Translator: Cinder Translations
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"It was raining that night," the woman said. "The rain was heavy. I had an umbrella, but half of my body still got soaked."
"But when I closed my umbrella and rushed to the entrance of Building C, I found that the door was locked with two thick iron chains."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Taifu's face changed slightly. He turned his head as if to say something to Yu Wen, but she didn't even glance at him.
"I was very anxious at that time. Since I had just arrived here, I didn't have close friends yet, and I felt embarrassed to ask other teachers if I could stay over."
"Maybe out of desperation, I went up and pushed the door, thinking that maybe the security guards had forgotten to lock it."
At this point, the woman's expression suddenly became strange.
Yu Wen paused and looked at the woman with a neutral face, calmly saying, "It seems the 'what if' really happened."
After a while, the woman nodded. "Yes, both locks were open, as if someone deliberately left them there just for show."
"But at the time, I was only focused on retrieving my keys and not troubling anyone else. I didn't think too much about it and hurriedly headed to my office."
"Which floor was your office on?" Yu Wen asked, looking up.
"The third floor," the woman added, "Room 304."
Yu Wen wrote it down in her notebook, thinking it might be crucial information.
"The entire building was eerily quiet, and all the classrooms were pitch black. Only a few emergency lights faintly illuminated the far end of the hallway, which gave me chills."
Zhou Taifu listened intently, immersing himself in the eerie rainy night as the woman recounted the creepy details, making him feel increasingly nervous.
"I had to turn on the flashlight on my phone and then rushed straight to the third floor, to my office door. After unlocking it, I immediately turned around and locked it again. I wasn't sure why—if I had to explain, I'd say it was just instinct."
Zhang Yinyin, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke up. "Did you notice something?"
"I... I don't know," the woman shook her head. "Even now, I still don't know what was going on. I just felt something was wrong. The sound... the sound..."
Yu Wen stopped writing, her expression finally changing as she stared at the woman.
"The sound?" Zhou Taifu, sitting between Yu Wen and Zhang Yinyin, asked nervously, "What... what sound?"
"Footsteps," the woman turned to look at Zhou Taifu and answered. "When I was running, the sound of footsteps echoed through the empty hallway because it was so quiet. It was very clear, but..." Her expression changed drastically. "But the footsteps didn't sound right!"
"Those weren't just my footsteps!" the woman exclaimed.
"Do you mean someone was following you?" Yu Wen frowned.
The woman shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't see anyone."
"Then how do you know the footsteps weren't right?" Zhang Yinyin interjected, her voice gentle and soothing, which, combined with her cute appearance, made her easily likable.
"Maybe it was just your fear playing tricks on you," she suggested. "In such an eerie situation, the atmosphere can amplify your anxiety. The other footsteps you heard could have been just an echo."
But the woman's next words made Zhang Yinyin's smile freeze.
"Impossible!" The woman raised her head abruptly, her eyes bloodshot. "I was wearing sneakers, but I distinctly heard the sound of high heels!"
Zhou Taifu was stunned for a few seconds before a chill ran down his spine.
"But after I locked the office door, all the sounds disappeared. I stayed still behind the door, not daring to move for what felt like ten minutes. It was completely silent outside. There was no sound at all."
"I turned on every light in the office. It was brightly lit."
"You ended up staying in the office overnight?" Yu Wen asked.
The woman slowly shook her head. "I thought about it, but I eventually gave up," she said, glancing out the window, her eyebrows twitching slightly.
"I couldn't. That building felt too strange. I didn't want to stay there a second longer."
"Once I found the key, I thought long and hard but decided to leave. I planned to use my phone's flashlight and make a run for it."
"But just as I gathered my courage and was about to open the door, the office phone suddenly rang."
"You can't imagine how scared I was. I almost passed out."
"After much hesitation, I finally moved toward the phone. Thankfully, I recognized the number—it was from the school's security office. They had seen the light on in Building C from a distance and, not knowing what was going on, called to check."
"I almost cried from relief. It was the first time I had felt so grateful for a phone call. After hearing what happened, they promised to come and get me, telling me to stay in the office and not wander around."
Hearing this, a fleeting unnatural expression crossed Yu Wen's face, but it quickly disappeared, unnoticed by the woman.
"What happened next?" Yu Wen asked.
"Not long after, I heard hurried footsteps—about three or four people coming closer. Then, someone knocked on the door."
"When I opened it and saw them, I felt like I had been brought back to life. I couldn't stop myself from crying."
"Leading them was a bald man, broad and muscular, who looked very tough. Behind him were two other men and a woman."
"They were all wearing security uniforms. As soon as they arrived, they scolded me for not following the school's rules."
"I didn't care about anything else at that point. I just kept apologizing to them. After all, I had made them come out in that kind of weather because of my mistake."
"I also begged them not to report me to the school. I had just started working there and didn't want to leave a bad impression on the leadership."
"They eventually stopped scolding me. The bald man, who had been the harshest at first, kept glancing at the dark hallway, as if he was on guard for something."
"I remember he had been the most furious earlier," the woman recalled. "He kept repeating things like 'Do you have a death wish?' He looked terrifying."
"Then they told me to pack up, and they would escort me out. But just as I was about to leave, I remembered that I had left my umbrella on my desk, so I turned back to get it."
At this point, the woman suddenly stopped, her expression turning strange as she stared at the others. Her face grew increasingly pale.
"I suddenly realized something," she said, her entire body beginning to tremble unnaturally, her pupils shrinking. The next words seemed to be forced out of her throat, bit by bit.
"They... they didn't have umbrellas or raincoats, and their clothes were completely dry, as if they had never been in the rain."
(End of the Chapter)
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