San Tian Liang Jiao
Chapter 1219 Memories of Summer (12)
"You see… it's quite easy to conquer fear if you dare to face it, right?" Feng Bujue said as the entire team arrived on the second floor.
At that moment, the flashlight in Gui Xiao's hand completely died.
"If someone else said that, I'd definitely reply… 'Easy for you to say'," Gui Xiao's emotions had calmed down a lot at this point, and his tone was relatively stable as he replied. "But when you say it, I really can't refute it…"
"Heh…" Feng Bujue smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment." As he spoke, he stepped forward and picked up the pair of shoes on the ground.
[Name: Crafty Devil Boots]
[Type: Armor]
[Quality: Fine]
[Defense: Medium]
[Attribute: None]
[Special Effect: Emits a warning black mist when approaching fixed traps]
[Equipment Requirement: Male, Level 8 or above, foot size less than or equal to 39, bound after equipping]
[Can be brought out of this script: Yes]
[Remark: Boots left behind after a crafty devil's soul scattered.]
"Eh? It's actually equipment… I thought it would be a quest item," Feng Bujue said after reading the item description, then handed the boots to Gui Xiao. "You solved the trap in that section, so you should take the reward."
Gui Xiao didn't stand on ceremony and accepted the boots first.
"Hmm… the stats are so-so," Gui Xiao muttered as he looked at the equipment, "But it's not completely useless…" As he spoke, he tied the two boots together with the laces and slung them over his shoulder. "Anyway… I'll accept them without ceremony."
He was, after all, a professional gamer under Order; he could still evaluate the value of a piece of equipment to within eighty or ninety percent accuracy. So he also knew that something like this was the type that "could be sold at a reasonable price at auction." Of course, he didn't need to worry too much about that, because he didn't need to handle the work of processing the spoils—the studio had personnel specifically responsible for distributing tradable equipment and skills.
"Okay, I don't think you look like you need a rest. Let's not delay, let's keep moving," Two seconds later, Feng Bujue turned back and said to everyone, and waved at Xiao Tan, signaling him to lead the way.
However, Xiao Tan suggested, "Brother Jue, I think… you should lead the way. I'll give you the flashlight."
"Hmm…" Feng Bujue heard this, pondered for a second, and then said, "Okay, I'll do it."
"Hey!" Seeing this scene, Gui Xiao was shocked, "Why do you become so agreeable when he makes a request? You were criticizing me when I raised objections to your command earlier!"
"Because he's injured," Feng Bujue replied without thinking, in a matter-of-course tone. "If you had a chunk of meat dug out by a monster's paw, I would definitely take your situation into account."
This reason was indeed reasonable and there was nothing to criticize.
"Okay, okay… you're always right…" Gui Xiao rolled his eyes, muttered, and didn't say anything more.
At this moment, Brother Jue had already taken the flashlight from Xiao Tan and walked to the front of the team again, saying as he walked, "Besides, letting me walk in front… can help you block most of the 'scare you' plotlines, right? It's also good for your scare value rating."
"Come on~ Except for you, the rest of us have been scared many times," An Yueqin replied at this time. "It's enough if we can clear this script, I don't care about the rating anymore."
"That's right," Ruo Yu also nodded in agreement. "This script is really a bit scary, and there are a lot of jump scares… our rating is basically hopeless." At this point, she looked at Brother Jue and changed the subject. "However… even if we don't care about the scare value, I support you walking in front, because your efficiency in this kind of script is much higher than ours. Most of us will be affected by fear and affect our actions, but you won't… in this critical moment when we need to race against time, you are the most suitable to lead the way."
While they were talking to each other, Brother Jue's footsteps naturally didn't stop, and everyone else followed closely behind him.
The layout of the second floor was different from the first floor. The space here was very small, and the corridor in front of them could be seen all the way to the end from the top of the stairs. There were only two rooms in total…
Feng Bujue didn't rush to open the door. He first walked to the end of the corridor and checked the window located there.
