar cases on campus.

Dying of thirst for no reason even with plenty of food and water, and dropping dead suddenly from unknown causes—just hearing about it was terrifying. Everly wanted no part of that mess!

Could she handle this job remotely?

Everly thought for a moment, then called Rebecca to consult her go-to advisor on whether she knew of any monster that could make someone's presence completely vanish.

"Hmm, that's pretty vague... Do you mean like, the person's body and soul both just vanish?"

"Pretty much."

Rebecca thought for a moment, then said, "There are quite a few, actually. For example, Polyphemus, the man-eating giant from Greek mythology—people he eats vanish completely, like they never existed, and everyone's memories of them disappear too. Some monsters and evil gods can swallow a person whole—body and soul—like Mordigian. Then there are monsters or special items with space powers that can hide someone in another dimension... Anyway, I can think of a bunch off the top of my head, so got any more details?"

"No, I haven't gotten a chance to look into it yet."

Rebecca sighed. "Then I can't help you much... Come back when you've got more to go on."

So there was no way around actually going to the scene herself, huh...

After hanging up and paying the consultation fee, Everly propped her chin on her hand, thought for a moment, and called West.

Money was meant to be used at times like this—when it really counted. Whether it was a monster that could make someone's "presence" vanish or those weird unexplained deaths, it all sounded scary as hell.

At times like this, Everly would rather pay someone else to take the risk than face it herself. West was pricey but extremely reliable—a solid pick.

However—

"I'm currently working on an important job in Teswade State. It'll take one to two months. If you can wait, you can book ahead; if not, forget it." His voice was icy on the phone.

Everly couldn't afford to wait.

Bianca's social media account had started acting up four days ago. If Bianca had "disappeared" four days ago, she might still be alive right now. But if they kept dragging their feet, the outcome was uncertain.

Plus, there was always the "golden 24 hours" rule when it came to finding missing people. If you got to the scene right after someone went missing, you might find a ton of clues. Over time, clues would fade away due to weather, people moving around, and all sorts of stuff, making the search way harder.

Bottom line: the sooner you start looking, the better your chances of finding them. Whether or not supernatural forces were involved, this principle held true.

Putting it off a day or two was one thing, but waiting one to two months—who knows where you'd even start looking! As far as she knew, West required a 50% deposit upfront, and it was non-refundable even if the job failed. What if, two months later, West came all the way out, only to say he couldn't find her? Wouldn't she be the one left holding the bag!

After going back and forth, the pull of the Fountain of Youth ultimately won.

Everly decided to take the risk and head to Moss College herself.

Before heading out, she had Orff hack into Moss College's internal network and grab the female dorm roster, which showed that Bianca's roommate was a girl named Doreen. Then she had Orff break into the academic system and pull up Doreen's class schedule and photo.

Given how risky this trip was and her worry about dragging Misha into it, Everly brought no one along this time. After getting ready, she skipped all her Friday classes and drove alone to Moss College the day after taking the witch's job.

She arrived around 10:00 AM on Friday. Per the schedule, Doreen was still in class.

Everly waited outside the classroom on the schedule. At 10:30, the bell rang, and students trickled out in pairs and small groups. Everly scanned the faces around her, comparing them to the photo, and quickly spotted Doreen in the crowd.

She looked almost exactly like her picture!

There was a reason she'd chosen to investigate Bianca through Doreen.

First, a key point: American college students don't move around in fixed class groups. They go to classes based on their own course schedules. This means American college students rarely have a steady "class buddy." The people they spend the most time with are either friends they hang with outside class or their roommates.

Bianca was introverted and didn't have close friends, so the fastest way to learn about her was through her roommate, Doreen.

Plus, according to Orff's background check, Doreen's family wasn't well-off. She had student loans and had to work part-time in her free time.

Everly didn't have much, but she happened to be pretty loaded.

She called out to Doreen in the crowd, led the wary girl to a quiet corner, pulled out a fake photo Orff had expertly Photoshopped, pointed at Bianca and Orff in it, let out a string of American profanity, and then indignantly told Doreen that her boyfriend Orff had been stolen by the little hussy in the picture.

"I did some digging beforehand—you're roommates with this Bianca girl, right? Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt her, because when it comes to cheating, the blame's on the guy who can't keep his pants on. But I need to find out whether she deliberately went after him knowing he had a girlfriend, or if she had no idea... Can you help me out?"

Doreen looked down at the heavily edited photo, then back at Everly, her expression shifting from bewilderment to shock, then from shock to utter disbelief—so dramatic it could have been used as a training demonstration at a film school.

"Um, you... you should just go ask Bianca directly. I have some things, it's not really convenient..."

