The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

Chapter 317-318

317: Relying on Oneself

None left alive? Margaret was shocked; it felt like she was involved in something terrible.

“Grandpa, please tell it to me clearly. Can Xiao Wu be saved? I don’t understand everything you’re saying.” She just wanted to know if there was a way to help Xiao Wu and the others, but the grandpa kept talking about so many things she didn’t understand. Margaret was at her wits end.

Sheldon saw her eagerness to save her friends. “There is not. They must rely on themselves for their own salvation.”

“Say Grandpa, can you not speak so esoterically. I haven’t read a book since I was really little and I’ve never passed a cultural course. . . ”

Grandpa Sheldon:. . . 

He coughed lightly. He was getting a headache dealing with this girl. Why was she so lousy?

“To put it plainly, their souls are trapped on the island. They must rely on themselves if they want to leave it. Outsiders can not interfere.” Sheldon spoke bluntly.

Finally. Margaret understood. She knew her cultural knowledge was lousy. She got drowsy every time she had a class on it. But it was her teacher’s fault. The old woman was so longwinded and opinionated when she talked. Maybe it was because she didn’t have a boyfriend, maybe because she’d lived a hermit life for so long, but her mentality was really skewed!

“So our only option is to wait? Is there really nothing we can do?” Margaret was unwilling.

Sheldon shook his head. “There is no other way. The one on the island will not allow the souls to leave so easily.” He seemed to be gazing at something from the past.

“What ‘one on the island’?” Margaret knew intuitively that the guy the old gramps mentioned had to be the same guy responsible for keeping everyone asleep.

“He is a pitiful person, a memory from long ago. Let us not speak of him anymore. Your body is still healing, so you should rest. Do not overexert yourself child.” Sheldon broke out of his reverie and waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal.

Though Margaret was concerned about the safety of her friends, she knew to exercise moderation. It wasn’t the right time to pressure the old gramps. He definitely knew something. She just had to wait for the right time to ask more questions.

Back at the room, Margaret looked at Feng Wu’s sleeping figure. She tried to wake her friend up again, but it was no use. “Xiao Wu, you have to wake up soon. . . ,” sighed a despondent Margaret.

A male student disappeared the day after Feng Wu’s incident. His body was found in a flower bed with the jaw arteries scraped open.

The days that followed were horrible. Every day someone was found dead in some novel, horrific way. The murders continued with no signs of stopping. The students, the servants, everyone felt demoralized. From time to time someone would start wailing and crying.

The two teachers organized a search party and looked all over the island; however they couldn’t find the murder or anyone suspicious. They were the only ones on the island, so therefore the murderer had to be one of them.

Whoever it was, hid very well and acted without leaving a single clue.

Feng Wu’s wounds had healed after several days of rest. She could now get up and walk around.

Ming Xi and the others had been studying the way the murderer operated. Their methods weren’t great, but they did come up with some insights.

While Ming Xi and the others were doing that, the teachers organized everyone into patrol parties. Each party consisted of five people who had to always stay together. No one was allowed to act independently. This way the perpetrator wouldn’t be able to make a move without someone witnessing something.

It worked really well. No one was killed for two days afterwards.

The teachers and Yanaimo called a meeting. Everyone, except for a small patrol party, joined.

“Everyone, let’s talk about this. What do you think of the murderer? Has anyone discovered anything new?” Teacher Del Leo asked the assembled group of survivors. Not counting the patrol party outside, there were about twenty of them.

There had been a hundred of them originally, so the dwindled number was shocking.

“I have something to say.” The boy who spoke was named Airon. The ladies were positively inclined towards him because he was handsome and carried himself with confidence.

Airon was something of a teacher’s pet. Teacher Del Leo really like Airon because the boy worked hard, wasn’t arrogant or impetuous. He was an easy student to have in class.

He was the guy Yanaimo had a crush on. In order to suppress the girls around him, she had done a lot of unsavory things, including a few things to Zhēn.

Talking ceased the moment Airon stood up. He was really popular in school, so with the exception of a few students, most were willing to listen to him.

“Just speak what’s on your mind Airon.” Del Leo nodded toward the boy.

Airon watched everyone calmly without a trace of stage fright, despite having all eyes on him.

318: Airon’s Thoughts

Yanaimo looked at Airon with an infatuated gaze. This man that she loved was the only suitable match for her.

“Teachers, fellow students, I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but there was a pattern to how every student died.”

“A pattern? Did you notice something Airon?” Teacher Ballard was interested.

