Ren Yifei couldn't catch his breath and 'fainted,' a gruesome fainting spell, his limbs twisted like those of a beaten spider. He closed his eyes, hearing screams and hurried footsteps all around him.
"Go and call the teacher!"
"What's the use of calling the teacher? Call the police!"
He lay on the cold ground for a while, the surrounding sounds receding into the distance, yet still numerous and varied. It was like lying under a large locust tree in the height of summer, closing his eyes, and the world belonging to the cicadas.
Among the onlookers, someone seemed to recognize the unfortunate Ren Yifei. He was lifted onto a stretcher and shakily taken to the school hospital.
"It's nothing serious, just a bit of a shock. He'll wake up and be able to go back soon. By the way, keep an eye on him tonight; if he doesn't have a fever, he should be fine."
The school doctor prescribed him some calming medication and then went about his business.
The two classmates who brought Ren Yifei were worried about him, so they asked the teacher for permission to stay and sat next to him, chatting quietly.
The two boys, Yang Hui and Wei He, were talking about the recent suicide incident.
News spreads incredibly fast among students, and the internet, especially the campus network, has exploded by now. Judging from what the two of them said, they were also on the campus network, receiving and spreading all sorts of gossip.
"This isn't the first one this semester; there was one last week."
"Did you know? Our school used to be a temple, and I heard that the temple was used to suppress mass graves. But the temple was abandoned and the school was built on this site."
From the very beginning of this ancestral legend, Ren Yifei, who was lying in bed seemingly asleep, immediately raised a big question mark in the conversation that was about to begin.
Through the conversation between the two classmates, he learned that an accidental death had occurred at the school last week. The official story was that the student, a third-year foreign language major, had slipped and fallen into Mingguang Lake after drinking too much.
The person who jumped this time was a freshman majoring in landscape design in the art department. According to his classmates, he came from a wealthy family, had a smooth romantic relationship, and hadn't failed any courses, so there seemed to be no reason for him to commit suicide. Therefore, people online are speculating that there are other secrets behind this suicide.
After the two had finished talking, Ren Yifei slowly turned around and looked at the white ceiling with some confusion: "Where is this... Ah!"
Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, he sat bolt upright, his face ashen and his lips trembling: "Someone...someone jumped off a building."
He seemed to recall what he had witnessed earlier, and began to gag, clutching his neck.
The two people accompanying him looked sympathetic. One went to call the doctor, while the other brought him water: "Here, have some water."
The doctor arrived quickly, examined Ren Yifei, and then gave his advice: "I suggest you rest for two days, listen to some soothing music, and eat something sweet, assuming you don't mind sweets."
"Okay, thank you, doctor." Ren Yifei forced a smile, but his expression still showed he was preoccupied.
The doctor gave him a leave certificate, and then a kind classmate offered to help him apply for leave. The leave application process at this school isn't very formal; you can usually just tell the teacher. Having a doctor's certificate makes it even easier to get leave.
"Thank you all." Ren Yifei was very grateful.
"Hey, we're all classmates, no need to be so polite."
The enthusiastic classmates escorted him all the way to the dormitory entrance. Ren Yifei was wondering why the two didn't come in when one of them answered his question directly: "It seems like you're the only one from our class living in this dormitory building. How does it feel to live with science and engineering students?"
"Hmm..." Ren Yifei smiled weakly.
"Go and get some rest. Don't worry about taking leave," the other person said.
After they left, Ren Yifei walked into the boys' dormitory building. It was the time when most students were getting up, so he could hear the sounds of students washing up in different rooms.
He pulled a key out of his pocket. The key had a cute little monster pendant hanging from it, and the key was covered with a piece of rubber with the number 503 written on it.
Take the stairs to the fifth floor, turn left and the third room is 503.
Upon opening the door, I found myself in a four-person room, but two of the beds were empty. Second-year students can choose to move out; the original dorm room was probably in the same situation.
The original owner's bed was on the left. There was a row of books about sculptures on the shelf, and several small plaster statues on the table, which showed that it was an art student's table.
