Chapter 23: The Assassin Emerges

Xiao Fan Zhang stood up and said, “Zhu Kai was indeed a little strange today. He clearly had a chance to kill us back then, but he just left. It seems something urgent came up.”

“What could it be? Ugh, ever since I got involved with this red packet group, my head’s about to split open.” Hu Xiaotian shook his head in frustration.

“Enough talk. I’m going to eat. Xiao Fan, come on,” Jiang Gewei said as he stood up.

“Forget it. I want to be alone for a bit,” Xiao Fan Zhang replied.

“All right then. We’ll get your meal and bring it back.” Hu Xiaotian called out a farewell, then left with Jiang Gewei.

Watching the two of them go, Xiao Fan Zhang fell into deep thought. Right now, two major problems lay before him: first, who exactly was the killer? Second, how should Zhu Kai be dealt with?

He took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote down those two questions, then below them wrote the names of the dead.

The first victim, Miao Biao.

The second victim, a student from the first-year class.

The third victim, Cai Ming.

These were the people the killer had slain over the past three days.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Fan Zhang drew a question mark after Cai Ming’s name.

The reason was simple: Cai Ming’s death scene differed from the first two, so he could not be one hundred percent certain that Cai Ming had died at the killer’s hands.

He stared at the three names for a long time. The three had nothing to do with one another. The only thing linking them was this red packet group.

He ran a troubled hand through his disheveled hair, then suddenly remembered that there were several other deaths in the class.

The day Miao Biao died, Chen Delong was killed by Zhu Kai.

The day that first-year student died, Zhu Kai killed Xu Hong.

Today, Zhu Liwen also died at Zhu Kai’s hands.

Hm? These three... all died at Zhu Kai’s hands...

“Zhu Kai really is ruthless!” Xiao Fan Zhang fixed his gaze on the paper. Suddenly, he sensed that something was off in the hidden workings of fate.

“Something’s wrong. Zhu Kai kills one person every day too!” Xiao Fan Zhang sprang to his feet. He closed his eyes, recalling the scene from today when Zhu Kai fought Han Fei. Zhu Kai defeated Han Fei, but in the end he did not kill him, nor did he make a move against them.

Why was that?

“The rules of the game are that the killer must kill one person every day, no more, or else they will be punished!”

Xiao Fan Zhang opened his eyes abruptly, his expression cold as he muttered to himself, “This morning Zhu Kai didn’t leave because of some urgent matter. He left because he could only kill one person a day. Earlier, he had already killed Zhu Liwen, so he could not kill Han Fei, and he could not kill us either.”

After saying this, he shook his head again. “But that’s not right. How did Miao Biao and those other two die? If they weren’t killed by the assassin, then why were the death scenes so strange?”

Xiao Fan Zhang pondered for a long while, but could not make sense of it. Just as he was about to lie down and rest for a while, something suddenly bumped in his pocket.

“Hm?” He reached in curiously and found a mobile phone. After thinking back, Xiao Fan Zhang remembered that this was the phone of the deceased first-year student. He had checked the body first, and later, out of habit, put the phone away.

He turned it on and saw that it was locked as well.

“Miao Biao, and the first-year boy had the same death scene. In other words, the two of them went through the same thing before they died. What exactly was it?” Xiao Fan Zhang murmured to himself.

“Xiao Fan, we brought your food.” At that moment, Hu Xiaotian and Jiang Gewei came in.

Xiao Fan Zhang walked straight out and said, “I’ve got something to do outside. Just leave the food there.”

“Damn it, where are you going this late...” Hu Xiaotian called after him.

Xiao Fan Zhang went to a phone shop not far from the school gate and handed the locked smartphone to the owner. “Boss, help me unlock this phone.”

The shop owner was a man in his forties. He took the imitation phone and sneered inwardly; instinct told him it was probably stolen. Otherwise, why would someone have him unlock it for no reason?

Still, he was used to this sort of thing. Glancing at Xiao Fan Zhang, he said, “Two hundred.”

“Fine, but do it right away. And one very important thing: don’t damage any of the information inside.”

“No problem.”

Unlocking it wasn’t especially difficult for them. He took out a small screwdriver, connected it to the computer, and before long had the phone in working order again, which he handed back to Xiao Fan Zhang.

After paying the owner, Xiao Fan Zhang immediately swiped open the phone and searched through the records, but found nothing.

He frowned. Impossible. How could there be nothing?

He checked each app on the phone one by one. Right—there was something in the messaging app.

Thinking this, Xiao Fan Zhang opened the phone. The moment he saw the information on it, his pupils shrank violently. Then he threw back his head and burst into laughter. “I get it. I get it now. Zhu Kai, tomorrow will be your end, hahahaha...”

The shop owner shook his head and sighed. “This kid must be so excited because of some obscene video. Sigh, society’s going downhill, morals are collapsing...”

The next day, Xiao Fan Zhang and Jiang Gewei arrived early in the classroom. Su Qianqian said nervously, “Xiao Fan, Zhu Kai is definitely going to take revenge today. You should hide outside for a while.”

Xiao Fan Zhang shrugged. “Today, Zhu Kai will have no way back.”

The classmates were all whispering among themselves. “Has Xiao Fan Zhang lost his mind? He says Zhu Kai will have no way back?”

“Who knows? But don’t underestimate Xiao Fan. You’ve seen what he can do. Several times we thought he was in serious trouble, and yet he always pulled through.”

As they spoke, Wang Hu and Chen Jing also came over.

“Xiao Fan, have you lost your life? Why did you call us here?” Wang Hu asked.

“To watch a great show,” Xiao Fan Zhang said lightly.

“You’ve found a way to deal with Zhu Kai?” Chen Jing asked.

Under everyone’s gaze, Xiao Fan Zhang said coldly, “Not only do I have a way to deal with Zhu Kai, I also already know who the killer is!”

The classmates all looked at Xiao Fan Zhang in astonishment, their eyes full of disbelief.

Even Murong Feng stood up and asked in a deep voice, “Xiao Fan Zhang, you really already know who it is?”

“Of course.”

“Then hurry up and send a message to Bao Lei to have the killer finished off.”

“Yes, once the killer is dead, we’ll all be safe.”

Xiao Fan Zhang gave a cold laugh. Exposing the killer like that would certainly work, but it would be too easy on him.

Besides, Xiao Fan Zhang had another target in mind. Now that the class had been thoroughly reshuffled, if he wanted to prevent something like Zhu Kai from ever happening again, he had to become the leader among his classmates. This was the perfect chance to establish his authority. He wanted them all to see that he, Xiao Fan Zhang, was stronger than Wang Hu, Song Feng, Murong Feng, and even Zhu Kai.

“Die!”

Bang!

A roar came from the doorway. Zhu Kai led more than a dozen people in, one of them gripping the neck of one of Wang Hu’s underlings as they slowly walked into the room.

Crack.

The man’s neck was snapped with ease. Zhu Kai said coldly, “Wang Hu, your men are far too weak.”