Chapter 2: A Ghostly Shadow, Peeping at the Illicit Affair (2/3)

As the hour grew later, the student dormitories gradually fell silent, one room after another going dark. Looking out across the campus, only a scattered few lit windows remained. The most conspicuous spot on the whole campus was the president's office at the top of the Administration Building. President Dong Lixin was in his fifties, bald, the crown of his head smooth and shiny — clearly no hair-growth tonic in the world could make a single strand grow there anymore. His beer belly stuck out, having absorbed who knew how much rich food and meat over the years. The office was decorated in lavish, imposing style: a solid ebony desk and bookcase, genuine leather sofas, a golden chandelier illuminating a cabinet packed full of fine cigarettes and liquors. Even the ornaments on his desk were ivory and solid-gold carved tortoise-dragon beasts, and the pen and ink bottle beside his computer were custom-made by Parker. Clearly, this president lived a very showy life.

However, at this late hour, he was not alone in the office — there was also a young mistress. At that moment, they were on the sofa, thrusting back and forth in an unsightly act. The mistress had stripped off her clothes; her lace underwear lay tossed on the floor, her pale body writhing before his eyes, her cries rising and falling with each thrust, coy and wanton. They were clearly long-term lovers — without Dong Lixin needing to instruct her, the mistress obligingly changed positions on her own. She sat astride his lap, her thighs clamped tightly around that hard, hot rod, moving as she moaned softly, her eyes seducing him all the while. After some unknown length of time, the mistress lay sprawled on the sofa, kneeling on both legs, her buttocks raised high, hung with no small amount of semen, her sweat-drenched body still trembling faintly.

Dong Lixin was fastening his belt beside her when the mistress said in a coquettish voice, "President, it's rare for you to be so fierce — you must be in a good mood?"

"Not bad. We've got a thousand more students this year than last, so I'm a bit pleased." Dong Lixin reached out and patted the mistress's backside, saying, "All right, hurry and get dressed. I need to go home tonight."

"Got it," the mistress said, pulling out a couple of tissues to wipe herself below, looking at the semen on the tissue. "So many seeds — I wonder if I'll end up pregnant."

"You'd best give me a son. I only have one daughter, and once she marries, all this property might just end up in someone else's hands."

"If I have a son, you must marry me as your wife," the mistress said, leaning on his leg, her eyes seductive as she looked at him. "You know as well as I do, an illegitimate child has no right of inheritance."

"Of course," Dong Lixin said lasciviously, stroking the mistress's cheek. "I've thought about divorcing and switching wives too, as long as your belly proves worthy. I've transferred 100,000 into your account — go buy something you like."

After the mistress left, Dong Lixin checked the time — it was past 11. He went back to his desk, tidied up briefly, and prepared to leave as well. His was the only room in the entire building still lit; the door was open, and the corridor outside was pitch black. At this hour, aside from himself, there shouldn't have been a sound from anyone else. Yet he heard one all the same — the sound of high heels walking, crystal clear, step by step, drawing closer and closer. Thinking it was the mistress, he asked absentmindedly, "Why'd you come back?"

There was no reply. Dong Lixin vaguely sensed something was wrong. He turned his head to look, and there, poking in from outside the door, was half a face — deathly pale and covered in bloodstains. He froze in shock, feeling his heart skip a beat. By the time he came back to his senses, the half-face had vanished. He hurried out after it, only to find a row of bloody footprints had suddenly appeared at the doorway. Following the footprints with his eyes, he saw a woman's silhouette standing at the end of the corridor. He took a deep breath and, gathering his courage, walked toward it. But then the office behind him suddenly went dark, and his vision was instantly swallowed in black — only the faint glow of the emergency lights at either end of the corridor remained.

The sound of high heels rose again, and that thing — whether human or ghost, he did not know — gradually drew nearer to him.

He froze once more, cold sweat already beading on his forehead. His legs were trembling faintly — whether from exhaustion after just finishing his business, or from fright, he couldn't tell. He felt his hands and feet turning cold. By the faint light of the emergency lamps, he stood frozen for a moment before deciding to step forward — only for the woman to vanish right before his eyes.

The sound of high heels suddenly rang out behind him again. Dong Lixin hastily turned around — the woman was now even closer to him. Her appearance frightened him so badly that his legs simply gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor.

Half of the woman's skull was a mangled mess of blood and flesh, embedded with shards of broken glass; one eyeball had already burst out of its socket. Her ashen face bore only dark red wounds and bright red bloodstains, blood streaming from her eyes, two trails of blood running from her nose, and blood filling her mouth too — her split lips and a mouthful of blood-red teeth. She wore a black coat and a mid-length skirt; the white shirt underneath had been dyed a solid red. A shard of sheet metal was lodged in her neck. Her clothes were tattered, and her calves were covered in streak after streak of blood, all the way down into her high heels.

Dong Lixin's legs had already stopped obeying him from fright. He wanted to run, but couldn't move at all. He wanted to say something, but his mind went completely blank — all that came out was, "Don't come near me, don't come near me!"

But the woman suddenly let out a shrill, eerie laugh that rang out with particular loudness in the silence of the Administration Building — utterly hair-raising. This was no human laugh at all — this was the laugh of a ghost.

Dong Lixin fought desperately to make his limbs move, shouting at the same time, "Help! There's a ghost! Help! Help me!"

He fled in a scramble, half-crawling, cold sweat already soaking through his clothes. In his panicked flailing, he went tumbling down the stairs with a series of thuds, but was unhurt — only a few minor bruises. Not caring whether he was injured, he scrambled up and kept fleeing, not daring to look back, terrified the ghostly figure would catch up to him. As he ran, he pulled out his phone and dialed Secretary Su's number.

Secretary Su had already fallen asleep, and was jolted awake by the phone ringing over and over. Too drowsy to open her eyes, she fumbled for the phone and answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Secretary Su!" Dong Lixin's hysterical shout on the other end jolted Secretary Su fully awake. She heard him say, "Get over to the school and pick me up right now! Hurry!"

"Huh?!" Secretary Su wondered if she'd misheard. "President, it's almost midnight — you're still not home?"

"No! Get over here right now! If you don't come, I'm going to die! Hurry!"

"Okay, okay, okay, I'm coming." Secretary Su didn't dare delay when it came to her boss, and immediately got out of bed and set off.

By now Dong Lixin had already run out of the Administration Building, sprinting madly in another direction, his feet moving as if propelled by wind-fire wheels. He still didn't dare look back, and had no idea whether he'd managed to shake off the female ghost. He ran into the University Innovation Park and hid himself in a cramped broom closet under a staircase, huddled trembling against the brooms and mops.