Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 40 - The Route of the Maze

40: Chapter 40: The Route of the Maze

40 -40: The Route of the Maze

At eight in the evening, the amusement park formally closed.

All the visitors had left, leaving only the staff and the police called by Su Hui.

The atmosphere became grave.

By nine o’clock, Gu Fan had confirmed over the phone that neither Wu Fei nor Chen Ying had returned home, and their mobile phones were still switched off.

Their families were very worried.

An employee pointed out that there were a lot of young couples who came to the amusement park, and some, if they had fun, would spontaneously check into a nearby hotel, so it was quite normal for them not to be home yet.

Su Hui retorted directly, “What a coincidence that they both switched off their phones at the same time.

And they would at least call their families if they weren’t going home – they’re university students, they are not that careless.”

The three suspicious men sat on the ground, looking scared and guilty.

The more Su Hui looked at them, the more problematic they seemed.

She immediately asked, “You said this backpack was found in the haunted house, is that true?”

The men nodded in unison: “Yes!”

Gu Fan had personally seen that these men did not have a backpack when they entered the haunted house, but had one when they exited.

It must have been found in the haunted house.

An employee of the haunted house hastily added, “It’s quite normal for things to get lost inside.

Once, a visitor was so scared that he even left his shoes behind.”

Despite his reasoning, Su Hui still felt the need to investigate the haunted house.

The other officers had searched around the park and found nothing, so the haunted house seemed to be the only place left to check.

Then Su Hui asked the three suspicious men to lead the way to the haunted house, aiming to locate where they found the backpack as it might provide a clue.

The popularity of the haunted house was attributed first to its large size.

It was set up like a maze.

Many people got separated because of the branching paths.

Second, the costumed performers hiding in various corners would jump out and scare you.

Lastly, the eerie lights and music.

Of course, with the police investigating, all these gimmicks had been shut down for the moment.

Inside the maze-like haunted house, the three men couldn’t recall exactly where they had found the backpack.

After wandering around in circles, they were still unsure, as the dim and sometimes crimson lighting, and occasional bursts of white mist made it almost impossible to pay attention to their surroundings.

At this point, Gu Fan noticed a footprint on a wall, and there were signs of damage on the props around such as fake bones and skulls.

Even the three men felt it was likely here where they found the backpack.

“Is this the crime scene?

Did Wu Fei and Chen Ying encounter something here and a fight erupted, which is why the scene looks like this?” Gu Fan voiced his suspicion but a park employee explained, “Sometimes visitors get so scared that they punch and kick.

They even assault the performers.”

As the employee said, there were several other spots in the haunted house that showed signs of combat, and footprints could occasionally be found.

The backpack only proved that Wu Fei and Chen Ying had visited the haunted house.

It didn’t mean their disappearance happened there.

But from Su Hui’s point of view, the haunted house was an ideal place to commit a crime.

As no useful clues were found in the haunted house, they had to resort to the surveillance footage inside the haunted house.

Su Hui had asked her colleague to review the recordings, but there was no sight of Wu Fei and Chen Ying as if they had never entered.

This was unbelievable to Gu Fan, Su Hui, and the three suspects.

They were all convinced that Wu Fei and Chen Ying had indeed visited the haunted house.

The police then reviewed the surveillance footage repeatedly and confirmed that nothing had been tampered with.

“What on earth is going on?” Gu Fan was perplexed, and Su Hui found it strange too, not understanding how the two had just vanished from the surveillance.

There was something fishy and highly unusual about all this.

Gu Fan was sweating with anxiety, but Su Hui looked incredibly serious.

It seemed that the stranger the case, the more determined she was to solve it.

Since there was nothing on the haunted house’s recordings, they pulled the external surveillance.

They needed to figure out whether Wu Fei and Chen Ying had ever entered the haunted house or not.

To ensure visitors’ safety, the amusement park had surveillance cameras installed in many places, primarily junctions.

However, the haunted house was located in a plaza.

Though this plaza had three surveillance cameras, only one was pointing towards the entrance of the haunted house.

Regrettably it was blocked by a passing vehicle for a long stretch of time, which was precisely when Wu Fei and Chen Ying might have entered the haunted house.

As a result, apart from their backpack, they currently had no other evidence regarding Wu Fei and Chen Ying’s situation before and after entering the haunted house.

“Switch to another camera, fetch the footage from the surveillance covering the sole access route to the plaza where the haunted house is located,” Su Hui directed skeptically.

She refused to believe that they couldn’t find any sign of these two people.

