It was still pitch black inside the door. This was exactly like her dream.
The crying suddenly ceased.
Fang Yuan felt a little dazed, doubting whether she was truly awake.
In Taoist terms, a person has three souls and seven spirits. If one is overly frightened and their souls and spirits become scattered, they experience all sorts of hallucinations. Could this be what she was experiencing now?
But just now, the girl's crying had been so clear and lasted so long. How could it be a hallucination?
Fang Yuan tiptoed inside.
Suddenly, she saw two cold blue lights appear next to the trash can in the corner of the bathroom, flickering in the darkness.
What was that?
Fang Yuan didn't retreat. Instead, she slowly walked in and turned on the light.
It was that black cat again!
The two blue lights were the black cat's eyes. It was now curled up on the ground, shivering, not knowing if it was from the cold or something else.
When did it get here? Wasn't it in the bedroom?
The black cat stared at Fang Yuan, opened its tiny mouth, and let out a low cry—a sound that sounded unbelievably like a girl crying!
I'd heard from the elderly before that some spiritual animals could mimic human voices. For example, owls mimic the cries of children and hedgehogs mimic the coughs of old people, but I'd never heard of a cat making the cries of a girl.
Or perhaps it wasn't a cat at all, but a girl?
Or perhaps it was a girl's soul possessing the cat's body, continuing its life?
There's a Taoist term called "taking over a body," meaning that the human body is merely a temporary dwelling for the soul, and that a body will eventually decay. Therefore, if the soul wants to have something to live on after the body decays, it must seize the undecayed body of someone else.
Could this cat be the girl who successfully "took over a body"?
If that were the case, many things could be explained, such as the cat's intelligence, its eyes, the timing of its appearance, the girl's crying...
But this was too unbelievable.
At least, Fang Yuan was just thinking about it; she couldn't believe it at all.
It wasn't that she didn't believe it, but that she couldn't believe it.
Thankfully, the bathroom was now brightly lit.
Fang Yuan could feel the light and heat radiating from the fluorescent lamps; at least that gave her some peace of mind.
People always fear the unknown. In darkness, vision, the most important sense and the one they rely on the most, fails. With everything around them unknown, how could one not be afraid?
She used to like trying to walk with her eyes closed. Even though the road ahead was flat and there was no danger, she still didn't dare to walk for too long. Even for two or three minutes, she couldn't sustain it.
Now, the black cat lay there quietly, its eyes gazing at her, causing Fang Yuan to panic.
She could feel the black cat calling her over. Was it deliberately imitating the girl's cries to lure her over?
Is this the sob of the wronged souls in Dormitory 441, as rumored throughout the medical school?
Fang Yuan approached the black cat cautiously.
She saw blood.
The black cat's body was stained with brown-red blood, some of it already clotted. Some of its fur had fallen off.
Fang Yuan bent down for a closer look.
The black cat licked her foot affectionately, its small pink tongue lolling out.
It turned out its leg was broken, apparently bitten off by something.
What had it been fighting with?
Why didn't Fang Yuan hear any fighting sounds?
How could a fight between black cats be silent?
Is it that the fight made no sound, or was there no fighting at all?
Generally speaking, dogs are the most common animals to fight with cats. However, there was no way there was a dog in Dormitory 441, or anywhere else in the entire girls' dormitory.
Unless—unless, the black cat was fighting something invisible to ordinary people!
Qin Yanping's words echoed again: "That thing seemed quite large, about the size of a volleyball. I stepped on it with one foot and didn't quite land firmly."
A ghost head?
Fang Yuan was startled by her own wild thoughts.
She shook her head vigorously, as if trying to clear all the clutter from her mind.
Then, she picked up the black cat.
The black cat was obedient, meowing a few times. This time, it meowed, as if expressing its joy.
Fang Yuan could sense the black cat's joy. She could even feel it burrowing into her arms, clinging to her relentlessly.
Did it recognize her as its master?
Fang Yuan returned to the hall, found a thin wooden board, applied some anti-inflammatory medicine to the cat's injured leg, then bandaged and clamped it.
Later, she tried several times to put the black cat down, but it stubbornly clung to her clothes with its claws, refusing to let go. Furthermore, it whimpered continuously, as if begging her.
Helplessly, she fell asleep holding the black cat. Fortunately, she didn't have Su Ya's mysophobia, and aside from some bloodstains, the black cat wasn't dirty at all; its fur was a shiny black.
