Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 178: Chapter 156: Cooperation

"Have you found her?" Yu Mi couldn’t help exclaiming.

"Yeah, hahaha, I told you Nie Hexiang didn’t have the guts. Huh? Chu Xi, why do you look so pale?" In her excitement, Ms. Zhao suddenly noticed that Chu Xi in the back seat had a strange complexion; even in the dimly lit car, she was strikingly pale.

"I’m just happy that we’ve finally found her." Even with Yang Xiao’s composure, hearing such good news so suddenly he almost lost control of his expression.

Ms. Zhao excitedly looked down at her phone, apparently texting Director Ding, while at the same time lecturing Yang Xiao, "Isn’t it? Chu Xi, you’re truly lucky. If Nie Hexiang had run away, your scene tomorrow would be ruined, and you’d miss the chance to show your face in front of Ms. Shengnan. You’re a newcomer, you might not understand how important this opportunity is—there are many capable veterans who might never come across such a chance in their entire careers. You need to grasp it and treasure it!"

"I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold on to it," Yang Xiao still tried to struggle.

Unexpectedly, Ms. Zhao frowned, put down her phone, and said, "What are you talking about? Director Ding and the rest of us approve of your acting. You’ll definitely be fine. Hey? Chu Xi, you... are you okay? Why are you still so pale?"

Noticing something off about Yang Xiao’s complexion, Ms. Zhao seemed to suddenly understand something, and chuckled slyly with an experienced look, "Ms. Zhao has been around, I understand. Young people are passionate, but you also need to learn to restrain yourself. The kidney governs water; a pale face means weak kidneys, you need some nourishment."

Since finding out that Director Ding’s people had luckily found Nie Hexiang, Yang Xiao’s mind had been in a fog, and he had no mood to listen to Ms. Zhao’s teasing. It was Song Yan, an outsider, who quickly came to his senses and asked with a smile, "Ms. Zhao, where did you find her?"

At the mention of this, Ms. Zhao was delighted, "Well, it was quite a coincidence. Little Li and a few others went to Nie Hexiang’s home in the town, according to the address we had, but her house in the neighborhood had been abandoned, with nobody living there. We thought we had come up empty, but unexpectedly, just as we got back in the car and turned on the headlights, heh, we got lucky—the headlights shone right on a figure squatting behind a broken wall. The figure turned and ran, but Little Li, whose legs are faster than a rabbit’s, chased after her and caught her, hahaha."

Soon, they dropped off Yang Xiao and the other two at the Yue Lai Inn. After getting out of the car, Ms. Zhao didn’t forget to remind them, "Remember, Chu Xi, you go early tomorrow for the rehearsal."

Unexpectedly, after driving away for about ten meters, the car stopped, reversed and came back. The door slid open, and a crew member with bleached hair wearing a cap and earrings handed over a camera bag, "Take good care of this. The camera inside doesn’t make good contact. Keep it to shoot some behind-the-scenes footage."

After the car left, Yang Xiao unzipped the camera bag to find an old-fashioned handheld DV, its surface peeling and marked with numerous dents and scratches.

Walking into the inn, the owners were not around. Scattered on the front desk were several lottery tickets and scratch cards. A tin can converted into an ashtray was stuffed full of cigarette butts, almost overflowing. A small, boxy color TV was broadcasting a soccer game, and behind an old office chair, with its armrests wound with tape, stood half-height stacks of boxed mineral water against the wall.

After sending the noisy and useless Yu Mi back to his room, Yang Xiao and the other person returned to their own room and closed the door. Yang Xiao couldn’t help but sigh.

Song Yan boiled a pot of hot water and served the brewed tea to Yang Xiao, setting it in front of him, "Chu, no road is completely devoid of hope. Don’t be so pessimistic."

Yang Xiao couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He had never expected that Nie Hexiang could actually be found, "No matter what, I won’t go to the rehearsal tomorrow; it would be more bad than good."

"But if you don’t go, how will you explain it?" Song Yan was concerned about this.

"Naturally, I can’t just say that I don’t want to go. I’ve thought it over—I’ll say that I got injured and just get past tomorrow’s rehearsal for now."

After listening, Song Yan took a while before speaking, "Honestly, it’s not a good solution, but at this point, we can only take it one step at a time. Let’s not talk about that now. Ms. Shengnan is coming tomorrow, and the Ghost Teacher won’t be indifferent. We’re facing an even more dangerous situation. Do you have any ideas?"

Talking about this, Yang Xiao perked up, "I do have an idea. I thought of it on the way here—I want to get in touch with someone from the school, especially Teacher Xu Yu. She was also part of the Ghost Teacher’s class; she definitely knows a lot of secrets."

Hearing this, Song Yan was startled, "Isn’t... isn’t that too risky? If Director Ding and the others... especially Ms. Shengnan find out, we’ll be in trouble."

"I know there’s a risk, but we don’t have time. We’ve been too slow. Do you remember how much time Director Ding said the shoot would take?"

"I think... It was supposed to be four days."

"How many days has it been?"

