Volume 38: Revival In A New Guise

On September 30th, a quarrel between a man and a woman happened in the staff lounge of the Sixth Middle School and alarmed the sparrows perched on the telephone poles.

With a bang, the quarrel ended abruptly.

The man looked at the bloody trophy in his hand, and his girlfriend that had collapsed onto the floor with pupils slowly enlarging. No matter how much he knelt down to apologize, slap her, or shout, he could no longer amend the huge mistake.

The trophy in his hand dropped down and he knelt down on the ground. He pulled hard at his own hair, crying silently with regret and punching his own chest with his fists in remorse.

Someone knocked on the door and he turned back suddenly. His eyes suddenly turned fierce, and a colleague said outside, "Teacher Yan, my textbook has been left inside."

"I... It’s not convenient right now."

Teacher Yan glanced at the corpse on the ground. He didn't know whether the lie came from his heart. He just felt his tongue move and said it out loud naturally.

He knew in an instant what price he would have to pay to back up this lie.

"Oh, got it. Then I'll retrieve it after the holidays. Happy holidays."

"Happy holidays!"

Hearing the sound of the footsteps going away, the smile on Teacher Yan's face disappeared. He was brought back to the cruel reality. This matter must be dealt with and he must not give the game away, but what did he have to do? His brain was already in a mess...

Being in the same room as the corpse, his thoughts were changing every second. One moment, he would trace things back to the root of the tragedy. Another moment, he would imagine the heavy punishment, during which he suddenly jumped up, slapped the corpse's face a few times and gritted his teeth while cursing, "It’s all your fault!"

The body seemed to move. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion. He jumped away as if he was electrocuted. He knelt on the ground and stared with wide eyes. He stayed in this position for five minutes and dared not blink.

He wanted to smoke, but he didn’t have any cigarettes with him. He remembered that there were Zhonghua cigarettes that a student’s parents had gifted to another teacher inside a drawer. He hesitated for a while, and shook his head in resignation, “Who cares about him?!”

He opened the packaging and took one out before smoking it with pleasure. After some time of not touching nicotine, the pleasure was unparalleled when he breathed it deeply into his brain. The sense of numbness made his finger-tips tingle slightly.

He sat on the ground with the cigarette and his right hand on his bent right leg. He criticized the person on the ground, "You don't understand anything. I don't have the kind of background as you. Every step of my life is ten thousand times harder than yours. You only know how to criticize others, saying this and that is wrong, as if the world would be perfect without this and that. You’ve never seen the evil of the world!"

He suddenly really wanted to do “that”. The basic nature of killing and fucking are always intertwined. When one basic desire is awakened, and the other will follow.

No matter how civilized people pretend to be, human beings only desire these two things.

The first thing some murderers do is to find prostitutes immediately after killing someone. Now, I know that there’s a reason behind it.

"You don't understand anything!"

Accusing the deceased, he began to take off the other party's clothes. When his hands touched her skin that was cold like iron, he shrank back in fear, and his body didn't react at all.

"Why?! Why?! Why?!" He beat himself and wept in tears, suffering for what he was about to lose. The tears were all for himself, and not even half a drop was for the deceased.

Night had already quietly descended outside the window. He peeped through the window and didn’t see anyone down at the sports field.

Teacher Yan carried the corpse in a sack downstairs. He often picked up his girlfriend when he was frolicking with her, but she wasn’t as heavy as she was right now. She was as heavy as a large rock and the weight bent his back.

A large area of bright red appeared near the back of the corpse’s head. A human-shaped sack covered with a large area that was as red as flowers around the head. Anyone who saw it would understand what was going on.

He looked around!

Walking through the empty school campus was like crossing a minefield where danger lurked in every corner. If anyone saw him, he would be consigned to eternal damnation. He silently prayed to the gods. Please, please let things go smoothly again this time!

The damn parking lot had to be built on the other side of the sports field. When he finally got there, he breathed a long sigh of relief as if he had just reached the finish line.

Opening the boot, he threw the body in, as if he was throwing a sack of wastepaper. Listening to the sound, it seemed that a bone had shattered, but he didn't care. Now she was just a lump of meat. A lump of meat that could cause trouble.

He sat in the car and was suddenly blinded by bright light, and he covered up his eyes with his arm in horror.

From within the headlights that had suddenly appeared, a figure came out and leaned on the front of the car, calmly lighting up a cigar and hooking a finger at him.

Teacher Yan got out of the car as if possessed and walked towards the man. He said in shock, "Teacher Zhou?"

"Who’s in the boot? Teacher Lin?"

"No... no, it’s just a bunch of tutoring materials."

"Look at how nervous you are. Even your tongue is knotted. If you’re acting like this in front of me, how are you going to face the police in the future?”

Teacher Yan looked at him suspiciously, trying to judge the other party’s position. Was he trying to help him?

Teacher Zhou was very mysterious. He had been at this middle school for only a month. He never participated in the conversation in the office. He always silently thought about things alone while he had his cigar. He drove home right after class finished. After being acquainted with him for so long, Teacher Yan didn't even know what his full name was.

He was the one who had knocked on the door and said that he had left his textbook behind. Had he already noticed something at the time?

"Why can the police catch the real murderer every time? Is it because they’re powerful? No, it’s because the murderers are so stupid. The police academy training lasts three to five years and the courses range from criminal investigation to identifying traces. The police who leave the academy have to do an internship for a year and follow their masters for several years. They have all kinds of equipment, surveillance cameras all over the streets, the right to question anyone, and they can also legally hurt others. You’ll face not only one of these opponents, but a whole gang of them! But what do you have? You have no experience. You’re panicked, helpless, and as full of loopholes as a lousy magician performing tricks that then allows a group of experts to come onstage to discover the flaws. Novices like you will have to drink tea at the Public Security Bureau within three days. Facing rounds of interrogations, how long do you think you’ll last? Do you have the money to hire a lawyer? You can only say, ‘I didn’t. I didn’t do it.’ It’s like telling the police, ‘It’s me. It’s me!’” Teacher Zhou took a deep drag on his cigar and shook his head meaningfully. “You’re too inexperienced, boy!”

Teacher Yan opened his eyes wide and tears of regret flowed from his eyes. He knew that there was a master standing in front of him. Only masters would speak like that. He knelt down and touched Teacher Zhou’s shoes, "Help me. Help me! Please!"

Teacher Zhou casually tasted his cigar and raised his eyebrows to examine the flames at the end of the cigar. It was as if a century passed before he spoke. "What can I get out of this?"

"What do you want? As long as I have it!"

"If you’re willing to give me something, I will help you this time. I will ensure that the police can only stare at you in vain even when they know you’re a murder suspect. I will let you escape the law’s net and live out your life smoothly."

"Thank you! Thank you! You must have been sent by God. No, you are God!"

Teacher Yan knelt down and kissed Teacher Zhou's shoes, over and over again, as if they were his girlfriend's soft lips. Teacher Zhou smiled slightly and pulled out his phone, "Shuangshuang, there is work to be done!"