Chapter 128: Three Won’t Do Without One, 21

The crowd was clamoring, heaping accusations upon Xia Yu. Xia Yu remained silent, her eyes red as she stared fixedly at Bai Yuxi.

Shi Xianyu felt a splitting headache. "Why are we starting this again? Why are we arguing about this? The most important thing right now is to figure out why we are trapped here."

"Didn't you say you wanted to find clues?" Wang Aiguo frowned. "These IOUs are the clues. The murderer who killed Du Xiaoling is Xia Yu. Once we catch the killer, we should be able to get out, right?"

The other students echoed his sentiments. "That’s right. That was the premise from the start—find the killer to leave this place. Wan Qianqian is already dead, and Xia Yu is the most likely person to have killed Du Xiaoling!"

Lu Min asked coldly, "And what if we catch the killer? Are you planning to kill her?"

The moment he finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

They could pin crimes on anyone, but when it came to actually taking a human life, no one had the nerve—or, perhaps, no one dared to shoulder the responsibility.

"So what now?" Lu Min gave a mocking smile. "Even if we find the clues and identify the suspects, we are still stuck in this place, waiting to die."

Wang Aiguo panicked. "I don’t want to die! I don’t want to keep waiting!"

He turned to Zhou Bushan. "Master, please, think of something! Why can’t we leave this place even though we’ve identified the killer?!"

Zhou Bushan looked at him, troubled. "...Logically speaking, if one wishes to dispel resentment, the spirit of the deceased must first be summoned."

"I’ve got it! I’ve got it!" Wang Aiguo said immediately. "Du Xiaoling died in the cafeteria. Let Xia Yu go there alone and wait; Du Xiaoling will definitely appear! If that doesn't work, we'll just play the Spirit Board game again!"

"What if something happens to her while she's alone?" Shi Xianyu disagreed. "Wan Qianqian met her end alone in the bathroom, and who can guarantee that doing this will let everyone leave?"

Wang Aiguo snapped, "This won't work, that won't work! Then you tell us what we should do! You’ve been protecting Xia Yu all along—did you have a hand in Du Xiaoling’s death too?!"

Lu Min spoke up calmly, "Actually, I found it strange from the beginning. I thought you, like Master Zhou, were a Taoist invited by Boss Wang from Chang Le Palace. But looking at it now, you and Master Zhou don't seem very familiar with each other, do you?"

Hearing this, Wang Aiguo shrank back into the crowd in fear. "Damn! Could it be that you’re the one behind all this mischief?!"

Zhou Bushan also hesitated, looking at Shi Xianyu. "Surely not..."

Wang Aiguo: "Master, you can never tell a person's heart by their face!"

Shi Xianyu: "..."

She had only spoken a few words in defense of Xia Yu, and yet the fire had managed to spread to her.

***

Shi Xianyu said, "If I were the one causing trouble, would I have given amulets to Xia Yu and Bai Yuxi? Would I be wasting my breath standing here? Wouldn't it be better for me to just watch from the sidelines?"

The crowd fell silent again.

"It seems we are at an impasse once more," Lu Min said with a cold expression. "Let’s put it to a vote. The minority submits to the majority: do we continue exploring the school, or do we send Xia Yu to the cafeteria alone?"

Shi Xianyu challenged him, "How is this any different from sending Xia Yu to her death?!"

Lu Min replied, "Even if she dies, it is because she did something wicked first, which is why she is being haunted. What does that have to do with us? Wan Qianqian is the perfect example. Hasn't everyone noticed? The ones who meet with accidents are always those who had a grudge against Du Xiaoling."

His words tore away the last thin layer of morality in everyone's hearts.

They looked at one another, and soon, someone raised their hand. "I vote for sending Xia Yu to the cafeteria."

"I vote for it too... send Xia Yu to the cafeteria."

"Let her go. There are so many of us; we can't afford to waste time here because of her alone."

"I agree... let Xia Yu go to the cafeteria..."

"Send Xia Yu to the cafeteria..."

More and more hands went up, all of them pushing Xia Yu forward without exception. Seeing this, Zhou Bushan felt a sense of foreboding and couldn't help but warn them, "It will be very dangerous for her to stay in the cafeteria alone."

Xia Yu stood in the crowd and sneered, "They are dying for me to be in danger."

No one spoke.

Shi Xianyu no longer wanted to dissuade them.

Things had reached this point; nothing she said would matter. These people were all pinning their hopes on the spirit being appeased by Xia Yu’s misfortune, unaware that the whole matter might have nothing to do with Du Xiaoling at all.

Shi Xianyu said, "I’ll go with her to the cafeteria."

Zhou Bushan was startled and looked at her in astonishment.

"Didn't we say there were two ways to leave? One is to appease the spirit that binds us, and the other is to destroy that spirit," Shi Xianyu said calmly. "I’ll accompany Xia Yu. If the spirit shows up, I’ll be prepared to deal with it."

Zhou Bushan felt a stir of motivation; that was his area of expertise.

***

Before he could voice his intent, Shi Xianyu looked over and said, "You stay here and watch over the others. Don't let the spirit find an opening."

Zhou Bushan: "...Fine."

Shi Xianyu patted Xia Yu on the shoulder. "Let's go."

Xia Yu bit her lip, gave Bai Yuxi one last look, and followed Shi Xianyu with a cold, hardened expression.

She maintained her arrogant, defiant facade in front of her classmates, but the moment she turned away and stepped onto the stairs, she began to cry, her tears falling like broken beads.

Shi Xianyu looked back to see her weeping and didn't know how to comfort her, sighing inwardly.

In truth, given the situation, all it would have taken was for Bai Yuxi to speak up for Xia Yu. With the backing of the Bai family, no one would have dared to object to her words. But Bai Yuxi hadn't helped, and Lu Min had proposed the vote, clearly intending to leave Xia Yu no path to survival.

Lu Min... he was a strange man. He usually kept to himself, but at every critical moment, he would subtly nudge everyone's hostility toward Xia Yu. Why?

Shi Xianyu felt increasingly stifled. The feeling of knowing someone was suspicious but having no evidence to prove it was truly suffocating.

Behind her, Xia Yu’s tears eventually subsided, and the two arrived at the cafeteria.

They went to the second floor first. Shi Xianyu was still preoccupied with the Spirit Board game from earlier and wanted to take another look at that table. As soon as they entered, they heard a loud *clang* behind them!

The door to the second floor had been locked!

Xia Yu’s face changed. Before she could walk over to check, she heard Wang Aiguo’s voice from outside:

"Xia Yu! If you turn into a ghost, go seek revenge on Bai Yuxi! She’s the one who told us to lock the door!"

As soon as he finished, the sound of messy, hurried footsteps fading away followed.

Xia Yu stared at the tightly shut door, biting her lower lip until it turned white. The tears she had finally stopped began to fall once more.

Shi Xianyu pulled a chair from the wall and dragged it to the round table. She said to Xia Yu, "Come and sit for a while. We aren't getting out anyway."