Director Gene, Have You Been Taken for a Ride?

St. Johnis Middle School is in turmoil today.

The arrival of new transfer students brings a lot of topics to the students' conversations. Whether it's the transfer student's grades, personality, or appearance, they are all speculated about and discussed. This is a common occurrence; every time a new student arrives, they always receive more attention.

However, even the excitement of a transfer student at this school doesn't last more than a day. The heavy workload and constant pressure weigh on every young person, and they quickly lose their initial enthusiasm, preparing to study in their dormitories or face the challenge of evening self-study every day.

Strangely, another rumor quietly emerged.

I heard that the library on the back hill was quite lively today. The librarian, who never leaves the house, somehow managed to summon the head of the senior year and threw a tantrum in the library, apparently because a student took a book without registering.

Rumor has it that the librarian, an old woman whose name no one knows, even angrily cut up the clothes of the grade head, Gene. Gene was also furious about this, so he waited in the teaching building before evening self-study, as if waiting for students who had made mistakes to come to him.

"Looks like a transfer student..."

"How come I heard it was Class 2, Grade 3?"

"In short, another one's out today."

"I'm curious what book is making the librarian so concerned that they even called Director Gene to arrest him."

"Will they get caught? I don't know why, but I have to support that classmate... I hope he'll be alright."

"How could you be alright after all this!"

In the classrooms of the teaching building, where the lights were on, students whispered among themselves, sharing newly acquired gossip with a mix of excitement, curiosity, and worry. Outside the windows, the night sky was dark and gloomy, and Director Gene's plump body swayed back and forth in the corridor.

The most confused were Class 2 and Class 4. The former knew that there were no transfer students in their class, while the latter wondered who would be so bold as to cause trouble on their first day.

When Yu Xing entered the teaching building, he encountered such a strange atmosphere. He started eavesdropping from the first floor, and by the time he got to his classroom, he had basically heard the gist of what was going on.

Director Gene wandered back and forth in the corridor belonging to Class 4 of Senior Three, like a patrolling NPC with a set route, while the other deducers who came with him couldn't help but turn their attention to Yu Xing.

Qu Xuanqing laughed, "You did it, didn't you?"

Zhao Mou, suppressing his anger, asked, "What heinous things have you done behind our backs this time?"

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

Wen Qinghuai: "Hey, are you just like Zeng Lai, a troublemaker?"

Yu Xing felt completely innocent about this. Although it was indeed his doing, he was still a little hurt by his teammates' behavior of pointing the finger at him without any discussion.

Is it because he's not usually well-behaved?

"Don't make that face. We parted ways at noon, and your direction was towards the library, so don't try to deny it." Zhao Mou remembered clearly and ruthlessly exposed his attempt to put on a show, then became curious as well, "What book is so important that it caused a conflict between the librarian and Director Gene? By the way, I didn't see you bring any books back when we gathered at noon."

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, but instead of answering the question, she shrugged and said, "Who knows? I didn't do it."

Upon hearing his answer, Zhao Mou understood what was going on. Yu Xing must be mindful that Director Gene had come to interrogate him, so he couldn't admit his crimes in front of anyone.

They walked toward the classroom of Class 4, Grade 3. Upon seeing them, the students in Class 4 immediately fell silent. Classes 3 and 5 on either side also joined in the excitement, watching the commotion. With the students reacting this way, Director Gene naturally noticed something amiss. He turned around and saw the five students who had transferred here.

"You've come at the right time; I have something to ask you."

Director Gene strode up to them, stopping them from entering the classroom. He paused for a moment, then said to Qu Xuanqing, "You go into the classroom first, and study hard during evening self-study."

Qu Xuanqing nodded obediently. "Yes, teacher."

Having said that, he showed no spirit of sharing joys and sorrows, turned around and went into the classroom without a second thought, leaving the boys outside.

"So many people are talking about this, you've all heard it, haven't you?" The girl left, and the remaining four boys were all suspects. Director Gene's chubby face no longer had the smile from this morning; instead, it looked very stern.

