Going on a graduation trip, carrying a craft knife...
Was he seeking self-defense after being bullied at school, or did he have some special plan? Ren Yifei examined the utility knife closely and noticed something was wrong. It was an old utility knife with rusty blades.
Once it rusts, its practical value decreases.
Unable to figure things out immediately, Ren Yifei put the utility knife back. He took out his phone, a brand new, classic black one. He tried to unlock it but found it required both a fingerprint and a password; he couldn't unlock the phone with just his fingerprint.
Setting two passwords on a mobile phone indicates the presence of important information.
The right pocket had already given Ren Yifei a huge 'surprise'. He reached into the left pocket and took out a handkerchief, a car-like electronic key pendant, and an oval shell-carved pendant.
Ren Yifei had a bad feeling that he had to carry such an obviously useless electronic car key when going on a trip.
He discovered a small mechanism under the pinkish-white seashell carving. When opened, it revealed an old photograph about the size of a fingernail, showing two children leaning against each other.
Carrying a photo pendant with her? That seems to reveal a lot; the original owner must have had many secrets.
Finally, he looked at a backpack at his feet. Ren Yifei pretended to look for something and quickly opened the bag to look through it.
It's not a good time to rummage through things, but at first glance, the bag seems to contain travel essentials: a hat, umbrella, tissues, a power bank, bread...
He quickly pulled his bag up. Although there were seats blocking the view and no one else was looking in his direction, there were other players on the bus, so he had to be careful.
For the next half hour, he was contemplating life.
The chatter of classmates around you is a natural information bank. Which classmates are friends with which classmates, which classmates have a fight with which classmates... This information is not only in their mouths, but also in their actions and expressions.
Ren Yifei tried to find someone who had a connection with the original owner of this body, even if it was just a special glance from them. Unfortunately, he found no one.
Qin Hui still had a few friends, so how come the original owner didn't have a single friend? Although I don't know what he looks like, judging from his physical condition, he's not the type to easily attract dislike.
Unfortunately, we can't view identity cards and resumes here, which puts us at a disadvantage.
"Xia Chuan, are you carsick? I've noticed you haven't said a word the whole way." A pretty girl suddenly turned around and handed her a motion sickness patch. "We still have five or six hours to go."
Ren Yifei looked up and saw pure goodwill in those eyes.
"Thank you, but I don't need it," he said somewhat coldly.
The girl took the motion sickness patch back with some disappointment. The girl next to her nudged her, saying, "Xiangxue, ignore him. He can't even take a joke. He's just a weirdo."
The bus drove for another half hour before the driver turned into a small town and stopped by the roadside: "Get off and have some food."
The students peeked out, their faces showing disappointment. It was a very simple shed with several buses like this parked underneath.
Inside is a food stall selling ordinary snacks, but the prices are three times or more than normal.
"This is so run-down, is there any other better place?" The students didn't want to get off the bus.
"There's no other way, this place is remote, this is the only option. This is my first time driving this route, why don't you go buy some hot water and make some instant noodles?" the driver said kindly.
A fist slammed against the bus window: "Who chose to go to the old village? We might as well go to the nearby amusement park." The speaker was a dark-skinned boy.
"Alright, alright, what's the point of saying this now? I've been sitting here for two hours, I need to get up and walk around." A man with brown hair got up to leave.
"Hey, wait for me." A skinny boy followed.
After such a long car ride, everyone just wanted to get out for some fresh air and to relieve themselves. One by one, they got off the bus, and Ren Yifei, carrying his bag, mingled among them.
After getting off the bus, he saw "Jiangcheng No. 3 Middle School" painted on the side. So this wasn't a rented bus, but a school bus?
Ren Yifei went to a nearby public restroom.
There are many cars and people coming here, but only one toilet, and both the men's and women's toilets have long queues. Many men, unable to hold it in, run into the nearby woods.
He waited for about ten minutes before going in, and as soon as he opened the stall door, he saw an unidentified object that hadn't been flushed away next to the toilet.
"..."
The environment was somewhat harsh, but that didn't stop him from taking the time to check his identity card and resume.
He looked at the identity card first.
One of the players is a murderer. Find him, or survive seven days.
[Identity: Player.]
[Role: Student.]
[Character Mission: Revenge.]
[Keywords: caged bird.]
[9]
Ren Yifei: "..."
Revenge, excellent. He's definitely someone with a story.
Looking at the resume again, it was a thick three-page document. The first page read: Xia Chuan, male, Han nationality, sixteen years old, currently living at his uncle's house. His father, mother and younger sister are all dead.
Upon seeing this opening, Ren Yifei's heart skipped a beat. With the backdrop of his entire family being wiped out, coupled with the mission of 'revenge,' the character's persona was far from simple.
He continued reading.
The resume was straightforward and very detailed from the beginning. It recorded everything from the original owner's parents' divorce when he was young, the separation from his twin sister, to the sudden bad news that his sister had died at school, and his mother being in a car accident on her way to the hospital.
