Is It Over?

Wang Qin's body was found the next morning at the base of the cliff, by a man who came to White Stone Mountain every day at dawn to walk his dog. He called the police. Detective Wu Xian arrived and looked at the site and said nothing.

Principal Chen Daipeng was not informed until later that morning. He received the call during breakfast and sat for a long time with his phone in his hand before getting up from the table.

Up on the mountain, Fei Qiang had built a small fire from dry branches and kept it going until dawn. He and Hui Nan and Zhu Hua had sat around it without sleeping. The figure in the school uniform was not mentioned by any of them. When morning came and the fire had burned down, Fei Qiang went to the building and came back carrying something bundled in cloth. He laid it in the ash of the fire and burned it.

Hui Nan didn't ask what it was.

They came down from the mountain as the sun was rising. Zhu Hua went home. Fei Qiang walked Hui Nan to the bus stop and stood there until the bus came.

"Is it over?" Hui Nan asked, before getting on.

Fei Qiang considered the question seriously. "Wang Qin is dead. That's all eight of the names — the original list is complete." He was quiet for a moment. "But the nursery rhyme only said seven. There were supposed to be seven."

"There were seven teachers on the original list," Hui Nan said. "Plus Wang Qin makes eight."

"Yes."

"So something went outside the original plan."

"Yes." He looked at the bus, which was waiting. "Get some sleep. I'll be in touch."

Hui Nan got on the bus.

Three days later, the school held a pre-examination assembly in the main hall. The students sat in rows on the floor. Hui Nan sat on the stage with the remaining staff. Principal Chen Daipeng stood at the podium and spoke about the importance of focus in the final weeks before exams, about the tragedy of recent events, about resilience and community. His voice was steady and measured.

Behind him, in the second row of staff chairs, Hui Nan sat and said nothing.

When Chen finished speaking, he gestured to Hui Nan to make a brief announcement about the exam schedule. She stood up and walked to the podium. She looked out at the rows of students — hundreds of faces looking up at her.

She said: "It wants to climb back out of the earth."

She said it in a voice that was not quite her own — lower, and with a flatness, as if the words had been given to her rather than chosen. The microphone carried it to every corner of the hall.

The students sat very still.

Principal Chen Daipeng, in his chair on the stage, had gone white.

Hui Nan blinked. She turned and looked at the exam schedule she was holding and announced the dates and times as she had intended to. Her voice was entirely normal again. She went back to her seat.

Afterward, in the corridor, several students told each other that Teacher Hui had said something strange at the microphone, but none of them could quite remember what it was.