Chapter 5: The Fifteen-Year-Old Mystery (1/3)

Although someone had died, it didn't affect the class's normal schedule. At 10:30, Class 3 of the 2020 Art Design program continued with classes as usual. Ren Jingting arrived punctually. The moment she stepped into the classroom, she saw her classmates discussing animatedly, both in the front and back rows. She wasn't curious about it, and simply sat down in her usual seat. Her roommate, who sat not far from her, leaned in and asked, "Ren Jingting, do you know something happened in our class?"

"Happened? What happened?"

"Take a look—who's missing from class?"

Ren Jingting glanced around the room and quickly noticed. "It seems... Dong Qian isn't here."

"Right, would you believe it? She's dead. Died on the hill behind our school. They took her body away sometime after eight."

"What? Dead?"

"Yeah. For you, this might actually be good news. No one will dare bully you anymore."

"How did she suddenly die?"

"Who knows? She was so arrogant and overbearing—someone probably couldn't stand it anymore and did away with her."

She swept her gaze across the classroom once more, confirming that Dong Qian was indeed absent, and only caught sight of Song Jialei and Zhou Yingying looking away evasively. Just then their homeroom teacher, Li Enliang, arrived, and the class fell silent.

By afternoon, the class received a summons from the police station—every student had to go make a statement. This happened to fall right in the middle of the lunchtime break, when most students were napping in their dorm rooms with the air conditioning running. Tang Haoyang was lying in bed, just starting to feel drowsy, when suddenly there was a loud pounding on the dorm room door. The roommate closest to the door rushed over to open it, only to find a group of police officers standing outside. He Shaobin stood right in the middle, holding up his police ID directly in front of them.

"Officers," the roommate said, immediately standing obediently to the side at the sight of this, "what brings you to our dorm?"

He Shaobin asked, "Excuse me, which of you is Ren Jie?"

The three of them, startled, all turned at once to look at Ren Jie. He stood up and said, "That's me. What's this about?"

"We suspect you're connected to the homicide that occurred at the school. Please come with us."

"What?" Ren Jie's face was full of shock, and the other three roommates were equally stunned. He stammered, "I... I didn't kill anyone."

"Whatever you have to say, save it for the station."

Ren Jie was hauled off by two officers, and the commotion drew the whole floor out to watch. Quite a few students promptly took out their phones to film it. The three roommates, bewildered, followed along outside as well.

"Officers, this can't be right!" Tang Haoyang spoke up for him without hesitation. "Ren Jie has always been honest and well-behaved. He only got a girlfriend in his third year—how could he possibly kill someone?"

The police ignored him and pulled an unsightly black hood over Ren Jie's head. No matter how Ren Jie and his roommates tried to explain, the officers only replied that it could be discussed at the station. Ren Jie was led to the entrance of the dorm building under the curious stares of many onlookers. Ren Jingting happened to witness this scene and instantly recognized Ren Jie. She dashed forward in a flash, grabbed hold of one officer's arm, and stared at the eyes behind the black hood, saying, "What are you doing? He's my brother! Why are you arresting him?"

The officer shook off her hand and said, "Miss, we don't arrest people without cause. We suspect he's connected to the homicide at your school."

"That's impossible. My brother could never kill anyone. You must have the wrong person."

Ren Jie could only force himself to stay calm, and said in as steady a voice as he could manage, "Tingting, listen to me. Go to class. Your brother will be fine."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he was pushed into the police car, and afterward locked up in a detention center. In the blink of an eye, he found himself shut inside a two-square-meter cell. Gripping the iron bars, he stared at the dim, gloomy surroundings outside and let out a helpless sigh. "I've been wronged..."