[Mission Acceptance Countdown: 00:00:01]
The seven of them gathered around the low table in the common lounge, eyes fixed upon the holographic mission interface suspended in midair. The instant the countdown reached zero, the display refreshed:
[D-Rank Mission: Investigation of the Seven Mysteries of the Campus]
[Description: Seven uncanny legends circulate throughout Shanhai University. Investigate any three and unveil the truth. Caution: certain legends may be connected to the "missing trainees."]
[Requirement: Complete within 72 hours]
[Recommended Team Size: 3–4 per group]
[Rewards: 300 points per team, Random E-Rank Skill Manual ×1, Partial access to restricted campus zones]
[Failure Penalty: Deduction of 500 points (those with insufficient points will be expelled)]
[Special Notice: The difficulty of each legend varies. Choose your teams wisely.]
Seven options materialized upon the interface, each accompanied by a sinister icon and a terse title:
The Nameless Melody of the Midnight Piano Room (Difficulty: ★) The Third Reading Hall of the Library (Difficulty: ★★) The Chewing Sounds Beneath the Cafeteria (Difficulty: ★★★) The Midnight Basketball Game on the Field (Difficulty: ★★) Room 404 of the Dormitory That Vanished (Difficulty: ★★★★) The Sealed B3 Level of the Laboratory Building (Difficulty: ★★★★★) The Thirteenth Step of the Principal's Office (Difficulty: ???)
"Five stars—and a question mark," Wang Pang swallowed nervously. "Is that really something beginners should touch?"
Shen Qingdai's eyes, however, gleamed with excitement. "A game-style difficulty hierarchy, recommended team sizes… we'll need strategy."
Li Ninghao had already produced his notebook and begun his analysis. "Judging from Senior Li's mission, E-Rank involved pacifying a single spirit. A D-Rank requiring investigation of three legends implies either multiple entities or far more intricate puzzles. I recommend two- to three-star options—balanced risk and return."
"But the rewards mention clues about the 'missing trainees,'" Lu Xingliao said, his gaze fixed on the mission description. "If we want to understand that notebook—the part about nine enrolling and only three graduating—we may need to choose something more challenging."
Silence settled over them. Insufficient points meant expulsion—and none wished to return to the bleak life defined by failed examinations and disappointed expectations.
"Let's divide into teams," Shen Qingdai proposed. "A pair for the easier ones, a trio for mid-level difficulty, and the remaining two…"
"I want to try the four-star one—Dormitory Room 404," Lu Xingliao said suddenly.
All eyes turned toward him. Li Ninghao adjusted his glasses. "From a rational standpoint, it's unwise. But we do need clues—about this school, and about what may await us."
In the end, the teams were decided:
Wang Pang and another boy named Li Xiang formed a duo, selecting the one-star Midnight Piano Room.
Shen Qingdai, Li Ninghao, and a girl named Chen Xiaowei chose the three-star Cafeteria Basement.
Lu Xingliao and the final member, Zhao Yan, elected to challenge the four-star Dormitory Room 404.
The moment the teams were finalized, every trainee card vibrated:
[Teams Established. Please proceed to the "Campus Store" to exchange for necessary supplies. Reminder: prudent use of points is the key to clearance.]
---
Campus Store: A Treasury in Disguise
The store was located in the basement of the main building, its signboard a wooden plaque whose lettering shifted ceaselessly. Upon pushing the door open, they found a space ten times larger than its exterior suggested—a vast chamber steeped in fantastical allure.
Shelves floated serenely in midair, meticulously categorized: [Talismans], [Artifacts], [Potions], [Knowledge], [Miscellany]. Each item bore a holographic label displaying its price and description.
"Damn, this is cooler than any online game shop," Wang Pang muttered, craning his neck at the levitating displays.
A virtual salesman in a cheongsam materialized with a graceful smile. "First purchase for freshmen enjoys a ten-percent discount. Recommended bundle: Basic Investigation Kit—compass, spiritual energy sensor, and three protective charms. Original price 150 points, now 135."
Shen Qingdai browsed the wares with composed focus. "We need information. Li Ninghao, evaluate which items offer the best value."
Li Ninghao had already activated the recording function of his trainee card. "From Senior Li's mission, spirits responded to specific objects. Glutinous rice proved effective, suggesting traditional folkloric methods are viable. I recommend purchasing: a pack of glutinous rice (20 points), cinnabar powder (30 points), a voice recorder capable of capturing spectral sounds (50 points), and this—Paranormal Incident Logbook (Auto-Completion Function). It's 80 points, but it may prove invaluable in the long term."
