"Because the items inside are all exhibits for display. If something goes wrong, I won't be able to escape responsibility. Plus, there's the matter of the male teacher..."

"He always felt that the male teacher hadn't left and was still in the art center."

"He first found the light switch on the wall behind the door, but when he pressed it, he realized that the feel wasn't right. It wasn't the crisp 'click-clack' type, but soft and mushy, as if it was broken."

"Shining the flashlight carefully, he discovered that the area around the switch was cracked. It had been forcibly smashed with something sharp."

"The security guard's first reaction was that a thief had broken in."

"Rustle, rustle..." Yuan Xiaoyi imitated the sound so realistically that Jiang Cheng felt like he was there, as if he was that security guard that night.

"The security guard heard that strange sound again. This time, he heard it more clearly. It was...it was coming from the corner of the sculpture hall!"

"The security guard thought it was a thief, so he shouted loudly, telling the person to come out, and then shined his flashlight at the corner, saying that he would call the police if they didn't come out!"

Yuan Xiaoyi paused, looked at Jiang Cheng, and her face changed slightly. "There was indeed a person in the corner...wearing a red outfit, squatting on the ground, facing the wall, with their head down. Only their back could be seen, not their face."

A picture flashed in Jiang Cheng's mind, and he couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking that if he were that security guard, he would turn around and leave, tiptoeing, very gently, as quietly as possible.

But if it were him, there probably wouldn't be the rest of the story.

"That person..." Yuan Xiaoyi's voice suddenly became tense, "That person was also shaking from time to time, and the strange sound was coming from them."

"At this moment, the security guard suddenly noticed that there was blood...under this person's feet! Bright red blood! That outfit wasn't originally red, it was dyed red with blood!"

"This person was the male teacher! He was wearing white clothes when he came, so the security guard didn't recognize him at first!"

"When the security guard walked up in a panic, and his hand just touched the male teacher's shoulder, the male teacher fell down, backward."

"The exposed face was a bloody mess, and both hands...both hands had been shaved down to the bone, hanging in front of his chest like chicken claws, with碎肉 still clinging to them, and skin..."

Speaking of this, Yuan Xiaoyi gasped heavily. Telling such a story made her feel deeply uneasy.

"Senior, he wasn't dead yet, he wasn't dead at the time!" Yuan Xiaoyi's emotions were a little out of control.

"Xiaoyi, don't be afraid, I'm here, you're safe." Jiang Cheng reached out and placed his hand on Yuan Xiaoyi's forehead, as if this could inject strength into her and help her overcome her fear.

Her chest heaved violently, and after a long while, Yuan Xiaoyi calmed down again and continued to tell Jiang Cheng the story.

"Later, the security guard was so scared that he ran away, scrambling on all fours. Senior, can you imagine? At that time, that...that male teacher actually wanted to reach out and grab the security guard, with those hands of his..."

"The security guard was completely dumbfounded. When he ran, he didn't choose his way and ran headfirst into the wall, knocking his head until it bled, but he didn't even know it..."

"When he returned to the security room, he immediately called the police."

"The police arrived before dawn, but the male teacher was already dead." Yuan Xiaoyi pursed her lips and said in a low voice, "I heard that the scene was particularly gruesome. An old police officer who participated in the case recalled that a young police officer, after seeing the body, immediately covered his mouth and ran outside to vomit, and it took him a long time to recover."

"Ling Chi...Senior, you've heard of it, right?" Yuan Xiaoyi explained with a pale face, "It is said that the scene was somewhat similar to this."

"What did the police say?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"The murder weapon was found at the scene, which were the tools commonly used for sculptures, covered in blood. There were no signs of intrusion in the entire building, and the doors and windows were intact, so the only people in the building besides the male teacher were the security guard. Everyone suspected him," Yuan Xiaoyi said.

"But it turned out it wasn't him, right?" Jiang Cheng asked smoothly.

"Yeah." Yuan Xiaoyi nodded carefully. "The police took the security guard back, saying it was to cooperate with the investigation, but after a while, they let him go."

"After that, there were rumors in the school that the male teacher wasn't killed by a person, but by...by the sculptures in the sculpture hall!"

Jiang Cheng frowned slightly. "Sculptures killing people?"

"Yes." Yuan Xiaoyi's throat bobbed as she continued, "The rumors are very detailed. It is said that the cause was a photo taken by the police at the scene, with the background still dark."

"But the next afternoon, the police took the photo and found the person in charge of the sculpture hall at the school."

"They immediately asked him why he had entered the crime scene without the permission of the police and moved things inside."

"The person in charge was stunned and quickly explained that he didn't, and besides, the scene was sealed off by you, so even if he wanted to go in, he wouldn't have the chance."

"The police took out two photos, taken from the same position, and then pointed to one of the photos and asked, 'Then can you tell me where this sculpture has gone? Why haven't we found it after searching the scene?'"

"Only then did the person in charge notice that in the background of one of the photos, far away, roughly in the corner, stood a statue."

"Because there were many statues, it didn't seem eye-catching at first glance."

"But when the two photos were compared, it was very obvious. From the same shooting angle, in the second photo, that corner was empty, with nothing at all."

"The photo with the statue was taken by the first batch of police officers who arrived on the night of the incident, when it was still dark."

"The second photo was taken by a police officer today after dawn."

"The police officer's words were not hard to guess. They suspected that someone had secretly moved the statue while they weren't paying attention. In other words, only someone with a guilty conscience would do such a thing at this time!"

"The person in charge cried out that he was being wrongly accused, but then seemed to notice something strange, staring at the photo for a long time."

"After a long while, he raised his head and said to the police officer who came to ask questions with a puzzled look: he had never seen this statue before, it wasn't from their school!"

"How could the police believe such nonsense, so they called in several teachers who worked at the art center and asked them to identify it."

"But strangely, everyone said they had never seen this statue and had no impression of it at all!"

"Even an old woman who was responsible for cleaning said that the corner was empty and there had never been a statue there. She would rest there every day after working hard, and she could never be mistaken."

Jiang Cheng slowly exhaled a breath. "This statue only appeared on the night the male teacher was killed, and disappeared after dawn, is that right?"