Xiao Lou pretended to be a new teacher and followed the students of Class 3 of Senior Three to the playground.
He walked around the playground openly, seemingly observing the school environment as a new teacher, but in reality, he was keeping a close eye on the students in Class 3—especially the four students whose names had appeared before: Ying Xiaoya, Xie Xinghe, Yu Hui, and Yi Ru.
The tragedy hasn't happened yet, and we don't know what role these students play in the case. They could all become victims, murderers, witnesses, or important clues.
Therefore, no clue, however small, should be overlooked.
The students of Class 3 ran around the playground together under the supervision of their homeroom teacher.
Class monitor Xie Xinghe's face was stiff. Judging from his performance in English class, Xie Xinghe was a top student who was well-liked by the teacher. As class monitor, he was also quite responsible. He had a refined appearance, a slender build, wore a white shirt under his school uniform, and a pair of scholarly glasses, perfectly fitting the image of a "top student."
Yu Hui, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was handsome and had a strong physique, clearly the result of long-term exercise. He was wearing a pair of very professional brand-name basketball shoes, suggesting he enjoyed playing basketball and was the type of athletic boy who would be popular with high school girls.
Ying Xiaoya is a pretty girl with delicate features, but her grades are a bit poor.
Her deskmate, Yi Ru, was a chubby girl with an ordinary appearance.
Xiao Lou carefully observed the interactions between the four people and quickly realized that Ying Xiaoya and Yu Hui had an unusual relationship. Yu Hui always protected Ying Xiaoya intentionally or unintentionally and even secretly slipped Ying Xiaoya a chocolate. This scene did not escape Xiao Lou's eyes.
Yi Ru seemed to have a crush on the aloof class monitor, glancing at Xie Xinghe several times while running.
As for Xie Xinghe, he had a sour face the whole time. Obviously, he did well in his studies and was unhappy about being punished along with everyone else.
After running ten laps, the homeroom teacher told everyone to stop and rest, and then said, " Yu Hui, rest for ten minutes, then continue running laps! Ying Xiaoya, come with me to the office."
He called Ying Xiaoya into his office for a private talk, and Xiao Lou immediately followed him on alert.
Xiao Lou knew the school's layout like the back of his hand. There were sky bridges connecting the administration building and the three teaching buildings. The homeroom teacher could walk up to the third floor of the senior year teaching building and then walk through the sky bridge to the Chinese language office at the corner.
The office was unusually quiet, as no one was there. Therefore, the sounds inside reached Xiao Lou's ears very clearly.
The homeroom teacher sighed and said, "Xiaoya, in this monthly exam, your score is the lowest in the whole grade. You got 15 points in English, 20 points in Chinese, 10 points in combined science, and in math... you actually got 0 points!"
Xiao Lou: "..."
This girl's grades are terrible.
Ying Xiaoya lowered her head, bit her lip, and twisted her hands tightly together.
The homeroom teacher continued, " Xie Xinghe scored 150 points in math alone, while you only got 50 points in all your subjects combined, which is just a fraction of his score in one subject. Tell me, what's wrong with you lately?"
Ying Xiaoya remained silent.
The homeroom teacher tapped on the desk, her voice stern: "Are you busy dating Yu Hui?!"
Ying Xiaoya's face suddenly turned deathly pale. She clenched her fingers and said in a trembling voice, "No! Teacher, Yu Hui and I are just good, good friends, really, please believe me..."
The homeroom teacher stared at her coldly: "I've been through this before, do you think I can't see it? That kid Yu Hui brings you chocolate every day, and he walks home with you after school every night. A lot of people in the class have seen it and say that you and he were talking about something at the school gate late at night."
Ying Xiaoya wanted to argue, but her homeroom teacher interrupted her directly: "No need to explain. You're young and naive right now, it's normal to like someone. However, you're already a senior in high school, you need to understand that your studies are the most important thing right now."
" Yu Hui's academic performance isn't good, and he's already told me he wants to go to a sports school. You can focus on your studies first, get into the same city as him, and then you can start dating later, okay? Don't let this affect your future!"
The homeroom teacher was reasonable enough to patiently guide the students who were in early romantic relationships instead of giving them a severe scolding.
