“Hmm? Wang Meng sent me a message?”
The image was still generating when Gu Chen noticed two unread messages sent by Wang Meng 10 minutes ago.
Thinking it was a coincidence that she had just mentioned her, she clicked on the messages to take a look.
[Gu Chen, I’m over at the rental house. I missed the last bus. If you’re free, could you pick me up and take me to school?]
[I just ran into Teacher Wu. He said he’d drive me back to school, so don’t worry about it.]
“What? Wu Peng is driving Wang Meng back to school?”
Seeing that the latest message was already 10 minutes old, Gu Chen suddenly had a bad premonition.
“Gu Chen, what did you just say?”
Hearing her muttering, Tang Ziya thought she heard Wang Meng’s name.
“Wang Meng just messaged me. She said she ran into Wu Peng on the road and is currently in his car heading back,”
Gu Chen answered.
“What!?”
Tang Ziya’s face turned pale instantly.
She fell into a panic.
‘That guy is the copycat killer. Could Wang Meng be in danger if she’s in his car?’
There had already been two consecutive cases.
Now that the two were alone together, it was impossible not to worry.
“Calm down. Wu Peng is cautious. He wouldn’t dare do anything openly to a student. He probably just wanted to give her a ride since it was on the way. Still, contact Wang Meng and ask if she has reached the school yet.”
Li Yanqiu stood up and waved her hand, signaling them not to be so tense.
According to her logic, this analysis was sound.
Tang Ziya calmed down slightly and immediately dialed the number…
*Ding-dong!*
At the same time, the notification for the completed image generation rang from Gu Chen’s phone.
She instinctively opened it to look.
*Rumble—!*
A bolt of lightning, as bright as day, illuminated the earth, and thunder shook the sky.
Tang Ziya and Li Yanqiu shuddered, startled by the sudden thunder, and looked out the window.
“T-This… How is this possible!”
In the white light, Gu Chen’s pupils constricted instantly as a chill rushed to her heart!
A light rain began to drizzle through the air.
“What’s going on? Wang Meng isn’t picking up?”
Tang Ziya waited until the line went dead, her anxiety returning.
“Class Monitor, Teacher Li…”
Gu Chen took a deep breath.
She showed the generated image to them, and both of them were completely stunned.
The face in the image was 70% similar to Wu Peng!
“Isn’t this him? What’s going on? Did Wang Meng just project Teacher Wu’s face into her memory?”
Tang Ziya recognized him immediately, but she found it hard to believe.
Besides the teacher-student relationship, the two had no intersection.
How could this guy appear in Wang Meng’s nightmare?
“Wait! The trauma Wang Meng suffered 5 years ago… Wu Peng returned 5 years ago… and both of them had been to South Asian Country…”
Cold sweat broke out on Li Yanqiu’s forehead for the first time.
Along with this image, many clues began to connect.
“Could it be…”
Tang Ziya’s entire body trembled.
She reacted quickly, connecting the dots to a terrifying possibility.
She stammered, “Could it be that the person Wang Meng saw back then was… Teacher Wu!?”
Looking at the timeline they had pieced together, 5 years ago, Wang Meng’s family went on a trip and stayed at a local hotel.
In the middle of the night, she and her brother went to play on the back mountain, where they stumbled upon Wu Peng’s murder scene.
She was severely traumatized and lost her memory.
Because 5 years had passed and she had selectively suppressed those memories, she hadn’t recognized Wu Peng.
However, his presence had caused her nightmares to become frequent.
Similarly, because Wang Meng’s appearance had changed as she grew up, Wu Peng hadn’t recognized her either, which was why they had been at peace until now.
Combined with the coincidences of their pasts, even without hard evidence, the deduction Tang Ziya reached was bold and highly credible!
Thinking of this, she called Wang Meng again, but this time it didn’t even ring.
It went straight to voicemail!
“This is bad! Wang Meng is in danger!”
Tang Ziya shouted, her hand gripping her phone so hard it shook.
“Don’t panic. Even if it’s true, Wu Peng hasn’t recognized Wang Meng for this long; he might not recognize her now. She said she was coming back to school, so check the dormitory and ask the others. Gu Chen, let’s go check the security footage to see if Wu Peng’s car ever stopped at the gate.”
Li Yanqiu could only try to soothe their emotions while making a decision.
No matter the situation, they couldn’t afford to lose their heads.
The three of them split into two groups.
