Red is the color with the longest wavelength and the most vivid presence in the visible spectrum, while black is the exact opposite. When paired together, the two colors produce a strange visual effect.
The black house looked like a night sky, and the red little figure resembled blood. The two merged into one, creating an oppressive feeling.
"This child likes to stare blankly and draw whenever he has nothing to do. He doesn't go out to play—he just locks himself in his room all the time." The thin, dark-skinned woman had appeared at some point, carrying two cups of water in her hands. "I don't wish for anything anymore. I just want him to grow up happy like any normal child."
The woman handed one cup to
"All right." Chen Ge carried his cup back to the living room. The thin, dark-skinned woman sat down across from him.
"Do you have any other questions?" The woman seemed a bit uneasy.
"
The thin, dark-skinned woman nodded. Perhaps because of the heat, fine beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead.
"You mentioned before that Fan Yu's parents went missing while searching for him. Where was Fan Yu eventually found?"
"Muyang Middle School. He was hiding in my brother's office."
"Muyang Middle School again. That school seems to have incidents all the time."
"Who says otherwise?" The thin, dark-skinned woman sighed softly. "Muyang is the worst school in Jiujiang. I don't even know what purpose its existence serves. It used to have incidents all the time—fights, brawls, even the police got involved."
"That serious?" Chen Ge listened attentively. The woman's firsthand account was far more convenient than searching for information online.
"There are even more serious things." The thin, dark-skinned woman straightened up, looking very solemn. "That school is unclean. According to the elderly nearby, the original site was a crematorium. It was all demolished ages ago because of city planning. But think about it—building a school on that kind of ground, who knows what strange things it might have attracted. I tried to warn my brother back then, but he wouldn't listen."
"Why did your brother insist on teaching at Muyang Middle School?"
"The pay was decent, and besides, he'd made mistakes before, so finding a job wasn't easy. He went there planning to earn money, but in the end, he dragged my sister-in-law into this too."
"Made mistakes? Did he have enemies? Could his disappearance be the work of someone with a grudge?" Chen Ge immediately caught the detail in the woman's words.
"No, nothing like that. My brother loved to drink, and he was terrible when he did. He kept getting into trouble because of alcohol and was eventually fired by his school, leaving a blemish on his record. There are only so many schools in Jiujiang, and everyone knows what kind of trouble each person has been in. That's why it was so hard for him to find work."
"So it wasn't a revenge killing."
"Definitely not."
The woman's certainty made Chen Ge narrow his eyes. "How can you be so sure?"
"I won't hide it from you." The thin, dark-skinned woman pulled a photograph from the very back of a drawer and placed it on the table. "Ever since Muyang Middle School was founded, one classroom has always been locked—front and back doors sealed, students forbidden from entering. Except for the old principal, no one knew the reason. After the old principal passed away, it became an unsolved mystery. There are many legends about that classroom in the school—the crematorium's vengeful spirits hold classes inside, construction workers were killed in the unfinished classroom during the school's building, and so on. In short, it's a very ominous place."
"But what does that have to do with your brother's disappearance?" Chen Ge still didn't quite understand.
"Look at this photo."
Chen Ge took the photograph from the woman's hand. It showed a very eerie group photo.
A clearly drunk man sat dazed in the very center, and several rows of students stood around him, tall and short.
At first glance it looked like an ordinary graduation photo, but the problem was—all the students were standing with their backs to the camera!
And if you looked closely, you'd notice that every student's posture was strange, as though they were all standing on tiptoe.
"Where did this photo come from? Did the police see it?" Chen Ge placed the photograph on the table and wiped the sweat from his palms.
"The night before he disappeared, he'd stayed up drinking and watching a game with friends. Afterward, so he wouldn't be late for class, he stumbled straight to school. It wasn't fully light yet, and he thought he'd take a nap in the health room first. When he passed by a classroom, he saw a lot of people standing inside. He wondered which class was so diligent and stopped at the doorway for a moment. The people inside seemed to be preparing for a group photo, and when they saw him, they invited him to sit in the center. After the photo was taken, the students left. In the end, no one knew who had slipped the photo into his possession." The thin, dark-skinned woman's voice was calm, but the story she told was chilling.
"After my brother looked at the photo and realized everyone had their backs to the camera, the alcohol scared him sober. That was when he realized he was sitting right in front of the sealed classroom's door." The thin, dark-skapped woman pushed the photo toward Chen Ge. "He only told me and my sister-in-law about this. He figured it would pass after a while. Who could have known that something terrible would happen that very night. Little Yu went missing, and the two of them went out searching together—and all three disappeared. That's why I don't think it was a revenge killing. It has to do with that sealed classroom."
"What did the police say?" Chen Ge pushed the photograph back.
"They took the photo to Muyang Middle School to investigate. The students in the photo were all wearing Muyang Middle School uniforms, but none of those people were enrolled at the school. Later they opened the sealed classroom and searched it thoroughly, finding only my brother's shoe prints. It confirmed that my brother had indeed entered the classroom that day." The thin, dark-skinned woman's story was growing more and more unsettling.
"Understood." Chen Ge asked the woman a few more questions, but there were things she simply didn't know, offering only vague answers.
Once he was certain he wouldn't get anything new, Chen Ge stood up to leave.
"Leaving already? It's so hot outside—drink some water before you go?"
"No need." Chen Ge declined the woman's kindness and left the two-story building with his phone.
After his conversation with the woman, Chen Ge had a more complete picture of Muyang Middle School. "Muyang Middle School has a total of four side quests, and two of them are connected to the little boy's family."
He pulled Fan Yu's drawing from his pocket and studied it once more. The black and red colors seemed to be trying desperately to convey something. "A black house, a red little figure—is there some connection between these and Muyang Middle School? Could the patterns in the drawing be one of the school's buildings?"