He took out a report card and said, "You scored 350 points in the last monthly exam, which is average in the class. You've always studied diligently, and I thought you'd improve this time. But your score plummeted—from 350 to 50!" He pushed the report card in front of Ying Xiaoya and looked at her helplessly. "Tell me, is being in a relationship having too much of an impact on you?"
Ying Xiaoya's hands were almost twisted into a pretzel; she seemed very conflicted. After a long while, she whispered, "Teacher, it's not what you think. My grades have dropped recently because..."
Xiao Lou vertical
She strained her ears, just as she was about to hear some crucial information, when a young Chinese language teacher pushed open the office door. He was taken aback when he saw her, then smiled and said, "Old Zhao, are you scolding your students again?"
Ying Xiaoya's face turned pale, and she lowered her head, refusing to speak.
The teacher's arrival was really untimely. The homeroom teacher smiled and said, "Alright, go ahead. Remember what I said: prioritize your studies. We can discuss everything else after the college entrance exam. You are a very serious and hardworking student. I believe that as long as you focus on your studies, your grades will definitely catch up."
Ying Xiaoya remained silent for a moment, bowed deeply to the teacher, and turned to leave.
The female teacher who had just entered poured herself a cup of coffee and asked gossipily, "Old Zhao, is this Ying Xiaoya? The one who's last in the whole grade?"
The homeroom teacher rubbed his temples with a headache: "This girl is probably in a relationship. Her grades have plummeted. She even got a zero on her math test. I thought I was seeing things when I saw it."
The female teacher burst out laughing: "How did you get 0 points? Did you just guess randomly on the multiple-choice questions and not get a single one right?"
Teacher Zhao shook her head and sighed, "I don't know how she did on the test. She got every single question wrong. Sigh, kids these days..."
The two began to lament, "Students these days are so hard to manage," and "We were so innocent back then"... The ensuing conversation was rather pointless and lacked any real information. Xiao Lou noticed that Ying Xiaoya was leaving the office dejectedly, so he quietly followed her.
Ying Xiaoya walked directly back to Class 3 of Senior Three in Chongwen Building from the sky corridor. Xiao Lou found Yu Hanjiang waiting for him in the corridor.
A man with such a strong presence as Yu Hanjiang stood in the middle of the corridor, yet Ying Xiaoya didn't even glance at him as she passed by—the girl seemed lost and disoriented, her steps as if she were sleepwalking.
Yu Hanjiang frowned as he looked at her retreating figure.
Just then, the bell rang, and teachers and students from each class came out of the classroom. Some teachers who were going back to their offices noticed Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang, two unfamiliar faces, and would look at them with suspicion.
Xiao Lou smiled slightly at them, walked confidently towards Yu Hanjiang, and said, "Teacher Yu, I was just looking for you."
Yu Hanjiang played along, saying, "Teacher Xiao, I have something to discuss with you. Let's talk as we walk."
The two walked side by side down the sky corridor without looking at each other, and passersby assumed they were teachers from another grade and did not suspect anything.
Having a large school has its advantages. With so many teachers, teachers from different grades might only see each other a few times a year. The two of them calmly blended in as "teachers," avoiding the surveillance cameras in the teaching building, and quickly made their way to the corner.
Yu Hanjiang stopped and asked in a low voice, "Did you find anything?"
Xiao Lou lowered his voice and quickly told Captain Yu what he knew: "The homeroom teacher just spoke to Ying Xiaoya alone. She used to have good grades, around the middle level, but this time she actually got the lowest score in the whole grade. Her grades suddenly plummeted, so she must have experienced a major change in her life. The homeroom teacher concluded that she was dating Yu Hui, but I always feel there are other reasons."
Yu Hanjiang said thoughtfully, "I found a love letter in Ying Xiaoya's drawer. It was printed, unsigned, and I couldn't determine its origin. Also, there was a piece of paper tucked in Ying Xiaoya's book. It was covered in scribbles and had the same sentence repeated over and over again: What should I do?"
The homeroom teacher sent all the students to the playground to run, leaving the classroom of Class 3 of Senior Three empty and unlocked. Obviously, this was the opportunity that Secret Room World gave them—deliberately leaving time for Challenger to collect clues.