Although it was a boys' dormitory, it was very clean, and there was no dirt in the grout lines of the marble floor.
On the original owner's bed, the quilt was folded into neat squares, with straight edges, a pleasing sight to behold. The items on the desk were also orderly, with pens and paper arranged in a specific order.
The original owner may have had some obsessive-compulsive disorder and germaphobia.
He walked over, put his backpack on the chair, and then took out the contents.
The books were placed on the bookshelf. The original owner's bookshelf was arranged by type, and within the same type, by height and width. He looked at them and placed the book in his hand between "Museum" and "Classical Ceramics Art." The original owner didn't have any other books on architecture.
He then took out his tools, organized them, and put them in the drawer.
He took out his power bank and plugged it in to charge. He hung his keys on a deer antler-shaped key holder, with his student ID card underneath. Finally, he hung his almost empty backpack on the hook under his desk.
The original owner was a meticulous person with slight obsessive-compulsive disorder; whether or not anyone was watching, this was his performance time.
Then Ren Yifei opened the wardrobe. Inside, on one side, was a soft mirror that clearly reflected his entire body.
He was a rather thin and delicate-looking boy, wearing a white T-shirt underneath a plaid shirt and casual pants. He had very fair skin and some bluish discoloration under his eyes, making him look like a cultivator who lived a life of unhealthy sleep.
"You're back?" A voice suddenly came from the bed opposite, which was covered by a yurt tent. Ren Yifei tightened his grip on the wardrobe.
"Hmm," he replied, lowering his head. A young male voice, probably his roommate, not in the same major... Hmm? Strange, why didn't he look at this person's desktop just now, but instead ignored it?
Ren Yifei sensed something was amiss. Something was blocking his senses; he hadn't even considered looking at the other person's desktop.
He didn't look at the people behind him; instead, he looked at the wardrobe.
Below the wardrobe is a double-layered shoe cabinet, which holds white sneakers, athletic shoes, casual shoes, and slippers.
He didn't see slippers or a shoe rack at the door, nor did he see shoes under the desk, so he guessed that the original owner would put the shoes in the closet, and sure enough, that was the case.
Ren Yifei sat down to change his shoes. He glanced at the opposite side as if by accident and noticed that there was a yurt-like tent on the bed, which was opaque.
He could vaguely see a shadow inside, but he only glanced at it before looking away.
He changed into slippers, then took his casual shoes from before to the balcony and left them there to air out.
When Ren Yifei returned to the room, the person on the bed had already gotten off and was standing by the ladder. His permed medium-length curly hair was plastered to his pale face. He was very tall and had dark eyes.
Ren Yifei noticed that the tent of his yurt was pulled up again, completely sealed.
The strange roommate looked at Ren Yifei with a blank expression.
After hesitating for a moment, Ren Yifei asked, "Is there something you need?"
"It's nothing." He turned around, sat down in his seat, turned on his computer, and soon the game sound came on through the speakers.
The intense electronic sounds combined with the sound of this person typing on the keyboard made me feel like there was a gun whirring in my head.
Judging from his posture, he seems quite skilled, as if it's second nature.
The original owner was a sensitive and weak person. He probably didn't have a high tolerance for this kind of stimulating music, but he wouldn't easily suggest that his roommate turn the volume down to accommodate him.
Ren Yifei found a pair of unopened earplugs on the bookshelf, which confirmed his guess.
The only strange thing is why it's unopened?
If it were a trade-in or a replacement earbud, there should at least be an old one on top. However, there isn't; there's only a brand new, unopened earbud.
Ren Yifei held the earphone case thoughtfully.
Another strange thing is that when I first entered the room, I didn't sense any sign of life. But after this person spoke, I immediately felt the real sense that there was another person in the room.
Is it because the aftereffects of his soul leaving his body this morning are still lingering, and we've overlooked them?
Ren Yifei settled into his seat, turned on his laptop, and wanted to see what had happened that morning. He thought he could tolerate the frenetic music, but he couldn't.
