Chapter 56.1 Dream
The whole school became a mess because of the person who jumped off the building. The timid students screamed and turned away, while the bold ones had already moved to the window to watch the excitement. The whole classroom was in chaos like a pot of porridge. The teacher wanted to tell everyone to be quiet, but no one listened.
It stood to reason that Lin Banxia should be scared when he saw a dead person for the first time, but his heart was completely calm, as if he had seen this scene countless times. This familiar feeling confused Lin Banxia a little. He looked away and wanted to be more gregarious, so he also muttered that it was really scary. How could they suddenly jump off the building?
“Scary? You didn’t even blink, why are you saying it’s so scary?” Someone said next to Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia’s secret was discovered, so he was slightly shocked. He turned his head and saw Li Su, who was supposed to be standing outside. He didn’t know when he ran in from the door and stood by the window to join in the fun. He didn’t know whether it was accidental or intentional, but he uttered such a sentence in Lin Banxia’s ear.
Lin Banxia blinked and did not respond.
“It doesn’t look good, it’s not interesting.” Li Su looked at it for a while, then turned around. He glanced at Lin Banxia and said thoughtfully, “Not as interesting as you.”
Lin Banxia didn’t really want to have anything to do with him, so he continued to remain silent and pretended to be a dull person.
Li Su didn’t seem to mind at all. He smiled and patted Lin Banxia on the shoulder: “Do you know that person?”
Lin Banxia said: “Who?”
Li Su pursed his lips toward the window.
Lin Banxia was stunned for a moment, then looked towards the window again, only to realize that the beautiful boy with skin as white as porcelain had been looking at their window, no, to be precise, he was looking at him. As soon as he turned his gaze over, he met the boy’s eyes. Those eyes were dark. Lin Banxia wondered if it was his own illusion. He actually saw a hint of aggression in the cold eyes, so he lowered his head uncomfortably and whispered: “I, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know him?” Li Su said, “That’s right…but I know him.”
Lin Banxia wondered: “Who is this?”
“Song Qingluo from Class 3.” Li Su said, “He was the first in the entire grade when the results were announced in the monthly exam.”
When he said this, Lin Banxia remembered that Song Qingluo was a celebrity in their grade. From the time he entered school until now, his grades had always been number one, and he was the favorite target of conversation for the girls in the class, but because he didn’t care much about the people around him, Lin Banxia didn’t know him.
“You really don’t know him?” Li Su didn’t believe it, “Then why does he look like a dog which has seen a bone?”
Lin Banxia was helpless: “What kind of metaphor are you using? Do you want to scold me or Song Qingluo?”
Li Su chuckled: “Let’s scold together, he won’t hear it anyway.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
While the two were talking, the sky turned cloudy in an instant. Just a moment ago, the sky was clear and blue. Within a few words, the clouds began to gather, and it looked like it was going to rain soon.
“Honestly, this weather.” Li Su complained, “It’s not even summer yet, yet it’s as unpredictable as a child. It rains when it says it’s not going to rain. Did you bring an umbrella?”
Lin Banxia said: “No.”
“Heh.” Li Su smiled proudly, “I brought one.”
Just as he was about to show off a few more words, he was caught by the teacher who came over, grabbed him, and sent him to stand at the door of the classroom again. Li Su was very indifferent. Before leaving, he smiled and asked Lin Banxia to wait after school…
After hearing this, the teacher was so angry that he cursed: “What, you still want to threaten your classmates?”
Li Su said aggrievedly: “Teacher, I want to share my umbrella with my classmates. I want to care for my classmates.”
The teacher didn’t believe it and said angrily: “If you don’t stand still now, I will show you what caring is.”
Li Su shrugged. He looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. It was really unfortunate that his face was more beautiful than a girl’s.
When Lin Banxia looked back, Song Qingluo had disappeared downstairs, leaving only the teacher maintaining the scene and the smashed body. The rain poured down like a huge curtain, covering the whole world. The blood stains around the corpse spread with the rain, turning the cement floor into a dim red.
The teacher finally took control of the situation and asked the students to close the windows obediently and stop watching the fun.
Lin Banxia turned around and looked at the test paper on the table and found that a corner of it was soaked by the rain, and the writing was blurred into strange shapes.
After the quiz, there was a long evening self-study. During this period, the rain did not stop, and it hit the glass with a loud bang. The smell of earth hung in the air, which was not unpleasant, but Lin Banxia felt a little uncomfortable. He rubbed his nose and looked at the time. There were still twenty minutes before the end of evening self-study.
At this time, all the day students in the class were out of class, and there were only a few boarding students left in the empty classroom. The school’s accommodation conditions were not good, and they were about to enter their senior year of high school, so students with slightly better family conditions would rent houses outside. Only students who really did not have such conditions would live on campus, so the number was not large, and each class only had five or six.
Lin Banxia noticed that Li Su, who was supposed to leave, didn’t leave either. He was sitting in the corner, and it was unknown what he was doing. He found it a little strange but didn’t think much about it.
It was past ten o’clock, the bell rang for the end of get out of class, and the evening self-study for the dormitory students was also over.
