“Her name was Chen Yao,” Department Head Li stared at Jiang Cheng before saying.
Fatty just woke up, and his brain wasn’t working yet. He asked subconsciously, “Who?”
“The missing girl in the files.” The woman suddenly paused. She turned around and resumed in an oppressed tone, “Or the ghost you’re looking for.”
Once she said the word ghost, Fatty and Jiang Cheng shared a look. There were some NPCs who could sense the supernatural, like Feng Lan. However, Department Head Li was the first to point out the existence of a ghost so directly.
Jiang Cheng looked at her and asked, “Do you know her?” Based on known clues, the girl met the incident about ten years ago. The woman must have worked for quite some time at the school to have reached her current position. They might… have interacted.
Fatty seemed to have come to the same conclusion. He asked with hesitation, “Have you… met her? Or was she your student?”
The woman’s face was shielded by the mask and glasses, so they couldn’t see her expression. However, her voice fluctuated. She was not as unfazed as she appeared. Fatty had more confidence in his guess. The woman lifted her head. Fatty felt like he was staring into the abyss when he looked into the woman’s glasses. He shivered involuntarily.
“I was her classmate,” The woman admitted.
Fatty widened his eyes.
“Yes.” Department Head Li nodded.
“That’s not right.” Fatty recovered and said agitatedly, “I don’t remember seeing you in the class picture.” Fatty quickly regretted it. No one could have recognised the woman in her current appearance. Furthermore, the picture was taken ten years ago. The woman moved her gaze to Fatty. The latter’s face instantly paled. Thankfully, Jiang Cheng spoke up to pull back her attention, “Can you give us more details?”
“He’s not wrong,” The woman began, “I was not in the picture because I joined the class in the middle of the semester. I majored in classical music before that. I transferred to ballet later.” The woman held Jiang Cheng’s gaze and took a slight step back to allow them to pass into the dark files room. “The room has my files. You can check if you don’t believe me.”
Jiang Cheng shook his head. “We believe you.” With the prior incident, Fatty cleverly chose to remain silent. He perked up his eyes.
“Why did you switch majors?” Jiang Cheng continued to ask. “Is it… related to Chen Yao?”
The woman lifted her head as if reminiscing. Then, her face started to scrunch up. The wrinkles around her eyes deepened with hatred. “Chen Yao… is a bitch!”
Jiang Cheng quickly looked around, especially at the corners where the sun couldn’t reach. Then, he stated, “Don’t say that. From my perspective, she’s a good person. Perhaps she had her reasons!”
“I think Brother Hao is right.” Fatty finally caught up. As he mumbled, he moved towards the place with the sun. He said in a sincere tone, “I think she’s quite pretty and doesn’t look unreasonable. There must be a misunderstanding.” Seeing that there was no response, Jiang Cheng and Fatty finally relaxed.
“Misunderstanding?” The woman seemed to be angered by their words. Her whole body shook, “The bitch seduced my fiance. How is that a misunderstanding?”
Jiang Cheng scratched his chin and said after a few seconds, “Is your fiance Chen Yao’s dance teacher?” There was a man who disappeared from the picture.
The woman’s chest rose and fell. She took some time to adjust her emotions. This incident impacted her a lot. Even though ten years had passed, she held onto the hate. She took a deep breath, and her chin moved imperceptibly, “Yes.”
“What is your fiance’s name?” Fatty asked.
Jiang Cheng frowned. “Is it the old… I mean, the male teacher at the Prop Centre?”
The woman seemed to be shocked to realise Jiang Cheng knew that. She nodded slowly. “Yes. That’s my fiance.” Based on that, the two didn’t seem to proceed with the marriage. The culprit appeared to be the missing girl, Chen Yao.
Fatty suddenly had an impression that this woman… was like a cobra hunting for its prey. The thought frightened Fatty. He swallowed silently and moved behind Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng moved faster than he did. He was already behind Fatty and only revealed a small part to communicate with the woman. While he was engaged in the conversation, he kept his eyes on the surroundings. After spending so much time with Jiang Cheng, Fatty had a basic grasp of his plan. Jiang Cheng was probably planning his exit should the negotiation fail.
“How did Chen Yao die?” Jiang Cheng cut to the point. Once Fatty heard this question, he became nervous. He was scared that the woman would grin and admit that she was the killer. In Fatty’s mind, this was when the antagonist made their long speech and would kill them since they figured out too much and so on…
Even though there were two of them, since Department Head Li dared to show up alone, she must have made some preparations.
Fatty studied the woman. His eyes frowned deeply. The woman gave him a strange feeling. It was not like she was missing a limb or anything, but her movement was uncoordinated… or even mismatched.
It was like… her upper body and lower body were pieced together from two different individuals.