Chapter 145: The Deceased

It all happened just a few minutes ago. With some classes and lectures about to begin, students carrying their study materials were hurrying toward their respective academic buildings.

The three teaching buildings here stood closely side by side, fronted by a wide, paved avenue.

Suddenly, some people still walking along the path heard the sound of shattering glass from above, and then a "thing" crashed heavily onto the ground.

The two girls closest to the spot were naturally startled out of their wits. However, when they abruptly stopped in their tracks and looked down, an even more horrifying sight awaited them... It was a human being!

He had plunged directly from above the "Mingde Building." The sound of breaking glass came from a window of a classroom located in the middle of the fifth floor, through which he had burst out.

It was early morning. Although the weather was cold, it was broad daylight after all. In the very center of a crowded university campus, someone had suddenly fallen to their death—and with such an expression frozen on their face...

The immense shock startled all the surrounding pedestrians, as well as the students who were already seated in their classrooms, causing them to pour out in a swarm.

After a long while, the crowd grew larger and larger. Nobody cared anymore whether they had classes or not... They came rushing forward one after another to see what was going on.

A middle-aged male faculty member reacted fairly quickly, shouting loudly at the surrounding crowd, "Scatter! Scatter! All of you back up, no one is allowed to push forward!"

Yet, even without his roaring, very few people dared to get close...

Someone had already called the police, but before that, order had to be restored at the scene. The academy's broadcasting systems blared across the grounds, repeatedly instructing all students outside to return to their respective classrooms or dormitories as soon as possible.

Although most of the counselors had no idea what had happened yet, how fast do such unexpected incidents spread?

No matter how hard they tried to maintain order, with so many students gathered here, it was impossible to manage them all at once.

It wasn't until a large contingent of police arrived that this horrifying "peak period" finally passed.

Now it was a complete mess. To say nothing of those who had witnessed the crime scene with their own eyes, even those who merely caught wind of rumors through word of mouth were deeply shaken. Throughout the vast South Campus of the Normal College, very few students had any mind left for classes that day.

What was worse, because the incident happened so suddenly—not in the dead of night, but in broad daylight—and with so many witnesses, quite a few quick-witted people had already taken numerous photos with their mobile phones amid the chaos.

Within half an hour, the chat groups were going wild. Though those posts would surely be deleted afterward, how much time had had elapsed? Not to mention the whole city, the entire South Campus knew about it in no time.

And it wasn't just the deceased; several people had fainted on the spot from sheer fright, while others vomited, were left stupefied, or felt their limbs turn to jelly. The campus infirmary was overwhelmed.

Among them was An Luyao. He was an acquaintance of the victim; just moments ago, the few of them had been talking together, only for his friend to suffer a tragic death beneath the teaching building shortly after regaining his wits. Having witnessed the primary crime scene firsthand, his mental state could well be imagined, and he too had been rushed to the infirmary.

Li Lan had not seen the primary scene from beginning to end, but when he learned that the deceased was Yue Peng... he had almost lost his footing as well, barely remembering how he had made it back to his classroom afterward.

Although... after the initial chaos, most of the students were forcibly driven back into their classrooms by a joint effort of the school administration and the police, who had any heart for studying? Forget the students, even the lecturers and counselors were absent-minded...

They whispered among themselves in their seats, practically itching to sit by the windows and peer down at the situation outside.

Most people completely ignored the teachers on the podium, scrolling through their phones under their desks instead. Those who were heavy with curiosity initially felt regret for missing the scene, but after having the "privilege" of seeing the photos uploaded by certain classmates, the vast majority were dumbfounded... Was this someone who died from a fall? Bleeding from all seven facial orifices? And the blood was deep blue? Was he an alien or something?

Li Lan remained in a daze at his desk... Having stayed at home for many days recovering from a car accident, this major incident happened on his very first day back to school.

Moreover, the person who died was one of the three good friends who had just welcomed him back... Grief naturally overwhelmed him, leaving him in a trance, completely deaf to the murmurs of his classmates and the voice of the teacher.

Li Lan was naturally a sensitive person, exceptionally susceptible to emotional influence. Besides, he didn't have many friends to begin with, and those he was close to were even fewer.

On one hand, it was due to his personality. While he wasn't particularly introverted, he certainly wasn't an open and outgoing person either.

On the other hand, given his family background, it was a miracle he hadn't developed autism since childhood.

Even now as an adult, while he did well enough in his studies, the less said about his social life, the better. He had virtually no social circle.

University students were just like elementary school children—once classes were over, they headed straight home. What kind of social life could they possibly have?

These three male classmates with vastly different personalities were the only ones he was on good terms with.

Among them, An Luyao was a carefree person with somewhat feminine traits, the chubby Xu Yang was bold and thick-skinned, and the deceased... Yue Peng. The reason Yue Peng remained relatively close to Li Lan was, firstly, that they were both locals, and secondly, Yue Peng's personality harmonized well with his; he was a steadfast, studious young man.

He didn't care much for joking around and could be considered rather rigid in his ways. With an ordinary appearance, an average family background, and no standout talents, he belonged to that thoroughly unremarkable breed of students found on any university campus.

The four of them had a good relationship—at least within the campus, they belonged to that small clique that frequently hung out together.

It didn't amount to some passionate brotherhood of sworn blood-brothers, but they were, after all, good friends who bantered and chatted about everything under the sun in their daily lives.

Truth be told, if the four boys walked together, Yue Peng was in every respect the most ordinary one among them. Yet just like that... he had died?

And he died so suddenly, with such a terrifying appearance...

After a class passed, the classroom erupted once more. Previously, everyone had only whispered among themselves, but now they were openly discussing it. Of course, since the incident had just occurred, everyone remained in a state of shock and disbelief.

Li Lan had spent the entire class in a daze. At this moment, two students in the front row were staring blankly at the secretly captured photos of the scene on their phones, sighing deeply.

He glanced over. Although he had fully snapped out of his stupor, he couldn't help but want to catch a glimpse of the scene himself.

He called out to the two classmates, asking them to let him see.

Li Lan had previously been paralyzed by lingering fear, but now, as he finally laid indirect eyes on the manner of Yue Peng's death, a sharp pain pierced his nose. Suppressing the heavy sorrow in his heart, he fixed his gaze on the screen.

Unlike the others who saw Yue Peng's gruesome state for the first time, although he was somewhat startled, he didn't find it particularly horrifying. In this regard, he had far more composure than these classmates; he had seen plenty of scenes more frightening than this in the past. It was just a photograph of a corpse, nothing major.

Yet... apart from feeling grief, there was also profound shock and suspicion.

Was that blood flowing from the seven facial orifices? Deep blue... That was impossible. Furthermore, aside from his face, hadn't Yue Peng fallen from the fifth floor? After hitting the ground, even more blood had pooled from his back—wasn't that the normal blackish-red?

Then why on earth was the blood flowing from his face that color?!