Card Room

Chapter 35 - Bloody Maple Leaf: Revenge

In the interrogation room next door, the police interrogated the school leaders and those who knew the three missing people.

The first was the 25 year old male, a teacher at the school’s psychological centre.

According to the principal’s recollections, he was assigned by the Education Bureau five years ago. The Education Bureau placed great importance on the psychological counselling of the high school students and required the school to open a psychology course on a regular basis. The principal had to cooperate and also give him a psychological counselling office.

Si Han often went to his office for a period of time. Therefore, after Si Han fell, the police had investigated him. He said that Si Han’s grades had been going up and down and he was asked to consult. He also took out every record of his chats with Si Han so the police didn’t doubt him.

Based on the impression of his colleagues and the school leaders, he was a gentle, handsome and humorous teacher. He held weekly counselling classes and taught students about adjusting their mentality. The students liked and trusted him very much.

Strangely enough, he suddenly submitted his resignation two years ago. The principal had tried to persuade him at the time but he said it was for personal reasons.

A male teacher close to him broken the news that when this person had been drunk, he leaked the news that he fell in love with a woman and was ready to get married. The woman didn’t want to work in the same area as him and wanted to keep a bit of private space from each other. Therefore, he decided to resign and apply for the psychological counselling centre of a private hospital. The income of a hospital psychologist was much higher than a teacher.

Shortly after resigning, he disappeared and his case was reported by his family.

The ‘marriage partner’ he mentioned never showed up. When the police investigated, the person involved had been ‘drinking’ so these words couldn’t be taken seriously. They couldn’t find any evidence of his association with a woman and they ignored it.

Now that the old story was mentioned again, Xiao Lou heard this and his spirit was shocked. Was his marriage partner Zhang Qing?

At that time, Zhang Qing had been at the school for a year. She was young and beautiful and it was natural for a single man and woman to be attracted to each other. There was also a reason… for example, Zhang Qing didn’t want to go public so he kept it a secret.

Perhaps his resignation was also Zhang Qing’s suggestion.

She didn’t want to be in the same school as him and persuaded him to leave. Then she found a chance to kill him and buried his corpse in the maple forest.

The murderer was smart, calm and cruel, quietly playing the psychology teacher between her hands.

It was no wonder why this teacher’s death was caused by the skull being hit with a blunt instrument. It was very difficult for an adult male to be killed directly. However, what if it was someone close to him? For example, the fiancee he loved. In his sleep, she suddenly picked up an axe and slammed it against this head…

Xiao Lou imagined this and his back felt cold.

The disappearance of the psychological teacher became a pending case. Now that it was linked to the investigation of Si Han’s fall, the police also noticed something wrong. The moment the school leaders left, a police officer ordered, “The key is to check his fiancee. She is definitely a problem!”

The second missing person, the security guard had also come to the school five years ago and he was reportedly a relative of a vice-principal.

It was common for the school leaders to arrange their relatives as security guards for the school. Xiao Lou was no stranger to this after working at the university.

For the security guard, everyone’s evaluation was that they weren’t very familiar with him. They only knew that when he was idle, he liked to walk around the campus. Since his relative was one of the vice-principals, he was somewhat arrogant.

Xiao Liu, who worked as a security guard with him, said that he wasn’t very popular in the security team. He was too fond of pretending so everyone didn’t like him.

Shortly after his disappearance, his cousin who was the vice-principal was suspended by the Education Bureau on suspicion of gambling. The school wasn’t very concerned with the security guard’s disappearance because they thought he was also suspected of gambling and received retaliation by evil forces.

The third missing person, the language teacher surnamed Zhou suddenly went missing six months ago. His colleagues’ opinion of him was very high, stating that he was very talented. He liked poetry, his language classes were good and he wrote excellent words. He also liked to collect calligraphy and paintings and would copy a variety of calligraphy. He could even copy the renowned calligraphy masters.

Once Xiao Lou heard this, he was almost certain that the suicide note written by Si Han in the incident five years ago was done by the language teacher.

These interrogations ended and Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang met at the agreed upon air corridor.

They exchanged the information they received.

Yu Hanjiang stated, “Now we can determine that Zhang Qing is the one who killed Ying Xiaoya and Xie Xinghe is the one who poisoned the chocolates, but the relationship between them and Ying Xiaoya’s real cause of death isn’t clear.”

Xiao Lou added, “Zhang Qing should’ve used some means to hook the three murderers who killed Si Han. The psychological teacher was fascinated by her and almost married her. It is likely to be the same for the security guard and the language teacher. This would explain why she can easily kill three adult males when she is a woman.”

Lascivious activities could lead to bitter consequences, a lascivious man did reduce his wariness of a beautiful woman. Some women’s beauty was like a poisonous flower. It was easy to pick but could cause bruises and even death.

Yu Hanjiang glanced over at Xiao Lou. “If your reasoning is correct, the three people are very lustful. Then perhaps the truth of the Si Han incident is that the three people joined forces to… rape this beautiful schoolgirl?”

Xiao Lou’s face slightly paled. “There is this possibility.”

Therefore, when Zhang Qing implemented her revenge, she caught the weakness of their lust.

Xiao Lou frowned. “However, there should be no explanation for Ying Xiaoya’s case. Why would she kill Ying Xiaoya? When Si Han fell from the building five years ago, Ying Xiaoya was in middle school and should have nothing to do with this case. Moreover, Yu Hui’s confession mentioned that Ying Xiaoya’s parents are often away and their relationship with this case shouldn’t be big?”

