Chapter 20
The dean’s office was located on the darkest and most gloomy fifth floor.
Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi peeked out from the stairwell. After waiting for a while for the “ghost” to disappear at the other end of the stairs, they stepped into the fifth-floor corridor.
The dean’s office was in the middle of the long corridor. The “ghost” had already left, so the two of them pushed the door open and entered without worry.
The old wooden door opened inwards, and their vision suddenly cleared. Shen Wu was suddenly taken aback.
Nan Dengwei also saw him, and a light instantly appeared in his empty eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t speak because of the tape on his mouth and could only make urgent muffled sounds.
Just like at the beginning of the live broadcast, he was tied to a wooden chair with layers of hemp rope, unable to move his hands or feet.
Shen Wu sighed, “So we really have to save him.”
He then walked towards Nan Dengwei and first tore off the tape sealing his mouth. “The show’s team is really ruthless…”
Nan Dengwei regained his ability to speak and quickly said, “These knots are all tied dead. They probably can’t be untied.”
Shen Wu had to retract his suggestion to call Meng Huaizhi for help.
It was about ten o’clock now, and there were still two hours until the scheduled end time.
Shen Wu guessed that in order to ensure enough content, the show’s team might have added extra difficulty to the rescue. As if by fate, it also provided more time for the male lead and the main character shou to spend together.
“Although it’s unlikely…” Shen Wu said, “let’s still look around and see if there are any scissors here.”
Meng Huaizhi grunted in agreement and immediately started to act.
This office was quite large, with eight desks and several cabinets with many drawers.
Shen Wu quickly pulled open several cabinets. “There’s nothing in the drawers of this cabinet.”
The desks, cabinets, and so on on Meng Huaizhi’s side were also the same.
It was impossible for a large office not to have stationery like utility knives or scissors, but the show’s team had cleared out all the miscellaneous items in the office. By not setting up any obstacles for their search, they were essentially telling them that there were no props here.
Nan Dengwei watched them search intently. From time to in time, there would be some bumping sounds. He reminded them with a worried heart, “Be careful, the ‘ghost’ could come back at any time.”
In the entire school building, only some of the room doors could be opened, and the ones that could be opened couldn’t be locked. The three of them were in the dean’s office, with high walls on all four sides and no way to retreat. When the “ghost” came back and blocked the door, they would be caught in one fell swoop.
Shen Wu glanced at Nan Dengwei, then at Meng Huaizhi, and made up his mind. “Teacher Meng, why don’t you look around here, or see if you can untie the ropes on Xiao Nan? I’ll go out and look for scissors or a utility knife.”
Meng Huaizhi: “You’re going by yourself?”
Shen Wu grunted in agreement, but his thoughts were much more numerous: Isn’t this to create an opportunity for you two to spend time together? It’s also to prevent you from having to chase your wife to the crematorium in the future because you were married.
He was truly a benevolent ex-husband, a model in the ex-husband world.
Without waiting for Meng Huaizhi to ask again, he turned and walked a few steps away, showing that he refused to discuss it further. “I’ll just go to the art classroom next door and take a look. I’ll be back soon.”
There was a staircase at each end of the long corridor. At the staircase they had just come up, there was a small open platform connected to an art room with double glass doors.
A casual glance would be enough to be scared witless by the shadowy human-shaped plaster casts.
Anyone who passed by there could not possibly ignore the existence of the art room. And the art room was not far from the dean’s office. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed to be the location of the next clue.
Meng Huaizhi had naturally also noticed the art room and seemed to have the same thought as Shen Wu, so he didn’t say anything more.
When only two people were left in the dean’s office, a sense of awkwardness arose.
However, this feeling was probably one-sided on Nan Dengwei’s part.
He had long heard of Meng Huaizhi’s name and knew that there was a world of difference between them. They would probably never have any interaction in this lifetime, at most seeing him from a distance as an audience member at a concert.
Nan Dengwei couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive and cautiously greeted him, “Senior Meng.”
Meng Huaizhi happened to be closing a wooden drawer and seemed not to have heard him.
