Chapter 69#
The People in the Story (Part 6)#
Human Wall.
This was a B-grade oddity created by the Story King, one that had no circulation at all.
Ye Sheng stared at the last line of the postscript, “Kind and hardworking people will always get their wish.”
He suddenly thought of what he had seen at the Luo Lake Mansion, the words Duan Shi had written on the back of the photo—“Fine, if you lie, I won’t let you go even if you flee to the ends of the earth.”
So after her death, she gained the ability of “tracking” and became a person in the story of the Truth Verification Bridge, verifying every sincere lie.
So, the Story King was actually helping them fulfill their wishes?
Ye Sheng suddenly felt a chill.
Duan Shi was in utter despair when she died, with no regrets. Yet the Story King turned her into a ghost of Lover’s Lake, trapping her for all eternity before a nightmarish window.
Was this really helping?
And this worker.
He was honest, hardworking, sincere, and kind in his life. Even if he died a tragic death, would he really have enough resentment to become a B-grade Heresy?
Absolutely not. In fact, from the incident where Tang Jiahao almost went deaf, it could be seen that the Story King’s justice and kindness were all tinged with a pure cruelty and naive self-righteousness.
Ye Sheng turned off the screen and lowered his eyes.
…However, he had to go to that underground space in the old gymnasium, whether it existed or not.
Duan Shi and the deceased worker must have been related to the Story King’s life story, otherwise he wouldn’t have treated them so favorably.
One was the great-granddaughter of the publisher of “Night Navigation,” so what about the other one?
The pale yellow osmanthus flowers fell into the bloody mud, and the drizzling rain seemed to last all night.
When Ye Sheng entered, a group of people were sitting on the floor playing cards. Xie Wenci looked impatient, frequently looking towards the door. When he saw Ye Sheng, his face lit up, and he immediately raised his head to look for the person behind him.
Ye Sheng put away his phone and walked in.
Xia Wenshi was overjoyed to see Ye Sheng, and directly threw down his cards with four twos and a king bomb, “Xiao Ye, you’re finally back. We were planning to play Truth or Dare, we’ve been waiting for you and junior Weichen for a long time!”
Ye Sheng had no interest in Truth or Dare at all. He said, “It’s getting late, and we have to film tomorrow. Let’s all go back to sleep.”
Xia Wenshi was used to it and said aggrievedly, “Oh, okay.”
Xie Wenci’s face was pale with displeasure—he had stayed behind to talk to Ning Weichen, how could they not play Truth or Dare! He maintained his pure image, blinked, and said with difficulty, “But Ye Sheng, everyone has been waiting for you for so long, isn’t it a bit much not to play a round?”
Ye Sheng left a cold sentence, “It’s fine,” and walked towards the lounge of the old gymnasium.
Xie Wenci: “…”
Xia Wenshi shrugged and spread his hands, “I told you, no need to wait, Xiao Ye won’t play this.”
Xie Wenci was trembling with anger. Who the hell cared if Ye Sheng played? If it weren’t for—
Xie Wenci’s peripheral vision caught sight of Ning Weichen walking in. He immediately concealed his twisted expression, raised his head, his delicate features like a hibiscus in the rain, and was about to call out “Classmate Ning.” But Xia Wenshi next to him had already pointed forward and said, “There, junior, Xiao Ye went to the lounge.”
When Ning Weichen came in, his expression was cold, and his gaze didn’t fall on anyone present. Only when he heard Xia Wenshi’s words did he look up and smile, saying warmly, “Yes, thank you, senior.”
Xia Wenshi waved his hand, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”
“…” At this moment, Xie Wenci had the heart to kill Xia Wenshi.
“…”
Chen Can had the same idea as Xie Wenci. He braced himself and said in a tone he thought was witty and humorous, “Hahaha, Young Master Ning, we’ll be classmates for four years. Are you really not going to play?”
Ning Weichen smiled gracefully and didn’t say a word.
Chen Can’s scalp inexplicably tingled, and he quietly shut up.
Xia Wenshi sighed and extended his hand, “Come on, let’s continue playing Landlord!” He had known for a long time that junior Weichen was only interested in Xiao Ye. The director and photographer withdrew their gazes and happily joined in.
Xie Wenci was so angry his face was twisted: he was giving up a good holiday night of picking up admirers at a bar to play cards with this group of poor people? He glanced jealously in the direction where Ning Weichen and Ye Sheng had disappeared, said coldly, “I’m tired too,” and got up to follow them.