Yu Hanjiang thought about it before whispering, “The Count of Monte Cristo, the protagonist only had three enemies. Zhang Qing killed the three people who murdered Si Han and there should be no fourth enemy.”

He paused and his gaze became very deep. “After successfully killing one enemy after another, Zhang Qing’s mentality has changed. She received adrenalin and a strong sense of superiority from the process of killing. Her planning was too precise and the police couldn’t feel any evidence. She feels that she is very smart…”

Xiao Lou was shocked. “Then Ying Xiaoya should be innocent and was accidentally implicated?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Based on Xie Xinghe’s desire to save Ying Xiaoya, it can be inferred that Ying Xiaoya should be innocent. Assume that Xie Xinghe knew all along. He also has the book ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ in his bag and this shows that he agreed with Zhang Qing’s way of revenge. Ying Xiaoya inadvertently found out about it and Zhang Qing wanted to quiet her. Xie Xinghe tried to stop it because he felt that Zhang Qing’s killing of her enemies was excusable but Ying Xiaoya’s killing would be excessive. Thus, he gave a warning and wanted to save this innocent girl, wanted to stop Zhang Qing… but he was a step too late.”

Xiao Lou followed Yu Hanjiang’s line of thought. “Zhang Qing is addicted to killing people and has enough experience. She faked the suicide note, bought the same shoes and pushed Ying Xiaoya off the building. Xie Xinghe probably didn’t expect her to act so fast. In Xie Xinghe’s original plan, he should’ve sent Ying Xiaoya or Yu Hui to the hospital for emergency treatment on Monday. The police would come to the school to investigate and during this time, he could persuade Zhang Qing to stop. As long as Zhang Qing didn’t kill Ying Xiaoya, Xie Xinghe wouldn’t expose her. The secret of Maple Forest would always stay a secret. Then he would create the illusion of mistakenly poisoning a student and this matter would be over.”

Unfortunately, he was a step too late.

Xie Xinghe underestimated Zhang Qing’s efficiency and cruelty and also overestimated his own plan.

His poison and Zhang Qing’s murder occurred at the same time. As a result, a series of cases were involved and the Si Han case five years ago, the disappearance cases in recent years and Ying Xiaoya’s fall were all connected together…

He failed to save Ying Xiaoya and failed to protect Zhang Qing.

Yu Hanjiang sighed. “Xie Xinghe is probably a relative of Zhang Qing and Si Han also had a blood relationship with them. Therefore, he didn’t stop Zhang Qing when she got revenge. It wasn’t until Zhang Qing’s psychological distortion started and the innocent Ying Xiaoya became involved that he wanted to stop her, but it was too late.”

Some murders might initially kill by mistake or kill one or two people for some purpose.

However, after the first successful crime, the murderer would find that killing someone was actually this simple and would receive great satisfaction. They would slowly fall in love with the feeling of killing and become a brutal serial killer.

Zhang Qing, a woman who wanted revenge for the innocent Si Han, finally turned into the person she hated most, killing an innocent girl with her own hands.

***

A prompt appeared in front of the two men at the same time.

[The inference results of the 3 of Hearts secret room. Please select:

The person who poisoned Ying Xiaoya: Xie Xinghe? Yes/No/Uncertain.

The person who pushed Ying Xiaoya off the building: Zhang Qing? Yes/No/Uncertain.

Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and the other person looked back at him. The two people exchanged a look.

This time, they didn’t hesitate to press the first option: Yes.

Unexpectedly, they had just pressed it when a line of blood red words appeared in front of their eyes.

[Congratulations to the challengers Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang for perfectly clearing the 3 of Hearts secret room. All clues have been found and the instance clearance time is 3 days, 3 hours and 24 minutes. The instance clearance score is 955 points and the world record for the 3 of Hearts secret room has been refreshed!]

It was a bit unexpected that they had perfectly cleared the instance.

Zhang Qing and Xie Xinghe had been taken away by the police and the clues had been found. Other people might not have found the ‘hidden plot’, such as the double kill of the 2 of Hearts secret room, which was the last hidden plot card.

In the 3 of Hearts secret room, Si Han’s real cause of death, the process of Zhang Qing’s revenge, the relationship between Zhang Qing and Xie Xinghe, and the reason why Ying Xiaoya was killed, these things were probably hidden plots and would be shown in the plot card.

Refreshing the world record… this seemed somewhat reasonable?

After all, it was a combination of a police officer and a forensic doctor. They discovered that Ying Xiaoya was poisoned one day in advance, went to the archives and laboratory in advance, woke up early for two consecutive mornings, climbed stairs, went through windows, avoided security guards…

After three tiring and exciting days, they had cleared the room but it was hard to calm down.

Xiao Lou remembered the morning when he saw Ying Xiaoya for the first time. The girl had run through the school gate in a panic, wearing a sweater and jeans. Her white eyes were as innocent as a white rabbit entering the forest.

She stood carefully in the back of the classroom, clenching her fists and holding back her tears.

In fact, even if Zhang Qing didn’t kill her, she wouldn’t have the courage to open her mouth. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape from this bad fate.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and stared at the maple forest of the school.

The first time he came to this world, the maple forest had been a spectacular sight. Now the ground was dug up and maple trees east to west were crooked. It was a mess and there were no longer a large number of maple leaves falling.

He and Group Leader Yu would leave here soon. Looking at this scene, he felt a strange feeling bubbling in his chest.

A good campus had been infected with too much blood. Xiao Lou couldn’t change the ending of the secret room. He could only hope that the students in the real world would be able to live their most simple and beautiful high school years.

Goodbye, Maple Forest High School.