Sometimes, a person’s disappearance follows a certain process.
It doesn’t mean someone suddenly vanishes. Rather, through a relatively slow but premeditated process, they gradually wipe away all traces of their existence bit by bit.
So at first, the students didn’t think Lin Wanxing had disappeared.
That afternoon, after finishing their exams, they went to the sports equipment room as usual to wait for Lin Wanxing to finish work, only to find the door locked tight.
At first, they knocked on the door, and finding no one there, grumbled as they prepared to leave. That’s when Chen Jianghe, with his rich experience in climbing through windows, suggested checking the back window first.
So they detoured around the playground and came to the back window of the sports equipment room to peer inside.
All the lights were off, making it a bit dark, but everything looked the same as when they had left. The sharp-eyed Lin Lu even spotted the half-pack of Lay’s potato chips he had tossed on Lin Wanxing’s desk earlier.
But what did that prove?
It didn’t seem to prove anything.
Chen Jianghe pushed the window—sure enough, the previously rickety back window had been fixed. Lin Wanxing had always been meticulous. Since her arrival, the sports equipment room had become much cleaner and more organized, so it wasn’t surprising that she’d had the window repaired.
At that moment, no one thought there was any problem.
They walked arm in arm from the school playground to the football field where they trained every day.
When exactly did they begin to sense something unusual?
At the very least, it was when they finished football practice and pushed open the rooftop door with their coach.
The rooftop was dark, everything seemingly covered by a dim veil.
The lights hadn’t been turned on because Lin Wanxing hadn’t returned yet.
There had been times before when Lin Wanxing didn’t come to watch them train after finishing work.
Sometimes she still had matters at school or was watering plants alone on the rooftop. Occasionally, she was diligently working, contemplating, and writing materials in the study room, though such instances were rare.
But none of those times had been like today.
The strange premonition vanished in an instant.
They grumbled a bit about why Lin Wanxing hadn’t returned yet, asking each other if anyone had received a message from the teacher, but the answer was no.
The coach had already taken out his phone to message the teacher, and they didn’t think much more about it.
After training, everyone was tired, so they rushed to shower.
Passing by Lin Wanxing’s door, Fu Xinshu stood at the entrance and knocked gently.
No response.
Those responsible for cooking had already begun to busy themselves. All the lights were turned on, and busy sounds filled the rooftop. The vegetable garden, flower racks, tables and chairs, and training equipment were stacked in the corner—everything was as usual.
They typically ate convenient pre-prepared dishes that had been readied during rest times, so by the time they finished showering, the food was quickly served.
The group sat around the long table, starving.
“Has the teacher replied?” Fu Xinshu asked after distributing the plates.
The coach hadn’t changed his clothes and merely sat at the table. He lit up his phone screen again and shook his head.
So everyone began to recall the phone call that had made Teacher Lin leave the sports equipment room at noon.
“She chased us out after taking the call,” Lin Lu explained to Wang Fa.
“Who called?” Qin Ao mumbled, spearing a piece of meat.
“Don’t know, but it was on the phone on the teacher’s desk. Could it have been an internal school line?”
At this point, Wen Chengye, who had been silent, suddenly paused.
His expression was uncertain. The discussion at the dining table continued, and after a while, the other students heard the sound of a fork clashing against an iron plate.
Wen Chengye finally said, “You said the teacher received a call and then left the equipment room—around what time was that?”
“12:45… I think?” Zheng Feiyang said somewhat uncertainly.
“Then I saw her—she went to the administration building,” Wen Chengye said.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier!”
The others all looked toward Wen Chengye. They felt his gaze was somewhat evasive as if he was concealing something.
“You guys didn’t mention it before,” Wen Chengye said, exasperated.
“No, why did you see her going to the administration building? Were you there too?”
“Yes.”
“Just saying, you weren’t with us at noon—what were you doing wandering around there?” Qin Ao suddenly became astute.
Indeed, such things couldn’t be hidden.
Wen Chengye said, “My dad came at noon to supervise me getting some transcripts from the academic affairs office.”
“Why? Your dad’s suddenly taking an interest in you?”
“Because he wants to send me abroad. But I’ll finish high school here and see what happens after the college entrance exam.”
“What, you’re leaving!”
“Going abroad?”
The others acted as if they hadn’t heard the second half of his statement, which meant he would finish the matches.
The entire dining table erupted. The crackling sounds that arose far exceeded the oil pan when they had fried chicken cutlets earlier.
“So does the teacher know you’re leaving?”
“Yes, I told her.”
“The culprit is found! You must have upset the teacher!” Qin Ao declared as if solving a case.
“Are you sick?” Wen Chengye was speechless. “Is she the type to get upset by me?”
“That’s true.”
“It seems like she’s always the one upsetting us.”
Thinking of Lin Wanxing’s eternally composed demeanor and smiling face, the students who had excitedly jumped up now sat back down.
It was already past 7:00 PM, and dinner was nearly finished amid the arguments.
Fu Xinshu looked to the other end of the table—only Wang Fa’s plate was still full.
“Coach?” he called tentatively.
Wang Fa’s phone screen lit up at that moment, showing Lin Wanxing’s reply:
[Lin Wanxing: Something suddenly came up at home, I need to go back.]
Wang Fa looked at his previous inquiries:
“What time will you be back?”
“Waiting for you for dinner”
“Everything okay? Sudden work?”
And the subsequent multiple instances of “The other party is not responding,” finally feeling an inexplicable tension.
He unhesitatingly picked up the phone and dialed.
After about a dozen WeChat notification sounds, he finally heard Lin Wanxing’s voice.
Yet his heart didn’t settle.
Simultaneously, he heard a massive and chaotic background noise—she was in a busy and spacious place.
“Hello.”
The voice on the other end was still gentle and calm—Lin Wanxing’s voice.
But for some reason, when he heard her voice, Wang Fa’s heart trembled.
“Where are you?” he asked.
As he asked this, Lin Wanxing seemed to deliberately move the phone away so he could hear the background noise.
The distinctive ding-dong sounds of a train station rang out.
Then came a standard announcement:
“Attention passengers, the G617 train from Hongjing to Yongchuan is now boarding. Passengers for the G617 train, please proceed to wait room gate number 3 for boarding.”
Lin Wanxing remained silent, almost letting him hear the entire announcement before bringing the phone back to her ear and slowly saying, “I’m at the train station.”
“Is the matter at home very troublesome?” Wang Fa thought for a moment and chose the most appropriate wording.
“It’s not that troublesome, just a bit urgent. Mom is urging me to come home now.”
The night wind blew against his face, and Wang Fa could discern that Lin Wanxing was feigning nonchalance.
“Where is your hometown? Is it easy to get tickets this late?” he asked.
“I got one,” Lin Wanxing avoided the first key question.
“What time does the train depart? I’ll come over now,” he said.
“No need, I’m leaving right away,” she said.
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know yet—I need to handle things properly,” Lin Wanxing almost forced out a smile to comfort him.
Wang Fa gripped the phone tightly. He switched it to his other hand, took a deep breath, and asked very seriously, “Lin Wanxing, tell me, what exactly happened? No matter what’s happened, we can solve it together.” He spoke in the most sincere and serious tone, “Trust me.”
“Wang Fa.” Lin Wanxing’s voice sounded as distant as a cloud as if it would turn into raindrops and fall at any moment.
“Not all problems can be solved.” She almost used his own words against him, then abruptly changed her tone to a much lighter one, saying, “But my situation isn’t that serious, don’t worry.”
With that, the call ended.
On the other end of the phone was a long but chaotic silence, in the distance a city with neon lights blazing, the air damp, as if it would crush all light and shadow.