Caught in the Act: A Risky Escape

The two walked down a narrow corridor. The student council office was situated beneath the sloping staircase. Its size was neither large nor small, but it still took them quite a while to find.

Inside, the furnishings were sparse, consisting only of a single desk and a few cabinets. On the back wall, a faint red dot flickered.

Throughout, Lin Yi kept his face shielded with his arm, and thus failed to notice the faint red light.

Li Yan looked at him, unsure of what to say.

“Lin Yi, you’re being far too cautious, aren’t you? Didn’t I tell you the surveillance cameras in the academic building are all powered down? What’s there to worry about?”

“Better safe than sorry, don’t you understand?” Lin Yi retorted. “Now, hurry and get your phone. I still need to go home for dinner soon.”

“Alright, Lin Yi!”

At the mention of retrieving his phone, a joyful smile instantly spread across Li Yan’s face. He quickly walked to the desk and pulled open the drawer beneath it.

Inside lay rows of neatly arranged phones, featuring both well-known domestic and international brands.

At a glance, there were at least dozens of them, making Li Yan dizzy with choice. After searching through them for a good while, he finally found his own phone.

With the phone in hand, the two retraced their steps. As they passed the restroom, Lin Yi glanced at the mirror on the wall once more. It seemed to have an extra crack.

Lin Yi didn’t dwell on it, assuming he simply hadn’t noticed it before. Following Li Yan, he climbed through the window. Suddenly, a flashlight beam shone directly at them, blinding them and making it impossible to open their eyes.

Once the intense light faded, a middle-aged man in a security guard uniform stood before them. In his hand, he held a black, high-powered flashlight.

“What are you two doing?”

His voice was robust and commanding. His sharp gaze swept over the two boys, trying to discern from their appearance what they might have stolen. Neither of them seemed to have any place to hide anything, though it could, of course, be small items.

Without waiting for the two youths to respond, the middle-aged man seized Li Yan, who was closest to him. His rough hands immediately frisked him, yet, apart from keys and a phone, he found nothing.

He then turned his gaze to the other young man, only to read an awkward expression on his face. He didn’t look like someone who would steal.

The security guard frowned. He searched Lin Yi thoroughly, but still found nothing.

He was puzzled. He had clearly seen them climb out of the academic building moments ago. Surely, they weren’t just wandering around the academic building for fun, with nothing better to do.

“Tell me, what were you doing in there?”

The security guard’s voice remained stern, but this time, a hint of doubt was discernible in his tone.

Lin Yi and Li Yan exchanged a glance. Seeing Li Yan’s lips move, Lin Yi nodded, understanding immediately.

Li Yan had just used lip-reading to tell him to play along with his act in a moment.

“Uncle, here’s the thing,” Li Yan began. “We both fell asleep in the classroom and didn’t hear the dismissal bell.”

“How could the teachers and students not care?”

The security guard didn’t believe Li Yan’s explanation at all. No normal person would fall for such a clumsy lie.

Seeing that Li Yan’s tactic wasn’t working, Lin Yi’s mind raced. He glanced at the window, a plan already forming in his mind.

“Uncle,” Lin Yi interjected, “the academic building’s windows are all locked tight. It would be hard to get in from the outside without causing some damage, wouldn’t it?”

Listening to Lin Yi’s explanation, the security guard found it strangely logical. Moreover, these two boys didn’t seem like the type to sneak around.

Still, he couldn’t fully believe their words. Who would admit to stealing if they were actually thieves?

The security guard still harbored suspicions about the two. Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from behind them.

“What are you doing?”

It was a young girl’s voice, and he found it surprisingly familiar. As the dark silhouette drew closer, he recognized the person.

Shoulder-length brown hair framed a face with emerald-green eyes. Her demeanor was poised and elegant, giving her the aura of a presenter.

After the security guard realized the newcomer was Xu Wei, his tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said. “I caught two suspected thieves.”

From his expression, he seemed to be quite familiar with Xu Wei.

