"No one will survive,"
"We can't just sit and wait for the killer to come and harm us," Liang Fang suddenly spoke up. "I think he must still be in the villa. Let's act together and flush him out."
"Hindsight is always 20/20. Why didn't I see you speak up earlier?" Qin Wenguang sarcastically retorted, clearly still resentful about Liang Fang exposing his secrets.
"Even hindsight is better than being a hypocrite like you," Liang Fang frowned and said disdainfully.
"Can you two ancestors stop arguing? It's almost three o'clock. Let's think about how to please Lord Yanwang. Maybe if he's happy, we can be reincarnated sooner," Qiu Yanping suddenly interrupted, breaking the tension between the two. But it was undeniable that Qiu Yanping's words added a touch of horror to the already solemn atmosphere. The passing time was like a group of ants gnawing on a rope on the guillotine. As soon as the rope broke, the ruthless blade above them would cut off their heads, mercilessly taking away their small and fragile lives. This fear of the unknown and death seemed to have lowered the temperature in the room, and even though the doors and windows were closed, everyone still felt a chill. What was even more eerie was that even though they knew someone would die in the villa, no one knew who would be so unfortunate.
"What's wrong, Teacher Chen!" Zhang Jing saw Chen Jun suddenly clutching his chest in pain and quickly rushed to his bedside.
"Help... help me..." Chen Jun gasped heavily, intermittently speaking with a weak voice.
"Could it be a heart attack? Can someone help him..." Qiu Yanping said, unintentionally taking a few steps back.
"I brought nitroglycerin. I'll go get it!" Zhang Jing said and rushed out of the room.
"It's almost three o'clock. Is he going to be the next one to die?" Qiu Yanping muttered softly.
Although Ye Shu didn't have a good impression of Chen Jun, hearing Qiu Yanping say that, a wave of anger surged within him.
"Qiu Teacher, you have no humanity. He is your colleague!" Ye Shu scolded.
"I..." Qiu Yanping obviously didn't expect a junior to dare to confront her like this. She looked surprised for a moment but quickly regained her composure and coldly said to Ye Shu, "You uncultured brat, you must have been unlucky in your past life to be taught by Zhang Jing."
While speaking, Zhang Jing returned to the room with a small bottle of medicine and fed it to Chen Jun. Although Chen Jun's breathing had stabilized somewhat, he still had a confused consciousness and pale lips. With less than ten minutes left until three o'clock, Qiu Yanping's words, although harsh, made everyone start to doubt. And in the midst of their doubts, the thoughts of the others subtly changed.
"Should I make a phone call to see if we can contact someone outside?" Xu Xin suddenly spoke up after a long silence.
Everyone's eyes lit up, and Yu Hang and Liu Wenying's mysterious disappearance made them forget about the option of making a phone call.
"Then please do, Mr. Xu." Qin Wenguang politely said, feeling slightly relieved.
After receiving a positive reply, Xu Xin turned and left the room.
"I need to go back to my room to get my blood pressure medication." Qin Wenguang muttered to himself as he stood up with the support of the armrest.
"Wait for me, brother-in-law!" Qiu Yanping also quickly stood up. Because of her thoughtless words earlier, she had become the target of everyone's criticism, and in this situation, only her brother-in-law could be trusted.
Qin Wenguang's face showed a difficult expression, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
On the side, Zhang Jing watched as the three of them left one after another, wanting to say something but hesitating. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was gradually starting to believe that Chen Jun was the next unlucky one. But at the same time, a question arose in his mind: how did the killer manage to kill Chen Jun when everyone was present? After all, there were no witnesses when Yu Hang and Liu Wenying disappeared. He even wondered if all of this was just a poorly executed prank, designed by someone with ill intentions to mock them.
"It shouldn't be. It doesn't make sense at all," Zhang Jing shook his head, thinking to himself.
"Ye Shu, where did you put that hand? And Liu Wenying's prenatal examination report, let me see if I can find any connections," Zhang Jing turned to Ye Shu and said.
"It's in the wardrobe over there, wrapped in a towel. The report is in my..." Ye Shu said, preparing to take out the report from his pocket, but unexpectedly found it empty. He was puzzled and began to recall where he might have put it.
"It's gone," Zhang Jing opened the wardrobe and found that the severed hand had disappeared, leaving only a towel.
"It's impossible, I clearly put it here. President Qin also saw it," Ye Shu said in astonishment.
Just as the two were puzzled, Chen Jun on the bed opened his eyes, weakly coughing a few times. The three people in the room heard the sound and gathered around Chen Jun's bedside.
"How are you, Teacher Chen? Are you feeling better?" Zhang Jing asked with concern.
"My heart has never been good, and tonight's shock made it act up," Chen Jun said, although he resented Zhang Jing in his heart, he couldn't lose face at this moment and reluctantly spoke.
"Without a life of wealth and prosperity, all I get are diseases of the wealthy. Just causing trouble for everyone," Liang Fang frowned, still looking superior and mocking.
Chen Jun's face turned angry. He couldn't stand Liang Fang's domineering attitude, and now that everyone was in danger, he no longer had any reservations. He directly confronted Liang Fang and said, "I used to see you in a high position, and I had to ask for your help. But if you continue to act superior, believe me, you will be the next one to die!"
Liang Fang knew she was in the wrong and just snorted, not continuing the argument. On the other hand, although Zhang Jing and Chen Jun didn't usually get along, Zhang Jing was still relieved to see Chen Jun safe. Seeing this, Ye Shu couldn't help but find it amusing, but in an instant, he realized a terrifying problem: Chen Jun was not the one who died at three o'clock.
