Chapter 19: The True Culprit

Su Mian lifted her feet and walked forward slowly, her heartbeat gradually rising.

It was impossible for her to forget this dress.

On the first day they stepped into the cafeteria, Guan Xiaoxiao organized a bizarre and absurd welcome ceremony. The pink tulle skirt she wore had already been deeply imprinted in Su Mian's mind.

But this wasn't the strangest point. The strange thing was that the group of workers who came the next day took all of Guan Xiaoxiao's things away.

Why take them away? Because they felt it was bad luck and burned everything. But it was impossible to leave behind such a conspicuous tulle skirt.

Who would take the tulle skirt? And why put it in the laundry room after taking it?

No, it might not have been put in directly, but rather after being worn...

Su Mian was startled. She walked up, picked up the tulle skirt, and smelled it. Sure enough, there was a burnt smell.

Why was it stained with the smell but not burned?

That proved that someone had swapped Guan Xiaoxiao's clothes to wear themselves and had witnessed the entire process of her spontaneous combustion.

Perhaps it wasn't witnessing, but rather that all of this was caused by the murderer. But why swap into Guan Xiaoxiao's clothes?

Was it purely some kind of sick hobby, or was this... the way they killed people?

Su Mian stood up slowly, her brows furrowed.

But when Guan Xiaoxiao died, her clothes had already been burned away, so it couldn't be determined who had swapped her clothes.

While Su Mian was thinking, the old woman suddenly walked in from the door, carrying a large pile of dirty clothes. There were only white and blue colors in the bucket; it was clear that the children yesterday were all wearing this set of formal wear.

Su Mian was a bit puzzled and spoke softly, "Old woman, weren't you cooking just now?"

The old woman picked up the bucket and threw the clothes into the washing machine.

Su Mian stepped forward quickly to help her. The old woman wiped her sweat.

"The meal is already done. I can't stay idle, so I washed all the formal wear you wore yesterday."

Su Mian nodded, staring at the tumbling washing machine for a moment, then suddenly spoke, "Old woman, are the girls' formal wear all pleated skirts?"

The old woman looked at Su Mian strangely, "Of course they are all pleated skirts. Good girl, I've been at Sunshine Orphanage for several years, and I've never seen any girl wear boys' formal wear."

In an instant, Su Mian took a few steps back, her breathing rapid.

"Really?"

"Yes, but if you want to wear boys', the old woman won't advise against it. Some children are just weird now; boys love to wear girls' clothes, and girls love to wear boys' clothes..."

The old woman's words still lingered in her ears, but Su Mian couldn't take any of it in anymore.

It connected.

All the clues connected.

Le Zhi was also wearing formal wear on the day she died, but Su Mian hadn't noticed much at the time. Now that she thought about it, there were too many suspicious points.

Why was she wearing boys' formal wear? Was it because she swapped clothes with someone else, and the person who swapped clothes also happened to like women's clothing?

If said just like this, it might be too far-fetched.

But the cause of death for both girls was because they swapped clothes, and it also happened that the human body spontaneously combusted after swapping clothes...

No, Su Mian reacted violently.

It wasn't spontaneous human combustion at all, but someone had tampered with the clothes, making them mistakenly believe they died of spontaneous combustion.

Who swapped clothes with Le Zhi?

The answer was self-evident.

Among all the boys, only Xu Yiyi, that is, Wen Zirui, wore women's clothing.

His strange habit might not be this at all.

Perhaps he was very smart, knowing that the two girls he wanted to kill were girls, so he lied that he liked women's clothing, but it was actually for the convenience of taking action.

Su Mian's heart beat violently. If it really was him, how could she convince Yu Maomao and Wang Zhe to believe her?

If Yu Maomao and Wen Zirui voted for her two more times, she would be beyond saving.

Cold sweat snaked down her neck.

The moment she understood everything, Su Mian turned around almost instinctively, grabbed the tulle skirt, and rushed out.

A huge force pulled her back.

Su Mian turned her head and found the old woman looking at her with a very strange smile.

There was no malice, but it was more or less creepy.

How could an old person have such great strength?

Before she could think too much, the old woman spoke, her aged finger pointing at the clothes on Su Mian's body.

"You don't need to wear formal wear today. Do you want to take it off and let the old woman help you wash it?"

Su Mian was somewhat absent-minded. Her mind was full of the murderer, clues, and vote counts; she couldn't fit anything else in.

To save time this morning, she had casually grabbed the formal skirt by the bed and changed into it without looking closely.

Wait.

She held the old woman's hand and grabbed a corner of the pleated skirt to check.

Where was the blood on the skirt?

She had killed Zhou Yichen with a knife yesterday, and after everything was finished, it was almost twelve o'clock.

She had no time to deal with the bloodstains on her clothes at all.

But now, the skirt was very clean.

In that instant, her mind went blank.

She suddenly realized a terrifying possibility.

Her own clothes were very likely also swapped.

The old woman didn't leave and was still standing there waiting for her reply.

Su Mian suddenly hugged the old woman. The old woman was a bit caught off guard, her hands suspended in mid-air, but her breathing was calm, as if she had expected it long ago. She patted Su Mian's back lightly.

"Good girl, let the old woman help you wash your clothes, okay? Once the clothes are changed, nothing will happen."

Su Mian was silent for a long time, then lifted her face, her eye sockets slightly red and moist.

She exhaled deeply, her heart becoming more determined and calm.

"No need, old woman."

"Since someone wants me dead, they should be prepared to be exposed."

Su Mian grabbed the tulle skirt again, looked at the old woman deeply, and turned to leave.

At this time, on the other side, Yu Maomao was still crying and complaining about Zhou Yichen's departure.

Wang Zhe was comforting her on the side, but finding the results were minimal, he also sat silently, the atmosphere extremely oppressive.

Wang Zhe suddenly thought of something and said, "Uh... can we look at his script now?"

Yu Maomao froze for a moment, sobbed a few more times, and threw the script to Wang Zhe.

Wang Zhe immediately opened it to look. The words on the last page were exactly the same as his script. Disappointed for a moment, he closed the script.

"It was Mi Guo who killed him."

"What?"

Wang Zhe looked at Yu Maomao in surprise, caught off guard by her sudden words.

Yu Maomao's eyes, however, became even more determined.

"He wasn't the murderer, right? But he kept pointing at Mi Guo. I think she's the murderer! She is, she is!!!"

Yu Maomao suddenly started throwing things like she had gone crazy. Wang Zhe was so stunned he couldn't say a word.

"You..."

"She was just scared by being pointed out, and in a fit of rage, she killed Zhou Yichen!"

She suddenly turned her head and stared fixedly at Wang Zhe.

"Otherwise, how else could he have died? I'm asking you?! How else could he have died?!"

"Calm down..."

Yu Maomao couldn't listen at all. She rushed toward the door.

"I remember she went to the front yard just now."

Saying this, she ran that way. Wang Zhe's alarm bells rang, and he immediately followed.

The door to the next dormitory opened slightly a few seconds later. Wen Zirui's expression was cold, his hands tucked in his pockets as he lifted his feet to follow. ===== CHAPTER 20 =====