Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 382 Method
"We've searched the whole area downstairs, but we can't find Xiaoxiao."

"The same goes for upstairs. We've searched every room, even under the beds, but we can't find anyone anywhere."

"Have you called yet?"

"I called, but her phone was in the room; she didn't have it with her."

In the living room, Ouyang Lianyu, wearing only a coat, was extremely anxious, looking worriedly at the torrential rain outside the window. "With such heavy rain, Xiaoxiao couldn't possibly have gone out, could she?"

Zhong Yin frowned as well: "I checked, her shoes and slippers are in the room. She wouldn't go out without shoes, would she?"

"But we really can't find Xiaoxiao anywhere."

Gu Zheng wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was physically fit and naturally took the initiative to search the entire villa, personally searching almost every corner.

She took the tissue Zhong Ling handed her, her expression worried. "Even if she's intentionally hiding from us, we've searched for so long, we should have found her by now."

Han Zhou, sitting on the sofa, nodded and pondered, "That's right. There aren't many places to hide in this villa. With so many of us searching together, unless Xiao Xiao isn't in the villa, it's impossible for us to remain undiscovered indefinitely."

Upon hearing this, the living room fell silent, and the previously heavy atmosphere became somewhat subtle. Everyone gave him a strange look.

Gu Zheng asked suspiciously, "Han Zhou, tell me honestly, you didn't hide Xiao Xiao in your room, did you?"

"Do I look like such a boring person to you?" Han Zhou gave her a disgruntled look.

The air was quiet for a few seconds.

Seeing the increasingly strange looks he was getting, and even Zhong Ling's hesitant expression, his face flushed slightly. He coughed to cover his embarrassment, "Okay... I admit I'm a little bored, but I can't joke about something like this with you guys. Besides, didn't you already look for my room?"

He felt a little guilty, not because he had actually hidden Xiao Xiaoxiao, but because in Gu Zheng's mind, she should have been the first person to hide in his room. The fact that she asked such a question probably meant that she had begun to doubt whether he was really the first person to enter the room.

Gu Zheng probably didn't notice Mo Yixia when she left the room earlier. She was genuinely worried that Mo Yixia would disappear along with Xiao Xiaoxiao. But now that Mo Yixia is in the living room, it's hard for Gu Zheng not to overthink things.

There's no time to think about it now, but once Xiao Xiaoxiao has some free time, Gu Zheng will probably be able to sort out her thoughts and have more doubts.

Of course, it wasn't just Gu Zheng who didn't have time to think, Han Zhou was also in no mood to devise a plan. He knew Xiao Xiaoxiao better than anyone else present, so he was even more worried about her condition.

“I believe that neither Han Zhou nor Xiao Xiao would joke about going missing, but where could Xiao Xiao have gone?” Ouyang Lianyu asked worriedly.

“Since we’ve searched the entire villa, Xiaoxiao can only be outside…” Zhong Ling looked at the villa gate and tugged at her clothes.

The sound of the heavy rain outside was enough to make her heart race; she couldn't imagine how dangerous it would be for Xiao Xiaoxiao, a girl, to be out there alone.

It's a pity that no one can hear her voice.

Fortunately, Han Zhou still helped translate even at this time, and then shook his head to deny the guess, "Sister Yin just said that Xiao Xiao's shoes and phone are in the room. She can go out without her phone, but she would never go out without her shoes."

“Yes, there’s no need to go barefoot on purpose,” Guzheng agreed, “unless there’s some special reason for it.”

After he finished speaking, Wang Lengqiu, who had been silent all along, rarely spoke up, saying slowly, "I've heard that some people who commit suicide take off their shoes before they do so."

Everyone's expression froze.

suicide?

Wang Lengqiu's words only fueled the already panicked emotions of the group, causing images of Xiao Xiaoxiao walking barefoot out of the villa in the pouring rain to uncontrollably flash through their minds.

If I remember correctly, there is a river near the villa.

Could it be that Xiao Xiaoxiao really committed suicide?
"No, I have to go out and check..."

Ouyang Lianyu was immediately flustered. Forgetting to go back to change her shoes and grab her umbrella, she hurriedly tried to rush towards the villa gate, but Han Zhou quickly grabbed her arm.

"Han Zhou, don't stop the teacher! We have to find Xiao Xiao as soon as possible!"

"Teacher Ouyang, don't worry," Han Zhou reassured him.