Song Yan hesitated before nodding, "You’re right. No risk, no reward; we were too cautious before and wasted too much time. But the question now is how do we get in touch with the school, and how can we get them to trust us in the shortest time possible?"

Yang Xiao fished a business card out of his pocket. On the front, it read Yue Lai Inn, "Just got this from the front desk. We can contact the innkeeper by phone; he can get in touch with someone from Ru Lin Middle School. As for trust, if we come across as too eager, it will only make us passive. Let’s bluff them a bit—say we’ve captured footage of Xu Yu committing the crime. Tell them to meet with us, or else..."

"Or else we’ll make the video public?" Song Yan felt he was catching on to Yang Xiao’s thought process. These tactics weren’t exactly honorable, but they seemed effective.

"Not exactly. We’ll threaten to give the video to Ms. Shengnan. The school knows better than us what she would do." Yang Xiao was very aware of what the school feared.

"Great idea!"

The two were in agreement. Yang Xiao picked up Song Yan’s phone and dialed the innkeeper’s number. Initially, the innkeeper was reluctant, but after Yang Xiao promised that taking care of this matter would help with his son’s school issues, the innkeeper agreed, still somewhat skeptical.

The innkeeper was efficient, and soon the call came in from an unfamiliar number. After answering, a steady male voice said, "I’m Wu Qingquan."

"Principal Wu, this is Chu Xi," Yang Xiao introduced himself.

"I know who you are. No matter who you are or what you’re planning, I advise you to give up. Teacher Xu Yu has nothing to do with this matter. If you have a problem, come directly at me," Principal Wu’s tone was calm but clearly tinged with anger.

"Don’t get me wrong, Principal Wu, I didn’t mean to threaten you. The message I asked someone to relay to you previously was just to get in touch with you as soon as possible. You must have received the news by now, the woman is coming tomorrow..."

Before Yang Xiao could finish, Principal Wu cut him off, "I don’t have time to waste on you. Get Director Ding on the phone. What are your demands this time?"

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with Director Ding. Some of us actors know Teacher Wang is innocent and we want to do something for him. We have the capability and we now need your assistance. If you can help, then help, if not, then just wait for that woman to come film you, using the real school name and location, and make it so you can never hold your head up again. That simple. Are you in or out? Give me a straight answer!" At this moment, the nicer he appeared, the more suspicious it seemed, and Yang Xiao was not in the mood for idle talk.

Without any hesitation, the person on the other end hung up the phone.

"Did the talk break down?" Song Yan felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Yang Xiao threw down his phone and sighed, "No choice, this old guy is too biased against us. He probably thinks it’s a trap. We’ll need to think of another method."

About less than 5 minutes later, hurried footsteps sounded in the hallway outside, "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Song Yan was startled, "Who’s that?"

"It’s me!" The innkeeper’s rough voice came from outside the door, "Open the door, brothers, I have something to say."

"My friend is taking a shower. Just say it outside the door," Song Yan was highly cautious.

"What exactly did you say to Principal Wu? He just called me asking about you guys. I’m warning you, don’t get me in trouble!"

This statement invigorated Yang Xiao, "What did he ask?" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"Huh? Weren’t you taking a shower? Are you two showering together?" The innkeeper was confused.

"It was about your son’s schooling..."

"Wait! He asked whether you are in the room, how many people are there, and he wanted me to check the surveillance to confirm. He also asked if ..."

"Ding-dong-ding—"

Before he could finish, the room’s landline phone suddenly rang. Yang Xiao walked over, then suddenly laughed, "He also asked you for our room’s phone number, right?"

"That’s right!"

"You can leave now; your son’s issue has been taken care of." After sending off the innkeeper, Yang Xiao picked up the phone and simultaneously sighed, "What a cautious man."

Song Yan didn’t expect Principal Wu to be so cautious. At first, he acted uncooperative and avoided falling into any traps. Then he probed through the innkeeper, checking if anyone else was in the room, like Director Ding, or if they weren’t in their own room at all, with nobody answering the room’s phone, which would indicate a problem.

"Quite cautious, Principal Wu," Yang Xiao said with a laugh.

"I can come over now, is that convenient?" Principal Wu was brief and to the point, and his tone was no longer so stiff.

"Yes, could you bring Teacher Xu Yu with you? We need to ask her some questions."

"Well... I have to ask for her opinion, and I haven’t seen any sincerity from you yet," Principal Wu was straightforward.

"Alright, please hurry."

"Half an hour."

Just as Yang Xiao was about to end the call, Song Yan took the receiver, "Wait, Principal Wu, do you know which room we’re in?"

There was a pause from the other end, "Room 207."

Song Yan smiled, "Please come to room 405 to meet us; we’ll be there."

"Okay."

As soon as Song Yan put down the receiver, he looked at Yang Xiao’s frown and explained with a smile, "Yu Mi is a newcomer, she needs to go through some experiences to grow. Besides, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, right, Chu?"

"Let Yu Mi confirm they’re alright before bringing them here," Yang Xiao said thoughtfully.

Nodding, Song Yan picked up the phone again and smiled, "It seems the Chu and I are on the same page. I’ll call Yu Mi now and tell her what to do."