The school was quite large. In addition to the classroom buildings, there were also public facilities like the library and cafeteria.
After eating, the four headed towards the old school building. Halfway there, they ran into the other three members of their team. That team also seemed to have just grouped up, and they smiled and greeted Lin's team.
"Are you guys also going to the old school building?" asked the man leading the other team.
"Yes," Lin Qiu Shi nodded. "Are you?"
"We were planning to go take a look. Since we're all going anyway, why don't we go together for safety in numbers?" said the man. "I'm Liu Zhuangxiang."
"Yu Linlin," Lin Qiu Shi also introduced himself.
And so the seven of them headed towards the old school building together, chatting as they walked.
Although they were chatting, everyone was still quite cautious around these unfamiliar people. They revealed little information during their conversations - after all, there was only one clue on the door for them to get out, so whoever left first would get it. So while they cooperated, they were also potential competitors to each other. Unless they were in a desperate situation that required cooperation, there would always be some ulterior motives.
That Liu Zhuangxiang seemed to have some interest in Ruan Nan Zhu. Though he pretended to be nonchalant, his gaze lingered on Ruan Nan Zhu for quite some time.
When they arrived at the old school building, the two teams decided to split up.
Lin Qiu Shi was suspicious of him at first, wondering if Liu had discovered something. But later he realized Liu hadn't discovered anything - he was just attracted to Ruan Nan Zhu's looks.
To be honest, with Ruan Nan Zhu's appearance and temperament disguised as a woman here, it was very normal for men to be interested in him.
There was a seal on the old school building forbidding students from entering.
The person who had led them here had given them a few keys earlier, saying they could open the iron gate at the entrance. Lin Qiu Shi took out a key and unlocked the gate, and everyone filed in.
The school had wanted to completely renovate the old building, changing everything from the walls and floors to the desks and chairs. It was quite a big project.
"This building isn't that old," Ruan Nan Zhu observed the exterior for a while and concluded. "It looks like it was built at most six or seven years ago."
"It's not old," Lin Qiu Shi began listening to the description. He had imagined the old school building to be a very aged, dilapidated structure, but when they arrived he found it wasn't as old as he had pictured. It was just an ordinary six-story classroom building, mainly red and white. From a distance across the sports field, it looked a bit like a slab of distinctly colored pork belly.
"Let's go in and take a look," Ruan Nan Zhu said.
The other three people who had come with them also entered, but didn't join Lin's team. They said they wanted to go upstairs first.
Lin Qiu Shi's team started checking from the first floor.
With no students using it at this time, the whole building was very quiet. The classrooms all had neat rows of desks and chairs, with black curtains all drawn.
Next to the classrooms were the teachers' offices, now emptied out except for some tables and chairs.
It was all identical, monotonous rooms. With no definite clues, checking them one by one would be quite time-consuming.
They went from the first to the third floor. Just as they were about to continue searching the third floor, they suddenly heard a thumping sound from the roof - bang, bang, bang, bang.
"What are they doing upstairs?" Xia Rui Bei asked puzzledly.
No one answered. Everyone looked up at the ceiling.
The few people who had split off from them earlier should be right above them now. Yet they didn't know what those people were doing to cause such a racket on the ceiling, the sounds moving from one end of the hallway to the other, continuous and extremely annoying.
"How annoying," Xia Rui Bei said irritably. "Are they psychos?"
They were about to go upstairs to see what Liu Zhuangxiang and the others were doing when Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly gestured for them to stop. "Don't go up. Something's wrong."
"What's wrong?" Xia Rui Bei was already unhappy with Ruan Nan Zhu to begin with. Being stopped by him now made her even more displeased. "Are you actually scared?"
Ruan Nan Zhu didn't reply, just pointing downstairs.
They looked in the direction he was pointing. To their shock, they saw Liu Zhuangxiang's group of three standing in the open space below looking up at them. When they noticed Lin's team, they even waved up at them in a friendly manner - so they definitely were not upstairs making that sound.
Seeing this, Xia Rui Bei broke out in goosebumps. She looked at the ceiling where the disturbing sounds were still coming from and asked shakily, "What is that?"
"What do you think it is?" Ruan Nan Zhu didn't answer, instead shifting his gaze to Lin Qiu Shi.
Lin Qiu Shi was silent for a moment before replying, "I think...it sounds like a one-legged person jumping up there."
Xia Rui Bei looked like she was about to cry from fear.
In fact, as soon as Lin Qiu Shi had heard the sound, he felt something was off. It was just a thumping sound, yet he broke out in goosebumps and felt an inexplicable reluctance to go upstairs.
"I see," Ruan Nan Zhu was very calm. "Then it's probably Zo-chan up there jumping."
Xia Rui Bei: "..."
