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墨書 Inktalez
"What does the note say? How do we know it was intentionally left by someone?" I hurriedly asked.
I could sense that Sun Qingqing was already crying. Her words came out in a stutter: "The police found Hu Ningning and Li Jun's backpacks. The two backpacks were placed together, but neither of them was found nearby. Everything inside the backpacks was intact; nothing was missing. Then we discovered a note inside one of the bags."
After a pause, Sun Qingqing continued, "The note says—let's play a game."
"Can you repeat that?" I asked. "What does the note say?"
Sun Qingqing replied again, "Let's play a game."
Hearing her words made me realize that this situation was far from simple. I had only heard this phrase from one person before, and that person was Wu Zui. Previously, Wu Zui had kidnapped Liu Yinyan, and at that time, he used the same phrase. Now that I saw it again, could this be a sign that Wu Zui was starting to act?
"Let's play a game," that was Wu Zui's style.
So, when Teacher Gao went out earlier, could it be that she encountered someone related to Wu Zui? And the person who died happened to be Gu Hui; it was clear that they wanted to bring Gu Chen back. If Gu Chen were brought back, then I would inevitably follow. Ever since I escaped, Wu Zui had no idea where I went. Was it possible he wanted to find me now?
"We will go to your school; don't panic," I said. "Stay calm and call me if anything happens."
"Okay." Sun Qingqing seemed to be a relatively young teacher; otherwise, she wouldn't be so willing to listen to me.
After hanging up, I looked at Gu Chen and said, "You guessed correctly; this matter is not as simple as it seems. They found two backpacks with a note saying let's play a game. From Sun Qingqing's words, it's clear that this note wasn't written by naive children; it must have been written by an adult."
As Gu Chen began to get dressed, he said, "If it were a kidnapping or human trafficking, they wouldn't leave such a note."
"Let's go." I quickly washed my face and added, "The person who could leave such a note is either a pervert or mentally unstable. Moreover, you should know that there might be more than just these two kids who were taken. There must be more to this story; judging by Gu Hui's death, it likely has something to do with bringing you back—and possibly bringing me back as well."
After bidding farewell to Gu Chen's father, Gu Chen contacted the police in town. They would send someone to remove Teacher Gao's body, and we prepared to leave.
When we reached the outskirts of the village, Gu Chen's car was still parked there. He drove us to the school in town, and by the time we arrived, it was around ten in the morning. We didn't waste any time; Gu Chen contacted the school authorities and made our identities clear. At that moment, the note was already in my hands.
I looked at the note; apart from those few words, there were no other writings on it. There were no other traces indicating the murderer; presumably, there were no fingerprints either.
"We're going to play a game," read the note in the middle.
I glanced at the school leader beside me and asked, "Are there any clues yet? The local police should have started their investigation by now, right?"
"Yes," the school leader replied. "But so far, nothing has been found. The child vanished under surveillance."
I frowned and said, "Let's check on the other students to see if anyone else is missing."
The school leader shook his head decisively. "No, aside from these two children, no others are missing. Classes are still ongoing, and all the kids are here."
"And!" the school leader hurriedly added, "We now have a new policy. If parents don't come to pick up their children, we will charge a fee to help return them home. There are too many human traffickers these days, and you have to consider our school as well. If every time a child goes missing it's blamed on us, that's just unfair—we can't be held responsible for them leaving the school grounds..."
I understood the school's eagerness to deflect blame, but that wasn't the focus right now. I waved my hand dismissively and said, "That's best; just make sure no other kids go missing."
The school leader nodded. "We're already aware of this issue, but where did the children actually go?"
At that moment, the school leader's phone rang. He looked at it and saw an unfamiliar number. After answering the call, his face gradually turned pale, and soon his phone slipped from his hand.
"What happened?" I asked.
The school leader spoke slowly, "A man called me. A boy named Li Jun was found dead in a well near the school. He told us to go check it out; this is our first puzzle. But what does this mean? Li Jun is dead? Li Jun is dead?"