Lin Banxia started to pack his schoolbag and planned to leave. Unexpectedly, just as he was loading his things, Li Su suddenly came up to him and said, “Hey, are you leaving now?”
Lin Banxia looked up at him and hummed.
Li Su said: “Do you know the student who committed suicide by jumping off the building today?”
Lin Banxia said: “What?”
Li Su said, “You really don’t know anything. The students are all passing it on.” He took out his mobile phone and handed it to Lin Banxia, wanting him to read the content.
Lin Banxia took it and looked and found that it was a screenshot of a chat record. Judging from the content of the conversation, there was nothing special. It seemed that one person wanted to go to a certain place, and the other person kept trying to dissuade him. The two finally had a quarrel and broke up unhappily.
Lin Banxia looked at it for a while, understood something, and said: “Is it the chat history of the person who jumped off the building today?”
“Smart.” Li Su praised.
“Where was he going to look?” Lin Banxia felt that the chat records were foggy and difficult to understand.
“Have you never heard of the school legend?” Li Su said: “It is said that as long as you count thirteen steps in the teaching building at twelve o’clock on a rainy day, you can see people from another world.” He deliberately lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously, “This legend has been circulating in the school for several years. You don’t know anything about it, right?”
Lin Banxia shook his head, indicating that he really wasn’t aware.
“Okay.” Li Su spread his hands, “You only love to study.”
Lin Banxia seriously retorted: “I don’t love learning; I just love scholarships.”
Li Su stared, speechless at Lin Banxia’s candid answer.
“I’m going to go now, goodbye.” Lin Banxia waved his hand at him and left.
Li Su sat at the table, looked at Lin Banxia’s back, and muttered something, but did not stop him.
The rain that fell in the afternoon finally stopped, and the air was filled with the smell of water. Lin Banxia didn’t feel anything about water, but subconsciously he didn’t want it to rain, as if he felt that there was someone around him who didn’t like it. However, thinking about it carefully, he was surrounded by carefree male classmates. Who would specifically express that he didn’t like rain?
Lin Banxia left the teaching building with his schoolbag on his back and headed towards the dormitory. While passing the teaching building, he saw the blockade that the police had put up during the day. In the center of the blockade was where the body fell. At this time, the smashed body had been taken away, leaving only bloodstains on the ground, but the bloodstains had long been washed away by the heavy rain, as if everything that happened in the afternoon was just his illusion.
Lin Banxia, who was a little distracted, stopped and stood staring at that place for a while. As he was watching, someone suddenly patted his shoulder from behind.
“Classmate, you dropped something.” The person behind said.
Lin Banxia turned her head and saw that the man had a mobile phone in his hand. He didn’t know who it belonged to. It was covered with mud and water, but fortunately the screen was still on.
“This is not my thing.” Lin Banxia said honestly. He couldn’t afford expensive things like mobile phones, and there was no need to use them, because he really had no one to contact.
“But it fell from your body.” The classmate was very sure, “I saw it with my own eyes.”
Lin Banxia was a little confused and hesitated: “It’s definitely not mine, it’s someone else’s…” He looked around and saw no one. The campus was empty after dark, and the silence was a bit eerie. Outside the teaching building, it was just him and this student.
The student said: “Then I don’t care, just throw it away if you don’t want to.” As he said this, he actually raised his arm and planned to throw the phone away. Lin Banxia was shocked when he saw it, and quickly stopped him: “Don’t throw it away. Although it’s not mine, the person who lost it must be very anxious. Maybe, can I hand it over to the lost and found office for you?”
The student said: “Whatever you want.” He was very impatient and seemed to be in a hurry to leave. After putting the phone into Lin Banxia’s hand, he turned around and left.
Lin Banxia originally wanted to talk to him a bit more, but seeing that his attitude was very impatient, he had to give up. He lowered his head, wiped off the muddy water on the phone, and put it in his pocket, planning to hand it over to the lost and found place tomorrow. This phone looked quite expensive, and the person who lost it would probably be anxious.
Lin Banxia had just walked downstairs to the dormitory. Just as he was about to go upstairs, the cell phone he put in his pocket suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw that it was an unknown number. He wondered if it was a friend of that person calling. He pressed the answer button decisively, but no one spoke on the other end of the phone.
“Hello? Hello?” Lin Banxia called several times, and finally heard a sound from the other end. It was a whistling wind, as if someone was standing on a high place.
“Is there anyone?” Lin Banxia said.
No one responded, and the howling wind became louder. After a moment, there was a heavy bang, as if something fell heavily to the ground, like a watermelon, and smashed to pieces.
Lin Banxia was startled, and reflexively held the phone farther away. At first, he thought that the person opposite had thrown the phone downstairs, but he soon realized that the call had not been disconnected, meaning, the phone on the other end of the line was intact.
“Get out of here.” A voice sounded on the other end of the phone, and then the phone screen went dark.
Lin Banxia looked at the phone in a daze and didn’t speak for a long time. This call was so inexplicable that most people might treat it as a prank, but Lin Banxia vaguely sensed an ominous atmosphere.
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