Seeing Ruan Nan Zhu's composure, Li Dongyuan laughed. "Aren't you scared?"
Ruan Nan Zhu had been asked this countless times before. Just as Lin Qiu Shi thought he would give his usual cold reply, this drama queen suddenly grabbed Lin Qiu Shi's arm and said coquettishly, "Of course I'm scared! Linlin-ge, I'm so frightened!"
Lin Qiu Shi: "..." Isn't it too late for you to be acting now?
"I'm so frightened I can't even walk. Linlin-ge has to kiss me before I can go on," Ruan Nan Zhu said.
Hearing this, Xia Rui Bei's expression twisted. Lin Qiu Shi felt that if she had anything in her hands right now, she would have already thrown it at Ruan Nan Zhu. Lacking any objects, she could only twist her face and force herself to endure it.
"Alright, I was joking," Ruan Nan Zhu quickly backed off, perhaps because Xia Rui Bei's expression was too twisted. "I think we shouldn't go up before we know what's happened. Let's go to the library first to check old newspapers and see if anything has happened at this school."
Lin Qiu Shi nodded. That made sense.
So ignoring the hair-raising thumping sound, the four left the old classroom building.
The old building was located very far from the other classroom buildings, with a huge sports field separating them. Lin wondered why the school had built a classroom building so inconveniently far away. Going to and from class here would be very troublesome.
The library was east of the old building. With classes still in session, it was empty inside without a single student.
Lin Qiu Shi had thought the library would be quite big, but was surprised to find it was only one story. High school libraries were clearly much smaller than university ones, since high schoolers spent most of their time studying for exams rather than leisure reading.
An elderly female teacher was the librarian on duty. When Lin's group came in, she simply had them sign in a book and paid them no further attention.
They quickly found where the old newspapers were kept in the library. They had all been compiled and bound into thick volumes.
"Start looking," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Since we were called here recently, something must have happened recently. Slowly flip back through time."
Lin Qiu Shi nodded and began flipping through the papers.
Sure enough, something had happened at the school recently, right in that old classroom building.
Three students in Class 2 of Senior Year 3 had died in the classroom. Their deaths were miserable, with unknown causes. The only commonality was that one foot had been chopped off each corpse, and the severed limbs had yet to be found.
"Class 2 of Senior Year 3 would be on the fourth or fifth floor," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "The sound we heard could also be from them."
Lin Qiu Shi kept reading the newspapers. He discovered the school really had been plagued by all kinds of accidents and misfortunes lately, with most incidents occurring inside school grounds. No wonder the school wanted to renovate - although the building was called "old," it hadn't actually been around that many years before falling into disuse. It was a huge waste.
"When was the building constructed?" Ruan Nan Zhu flipped to a page. "Seven years ago...but it seems like things only started happening recently."
Li Dongyuan: "Can you find news about a car accident?"
Lin Qiu Shi shook his head. "The scope is too broad."
"I'll go ask," Ruan Nan Zhu got up and headed outside, apparently to chat with the librarian. After he left, Xia Rui Bei whispered to Li Dongyuan, saying she was so scared about what that Zo-chan thing was and if they'd have to return to the old building.
"Based on past experience, places like that are bound to have either a key or an exit. So we'll naturally have to go back," Li Dongyuan answered without any sympathy, despite Xia Rui Bei's show of weakness. "If you're scared, you can just stay in the dorm."
Xia Rui Bei thought about the creepy old dorm and kept silent.
When Ruan Nan Zhu returned after a while, he had uncovered some important clues. "Three years ago there was indeed a car accident at school. A first-year girl student died. It happened in winter, but I don't know the name yet. But she was a girl."
Li Dongyuan: "Which class was she in?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "She must have had some connection with Class 2 Senior Year 3, since their students died. And that batch would have entered the school three years ago." He tapped the table. "If we can get a roster of that class, it'd be good."
Li Dongyuan said, "The school archives must have those records. Getting them is the issue."
Lin Qiu Shi had thought Ruan Nan Zhu would suggest sneaking in at night, but unexpectedly Ruan looked out the window and said, "It's getting late. Let's end for today after dinner and rest early tonight."
Surprisingly, Li Dongyuan agreed.
So the four went to eat a simple dinner at the cafeteria, then returned to their dorm.
Only the lights of their three rooms on the floor were on, with darkness everywhere else without even a corridor lamp. Lin Qiu Shi took out his phone to use as a flashlight.
After simple washing up, they each got into bed. Lin took the lower bunk under Ruan, while Xia Rui Bei took the top bunk over Li Dongyuan.
"Do you think anyone will die tonight?" Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly asked, seemingly a bit bored.
"Yes," Li Dongyuan said.
"I guess someone will too," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "How many do you think?"
Li Dongyuan: "Two people."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Linlin, what do you think?"