“I don’t want to rush things, but little her…”

Ouyang Lianyu was both anxious and annoyed. She regretted not going back to her room sooner, so that she could have kept a close eye on Xiaoxiao and prevented her from disappearing so mysteriously.

"Don't worry, Teacher Ouyang, Xiaoxiao will be fine. She didn't go outside," Han Zhou said patiently.

On the sofa, Mo Yixia, who had been drinking hot tea, chimed in, "Even if Xiao Xiaoxiao really wanted to commit suicide, she wouldn't choose to do it tonight. Otherwise, everyone in the villa would be considered a criminal suspect. She has a good relationship with you all, so she shouldn't be unaware of this."

"As for whether she has suicidal tendencies, you should know better than I do, but in my personal opinion, she should be a person who loves life very much."

"In addition, Xiao Xiaoxiao did not leave the villa, at least not through the main gate—there are surveillance cameras at the gate of the yard, and Han Zhou and I just checked them, and there is no record of Xiao Xiaoxiao leaving."

Everyone then noticed that Mo Yixia's hair and clothes were a little wet, obviously from getting caught in the rain when she went out to check the surveillance cameras.

Gu Zheng had originally wanted to complain about how she could still be in the mood for tea, but upon hearing this, she swallowed her words and asked suspiciously, "Why did you specifically emphasize that she didn't leave through the main entrance? Do you suspect that Xiao Xiao left from somewhere else?"

"I just tend to list out as many possible outcomes as possible for a given result, especially when there are few clues."

Mo Yixia took a sip of tea and said slowly, "However, it's unlikely that she left from somewhere else. If she wants to leave this villa, the only options besides going through the door are to climb out of the window. But I checked, and all the windows were locked from the inside in the afternoon."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear—if Xiao Xiaoxiao really left the villa through the window, she wouldn't be able to lock the window from the inside. In that case, there would be at least one unlocked window in the entire villa, but that didn't happen.

Gu Zheng had to admit that although Mo Yixia was a bit annoying, she was still very thoughtful. However, she couldn't learn her way of thinking because it required considering things from the perspective of an outsider.

Whether it was Teacher Ouyang's ghost encounter not long ago or Xiao Xiaoxiao's disappearance now, Mo Yixia seems to be able to maintain absolute rationality in thinking about problems, unaffected by excessive emotions.

Gu Zheng believes she cannot do that; she cannot analyze whether someone truly wants to commit suicide while remaining expressionless.

Gu Zheng wasn't the only one with the same idea. Ouyang Lianyu also felt that Mo Yixia was very calm, so she humbly asked, "Yixia, do you think there are any other possibilities?"

Her expression relaxed slightly. Whether Xiao Xiaoxiao hadn't considered suicide or hadn't left the villa, these were both good news. Perhaps she had overcomplicated or exaggerated the situation. "Of course."

However, Mo Yixia's next words quickly made her heart sink.

"Teacher Ouyang, do you remember the ghost you saw tonight?"

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed past the window. In the pale light, the shadows of the trees in the distance, which were being blown about by the wind, were stretched long all the way to the riverbank.

The howling wind and the sound of raindrops hitting the window created an eerie atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the room became somewhat oppressive.

After a moment of silence, Zhong Yin opened his mouth and asked the question that had been on everyone's mind: "Yi Xia, you don't mean to say that Xiao Xiao was kidnapped by a ghost, do you?"

“It’s just a possibility,” Mo Yixia replied.

"Do you really believe there are ghosts in this world?" Gu Zheng frowned.

"When you can't find the answer to a problem using conventional thinking, you can try to think in unconventional ways. I don't believe in ghosts, but there may be things that we can't understand."

"For example?" Guzheng pressed.

"do not know."

Mo Yixia shook her head and sighed, seemingly a little tired. "Although I'm not stingy with sharing my experiences with others, can't you at least have some of your own thoughts?"

Gu Zheng said angrily, "What do you mean by that?"

Han Zhou had a bit of a headache, so he quickly spoke up before the two of them started arguing, saying seriously, "Gu Zheng, Teacher Ouyang, you should both know about the haunted girls' dormitory at school, right?"

“I’ve heard a little about it…” Ouyang Lianyu thought for a moment, then asked doubtfully, “But what does that have to do with Xiaoxiao’s disappearance?”

"I think there must be a connection."