“Alright, Landlord, Landlord.” Chen Can looked at the watch Xia Wenshi was wearing and thought this was also a friend worth making, so he rallied his spirits.
After all, to be a popular figure in university, the first thing was to make friends widely.
Huang Qiqi and Guang Xueping had already found a place to sleep early on. No matter how dilapidated the old gymnasium was, it was still a place that cost 300 million yuan. If you looked at it optimistically, it was a star-rated hotel. There were several lounges on each floor. Ye Sheng was only interested in the underground of the gymnasium and chose to stay on the first floor. He found a small room at the end of a corridor, with a sofa, a coffee table, and a water dispenser.
When Ning Weichen followed, Ye Sheng had already quickly checked the lounge.
“Do you want to rest for a while first?” Ning Weichen smiled.
Ye Sheng said, “No.”
Ning Weichen said, “I’ve checked. The underground space of the Huai’an University gymnasium was originally planned to be an exhibition hall in the school’s initial plan, but the person in charge later erased this item on the grounds of insufficient budget.”
Ye Sheng: “Insufficient budget, 300 million is not enough?” But when Ye Sheng thought of Ning Weichen buying the Luo Lake Mansion directly, he realized that his and Ning Weichen’s understanding of money would never be the same in this lifetime. He twitched his mouth and said no more.
His phone’s battery was seriously low.
Ye Sheng took out a still-usable flashlight from a drawer.
As he was fiddling with the flashlight, Ning Weichen’s fingers suddenly touched his slightly rain-dampened hair, and he said softly, “Aren’t you going to take a shower first?”
Ye Sheng said calmly, “No. Let’s go find the entrance to the underground space directly.”
Although the school had abandoned the underground space of the old gymnasium, there must have been stairs leading down when the building was first constructed. He just didn’t know where those stairs were now.
He turned on the flashlight, and a beam of white light instantly illuminated the front.
*
Xia Wenshi played cards and chatted with the director for a while before they each went back to their rooms. But Xia Wenshi never expected to see Su Wanluo in the corridor.
“Junior Su? What are you doing here?”
Su Wanluo was holding a stack of papers, reading as she walked. Suddenly hearing a voice in the darkness, she quickly put down the documents in her hand, looked up, and smiled awkwardly, “Senior Xia? You’re not going back tonight?”
Xia Wenshi: “Yeah, I came to join the fun and thought it was fun, so I stayed. What about you?”
Su Wanluo said, “I left something here during the day and came back to look for it.”
Xia Wenshi: “What is it? Do you need my help to find it?”
Su Wanluo shook her head and smiled, “No.”
Xia Wenshi: “Oh, then be careful.”
Su Wanluo: “Okay, good night, senior.”
After passing Xia Wenshi, Su Wanluo stood in the darkness for a long time before her trembling fingers took out the papers in her hand again.
In addition to the initial architectural drawings of the gymnasium, there was also information about the cement and building materials company that had cooperated with the school.
Su Wanluo’s expression in the darkness was lifeless, as numb as a sculpture.
After she went back, she specifically looked up Yuan Shou, and then the cement company that Yuan Shou had proposed. The legal representative of the cement company was named Yuan Ming, who was Vice-Principal Yuan’s own brother.
She knew why her father had refused to agree back then.
Because this cement company was already notorious in the industry.
A quick search on the internet revealed the well-known “cement fraud” incident. Twenty years ago, Yuan Ming’s company was fined two million yuan by the market supervision bureau for forging cement factory inspection reports. Later, they continued their old ways, using shoddy materials in all aspects of building materials.
The loss on ignition content in the cement was falsified, and the cohesion was insufficient, which was a huge hidden danger for building collapse.
Fortunately, it seemed that her father had won the first argument. Although she didn’t know what means her father had used to win, the company that supplied cement and building materials to the gymnasium had always been the original one, not her brother’s.
Perhaps this was when the grudge was formed.
Su Wanluo had no appetite to eat all day, and she felt dizzy again.
To restore her blood sugar, Su Wanluo took a candy from her pocket and put it in her mouth.
For some reason, she felt nothing when she looked at these materials.
She couldn’t say she hated, she couldn’t say she was angry, and she certainly couldn’t say she was sad. She felt as if her soul was detaching.
As she tore the materials into shreds and threw them into the trash can, Su Wanluo’s stomach churned, and she couldn’t help but vomit against the wall.