“Thieves?”

Hearing the word ‘thieves,’ Xu Wei approached with a puzzled expression. Upon realizing the security guard was referring to Lin Yi and Li Yan, she gasped softly, covering her mouth in surprise.

“Lin Yi, is that really you?”

The security guard stared at Xu Wei in astonishment. He hadn’t expected her to know these two.

“Uncle, are you mistaken?” Xu Wei asked. “Lin Yi and I have known each other for quite a while. He wouldn’t steal.”

Hearing this, the security guard looked at the two boys by the window, then at Xu Wei, and finally sighed. He was quite familiar with this girl, Xu Wei. Although he still harbored doubts, he was willing to trust her.

“Alright, alright,” he conceded. “You two can go now. Be more careful next time, and don’t oversleep again.”

The security guard waved his hand, gesturing for them to quickly get out of the flowerbed. Then, he switched his flashlight back to full power and continued his patrol elsewhere.

****

Seeing the security guard leave, both Li Yan and Lin Yi simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks,” Li Yan said to Xu Wei.

“By the way, what exactly were you two doing just now?” Xu Wei asked.

Li Yan didn’t treat Xu Wei as an outsider. He concisely recounted the events of that morning. After listening, Xu Wei covered her mouth and chuckled softly, finding the whole incident quite amusing.

“I still advise you to put the phone back,” Xu Wei warned. “Be careful, or the punishment might get worse.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Li Yan waved off. “Anyway, she won’t know who took it.”

Li Yan was completely unconcerned. His phone was back in his hands, so why bother with anything else? Wouldn’t it be better to just go back to the dorm and play games?

As they chatted, Xu Wei subtly steered the conversation towards Lin Yi. Li Yan, however, didn’t notice, and continued chatting happily with her.

“I recall Lin Yi isn’t a boarding student, is he?”

“Oh, right, I remember now!” Li Yan exclaimed. “Lin Yi, I’ll take you out of school.”

“Huh?”

Lin Yi, who had been walking behind, was still pondering how to exit the school. Suddenly called out by Li Yan, he hadn’t fully processed it.

“Let’s go, Lin Yi!”

The trio quickened their pace. Led by Li Yan, they arrived at an inconspicuous corner. It was the school cafeteria’s dump site, where all sorts of garbage was piled up.

The air was thick with the foul stench of decay. Normally, no one would ever come to such a place, and Lin Yi wondered how Li Yan had even found it.

“Li Yan, are you sure I can get out through here?”

Lin Yi frowned. The stench here was no less potent than that of a septic tank; the overpowering odor was simply inhumane.

“Don’t worry,” Li Yan assured him. “It just smells a bit strong.”

‘No normal person would ever find a place like this,’ Lin Yi thought to himself, carefully following behind Li Yan, avoiding the piles of trash.

After walking a considerable distance, Lin Yi spotted a small heap of rubbish. On the other side of this heap was the school’s iron fence, roughly a person’s height, adorned with sharp barbs. A slip while climbing that fence would be disastrous.

“Lin Yi, stand here and put both hands on the fence. I’ll give you a push when you climb over.”

As Li Yan spoke, he demonstrated the action himself. With his height, his head easily cleared the top of the fence. Lin Yi observed, feeling that this method might just work.

Following Li Yan’s instructions, Lin Yi climbed onto the rubbish pile. He tiptoed, craning his head over the fence, but before he could push off with his hands, his foot slipped. Accompanied by Li Yan’s startled cry, Lin Yi tumbled backward.

Lin Yi’s mind went blank as he fell on his back. Fortunately, he hadn’t landed face down, or he would have gotten a mouthful of garbage.

“Lin Yi, are you alright?”

Li Yan quickly recovered, helping Lin Yi up and brushing the dust off his clothes.

“I’m fine.” Lin Yi waved his hand, placing his hands back on the fence, ready to try again. This time, there were no mishaps, and with Li Yan’s assistance, he smoothly climbed over.