As he spoke, my heart sank further. It seemed the murderer wasn't giving us much time. We had just left the village when this news broke.
I asked, "Did he mention anything else during the call?"
As the school leader picked up his phone again, he replied, "He seemed to know who I was and directly stated that our school's Li Jun was found dead in a well nearby."
I nodded slowly and asked, "Do you know where this well is located?"
The school leader thought for a moment before responding, "Yes, I know where it is. Let's go."
The school leader hurriedly led us outside.
We followed him as he walked, a middle-aged man with a round belly, panting heavily. Sweat was already forming on his bald head, and his hips swayed as he moved. From here, we could see a forest outside, surrounded by barbed wire, with a gate made of the same material in the middle.
After about half an hour, he finally brought us to this place. The lock on the gate was open, hanging loosely.
From this vantage point, it was clear that this was a forest behind the campus, and there was hardly anyone around. The school leader rushed ahead, saying, "It's just up ahead, just up ahead!"
Following the direction of his finger, we indeed spotted a dry well.
I asked as we walked, "Haven't you searched for the two children here?"
The school leader nodded and replied urgently, "No, this is the back gate of the school. Originally, this was supposed to be a forest where they planned to build a campus, but it never materialized. It's usually locked up back here. But I don't know how it happened; look, the gate is open."
We had now reached the side of the well and leaned over to look inside. It was pitch black.
"Step aside," I said. "You're blocking the sunlight."
As the school leader moved aside, I finally got a glimpse of what was inside the well. Looking down from above, I saw a child curled up inside. He was wearing a school uniform and had no room to move in the narrow space. The boy was about one meter tall, but the well was estimated to be over two meters deep.
He had left through the front gate of the school at five-thirty in the afternoon but ended up in this dry well at the back of the school. After leaving, how did he return here and fall into the well? Did he come here on his own after leaving school or was he thrown here by the murderer?
And where had Hu Ningning gone at this moment?
The school leader said, "This... this place was originally locked up. How did this child get in? That lock is taller than him; how could he reach it?"
"It’s clear he didn’t want to come in by himself," I replied. "Get a rope and pull him up first."
The school leader shouted, "Li Jun! Li Jun!"
But after calling for so long, there was no response from Li Jun. I knew then that Li Jun had already died; it couldn't be fake. I suspected he had been down there for at least one night already. If that were true, then the chances of Li Jun still being alive were extremely slim.
I said, "Stop shouting. Given the current situation, the chances of him being alive are very slim."
Gu Chen looked around and then spoke, "Right now, the priority is to get the body up."
The School Leader found a rope tangled in a tree, which had been used to keep the tree warm during winter and had not been removed by summer. The School Leader handed the rope to Gu Chen. Gu Chen tugged on it and found it to be quite sturdy.
Gu Chen glanced down into the well and slowly said, "Here's the plan: I'll go down and tie the rope around the child's body, and then we can all pull together to bring him up."
I looked at the narrow well; there was hardly any room for Gu Chen to maneuver once he was down there, and his feet couldn't even be fully flat.
"What's going on?" The School Leader kept asking from above. "How's Li Jun? Is he okay?"
Gu Chen replied, "The body is cold, and I can't see any wounds. I don't know how he died. I'll go up first, and then we can pull the body up together."
As he spoke, Gu Chen had already tied the rope around the child's body. He then looked up at us, placed his hands against the wall of the well, and used his feet to push off as he moved upward. The School Leader and I quickly reached out to help pull him up. With one hand gripping the edge of the well and the other pulling on my arm with great force, Gu Chen managed to flip himself back onto solid ground.
"Let's pull," Gu Chen said.
We gently tugged on the rope, careful not to cause any further harm to the child's body.
Fortunately, the well wasn't particularly deep. Gu Chen leaned in, grasped Li Jun's body, and began to pull him up.
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