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墨書 Inktalez
We rushed through the rain to the School Security Office, where someone was already reviewing the surveillance footage. The teacher mentioned that this monitoring system had only been installed at the beginning of the year, and it was limited to the entrances of various dormitories and a few school gates, not yet widely implemented. Still, I felt grateful for what we had.
After a short wait, the footage was pulled up. Jinghe, as Fu Yuehua's class monitor, was visibly anxious, rubbing his hands together in a state of confusion and helplessness. I didn’t have time to comfort him; I stepped closer to the screen and focused on the video.
The image was relatively clear despite the poor weather, and I could see people coming and going. The camera faced inward, so anyone exiting the building would be clearly visible.
The New Girls' Dormitory had only one entrance at the front with no back door. Therefore, if Fu Yuehua left the building, she had to go through this door. I just wanted to confirm one thing: whether she had actually left or was still inside. With so many rooms in the building, who knew if she might have gone to chat with someone or received a call from a friend asking her to come over for something?
Since we were unsure of the exact time frame, we sped up the playback based on Jinghe's information about her returning to school around 12:30 PM. We started rewinding from that point. Before long, we spotted Fu Yuehua and some girls from her class entering the dormitory. Jinghe pointed at one of their silhouettes and said, "That’s Fu Yuehua; she went in with them."
I looked closely; she was wearing a blue plaid long dress. At that moment, we could only see her back as these girls chatted and laughed while walking inside.
I slowed down the footage and continued watching intently. The counselor, Jinghe, along with Fu Yuehua's class leader and dorm leader, were all fixated on the screen, afraid of missing any detail or timing. We kept watching until the timestamp reached 2:20 PM.
Due to lunchtime napping and the bad weather, there weren't many people coming in or out of the dormitory, so it was unlikely anyone would be missed. At exactly 2:20 PM, Fu Yuehua appeared on camera.
However, unlike in the morning when she wore a dress, Fu Yuehua was now dressed casually in a T-shirt and shorts with flip-flops on her feet. From her outfit, it seemed she wasn’t headed anywhere far; that was my first judgment.
But when I saw Fu Yuehua walk past the camera, my heart sank—not for any other reason but because of her expression: it was strange, almost a smile but also indifferent. Even more bizarrely, her eyes were half-open.
This is troubling. I wasn't sure if this was sleepwalking, but I knew something was wrong.
"Does Fu Yuehua have a history of sleepwalking?" I turned to ask her dorm leader, holding onto a glimmer of hope.
"We haven't noticed anything during this time," came the reply.
Great, another problem. I thought for a moment before looking back at the footage. The dorm leader and class monitor rushed out; they must have come looking for me since it was clear that Fu Yuehua had left and hadn’t returned. There was no need to keep watching.
After pondering for a bit, I said to those around me, "Let’s check her dorm; there should be some clues."
At this point, everyone seemed at a loss. The counselor hesitated before quickly suggesting, "Why don’t we call the police? They’re nearby."
I glanced at her and replied, "It hasn’t been long since she went missing; they won’t take our report yet. We should search first; maybe we’ll find something."
Thus, with my insistence, we braved the rain again and made our way to the Girls' Dormitory building.
At this moment, many girls had already gotten up, and the number of people coming and going increased. Quite a few looked at us with curiosity, probably wondering how a few soldiers ended up here—me, Sheng Xiong, and Jinghe. We felt awkward too, especially since we encountered several girls dressed lightly while passing through the hallways. However, we couldn't afford to dwell on that; our counselor urged everyone to get on with their tasks while leading us to Fu Yuehua's dormitory.
This dormitory was located opposite the Boys' Dormitory, and the door was open. Inside, there was only one girl left behind by the dorm leader. She informed us that the other girls had been assigned to each floor to find out where Fu Yuehua had gone. It was possible that the girls here could see which direction she took through the windows. Although this method seemed a bit clumsy, it proved effective; the dorm leader clearly had some brains.