The others also noticed the abnormality, and the room fell silent.
"Why are you following me?" Qin Wenguang looked at his sister-in-law with disdain.
"Sister's husband, I didn't know you had high blood pressure. Where did you get the blood pressure medication?" Qiu Yanping wasn't stupid. She knew Qin Wenguang must be hiding something from her.
"Don't be sarcastic. Just sit outside and wait for me. We'll go back as soon as I get what I need," Qin Wenguang adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and glared at Qiu Yanping.
"Even at a time like this, you still have something you don't want me to know. Could it be that you're the killer?" Qiu Yanping intentionally raised her voice by an octave.
Qin Wenguang quickly covered her mouth, afraid of alarming others. Although he harbored resentment, he couldn't do anything to Qiu Yanping. He clenched his fist and turned back into the room, locking the door behind him. Seeing Yu Hang and Liu Wenying die, a strange sense of relief surged within Qin Wenguang. Qiu Yanping was right; he did have some things he couldn't let others know, and he used the excuse to go back to his room to destroy some things.
"It's better that he's dead. It saves me from worrying," Qin Wenguang sneered and took out two pages of paper folded together from the inside pocket of his jacket. He lit them with a lighter. Qin Wenguang was satisfied as he watched the flickering flames. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and the flames went out.
Outside the door, Qiu Yanping grew impatient. Qin Wenguang had been inside for seven or eight minutes but showed no signs of coming out. She stood up and walked towards the room, tapping on the door impatiently, "President Qin, are you okay? You're not sleeping, are you?"
After tapping for a while, there was no response from inside. She twisted the doorknob and found that the door was not locked.
"Qin..." Qiu Yanping was stunned. Qin Wenguang was gone, and his gold-rimmed glasses were shattered on the floor, with the broken lenses seemingly silently telling the story of their owner's fate. There was also a half-burnt piece of paper in the ashtray. Qiu Yanping was filled with terror. Cold sweat broke out on her back, and just as she was about to scream, a figure appeared behind the door. The person's hand silently stabbed a knife towards her throat.
Outside the door, footsteps could be heard. It was Zhang Jing and Ye Shu, who came to look for Qin Wenguang and Qiu Yanping after realizing something was wrong. After entering the room, they found that Qin Wenguang and Qiu Yanping had mysteriously disappeared, leaving only Qin Wenguang's beloved gold-rimmed glasses and a broken jade bracelet behind.
"Dang... Dang... Dang..." The two heard the sound and saw the scene in front of them, feeling as if they were facing funeral bells.
On the other side, shortly after Zhang Jing and Ye Shu left, Xu Xin returned to the room.
"Damn it, the phone couldn't get through. The rain was too heavy. Wait..." Seeing that there were only Liang Fang and Chen Jun in the room, Xu Xin felt a sense of unease and cautiously asked Liang Fang, "Where are the other two teachers? Could it be..."
"They went to find President Qin. They just left," Liang Fang, although still maintaining her cold demeanor, felt a chill when she heard the sound of the clock. Her body trembled slightly.
"We shouldn't have any problems, right?" Chen Jun lay on the bed, feeling that his heart was hurting again.
While the three of them were nervous, Zhang Jing and Ye Shu returned.
"President Qin and Teacher Qiu are gone. Only these glasses and bracelet are left," Zhang Jing took out the two items from his pocket and placed them in front of everyone. "But the severed hand and the prenatal examination report seem to have been taken by someone. Now we only have these left." Zhang Jing's face was solemn as he spoke word by word to everyone.
The severed hand, the blood-stained prenatal examination report, the broken glasses, and the cracked jade bracelet were all personal or private items of the four people. Now they were openly displayed, and even though they hadn't seen any bodies, in the eyes of the remaining people, death was the only possibility.
"I think there must be some kind of pattern that hasn't been discovered yet. But it's strange that two people disappeared together at three o'clock," Ye Shu suddenly asked, voicing the common confusion in everyone's mind.
"There must be some clue that hasn't been found yet," Zhang Jing looked at the glasses and bracelet in front of him, contemplating deeply.
"Dang... Dang... Dang... Dang..." The clock unexpectedly rang, startling everyone. They quickly looked towards the door, gripping the knives tightly in their hands. The door slowly opened, making a creaking sound, and a long shadow was cast inside...
...
Dang! Dang! Dang!
The police knocked on the table in the interrogation room and said to the man behind the iron door, "Wake up! Stop pretending!" The man raised his head, the light making it difficult for him to open his eyes. He instinctively tried to shield his eyes from the light but found that his hands were already fixed to the chair, and there were two police officers sitting across from him.
"Oh no, did I end up here?" The man's heart skipped a beat, then he put on a flattering smile. "Comrades, did you arrest the wrong person? I am a law-abiding citizen and haven't done anything wrong."
"Still pretending? Weren't you just trying to scare us earlier? Law-abiding citizen, I think you're shameless. Since you can't remember what crime you've committed, let me remind you, your wife."
"I... I was just fooling around with her. Her pregnancy has nothing to do with me. Besides, she's just a slut. I don't even know whose child it is. Why are you arresting me..." The man had a look of grievance, as if he was about to cry. But then he suddenly widened his eyes and fell back into the chair.
The two police officers on the other side had uncertain expressions, unable to determine whether the man in front of them was truly foolish or pretending.
"Xiao Liu, let the doctor in," one of the police officers shouted outside the door.
Under the pale light, the clock pointed to three o'clock.
(To be continued)