Chapter 4: Forbidden Ground, Another Corpse Appears (2/4)

People with guilty consciences are always especially afraid of ghosts. Ever since news of the haunting spread through the school, many students had been too scared to go out at night. People always love to imagine things, and just seeing the teaching building shrouded in pitch darkness was enough to set their minds racing.

Because of some matters, Dong Lixin again didn't get off work until past nine o'clock. Standing on the balcony, he looked out and saw that both the teaching building and the college students' innovation park were completely dark. Looking at the scene, he couldn't help but feel a chill rising from the bottom of his heart. Just then, another figure passed by downstairs. When Dong Lixin caught sight of it, cold sweat broke out on him at once—it was that eerie woman again. But in the blink of an eye, the sound of high heels walking echoed in the corridor again. He froze in fright once more, mechanically turning his head, and saw a dark shadow drifting slowly toward him. Terrified, he backed away again and again, then turned and ran. He ran in such a panic that he didn't even stop to pick up his phone when it fell. The high heels stopped in front of the phone, and a blood-soaked hand bent down and picked it up. Just then, the phone received two messages—a photo of a pregnancy test report, followed by a few lines of text: "I have a surprise for you. I'm already 15 weeks pregnant. I quietly asked a few doctors, and they all say it's a boy."

After that, the phone was manually powered off.

Sometime past nine o'clock, Mu Ningxiang came to the teaching building. This careless girl had left her favorite pen behind in the classroom after her evening class, and only realized this important item was missing when she was tidying her desk back in the dormitory. After much deliberation, she decided to go downstairs and look for it. At this hour, the teaching area was pitch black, and Mu Ningxiang had a faint sense of foreboding. Steeling her courage, she went upstairs and walked into the classroom where she'd just had class. She quickly found the glittering golden pen in the desk drawer, breathed a sigh of relief, clutched the pen in her palm, and went to turn off the light. But just then, she suddenly felt a dark shadow flash quickly past the door outside. A chill crept over her heart, and she tried hard to convince herself not to overthink it, then hurried downstairs. But when she reached the stairwell, a dark shadow was already standing right before her. The only light source in the stairwell was the emergency exit sign, and its dim green glow shone on the shadowy figure, letting Mu Ningxiang see its horrifying face.

"Ahh!" Mu Ningxiang let out an involuntary scream of terror, turned and fled back the way she came. Taking the stairs two or three at a time, she went straight for the other side of the teaching building to escape downstairs. She ran for her life, not daring to look back, her heart pounding as fast as her footsteps, like a rabbit escaping its cage, nearly leaping out of her chest.

After class, Zheng Huiwen was leisurely watching *Legal Report Drama* in the dormitory. After two knocks on the door, a female teacher in her thirties walked in. The girls greeted her one after another, and the teacher responded with a smiling nod. This teacher's name was Yang Yue. Zheng Huiwen remembered from her profile that she had come to Jiangzhu University for her internship in her first year after graduating from college, and had now been at the university for about ten years. Nowadays she served as both a course instructor and a counselor.

Teacher Yang had come to take attendance, and afterward asked about the school hauntings.

"There's been talk all over school lately about a haunting. Do you girls still go out at night?"

"We don't go out anymore. As long as we don't have evening classes, once it gets dark we stay obediently in the dorm. We don't even go out for late-night snacks anymore," one girl said, and the other two expressed much the same sentiment.

Teacher Yang smiled and said, "It's already been twenty years into the 21st century, and people are still afraid of this sort of thing. There are no ghosts in this world to begin with—it's just that some people have ghosts in their own hearts."

"Whether or not anyone has a ghost in their heart, we should still respect spirits and keep our distance from them."

"That's right, that's right. After all, that thing looked so terrifying."

"Whatever the case, all of you make sure to protect yourselves. That's essential."

"Yes, teacher."

Teacher Yang gently closed the door behind her and left. Zheng Huiwen paid no mind to what they'd been discussing—she herself was a materialist who didn't believe in ghosts or spirits. At that moment she felt a little peckish, and thinking that the school's snack street should still be open at this hour, she went downstairs planning to buy something. But just as she reached the ground floor, she saw a girl come stumbling and scrambling in, tripping hard over her own feet the moment she came through the door and falling with a heavy thud, startling everyone present. Zheng Huiwen looked closely and realized the girl was Mu Ningxiang. She hurried over to help her up, asking with concern, "What's wrong, Ningxiang? Did you hurt yourself falling?"

"Sister Huiwen," Mu Ningxiang said, her face full of terror, tears still on her cheeks. She threw herself into Zheng Huiwen's arms, trembling all over, even her voice shaking as she said, "I saw a ghost. There's a ghost—there really is a ghost."

At these words, everyone present gasped audibly, and even Zheng Huiwen's own face went a little pale. Still, she comforted the girl, saying, "Don't be afraid. There are people all around here. Even if there's a ghost, it wouldn't dare come near. Come on, get up. I'll take you to get something good to eat. Don't cry anymore."

Zheng Huiwen helped Mu Ningxiang up, put an arm around her shoulders, and led her to the snack street. In the past, the snack street would still be bustling with people at this hour, but ever since the haunting incident, the number of people on the street dwindled sharply the moment dusk fell, and once it was fully dark, only a handful of people remained. Zheng Huiwen took Mu Ningxiang to a Japanese-style rice bowl shop and ordered two servings of char siu rice bowls. The shop had only the two of them as students; the fragrant, hot rice bowls arrived quickly. Zheng Huiwen urged Mu Ningxiang to eat slowly, and after a few bites, Mu Ningxiang's emotions gradually settled. Only then did Zheng Huiwen dare to ask her, "How is it? Does it still hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine now," Mu Ningxiang said, looking at Zheng Huiwen with a dazed expression. "Sister Huiwen, I never used to believe in ghosts, but now, I have to believe. I really saw her—covered in blood, her face completely disfigured, one eyeball even bulging out. It was too... too horrifying."

"Don't be scared anymore, Ningxiang. She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"No. I ran fast—I didn't dare look back, didn't dare stop."

"Wow, where did you see her?"

"In the teaching building."

"What were you doing in the teaching building at this hour?"

"I went to look for something. I'd left my pen there. That pen cost more than a hundred yuan—it was a gift from a high school friend for starting college."

"Well, that really is something meaningful. Did you find it?"

"I found it. It's still tucked on me now. Thank goodness it didn't get broken just now."

"That's good. Even though I'm more of a materialist, I also believe that if you've done nothing to feel guilty about, you shouldn't fear a ghost knocking at your door. From what you're describing, this thing is most likely a vengeful spirit, come to settle a score with someone."

"But I swear to heaven, I've never wronged anyone, and I've certainly never hurt anyone to leave them looking like that. Why would she come after me?"

"Exactly—you didn't wrong her, so she didn't do anything to you. Otherwise, how could you have gotten away? Would you even be sitting here calmly eating right now?" Zheng Huiwen reached out and gently patted Mu Ningxiang's hand, then said, "Alright, Ningxiang, finish eating and go to bed early. Get up early tomorrow—let's go for a morning run. How many times do you still need to run this semester?"

"Forty times. I've only run six so far."

"Same here—one less than you, even. Then it's settled: tomorrow, six thirty, downstairs at the dorm."

"Okay." Mu Ningxiang nodded in agreement without a second thought.