Her fingers spasmed, grabbing the wall. The calm facade was torn apart, and a venomous, twisted hatred rushed to her mind. She thought sharply and crazily in her heart—
Why? Why? Why are those people still alive!
Ye Sheng, holding a flashlight, walked from south to north, but only saw stairs going up, not a single emergency exit going down. Just as he was about to change direction, Su Wanluo’s voice sounded from behind.
“Ye Sheng, are you looking for the underground passage?”
Ye Sheng turned around and saw Su Wanluo in a long-sleeved shirt and pants, holding a flashlight and looking at him quietly. She was not tall, with gentle features, and her eyes seemed to have just cried, stained with a striking red.
Ye Sheng was not surprised to meet her and nodded, “Yes.”
Su Wanluo forced a smile. Her fingers hidden in her sleeves were clenched tightly, and her face was pale as she said, “Let’s cooperate. I have a map of the gymnasium from when it was first built more than ten years ago. I’ll take you down, and you help me find a place, how about it?”
Ye Sheng didn’t agree immediately, but looked at her, “Find what?”
Su Wanluo said, “The office of the construction site supervisor back then. It’s also underground.”
Ye Sheng frowned and stared at her.
Before Ye Sheng could speak, Ning Weichen spoke first, his tone smiling, his emotions unclear.
“Brother, it’s good to have one more person.”
“…”
So Ye Sheng said no more.
Su Wanluo pursed her lips and tightened her grip on the map in her hand. In fact, compared to the cold Ye Sheng, she was more wary of Ning Weichen.
But all this wariness was no match for the hatred of wanting to dig out the truth.
She said, “Go left. The old stairs are now in the storage room.”
She used the key given by the school and led Ye Sheng and the others to a small storage room.
The door of the storage room was small and hidden, with a pile of brooms and boxes next to it.
Even before getting close, they could smell the musty, dusty smell of old age.
Su Wanluo took out the flashlight, chose the smallest key, and inserted it into the door.
The moment the door was opened, she was choked by the dust and tears came to her eyes.
Su Wanluo covered her mouth and nose and went forward.
Ye Sheng followed.
Ning Weichen gently grabbed his wrist from behind, his lips close to Ye Sheng’s ear, his voice very soft, “Brother, if I’m not mistaken, the Heresy’s ability in the art and sports hall should be related to ‘space’.”
Ye Sheng frowned, “Space?”
Ning Weichen said, “Yes, creating a completely independent ‘world’. Don’t be afraid, everything you see inside is fake.”
Ye Sheng turned to look at Ning Weichen. Ning Weichen’s peach-blossom eyes were smiling, full of sincerity and worry.
But Ye Sheng always felt that his worry was feigned…
A strong sense of strangeness suddenly arose in Ye Sheng’s heart. Since they had met, he had never seen Ning Weichen use his ability once.
Many things about Ning Weichen were now too mysterious to him. Executor, ability user, the Ning family, Tian Shu. The world that truly belonged to Ning Weichen seemed to be still in the fog, far from being as simple as the wealth and fame on the surface.
Whether it was the Luo Lake Mansion or the old gymnasium, Ning Weichen followed him, and apart from ensuring his safety, he was mostly like a spectator. He seemed to have completely accepted that Ye Sheng liked to act alone, so he just watched him slowly gain experience.
Would he have to wait until the Story King came out to see Ning Weichen use his ability?
“…”
Ye Sheng shook his head, thinking he had a problem with his brain for thinking about these things.
Su Wanluo was moving things in the storage room, and Ye Sheng also went to help. There were a lot of things piled up in here.
Cobwebs were everywhere, and small insects crawled around. “Found it!”
Finally, after moving a wooden box, a dark hole appeared in front of them. Ye Sheng shone the flashlight on it and found that it was actually a staircase.
The gymnasium really had an underground space.
Su Wanluo said, “I’ll go down first.”
She held the flashlight in her mouth and walked down with difficulty.
Ye Sheng also followed behind. When he stepped on the stairs, he had a very strange feeling. Ye Sheng raised the flashlight and shone it on the ground, but found nothing unusual. The further down he went, the stranger the smell became. In the extremely narrow and dark environment, the strong light was inconvenient. After Ye Sheng turned off the flashlight, he felt his way down along the wall.
But the moment he touched the wall, Ye Sheng was stunned.
He felt it was very soft. Not only was the wall soft, but the stairs under his feet were also soft.
Like human skin and flesh.