Chapter 81: Terrifying Campus, Sunshine Doll (19)

“But...” Sun Huilan still wanted to resist.

But Zi Yushu's gaze no longer lingered on her face.

“You're the one who couldn't control yourself and came to admire me. It's not as if I forced you to. So why should I be responsible for you?”

Zi Yushu packed up his bag, textbooks, and notebook, preparing to return to the dormitory.

Since yesterday, he had noticed something was wrong at this school. Every morning at 7:30 AM, the teachers would come in carrying test papers, clearly with no intention of holding class. They would collect the tests and leave.

As for the other students in the class—they were all present during the day. But once the afternoon bell rang, they would all mysteriously vanish.

And as for the students who had died yesterday after the heads of their sunny dolls were severed, it was as if they had never existed in this world to begin with. No one mentioned them. It was as if they were ignored, like invisible dust.

“Zi Yushu.” Tang Mu called out to him and retrieved an elementary school diary from her own desk drawer. “My sister’s name is written in it. It should be something she left behind. I was bored yesterday and flipped through it, and found something quite interesting. Would you like to see?”

Zi Yushu doubted that Tang Mu had stopped him to repair any so-called “friendship.”

So his attitude was unusually cold.

“I’m not interested. Thank you.”

“There’s no need to be so distant, we’re classmates, aren’t we?” Tang Mu even patted Sun Huilan’s shoulder in front of him, signaling that Zi Yushu didn’t need to be so cold to his classmates. “Since yesterday, quite a few people have already begun avoiding you, haven’t they? You’re already the one being isolated at this school. ...But I am curious, at this rate—bullying the girls and inciting jealousy among the boys—how many more days do you think you’ll last here?”

Faced with Tang Mu’s provocation, Zi Yushu remained expressionless.

But he countered.

“Today, there will be fourteen classmates whose sunny doll heads will be severed. That’s your doing, isn’t it? On the surface, it seems like they were chosen for the death list because they got the answers wrong, but actually, you’re targeting me.”

Even as Zi Yushu guessed correctly, Tang Mu showed no sign of panic.

“If you say that, you’re really treating me like a stranger.” Tang Mu sighed lightly. “How the students die, and what conditions cause their deaths, none of that is up to me. I can’t predict what questions the teacher will set, either.”

“And besides, didn’t you answer the test correctly?”

“My sister was foolish, but I do trust her judgment when it comes to people. If you were someone she held in her heart, you must have your own merits. So I don’t believe you would die today because you failed to answer the test.”

“So, doesn’t that just prove, in reverse, that I’m not the one trying to get people killed?”

That sort of talk might fool a ghost, but to fool him? Not a chance.

“But everyone with a sunny doll wearing an orange scarf has ended up on the death list.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Tang Mu acted as though she had just discovered this, feigning shock. “Well, I wouldn’t know. After all, what triggers the death condition for the students—I’m just an ordinary little girl, I really don’t understand.”

Zi Yushu didn’t believe a single word.

But he didn’t want Tang Mu clinging to him any longer, so he spoke plainly.

“What do you actually want me to see?”

Tang Mu flipped to a certain page and held the diary out to him. “It says here your birthday is November 9th. Every year, she would carefully prepare a gift and celebrate for you. But because you were too dazzling, and she felt a little inferior, she would always secretly put the gift in your desk drawer, only leaving after making sure you had received it. But I’m curious—did you ever actually get those gifts? Or did you just throw them all in the trash?”

“Of course I threw them out.” Zi Yushu gave Tang Mu a cold glance. “They were all rubbish, taking up space in my drawer. The trash can is where they belonged.”

“So November 9th really is your birthday?” Tang Mu smiled, “If I gave you a gift, would you throw it away in front of me?”

...

For a moment, Zi Yushu wasn’t sure what Tang Mu was planning.

He stared coldly at the girl before him—delicate, petite, but utterly unlike the timid “Tang Mo” of before. Compared to “Tang Mo,” she was radiant, dazzling, seductive, enchanting, exuding an intense feminine allure from head to toe.

But the more beautiful something is, the more poisonous it tends to be.

Zi Yushu knew this well.

He was a living example.

So he didn’t believe for a second that Tang Mu truly wanted to give him a birthday gift.

Besides, at the rate students in Class 6-2 were dying, it was uncertain whether he would even live to see November 9th.

“You’re going to give me a gift?”

“That’s right.” Ignoring his skepticism, Tang Mu remained nonchalant. “Whatever you want, I can prepare it for you.”

Zi Yushu’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “When will you give it to me?”

“Hmm... depends on what you want. Some gifts are easy to prepare, others not so much.”

“Then I want something personal of yours.”

...

Ha.

A flicker of coldness passed through Tang Mu’s eyes.

Something personal?

He really did know how to ask for the world.

“How about I give you a bouquet of flowers instead?” On the surface, Tang Mu didn’t object, but in reality, she was refusing his unreasonable demand. “Last time I threw away your flowers, I felt quite guilty about it afterwards. After all, I’m not really sure how my sister died. If you truly had nothing to do with it, but I hurt you by mistake...”

At this point, Tang Mu paused, her face filled with shyness and embarrassment, as if she genuinely regretted her actions.

“My conscience just won’t let me rest.”

“So, to make amends, will you accept my apology?”

Zi Yushu didn’t fully trust her. But he still wanted to get to the truth.

“Why did you suddenly decide that ‘Tang Mo’ wasn’t killed by me?”

“Hmm...” Tang Mu tilted her head thoughtfully. “Probably because your name wasn’t on the death list today?”

A smile was always Tang Mu’s signature.

But others, seeing her smile, felt only danger.

It was as if a venomous snake had fixed its gaze on them.

“If you really were responsible for my sister’s death... she wouldn’t let you off. She would have killed you right away. But you’re still alive, which means you didn’t kill her.”

“So, sorry, Zi Yushu. Can you forgive me?”

Honestly, even with Tang Mu’s bashful, demure act, Zi Yushu still didn’t believe a word.

Even he, when trying to achieve his ends, could lie through his teeth without changing expression.

All the more so for a dangerous woman like Tang Mu.

And yet, for reasons he couldn’t explain, as he watched Tang Mu lower her head in shy apology, he found himself unable to move his feet—as if he had been bewitched by a poisonous poppy in full bloom.