PSP Chapter 10: Records

Lu Qi looked up.
“Archive room.”

 

They went to the archives.

 

This was an indication he was willing to exchange.
Meng Tianhai was a smart person, and he took the initiative to say, “There wasn’t much useful information in the infirmary.
I think the only valuable thing was that there was an intermittently updated treatment record in the infirmary that belonged to a child named Qi Anle.”

 

Lu Qi: “We saw Qi Mei’s file.”

 

Qi Mei, Qi Anle.
The same surname…his heart raced.

 

Meng Tianhai: “The treatment records date back two years, and they were added to every five days or so.
The longest interval between updates was no more than a week.
What’s interesting is that there were almost no records for colds or fevers, but many for falls and accidents.”

 

Lu Qi: “Qi Mei joined the company two years ago with the help of someone higher up.”

 

That could let her become a kindergarten teacher?

 

Meng Tianhai: “The most serious issue was a high fever, caused by almost drowning.” Lu Qi: “She had a friend called Zhou Xiaohui.”

 

Meng Tianhai’s expression remained deliberately blank.
He knew that the other man had only disclosed obvious clues, and he himself had done the same.
He nodded to Lu Qi.
“Good luck, I’ll get going first.”

 

He and Liu Zimei headed to the archives, while Lu Qi continued to the infirmary.

 

It was impossible for the players to completely trust each other, and some details needed to be uncovered and analyzed by themselves, so the exchange of information had only allowed them to grasp the broad strokes of the situation.

 

Shen Qingcheng followed Lu Qi and Chen Ge to the infirmary.

 

He had just come here in the morning to see Bai Yi’s death before her body disappeared.

 

The room was neat and tidy, save for some dust.
There was a child-sized bed against the wall.
Cartoon ambulance stickers were pasted to the wall, as was a poster of a lady wearing a nurse hat and smiling with a syringe.

 

The red cross on the hat that represented “rescue” was pristine, like it had just been added.

 

Shen Qingcheng dragged over a chair, sitting with his legs spread, not minding the dust at all.

 

Like Meng Tianhai had said, there really wasn’t much valuable information, although they found some other clues based on what he had told them.

 

The treatment records were updated on and off for two years, but they weren’t as intensive in the beginning, with incidents once every few weeks or so.
Later, there were more and more records, and eventually several records were made on the same day.
God.

 

“It’s just too pitiful–don’t the teachers care?” Chen Ge couldn’t bear to see it.
“Qi Mei and Qi Anle share a surname, so they should be relatives.
She’s a teacher, too, but she didn’t address it at all?”

 

Shen Qingcheng: “Most likely they were mother and son.
That kid called for his mom when he was in the security office.”

 

At first glance, it was obviously bullying.
Qi Anle was already five years old–there was no way he was falling and injuring himself every day.

 

At the beginning, the bullying children seemed to still have some scruples.
Perhaps it was because the teacher stopped them, or because they were too timid to go too far.
They only put him into the infirmary once every couple of weeks.

 

But later, as they discovered that bullying their classmate didn’t have any consequences, but instead brought the attention and vicious glee of their classmates, they became more and more arrogant.
Eventually, they caused the record of injuries to become shockingly thick.

 

And that was only the physical damage.
How could his mental damage be recorded?

 

Qi Anle was only five.

 

As the saying went, children were either kind angels or innocent devils.

 

As for Qi Mei… Shen Qingcheng thought of the images that had flashed on the surveillance screen in the security office.
She was probably helpless.

 

He tilted his head to look at the record book Lu Qi held.
“The last record was on April 1.”

 

Lu Qi: “One month after Qi Mei.”

 

Qi Mei had died six months ago.
It was August now, so she had died at the end of February.

 

Chen Ge quickly realized the problem.
With a shocked expression, he asked, “If Qi Mei died a month earlier, who took care of Qi Anle that month?”

 

“Zhou Xiaohui?” He guessed.
In the information they had learned so far, the only person who was related to the mother and son was Zhou Xiaohui.

 

“It’s unlikely.
Zhou Xiaohui died because of Qi Mei,” Shen Qingcheng said.

 

The other two looked at him.
Shen Qingcheng was puzzled.
“Didn’t I tell you? The female ghost who was peeping on me was Zhou Xiaohui.
When she tried to kill me, she said she was killed by Qi Mei.”

 

Chen Ge: You didn’t tell us.

 

He remembered to tease Lu-ge, but not to disclose such important information? Alas, Chen Ge could only suspect once again that he had hugged the wrong thigh.

 

Chen Ge: “I think it makes sense.
The chat records said that Zhou Xiaohui often scolded Qi Mei in secret, which means they had a good relationship on the surface, at least.
Those photos are proof.
If Zhou Xiaohui was Qi Mei’s only friend, then when she died, it would be reasonable to leave Qi Anle to Zhou Xiaohui to take care of.

 

“After Qi Mei died, she found out that Zhou Xiaohui didn’t take care of Qi Anle well and often scolded her in private.
New hatred just added on to old hatred,” Chen Ge slashed his hand over his neck, ”so she killed Zhou Xiaohui!”

 

“Your analysis is very good,” Shen Qingcheng applauded, then paused and shrugged, “but the timing doesn’t match up.”

 

Chen Ge, who had been very sure in himself, was stunned.
“It doesn’t?”

 

Lu Qi looked up and glanced at him apathetically.
“The chat records stopped two months ago, so Zhou Xiaohui’s death couldn’t have been any earlier than June.”

 

Shen Qingcheng added, “But Qi Anle died in early April.”