Lin Qiu Shi was secretly playing Connect on his phone and didn't really hear Ruan Nan Zhu. "Ah?" he asked.
Ruan Nan Zhu leaned out from the top bunk, sounding aggrieved. "All you do is play Connect. You don't care about me at all."
Lin Qiu Shi: "No...I wasn't..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Then what were we just talking about?"
Lin Qiu Shi: "..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Hmph, men."
Lin Qiu Shi was torn between laughter and tears.
But Ruan Nan Zhu was just joking around. He didn't actually blame Lin Qiu Shi. They chatted for a while and then turned off the lights to sleep.
Before falling asleep, Lin Qiu Shi secretly hoped he wouldn't wake up to any weird sounds in the middle of the night. He really didn't want to see those things again.
...
Wu Xuelin lay in bed, angry when he thought about what had happened during the day.
He had teamed up with two others and moved into a dorm room together. But they had just settled in when they discovered a pile of red talismans inside the room, stuck behind cabinets and under mattresses, creepy and terrifying.
Upon seeing these talismans, Wu Xuelin's first reaction was to tear them all down.
But his companions disagreed.
"What if they're ghost-suppressing talismans?" they said. "Wouldn't we be doomed if you tear them down?"
Wu Xuelin scorned this notion. "Then what if they're for summoning ghosts?" He directly ripped all the talismans off the bedboards and threw them in the trash can.
But his companions still stubbornly refused to tear them down.
This angered Wu Xuelin completely. He called the frightened female student with them to the next room. He firmly believed those talismans were no good and would definitely attract ghosts and monsters. So the first thing he did upon entering the new room was gather all the talismans inside and throw them away.
The girl with him was called Xiao Qin. She was now lying on the top bunk over him, though he didn't know if she was asleep yet.
Wu Xuelin felt restless. The sky was already very dark, yet he kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. His whole body felt chilled to the bone.
"Xiao Qin, aren't you cold?" Wu Xuelin asked softly.
There was no response from the top bunk. Xiao Qin seemed to be asleep already. After Wu Xuelin spoke, there was no reply from above. But soon, another strange sound came from his top bunk instead - thump, thump, thump - almost as if...someone was jumping on the bed.
"Xiao Qin?" Wu Xuelin grew afraid. He swallowed heavily. "Xiao Qin?"
"What was the last line?" Xiao Qin's voice suddenly rang out.
Wu Xuelin was confused. "What last line?"
Xiao Qin said, "The song lyrics you just read out."
Wu Xuelin: "...What?"
Xiao Qin: "The lyrics on that piece of paper."
It took Wu Xuelin a moment to recall what she meant. He picked up the crumpled piece of paper next to him. "The last line?" He checked the very end on the back: "My legs are gone, can I have yours?"
The instant he read those words out loud, Wu Xuelin suddenly felt something was wrong. How did Xiao Qin know these were song lyrics instead of something else? And his voice had been so soft when reading - how could she have possibly heard him? Unless...the one asking him questions wasn't Xiao Qin, but some other entity.
Wu Xuelin's expression froze as the thumping leaps from the top bunk grew louder, seemingly about to smash through the bed frame.
Too frightened to remain, Wu Xuelin tumbled off his bed towards the door. But when he reached the door, what he saw on the floor scared him stiff. Xiao Qin, who should have been lying on the top bunk, was now silently sprawled face-down on the ground, already dead. Her face was still twisted in extreme horror, eyes wide open. Most horrifyingly, her left leg had been cleanly severed off.
As Wu Xuelin's vision darkened, the thing using Xiao Qin's voice from the top bunk let out a sharp laugh and began repeating the song's last line: "My legs are gone, can I have yours? My legs are gone, can I have yours——"
"Ahhhhh!" Wu Xuelin screamed as he rushed for the door, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't get the lock open.
"Help, help!" Wu Xuelin's whole body shook as he heard the thumping approach from behind him. An icy pair of hands touched his shoulders, and intense pain shot out from his left leg. Collapsing to the ground, he saw a blood-drenched foot standing erect on the dark floor.
As his vision faded to black, the lyrics "My legs are gone, can I have yours" kept repeating endlessly in his mind.
Everything went still as Wu Xuelin lost consciousness.
...
It was a peaceful night.
Lin Qiu Shi slept until daylight poured in. As he yawned awake, he saw Ruan Nan Zhu was already up, sitting at bedside smiling at him.
"Good morning," Ruan Nan Zhu smiled.
"Good morning," Lin couldn't help blushing a little at the sight of such a pretty person greeting him brightly first thing in the morning. It was really a wonderful way to start the day.
Li Dongyuan squeezed over too. "Good morning, darling," he said to Ruan Nan Zhu.
Ruan gave him a look. "Morning."