Translator: Cinder Translations
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Upon hearing this, Jiang Cheng's face suddenly became unnatural. He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes darting as if he was intentionally trying to hide something.
After a long pause…
"Hao Shuai," Zhen Jianren sneered, "Everyone's waiting for you!"
"You're not scared of the danger, are you?" Zhou Taifu stared at Jiang Cheng. Jiang's awkwardness made Zhou more convinced of his suspicions, and his voice grew louder, even a bit harsh. "You promised us!!"
At this moment, Yu Wen also spoke up. She stared at Jiang Cheng and slowly said, "Both of our groups have completed our tasks as agreed. Mr. Hao, you should keep your word."
Jiang Cheng's inner struggle finally seemed to reach a conclusion. He gritted his teeth and said, "Of course, I won't shirk what I promised. It's just…"
He turned his head and glanced at Zhen Jianren, and an unexpected look of pity flashed across his face.
"Sigh—!" He sighed deeply, shook his head slowly, and then his eyes started to turn red.
Everyone was confused.
The most confused of all was Zhen Jianren, since Jiang Cheng's final glance had been directed at him.
Zhen suddenly recalled that ominous feeling he had earlier.
Could it be coming true now?
"Why are you sighing while looking at me?" Zhen Jianren felt an increasing sense of unease.
Unexpectedly, Fatty also came over. First, he patted Jiang Cheng's shoulder as a gesture of comfort.
Then he slowly looked toward Zhen Jianren, his eyes filled with helplessness.
"Guardian brother," Fatty said in a sorrowful tone, "We weren't planning to tell you this, but since you've brought it up, we can't hide it anymore."
"You…" Fatty bit his lip, "You'd better prepare yourself mentally."
Zhen Jianren's unease magnified again, though he still managed to maintain an outward calm.
He didn't understand why Fatty was saying this.
And deep down, he didn't trust either Jiang Cheng or Fatty.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Zhen Jianren frowned and snapped coldly, "Spit it out. I'm not falling for your tricks."
Just as Fatty was about to blurt out everything Jiang Cheng had told him, a hand suddenly came over, covering Fatty's mouth.
"Let me say it," Jiang Cheng's face looked slightly better, but his tone remained mournful.
Zhang Yinyin stared at Jiang Cheng suspiciously, as if trying to see through the mask he was wearing.
"After breakfast, we went to the equipment center. The main door was wide open, and the yard was empty. The old man wasn't there, and neither was anyone else."
"So, we snuck in, hoping to find some clues while no one was around."
"We searched room after room, but found nothing but broken chairs and sports equipment like basketballs and volleyballs. Until…" Jiang paused and glanced around cautiously, lowering his voice. "Until we found that room."
Fatty immediately started trembling, and the whole table shook along with him.
With the stories from Yu Wen and Zhen Jianren still fresh in everyone's minds, the atmosphere turned even eerier.
"What… what kind of room?" Zhen Jianren asked in a low voice.
Jiang Cheng motioned for silence before continuing hesitantly, "That room was very well-hidden. We found it by pure accident."
His eyes grew distant, as if recalling the moment. "Or maybe we were led there by a feeling. When we got close to that room, we both felt a sudden, unexplainable sense of dread. Fatty and I both felt it."
Fatty's shaking intensified, and he added, "Yes, he's right. At that moment, it felt like my heart was being gripped tightly," as he clutched his chest with a solemn expression.
"We twisted and turned through the hallways until we reached the door to that room. The door had two thick chains locking it, old and rusty."
Yu Wen interjected, "Were they heavy iron chains? The kind that's thick and links together?"
Jiang Cheng nodded at her, "Yes, that's exactly what they were."
Yu Wen's expression shifted, but she said nothing more.
She suddenly remembered what Feng Lan had told her about—the chains that sealed the doors of Building C.
Could there be a connection between them?
Jiang Cheng continued, "The closer we got, the stronger that unsettling feeling became. We slowed our steps, not daring to make a sound."
His description was so vivid that it made everyone feel as though they were experiencing it themselves.
"Then we heard something inside. A sound that's impossible to describe."
"Huh?" Zhou Taifu tilted his head in surprise. "Was it a man and a woman?"
"No," Jiang Cheng explained, "It was just a woman. I saw her through the crack in the door."
"Or to be more accurate, it was a female student," Jiang Cheng continued. "She was wearing a school uniform, but it was tattered and very different from the uniforms now."
"Her hair was loose on both sides of her face, and she was hunched over in a strange, unsettling posture."
"We didn't dare go near her, so we hid behind the door and watched from a distance."
"After a while, when she finally left, moving in a very unnatural way, we saw that the reason she was bent over was because she was drawing something."
"A drawing?" Zhen Jianren frowned.
"To be more specific, a portrait," Jiang Cheng whispered, turning to Zhen Jianren with a strange look in his eyes. "And it was of someone."
"Of whom?"
"You should ask, of who," Jiang corrected.
Zhen Jianren blinked, not fully understanding Jiang's meaning, but still reluctantly asked, "Of who?"
Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. After a few seconds, he replied, "The person in the portrait… was you."
It was like a bomb had gone off. Everyone's eyes immediately fixed on Zhen Jianren.
Some were shocked, others confused, and some curious, while a few seemed to take a certain twisted satisfaction in his discomfort.
The array of expressions on their faces blurred together, but beneath it all, one feeling was clear—fear.
At that moment, fear was the purest emotion in the room.
In a dark, isolated room, a ghost was drawing a portrait of a living person.
Just the thought of it sent shivers down their spines.
"Could it be…" Zhou Taifu stammered, trembling as he looked at Zhen Jianren, "That he's the ghost's next target? Everyone the ghost paints… dies."
Yu Wen and Zhang Yinyin remained silent, watching coldly from the sidelines.
Zhen Jianren pressed his lips together, his face pale. He stared intently at Jiang Cheng. After a moment…
He suddenly laughed.
It was a laugh born from extreme restraint, one that he couldn't hold back any longer.
It started low but quickly grew louder and more exaggerated, to the point of being grating.
His eyes were full of mockery.
Yu Wen and Zhang Yinyin also realized what was happening. They turned cold gazes toward Jiang Cheng.
Fatty's heart sank.
Oh no.
The jig was up.
Just as Fatty panicked, Jiang Cheng calmly raised his right hand and, in a slow but determined voice, said—
"By the way, that ghost's right hand was twice the size of mine."
The laughter abruptly stopped.
(End of the Chapter)
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