With the amplified hearing amplification, the noise had reached a point where it could be used as a torture device. Ren Yifei took out his earplugs, put them on, and the world instantly became much quieter.
The topic was being discussed on both the campus network and in their own class groups. They were in class right now, but that didn't stop them from idly scrolling through their phones.
The suicide occurred in their art building, and a pool of dark red blood remained at the entrance where people used to come and go. This close proximity seemed to have aroused the students' intense curiosity.
Liu Qi, landscape design major in the art department... A pale hand reached onto his desk, and the surrounding light seemed to be blocked out.
Ren Yifei was taken aback. Through the reflected light from the computer screen, he saw a blurry shadow peering over, seemingly looking at him through the screen.
Goosebumps instantly rose on his skin.
Few things could truly evoke a physiological response in Ren Yifei, but in this instant, he felt as if he were being targeted by a snake poised to bite. Those emotionless eyes stared indifferently at their prey.
This feeling was only fleeting. When Ren Yifei turned around, he realized that this was just an ordinary roommate.
"What's wrong?" Ren Yifei took off his earplugs, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Someone is knocking on the door," he said.
"..." If you hear a knock on the door, can't you just open it yourself?
Ren Yifei stood up to open the door. Sure enough, there was someone there—a middle-aged man wearing a traditional Chinese jacket and with his half-gray hair neatly combed back. Standing next to him was an older woman, the dormitory manager he had seen downstairs.
He glanced at Ren Yifei and said, "Inspection of prohibited electrical appliances." With that, the man pushed open the door and went inside.
Ren Yifei couldn't confirm the man's identity, but he didn't refuse; he simply stood aside and watched. The man claimed to be inspecting illegal electrical appliances, but he just glanced around, circled the area, and then came out.
"Nothing has been found yet, but if you see anything unusual, you can report it to the school."
"Okay." Ren Yifei nodded blankly, looking rather silly.
After seeing the two people off, he sat down again and continued scrolling through his phone, but this time he didn't put on his earphones.
In just half a day, he had already gathered more information than in previous games. But now was not the time to act; he needed more clues.
He was scrolling through his phone while also keeping an eye on his roommate.
Ren Yifei's eyes turned red, and at their most intense red, his world consisted only of energies of varying sizes. However, his roommate, whom he suspected, was composed of only normal human energy.
Is he just being paranoid?
Ren Yifei always trusted his intuition, and it rarely failed him. But today, he clearly sensed that his roommate was a dangerous person, possibly connected to the main storyline of this instance, but after checking, he found out he was just an ordinary human.
He blinked, and his eyes returned to normal, but he still focused on the person on the computer screen.
He stuck to his judgment: this person must have a problem.
However, the person didn't turn around until lunchtime. Their motionless back could be seen reflected in the computer screen.
It was lunchtime, so Ren Yifei put his laptop in its protective case and then stuffed it into his backpack. His backpack was big enough to fit the entire laptop inside.
Wear the shoes on the balcony again; put the slippers in the shoe cabinet.
He seemed to have some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder; he only felt comfortable when he saw a world arranged in a regular pattern. So Ren Yifei adjusted the angle of his shoes four or five times until the angle was exactly the same as the other shoes before he felt at ease.
Throughout this process, my roommate was playing games, wearing headphones, seemingly completely immersed in his own world.
Ren Yifei opened the door with his bag on his back. People walked by in the corridor outside, laughing and talking about where to eat.
He closed the door, and as it closed halfway, his roommate, who had been staring at the computer without moving, suddenly turned his head slowly. A pair of dark eyes on the person's expressionless face were looking at him.
Ren Yifei seemed frozen in place, his whole body stiff.
His roommate stretched out his hand and waved it from side to side, as if saying goodbye.
"Bang." The door slammed shut. Ren Yifei stood motionless in the doorway, looking up at the round hole above the door. Suddenly, he had a strange feeling t
hat it was an eye staring at him.