Actually, his guardianship returned to his mother after his father passed away two years ago, but they didn't live together. When Xia Chuan took leave and rushed back from another city, his sister had already been cremated.
The school ruled it a suicide, but he found some clues in his sister's phone messages. He found a pregnancy test in her purchase history, dating back to about two weeks before her suicide.
He didn't know for the time being who the item was bought for or why it was bought. All he knew was that there were hidden reasons behind the suicide.
Xia Chuan transferred to the school in the second semester of his senior year. Because of his excellent grades, the teachers treated him very well. However, this made him even more ostracized by the other students in the class.
Therefore, Ren Yifei's initial characterization of Xia Chuan as "soft-tempered" was slightly problematic. Xia Chuan was outwardly portrayed as taciturn, bookish, and somewhat dull, which is why he wasn't very popular.
Of course, Xia Chuan didn't care about popularity; he only wanted to find out the truth behind his sister's suicide.
If there are others behind this suicide, then make them pay the price.
As for the people in the class, they didn't actually know that Xia Chuan and Han Feifei, who jumped off the building, were twin siblings.
Then...
Then, Ren Yifei, who wanted to see the truth, saw the word "briefly". The following content is about this graduation trip.
Ren Yifei: ...
Why omit crucial plot points? Can't those two large sheets of paper fit a few words?
As for Xia Chuan's true personality, although it's not explicitly stated, it's clear he's a calm and rational person who takes action. However, because his two remaining relatives have died, he might be slightly more extreme.
Although he is still young and somewhat naive, the fact that he was able to get into a good school under such circumstances and even planned this trip to the old village shows that he is very composed.
Yes, this location was specially prepared by him for the students in his class.
It's not just because of the ancient and terrifying legends associated with this place, but also because the village is located deep in the mountains, accessible only by a single mountain road that takes several hours by car or a whole day to walk.
His method for getting the other students to choose this place was quite simple: find the most popular student in the class and show them the advantages of this old village.
Xiangxue, the class beauty, loves photography, so we let her stumble upon this beautiful scenery. The school bully likes the class beauty, so he will do his best to fulfill her wishes.
There are also mystery enthusiasts in the class.
All it takes is to 'convince' four or five people and then get the location onto the teacher's list of options; everything will fall into place naturally.
Their original plan was to stay there for one night and return the next day. But would the original owner, who went to so much trouble to arrange for them to go there, really only let them stay for one day before going back?
Ren Yifei could say with certainty that the original owner must have discovered something, which was why he was taking action now. He wanted some of them, or even a group of them, to pay the price.
"So what exactly is being 'omitted'?" Ren Yifei stared intently at the word "omitted." His mission was revenge, which required precise strikes, but with the resume so omitting something, how was he supposed to know who to seek revenge against?
He didn't even know the original owner's plans.
"Are you done inside?" People waiting to use the restroom outside started stomping their feet. Ren Yifei put away his resume, stepped on the flush button, and waited until the unidentified object went down before going outside.
He washed his hands, dried them with a tissue, and glanced at the bus they had rented in the distance. The driver was smoking next to the bus, squinting as he looked towards the restroom, puffing out clouds of smoke.
The students were standing in twos and threes next to the bus.
The contents of his pocket made a slight rustling sound as he walked. Ren Yifei walked step by step toward the bus, his expression calm.
He wasn't very popular in class. When they saw him come, the first thing the other students did was glance at him and then turn away and ignore him.
However, this also made things easier for Ren Yifei; it was best for them to maintain this distance until he found a computer to connect to and turn on his phone.
"It's disgusting. The food in there is all spoiled and they still sell it." The dark-skinned student complained all the way here. "I'll just eat bread. It's better than that anyway."
The student who patted Ren Yifei on the shoulder was eating a grilled sausage. He laughed and said, "Could it be that you can't afford to buy one?"
"Liu Jinjie, what did you say?"
The two almost got into a fight before Ren Yifei realized that the boy who patted his back was named Liu Jinjie.
He boarded the bus, which was already a third full of students; some were eating, others were sleeping with their eyes closed. He couldn't tell from their appearance which were the players.
In higher-level games, players become more cautious, making them harder to identify.
The next few hours of the journey became tedious; outside were endless, repetitive mountains, and inside were drowsy passengers. As the sun began to set, the bus fell silent; almost no one spoke.
The driver had the air conditioning on, set very low, and the vents were making a whirring sound. Despite the sweltering heat of summer, they felt cold.
"Master, please turn the air conditioning up a bit," said the teacher leading the group.
"Okay." The driver readily agreed and adjusted the temperature.
Ren Yifei leaned against the window, watching the scenery flash by outside.
I don't know when it started, but graveyards began to appear on both sides, and vegetable gardens were planted near the graveyards. Many scarecrows stood in the vegetable gardens, and when the wind blew, the scarecrows swayed as if they were living people greeting each other.
Author's Note: Afei: Saman, what do you think?
Saman: There must be something fishy
about this!