It was worth considering that if the murderer hadn't done so, but had actually taken Yuko away or even harmed her, the current situation would likely be very dangerous.
Professor Huo also stared at Yuko for a while, just as I did, before saying, "Yuko, when you arrived here, did anyone tell you who brought you?"
"I asked the medical staff, and they couldn't be sure. When they saw me, I was on a metal bunk in the infirmary."
I frowned. Did that person avoid everyone, secretly place Yuko in the infirmary, and then leave? The surveillance should have caught that, too.
Da Ai seemed to have read my mind. Professor Huo said, "I already checked the surveillance before coming to see you. No suspicious individuals were seen."
"Really? But I still need to check again."
"Uh, you don't trust me?"
"No, Teacher, how could I not trust you? It's just better to confirm it again."
For some reason, when I mentioned wanting to see the surveillance, I noticed Yuko giving me a playful glance from the side. But I didn't say anything. After saying goodbye to Xiao Xin and her, I left with Professor Huo.
When we arrived at the hotel's security room, knowing we wanted to review the surveillance again, a security guard familiar with the procedure brought up the footage we needed. I browsed through it once and found everything normal. However, I asked the guard to rewind the footage to yesterday's recordings. As I did this, Professor Huo said, "I compared it. The surveillance from the past few days is consistent; these recordings are genuine!"
"Oh? Alright!" I watched, and indeed, the situation was as Professor Huo described. Yet, we couldn't see how Yuko had entered the infirmary. I remembered there was a window at the back of that area, and there shouldn't be any surveillance there. Upon confirmation from the security guard, this was indeed the case. The person must have deliberately avoided the surveillance, climbed through the window, placed Yuko in the infirmary, and then escaped.
Understanding the perpetrator's method, Professor Huo and I could only leave the further investigation to the local police for now, as Rainbow Island was no longer under Guangming City's jurisdiction. They had their own police force.
Professor Huo communicated with them, and I returned to my room temporarily. Before leaving, I brought back two servings of stir-fried noodles. Smelling the aroma, Zhang Keying automatically woke up and then sat at the table with me to eat.
Mentioning Yuko's situation, Zhang Keying also asked curiously, "Then it's strange. It couldn't be Yuko playing a prank herself, could it?"
"Why would she be so bored? Could she have had some other purpose?"
I didn't tell Zhang Keying or anyone else about the challenge letter because the person had told me not to contact anyone else. I was worried that if I told others, he might take drastic actions against us.
After eating our fill, Zhang Keying continued to rest. She didn't seem to plan on going out today. I sat alone on the sofa, pondering Yuko's journey on the ship and her arrival on Rainbow Island. I considered several ways she could have reached Rainbow Island, but many seemed unlikely.
Tired of thinking, I stopped. I drifted off to sleep, and after an unknown period, I heard knocking at the door. I jolted awake, went to the door, and opened it: "Hello, two of you. We're ready to head to the aquarium, but some students went clubbing and skydiving. You can choose yourselves!"
"Thank you, fellow student!" Standing outside the door was a student from an unknown class. He seemed to be just a messenger. After closing the door, I immediately woke Zhang Keying. This girl was truly a heavy sleeper. I checked the time; it was already past 9 AM, and she was still sleeping soundly. I remembered she had gone to bed before 10 PM last night.
After waking up, Zhang Keying said to me curiously, "It's morning already!"
"The sun is shining on your backside!" I took out my phone and showed her the current time. Seeing it, Zhang Keying immediately got out of bed to wash up.
We came out a little past 10 AM. After a quick bite, we went outside the hotel. The air on Rainbow Island was exceptionally fresh. It had been dark last night, and most of the scenery wasn't clear. But now it was daytime, the weather was excellent, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was azure without a single cloud, various plants were planted all around, with colorful flowers, stone-paved paths on the ground, and countless pavilions and towers distributed within. Not far from the hotel was an aquarium, and on a nearby platform, there were helicopters, which were equipment for skydiving. On the other side, there were beaches for diving and places for clubbing.
Zhang Keying and I discussed it and decided to go skydiving first. She seemed quite interested in it. I had tried it before when I was in school, but I wasn't sure how it would be this time.
Teacher Huang was in charge of taking the few students who wanted to go skydiving. Perhaps everyone was a bit timid, as very few students came for skydiving. As we were preparing to go up, I overheard a few boys talking about Teacher Huang. I didn't realize it until I heard them; it turned out she had won awards in skydiving before and also held an advanced skydiver's license. It seemed Teacher Huang would be able to show off her skills in front of us this time.
After we were ready, we all went to the take-off platform on the platform. Two helicopters were nearby, and several pilots were ready. As we boarded the helicopters, we put on our skydiving gear, including harnesses, containers, main parachutes, reserve parachutes, and other equipment. Once we were fully dressed, we also wore goggles, depending on individual needs.
We boarded the helicopter, and Teacher Huang sat with us. She instructed the pilot to take off, and during the flight, she explained some details of skydiving, such as how to open the main parachute and use the ropes. I understood all of this, but Zhang Keying seemed to be doing it for the first time, so she looked particularly nervous.
Just before takeoff, I comforted her a few times, afraid she would back out midway. Her grip on my hand was so tight; she was truly nervous. I made her take deep breaths repeatedly, and she slowly calmed down.
Actually, I thought to myself, if you're afraid of skydiving, just imagine how many more terrifying things you'll encounter as a forensic investigator in the future.
The helicopter finally took off. Once soaring in the sky, she wasn't afraid anymore. I saw the students who were with us nearby were also very excited, shouting loudly out the window. Teacher Huang, our leader, took out her camera to take pictures. She sat next to us, and the clicking of the shutter was constant. Prompted by her, we couldn't help but take out our phones as well.