Nan Dengwei waited patiently for a few seconds. When he turned around, he said again, “Um, it’s okay if you can’t find any scissors or knives. I might still get caught by the ghost if I go out. Don’t get you guys involved. It’s better for you to go and collect clues and find the exit…”
After saying this, he happened to meet Meng Huaizhi’s eyes, which were as silent as the eternal night. It was as if all emotions would vanish in an instant if they fell into them.
He felt an inexplicable panic and had a strange thought: I probably shouldn’t have said that to Meng Huaizhi. After all, it was Shen Wu who had been actively trying to save him.
He suddenly felt at a loss. “Ahem, um, I’m really sorry…”
However, although Meng Huaizhi’s expression was cold, his emotions were rarely exposed.
His expression was faint, calm, and without any sharp aggression. “It’s fine.”
At first glance, Meng Huaizhi didn’t seem difficult to get along with, nor did he have the airs of a top-tier star. But such a polite, distant, and easy-going person was actually the most difficult to get close to.
He didn’t know how Shen Wu had gotten to know him so well.
To liven up the atmosphere, Nan Dengwei continued to look for a topic. “The ‘ghost’ was chasing me before, and I had no choice but to come and admit my mistake on my own. I didn’t have time to look for clues. Have you found any?”
Meng Huaizhi said briefly, “Mm, we found out that the two ‘ghosts’, a man and a woman, who were crying on the broadcast, were once students here.”
“Oh,” Nan Dengwei nodded repeatedly, constantly giving positive feedback. “It hasn’t been long, you’re so efficient, you found it so quickly…”
Meng Huaizhi’s and Shen Wu’s cameramen had split up. Shen Wu was busy looking for a utility knife in the messy art room, so the main camera naturally stayed on the more interesting dean’s office.
Nan Dengwei talked nonstop, and Meng Huaizhi answered almost every question.
However, no matter how much Nan Dengwei praised him, as long as his words didn’t contain a question, his answer would only be a short “mm,” and his expression would remain blank.
This attitude seemed perfunctory, but the fans in the live broadcast room all knew his personality. In the past, when he encountered other artists who tried to strike up a conversation or ride on his popularity, he rarely even looked at them and would walk away quickly if he couldn’t get a word in.
So there was a lot of overthinking in the bullet screen.
[Nan Dengwei has such a good personality. I’m starting to become a fan of him. It’s really comfortable to be around someone like that.]
[Top-tier singer x eighteenth-tier obscure celebrity, why is it a bit sweet?]
[Obscure celebrity, stop trying to leech off him. You won’t get popular by leeching off a top-tier star.]
[That’s enough. It’s better to ship him with Shen Wu.]
[Exactly, Huai-ge is just being polite by answering him. Is there anything special about it? Some people should stop forcing a ship, I’m telling you. It’s really not worth it.]
[It was Shen Wu who asked Huai-ge to stay. He’s just listening to Shen Wu. I feel like he doesn’t want to stay for another second, hahaha.]
Meng Huaizhi’s solo stans, perhaps on impulse, even brought up Shen Wu again.
Without comparison, one wouldn’t know. But with comparison, they suddenly realized that the details they hadn’t paid attention to before were all sugar.
[I suddenly thought of the first time they were chased by the ghost. I was too nervous to notice at the time, but weren’t Huai-ge and Wuwu the first to decide to run upstairs?]
[Yes, yes, and it was because they both wanted to pull the other, which delayed them, that they almost got caught by the ghost!]
[Our Wuwu is kind-hearted and wants to save everyone. As for a certain someone, I’ll just smile and say nothing~]
[The Wuye Shuhuai Super Topic has been created, sisters, come and play!!!]
The atmosphere between Meng Huaizhi and Nan Dengwei was definitely not warm, but rather cold. In contrast, the bullet screen was extremely lively, constantly discussing and replaying.
Before long, the live broadcast switched to the art room.
The switch was very timely. Shen Wu had just taken a utility knife out of a pencil case.
He carefully put the utility knife in his pocket, making sure it wouldn’t fall out while he was running. Then he tiptoed towards the glass door.
He was careful and cautious, but life is always so dramatic. The moment his hand touched the doorknob, he froze on the spot, even holding his breath.
The cameraman behind him followed his line of sight and filmed the corridor outside.
The “ghost,” covered in blood and mud, crashed into the live broadcast, startling a wave of screams from the bullet screen.
