"Where did you see these pictographs? They're so obscure, it took me quite a while to find them." After Ren Yifei sent a thank you message, Yu Yan's father quickly sent a string of messages.
"These words have only appeared on a few special ceramic bricks so far. In fact, there are also disputes about this translation, with some people believing that 'Welcome, guest' is more accurate."
Yu Yan's father sent two pictures, which were two different ceramic bricks. The bricks were painted with two pictures in dark brown paint, and the pictures contained the characters sent by Ren Yifei.
What is drawn on it?
These two paintings are somewhat special. Although they are painted in a very abstract way, one of them can still be recognized as a mysterious entity like a high mountain. It is painted like a hermit crab, with a cone shape on top and something like tentacles or claws on the bottom.
On the other side of this mysterious being, there are other monsters, one that looks exactly like Archaeopteryx, and another that looks a bit like an egg.
"The giant creatures on these are all 'idols' created by the ancients in their awe of nature. These two pottery bricks are traces left by the ancients when they tried to understand natural phenomena that they could not understand with their own knowledge."
"For example, this monster shaped like a pagoda conch shell always appears with the ocean, so it is a symbol of the power of the sea. And this one, you can tell from its bird shape that it is a symbol of the power of the sky, and it dwells on the highest mountaintop."
"You can see a waterspout between the two monsters, so our understanding is that the ancients viewed waterspouts at sea as a meeting of the forces of the ocean and the sky. And this character, well, it's a dialogue between the two monsters..."
It's rare to find a student interested in such obscure archaeological knowledge, and once Yu Yan's father starts talking about his career, he can't stop.
"Um, Uncle, I have something to take care of here. Let's talk later."
Ren Yifei had to cruelly interrupt his reverie of the ancient past, because he still needed to continue searching for 'ghosts' so that he could end this instance as soon as possible.
"Alright, if you're interested in this topic, Uncle will continue to chat with you."
Ren Yifei turned off his phone and walked out of the pavilion with his schoolbag on his back.
His first stop in the search for clues was Saman's dormitory. Firstly, there were clues about Saman's disappearance there, and secondly, there were traces left by the 'ghost'—a double benefit.
Wearing camouflage glasses to minimize his presence, Ren Yifei made his way to Saman's dormitory.
In the boys' dormitory, the dormitory supervisor downstairs glanced at him and, seeing he was a boy, paid him no further attention. Ren Yifei successfully went upstairs and found the floor where Saman's dormitory was located.
There were very few residents on the floor where Saman lived, and Saman was the only one in their dormitory, so Ren Yifei didn't need to make up any excuses; he could just pick the lock with a wire and get in.
He closed the door and turned to look at the damaged dormitory room.
Outside light streamed through the glass windows and fell on the dormitory floor, casting shimmering dust motes in the light. After just one hour of inactivity, the dormitory had become eerily quiet, devoid of human presence.
He took a few plastic bags from a roadside convenience store out of his schoolbag, put a pair on his feet and a pair on his hands, and then walked inside.
The corpses left behind had long since disappeared, but Ren Yifei's paper butterfly remained, half on the ground and half on the chair.
Samantha's phone was still on the table, and the computer was still on, testifying to the suddenness of its owner's departure. Ren Yifei glanced at the chair; judging from the distance between the chair and the desk, Samantha had vanished while sitting in the chair, without even having time to stand up.
Who exactly is it? One of the top ten?
Ren Yifei walked carefully, step by step, trying not to bump into anything.
Aside from Saman's bed, the other beds were covered in a layer of dust, indicating they hadn't been slept on for at least six months. This provided the vice president with a very favorable environment, allowing him to do whatever he wanted without worrying about being suddenly disturbed by his roommates.
He first checked the other people's drawers, which contained unkempt charging cables, discarded odds and ends, used tissues, crumpled paper... basically just trash, of little use.
Ren Yifei opened the wardrobes again, where there were leftover clothes hangers and a few socks lying in the corner.
In fact, Saman should have already read all of these, so it's unlikely that Ren Yifei will be able to find any new clues. However, he still wants to give it a try.
