Free Web NovelChapter 176: Chapter 176: Series of Eerie Events
(Another Alliance Hierarch has joined our book; thank you to the book friend Gulu Gulu Fat for the reward. The six Alliance Hierarchs, feel free to join the book friend group, ha~)
Since Bai Wu was to spend the night at Baichuan Middle School, the first thing he did—was to clean the bedding.
The school provided cleaning supplies. After the mysterious disappearance of several students from room 403, rooms 403 and 405 were no longer occupied.
It was the same on every floor.
Because the students living in 403 and 405 of the other buildings couldn’t stand it anymore, they brought all sorts of amulets and charms to ward off evil, but they couldn’t withstand their inner fears.
Once people start to fear, they become superstitious. There is a saying that ghosts and gods dwell in people’s doubts. The more you believe in something, the more likely you will encounter it.
Later on, the rules of Baichuan Middle School became even more twisted. Rooms 403 and 405 were the first to be eroded by some strange force and became part of the scene.
It was like the scenes Bai Wu had experienced before, where things inside seemed to have stopped undergoing normal time changes.
Soap, detergent, sponge brushes—they all had the look of several centuries ago. This place was not like the Manor; there were no luxurious large soft beds, Bai Wu just wanted to sleep a bit more comfortably, or to be precise, to lie down more comfortably.
His telekinetic perception seemed to be blocked. Bai Wu could not sense how many Evil Fallen were in the entire dormitory area, but he could hear many footsteps.
His original plan was to tidy up bed number four and then lie on the bed, quietly listening to the nighttime dorm activities of the Evil Fallen.
These Evil Fallen were semi-intelligent beings, capable of conversing with humans, but their thought processes differed from intelligent species like Hong Yin; their behavioral logic had significant flaws.
Just minutes ago, an Evil Fallen, out of fear, quickened its pace and hurried past Bai Wu’s room 403.
They had become Evil Fallen, but they were still students who had not been able to graduate for seven hundred years.
In this school, they feared the teachers. If they broke the school rules, they would be beaten by the teachers until bruised all over; but the teachers also feared those hot-blooded Evil Fallen on the east side who wanted to dominate Baichuan.
They needed to complete exams. If they failed, they would be held back. Being held back was terrifying—a powerful level six Evil Fallen could regress to a level four mutant; in this school, becoming weaker was a sad affair.
They also needed to go to the cafeteria to eat disgusting food, needed to do homework, and needed to participate in various bizarre physical activities.
The rules of this school were far more complex than Bai Wu had imagined, but at that moment, he was only holding his breath, concentrating on the noises outside the door.
There was an Evil Fallen right outside the door. Bai Wu could feel it pressing its ear against the door. He could hear faint noises, like nails scratching against the door.
"The dozen or so Evil Fallen before walked away quickly, but this one isn’t... Could it be security or dorm management?"
"Or maybe, this Evil Fallen is waiting for something?"
Black mist seeped in through the crack of the door. Bai Wu frowned because he hadn’t finished cleaning yet.
He hated doing cleaning work only to be interrupted midway.
Bai Wu didn’t open the door. This black mist seemed like a probing hand, exploring the room’s environment.
He skillfully avoided the black mist, as if playing hide and seek with the person controlling the mist outside the door.
Soon Bai Wu was cornered in the bathroom. There was a full-length mirror in the bathroom. Leaning against the mirror, he thought he would be touched by the black mist, but ultimately... the mist did not invade the bathroom.
After a long while, there were no more footsteps outside, but it seemed as if the Evil Fallen had already left.
Bai Wu looked at the mirror but didn’t notice anything unusual—at least, it was nothing like what Lin Wurou would later describe about the mirror in the manor, where the reflection of the person did not match their own movements.
The full-length mirror appeared quite ordinary. Bai Wu regarded it thoughtfully.
[In all ghost stories, mirrors are portals to other worlds. This could be one too, but you might have to wait.]
"Is there something wrong with this mirror? However, I can’t see anything. Presumably smashing it with a fist wouldn’t help either,"
Bai Wu didn’t linger in front of the mirror for long. He quickly left.
But soon after Bai Wu had gone, the scene in the mirror changed.
A blurry outline was gently touching the surface of the mirror with a hand, no sound to be heard, the person’s face unclear.
It was as if the scene reflected in the mirror were completely normal. Yet from the slight distortion at the outline, one could vaguely make out—there was a person hiding inside the mirror.
