Drowned in his memory, he subconsciously struck a match. The small fire danced. The wisp of smoke rose. The past surfaced in his heart. The broken, pained or fearful faces danced before his eyes. People with tattered clothes knelt before him helplessly. They cried and begged the man before them to let them live.
Zhou Taifu enjoyed this feeling. He was like God, holding the fate of the humans beneath him. He was propped up on the pedestal by the lowly humans who could only prostrate before him. The next second, there was a pop, and then, the lifeless bodies slumped to the ground. The sound was so melodious.
Zhou Taifu’s eyes narrowed, and he started to cough violently. The images of his memory cracked and then shattered. He stared at the lit cigarette in his mind. His eyes twitched involuntarily. The familiar scent pulled at his nostrils…
No, it was Death Grass! The cigarette was mixed with Death Grass! However, he was not in the rainforest… How could this be?
While he was in extreme fear, there was a light from the corner of his eyes. It was near the wall. He seemed to be drawn towards it. He took deliberate steps towards it. He knelt down and realised it was a wrinkled piece of wallpaper. Due to the moisture, the corner of the wallpaper curled up to reveal the reflective object underneath. He reached out to peel the wallpaper back further. There was… a giant mirror behind it. It was almost half his height. He couldn’t tell how wide the mirror was, but it was definitely wider than it was tall.
Due to the mist, the mirror was unclear. Zhou Taifu started at his blurry reflection and felt like he couldn’t recognise himself. In his panic, he moved his gaze away. At the corner of the mirror, a few notes were pasted. He stood up and pulled them down. There were words written on the back of the notes. They looked like the handwriting of a quiet and obedient girl. This was a girl’s diary. He didn’t know why the pages were pasted there.
Even though he hadn’t heard this name before, based on the clues in the diary, he managed to piece together part of the plot. Half of the puzzle… had been revealed.
Just as he was about to turn around and inform Xu Wen about the clues he had just found, he suddenly realised that the surroundings around him had become absolutely quiet. He instantly looked around. He saw only darkness. The light from Xu Wen’s phone was… gone. He looked at the door. The light from Feng Lan’s phone was gone as well. It was like he was the only living person left in the huge music classroom.
He didn’t call out either of their names. He knelt down and switched off the mini flashlight he had. He held his breath and melted into the darkness. He was sure that something must have happened. Chills came from his forehead. He couldn’t tell what had happened to Feng Lan, but there were only two reasons why Xu Wen had switched off the light on her phone.
First, she found a ghost close to her, and she shut off the light to hide herself.
Second, his heart winced. Perhaps… Xu Wen was already dead. Regardless, one thing was certain… the ghost must be close by.
The sudden creak numbed his scalp. The sound was extremely close. It couldn’t have been more than five metres from him. He resisted the fear in his heart. His eyes scanned the dark surroundings.
The sound… where did it come from?
He froze. He heard it clearly this time. The strange noise… came from behind him!
But… wasn’t it the mirror behind him?
He turned around slowly as if giving himself the time to prepare. His eyes bulged, and his face paled. Clearly, he was scared. Even though he was scared, he confirmed that the reflection in the mirror was himself. Just as he was about to sigh in relief, he glanced from the corner of his eyes and saw that there was a blurry shadow behind his reflection. The shadow was higher than he was.
The shadow swayed. This time, Zhou Taifu saw everything clearly. His eyes slowly widened until they almost fell out of his head. His mouth widened, but no sound came out. It was a dead body. It was strung by the neck, hanging from the ceiling!
She wore a pair of white ballet slippers, and she was en pointe.
A chilling wind appeared in the enclosed space, causing the corpse to sway. The noose made the familiar sound again.
After that, the music classroom returned to deafening silence.
The sky was already dark. The campus didn’t have many streetlights. Each light only covered a small area. Under a lamp, two figures ran side-by-side.
“Doctor,” Fatty asked with hesitation, “Do you think Li Yanwei can be trusted?”
Jiang Cheng replied instantly, “Not even a little bit.”
Fatty paused and looked at Jiang Cheng questioningly. He thought Jiang Cheng would say that she was partially believable. He didn’t expect him to deny her credibility so directly.
“Please start your performance,” Fatty urged sincerely.
Jiang Cheng rushed ahead as he wagged his four fingers, “Four points.”
“Wait!” Fatty called out. He searched his pockets and found a notebook and a pen. Then, he prepared everything and said, “Go ahead, Doctor.”
Jiang Cheng tutted at Fatty.
“First~” Jiang Cheng began dramatically. Fatty felt like Jiang Cheng enjoyed this role a little bit too much, “Ten years ago, Li Yanwei was just a student here. How could she help switch Chen Yao’s majors just like that? Is she the headmaster’s daughter?
“Secondly, as she said, the anniversary is highly important. The solo dance would be a highlight performance. Could a new student like Chen Yao demand to change the performance and get a new dance partner because she wanted to?”
Fatty listened as he wrote in the notebook. He didn’t quite get it, but he didn’t interrupt Jiang Cheng. He kept his questions for after class.