noffsinger Chapter 220 Now that things have come to this, are you still going to put on an act?
Chapter 220 Now that things have come to this, are you still going to put on an act?
Shen Yu slowly withdrew the spiritual power from his fingertips. The light in Lu Yutong's eyes faded instantly, her eyelids drooped heavily, and she fell into a deep coma again. No matter how softly her parents called out to her, she could no longer be awakened.
"Yutong! Yutong, wake up!" Lu's mother shook her daughter's arm and cried out in anguish.
"There's no need to call her again. Just now, the spiritual energy briefly awakened her remaining consciousness. Once the spiritual energy dissipates, her soul won't be able to hold on, and she will fall into a coma again."
Shen Yu withdrew his hand, looked at everyone present, and clearly stated the memory clues he had just read.
"What trapped her soul was not Lin Xiaoyu's remnant soul, but the resentment of dozens of young men and women in the basement behind the teaching building."
Upon hearing this, Lu Mingyu was startled. He abruptly pulled out his phone, unlocked the screen, and pulled out a WeChat message his sister had sent late at night two weeks ago.
Brother, today I went around to the back of the teaching building and saw a locked iron gate. There were a lot of crying sounds coming from inside. Director Li saw me and told me not to tell anyone.
He was working a part-time job at the time and didn't see it.
When I sent her follow-up messages, she only replied that I sent it to the wrong person and refused to say another word.
"So that's what it was! I just thought she was overthinking because of the pressure of studying, and I didn't take it to heart. I never expected that she was hiding such a big secret."
Lu Mingyu gripped his phone tightly, his eyes swirling with intense anger and self-reproach.
Dr. Wang stood frozen in place, staring at the unconscious girl on the hospital bed, then at the still erratic waveforms on the monitor.
The established medical knowledge built up over eighteen years has been completely shattered, leaving me utterly bewildered and unable to utter any words of condemnation or denial.
Shen Yu looked at Mr. and Mrs. Lu, his tone resolute:
"Uncle and Aunt, please stay at the hospital and take care of Yutong. We will return to Yuying High School immediately and find the iron door that locks the basement."
By uncovering the whole truth hidden behind the iron gate for twenty years, completely dispelling the leaked yin energy, and retrieving her imprisoned soul, Yutong will be fully healed and awakened.
Mr. Lu nodded repeatedly, wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and kept thanking them: "Thank you all for your hard work. I'm entrusting everything to Mr. Shen."
The four people briefly said goodbye to the family members, turned around and quickly walked out of the ward.
Dr. Wang stood in the ward, gazing at the lifeless girl on the bed, and fell into a long silence, his heart filled with unresolved doubts and shock.
At 4:30 p.m., the setting sun cast a warm, golden glow across the entire campus of Yuying High School.
The school bell rang precisely on time throughout the campus, and the doors of each classroom in the teaching building opened one by one, with students carrying backpacks pouring out of the classrooms in twos and threes.
The school gate was crowded with parents picking up their children. Electric bikes and private cars were parked in an orderly manner on both sides of the gate. The sounds of students chatting and laughing and parents calling out to their children were intertwined.
The campus has finally shed its dull and oppressive atmosphere of the daytime and gained a more vibrant and lively feel. Only the abandoned open space behind the teaching building, overgrown with weeds, remains deserted and untouched.
Shen Yu and his three companions did not linger at the school gate. Instead, they bypassed the crowded main gate and went straight to the abandoned open space behind the teaching building.
The open space is surrounded by waist-high withered yellow weeds, and few teachers and students ever set foot there. The ground is littered with discarded broken chairs, broken mops, rusty steel pipes and other discarded cleaning and teaching aids.
Next to the wall at the far northwest corner of the open space stands a faded warning sign with the words "Civil defense project, aging structure with risk of collapse, students and faculty are prohibited from entering without permission."
Below the warning sign, a thick, rusty sheet metal cover firmly seals the underground entrance.
Thick, rusty iron chains were wrapped around the edge of the cover plate, and a large, old-fashioned brass lock held the chains firmly in place. From the gaps in the cover plate, a wisp of cold, bone-chilling yin energy slowly drifted outwards.
"The key is in the hands of Principal Zhao Defa."
Shen Yu scanned the entire office building with his divine sense, accurately detecting the spare key to the basement hidden inside the principal's office.
"Let's go to the principal's office."
All three of them were stunned for a moment.
Lu Mingyu asked in confusion:
"But I heard from my teachers that Principal Zhao is a very nice person and cares a lot about the students. Li Shufen makes the decisions on many things at the school, and he doesn't seem to have much real power."
"That was all an act," Shen Yu said.
"Without the principal's cooperation, it's impossible for Li Shufen, a dean of students, to have been able to control everything for so many years. Let's go to her office and see for ourselves."
The four turned and walked towards the office building.
The principal's office is at the very back on the fourth floor. The corridor is quiet, and most teachers have already left work. Only a few offices still have their lights on.
As I approached the principal's office, the door was ajar, and I could hear the sound of a lighter striking and the faint sound of a phone call coming from inside.
"Don't worry, I've taken care of those parents. They shut up after I gave them some money."
Zhao Defa's voice was low and tinged with impatience.
"I'll talk to Li Shufen and tell her to tone it down a bit for now, and wait until the provincial key project evaluation is done. You should also tell the director to make sure the review panel is taken care of, and that nothing goes wrong."
"Okay, I got it. I'll hang up now."
After the call ended, I could hear someone coughing and smoking on the other end.
Lu Mingyu raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Please come in." Zhao Defa's voice returned to its usual gentle and aged tone.
The four people pushed open the door and went inside.
The office was decorated in a grand style, with a large mahogany desk, genuine leather sofa, and various honorary certificates and photos of leaders hanging on the walls.
The desk was piled high with documents and reports, the ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts, and the whole room reeked of smoke.
Zhao Defa sat behind his desk, wearing a gray jacket, with gray hair and a kind smile on his face, looking like a conscientious and kind old principal.
Seeing four strangers enter, he paused for a moment, then stood up with a smile: "Who are you? What can I do for you?"
"Principal Zhao, I am Lu Mingyu, the older brother of Lu Yutong from Class 3, Grade 11," Lu Mingyu said as he stepped forward.
"My sister is still in a coma in the hospital, and all the doctors can't figure out the cause of her illness. We suspect that her coma is related to the abandoned air-raid shelter behind the teaching building."
Upon hearing the word "basement," Zhao Defa's smile froze instantly, and a barely perceptible hint of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
He frowned, looking puzzled.
"Basement? Oh, you mean that old air-raid shelter? That thing was abandoned decades ago, the structure inside is all broken, and it could collapse at any time, so it's been locked up for a long time."
I know about the students' comas; it's all due to psychological problems caused by excessive academic pressure. Experts from the Education Bureau have examined them, and it has nothing to do with that air-raid shelter.
"Zhao Defa, now that things have come to this, are you still going to put on an act?"
Shen Yu spoke, his tone calm yet carrying a penetrating force.