PSP Chapter 12: Turn Away

Shen Qingcheng thought that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again, but unexpectedly, he drifted off as soon as he lay down. After waking up, he got up and had breakfast. Right on time, Liu Wangyu appeared in the hall to give the players tasks.

Liu Wangyu didn't ask about the loss of two players, acting as if Shi Juan and Bai Yi had never existed. He left after assigning tasks. His face was red, and he seemed more energetic than he had been when Shen Qingcheng first met him.

"Liu-fuban must be in such high spirits because something good happened to him,” Chen Ge said as they headed to the classrooms.

They had decided to go there today to collect clues about Qi Anle and confirm that their speculation was correct.

Zhou An'an and the others had searched there already, so the door lock was broken, and the door opened with just a push.

The decoration inside matched the style of the rest of the kindergarten. There were colorful posters of numbers and letters on the wall, as well as realistic smiling faces and small animals. The classroom had two stories, with a study area equipped with tables, chairs and benches below, and a small library above.

The kindergarten was closed now, so all the books and toys were locked in lockers.

Chen Ge was a little worried. He would’ve been fine if the incident last night hadn't happened, but he had been fooled away by Qi Anle just a few hours ago!

He couldn't help but think of Qi Anle's appearance last night. He looked soft and white, wearing bright yellow overalls and smiling whenever he looked up at him. At the time, he had thought it was quite cute, but now he thought about it, that feeling had been strangely pervasive.

He leaned closer to Shen Meiren unconsciously, his steady appearance even in the face of ghosts giving him a feeling of security.

Shen Qingcheng asked vigilantly, "What are you doing?"

"Shen-ge," Chen Ge lowered his voice, remembering that they were in Qi Anle's territory, "Was that the mother-son pair last night?" One of them had lured him out, and the other had tried to get at Shen-ge at the same time--how terrifying.

Shen Qingcheng: "How am I supposed to know? I'm not a god."

He didn’t know?

The overhead wall lamp suddenly flickered twice, and Chen Ge was so frightened that he immediately jumped to Shen Qingcheng's side and grasped at his arm.

"Shit, that nearly scared me to death." His heart had almost jumped out.

Shen Qingcheng stared at his arm. "Let go."

Chen Ge let him go, but in the very next second saw that Shen-ge copying his movements. He took two steps to the side and hugged Lu-ge. "Lu-dage, I’m so scared!"

Chen Ge: "..."

Lu Qi glanced coldly at him, "Shen Meiren, can you stop."

He didn't have the time to play any weird games with Shen Meiren.

His expression was stern, and Chen Ge was so bemused that he forgot to be afraid. The only way he could describe his current mood was that it felt like he was watching his parents fight as he stood by the side, frightened and at a loss for words?

"Oh." Shen Qingcheng retracted his arms. His expressions became more restrained, and he lowered his head.

Lu Qi pursed his lips. He hadn’t meant to lose his temper, he had just momentarily lost control.

"This was the first time you’ve ever said my name." Shen Qingcheng said, looking at his reflection on the floor tiles.

Lu Qi moved his lips but did not speak.

Shen Qingcheng finished his sentence, "My name sounds very nice when you call it out.” His voice was low and deep, seeming almost supernatural.

Lu Qi: "..."

He knew that he should be angry, but his first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief, and he even felt a little bit that it was true.

Lu Qi looked away. Oh well, forget it, he had long known that Shen Meiren was practically born to annoy him.

The mood was lifted, and they began to rummage through boxes.

Under the lockers, there were discarded books and workbooks that the children had already used. It seems that they hadn’t had time to tidy them up. They found Qi Anle's books inside.

Qi Anle's book looked much more worn out than the other childrens’. The paper had been damaged and repaired, and there were smudges of dirt.

They were silent for a while. Chen Ge couldn’t help but think of his elementary school classmates.

One of his female classmates had often been bullied by the boys in his class because of her unsightly appearance and the scars on her face. Her desk was filled with rubbish, her schoolbag was thrown into the trash can, her desk and stool were moved into the rubbish heap, and she was often verbally abused.

At that time, he had only thought that this female classmate was unlucky, being harassed by the bastards in his class. He pitied her, but it was nothing to do with him.

Later, when he grew up, he realized that it had been bullying.

"Qi Anle's workbook." Shen Qingcheng took out the notebook and opened it, "The parent signature is Qi Mei’s."

This was proof that no matter what the relationship is, it was indisputable that Qi Anle did have some relationship with Qi Mei. What they needed to confirm now was Qi Anle's death.

If they could prove that Qi Anle had been killed, then all their speculations so far were likely correct.

"Is that kid Qi Anle?" Chen Ge had a headache.

There were no pictures of the children posted in the classroom, so they couldn't confirm it was him. He climbed up to the small library on the second floor, checking for photos. Did no one in this class take pictures? Did they not even shoot photos on Children's Day¹?

Chen Ge came down from the second floor then noticed the rows of colorful desks between the classrooms. Although he knew that the teachers would have cleaned up the things in the drawers before the holidays, he headed over.

He walked over to a blue desk and bent over.

In the dim storage space, a four or five year old child was curled up, facing out. Because the space was too small for him, his body was twisted into a weird shape.

When Chen Ge bent down and looked into the space, the eyes in the child's blue face opened, revealing pitch black eyes with no sclera.

