Page 30
"I have the key here."
Vice President Bader reached out and groped around on his body a few times, took out a bunch of keys, compared them under the dim light, and took out one of the oily keys to open the iron door.
Xio let the two police officers who arrived walk in front and followed behind. Hastur, Lecturer Foren and Vice Dean Bard walked at the back, while the others stayed where they were.
After passing through the iron gate, in order to prevent unrelated people from sneaking into the place where the children lived, Vice Dean Bader locked the iron gate again. After confirming that it was correct, he followed Hastur and others to leave.
The group of people came to the source of the bell sound that Xio had focused on. They didn't see any human figures, but they saw a pair of vague footprints on the ground.
Xiu knelt down, stretched out his hand to measure the size of the footprints, frowned slightly and said, "It's a child."
"Well, we have very strict management here. Children must go to bed when the time comes and are absolutely not allowed to stay or play outside.
And we will have dedicated management personnel to lock the door from the outside. They cannot open the door from the inside. "Vice Dean Bader's face showed surprise and embarrassment.
"The footprints are still very new. The child just left not long ago." Xio gave his professional judgment.
Lecturer Fulun also squatted down and looked at the footprints while holding a kerosene lamp. Why couldn't he tell whether the footprints were old or new?
"We are looking around, maybe he is hiding not far away."
Xio's petite body gradually took over the right to speak and gave orders to the two police officers.
Is this the passive talent of the Arbiter?
Hastur was surprised to see the two police officers consciously obeying Xio's arrangements.
The group of people was divided into two teams, with three people in each team. Xio and the two police officers were responsible for searching everywhere to find people. Hasta, Lecturer Foren, and Vice Dean Bader were responsible for checking whether the door locks of each dormitory were locked.
"Oh, why are they always disobedient? Fortunately, Dean Dahn is not here now, otherwise they would have been punished." Vice Dean Bader sighed while leading the way.
Hastur asked: "Dean Bard, do you mean being locked up in the basement by punishment?"
"Being locked up in the basement is the most severe punishment. Generally, only those children who are very troublesome and behave badly will be treated like that."
Seeing that Hastur was interested in these things, Vice Dean Bader spread the relevant knowledge to Hastur and the others.
In this workhouse, punishment for children is generally divided into three levels.
If the circumstances are relatively minor, you only need to be punished by standing outside, having your palms slapped, etc.
For more serious cases, you are not allowed to eat, and you can only watch others eating at the table while hungry.
The most severe punishment will only be given to those who refuse to change despite repeated admonitions.
"Then what if you are locked up in the basement and still refuse to admit your mistakes and repent?" Lecturer Foulun asked his own question.
Vice Dean Bader was silent and did not answer this question.
"Isn't this too cruel?"
Lecturer Follen has learned from his silence
I see, this is probably how the body in the basement came from, right?
Even if the child finally admitted his mistake and repented, in the dark and deserted environment, no one would hear his cry, and he could only wait silently for death!
Starving to death is too cruel!
That kid certainly wasn't the first person to die in the basement!
The other bodies were just cleaned up in advance!
No wonder Dean Dahn didn't even think about staying to explain, but ran away directly. He knew that as long as he went to court, the crimes he had committed would no longer be hidden.
Vice Dean Bud sighed, "Alas, Dean Dan did a very poor job in some areas, but he is very good at raising funds, and most obedient children live well here."
The three of them chatted while checking the door locks of each room.
From beginning to end, the inspection of the second and third floors is easy. You only need to check whether the iron doors on both sides of the passage are closed tightly.
There is no lawn here to serve as a buffer. If those naughty kids dare to jump directly from the second floor, they will basically be half crippled.
Before the three of them finished checking, they heard Xio's voice coming from not far away.
They found the kid who rang the bell!
"No rush, let's check everything first before going over." Hastur said with a smile.
He felt that he had to check it thoroughly before he could feel at ease. Maybe there were more than one child who sneaked out tonight.
Vice Dean Bad also thought this was a better approach, and patiently led Lecturers Hasta and Foren to check everything.
There was indeed no sign that the door lock had been opened, and the iron doors on both sides of the passage were also tightly locked.
After confirming that everything was correct, the three of them went to the place where Xio and others found the child.
It was a bathroom on the far right side of the first floor, and the child was hiding inside.
"Little Amy, why did you sneak out?"
After seeing the child's appearance clearly, Deputy Dean Bud exclaimed, obviously he knew the child who did not follow the rules of the workhouse.
Hasta was also looking at the little boy named Amy in front of him. He was about eight years old, one meter two meters tall, with short chestnut hair, wearing a thin white monk's robe, and bare feet. At this moment, he lowered his head, standing by the sink, and nervously clutching the corners of his clothes with his hands.