Airon nodded. “Everyone, please take a look at these drawings.” He promptly produced a stack of papers filled with drawings.

Everyone knew Airon enjoyed drawing, so no one was surprised he happened to have a stack of paper on him.

Airon neatly arranged the drawings on the table. Each sheet vividly portrayed how someone died. The details were meticulously drawn and included everything from the decorations in a room if it was indoors, to the natural landscape if it was outdoors.

Ming Xi was on patrol so he did not get to see the drawings, but the maid (Jier) and skinny school boy (Ink) were present and able to see them. The drawings were so good that Ink couldn’t help but admire the talent and skill of the artist.

Leo, who had become a manservant, was standing on the outer perimeter of the group, so he couldn’t move forward to see the drawings. How disappointing. He really wanted to see them too. . . 

“What are you trying to say with these drawings?” asked Teacher Del Leo.

The others were also confused. Were there some kind of major clue in the drawings?

“Everyone, please look. I have notated both the method and time of death. Do you see a pattern?”

What was it? Was there really something in the drawings?

Everyone studied the drawings, desperately trying to find some sort of clue. But try as they might, they couldn’t find anything other than the fact that everyone died a terrible death with their eyes open.

Seeing that no one noticed anything, Airon decided not to keep them in suspense and proceeded to sort the drawings into five categories. “Now do you see anything?”

Was there a difference? Most didn’t get it, but the two teachers did and their eyes widened in surprise at the realization.

Del Leo cried out as he slapped his forehead, “Why didn’t I think of it?!” josei

“I only now see it as well. How embarrassing that the students had to remind us of it.” Ballard smiled bitterly. To need one of their own students to point something as basic as this out to them, they really had shirked their duties as teachers.

“Teacher, what did you notice?”

Feng Wu was looking at the drawings along with everyone else. The more she looked at them, the stranger they became.

“There are gold, wood, water, fire and earth.” Feng Wu explained with these simple words.

“Gold, wood, water, fire, earth?! No way! So that’s how it is. The people in this stack all died in gold. The ones here all died in earth, and here – water. These are fire and these – wood!”

The others were able to understand after Feng Wu reminded them. It looked like everyone died in one of five surroundings.

“Zhēn! You’re so smart! You were able to tell just by looking.” Annai grabbed Feng Wu’s sleeve as she expressed her admiration.

“Yes, it is as Zhēn said. Everyone here died in either the woods, in water, in fire or in the earth. If the murderer just wanted to kill someone, why go through so much trouble to be this elaborate? I suspect the culprit is trying to perform an evil ritual.”

Yanaimo did not like Zhēn getting Airon’s attention, and it showed in her expression, which was looking rather bad.

“Evil ritual!” Both teachers had also thought of this. It was true, there was no reason to resort to such trickery if the intent was only to kill someone.

“There’s one more thing.” Airon continued after checking that everyone was paying attention. “I found out that the murderer isn’t a physically powerful person.”

“How did you come to that conclusion?” Yanaimo couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you remember the day Zhēn was attacked? She said she was bathing in the spring when she suddenly felt sleepy. She couldn’t fight back when she was attacked. I thought that was odd, so I went back to the scene to search for clues.”

“What did you find?” Everyone was curious.

“I found a sedative on the ground. The liquid would have evaporated had I gone any later.”

“You mean someone drugged Zhēn? That’s why she was so weak?” His classmates weren’t stupid. They caught on quickly.

“Exactly. I extracted the ingredients from the liquid and discovered it was some kind of medicinal liquid made from a specific type of herb. The liquid becomes breathable gas when mixed with oxygen. Anyone who breathes it in will become drowsy and eventually lose consciousness. That person would then be at the mercy of the perpetrator.”

“She really was drugged!” No one expected that. Zhēn had become an ordinary girl, so they had thought she was simply too frightened to fight back. It turned out she had been drugged.

“That’s why I say the murderer isn’t a physically strong person. If the person was strong, then why not use brute strength to overpower their victims? Why resort to using drugs?”

There was sense in Airon’s words. If the murderer was really strong, why go to all the trouble of using drugs?

“Then the murderer isn’t necessarily a man, but could be a woman!” Someone in the crowd whispered.

The words made other people realize this was true. Someone who had to rely on drugs to kill someone couldn’t be very strong. It didn’t have to be a man; it could be a woman.

They eyed each other with this new information in mind. Their faces changed. Any one of them could be the murderer and everyone was a possible suspect.

They created an image of the murderer based on the revelations. The investigation was progressing. . .