"We heard you, teacher," they responded sparsely.

"So, who was it? Who stole something from the library at noon?" Gene stood outside the door, asking the students in the classroom, who all pricked up their ears to eavesdrop. They were also eager to know who the protagonist of this nighttime gossip was.

"I don't know." The four boys gave similar responses, which, in Director Gene's eyes, was clearly an attempt to cover for each other.

Gene sneered, "Very well, kids this age are all about loyalty, huh? I'll give you ten seconds. If no one steps forward to admit it, I'll make sure you all go and be punished!"

"Wait, wait, teacher, isn't this a bit unfair? Even if one of us breaks the rules, the others are unaware, yet they still have to be punished?" Yu Xing asked, puzzled. "Then what about me, who hasn't done anything wrong? Isn't St. Johnis Middle School supposed to be a very fair school where you only get punished for making mistakes? I've only been here for a day, and it already feels different from what's reported in the news..."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

I've seen thieves cry "stop thief!" before, but I've never seen anyone so self-righteous.

Moreover, Yu Xing voiced this question in public, leaving Director Gene speechless for a moment.

"Indeed, teacher, joint punishment should only be carried out when both parties are certain that they knew about it and were deliberately covering it up. But we didn't know anything, so punishing us like this seems a bit irregular," Zhao Mou continued, following Yu Xing's rebuttal, and pushed up his glasses.

"And who knows if it was us?" Yu Xing muttered. "What did the building manager say? What was stolen? Did he see the person who stole it in the past?"

Wen Qinghuai patted Yu Xing on the shoulder and reminded him, "When I came over, I heard them say that the administrator was a lady, not a gentleman."

"Oh, so that question still applies. What exactly did he say? What did he lose?" Yu Xing's expression turned grim, as if he had thought of something terrible. "If I get punished for this, will it hurt a lot? Will I be beaten to death?"

Director Gene overheard their conversation, his suspicions deepened. He had seen students lie before, but in his experience, he could easily expose those lies. However, the ignorance these people seemed to possess didn't appear fake, especially the transfer student named Roy, who didn't even know whether the administrator was male or female.

"The librarian said this student went to the library around noon today. He was a complete stranger, a boy, and wrote 'Jad, Class 2, Grade 3' on his file." Gene's expression showed no sign of easing. "I've already checked. There's no one named Jad in Class 2, Grade 3, and no transfer students. This batch of transfer students only includes the five of you, so the thief is one of you."

"So you're saying the thief used a fake ID when he entered the library?" Zhao Mou looked down at Director Gene, who was a head shorter than him, his tone full of disapproval. "I don't quite understand. If he used a fake ID, why should we transfer students be suspected? Has everyone in this school been to the library? Couldn't they just remove their ID tags when they got there?"

It's true that the academic pressure at St. Johnis Middle School is high, but not all students are very motivated. There are also many who have lost their motivation in despair and just want to live one more day at a time.

People like that don't go to the library.

In other words, the unfamiliar faces of the administrators are not necessarily people who just arrived at the school today.

"That makes some sense." Gene noticed that these kids were going to great lengths to shift blame, but they were also quite sincere. "But you guys are the prime suspects."

"Teacher, why don't we just have the caretaker come out and recognize us?" Yu Xing said. "Isn't that the simplest way? She's seen the thief before; she should be able to recognize him."

His confidence was so obvious that it was impossible to find even the slightest suspicion in him.

"And another thing, the library should only have books, right? What was the thief stealing?" Wen Qinghuai asked curiously. "What kind of books can't be read directly and need to be stolen? Does our school have banned books? Why are banned books kept in the library?"

"How could there be banned books at St. Johnis Middle School? But the librarian is in charge, and I don't know which book the thief stole. The librarian just said it was important." Gene's train of thought was being led astray. As he listened, he suddenly realized that what the kids were saying made a lot of sense. "The librarian doesn't want to leave the library, so she can't come and identify it, um..."