Fu Yuehua's bed was next to the window, with a thin blanket half-draped over it. Her shoes were still under the bed, and her phone was charging on the bedside table—one of those simple Sticky Duck models that I was most familiar with. I walked over and picked it up to check; there were no missed calls. Looking at the call log, there were no unfamiliar numbers dialed out either. The most recent call was from last night, labeled: Dad.
I glanced at her desk, which held some small jewelry and a wallet.
It seemed she really had left in a hurry, I thought to myself. But what could have been so urgent that she went out dressed so casually without taking anything? I furrowed my brow, deep in thought.
The others were looking around behind me, and I didn't take much time to consider things carefully at that moment. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have brought Sheng Xiong and Jinghe up here since it was a Girls' Dormitory; many undergarments were either hanging in the room or lying on the beds, which could be quite embarrassing. But at that time, I really didn't think about it in such detail.
Without further ado, I felt extremely anxious inside but had to maintain a calm expression. To avoid letting everyone see my unease, I turned my back to them and walked over to the window to look outside.
At first glance, I was drawn to the Old Dormitory Building before me. For some reason, during these sunny days, it was hard to notice this building; all attention was captured by the sunlit lawn and green trees. But today, under such stormy weather, this building clearly took center stage, making it hard not to look at it.
You might wonder why; I wouldn't know how to answer that. It felt as if something glaringly out of place in my line of sight clashed with its surroundings, compelling me to notice it.
I stared at it, feeling as if it were a monster crouching there. The back door resembled a dark maw ready to swallow anything that came near—ominous in the gloomy rain, making me feel extremely uncomfortable. I couldn't help but shiver.
Just then, a flash of lightning suddenly illuminated everything below as bright as day. I felt like I discovered something unusual; what exactly was different?
I focused intently on the Old Building; every window appeared dark and opaque as if each one contained eyes staring back at me.
A wave of fear surged within me—an instinctive human fear of the unknown. I swallowed hard and tried to force my gaze away from the building itself when suddenly another flash of lightning struck. My heart raced as realization dawned on me about what was wrong.
The iron gate leading down from the Girls' Dormitory towards the stone steps of the Old Building was wide open—I widened my eyes in shock.
Yes, it was open.
My heart began to race faster. Could it be that Fu Yuehua had gone into the Old Building? What the hell! Memories of her fainting there before flooded my mind, sending chills down my spine as I consciously tried not to entertain any subjective speculations.
"Report!" A female voice suddenly rang out behind me.
I took a deep breath and turned my head, seeing a short-haired girl with dark hair standing at the door. I asked in confusion, "Who are you?"
"Instructor, I'm from this dormitory. The dorm leader just asked us to split up and find out the whereabouts of Fu Yuehua." She paused for a moment, hesitating before continuing, "I just asked someone upstairs, and a Senior Sister said she seemed to have seen a girl go down from in front of our building to the Old Building."
What the hell! My heart raced; it was as if my fears were coming true.
"Quickly go find her," I said, realizing there was no other option.
I dashed out of the dormitory and ran downstairs, shouting, " Sheng Xiong, Jinghe, go back and gather everyone. Get into the Old Building and search room by room. Don't miss any rooms. Other girls, stay back."
Sheng Xiong and Jinghe responded from behind. As Jinghe descended the stairs, she timidly asked, "What about you, Company Commander?"
"We'll split up. I'll head directly to the top floor of the Old Building and work my way down. You all bring people along; one squad per floor to save time and improve efficiency."
Five floors mean one squad per floor—ten people per floor—at most twenty rooms on each floor. As long as everyone arrives quickly, we should be able to find out if Fu Yuehua is inside. This was the fastest way. At that moment, most of the soldiers had returned; they should gather quickly. It would take no more than ten minutes for everyone to get into the building. I thought I had considered everything thoroughly, but at that time, I had no idea that ten minutes could hold many possibilities.
To be continued; tomorrow will be even more exciting.
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