For the next dozen minutes, no Evil Fallen passed by. Bai Wu started to tidy up his bed again.
While dusting off the bed frame, he found some information.
On the inside of the bedrail, installed to prevent students from falling out, Bai Wu found a hole.
In his former life investigating a student’s disappearance, he had visited some schools and found similar holes.
Most of the school beds have steel tube frames that are hollow inside. Some students would figure out how to make an opening because that way, they could toss in cigarette butts while smoking.
Bai Wu didn’t smell anything; he only found a note.
"This is a bit different from the death-seeking humans I had in mind—good habits."
The content of the note was similar to what he’d seen on the first floor, but this time the reckless acts listed were completely different.
Bai Wu began to read:
"The school’s strange incidents are increasing. It’s hard to imagine that the guys on the fourth floor have started scattering rice grains, and some even pretend to draw talismans. The entire four-story dormitory seems to be haunted, but the only ones who heard noises at night are us."
"We want to apply for a change of dormitory. The teachers agreed too. Everyone is trying to get through this rough patch, but paranormal events are on the rise."
"Yesterday at four in the morning, because I was too scared to sleep, I saw Chang Yuan get out of bed to go to the bathroom. It was about thirty seconds before the footsteps stopped, and he hurried back to the bed. He moved so fast it was startling."
"I was scared too, afraid to get out of bed to pee. I wanted to ask Chang Yuan what was wrong. I whispered a couple of questions, but Chang Yuan seemed to be sleeping so soundly he didn’t respond to me."
"Just when I was about to get out of bed, I heard the sound of the toilet flushing, and Chang Yuan came out trembling, cursing, complaining about how cold the weather was."
"I felt my mind go blank—is this Chang Yuan? If he is Chang Yuan, then who was that person moving quickly to Chang Yuan’s bed just now? I watched Chang Yuan pull back the blanket, lie down on the bed, and soon he was snoring loudly, as if countless ants were crawling out from my pores. I was so scared that I gritted my teeth wanting to tell Chang Yuan, but I didn’t dare to speak."
"I didn’t see wrong... there was indeed someone on Chang Yuan’s bed. But when Chang Yuan lay down, that person disappeared. Was it Chang Yuan who disappeared? Or someone else... Exactly who is being haunted by ghosts—him or me?"
There was no follow-up, the handwriting on the note very neat.
Originally, Bai Wu had guessed that this must have been written by the owner of the bed the next day. But now he was not so sure.
He could feel the child’s fear between the lines. In such a situation, anyone would probably think of supernatural events.
But this also gave Bai Wu a clue.
"It seems that the bed opposite belongs to Chang Yuan; let me see what he left behind before he disappeared."
Not a single person from dorm rooms 403 and 405 was an exception; they all became 404.
It was as if there truly existed a room 404, which opened at 4:04 in the morning, and then sucked in the students living nearby.
"This world already has Evil Fallen and many strange rules, let’s not have ghosts mix into this."
Bai Wu began to search bed number three; he had originally planned to wait on bed number four until the early hours, but since there might be clues hidden in this dormitory, it was better to investigate first to see what supernatural occurrences might happen.
And indeed, he made a discovery.
Once again, he found a note inside the battery compartment of the computer mouse under the third bed.
"In shoes, in the holes of bed frames, in the battery compartments of mice; wow, the boys in your school are all masters of hiding their private stash."
After opening the note, Bai Wu noticed two irregularities.
"Because I’m close with the thugs from the fourth class, I was called to the academic affairs office again. I thought they’d scold me for fighting with students from the first class, but this time it was strange. Mr. Liu didn’t ask me to call my parents, nor did he make me write a reflection, just chatted with me and told me not to be nervous about the upcoming exams and to focus on studying."
"That was the first time I saw Mr. Liu being so kind... he didn’t look at all like the Devil Liu others spoke of. He didn’t mention my mistakes at all, just casually chatted with me. He asked me what I wanted to do in the future and about my family situation."
"I’m the type who’s soft-hearted but not hard-headed. I’ve had a fierce look on my face since I was a kid, so everyone thinks I like to fight. It’s as if our appearance decides who we are. Damn it, if people were willing to befriend me, why would I go to the big shot of the fourth class?"
"I promised Mr. Liu that I wouldn’t get into fights anymore, and I admitted my faults, but Mr. Liu didn’t care at all. He even took out a cigarette and asked if I smoked. Mr. Liu was really weird, I remember the last time I was in the office, I got slapped hard twice."
