Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 38
Lin Qiao knew nothing about what had happened to Yan Ting. He was methodically adapting to his life as an exchange student in R-country. After moving from the hotel to the international student dormitory, Lin Qiao focused primarily on his studies and got along reasonably well with his classmates.
However, the dormitories in R-country were different from those in Z-country. In Z-country, dorms were usually multi-person rooms, such as eight-person or six-person rooms, with bunk beds or beds above desks, and occasionally a balcony. In contrast, R-country universities mostly had single, double, or quad rooms, and the design placed a strong emphasis on privacy, with almost no bunk beds.
Lin Qiao’s international student dormitory was a single room, which was not as spacious as the double or quad rooms, but it was equipped with a bathroom, washbasin, built-in refrigerator, air conditioner, and wardrobe. Each floor had a bathroom and laundry room. Outside the rooms, there were wall closets with space below for shoes and above for personal items.
R-country’s space-saving designs always surprised Lin Qiao. For example, what he thought was a towel rack turned out to be a place for storing toiletries when he pulled it open. The only downside was the poor sound insulation near the bed; only the bathroom had decent soundproofing.
Lin Qiao placed some small potted plants and a small fish tank in the wall closet outside his door. However, recently, the small flower pots, about the size of a palm, showed signs of being moved, and several of his small fish had died. Lin Qiao thought that perhaps a classmate had taken an interest in his plants and moved them, and the fish fry must have died because he didn’t take good care of them. He decided to try buying some larger fish in the future.
Speaking of classmates, on Lin Qiao’s left lived a tall R-country national named Kusawa Hikawa. It was unclear how he had applied for the international student dormitory, but it might have been due to his affluent family background. Kusawa Hikawa’s wall closet often had sports-related items casually thrown in, such as hats, basketballs, kneepads, and skateboards. The brands were quite expensive, and as a fellow male, Lin Qiao could recognize the value of the sneakers below the closet.
On the right lived a D-country national named Ludwig. He was indeed as serious and steady as rumored, though not very humorous. He always kept the items in his wall closet neatly arranged, mostly books, with the occasional incongruous love letter. These were delivered by boys on behalf of girls, as Ludwig was tall, handsome, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and very popular among the girls.
Since R-country university dormitories were not necessarily located on campus, the international student dormitory where Lin Qiao lived was a certain distance from the school, but it was a quick ride by bus or train. Sometimes Kusawa Hikawa and Ludwig would travel with Lin Qiao, but recently Kusawa Hikawa’s attitude towards Lin Qiao had suddenly deteriorated.
On this day, after Lin Qiao left his room, he found Kusawa Hikawa waiting there. Upon seeing Lin Qiao, he immediately frowned and left without even greeting him. Ludwig, who was dealing with a pink love letter, tried to comfort Lin Qiao by saying, “I heard that people from Z-country and R-country don’t get along very well, probably due to historical reasons. He looks very upset.”
Lin Qiao shrugged and didn’t take Kusawa Hikawa’s attitude to heart. In fact, all three of them had been quite polite at first, and he wondered if there was something wrong with Kusawa Hikawa’s mind.
Lin Qiao changed the subject: “You’ve received quite a few love letters.”
“Not as many as you,” Ludwig stated a fact. “It’s strange. Why hasn’t anyone sent you a love letter these past few days?”
Lin Qiao laughed, “Maybe the novelty has worn off.”
When the two waited for the train, they ran into Kusawa Hikawa again. His expression was still unpleasant, and it darkened as soon as he saw Lin Qiao. Ludwig stood between the two, and Kusawa Hikawa suddenly sneered, which was utterly inexplicable.
Seeing Lin Qiao’s innocent look, Kusawa Hikawa couldn’t help but warn him, “Please be a little more careful. Don’t take girls back to the dormitory for the night just because you have a good-looking face.”
R-country’s dormitories had no dormitory managers. The entrance required a password, and the individual rooms upstairs needed a card to enter. There were no rules about a set bedtime, making the environment quite relaxed.
Lin Qiao had an uneasy feeling. He explained, “I didn’t take any girls back.”
Ludwig also vouched for him, “Lin Qiao and I had the same elective class with the same professor yesterday. He definitely didn’t bring anyone back.”
Kusawa Hikawa’s eyes showed suspicion. He was handsome, with fair skin, but he had a bad temper.
At that moment, the train approached, and the three of them stopped discussing the topic.
Lin Qiao thought it was just a misunderstanding, but a few days later, he really did notice someone following him.
Meanwhile, one morning, Ludwig’s expression also became quite strange. He tactfully suggested that Lin Qiao should not indulge in lust so frequently.
“But I really haven’t brought any girls back. I can open my room right now for you to check.”
Kusawa Hikawa also pushed open the door. Hearing Lin Qiao’s defense, he sneered, “Your physical stamina is really beyond my imagination. For four days in a row, you’ve been pleasuring yourself every night. Aren’t you tired?”
Lin Qiao asked curiously, “Pleasuring?”
Kusawa Hikawa sneered coldly, “Masturbating. Don’t tell me you don’t even know what that means.”
