Chapter 13: The Person Sending the Messages Is the Chemistry Teacher

The art teacher confided in me, revealing that she had discovered Liu Yan was having an affair with the chemistry teacher. Unwilling to give up on him, she decided to use her own advantages to pressure Liu Yan to leave—even going so far as to threaten her with death. But she never anticipated that Liu Yan was already suffering from depression, and under the art teacher’s coercion, she chose to end her life by jumping from a building.

As the art teacher recounted these events, her expression was one of utter confusion; when she mentioned the chemistry teacher, her face was shadowed with fear. Perhaps it is true, as the old saying goes: the pitiful have their own detestable qualities.

She thought that with Liu Yan dead, she would have the chemistry teacher to herself, but what she had not expected was that the chemistry teacher had not only been involved with Liu Yan, but with many other female students as well. This realization utterly shattered the art teacher’s hope.

Girls in their adolescence are, without doubt, the easiest to deceive, and given the chemistry teacher’s personal charm, it was hardly surprising that so many students admired him. Moreover, in the information sent to me by Ye Xinran, I learned the chemistry teacher had studied psychology—perhaps exploiting this knowledge to captivate even more young women.

After talking with the art teacher, I was left seething with anger, but ultimately, none of this was related to the game I was playing. It was all just coincidence—though, how could there be so many coincidences?

I took out my phone and sent a detailed message to Ye Xinran, relating everything the art teacher had told me. She replied only with an angry emoji. When I returned to the classroom, Ye Xinran was already gone, likely having gone to confront the chemistry teacher.

Now, what was I supposed to do? I had no leads at all for this round of the game—no clues to follow, no way to clear the stage.

[One hour remaining...]

As I feared, only an hour remained. Who could it possibly be? Reflecting on all the previous rounds, perhaps I had missed something; each game had provided clues, but this time there were none.

I glanced through the information Ye Xinran had sent me, then looked over the personnel files I’d torn out earlier. Nothing stood out.

Slumping weakly in my seat, I stared up at the slowly spinning ceiling fan, then looked around at my classmates, all absorbed in their studies. My gaze stopped on Song Qian and Zhao Xiaoyang.

Song Qian?

A thought struck me—during that particular game, Song Qian had been summoned to the chemistry teacher’s office. Could it be that the calcium carbide was placed in the infirmary at the chemistry teacher’s behest, carried out by Song Qian?

If so, then what about Chen Bin? Liu Jianzhou? Li Yizhong? These three didn’t seem to have any connection to the chemistry teacher.

As I struggled with this puzzle, I suddenly remembered something the art teacher had said—psychology! Of course, psychology. The chemistry teacher had studied it; perhaps he had hypnotized them!

Li Yizhong and Xiao Zheng might have been hypnotized by the chemistry teacher—Song Qian, too, and Liu Jianzhou! Yes, this theory could hold up. If my guess was correct, then the chemistry teacher was very likely the one sending the text messages! And if he was, then Ye Xinran could be in danger!

I immediately sent Ye Xinran a message on WeChat, but after waiting a long time, she didn’t reply. I tried calling her, but there was no answer.

What was going on? Had something happened? Was Ye Xinran the next victim?

No, that couldn’t be! I shook my head. Ye Xinran didn’t fit this round’s target profile. Judging from the rules of the previous games, the text sender was someone extremely proud and wouldn’t break their own rules—it wouldn’t make sense.

Still, if all of this was the chemistry teacher’s doing, and Ye Xinran confronted him, he might kill her in a panic!

Growing ever more anxious, I dashed out of the classroom and found Li Moran on WeChat, sending him a message. I had no choice but to swallow my pride and ask.

Li Moran’s reply brought me some relief: Ye Xinran was interrogating the chemistry teacher, and her phone was in airplane mode. I asked for their location, and he replied that they were in the student council building’s office.

When I arrived at the student council office, the chemistry teacher looked pale as death, while Ye Xinran’s face was filled with anger. On seeing me, she stepped out and said, “He’s admitted to manipulating the female students!”

“What about the deaths? Has he confessed to those?” I asked.

Ye Xinran shook her head.

At her gesture, I went inside and sat down across from the chemistry teacher. He looked at me in astonishment. “Tong Yang? Are you a police officer too?”

I stared at him intently and shook my head. “I’m not a police officer.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

Ignoring his question, I asked, “Are you the one who’s been sending me those text messages?”