Yu Hanjiang's on-site evidence-gathering skills were even more professional than Xiao Lou's; he searched the entire classroom in just twenty minutes.
He quickened his pace to tell Xiao Lou his findings: " Yu Hui's bag contained a box of chocolates and a girl's scarf; Xie Xinghe's bag was full of reference materials, but we unexpectedly found a novel, ' The Count of Monte Cristo '; Yi Ru's drawer contained an exquisite gift box with some folded origami cranes inside. The other students should not be related to the case, as their bags only contained textbooks."
Xiao Lou stroked his chin and concluded, "So, Yu Hui and Xie Xinghe might both like Ying Xiaoya; Yi Ru might like one of the boys and folded a thousand paper cranes to give to him?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "Let's take another look. I don't think it's that simple."
Xiao Lou also fell into deep thought.
Curses, love letters, chocolate, origami cranes, the classic novel " The Count of Monte Cristo " —Ying Xiaoya's grades suddenly plummeted. What connection could these clues possibly have?
***
The second class was math class.
The math teacher had the class monitor distribute the papers and said coldly, "In this exam, our class has two extremes— Xie Xinghe got a perfect score of 150, the only perfect scorer in the entire grade. And there's another student who got 0 in math, also the only 0 in the entire grade."
The whole class looked at each other, seemingly searching for the unlucky student who got a zero.
Ying Xiaoya lowered her head and clutched the test paper tightly in her hand.
The math teacher said, "We'll go over the test in this class. Those who didn't do well, reflect on your mistakes. Copy the questions you got wrong ten times."
Nothing happened during the entire class. The math teacher calmly went over the test paper, and Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang listened to the whole class on trigonometric functions, equations, and spatial vectors... Yu Hanjiang got a headache listening to it, but Xiao Lou listened with great interest.
The second class ended right before the break for morning exercises. Xie Xinghe frowned and looked at Ying Xiaoya, saying, "Not wearing the school uniform during the break for morning exercises will result in a deduction in the class's score. Don't go. Switch with someone and stay in the classroom to do your assigned cleaning duty."
Ying Xiaoya nodded gently.
Yu Hui walked over and put his arm around a boy's shoulder: "Dude..."
"Okay, let's switch. Today it's my turn to be on duty."
The boy glanced at him, then at Ying Xiaoya, gave her a knowing look, and ran away with a smile.
Soon, the students filed out, leaving only Yu Hui and Ying Xiaoya in the classroom.
Yu Hui asked in a low voice, "What did the teacher say when he called you over?"
Ying Xiaoya said with a pale face, "N-nothing, it was just something about me studying hard..."
Yu Hui scratched her head in frustration: "What's wrong with you this time? I remember your English used to be pretty good, your scores were always around 70 points, how come you only got 15 points this time?"
Ying Xiaoya was extremely frustrated, her voice almost breaking into tears: "I...I filled in the wrong answer sheet."
"…Damn." Yu Hui walked over, gently ruffled her hair, and said, "Don't mind her. Teacher Zhang is going through menopause lately and she's been yelling at people every day. She's already being lenient by only making you stand as punishment. Last time she even hit me with a ruler. It's just a monthly exam. Just do well next time."
Ying Xiaoya finally smiled and said, "Mm."
The two chatted and swept the floor together, the sunlight streaming through the curtains and falling on them, creating a warm and beautiful scene.
Yu Hui suddenly remembered something, took out a scarf and chocolate from his bag, and handed them to her, saying, "This is a gift I bought for you. Today is your eighteenth birthday—Happy birthday, Xiaoya."
Ying Xiaoya was stunned for a moment, then tears welled up in her eyes. She trembled as she took the scarf and said, "Thank you..."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance.
The conversation between Yu Hui and Ying Xiaoya reveals a crucial piece of information: today is Ying Xiaoya's eighteenth birthday. This girl is really unlucky; on her birthday, she was punished by being made to stand in English class, was taken in for a lecture by her homeroom teacher, and even got a zero on her math test...
Perhaps for her, this scarf was the only warmth she had on her 18th birthday.
***
After the morning exercises, in the third physics class, the teacher continued to go over the test. Ying Xiaoya's combined science score was the lowest, and she was scolded by the physics teacher again. The girl's face grew paler and paler.