[Ahhhh, holy crap!!]
[So close, help.]
[What now???]
The “ghost” came up from the fourth floor and passed by the art room door, about two or three meters away. He seemed to have a clear destination and was not looking around for prey, nor did he notice Shen Wu behind the glass door.
He walked straight down the corridor.
There was no one else in the corridor. It didn’t take much thought to know that his destination was definitely the dean’s office.
Now, it might be time for Nan Dengwei to be executed.
Seeing the “ghost” walk further and further away, Shen Wu was safe, but he became more and more anxious. Instead of betting on that slim hope that the “ghost” was just passing by the dean’s office and wouldn’t go in, it would be better to…
Thinking of this, Shen Wu suddenly pushed open the glass door, making a harsh, grating sound.
The “ghost’s” footsteps suddenly paused.
Shen Wu added more fuel to the fire and shouted, “I’m here!”
This kind of self-sacrificing behavior was common in movies, but this was just a reality show for entertainment. Yet Shen Wu was also on high alert. The relaxed atmosphere was gone, replaced by a serious and resolute one.
There was a sense of fearlessness in the face of danger, a heroic spirit of facing difficulties head-on.
His moist peach blossom eyes, set against his sharp and flamboyant features, were even more charming.
The bullet screen fawned over his looks for a few seconds. The “ghost” was successfully attracted by the arrogant Shen Wu, quickened its pace, and suddenly rushed towards him.
Shen Wu went downstairs unhurriedly, deliberately controlling his speed to ensure that he was always within the “ghost’s” line of sight.
He crossed the fourth-floor corridor, passing one dark door after another, only looking straight ahead and running, trying to lure the ghost away from the dean’s office on the fifth floor.
As he ran, he thought, but the staircase connecting the second and first floors was different from the structure upstairs. Both ends of the second-floor corridor were dead ends, and in the middle of the corridor was a straight staircase that could accommodate several people side by side.
To be safe, he should find a room to hide in on the second floor at the latest. Otherwise, he would be like Xia Fanxing, trapped in a dead end on the first floor with no exit at either end.
In a flash of thought, Shen Wu came out of the stairwell and arrived at the second floor.
He looked up and was taken aback.
At the staircase in the middle of the second-floor corridor, a familiar cameraman was standing.
In the live broadcast room, a few sharp-eyed viewers also noticed that cameraman.
The several cameramen were very good at their positioning. Even in the unedited live broadcast room, they rarely appeared on camera.
However, there was a heavyweight top-tier star among the guests. His fans were numerous and powerful, and they would watch the live broadcast with a “microscope,” not missing a single detail.
[Is the person in front Huai-ge’s follow PD?]
[It seems so. Did Huai-ge come down too? But why is the PD alone?]
This shot flashed by, and the audience didn’t have time to continue discussing. Shen Wu had to run wildly to escape the ghost following him. The cameraman followed closely behind, and the camera shook.
Shen Wu ran out at high speed. The cameraman’s lens turned behind him and gave a close-up of the “ghost.” Its terrifying hands stretched forward desperately, as if it was just a little bit away from grabbing the audience in front of the screen through the camera.
The tense atmosphere was instantly maxed out.
The wide staircase was right in front of him. Shen Wu had to make a decision at this moment: go downstairs, sacrifice himself to lure the “ghost” away on the first floor, or find a room to hide in on the second floor to ensure his safety.
Maybe Xia Fanxing was caught by the ghost in the first-floor corridor just because he ran too slowly or was unlucky and didn’t find an open door in time.
Shen Wu decided to take a gamble and chose to go downstairs.
As he was about to turn and go downstairs, Meng Huaizhi’s cameraman was close at hand, but he didn’t see any sign of Meng Huaizhi at all.
He hesitated for a moment, and his movements slowed down. Just then, an arm stretched out from behind and to the side, and suddenly pulled him away.
The cameraman was in front of him and happened to capture the look of horror on his face in that instant, as well as that strange arm.
[Ahhhhhhhh, holy crap]
[Ahhhhhh, you scared me to death. I’ll never dare to watch a live broadcast again, wuwuwuwu]
[What just happened? Where’s Shen Wu???]