"Answer my questions, and all of this is yours." Everly snapped her fingers and produced a stack of cash from her palm.

Doreen's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. But she was clearly a moral person, still refusing: "Gossiping about someone's private life behind their back isn't very nice..."

Everly snapped her fingers again and added more bills to the stack.

"Um... well..." Doreen's eyes locked onto the money, her gaze burning with desire. Whether it was Everly's imagination or not, she thought she saw glistening drool at the corner of the girl's mouth.

As it turned out, our moral bottom lines could often be flexibly adjusted downward as the price went up.

When Everly increased the stakes a third time, Doreen sucked back her drool, her eyes completely turning into dollar signs, and eagerly followed her into the Grand Cherokee parked by the roadside.

Unexpectedly, Bianca, just as Orff had said, wasn't actually missing.

"She doesn't have classes this morning. When I left the dorm this morning, she was lying in bed playing on her phone, still not up yet," Doreen said.

But that was clearly problematic.

Natalie was a powerful witch; there was no reason she couldn't sense an ordinary person. Since Natalie had contacted her yesterday saying Bianca's presence had vanished, Bianca herself had either been eaten, sealed away in another world, or otherwise no longer existed in this one.

If that were the case, the current Bianca was definitely an impostor.

This could also be inferred from the fact that Bianca's Twitter feed had taken a sudden turn five days ago.

"So, has Bianca been acting strange recently? You know, they say love can change a person—I'm trying to figure out roughly when she and my boyfriend got together." Everly asked.

Doreen thought for a moment and replied, "Actually, yes. Lately, Bianca hasn't been as diligent as before. She used to go to the library after class to read and write papers, but these past few days she's been heading straight back to the dorm to play on her phone, or going out to binge-eat. Sometimes, because of the cold, she even skips class entirely. It's just, just..."

"Just like she's become a completely different person, right?"

Doreen nodded frantically. "Yes, exactly! Completely like a different person! Especially last night—I ran into her in the communal bathroom and saw her standing in the shower area, staring at the other girls. Her gaze was so intense it could practically stretch into threads. I almost thought she'd switched sexual orientations. Scared me half to death."

"Any other oddities?"

"Well... hmm, Bianca smells a bit off. Does that count?" Doreen asked after racking her brain for a moment.

"Smells?"

"Yeah. Not like body odor—it's another kind of smell, one that makes you nauseous. I don't know how to describe it, but it's really unpleasant. The strange thing is, I've never smelled it on her before. You see, Bianca and I have been roommates since freshman year. Even in the hottest summer days, she'd at most have a bit of sweat smell, which would disappear after a quick rinse. But yesterday, coming out of the bathroom while getting dressed, she was standing right next to me, and every time she waved her hand, I caught a faint foul odor."

"I see... Can you recall when these changes in her started?"

Doreen thought carefully for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Three days ago? Or four days ago? Anyway, it's been within these few days. I can't pinpoint the exact time, because Bianca is in the drama club. Their club had an accident not long ago—a girl died. For the past few days, they've been busy organizing her memorial service, so Bianca has been leaving early and coming back late. I haven't had much time to see her."

Everly's pulse quickened at that key detail: "Bianca is in the drama club?"

The information Orff had found earlier only mentioned that Bianca was bullied by people in the club, without specifying which club it was. Little did she expect that Bianca was also in the drama club!

Doreen nodded: "Yes, she's in the drama club, but she just does grunt work there and has never set foot on stage... Actually, I suspect someone in the club is bullying and ostracizing her on the sly, because several times I saw her secretly wiping away tears after returning from club activities. But every time I asked, she denied it, saying that once she got to sophomore year, her own script would be eligible for the club's own competition. I don't know if that's true or not."

So, both Bianca and her bullies were in the drama club, and Bianca, to hold onto her theater dream, never quit the club, silently putting up with the bullying from the other members... Coincidentally, on February 16th, a girl from the drama club died of organ failure caused by dehydration while playing "Nora." Could there be a connection between these two events?

Just as Everly was trying to piece together all the clues and connect the dots, Doreen's phone suddenly buzzed twice.

Like any modern person, Doreen was pretty attached to her phone. Hearing the sound, she glanced down at the screen.

At first it was just a quick glance, but when she actually read the text on the screen, Doreen's eyes widened, and she froze in place.

"Impossible... it can't be..." Everly heard her murmur softly.

"What? What's wrong?"

Clutching her phone, Doreen looked at Everly with panic and fear in her eyes, her lips trembling as she stammered for a long time before finally managing to choke out: "Bi-Bi-Bianca... she's dead!"

"!!!"