Tang Ziya rushed to the dormitory, while Gu Chen and Li Yanqiu went straight to the school security office.
According to the time, she should have returned to school long ago.
The security guard was initially reluctant to help, but as soon as he heard it concerned a student’s life and safety, he hurriedly pulled up the footage.
Rewinding the footage from the front gate, they finally saw the car from 5 minutes ago.
However, it didn’t stop at the school entrance.
It drove straight toward City North.
During the entire time, no one was seen getting out of the car.
“Damn it! Something really happened!”
No matter how optimistic Gu Chen tried to be, she realized there was a problem and clenched her fists.
A message came from Tang Ziya as well.
Wang Meng wasn’t in the dormitory, and no one else had seen her.
It was now certain that she was still in Wu Peng’s car.
“Teacher Li, let’s call the police!”
Gu Chen took out her phone, ready to dial.
“Wang Meng is an adult. If she hasn’t been missing for 24 hours, they won’t even open a case. Besides, we have no concrete evidence that she’s in danger. we have to find her ourselves,”
Li Yanqiu said, shaking her head.
Soon, Tang Ziya arrived, panting, and learned about the security footage.
“If Wu Peng really wants to harm Wang Meng, he will definitely choose the nearest suitable location. There are two spots on that road: the North Back Mountain and the abandoned building. No one ever goes there.”
It was lucky that she usually liked reading detective stories and learning about investigation techniques.
Originally, she had done it to deal with Gu Chen, but she never expected it would be useful here.
Given Wu Peng’s cautious nature, he likely wouldn’t dare go too far for fear of complications.
He would definitely choose one of those two locations.
“Fine. I’ll go to the mountain. Class Monitor and Teacher Li, you two go to the abandoned building. If anything happens, contact each other immediately.”
At this point, there was no other choice.
Tang Ziya didn’t have any combat ability, so she would be safer with Teacher Li.
“Be careful. Don’t try to be a hero. Wait for us to get there.”
Li Yanqiu looked at Gu Chen with concern and gave a solemn warning.
After making their plan, both sides rushed toward their respective destinations.
***
Because North Back Mountain was quite far, Gu Chen hailed a taxi.
On the way, the driver felt bored and said to her, “Young lady… North Back Mountain is a pretty rough place. What are you going there for? Do you live around there?”
“No… I have some business to take care of. Please drive faster.”
Gu Chen was already used to drivers mistaking her for a girl.
Since she currently looked like one anyway, she didn’t want to argue about it.
“It’s raining outside. Any faster and it’ll be dangerous driving. I’m telling you, young lady, North Back Mountain is okay for now, but in a little while, when it’s closer to the New Year, no driver will dare go there. That place is just too chaotic. There are a lot of muggers.”
Gu Chen had heard about the chaos in City North, especially the back mountain.
From what she knew, there were many hoodlums there who specialized in deceiving and extorting outsiders.
“You seem to know a lot. Are you from City North?”
Gu Chen had only heard these things by chance, so she didn’t expect the driver to be so knowledgeable.
“Heh, I had a colleague who drove someone to North Back Mountain. As soon as they arrived, the passenger sprayed pepper spray in his eyes. Then he was robbed of everything, and they even broke one of his legs. The people there are vicious. Did you know? There’s a mine on the mountain. Those hoodlums are kept by the mine owner. Even if they kill someone, it’s not considered a crime; they just pay a bit of compensation at most.”
Gu Chen hadn’t expected her one sentence to ignite the driver’s talkative nature.
She had to listen to his babbling the whole way, which left her speechless.
At the summit of North Back Mountain, under the pitch-black night sky, only the car’s headlights were on.
Combined with the rainstorm, the scene appeared terrifying and eerie.
Under the headlights, Wang Meng’s hands and feet were tied.
She struggled incessantly, the gag in her mouth muffling her whimpers into soft groans.
Her tears mixed with the rain, only to be quickly drowned out by the sound of the wind.
“Wang Meng, don’t blame me for being cruel. It’s your own bad luck that led you to cross my path again. Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. It won’t be too painful.”
Wu Peng crouched down, a demonic smile appearing on his face.
But as he looked at her delicate, beautiful face and her well-developed figure, he felt a bit of hesitation.
He whispered again, “How about this? I’ll let you experience the pleasures of a man and woman before you die. That way, this life won’t have been in vain, right?”
“Mmmph!!!”
Wang Meng shook her head violently, her muffled cries heart-wrenchingly tragic.
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