"After leaving the academic affairs office, I secretly resolved to become a better person, I couldn’t continue to hang out with the bunch from the fourth class."
After finishing reading.
Bai Wu furrowed his brows, there was nothing apparently supernatural in this letter. But his instincts told him there was a huge problem in it.
"I found it strange by the second letter. The handwriting is neat; but because it’s so neat, it lacks personal style. That’s why I didn’t notice the difference. Now, it’s good to compare; the handwriting on all three letters is identical."
"This letter seems unproblematic at first glance, but the Mr. Liu mentioned inside has undergone a significant change in character."
Chang Yuan was no doubt someone with a fierce facade but actually wanted to integrate into the group.
This kind of student, naturally possessing a villainous face, resembles a certain bald actor who has played countless villains. If this person starts to display a kind and benevolent demeanor, most people would suspect ill intentions.
So gradually, Chang Yuan was isolated by others and forced to join the fourth class, which without a doubt was the worst and most notorious class in the school. It’s very likely the savage Evil Fallen who wanted to dominate Baichuan originated from the fourth class.
The most interesting part of deciphering mysteries is when you don’t even know the question at the start.
Right now, Bai Wu faced an incomplete question; if the question itself is incomplete, how to unravel the mystery?
But now he had a starting point. freēwebnovel.com
"The fourth class and Mr. Liu’s office, I must pay attention to both." freёwebnoѵel.com
Bai Wu started searching bed number two.
He had a premonition that he could find a similar note in bed number two, and that the handwriting would be the same as the previous three.
And indeed, in the gap between the bed frame and the cooling board, Bai Wu found a note.
"Is someone deliberately leaving clues?"
This trace of arrangement was too obvious, yet what was strange was that Bai Wu felt the content written was real.
"The person leaving clues might not have ill intentions, but how did they come to know these people’s experiences?"
Bai Wu opened the note.
"Today I followed a cat to the West District. Damn it! I really acted as if I was possessed! Strange things happened yesterday, and strange things happened again today, and a few days ago, I did poorly on the midterms and even got scolded by the class teacher!"
"Did I provoke something unclean? Otherwise, why would I be so unlucky? Last night, while looking in the mirror during my bath, I found that I wasn’t in the mirror. Then I called Jiang over, and he said that the mirror clearly showed me."
"It caused such a fuss that he thought I was trying to scare him, and I thought he was trying to scare me. We almost came to blows over it."
"Today was even more absurd. The tail of that Black Cat seemed to be smoking... black smoke. I’m not usually brave, nor am I curious about certain things, but today it was like I was cursed, and I ended up in the West District, that old manor... it’s the source of the curse, how could I have impulsively followed the cat!"
The note ended there.
Bai Wu quickly went to bed number one and found "Jiang’s" note, this time hidden inside a pen cap. Prayle’s Eye would offer some help, highlighting with a dramatically popping golden exclamation mark every time it scanned a location with information.
It gave Bai Wu the uncanny feeling of playing a Ubisoft game.
This note matched the previous one exactly.
"I knew this school was weird, but I didn’t realize it was this weird. Before, I thought the rumors about 403 and 405 being haunted were just the result of scaredy-cats. I live in 403 and watching them all be so cautious, aren’t they just scaring themselves?"
"But at night, I really encountered something wrong. Dong said there was no reflection of him in the mirror; I ran to the bathroom to check, and there he clearly was... He looked utterly terrified, and I originally thought he was joking with me, leading to an argument."
"But then, at night while using the toilet, I realized I had misunderstood Dong."
"The mirror faced the bathroom door; I was the only one in the bathroom, and the door was closed, but in the mirror, I saw Dong. He looked at me in surprise, and I looked back at him in surprise."
"I didn’t tell anyone about this. I’m starting to believe that this school is really haunted, but I can’t leave. Because if the rumors of hauntings are true, those about people mysteriously disappearing after leaving school... must also be true."
He finished reading all four notes.
Bai Wu saw three kinds of supernatural phenomena—a cat with a smoking tail, related to a campus urban legend about the West District, referred to in these notes as the source of the curse.
Also, the bizarre mirrors, which Prayle’s Eye also indicated were problematic.
Finally, the eerie shadow that suddenly ran out of the toilet.
But aside from the cat with the tail emitting black smoke, perhaps the rest of the supernatural phenomena were of one kind.
Bai Wu stood in front of the mirror, waved his hand at his reflection, and the him in the mirror, with a smile, waved back.
"I hope tonight you won’t fail to appear."
