Chapter 112 The Singer, Oh, Singer 44

Xia Suhe shook her head: "I don't know the specific details. Not long after that, our family moved here. I only heard that the house was later discounted and sold very cheaply. Maybe Grandma Lin paid to buy it."

Lin Xiangjun was noncommittal about this explanation.

"Tell me in detail about the matter between Hu Zhengzheng and Hou Pan."

This time, Xia Suhe was perceptive enough not to question it again and instead told everything she knew exactly as it happened.

The specific details were more or less the same as the information Lin Xiangjun had previously collected. To summarize, it was a story about a goblin falling in love with a red-crowned crane—even more exaggerated than falling in love with a white swan—and this goblin insisted that the red-crowned crane had fallen in love with him first.

Hou Pan's life resume was inherently quite miraculous.

It is said that he already displayed his extraordinary talent when he was in elementary school. Xia Suhe was not clear about this part; she only knew about things after middle school.

Hou Pan, Xia Suhe, and Hu Zhengzheng were all in the same grade when they were admitted to Feicui Lake Middle School.

Hu Zhengzheng's parents passed away when she was in elementary school. If she wanted to attend Feicui Lake Middle School, she had to maintain her grades in the top ten of the grade—the top ten could be exempted from tuition, accommodation fees, and book fees, and could also receive scholarships.

To maintain her grades, she spent most of her time focusing on her studies and didn't pay much attention to outside gossip. Therefore, she was always in a state of knowing there was such a weirdo in middle school, but not knowing what this weirdo actually looked like.

In the second half of his third year of middle school, Hou Pan caused a major incident and was subsequently sent to a juvenile detention center. Afterward, both Hu Zhengzheng and Xia Suhe thought he would need to be reformed for two or three years, but who knew he would be released in less than three days.

Yes, less than three days, not even three months.

At that time, Xia Suhe was chatting with a classmate in her politics notebook, thinking he had been locked up for three months because he had stayed at home for three months after being released on bail and hadn't come to school.

In fact, he had taken the high school entrance exam normally and subsequently successfully advanced to Jade Lake High School.

The subsequent events were well-known; Hu Zhengzheng brought trouble upon herself because of the two steamed buns she gave away out of momentary kindness.

What followed was the part that Lin Xiangjun did not know.

Although Hou Pan was expelled because the nature of the harassment of Hu Zhengzheng was too egregious, he returned a month later.

He was still in the original class and the original seat, but his personality became even more eccentric. He wouldn't talk to anyone, and from time to time, he would run out in the middle of class, muttering things that no one understood.

The attitude of the school leaders toward him also became very strange.

The teachers showed unprecedented tolerance for his behavior. Even if he suddenly dragged the classroom trash can out while singing loudly in the middle of class, the teacher would just continue lecturing without even raising their head.

Once, Xia Suhe remembered very clearly, he suddenly snatched the chalk from the teacher's hand in the middle of class and scribbled on the blackboard with a "screech, screech" sound, making a teeth-grinding noise, and the teacher had no objections at all.

Even, after the chalk in Hou Pan's hand was used up, the teacher even "thoughtfully" asked him if he wanted more chalk and what color he wanted.

Xia Suhe still remembered the look of horror on the face of a classmate from Hou Pan's class when she told her about this; she pointed at the crisscrossing scratches on the blackboard, her voice trembling.

"Our math teacher, Old Wu, is a famous old fogey, very serious, and a pedant in the whole school! If you drink water in his class, you'll get hit by him with chalk! How could he tolerate a student making this kind of deadly noise? He must be possessed by a ghost! Definitely!"

Thinking of this, Xia Suhe shivered again.

It was from that day on that the school became increasingly abnormal.

The increasingly insane Hou Pan, the increasingly bizarre school rules, the increasingly delirious teachers...

Until the day Hu Zhengzheng died, the world suddenly overturned, and strange creatures that had never been seen before filled the world. She studied while carefully avoiding breaking the rules, so as not to end up being eaten by others.

Why not drop out?

That would only be possible if one could actually drop out!

Now Jade Lake High School has changed from a normal high school into a bizarre cradle. Every year it forcibly recruits students. Before graduation, one cannot transfer or drop out; there is only one path, which is to graduate.

Speaking of this, Xia Suhe was almost desperate.

"Actually, it's better that Zheng Zheng left early... In a world like this, living isn't necessarily a good thing."

After hearing Xia Suhe's words, Lin Xiangjun changed to another sheet of paper.

Obviously, the teachers collectively losing their minds, the school rules becoming increasingly neurotic, and Hou Pan becoming increasingly frantic, as mentioned by Xia Suhe, were all because of the contamination.

This world has been constantly contaminated.

The day Hu Zhengzheng died was when the contamination in this world exceeded the critical value and turned into an instance.

Regarding the formation of instances, the original novel did not have an accurate explanation. As far as Lin Xiangjun knew, before an instance was formed, the contamination concentration in the entire area would gradually increase, people would be contaminated, and their cognition would be twisted. At this time, if one left the high-contamination area, it was possible to avoid becoming part of the instance.

It's just a pity that Xia Suhe's fate was not that good.

Lin Xiangjun glanced at the tissue paper for her phone.

There was only one last sheet left.

That is to say, now, she had ten minutes left.

"Where were you on the night Hu Zhengzheng died? And where was Hou Pan?"

"On the day Zheng Zheng died... I was kept behind by the teacher for a talk because I was sleeping in class and not paying attention. Once our homeroom teacher started talking, there was no end to it. I was forced to stay for over an hour. Usually, we always went home together; only that day did Zheng Zheng go back alone."

"As for Hou Pan, I don't know. He wasn't in our class, and I didn't see him that day."

"Does your school have a unified uniform?" Lin Xiangjun asked again.

"Yes. Our middle school and high school uniforms look the same, the blue and white kind that is ugly as hell and expensive as hell."

"Does the school mandate wearing uniforms? Can you wear your own clothes?"

"That's not allowed. During school hours, you can only wear the uniform. Shoes can be anything; sneakers, canvas shoes, and the like are not restricted."

Lin Xiangjun scrutinized Xia Suhe's expression and slowed down her speaking speed, ensuring that every word she spoke was articulated clearly.

"Hu Zhengzheng wore a blue dress on the day she died, and she came back very late, near midnight—if Hu Zhengzheng didn't wait for you and went home first, why would she specifically change out of her uniform to go out in the middle of the night?"

According to what Xia Suhe said, she was called to talk by the teacher because she was sleeping in class that day, so that day must have been a weekday.

On a weekday, without any accidents, Hu Zhengzheng should have been wearing a uniform.

Xia Suhe was stunned, but she didn't reveal any panic about being caught in a lie, or anger at being questioned for lying.

"Because that day was Friday, and Zheng Zheng went out to perform."