Gu Fan could only pin his hopes on this too.

If Wu Fei and Chen Ying left the haunted house and its surrounding plaza, they would have to take this essential route.

If they can confirm their departure, then they could adjust their search direction.

The road crossing through the plaza where the haunted house was located was the only one.

They simply needed to examine surveillance from both ends of the road.

Su Hui’s approach was a good one, but unfortunately accidents happen.

The surveillance captured Wu Fei and Chen Ying heading towards the haunted house’s plaza, but sadly, the other end’s camera had been off for repairs.

Therefore, the footage didn’t illustrate whether Wu Fei and Chen Ying left the plaza or not.

“How could this be happening!” Not just Su Hui, even Gu Fan felt like the surveillance cameras were somehow conspiring against them.

After such a long investigation, it was already two in the morning.

The amusement park staff asked when they could finish because they wanted to go home.

Gu Fan glanced at the staff of the haunted house and observed their exhausted expressions.

He saw no signs of guilt.

If something unfortunate indeed befell Wu Fei and Chen Ying inside the haunted house, the staff would be somewhat involved.

It would be unlikely for them to remain so unbothered, as if they’ve done nothing wrong.

With matters having progressed to this point, they could only proceed as best they could.

Su Hui allowed the staff to go home.

She decided to stay and continue with her investigation.

She still felt like some clues were being overlooked somewhere.

Regarding the three suspicious men, Su Hui had her colleagues take them back to the police station for questioning.

At least the surveillance footage captured these men following Wu Fei and Chen Ying.

Should this couple indeed go missing, these three men would be the prime suspects.

At Su Hui’s request, both she and Gu Fan returned to the haunted house.

Since the haunted house was so massive, Su Hui believed that they must have overlooked something crucial.

As a result, the two wandered throughout the maze-like haunted house carefully observing, hoping to find useful clues left behind by Wu Fei and Chen Ying.

Undeniably, this maze-like haunted house was massive.

Gu Fan had visited twice before, yet even on his third visit, finding the exit would still pose a challenge within a short time frame.

Even Su Hui exclaimed, “Isn’t it frightening to make such a labyrinthine haunted house?

Doesn’t it terrify people to death?”

Over and over, Gu Fan and Su Hui searched the maze for a long time.

They were exhausted to the point where Gu Fan was contemplating giving up.

Examining time and again, Su Hui queried with a puzzled face, “There are a reasonable number of cameras here.

Why aren’t they producing anything worth seeing?

Don’t you find it odd?”

“Probably because the place is too big and the layout is too complex, so the surveillance coverage is not comprehensive,” Gu Fan replied, seeming to have an epiphany.

He immediately turned around and headed to the entrance of the haunted house.

“Hey, kid, what’s gotten into you?” Su Hui wanted to shout, but seeing him running further away, she didn’t bother.

She just followed closely, wondering if he had found something.

At the entrance of the haunted house maze, Gu Fan took a pen and the map given by the staff.

He pondered for a moment and then said, “We’ll go through one route at a time.

I did a quick calculation of the maze layout, from the entrance to the exit; there are at least twelve routes.”

“You mean, if there’s something wrong with one of these routes, then it’s highly likely that something happened to Wu Fei and Chen Ying on that path.” Su Hui reacted as though she had been awakened.

She couldn’t help cast a new glance at Gu Fan.

So both of them began to explore each of the routes drawn by Gu Fan on the map.

They didn’t pay particular attention to their surroundings as they had previously scoured the maze in the haunted house several times and knew there weren’t any clues around.

With each path they took, Gu Fan and Su Hui imagined themselves as Wu Fei and Chen Ying, picturing what they may have seen and encountered – the eerie lights, the terrifying ambience with creepy music, the sudden apparitions and the echoing screams.

After spending approximately an hour, Gu Fan and Su Hui managed to cover all twelve routes.

Their expressions held an element of surprise, seeming to have made some discoveries.

this time Gu Fan posed a question: “Sister Su, what do you think?”

“The surveillance here seems to be well-placed covering all the twelve routes.

However, if we connect the segments which are unmonitored, it forms a new route completely void of surveillance coverage.

It must be meticulously designed by someone,” Su Hui said this with chills running down her spine.

It felt as though something was watching them.

Gu Fan nodded, “You’re right.

But the remarkable thing is how the perpetrator managed to alter the maze layout then misled Wu Fei and Chen Ying to this route devoid of surveillance coverage.

Besides, if things indeed transpired as we speculated, then this haunted house is deeply problematic.”