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墨書 Inktalez
This was a long-abandoned Transformer. During a previous conversation with Li Xiaoyan, we learned that Zhang Zuocheng had two Transformers in total. One of them was at Guo Li's house, but later it was secretly moved by Ha Li Min to his old residence to mislead the police investigation.
The other Transformer had been sitting in Hu Ningning's home for an unknown amount of time. Zhang Zuocheng had died six months ago, which meant Hu Ningning had possessed this Transformer for at least that long. I recalled that Ha Li Min and Zhang Zijun wanted to capture her because she was a friend of Zhang Zuocheng; she might know who had mistreated him.
However, Hu Ningning never asked Zhang Zijun or Ha Li Min about this matter. I had casually asked Hu Ningning if Zhang Zuocheng had ever given her any toys, and she said no. So how did this Transformer end up in her possession?
Had time passed so long that Hu Ningning forgot about it, or did she take it for herself?
As I pondered these questions, I changed my clothes.
Gu Chen would arrive in about two hours, and by then, everything would depend on what he decided to do.
I returned to the main room, where Hu Ningning was recounting her experiences from the past week. I sat quietly, listening as she spoke. Her voice was sweet, and her appearance charming; she naturally drew everyone's attention when she talked. Through her narration, it seemed she had bravely endured the past week.
In reality, aside from binding Hu Ningning when he left to prevent her from escaping or calling for help, Ha Li Min hadn't made her life uncomfortable during the rest of the time. Yet in her storytelling, she portrayed herself as a captive in a concentration camp.
"Hey," Hu Ningning's grandfather entered from outside and said, "Come with me; Gu Zhi needs our help. The rain is too heavy, and the shed we built for Gu Hui might not hold up."
"Has Gu Hui's body not been buried yet?" I asked Hu Ningning's grandfather.
He nodded while putting on a raincoat. "Yes, you may not be aware outside; generally, a person should be buried seven days after death. However, Gu Hui's grandfather cannot bury her until he fully understands who killed his granddaughter; otherwise, her spirit will wander as a restless ghost."
Hu Ningning's father sighed. "It's just superstition."
I was about to agree when Hu Ningning's father continued, "Fourteen days is enough; that's when the moon is half full and the gates of hell are open, allowing spirits to move freely."
I found myself speechless at this point when Hu Ningning's mother said, "Let's go. Gu Chen has helped us so much; it's only right we do these things in return. Come on, I want to see if there's anything I can help with."
She turned to Hu Ningning and said, "You stay here with your uncle and help your grandmother set the table; we'll be back soon."
"Okay," Hu Ningning nodded.
Under normal circumstances, I would have gone out to help as well. But now it was just the two of us left in the house. Opportunities for us to be alone were rare, and if everything was indeed done by Hu Ningning, this was my best chance to ask questions.
Hu Ningning appeared very happy; it wouldn't be long before she could return to school and see her friends again.
Huning was fiddling with her phone, and I could hear various notifications from social media apps.
The heavy rain outside seemed to seep into my heart, mirroring my dampened mood. I gently placed my hand on Huning's phone and pulled it away from her grasp. She frowned at me, clearly displeased, as she must have been enjoying her conversation.
Though Huning was unhappy, she didn’t lash out; instead, she looked at me and said, "Brother Wu, what's wrong?"
I gazed at her and slowly replied, "Since it's just the two of us, how about I tell you a story?"
"A story?" Huning reached for her phone again, but I promptly turned it off. "Let me tell you a story about a girl."
Noticing something unusual in my expression, Huning glanced at her phone with a cold tone. "What’s up, brother? Why suddenly a story?"
I continued, "This story begins about a year ago. At this time last year, this girl had just started first grade. The village was not close to the school, and there were no direct buses, making it quite troublesome for her to attend classes. The girl’s teacher lived in the same village, so Teacher Gao volunteered to pick her up and drop her off."