"Have all of the vice president's roommates gone for internships?" Unable to find any useful clues in the wardrobe and drawers, he began to wonder if the vice president's roommates were still alive.
Putting yourself in the vice president's shoes, if he accidentally obtained a magical ritual method, shouldn't he have someone test it before actually putting it into practice?
The vice president is making such a big deal out of it, and he's so confident. It must be because he's very confident about this ritual. So, does he have any successful experience with it?
Ren Yifei's gaze shifted to Saman's newly purchased high-spec computer.
"What's his is mine, what's wrong with using it?"
He did the same thing as Saman, infiltrating the school's back office and finding out the vice president's three roommates.
All three roommates had applied for off-campus internships, and it seemed there were no problems. Ren Yifei thought for a while and checked the housing records from a year ago.
And what happened? Surprisingly, I actually had a roommate who dropped out of school, just the year before last.
The reason for taking a leave of absence is a sudden illness.
He found this person and accessed his social media account. The last message was from a year ago, mentioning that he couldn't stay up late anymore and was going to get a medical checkup.
Further along, most of the messages were about trivial matters in life, with a few mentioning nightmares or being late.
Ren Yifei dragged forward for about a month and saw a cosplay photo.
It appears to have been filmed at a comic convention. The roommate is dressed as an anime character and is making a peace sign at the camera. There are some familiar hieroglyphs painted on the back of his hand with henna dye, related to rituals.
Behind him stood a familiar vice president dressed as a priest, wearing a wig made of real hair and makeup, making it impossible to tell whether he was male or female.
Ren Yifei flipped through the pages and found that the comic convention lasted for three days, so they came for all three days. On the first day, the vice president was still wearing a synthetic wig, and his roommate didn't have a henna tattoo.
But on the third day, the wig turned into a real wig, and my roommate had some new tattoos.
"Tattoos?" He thought back carefully and realized that during the club's ritual that day, the performers also had various patterns painted on their bodies with colored paint.
Backstage at the school, there was still the student's phone number and emergency contact number. Ren Yifei coughed twice, imitating the vice president's accent. He adjusted it a few times, and when he felt it sounded good enough, he picked up Saman's phone and dialed the emergency contact number.
A moment later, the other end answered the phone: "Hello? Who is this?"
"Hello, are you Uncle X? I'm XXX's classmate..."
That roommate's situation is quite bad. He attempted suicide twice, and the last time something went wrong, he became deaf and couldn't hear anything.
Strangely enough, he seemed to have turned misfortune into blessing. He woke up from the nightmare and never thought about suicide again. Now he runs a pottery art museum in his hometown, and his pottery is very popular.
The roommate's father recounted the whole story with great emotion, thanking him for still caring about his former roommate. Ren Yifei acknowledged everything, offered a few more words of concern to the unfortunate roommate, and then hung up the phone.
The roommate's affair predates Xueming's. It was precisely because the evil spirit ritual succeeded on the roommate that the vice president secretly planned to pull off something big.
Yu Xueming is a freshman who enrolled last year; she had long hair in her enrollment photo from last year. This freshman was a tool chosen by the vice president from the very beginning.
The reason for choosing her might be that the vice president realized he lacked talent, and then he unexpectedly discovered Yu Xueming, a very insightful and talented young woman.
But was their relationship entirely one of exploitation and being exploited? Ren Yifei shook his head, thinking of the vice president washing the handkerchief folded on the shelf.
Perhaps it wasn't entirely about exploitation, but this sentiment couldn't outweigh the vice president's ambitious goals.
Ren Yifei carefully recalled Yu Xueming's relieved expression and last words before she died. He suddenly wondered, could someone as perceptive as Yu Xueming really not have realized that the vice president was using her?
Or perhaps, because she was so starved for love, even knowing she was being used, she still accepted it willingly? In the end, she even said, "I don't regret it," and didn't regret becoming a tool.
Finally, the cardigan covering Yu Xueming's face belonged to Yu Huijun. At the time, Ren Yifei was preoccupied with Saman's matter and didn't think much of this action.
Covering the face of the deceased is an interesting act, carried with a sense of guilt.
Does Yu Huijun's guilt refer to her mentioning Yu Xueming as a suspect? Then she should be even more furious, since she almost became a suspect herself. But Yu Huijun's reaction is... guilt.