Lin Qiao’s face turned red, “I haven’t done that. I really haven’t.”
Kusawa Hikawa seemed to take this as Lin Qiao’s stubborn denial, but Ludwig believed him, “Have you felt anything strange recently?”
“Yes,” Lin Qiao’s face turned pale, “I feel like someone has been following me lately.”
Kusawa Hikawa sneered, “Come on, you’re not a cute high school girl.”
But Ludwig said, “There was indeed a man who wrote a love letter to Lin Qiao. It was very explicit and used very impolite language.”
Kusawa Hikawa responded indifferently, “Then call the police.”
Lin Qiao hesitated, “I don’t have any evidence. I can’t prove it.”
Now Kusawa Hikawa was even more convinced that Lin Qiao was lying. But things took a quick turn. During a break between classes, a girl ran up to Lin Qiao, “Lin Qiao-kun, have you tried the chocolate I had someone deliver to you?”
Lin Qiao was taken aback, “I’m very sorry, but I didn’t receive any chocolate.”
The girl called out to another boy in distress, “Kiyokawa-kun, did you really deliver the chocolate to Jo-chan for me?”
The boy named Kiyokawa replied, “Of course, I left it right next to the fish tank.”
Ludwig, who was not far away, nudged Kusawa Hikawa, “This doesn’t look good.”
Lin Qiao decided to call the police, but unexpectedly, right after school let out, the “stalker” approached on his own. It was a silver-haired young man riding a motorcycle, with a skull earring on his earlobe.
He boldly blocked Lin Qiao’s way, and Kusawa Hikawa and Ludwig followed worriedly. The silver-haired delinquent started off by saying, “I’ve been following you these past few days.”
Lin Qiao nervously asked, “So, what then? Did you take my chocolate? Did you, did you get into my room?”
The silver-haired delinquent frowned, “Why would I take your chocolate or get into your room?”
“I’m here to tell you that I’m a knight from the Street Stroll Gang. You’ve been targeted by a pervert recently.”
“When I was keeping an eye on you, I noticed something odd about the person following you. Just be careful.”
He even showed Lin Qiao a few photos, which were blurry and unclear.
The silver-haired delinquent grumbled discontentedly, “Tch, no matter how I take them, they come out blurry.”
“Oh, and I’ll let the boss know about this. Just you wait.”
With that, he rode off on his motorcycle, the loud roar of the engine drawing many people’s attention.
Kusawa Hikawa looked at Lin Qiao with suspicion, “How do you know someone from the Street Stroll Gang? He shows up just as you were about to call the police. That’s pretty suspicious.”
Ludwig suggested, “Let’s go back and look for evidence. I’ll go with you.”
Kusawa Hikawa, probably feeling guilty about his recent bad attitude towards Lin Qiao, also offered to help.
As soon as they got to the dormitory, they realized something was wrong. Many international students had gathered outside Lin Qiao’s door.
Lin Qiao’s fish, which he had bought, had its eyes gouged out and was thrown on the ground. The closet was also stuffed with the bodies of various small cats and dogs.
It was the stench that had drawn the crowd. Lin Qiao shakily went over to swipe his card and open the door. Ludwig asked the onlookers to help look for clues.
“We’ve already called the police. We need to contact the school and have someone check the security cameras.”
“Do you remember that recent serial killer? He wouldn’t have targeted Lin Qiao, would he?”
“I heard that the previous victims were in similar situations, often receiving the bodies of small animals.”
“This murderer is too brazen. This is a student dormitory. How did he get in?”
Since the dormitory staff were present, there were many “young men” who fit the victim profile.
Lin Qiao’s room was clean, with no signs of an extra person.
Kusawa Hikawa seemed to remember something and walked towards Lin Qiao’s bedside. He then slid his hand along the embedded storage cabinet on the wall.
The students who had squeezed into the room let out a cry of alarm. Behind the bedside cabinet, there were all kinds of disgusting liquids, toilet paper, and X-rated items. What had happened there was obvious.
Lin Qiao’s face turned pale: “I, I had no idea there was another space there. I…”
Lin Qiao was in bad shape. Only then did Kusawa Hikawa and Ludwig realize whose moans they had heard those nights.
Kusawa Hikawa slammed the cabinet shut and said fiercely, “You’ve been living here for so long and didn’t know there was a cabinet behind here?”
“Even if you didn’t know, the loud noises at night would have woken Ludwig and me. Why didn’t you react?”
Lin Qiao’s eyes reddened from being shouted at. Ludwig put his hand on Kusawa Hikawa’s shoulder: “Please calm down. I think Qiao has already been frightened. Since the intruder could get in, he must have had a way to make Qiao unconscious.”
Kusawa Hikawa shook off Ludwig’s hand and bowed to Lin Qiao: “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have misunderstood you, accused you, or shouted at you.”
“I’ll help you get to the bottom of this.”
Lin Qiao was just an international student. Calling the police might complicate things, but Kusawa Hikawa’s family was quite influential.
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MaruMaruMaru
Damn, how disgusting!