"Since it's such a important book, how could we possibly know where it is in the library on our first day here? Isn't that something only senior students would know?" Zhao Yijiu, the most silent among them, also threw out a logically strong question at this moment, like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely fooling Gene.

"There's a limit to wrongly accusing someone," Zhao Yijiu said coldly. "This afternoon, someone bullied Roy because he's a transfer student, kicking his desk. Now someone stole something, and we're the first to be blamed. If this school doesn't welcome transfer students, why doesn't it just say so?"

He learned from Yu Xing that when in doubt, one should label others and exaggerate the problem to make the other party feel guilty.

"You've misunderstood." Gene wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead. Students were usually afraid of him because he could always find an excuse to punish them. This was the first time a student had dared to confront him. The problem was that he really couldn't find any loopholes in these students' defenses, so he had no opportunity to punish them.

After listening to what they said, he realized that he had indeed come a bit hastily. There were many suspicious points in this matter, and even the administrator's behavior was strange. He was puzzled by the administrator's reluctance to leave the library. He had never paid attention to it before, but now that it was mentioned, he suddenly realized that it seemed like the administrator hadn't left the library for a very long time.

Banned books? Could she have actually done something wrong at the library?

Transfer student Sam is also right. These transfer students simply don't know where the books are in advance. On the contrary, only long-term students who have been at the school all along can do that. Could it be that they took advantage of the fact that the transfer students didn't have ID tags to commit theft and then framed them?

Director Gene's gaze swept across the faces of the four transfer students. Sam's indifference made him seem like a difficult problem student, but he was quite confident in this matter.

Winter and Derek had a nonchalant air about them.

Roy seemed afraid of pain; the fear hidden on his face was something Gene had seen in many cowardly students. But how could someone so timid steal a book and escape right under the warden's nose?

Yeah, it doesn't look like it at all.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of evening self-study. The students who had been eavesdropping turned pale and silently lowered their heads to flip through their books, as if the entire school had darkened considerably.

Gene softened his tone. "Evening self-study is about to start, you guys go in first. I'll continue to investigate this matter, since you were the only ones without ID tags at noon, so they'll definitely come to ask about it. Don't worry about it."

The four were finally able to enter the classroom.

Unlike when they first arrived, evening self-study had already begun, and no one paid attention to them anymore. Even though their footsteps were a little disorderly when they came in, not one of them took their eyes off their books.

It's as if they'll be snatched away by a legendary ghost if they don't pay attention while reading.

The class monitor of Class 4, Grade 3, sat on the podium, taking the place of the teacher. This was always the case during evening self-study sessions, with the class monitor required to sit on the podium.

Yu Xing walked to the last row and sat down next to Oliver. He noticed that Oliver's head was bowed very low, and the distance between his eyes and the book was too short, making it hard to believe that he could see the words clearly.

While other students were doing their homework, Yu Xing also took out the homework assigned by his Physics Teacher. He didn't have much homework left. There was a gap of nearly three hours between the afternoon break and the evening self-study session, which was enough for him to finish all his math and physics homework. The reason he left some unfinished was just to cover it up during the evening self-study session.

After a while, Oliver slowly took out his homework. He swept his curly hair back, revealing half of his sleep-deprived face. At this moment, Oliver looked quite like a normal student. His thin arms were propped on the table, and his pen moved steadily as he wrote very seriously.

Yu Xing glanced at him out of the corner of his eye for a while, then looked at the white-haired girl in front of him. The white-haired girl had finally stopped sleeping during evening self-study. When he walked over just now, he had specifically looked at the white-haired girl's appearance. Just like Ji Jingyi, the red-armband girl he had met briefly at noon, they both had East Asian faces.

For now, Yu Xing could only try to immerse himself in the atmosphere of the evening study session. He refused to believe that, with the dungeon now open, the ghosts in this dungeon wouldn't seize such a good opportunity to attack during the evening study session.

If there was a chance of something happening during evening self-study sessions in the past, then there is a certainty that something will happen during evening self-study sessions after the participants joined in.