When they looked at each other, Yu Huijun's behavior—turning her head away or lowering her head—was an expression of guilt for not being able to face the situation.
Yu Xueming's behavior was also quite interesting. She looked straight ahead at everyone else, only pausing when she saw Yu Huijun. She seemed to know who had betrayed her, but showed no resentment or anger.
Even as she was dying, she only said she had no regrets and a final, parting remark. Those words were meant for someone present.
Looking back now, that line, a last testament, carries a different meaning. Yu Xueming wasn't saying goodbye to her hypocritical past, but rather to someone who had brought her a life of hypocrisy.
The more Ren Yifei connected the clues, the more he felt the truth was right before his eyes, only needing his final confirmation.
"bite."
Ren Yifei glanced at it; it was his own phone. The caller ID showed Yu Yan: "Hello, classmate Yu Yan?"
"After being given a sedative, Xiao Rui fell asleep." Yu Yan's slightly indifferent voice came from the other end. This person only became a little enthusiastic when talking about his good friend.
"Huh? So?"
"We've been told to stay quiet and not investigate, but you're still not giving up, aren't you? You want to find out something?"
Ren Yifei was silent for a while: "Yes, I want to know what happened to me."
"A few days ago, when Xiaorui found herself having recurring nightmares, she texted the vice president of your club about it. At first, he just offered comfort, but when Xiaorui vividly described the monsters in her dreams, his tone changed somewhat."
At this point, Yu Yan paused for a moment and said very seriously, "'Why can you see it?' That was his response at the time."
Ren Yifei immediately became interested and continued listening.
Yu Yan continued, "Although he quickly retracted his slip of the tongue, I think that these words spoken in the heat of the moment better reflect his true feelings."
"That is, jealousy."
"If you're looking for a breakthrough, why not try starting here?"
Ren Yifei nodded and couldn't help but ask, "I understand. By the way, since you all knew, why didn't you try it before?"
"Too dangerous," Yu Yan said.
"..." To put it bluntly, he was reluctant to let his friend go into danger, but he didn't care if Ren Yifei went.
"I originally thought that with me keeping an eye on her, Xiao Rui would be fine. But even though she's already in the hospital, she still couldn't escape. It's better to kill a thief in one fell swoop than to guard against him for a thousand days." Yu Yan's calm voice carried a hint of ruthlessness.
Ren Yifei genuinely suspected that Yu Yan was also affected by the aura of the mysterious life form, but to a lesser degree that she hadn't noticed. Just look at this word 'kill,' it's overflowing with murderous intent.
"Does Zhao Rui know what happened today?" Ren Yifei was referring to what happened at the police station.
Yu Yan replied from the other end: "She doesn't know, but I saw it. The group chat is buzzing with people saying they want to go home and stay for a few days."
Ren Yifei was unaware of this; he hadn't yet checked the messages in the group chat.
"Does Zhao Rui know Yu Xueming and Yu Huijun? They're both in the club, but I don't know them very well. What's their relationship like? Could you ask them for me?"
"I don't know about that, I'll ask for you in a bit."
After hanging up Yu Yan's call, Ren Yifei continued to search through the vice president's bookshelf and wardrobe. He even flipped through each of the books, but there was nothing... Huh?
Ironically, a postcard fell out of the book.
Ren Yifei picked it up and saw a group of people dressed in colorful fabrics singing and dancing under a saddle-shaped house. The Patak people of Sumatra, Indonesia, are considered descendants of the ancient Dian people and still maintain ancient sacrificial rituals.
The vice president went to Indonesia? Was it to restore the ritual?
He turned it over to look at the back, where a date was written, which he calculated to be two years ago. The back also featured an abstract monster design, completely unlike any real, mysterious being.
The vice president truly has no psychic abilities; the 'mysterious being' directly influences him through his dreams, and he can't even see the other party's true form.
"bite."
Yu Yan called, and without much preamble, she told Ren Yifei directly: "Xiao Rui said that these two don't interact much in the club. Mainly because Yu Xueming always keeps to herself, and she has very distant relationships with others."
"Okay, got it."