Apart from books and the daily schedule,
"The key teeth on this ring are all different — they should open different doors."
Chen Ge didn't know why Xiao Lin possessed this set of keys, but he had a feeling they were related to Xiao Lin's "assignments."
"The schedule mentioned the dormitory. More clues must be hidden there, and I need to get over there as quickly as possible. I have a feeling that as time passes, things are only going to get worse."
The staff member was no longer by his side, and the Black Cell Phone's whereabouts were unknown. Every nerve in Chen Ge's body was taut — he had to give everything he had just to stay alive.
He casually pulled the curtain shut. No matter what thoughts churned in his head, on the surface Chen Ge always maintained an air of calm composure.
After finishing a lazy stretch, he slumped back over the desk, using the corners of his eyes to scrutinize his classmates.
With his attention honed to a razor's edge, Chen Ge committed every classmate's appearance to memory.
"I'm seeing all of these people for the first time. None of them carry any familiar aura — they look exactly like ordinary people." But anyone who could appear on the other side of a "door" couldn't possibly be ordinary. Chen Ge memorized their faces purely as a safeguard against being betrayed by those around him. "The person who was hiding under the bed got here before I did. If that was Chang Gu, then why can't I see him here? Has he moved to another classroom? Or was the person who pushed open the door not him at all?"
At first, Chen Ge had genuinely believed the person who pushed open the door in Chang Wenyu's hospital room was Chang Gu — after all, only the left eye could see that door, and the left eye was on Chang Gu's body.
But Chang Gu had been taken away by those "parents" for a period of time, so it wasn't impossible that something had gone wrong.
"I'd better stay cautious. There are no friends in the world behind a door, and trust doesn't exist."
Chen Ge mulled over his next move, trying to make sure every detail was airtight — because right now he simply couldn't afford to make a mistake. A single misstep in his choices, and death might become the merciful option.
Footsteps sounded at the classroom's front door. A moment later, the door was pushed open and a man with a center-parted hairstyle stepped up to the podium.
He wore an all-black outfit and clutched a white folder under his arm, looking for all the world like he was heading to a funeral.
The man's face was unnaturally pale, his expression tense as he set the folder down on the desk.
Without uttering a single word, he first counted the students in the classroom under his breath.
When he reached the last one, his expression gradually relaxed. He glanced down at the number on the folder: "Not one more, not one less."
His gaze swept over the students once more, and a smile spread across the man's face: "All right, class dismissed. Don't go wandering around tonight — things have been a bit unsettled around the school lately."
"Teacher Bai, has that peeping tom still not been caught? Do you need our help?" A burly-looking boy in the first row spoke up, wearing a basketball jersey and clearly someone who loved to exercise.
"That's none of your concern. Just don't go wandering around after class, and that'll be enough." Teacher Bai hurried out without another word, even forgetting to take the white folder with him.
"Xiao Lin, let's go — we're heading back to the dorm." Chen Ge's deskmate packed up his textbooks and shouldered his backpack, ready to leave. He seemed to be on good terms with Xiao Lin.
"Hold on a second." Chen Ge slowly organized his backpack, but his eyes were fixed on the white folder sitting on the podium.
He activated his Yin Eyes and saw that the table on the folder's front page tallied the headcount for each class.
Each class was assigned one teacher, and each teacher appeared to be counted toward that class's total headcount.
"Class D, seventeen people?" The classroom door was marked with a class designation — Chen Ge was in Class D. And the number of people in this classroom, as he had just counted, was indeed exactly seventeen.