Like the windows in the biology classroom on the first floor, the windows here were "facing outside the school," and because it was on the second floor, one could see further from here.
"Everyone… if I'm not mistaken, is that a torii gate?" Brother Jue, standing in front of the window and gazing for a few seconds, suddenly spoke.
Before he finished speaking, Xiao Ling and Xiao Tan both crowded over. Leaving aside the bonus factors in the game, these two also had excellent eyesight in real life. When they encountered this kind of work that required eyesight, they usually volunteered to help.
"Hmm… that's right." With the help of the clear moonlight outside, Xiao Tan quickly confirmed this. "It's on that mountain road over there."
"I saw it too, it's red, it must be a torii gate," Xiao Ling added.
"In other words… if we pass through that small forest over there and follow the mountain road uphill, there's a shrine not far away, right?" Feng Bujue then asked.
"You mean…" Gui Xiao immediately heard something from his words, "That festival we saw on the news before…"
"Sansha Matsuri," An Yueqin promptly reminded.
"Oh right… Sansha Matsuri," Gui Xiao continued, "You mean, the place where that festival is held is not far from this school, so… it may be related to the series of supernatural events that happened here?"
"I don't know about that, there's not enough information yet," Feng Bujue said, then turned around and signaled everyone to follow him back. "As far as I know… the general 'Sansha Matsuri' refers to a kind of folk activity that has been passed down from the Edo period. The venue is in the Asakusa area of Tokyo, which is basically just carrying palanquins through the streets… but I don't know what the so-called 'Sansha Matsuri' held in this town, or rather, in this 'village' where 'Chong Jiu Elementary School' is located, is specifically about."
As he said this, Feng Bujue had already walked to the door of the "Principal's Office" on the second floor. Opposite this door was the "Warehouse" where the fire had occurred.
"I'll try this door first…" Brother Jue stood there and thought for two seconds, then turned to the "Warehouse" door first.
[This door is sealed by a dark force]
"Okay…" After receiving the expected prompt, Feng Bujue glanced at his teammates, shrugged, and then took out the [Principal's Office Key] and opened the door to the principal's office.
The door to this room was different from all the previous doors. It was not a Japanese-style sliding door, but an ordinary swing door.
Therefore, Feng Bujue didn't slide it open horizontally, but pushed the door open inward.
"Uh—" The moment the door was pushed open, a low moan came from the room behind the door, and along with it… there was a strong smell of alcohol.
"Heh…" When Feng Bujue smelled the scent, he chuckled lightly. "This hint is quite obvious." As he stepped into the room, he said, "It just wants to tell us—the principal is a drunkard who screws things up because of drinking, right?"
This period of time after opening the door was when shocking events were most likely to occur. Although Brother Jue's words made sense, the others had no intention of responding… they were all tense, preparing to welcome some kind of sudden event.
A dozen seconds later, all six players entered the principal's office.
If the biology classroom on the first floor was "a relatively small active area," then this room… was simply small in size.
In a space of about thirty square meters, there was a desk, three solid wood chairs, and a large bookcase; the desk and bookcase were naturally for the principal's office use, as for the chairs… it was also obvious that one was for the principal to sit on on weekdays, and the other two were prepared for visiting parents.
In addition, there was also a window in this principal's office.
As soon as Feng Bujue entered the room, he went straight to the window, wanting to know what he could see through this window.
As a result, he saw the school's playground, and…
"Oh? This is quite strange…" Feng Bujue had only stood at the window for a few seconds before saying this.
"What's wrong?" Gui Xiao was close to him and also went over to take a look. "What did you see… ah!" He didn't finish his sentence, because when he said half of it, he saw what Brother Jue had seen, and exclaimed in surprise.
"What's the situation? What did you see?" The others in the team were startled by him and turned their heads to ask.
"There's… someone outside!" Gui Xiao stammered in reply.
Hearing this, everyone gathered at the window and looked outside.
At this moment, on the school's empty playground, stood a figure. With the help of the moonlight, it could be seen that… it was a man, about thirty years old, wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and glasses on his face.