"B-Dean Bud, I, I didn't mean to not go back to the dormitory to rest. I just came back too late and was locked out, but I didn't dare to disturb Aunt Lisa..."
Amy raised her head slightly, her eyes were red, tears hung in the corners of her eyes, about to fall, and her voice was choked with sobs, which, combined with her young face that had not yet grown up, made her very adorable.
Xio lowered his voice and said softly, "We are not here to arrest you. We just want to know where you got these bells from."
Amy replied timidly, "I found it on the road, and I thought it sounded nice, so I kept it with me."
"Then why did you ring the bell so late at night? Aren't you afraid that the sound of the bell will wake up others?"
"I, I'm scared to be alone..." Amy lowered her head again.
"Then why did you also ring the bell last night?"
"It wasn't me. Simon took my bell last night. He said he wanted to scare Aunt Lisa."
"Simon?"
Xio raised an eyebrow, and Vice Dean Bud explained, "Simon lives in the same dormitory with little Amy. He has a stronger personality and often steals other people's toys."
"Can we meet this Simon?"
"Of course, this is a necessary question."
As Vice President Bud said this, he went with a police officer to ask Aunt Lisa for the key to open the dormitory door.
Hastur, who had been silent all this time, secretly rubbed his middle finger and thumb three times to open his spiritual vision.
Snapping your fingers can easily attract other people's attention and is not secretive enough.
Hastur looked at the bell that Xio was holding in his hand. It was one-third the size of a palm and dark yellow in color.
The bells did not tremble at all. They were just ordinary bells without any extraordinary powers.
The sound it made was also slightly different from the sound of the bell last night.
It shouldn't be the same string of bells.
Chapter 31 Plant a gold coin and grow a golden tree
Taking advantage of Vice Dean Bard's absence, Hugh began to use her professional abilities.
"Did you really pick up this bunch of bells from outside?"
Xio's indifferent tone contained a majesty that would not allow anyone to refuse or lie.
She is using her extraordinary abilities as an arbiter.
Amy replied timidly: "Yes, I picked it up at the foot of the mountain a month ago. Many people can prove it for me."
"What do you think of Dean Dahn?"
"It's very bad. He often doesn't give us food, and he always threatens to put us in a solitary cell underground."
"What about Vice Dean Bard?"
"Dean Bud is a good man. He treats us very well and always takes good care of us."
"Are there any people in the workhouse who are usually eccentric?"
Amy thought for a while and then said: "Dean Dahn, he likes to dream very much."
Xio became interested, "What dreams does Dean Dan like to have?"
Hastur, who was finally able to hear the follow-up to this question, also became serious.
"He always dreamed of digging a hole in the soil and planting gold coins in it, and then it would grow into a golden tree full of gold coins."
"..."
Both Xio and Hastur were stunned by this answer. They had also fantasized about this dream of getting rich.
"When he wakes up in the morning, he will be angry because of the sudden disappearance of the golden tree. He will loudly curse us as thieves and steal the gold coins that belong to him." Amy added.
"..."
Xio's expression was strange. She thought she could see something unusual in Dean Dahn's dream, but this was just the dream fantasy of an extremely greedy person, and there was nothing suspicious about it.
Hasta pondered for a while and said, "Has Dean Dahn ever had a dream about burying children in the soil?"
Lecturer Foulun's face changed slightly, and he looked at Hastur in shock. He remembered what his teacher had said before about the cruel things that his teacher had said about the workhouse burying children in the soil many times!
Xio also opened his eyes slightly and listened more seriously.
"I only remember that he once shouted angrily that the thief who stole gold coins should be buried in the soil so that his golden tree could bear more gold coins."
"Dean Dan really said that?" Xio had a bad guess in his mind.
"Well, many people have heard it. We also laughed privately that only a money-grubbing person like him could plant a golden tree full of gold coins by burying it in the soil." Amy's tone was very sure.
Xio walked up to Hastur and asked quietly, "Dean Dahn really did such a cruel thing?"
"It's just a possibility."
"It's so abominable! How could he not even let the children go!"
Xio clenched her fists angrily, feeling even more annoyed that she didn't take a good look at Dean Dahn at that time and instead let him run away.
Hastur restrained the anger in his heart and asked calmly: "How is the relationship between Dean Dahn and Vice Dean Bader on weekdays?"
Amy lowered her head and thought for a long time before whispering: "Dean Dahn said many times that he would fire Deputy Dean Bard. Once when he was very angry, he also said that Deputy Dean Bard would be locked up forever. Let him be a prisoner in the solitary cell for the rest of his life."