He looked at me, bewildered. “What are you talking about? When did I ever send you text messages?”

“Then are you involved in Li Yizhong’s death? And Liu Jianzhou’s? Did you have a hand in those?” My emotions were raw, especially since Liu Jianzhou’s death filled me with guilt.

The chemistry teacher slammed the table in anger. “Tong Yang, are you mad? Do you even realize what you’re saying? You’re slandering me! Besides, those deaths were all accidents—don’t you dare accuse me!”

Ye Xinran stepped over and cautioned me, “Tong Yang, you need evidence for these things. Don’t speak carelessly.”

“Exactly! Who are you to interrogate me? You’re not a police officer. What right do you have?” The chemistry teacher’s embarrassment had turned to fury.

“I can authorize him!” Ye Xinran interjected, silencing the chemistry teacher.

I pressed on, “Did you instruct the art teacher in Liu Yan’s death? Or did you hypnotize her?”

“Hypnotize her? Are you joking?” he denied.

I smiled. “You studied psychology; hypnosis shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

He was visibly startled, clearly not expecting me to know this. Noticing his surprise, I continued, “Just now, the art teacher told me she was willing to threaten Liu Yan’s life just to be with you—even to the point of sacrificing her own. She told me everything.”

The more I recounted the art teacher’s confession, the worse the chemistry teacher’s expression became. He said, “If Lin Jue’er acted on her own, why are you blaming me for hypnotizing her?”

“Is that so?” I shot back, and the chemistry teacher turned utterly pale. “Indeed, according to what the art teacher said, there’s nothing wrong—she brought it on herself. But when I thought about it more, some things didn’t add up.”

“What didn’t add up?” he challenged.

“The art teacher was willing to risk her life for you, yet suddenly chose to leave you this morning. Does that make sense?”

“Maybe she came to her senses?” Li Moran offered from the side.

“Yeah, maybe she realized she didn’t want to be with scum like me!” the chemistry teacher sneered.

I sneered back. “Impossible. When she told me all this today, she was visibly terrified. Everyone knows the art teacher can’t even bring herself to kill an ant, yet she threatened to commit suicide to pressure Liu Yan? I asked her about it, and she told me that at the time, she didn’t know what came over her—she just lost control and slashed her own wrist.”

“So I started wondering—why would she say she was out of control? Knowing you’d studied psychology, I began to suspect you hypnotized the art teacher!”

“That’s just your speculation!” Li Moran cut in, his words grating on me.

“Exactly, it’s just your guess!” the chemistry teacher echoed. Even Ye Xinran frowned, silent.

“Oh? Then what about the student who died in the infirmary?” I pressed.

“You mean Xiao Yang? What does her death have to do with me?”

“It’s true—directly, it had nothing to do with you. But Song Qian is connected to you, isn’t she?” I slammed the table in anger, startling the chemistry teacher.

“Not going to talk? Fine, I’ll say it for you!”

First, Zhao Xiaoyang must have witnessed something between you and Song Qian and intended to report you. But Song Qian, under your influence, didn’t want her to do so and tried to persuade her otherwise.

When Zhao Xiaoyang refused, Song Qian told you about it, and you decided Zhao Xiaoyang had to die.

On the day Zhao Xiaoyang felt unwell and needed to visit the infirmary, you found Song Qian and had her place calcium carbide in the infirmary.

The vinegar in the infirmary was always there, used for its disinfectant properties. Calcium carbide, when combined with vinegar, produces a poisonous gas. So, if Zhao Xiaoyang had stayed in the infirmary, she would have died for certain.

But you didn’t count on me. Because I showed up, Zhao Xiaoyang left the infirmary—leading to the death of Xiao Yang from the class next door, who was locked inside and poisoned.

Ye Xinran, the class monitor, told me at the time that you wanted to see me and Song Qian. I wondered why—was it really just because our grades were poor? Later, I realized it was also because you were worried I would ruin your perfect locked-room murder plan.

But you hadn’t expected that I wouldn’t go to see you, but instead would find Zhao Xiaoyang first, resulting in Xiao Yang’s death.

What I still couldn’t figure out was how you knew I’d try to foil your perfect murder plan. There was only one answer—you were the one sending me those text messages!

When I finished speaking, the chemistry teacher was left dumbstruck, and both Ye Xinran and Li Moran stared at me in shock.