It looked like an ordinary office worker, slightly fat, with an average appearance, and a very ordinary hairstyle.
In fact, if he was just standing there, it wouldn't have scared Gui Xiao, the problem was… he was looking up at the window of the principal's office at this moment, and staring at the players from afar with a fixed gaze, which… was a bit creepy.
"Brother Jue, what… what should we do?" Xiao Tan still asked Feng Bujue for his opinion as soon as possible.
"Time is tight, you guys search the room first, I'll try to communicate with him," Feng Bujue replied as he raised his right hand and waved at the man on the playground.
"Be careful yourself." After hearing Feng Bujue's instructions, Ruo Yu didn't waste a second. She immediately turned on her flashlight and headed towards the desk.
The others hesitated slightly and left the window one after another.
Thus, the investigation of the principal's office began.
This time, the players were racing against time and were very quick, completing everything in just four minutes.
And the final results were as follows—
First, the telephone on the desk had no telephone line connected to it, and it looked like a decoration.
Second, the desk had a total of three drawers, one large and two small. Only the small drawer on the left could be opened, and the large drawer in the middle and the small drawer on the right both prompted "key required."
Third, in the drawer that could be opened, there was a black and white photo. The photo had no item description, and no date or text could be found on the photo. The content of the photo… was a half-length photo of a seven or eight-year-old boy who was not cute at all.
Fourth, the bookcase was filled with a large number of documents and materials, but 99% of the content was invisible, that is, irrelevant information that was "blurred by the system"; however, there was a particularly large group photo… that was still relatively clear, and on the back of that group photo, there was also a line of writing—[Showa 46, Class 1-A].
"Okay, it looks like… everyone's made good progress," Four minutes later, Feng Bujue took the initiative to turn around and said to his teammates.
"Yeah, there's not much to search in this room," Ruo Yu replied and asked, "How's it going on your side?"
"No response," Feng Bujue replied.
"Be more specific," Ruo Yu added.
"More specifically…" Feng Bujue continued, "I waved to him, waved the flashlight, made the Star Trek peace sign, made a face, gave him the middle finger… in short, I did everything I could. If the system didn't stop me, I would have taken off my pants in front of the window…" He paused for two seconds, "But that guy just stood there with an unchanging expression, continuing to stare at me, without any reaction."
"Okay…" Ruo Yu belatedly realized that she probably shouldn't have asked.
In short, since the communication with the mysterious man outside the window was fruitless, the players temporarily ignored him. After they exchanged the results of the search, they entered the puzzle-solving stage…
"So… the starting point is these two photos," Feng Bujue said, looking at the two photos placed on the desk. "This 'Class 1-A in Showa 46' is naturally 'Class 2-A' in Showa 47; that is to say… the people in this group photo, including the teacher and the students, can be called 'Class 2-A'."
"You mean…" Xiao Ling followed Brother Jue's train of thought and said, "The hidden mission we received—[Investigate the whereabouts of everyone in Class 2-A]—is not only to investigate the whereabouts of the nine students, but to find out the ending of everyone in this group photo?"
"Yeah, there's no escaping it," Feng Bujue replied. "Fortunately… the whereabouts of three people are now clear." He pointed his finger at a child in the photo. "This is Noguchi Eiji. He died in front of the classroom locker on May 14, Showa 47." He paused for a second and moved his fingertip slightly. "This is the female ghost we encountered in the music classroom. I guess she's the music teacher… Although I don't know the specific time of death, she undoubtedly died in the large cabinet in that classroom in the end."
"You can recognize them even after the corpses have turned into skeletons?" Gui Xiao asked suspiciously.
"Didn't she hang upside down and show off her face when we first opened the door?" Feng Bujue replied calmly. "You guys didn't see it clearly, but I saw that face clearly at close range."
This answer was very convincing…
"Next… let's talk about the third one…" Feng Bujue said, then pointed to another person in the photo, "The one wearing the white coat, if I'm not mistaken… is that pile of Italian noodles in the biology classroom."