Chapter 3: The Two Faces of the Bully (5/5)

At night, sometime after 9 o'clock, Ren Jie had just finished his part-time job in the snack street. The haunting had made the school's nights especially quiet; after dark, the number of people outside had dropped sharply, and even the foot traffic in the snack street had been cut in half. On his way out, Ren Jie had bought Ren Jingting a small hair accessory she liked, and the two of them went for a walk together in the flower garden. The pair seemed like atheists, not the least bit afraid of the night or ghosts. They sat in the quiet garden, gazing at the dormitory building not far away with its lit windows, chatting with each other. Ren Jingting always liked to rest her head on Ren Jie's shoulder, and Ren Jie liked to gently stroke the top of her head.

As it grew later, and the dormitory curfew was fast approaching, the two of them got up and started walking back. Suddenly, a dark shadow seemed to flit past in front of them. Both of them froze for a moment, and Ren Jingting asked, "What just went by?"

"I didn't get a clear look either. Maybe someone out running."

Just as they were about to keep walking, they clearly heard the sound of high heels—close by, seemingly coming from the nearest classroom building. Ren Jie walked straight toward it, not forgetting to hold tightly onto Ren Jingting's hand. Though frightened, she stayed close behind him.

The sound of the heels kept ringing out. Ren Jie suddenly noticed that the classroom building had lost power—the lights in the hallways and classrooms wouldn't turn on, and only the emergency lights at either end of the corridor were lit. At that moment, a black, gaunt figure stood at the far end of the corridor before them, perfectly still, and it was unclear whether it faced them or had its back turned. The two of them exchanged a glance, said nothing, and slowed their pace as they continued forward.

As they drew closer, the shadow grew clearer before his eyes, but he wasn't afraid, and his footsteps didn't stop. Suddenly, the dark figure let out a chilling laugh that made the hair on their skin stand on end, and it forced them to stop in their tracks despite themselves.

"Who are you?" Ren Jie's guard went up, and he gripped Ren Jingting's hand tightly while shielding her behind him.

And that ghostly figure actually answered: "I died fifteen years ago, but I've been waiting for you all this time. I wanted to see you."

As the female ghost spoke, she slowly turned around, and the bloodstains on her body and the look on her face gradually became clear to them.

Ren Jingting was startled badly, covering her mouth, her wide eyes trembling. Ren Jie, however, simply looked on calmly and asked, "Why have you been waiting for us? Is there something you want to say to us?"

"What I want to say is simple, and I've said it before—don't you two forget who you really are."

The moment she finished speaking, the emergency lights suddenly went out, and the entire classroom building was instantly plunged into pitch darkness, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Ren Jingting, terrified, instinctively clung to Ren Jie's arm. Ren Jie, thinking that the emergency lights going off meant the power had been restored, felt around and switched on the hallway lights.

But the dark figure that had just been there moments ago had vanished without a trace. At first Ren Jie wasn't ready to give up, and searched the surrounding area, but eventually he gave up. In the end, he said goodbye to Ren Jingting, and each of them went back to their own dormitory to rest.

The next day, Ren Jingting went to class as usual. Her homeroom teacher, Li Enliang, came to find her and said he had already spoken with her subject teachers, asking them to look out for her more carefully during class. Ren Jingting thanked him for this.

Strangely, from that day on, no one ever saw Dong Qian again. When the teacher called roll and asked the class monitor about her, the monitor said she didn't know. When they asked Dong Qian's roommates, they too shook their heads, saying they had no idea. At the time, none of the classmates paid much attention to where she might have gone, but as the weekend passed and the next week arrived, there was still no sign of Dong Qian, and not a single word of news.

This couldn't help but make people feel that something was off.