During the fourth period, a burly young male teacher suddenly walked in and said, "Your chemistry teacher is sick and on leave today. Tomorrow afternoon, the first period of PE class will be swapped with today's fourth period of chemistry class. — The PE monitor will take everyone to the basketball court to warm up!"
Yu Hui stood up and led the students to the sports field.
The PE teacher simply organized an intra-class basketball game, dividing the boys into two groups to compete against each other. Yu Hui and Xie Xinghe happened to be on the two teams.
Yu Hui, the sports committee member, is tall and has an exceptionally high shooting percentage. Surprisingly, Xie Xinghe, who appears slender and refined, is also a pretty good basketball player. After several rounds, the score remained neck and neck.
At 25:23, Yu Hui's impressive dunk drew excited screams from the girls around him.
At 25:26, Xie Xinghe actually made a three-pointer.
Yu Hui grabbed the rebound and dribbled the ball quickly past his opponent, encountering Xie Xinghe's block near the paint. He raised an eyebrow, made a feint to the left, and then dribbled the ball in the opposite direction to break through. However, Xie Xinghe seemed to have anticipated this and deliberately went to block him on the right. Yu Hui's movement was too fast, and the two collided with a "bang".
Xie Xinghe was knocked to the ground by the huge impact, his knees turning blue; Yu Hui was not faring any better, hitting his head and bleeding profusely.
The solid impact ignited Yu Hui's fury. He stood up and forcefully grabbed Xie Xinghe's collar, wiping the blood from his face as he cursed, "You fucking did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Xie Xinghe dusted himself off: "I was acting in self-defense. You're blind and you still had to bump into me."
The PE teacher went to answer the phone and wasn't there. The two started fighting, and the classroom erupted into chaos. Boys from both sides grappled and swore, while girls nervously tried to break it up. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang stood watching from a distance, when suddenly they heard a cold, automated notification: "Security is approaching, 20 meters, 15 meters..."
Four security guards patrolling the school saw the students fighting and immediately ran over.
Without hesitation, Yu Hanjiang grabbed Xiao Lou's arm and turned to leave!
If you are discovered by security guards, you will be eliminated immediately—security guards are the only obstacle in the Red Heart 3 escape room, and you must never run into them head-on.
Four security guards surrounded them from four directions, leaving the two with nowhere to hide. If Captain Yu hadn't reacted quickly, they would have been caught red-handed.
Yu Hanjiang pulled Xiao Lou behind a big tree and hid him.
Captain Yu was running too fast. Xiao Lou was being pulled along and almost tripped. He took a deep breath, still shaken, and looked towards the basketball court.
The chaotic fight was quickly quelled. Yu Hui and Xie Xinghe both had blood on their faces. The PE teacher rushed over and, with a stern face, made all the students in the class stand as punishment.
Xiao Lou's gaze swept around, and his back suddenly stiffened: " Where is Ying Xiaoya?"
Yu Hanjiang also noticed that Ying Xiaoya was not in the queue, and his face immediately turned grim: "She took advantage of the chaos to leave!"
The next moment, a girl's scream suddenly rang out from not far behind.
A piercing scream, its decibel level soaring to the extreme, almost piercing eardrums: "Ahhh—"
The security guards were startled and immediately ran towards the scream. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou couldn't run into the guards head-on, so they quickly followed behind them, trying to find buildings and trees to cover themselves.
However...
As soon as they turned the corner, the two realized the reason for the screams.
Directly below Xingzhi Building, on the concrete ground next to the flower bed, a girl was lying quietly, motionless.
.
Her profile was obscured by the glaring blood, her short, black hair disheveled, and the blood flowing from below her head was slowly spreading outwards, staining the white scarf around her neck red.
—That scarf was the 18th birthday gift that Yu Hui had just given to Ying Xiaoya.
Xiao Lou gasped.
Ying Xiaoya actually jumped off a building right under his and Yu Hanjiang's noses!
Author's Note: The escape room setting will differ from the real world, so please don't project it onto reality. For example, if the English teacher asks for a translation related to "curse," the security guard will create obstacles for the Challenger, and the fact that the teacher and students don't know them will make it easier for them to gather evidence.
The entire plot serves to solve the mystery for Challenger.