Chapter 21: The Cross-Dressed Sansan
Sunday.
Today, there was another big scandal at C University.
The whole thing started when someone anonymously posted a video in the general group chats of all four grades at C University. The video was titled with the attention-grabbing and brutal phrase “Dream School Beauty K*lls Cat.”
With the words “school beauty” and “k*lls cat” in the title, everyone, whether interested in gossip or not, clicked to watch.
They saw, on a dark and windy night by Zhiming Lake, Wang Jun holding a black cat, trying to push it into the water, while behind her, Meng Nian had a face twisted with a sinister smile.
Anyone who saw that smile would think nothing good, especially in a situation clearly involving the attempted k*lling of a small animal.
“What are you doing?” the girl recording the video asked, her voice low and somewhat androgynous.
“Who’s there?” Meng Nian, the school beauty, was startled.
“Are you trying to k*ll this cat?”
“No!” the school beauty’s roommate quickly retorted. “We’re just playing with the cat!”
The black cat’s cries were shrill and desperate, far from sounding like it was being played with.
With this righteous student’s intervention, Meng Nian’s face darkened. “Delete the video immediately!”
The person recording seemed frightened and ran away, ending the video there.
The university students who watched the video were outraged.
Was this really their school beauty?
Even if she was usually arrogant, she shouldn’t be this malicious!
Who would try to k*ll a cat for no reason? And a girl, at that?
Could a student really do something like this?
“Got goosebumps. I greeted her the last time we ran into each other… Was she thinking about how to k*ll me then?”
“Unbelievable… Meng Nian’s smile is terrifying! So creepy.”
“When I watched the video, I was really worried for the brave student who recorded it because it seemed like she might be in danger…”
“Damn, watching someone try to dr*wn a cat with a smile—psychopath!”
“Spread the word, Meng Nian has fallen from grace. Time to pick a new school beauty.”
“Her two roommates are no better… Strongly demand their expulsion!”
“Count me in! Having classmates like this around is creepy.”
” … “
The video spread rapidly, even faster than the news of Feng Sa and Qi Sui almost getting into a fight over a first-year student yesterday. It wasn’t just known all over C University; even neighboring A University had heard about it.
The school’s administration quickly caught wind of the scandal. Given the uproar, they couldn’t ignore it.
After an emergency meeting, due to Meng Nian’s family’s influence, the school decided to issue a warning to Meng Nian and her two roommates. They stated that if they committed the same offense again, they would receive a major demerit or even face expulsion.
Whether the latter part of the statement was sincere or just for show was something only the school officials knew.
When Meng Nian received the news, her face turned pale, and she harbored a deep hatred for the person who recorded the video, vowing to find her and make her pay.
However, she did not connect this person with Su Mu. After all, Su Mu had behaved very “obediently” and agreed to her demands the previous day.
…
Su Mu was not surprised by the school’s handling of the situation.
But this was only her first step. The incident with Qi Sui had made Su Mu realize that if she didn’t resolve problems all at once, they would continue to create countless more issues.
However, Su Mu now had something more important to attend to.
At this moment, she was walking along a street in the city, aiming to gather more detailed information about the [Relief Points] task.
On her phone’s enlarged navigation screen, the final destination was an elementary school.
Meanwhile.
“Hongxing Elementary?” Feng Sa read the name aloud, unsure. “Are you sure, Senior? What could be unusual about an elementary school?”
The senior calmly sipped his tea. “It wasn’t my idea. The higher-ups said so. Just go.”
Feng Sa twitched his mouth. “It feels like another case of a cat getting into someone’s house, knocking over their bedding, and the owner, who lives alone, thinking it’s a paranormal event… Something like that.”
“Xiao Sa, you need to improve your work attitude,” the senior said sternly. “Regardless of what the truth is, we must investigate with a rigorous attitude. Otherwise, what if we miss something truly significant?”
“So… is this your excuse for passing this task off to me, Senior?”
“…Don’t be so blunt. I have other work to do.” The senior pulled out a document and instantly switched to a focused expression. “I need to start working. You should get going.”
“…” Feng Sa.
He was increasingly convinced that this so-called Bureau of Paranormal Investigation was unreliable.
“Alright.” He walked out of the office, yawned, and lazily took out his phone to call for a car.
*
At the entrance of Hongxing Elementary.
It was almost time for school to let out, and the school gate was surrounded by parents waiting to pick up their children.
Most of these parents were middle-aged, with few young people among them. But today, there was someone who stood out in the crowd.
It was a young man, wearing a mask and a baseball cap, standing at the outer edge of the group.
He leaned against a tree, dressed simply in a black T-shirt and black pants, his skin so fair it was almost dazzling. On his wrist was a watch that looked very expensive, and sharp-eyed onlookers had already recognized that the watch was worth at least a hundred thousand yuan.
The young man slightly lowered his head, his long fingers holding a phone, looking at something on the screen. The phone case was white with a black cat on it.
Although the young man’s face was not visible, his star-like demeanor suggested that his appearance must be extraordinary.
Parents whispered among themselves, speculating that he might have taken some time off from work today to pick up his younger sister from school.
The subject of the parents’ discussion was none other than Su Mu.
Today, she had applied makeup to make her features appear more pronounced, wore height-increasing insoles, and sported an expensive watch—all to completely differentiate herself from the student Su Mu.
There wasn’t a particular reason for Su Mu choosing this location; she simply needed a child for her experiment, as children were easier to deceive.
She waited quietly, and a few minutes later, the school bell rang. The elementary students poured out like a tide, and the surroundings became very lively.
Su Mu stood for a while, waiting for the crowd to thin out before selecting her target.
Her eyes scanned the crowd and she spotted a young child with a bruise on his arm, walking alone.
The child seemed to be in first grade, walking forward without looking around, possibly living nearby with no parent to pick him up.
Su Mu lowered the brim of her hat and followed the child.
They walked together for a while until the number of pedestrians dwindled. Su Mu suddenly quickened her pace and walked up to the child.
“Hello.”