Translator: CinderTL
The corridor was dimly lit, lined with doors on either side. They seemed poised to swing open at any moment, reaching out to drag someone inside.
A faint, indistinct sound drifted through the air.
"Did you hear that?" Shen Mengyun whispered.
Everyone had heard it, but no one answered. Every nerve in their bodies was stretched taut.
Drip.
Jiang Cheng frowned.
Now they could hear it clearly: the sound of dripping water.
Drip.
Drip.
It sounded like a leaky faucet or an old, broken pipe. Water slowly gathered at the rusty spout, coalescing into a single drop until its weight overwhelmed it, sending it plummeting to shatter on the concrete floor.
Yet everyone knew instinctively this was no ordinary leak.
They couldn't pinpoint the source of the dripping. The sound seemed to emanate from all directions.
Suddenly, lost in thought, Shen Mengyun bumped into Jiang Cheng. Gao Yan reacted quickly, preventing a chain reaction.
"What's wrong?" Gao Yan whispered, his voice tense. Under the relentless pressure, they were all on edge, jumping at shadows.
Shen Mengyun glanced at Jiang Cheng, who had been leading the way and had suddenly stopped.
Jiang Cheng kept the beam of his phone tightly focused. When he spotted the water stains, he knew the supernatural presence from the dormitory had found them.
"No way out," Jiang Cheng said, raising his phone. Shen Mengyun and Gao Yan stared wide-eyed. Ten meters ahead stood a gray concrete wall, like the bare walls of an unfinished building before plastering.
"No way out?" Gao Yan stammered, as if unable to believe his eyes. "How is this possible? It was perfectly fine when we came up here!"
With his experience, he shouldn't have panicked so easily, but this was only their first night. If things were this bad already, what would the coming days hold?
"Don't panic," Jiang Cheng said, studying the suddenly appearing wall. "If this path is blocked, we'll find another way."
Just moments ago, this had been the staircase they'd climbed. Taking a new route now would be far riskier.
Gao Yan regained his composure and reached out to stop Jiang Cheng from turning back. "Mr. Jiang, I don't think we should change routes. This is clearly a deliberate obstacle set by that thing, meant to force us onto other paths."
"Those other paths will only be more dangerous," Gao Yan said firmly, his gaze fixed on Jiang Cheng. After all, this wasn't the first time he'd encountered such a situation.
Jiang Cheng turned to Gao Yan, his expression inscrutable. After a moment, he asked, "So, what do you suggest?"
"We should go up and investigate," Gao Yan replied. "I suspect this might be a ghost wall—an illusion designed to trap us. We need to find a way to break through it."
Jiang Cheng nodded and clasped his hands respectfully. "Your reasoning is sound, Senior. Please, lead the way."
"Me?" Gao Yan asked in astonishment, his face practically screaming, Are you serious? You're really trusting me to go alone?
Following Gao Yan's gaze, Jiang Cheng noticed Shen Mengyun subtly avoid eye contact.
Jiang Cheng's suspicion of Gao Yan deepened. The suddenly appearing wall had a concrete texture, completely out of place compared to the surrounding plastered walls. If anything, it reminded Jiang Cheng of the walls inside the warehouse.
A bold hypothesis formed in Jiang Cheng's mind: Could it be that we're still inside the warehouse, never having left? Is this entire corridor just a ghost wall, an elaborate illusion?
Rushing forward to investigate without caution could prove disastrous. Gao Yan, with his supposed experience, should have seen through such a crude deception.
Two points.
Jiang Cheng's gaze swept across Gao Yan's slightly panicked face.
Either this guy is a Ghost in disguise, trying to lure us to our deaths, or he's genuinely terrified by the sight before him.
Either way, Jiang Cheng had good reason to keep his distance.
Seeing no one come to his aid, Gao Yan didn't dare venture forward alone. He stammered, "Maybe... maybe we should wait a bit longer. Let's think of another way."
"Listen," Shen Mengyun suddenly interrupted, turning toward the darkness behind them. "The sound of dripping water seems to be getting closer."
Jiang Cheng tilted his head to listen. After a moment, his expression changed.
Indeed, the faintness caused by distance was gradually fading. If the source of the sound had been thirty meters away before, it now seemed to be only twenty.
And Jiang Cheng was certain that the distance would continue to shrink with time.
Suddenly, a realization struck him. Why had he automatically associated the dripping sound with a faucet? There was something far more fitting!
The "person" who had followed them from the dormitory, lurking behind the shelves and spying on them!
The dripping sound was coming from her.
Gradually, a vivid image formed in Jiang Cheng's mind: a figure stood in an unseen darkness, completely drenched, its face obscured. Its arms hung limply at its sides, water dripping intermittently from its sodden sleeves.
Drip.
The next instant, a crisp dripping sound sliced through his thoughts like a sharp blade.
This time, the sound was closer, perhaps only ten meters away.
"Move!" Jiang Cheng abruptly changed direction. Fortunately, the Activity Center's layout was complex. In addition to the standard floors, there were even low-ceilinged passageways leading to intermediate levels wedged between the third and fourth floors.
Jiang Cheng's initial plan was to keep moving in as many different directions as possible, hoping to break free from the confines of the ghost wall.
"Mr. Jiang," Shen Mengyun called out from behind him. They had just descended a staircase and turned into another seemingly endless corridor. "Running blindly like this won't solve anything. We need to analyze what this thing's objective is first."
Gao Yan wore a strange expression. "It's been chasing us this whole time. What other purpose could it have? It wants to kill us."
"I mean, we should focus on figuring out who this ghost is," Shen Mengyun said, blurting out the word "ghost" in her urgency.
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng slowed his pace and turned to ask, "You suspect the ghost following us is Xiaoran?"
Shen Mengyun nodded quickly. "We all know a ghost's appearance and state are closely tied to how they looked and felt right before they died. Xiaoran was on the school's diving team, and this ghost leaves large puddles of water wherever it goes. Is that just a coincidence?"
"That makes sense," Jiang Cheng said, exhaling deeply as he studied Shen Mengyun's face. "Beauty, if you have a plan, spit it out now. I'm afraid if we wait any longer, we'll miss our chance."
"It's not much of a plan, really," Shen Mengyun replied. "But think about it: if she's been around this whole time, why is she only attacking us now?"
"Because we found a crucial clue," Gao Yan said, his brow furrowing.
"Let's assume that for now," Shen Mengyun replied, sounding equally puzzled. She suddenly lowered her voice. "Doesn't it strike you as odd? The ghost following us doesn't seem intent on killing us. It's more like it's constantly pressuring us, as if... as if we owe her something?"
"But we've never met before. What could we possibly owe her?" Gao Yan's confusion deepened, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that Shen Mengyun's words held a grain of truth.
Just then, they noticed Jiang Cheng stop. He reached into his pocket and slowly pulled out an object—a pair of swimming goggles!
"When did you grab those?!" Gao Yan exploded, glaring at Jiang Cheng as if he'd caught the culprit red-handed.
Jiang Cheng rubbed his nose sheepishly. "I just... snagged them casually. Don't overthink it."
(End of the Chapter)
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