Huning clearly realized that the protagonist of my story was her. Her face darkened completely as she shot me an icy glare, losing all traces of the playful cuteness she had moments before. In that moment, Huning gave off a chilling vibe; her gaze reminded me of something I had seen before.
A ten-year-old girl could evoke such feelings in me; Huning was far more cunning than I had imagined.
I continued, "After some time of being driven together to school and back home, there was an older boy who would always..."
After a brief silence, I added, "And he was quite handsome; boys like that tend to attract attention. As time passed, the girl developed feelings for her teacher. During one tutoring session, she wanted to kiss her teacher, hoping to become his girlfriend."
Huning stared intently at me as if trying to see through my thoughts.
I glanced out at the pouring rain; it seemed we wouldn’t be going out tonight.
I resumed my tale: "But the teacher thought this was too outrageous; it didn’t seem like something a nine-year-old girl would do. So he rejected her and realized he could no longer drive her home; otherwise, things would get complicated. However, from the girl's perspective, this was a blatant rejection that contradicted her desires."
"Indeed," I chuckled lightly. "This girl is remarkable; she excels academically and has a good relationship with her teacher. Moreover, she possesses far more ambition and cunning than her peers—along with vanity and even more blatant evil."
Huning looked at me with an expression that said, "Go on; I'm listening."
"The girl is clever enough to understand that unleashing her inner darkness doesn’t require direct action. She knows that having others do what she wants can be even more fulfilling. So how would she go about it? She would use various means to manipulate the troublemakers in school—using money, toys, the power of group exclusion, or even methods I dare not imagine."
"She becomes whoever she needs to be in front of different people; you'll never truly understand what this girl is really like. In front of the good students, she outperforms them academically. In front of the so-called delinquents, she plays even harder than they do. Even in front of murderers, she is more cunning than they are."
Hu Ningning's eyes curved into a bridge, her lips curling upward. "She sounds amazing."
"Indeed," I replied with a bitter smile. "She is truly remarkable. She never overtly bullies her classmates because she wants everyone to see her as a sensible and well-behaved girl. Yet inside, she is filled with wicked thoughts, consumed by darkness. I don't know what she's been through or why she is this way; all I know is that she has never faced such rejection."
"When someone cannot obtain something but doesn't want others to have it either, they would rather destroy it completely." I spoke softly. "This evil resides deep within everyone's heart, and in her case, it gradually swelled into a feasible plan."
I looked at Hu Ningning and continued, "So under the guise of a tutoring session, the girl fabricated all these lies. But no matter how mature or calculating a girl may be, she fails to understand that this world relies on evidence. Thus, the teacher was acquitted."
I shook my head and continued, "However, this girl understands one thing: often, this world does not rely on evidence either. People only want to see what they wish to see; whether it is the truth or not hardly crosses anyone's mind. Regardless of whether Teacher Gao did something or not, the rumors spread like dandelion seeds—blown gently into everyone's hearts."
"And the one who scattered those dandelion seeds was none other than Gu Hui," I said. "Gu Hui may never have realized that under someone's prompting, those things she couldn't even comprehend became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The girl watched as Teacher Gao lost everything; she had never felt such joy before."
"Joy?" I looked at Hu Ningning and asked, "Do you think that girl would feel joy?"
I stared intently at her, trying to see through her indifferent expression to understand what she was really thinking. "I’ve never disclosed how many people died before you returned with certainty about four children being dead. Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min never asked you about these matters; how did you know how many people died? How did you know those who died were your classmates?"
"Are you happy?" I questioned Hu Ningning. "Gu Hui knows nothing, but there’s always something she understands. Perhaps Gu Hui will slowly realize what kind of harm her words caused Teacher Gao. She might eventually uncover the truth behind these events—or perhaps not. Are you afraid of that? Is that why you used that pit to kill her?"
"Are you happy?" I pressed on. "You've accomplished everything you set out to do, yet here you sit as if nothing has happened. Are you happy?"
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