Lu Xingliao found his attention drawn to an inconspicuous corner. There, a small collection of "Second-Hand Items" was displayed beneath a modest sign reading [Relics of Former Trainees]. The prices were absurdly low, yet the descriptions were maddeningly vague:
Damaged Pocket Watch (15 points): The hands occasionally turn counterclockwise.
Faded Hair Ribbon (10 points): Allegedly heightens perception.
Empty Perfume Bottle (5 points): Still retains a faint floral fragrance.
With his newly awakened Spirit Sight, Lu Xingliao examined the objects. Each emitted a tenuous glimmer of spiritual light, but the pocket watch in particular pulsed—brightening and dimming as though it were breathing.
"I'll take this one." He purchased the watch without hesitation.
Zhao Yan selected a short peachwood sword (60 points). Shen Qingdai's team opted for the recommended bundle, while Wang Pang's group bought a stack of disposable talismans (10 points each), intending to prevail through sheer quantity.
At the register, the virtual shop assistant blinked playfully. "A gentle reminder: certain relics may still bear the imprints of their previous owners. Please exercise caution when using them."
---
The Midnight Piano Room: The Performer Who Does Not Exist
At eleven that night, Wang Pang and Li Xiang stood outside the music room in the arts building. It was the most elegant structure on campus, its white marble gleaming coldly beneath the moonlight—yet now it exuded nothing but an eerie chill.
"The rules say we have to enter between midnight and two a.m.," Li Xiang checked his watch. "One minute left."
The piano room was on the third floor. The motion-activated lights in the corridor were broken, forcing them to rely on their flashlights. As they neared the door, piano music suddenly drifted through the hall—a gentle nocturne, exquisitely performed, yet haunting in the profound stillness of midnight.
Wang Pang pushed the door open.
The room was empty. Yet the grand piano's keys were moving of their own accord. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting latticed shadows upon the black and white keys, as though invisible hands were playing.
Following their plan, Li Xiang scattered a handful of glutinous rice. The music ceased.
"Did it work?" Wang Pang whispered.
Without warning, every key slammed down at once, releasing a deafening clang! The piano bench slowly rotated, revealing a boy in an old-style school uniform seated upon it, his complexion ashen, his fingertips bleeding.
"You… interrupted my performance for her," the boy said hollowly. "She will never hear it again."
Mission Update: [Entity Discovered — "The Devoted Pianist." Determine who "she" is and resolve his lingering obsession.]
Wang Pang and Li Xiang exchanged a glance, the same thought flashing in both their eyes: This is one-star difficulty?
---
The Cafeteria Basement: Echoes of Hunger
At the same hour, Shen Qingdai and her two teammates stood before a concealed door behind the cafeteria kitchen. A seal was pasted across it:
[Entry Forbidden. Consequences at Your Own Risk.]
Li Ninghao scanned the door with the spiritual energy detector he had just purchased. "Readings are high—multiple spectral signatures inside. Recommend preparing for combat."
Chen Xiaowei tightened her grip on the peachwood sword, into which she had poured most of her points. Shen Qingdai, however, held only a recorder and the incident logbook. "Our objective is investigation, not exorcism. Remember, a D-rank mission only requires us to uncover the truth."
They tore away the seal and pushed the door open. A wave of putrid stench assaulted them. The staircase descended into darkness, seemingly without end.
The basement was far larger than expected, resembling an abandoned storage warehouse. Shelves lay toppled, burlap sacks torn open, scattering unknown black granules across the floor. From deep within came the sound of chewing—wet, ravenous, and disturbingly plural.
Their flashlight beam cut through the gloom. Three crouching shadows snapped their heads around.
They were the ghosts of students, their uniforms tattered, their faces smeared with black "food." Their eyes were hollow, viscous darkness trickling from their lips as they gorged themselves on a sack of mold-ridden rice.
"Hungry… so hungry…" One of the specters rose and shuffled toward them.
Chen Xiaowei raised her sword, but Shen Qingdai caught her arm. "Wait. Look at their condition—they're starving, yet they're eating spoiled food. That isn't normal."
Li Ninghao analyzed swiftly. "Since the founding of Shanhai University, there's no record of students dying from hunger. And this is a cafeteria storehouse—there should be no shortage of provisions."
"Unless…" Shen Qingdai glanced around, inspiration striking. "Unless they can't consume normal food."
She stepped forward boldly, pulled a packet of compressed biscuits from her backpack—purchased that afternoon from the store—tore it open, and placed it gently on the ground.
The three spirits froze, staring at the biscuits with desperate longing, yet none dared approach.
"Go on," Shen Qingdai said softly. "It's clean."