In order to let Zhong Yin, Wang Lengqiu and others understand the whole story, Han Zhou first briefly recounted the rumors of the girls' dormitory being haunted, and then, amidst the incredulous looks of everyone, he said that this matter was very likely related to Xiao Xiaoxiao.

He had discussed with Xiao Xiaoxiao whether or not to tell everyone about this. He actually had a lot of concerns about it, but strangely, Xiao Xiaoxiao didn't hesitate at all and told him to say what he wanted to say without having to think about it.

It's worth mentioning that they discussed this matter this afternoon.

If that were all, it might not be surprising, but considering Xiao Xiaoxiao's unusually sleepy behavior all day, and her act of using the excuse of helping to get the sleeping pills to send Ouyang Lianyu away when she clearly still had them, it's hard not to suspect that she is preparing for something.

Looking back now, what the other person said that afternoon even felt a bit like "making arrangements for their last moments".

After hearing Han Zhou's words, everyone except Mo Yixia showed varying degrees of shock, including Wang Lengqiu, who had been expressionless until now, who revealed a complicated expression.

“This is unbelievable…” Ouyang Lianyu said blankly, “I’ve never heard of such a thing before…”

If she hadn't believed that Xiao Xiaoxiao wouldn't cooperate with Han Zhou in playing a prank on everyone, she might have already begun to suspect that this was a prank decided on the spur of the moment.

Gu Zheng was equally shocked and somewhat unhappy, because Han Zhou had kept such an important matter from her all along. Although he had occasionally uttered a few words about it before, it was clear that he didn't want her to know the truth.

Knowing that now was not the time to question Han Zhou, she asked, "So, Xiao Xiao's disappearance might also be related to the strange phenomena surrounding her?"

"Probably."

Mo Yixia answered her, "There are many unreasonable aspects to Xiao Xiaoxiao's sudden disappearance. If there is such a seemingly unreasonable reason, then the explanation becomes reasonable."

Zhong Ling looked at Han Zhou and asked softly, "If the problem lies with Xiao Xiao herself, how are we supposed to find her?"

Zhong Yin was also pondering this question: "Han Zhou, according to what you just said, there shouldn't have been any instances of Xiao Xiao disappearing before, right? At most, there would only be strange footsteps. Why is this happening this time?"

She was skeptical of Han Zhou's words.

"I do not know either."

Han Zhou shook his head, but his intuition told him that it might be related to Xiao Xiaoxiao's constant drowsiness today.

"What should we do then? We still can't find Xiaoxiao, can we?" Zhong Yin frowned.

Han Zhou pondered for a moment: "Don't rush, give me some time, I have a plan."

In fact, he had already thought of a way to find Xiao Xiaoxiao.

As Mo Yixia said, unreasonable things should be solved with unreasonable means, and the status bar is the unreasonable means he possesses.

With the status bar as a help, there are actually quite a few ways to find Xiao Xiaoxiao, but he plans to try using the mysterious magic bag once before that—

[Mysterious Pouch: A one-time use item. Opening it will grant you a mysterious message that may provide some clues or help in your current situation, or it may provide invalid information. Please use it carefully according to your current circumstances. It can be used 3 times and will disappear after three uses. It costs 66 points and can be purchased once a month.]

The prerequisite for using the mysterious brocade pouch is being in some incomprehensible environment, and Xiao Xiaoxiao's mysterious disappearance clearly meets this condition.

Han Zhou had already used the mysterious brocade pouch when he was unable to find Xiao Xiaoxiao, but he had never had the chance to look at the information on it.

He stood behind the sofa, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he took out the brocade pouch and opened it.

He was a little nervous because there was a possibility of failure when using the brocade pouch, and even if it succeeded, it might provide invalid information. It wasn't that he was reluctant to give up the points, but he felt that there weren't many opportunities to use the brocade pouch, and it would be a pity if he didn't get any information.

Thinking about it carefully, like sleeping pills, the mysterious brocade pouch, although not so specific, is essentially bound to Xiao Xiaoxiao because it can only be used in abnormal situations. After all, everyone around him is normal, while Xiao Xiaoxiao is shrouded in mystery and strange things happen to her from time to time.

Oh, right, now we have to add Wang Lengqiu to the list of abnormal people. This guy has quite a few strange things about him too...

As Han Zhou was thinking this, a slip of paper popped out of the brocade pouch and landed steadily in his palm.

(End of this chapter)