Translator: Cinder Translations
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After leaving the dormitory, Yu Wen and her group headed toward the south side of the campus. Zhang Yinyin trailed behind, maintaining a not-too-close, not-too-far distance.
That area was desolate, and aside from a few girls doing morning exercises, they encountered no one else. The girls' gazes were odd, bypassing Yu Wen and Zhang Yinyin to fixate on Zhou Taifu, who was walking in the middle.
Their stares made Zhou Taifu feel uneasy.
"What... What do they want to do to me?" Zhou Taifu clutched the only vest he was wearing, his face pale as a sheet.
Fortunately, the girls just looked from a distance and didn't make any improper moves, much to Zhou Taifu's relief.
This world was too terrifying, Zhou Taifu thought, swallowing hard. If he were alone, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The road came to an end.
The group stopped in front of a tennis court, with a high, rusted fence surrounding it. Inside, there was no one.
The morning light shone down, and tiny particles floated in the air, carrying a damp smell, as if it had rained the night before.
The court was made of old concrete, with faint traces of white paint markings, now mostly faded. The tennis net was mostly gone, leaving just the bare poles.
Along one side of the fence, there were rows of bleachers, the plastic seats cracked and bleached from exposure to the elements.
Clearly, this tennis court had long been abandoned.
Zhou Taifu glanced at Yu Wen, confused as to why she had brought them here. Zhang Yinyin also seemed like she wanted to say something, but her expression turned strange when she noticed Yu Wen veering off onto a nearby path.
It was barely even a path, just a narrow, sandy trail, wide enough for only one person.
After a while, they looked up to find a building in front of them, almost identical to their dormitory.
Zhou Taifu stared at the building and gulped. Unlike their dormitory, this one wasn't abandoned. Some windows had flowerpots with plants in them, while others had clothes or even wash basins hanging by the windows.
There were still people living here.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
The layout of the building was identical to their dormitory, and Yu Wen easily found the room she was looking for and knocked on the door.
The knock echoed, a hollow sound, with the distinctive feel of a bygone era.
"Creak—"
The old door hinges screeched, like an old man on his last legs, contrasting sharply with the young face that appeared behind it.
The woman stared at them for a moment, seemingly flustered. "It's you?"
Yu Wen smiled, "Sorry to bother you, Teacher Feng."
It was the same woman responsible for organizing the choir rehearsal.
The woman hesitated for a moment, still blocking the doorway, unsure whether she should let them in.
"Teacher Feng," Yu Wen pointed inside the room, "May we come in for a moment?"
"This..." The woman looked conflicted.
"Thank you." Yu Wen nodded and walked in without waiting for an invitation.
The woman instinctively moved aside. Zhang Yinyin followed, and Zhou Taifu was the last to enter.
Zhou Taifu looked around. The room's layout was just like their dorm, but it seemed like the woman lived here alone, as there was only a single bed. The rest of the room was filled with the woman's personal belongings, including a clothes hanger with some intimate garments hanging on it, as if they'd been freshly washed, with wet patches still visible on the dark cement floor.
The woman sat on the bed, watching the three of them. Just as Yu Wen was about to speak, the woman cut her off. "I know what you're going to ask."
Zhou Taifu froze.
She lowered her voice, as if afraid of being overheard, "Did one of you... encounter something?"
"Please continue," Yu Wen didn't confirm or deny, simply nodding as she pulled out a notepad, ready to write.
But the woman seemed to sense something in Yu Wen's response and nervously asked, "Is that person... okay?"
Yu Wen thought for a moment. His jaw was gone, so "okay" wasn't quite right. But to avoid alarming the woman, she nodded, "Their emotions are stable for now."
"Wow, they're really lucky," the woman muttered, pulling her clothes tighter around herself as though warding off fear.
After a long pause, the woman looked at Yu Wen, speaking cautiously, "Yesterday after the rehearsal, when I saw how flustered you all were, I suspected that you might have encountered... that kind of thing."
"The truth is, many teachers here have experienced such things..."
Her voice suddenly became quieter.
Yu Wen looked up from her notebook, her expression calm. "Does that include you, Teacher Feng?"
The woman shuddered slightly but finally nodded, taking a long time to answer. "Yes, it happened during my first year at this school."
"One day, like the other teachers, I left the office after work. Since I wasn't a local, I had applied for a dormitory at the school and usually ate at the cafeteria. But that day, after eating, I returned to my dorm and realized I had left my keys in my office drawer."
"I was very anxious because it was already getting dark."
At this point, she paused to explain, "Our school has an unwritten rule: try not to wander the campus after dark, especially near Building C of the academic block."
"But..." The woman's face darkened, "My office was in Building C."
Hearing this, Zhou Taifu couldn't help but swallow.
"I was new at the time," the woman continued, "and though I'd heard of this rule, I didn't know why."
"I was curious and asked some of the more experienced teachers, but they all clammed up. They just told me it was a rule of the school and had to be followed."
"But you still went back for the key," Yu Wen said softly, watching the woman's eyes.
"Yes," the woman sighed. She turned her face toward the window, as if unwilling for anyone to see her eyes.
"By the time I reached Building C, it was already completely dark," she whispered. "And so was the building."
"It was pitch-black, like you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. There was no light at all, not even blending with the surrounding night. It felt like the building was swallowing the darkness."
"Do you understand that feeling?"
The woman's gaze locked onto Yu Wen's eyes, suddenly agitated. "That building... that building was alive! It had a life of its own. It was... waiting for me to walk into its trap!"
"Please calm down," Yu Wen remained unaffected by the woman's rising emotion, speaking gently, "It's daytime now, and you're not in Building C. You're safe."
"Phew—"
After a long while, the woman seemed to shake herself free from her memories. She nodded, her lips pressed tightly together.
(End of the Chapter)
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