Chapter 011: The Solution

In less than a minute, I came up with no fewer than three different solutions, but ultimately, I believed the most direct and effective method was to "discharge the electricity." The tangled, seemingly complex circuitry—hundreds of wires entwined in a chaotic mess—could all be unraveled by finding the main wire threading through the middle. The main wire’s purpose was to connect all the phone batteries, forming a conductive chain. If I could locate that main wire and quickly reroute it, it would be like transferring the 220-volt direct current from Ji Haifeng’s body—as if by a lightning rod—redirecting the current to another object and thus, indirectly, cutting off power to this murderous contraption.

"Find it! Look for the main wire running through the middle!" I muttered to myself as I searched, instructing Xu Meijing to help me look as well.

"What main wire? What does it look like? What color is it?" Xu Meijing was completely clueless and didn’t know where to start.

I told her it was the longest wire inside, and also the thickest compared to the others. As long as we found that one, Ji Haifeng could be saved.

Before I could finish speaking, another slider phone exploded into sparks at Ji Haifeng’s waist, right before my eyes. Shards of glass flew at my face, but I managed to dodge in time. Otherwise, the components inside could easily have blinded me.

"God, it’s exploded again! My kidneys must be ruined this time!" Ji Haifeng’s back burst open with a fresh wound, this explosion fiercer than the last. Bits of phone debris embedded deep into his flesh, blood spreading uncontrollably.

I told Xu Meijing to stop the bleeding while I kept searching for the main wire. After two battery explosions, the tangled wires had become even more complicated, making it so much harder to find the main line amid the chaos.

"Zheng Yan, look over there!" In a critical moment, Xu Meijing suddenly spotted something. She pointed at one wire. "Zheng Yan, look at that blue wire! It’s marked! And it looks much thicker than the others!"

I followed her finger and spotted a distinctive blue wire threading through a phone’s plastic casing—easy to miss unless you looked closely. There was an arrow drawn on the insulation with a marker, and I noticed the same blue wire running through several phones. Du Jiang must have marked it when designing the circuit, never expecting Xu Meijing to stumble on it by chance.

"That’s it! That’s the one!"

But just as we found the main wire, Ji Haifeng’s situation grew even more dire. Nearly three minutes had passed since the device was triggered. Over a hundred phones, once electrified, had all begun to deform and leak, swelling like balloons against Ji Haifeng’s back. No one could predict which one would explode next. That looming sense of death was the most torturous part.

Ji Haifeng’s endurance was near its limit; the air was thick with the stench of urine—he was already on the verge of breaking down.

"Zheng Yan! Hurry up and disconnect the main line! I can’t take it anymore... It feels like something’s tearing me apart! Like a thousand arrows through the heart! Please, just do it!" Ji Haifeng shouted, grimacing in agony.

I worked nonstop, finally managing to yank out the blue main wire and hack it apart with an axe. The current in the circuit board remained steady—this was the right wire. Now, I just needed to reroute it to the iron pillar in the gym.

A harsh buzzing split the air as I pulled the wire free. Thick black smoke billowed out—the situation was critical. The circuit board clearly couldn’t withstand the high-voltage direct current. At this rate, the whole thing might explode before the phone batteries did.

Sure enough, flames burst from Ji Haifeng’s shoulder, the wires catching fire.

"It’s on fire! Why is it on fire?!" Ji Haifeng screamed, but bound tightly to the tiger bench, he was helpless as the flames spread.

"Hold on! One minute! I only need one more minute to reroute the wire! Hang in there!" I shouted at him.

Before Ji Haifeng could answer, two more phones exploded by his spine. He sobbed uncontrollably, pleading, "Spare me, Du Jiang! I really know I was wrong—please stop!"

"Zheng Yan!" Xu Meijing grabbed me as I crouched under the bench, searching for the blue wire on the other side. "It’s too late! At this rate, Ji Haifeng will explode completely. We have to go, or we’ll be caught in it!"

Frustrated, I refused to give up. "There’s still time! As long as Ji Haifeng can hold on, I can save him—I know I can!"

Six or seven phones exploded above my head, shards of glass peppering my arms and hitting Xu Meijing’s chest. Looking back at Ji Haifeng, I was stunned. His back was a bloody, honeycombed ruin, countless wounds gushing blood. I could even see his white ribs exposed.

Ji Haifeng thrashed desperately, trying to escape the bombs strapped to his back. "Don’t move! Whatever you do, don’t move!" I yelled.

It was all too late. Xu Meijing yanked me back just as an intense, blinding flash erupted from Ji Haifeng’s back. He couldn’t endure any longer. Even if I’d had only a few more seconds to finish, we’d already lost—to Du Jiang and to those flashy phones.

When we approached Ji Haifeng again, his body was a wreck, his head lolling to one side, blood frothing from his mouth. "Zheng... Zheng Yan... I’m dying... Can you do something for me...?"

"Tell me. Anything I can do, I will."

"My parents... I’m their only child. I wasted my life on the internet, hurt myself, and dragged them down with me. If you get the chance, please tell them... tell them their son knows he was wrong. I’ll never play games again..."

"And one more thing!" Ji Haifeng suddenly seized my hand. "I have a secret to tell you... about your father... Teacher Zheng was a good man... but his death wasn’t just a simple accident! I’ve always believed he wasn’t killed in a car crash, because... I saw him the night before it happened..."

My father?

I grabbed Ji Haifeng’s hand, instinctively steadying his trembling shoulders. "Ji Haifeng, what did you see? What happened to my father?"

He struggled for breath, trying to speak. "I saw him arguing... I saw him arguing with..."

And with that, Ji Haifeng fell silent, his breath gone. I gripped his collar and shouted, "Ji Haifeng, don’t die! Who was my father arguing with?"

To be honest, the torture on this ship had already shattered my understanding of the world, but I never imagined I’d uncover my father’s secret here. If his death wasn’t an accident, then it was murder.

Who killed my father? What had he done to provoke such a fate? Who was the person Ji Haifeng mentioned?

All these questions surged within me, becoming an invisible force. I unclasped the key from Ji Haifeng’s neck and strode resolutely to locker 0002. I knew that inside these lockers were not only my remaining classmates, but secrets that had been buried for far too long.