 

The last record in the infirmary was dated April 1st, so there was no possibility of someone taking Qi Anle out of school¹.

 

Anle’s death was probably in early April.

 

Two months apart… If Zhou Xiaohui had actually killed Qi Anle, would Qi Mei really wait until two months after Qi Anle’s death to make a move?

 

That was impossible.

 

“Qi Mei only started killing people after Qi Anle’s death.” Lu Qi thought back to the departure records from the archives.

 

Of the five departure records, Qi Mei had died six months ago, and the rest had been dated after Qi Anle’s treatment records stopped, in April.
So it wasn’t her own death that had made Qi Mei start killing, but Qi Anle’s.

 

There were two questions they had to answer now.
First, who had taken care of Qi Anle that month? Second, how did Qi Anle die?

 

As soon as they found the answers to those two questions, they wouldn’t be far from solving the storyline.

 

Seeing them pondering, Shen Qingcheng asked with curved lips, “You’re just believing what I said? What if the child in the security room wasn’t Qi Anle, and the ghost in the bathroom wasn’t Zhou Xiaohui?”

 

He looked at the two of them curiously.

 

Chen Ge was struck by his words.
Indeed, all of their speculation was based on what Shen-ge had told them.
If Shen-ge was joking…

 

In contrast, Lu Qi’s reaction was much calmer.
“Based on what we know, this is the most likely possibility.” To determine whether they were right or not, they just needed to prove that Qi Anle had been killed.

 

Shen Qingcheng, who had failed to scare them, buried his regret in his heart.

 

When he entered the infirmary, he had seated himself on a chair, resting the whole time, but now he was the first to get up.
“Let’s go, it’s time for dinner.”

 

Chen Ge followed him closely.
After all, Bai Yi had died here, and he was still a little scared.

 

Hehe, the feeling of hugging a thigh was quite good.
He had never imagined that it could be so easy to gather information.
Anyway, was Qi Anle from a single-parent family? There were no mentions of his father in any of the clues.

 

The sky darkened early during summer.
By the time people had started leaving the cafeteria, the sun had just begun to dip below the horizon, the afterglow of the setting sun dying half the sky crimson and reddening their faces.

 

No one wanted to collect information at night, so they walked slowly to their rooms.
Such a moment of relaxation was quite rare.

 

Chen Ge stretched, then suddenly remembered something.
“By the way, Shen-ge, didn’t you say there was a shortcut between the cafeteria and the apartments? How do you get to it?”

 

Shen Qingcheng raised his chin, his expression lazy.
“Well, there’s an outdoor swimming pool behind the teaching building.
The path is near there.”

 

They were walking in front of the classrooms.
After passing the playground, they saw the iron gate that Shen Qingcheng had unsuccessfully tried to sneak away by.

 

There was actually a swimming pool! How hadn’t he been here before? Chen Ge was quite happy.
Wouldn’t it feel great to swim awhile on such a hot day? He suggested, “How about we go swimming? Just until it gets dark.”

 

“Ah,” Shen Qingcheng said, refusal in his tone, “You can just go with Lu Qi.
I’m tired.”

 

Chen Ge was speechless.
In his heart, he thought, it was Lu-ge who had exerted himself the entire afternoon.
You didn’t move much, how are you so tired?

 

He looked at Lu Qi expectantly.
Although Lu-ge looked cold, after an afternoon of cooperation, he knew that he just didn’t like to talk.
He was actually very easy to get along with.

 

Lu Qi, who was supposedly quiet and easy to get along with: “Not going.”

 

Chen Ge: “…”

 

“Hahahahaha!” This kid’s thoughts were too easy to guess, practically written across his face.
Shen Qingcheng couldn’t even stand upright, laughing on Lu Qi’s shoulder.

 

“Did you forget that Qi Anle was partially drowned? Water? Do you seriously dare to go into the water without figuring out what happened to him? Just how courageous are you?”

 

Lu Qi stiffened for a moment, the shifted his shoulders to shake his head off.

 

Shen Qingcheng lost his balance, staggering, then he looked at his back, wondering, “I didn’t provoke you at all, did I? Why are you so angry?”

 

Chen Ge: “I don’t think Lu-ge is angry.”

 

“Really?” He remained suspicious.
“Forget it.
Do you still want to go swimming? If you go, I can accompany you and watch you swim.”

 

Chen Ge: “no.” Although he was pretty sure Lu-ge wasn’t angry, it really was amazing he hadn’t turned on him yet.

 

The swimming incident ended just like that.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After returning to his apartment, Shen Qingcheng lay on the bed after bathing, and payed games for a while before going to bed.
He hadn’t taken a nap that afternoon, and he got sleepy earlier than normal.

 

Before going to bed, Zhou An’an knocked on the door and reminded him that if he was worried about the ghost killing someone at night, he could find a trusted player to share a vigil with.

 

Shen Qingcheng thanked her, and as soon as she left, he adjusted the air conditioner, covered himself with the quilt, then lay down and fell asleep.
Given Shi Juan’s incident, he doubted that anyone would dare to stay with him.

 

He slept soundly this time, and when he was woken in the middle of the night by the urge to urinate, his mind was confused with sleep.

 

He was looking at the tall, straight back of a man.

 

Shen Qingcheng unconsciously spewed out a series of rude words.
“Yo, Lu-dage, are you here to protect me?

 

 

TLN:

¹ I guess the kindergarten year ends in April.

 

Updates will be delayed for an indefinite period of time because I've got a lot going on right now.