"!"

The shock was so great Chen Ge's heart seemed to stop beating. Blood rushed to his head, and he felt a dense coldness crept up behind him.

"Gege, are you looking for me?" The dark eyes stared straight at Chen Ge, the child wriggling and crawling out. The desk shook and creaked, and blood seeped out from under his body, dripping onto the ground.

Help!

Chen Ge was so scared he couldn't even make a sound. He wanted to run away, but his legs had weakened, and he fell to the ground, bringing several desks with him.

He watched helplessly as the child got closer and closer to him, the bloody limbs about to stick out of the desk.

"Chen Ge, why are you so dazed all of a sudden?"

This question acted like a signal to unseal a seal, and the lost strength returned to his body. Chen Ge got up and ran to Shen Qingcheng.

"Shen, Shen-ge, that--" He pointed at the motionless blue desk, face white and strained.

"What?" Shen Qingcheng looked at him suspiciously.

Lu Qi walked to the table, bent over and looked at it, then shook his head at Shen Qingcheng. "It’s empty."

"Empty?" Chen Ge was stunned. He wasn’t as timid anymore, glancing boldly at the desk in disbelief.

It was really empty. There was no child crawling out, and no dripping blood.

Shen Qingcheng: "Did you see Qi Anle?"

Chen Ge nodded, feeling very complicated. He knew that his thoughts were not kind, but he couldn’t help but think it: Shen-ge and Lu-ge weren’t afraid of ghosts, how come he ended up being the one targeted when he was the most afraid?

Shen Qingcheng didn't even know what to say, and he hated that iron was not steel². "What, did you only exchange for props that looked cool?"

"It was too sudden, I couldn’t react." So, that was why he had wanted to hug his thighs. Chen Ge touched his head, feeling extremely embarrassed. He looked at the two of them, glancing left and right, "Are we still looking for a photo?"

He didn't think it was necessary. He had showed up to scare him, so who else could it be, if it wasn't Qi Anle? Moreover, they had almost looked over the whole classroom, and there wasn’t a single trace of a photo.

Lu Qi: "There must be a photo of Qi Anle somewhere."

"Qi Mei's house?" Shen Qingcheng said, "Then let's head out."

Chen Ge nodded quickly, like a chicken pecking at rice, "Okay, okay." He didn't want to stay in this ghost classroom for even one more minute.

After restoring the classroom to its original state, they left one after another. As they reached the door, Lu Qi turned around and said, "Chen Ge?"

"Ah?" Chen Ge raised his head blankly. Suddenly, his scrambled brain understood his meaning, and he said with a smirk, "Yeah, my real name is Chen Ge, and Wu Hai was a pseudonym I picked."

Shen Qingcheng glanced at him, "Ah."

Qi Mei's house was undoubtedly a good direction for investigation. Unfortunately, none of them knew where Qi Mei lived, if it wasn’t in the kindergarten.

Shen Qingcheng: Thank you for your invitation. Even if I can't get out, I gave my best effort.

"Look around and see if you can find Liu Wangyu." Lu Qi said.

After they came out of the teaching building, they met Zhou An'an, Xue Tong, Meng Tianhai, and Liu Zimei. Liu Zimei was still embarrassed when she saw Shen Mei and Lu Qi, and she didn't dare to look at them.

Shen Qingcheng greeted warmly, "Yo, what kind of auspicious wind brought you together? What a strong alliance.”

Zhou An'an: "I just met her when she was collecting information." She didn't like Shen Meiren very much, but she knew that he hadn’t done nothing wrong, so her attitude was lukewarm.

Shen Qingcheng didn't care. He asked Meng Tianhai, "Laoge³, have you seen Liu Wangyu?"

Meng Tianhai looked at Chen Ge, "He took a few people in the direction of the swimming pool."

Chen Ge: Swimming pool??? What had he done wrong?

Shen Qingcheng: "Thank you."

They were about to go to the swimming pool when Zhou An’an called out to them, "Wait, why are you looking for Liu Wangyu?"

Shen Qingcheng: "To ask him something."

Zhou An’an thought for a while, and after signaling to Xue Tong, began to follow them. "It just so happens that we also have something to ask him."

Seeing this, Meng Tianhai also decided to head to the swimming pool with Liu Zimei. "Let's go too."

Shen Qingcheng didn't care at all. It wasn’t like he could break their legs to keep them from following, so the large group went to the swimming pool together.

Liu Wangyu wasn’t in the swimming pool, but he wasn’t far away. Shen Qingcheng and the others went around the back of the teaching building, and from a distance they saw Liu Wangyu talking to the people around him, who nodded from time to time.

After a while, Liu Wangyu stood aside and cleared out some space. A young man pulled out a backpack, took out a piece of clothing, and handed it to an older man.

Shen Qingcheng took a closer look. Eh? He recognized these clothes!

TLN:

¹ Children’s Day (儿童节) is a holiday celebrated on June 1. Schools hold a bunch of activities such as movie viewings or camping trips, and presumably it’s normal to take pictures of the kids.

² 恨铁不成钢 means annoyance or anger that something or someone doesn’t have a specific quality that makes them stronger.

³ Laoge (老哥) is basically dage but less familiar.

Sorry for the late update, I way underestimated how badly piano would screw up my wrists.