That night, she slept terribly. She kept hearing someone whispering in her ear, half asleep and half awake. She couldn't make out the specifics.
A few times, she opened her eyes, but found nothing unusual. If there was anything unusual, it was the black cat's eyes. Its pupils were a light blue, and had changed from needle-shaped to oval. Moreover, it seemed unwilling to sleep, constantly staring at her with its eyes open.
Apart from that, nothing else happened.
After waking several times, Fang Yuan finally drifted off to sleep. This time, she slept soundly. She was truly exhausted.
The next morning, Fang Yuan was awakened by Qin Yanping's strange cries.
"Fang Yuan, why did you sleep with it in your arms?!"
Qin Yanping looked suspicious. Perhaps because it was daytime and Tao Bing'er was by her side, Qin Yanping wasn't as frightened as she had been the night before. Her complexion looked much brighter, as rosy as an apple.
Fang Yuan stretched lazily. "I saw it crying alone in the bathroom last night. I don't know what bit its leg off. I felt sorry for it, so I just brought it here."
"Just throw it away. We have enough troubles in our dorm, and you still want a cat? Besides, this cat always seems strange to me, and I'm a little scared of it."
Strangely enough, the black cat just then let out a fierce cry, as if warning Qin Yanping. Could it understand what she was saying?
Qin Yanping couldn't help but take a few steps back, keeping her distance from the black cat. Tao Bing'er also advised, "Fang Yuan, I'm not deliberately helping Qin Yanping. This cat is really weird, always glaring at us. I get dizzy just looking at it too much."
Fang Yuan laughed. "No way, how could I not notice? Besides, it's so pitiful, and its leg is broken. Wouldn't throwing it away indirectly kill it? After all, it's a living being. How about this? Let's wait until its leg heals and it can find food on its own, then throw it away, okay?"
Qin Yanping and the others didn't say much. After all, abandoning it and letting it starve to death while injured was indeed a bit cruel.
Su Ya walked over with a sullen face. "Fang Yuan, I don't care how you adopt it. Just keep a close eye on it. It can't touch my things, or I'll throw it out the window."
With that, she turned and walked out, not caring whether Fang Yuan agreed or not. It was obvious that she hated the black cat.
Xu Zhaodi smoothed things over, "Let's just decide. Once the cat's leg heals, we'll release it into the wild."
That was all that remained. Tao Bing'er pulled Fang Yuan out of bed, preparing to go out for breakfast.
Ten minutes later, Fang Yuan finished washing up, and the four of them were about to leave when the door opened and their homeroom teacher, Qin Yue, arrived unexpectedly.
"What's wrong? You just got up, you lazy bums! Did you have a good rest yesterday?" Qin Yue asked with a smile.
"Hello, Teacher Qin!" the girls greeted her.
"Hey, you're going to breakfast together, right? Fang Yuan, you stay. I have something to talk to you about. The others go first, we'll be there soon."
They agreed to meet them at a breakfast shop near the medical school entrance, and the other three went ahead.
Fang Yuan welcomed Qin Yue into the bedroom. "Teacher Qin, what can I do for you?"
Qin Yue waited until the girls left before speaking. "Didn't you ask me yesterday to help investigate Cheng Li's suicide?"
"Yes."
"I've thought about it. The best way to get to the bottom of that matter is to interview witnesses. Although Xu Yan didn't see Cheng Li commit suicide, she was the closest person to the incident."
"Teacher, do you mean to ask Xu Yan about the situation? But she's crazy..."
Qin Yue smiled. "Mental illness isn't a terminal illness. It can be cured. Xu Yan It's all right now. The school, considering her unique situation, has specially reassigned her major so she can continue studying."
"So, should we go find her?"
"Yes, that's what I mean. I found out she was in Pharmacology Class 2, 2005, and changed her name to Xu Yu. If you have a chance, you can go find her. If not, I'll intervene. But remember, Xu Yan's name change must be kept secret. Don't tell them, to avoid causing unnecessary panic."
"Okay, I understand."
Fang Yuan understood the medical school's approach. After all, finding a way out wasn't easy for rural students. She worried about whether it was right to go find Xu Yan and investigate what happened in Girls' Dormitory 441 a year ago.
Fang Yuan had a vague feeling that a storm was brewing, and she was inevitably caught up in it. However, she hadn't anticipated how horrific the situation would become, and how everyone caught up in it would be caught up in it.