The smallest and frailest of the ghosts trembled as he stretched out a hand, yet the instant his fingers neared the biscuit he shrieked in agony. Black sigils surfaced upon his skin, scorching his very spirit.
"As expected," Li Ninghao adjusted his glasses, "they are cursed—condemned to consume only what is rotten."
Mission Update: [The 'Curse of Hunger' discovered. Identify the source of the curse and lift it.]
From the depths of the basement came the dragging rattle of iron chains. Something else lurked there.
---
Dormitory Building 404: The Room That Does Not Exist
Lu Xingliao and Zhao Yan stood upon the stair landing between the third and fourth floors of the dormitory. The building possessed only three levels, yet the mission insisted that Room 404 existed.
"A spatial anomaly," Lu observed through his spirit-sight. "A portion of space here is 'folded,' concealed like a hidden chamber."
He withdrew the battered pocket watch from his coat. Its hands turned slowly counterclockwise, and when they aligned at a certain angle, the faint outline of a door emerged upon the wall.
"Do we need a key?" Zhao Yan asked.
Lu reached forward to push—his hand passed straight through the surface. "An illusion… or perhaps it requires a specific condition."
The mission title surfaced in his mind: The Disappearing Room 404. Disappeared—not nonexistent, but once real, then erased.
"We should ask the dorm supervisor," Lu decided.
The supervisor was a taciturn middle-aged woman who lived in a small room on the first floor. The moment Lu mentioned Room 404, her expression stiffened visibly.
"There is no Room 404," she said flatly, already moving to shut the door.
Lu braced his foot against it. "We are students of folklore investigation, handling supernatural incidents on campus. If you know anything, please tell us. Other students' safety may depend on it."
Her lips quivered. At last she whispered, "Three years ago, Room 404 did exist. Two girls lived there… inseparable friends. Then… one withdrew, the other transferred. The room was sealed."
"What do you mean by sealed?"
"Literally sealed," she replied, eyes evasive. "The school sent people to erase it from the floor plans, altered the structure. It's a storage room now."
"What were their names?" Zhao pressed.
She shook her head. "I can't say. They… they don't wish to be disturbed."
At that instant, Lu's pocket watch began to spin wildly, its casing burning hot. Instinctively he stepped back. In the mirror behind the supervisor, the reflection was no longer hers but that of a pale young girl, tears of blood streaming down her cheeks.
"Ah!" The supervisor screamed and slammed the door shut.
Mission Update: [The 'Watcher in the Mirror' discovered. The secret of 404 is bound to the mirror. Before 3 a.m., locate the true entrance to Room 404.]
Time: 1:47 a.m.
---
Converging Clues: The Missing Pieces
At half past two, the three teams reconvened in the common lounge to exchange intelligence.
Wang Pang's Team: "The piano-room spirit was named Lin Hao, a student from three years ago. He practiced every night to perform a proposal piece for his childhood sweetheart. She died in a traffic accident before graduation. He never knew—he believed she was merely angry and refused to come. After we told him the truth, he… found peace and vanished. One mission complete."
Shen Qingdai's Team: "The three ghosts in the cafeteria basement were impoverished students from five years ago, cursed by a mentor surnamed Zhang. They discovered he was misusing school funds for private research, so he cursed them to 'eternal hunger.' We located the curse's medium—a talisman buried in a sack of rice. Once burned, the spirits were released. But something still remains deeper in the basement; we had no time to investigate."
Lu Xingliao's Team: "The two girls from Room 404 disappeared simultaneously three years ago. The supervisor clearly knows more but is too afraid to speak. My pocket watch reacts to the anomaly—the mirror is the key."
Li Ninghao wrote the information across the whiteboard. "Timeline: five years ago, students were cursed by a mentor; three years ago, two girls vanished; three years ago, the piano-room obsession began. Senior Li's mission also dates back three years. What happened three years ago?"
"And," Shen Qingdai added, "every 'supernatural' incident is tied to student disappearances or deaths. Is this school truly safe?"
Their student cards vibrated as the mission progress updated.
[Campus Seven Mysteries Investigation: 2/3 Completed]
[Warning: A "Hidden Clue" Has Been Triggered — All Incidents Are Connected to "Abuse of Authority by Mentors"]
[Hidden Quest Activated: Uncover the Truth Behind the "Mass Paranormal Outbreak" Three Years Ago]
[Quest Rank Upgraded to C]
[Accept? Acceptance Doubles the Original D-Rank Rewards; Failure Doubles the Penalties]
The seven of them stared at the abruptly manifested hidden quest.
"Double the reward," Wang Pang's eyes gleamed. "That's six hundred points… two skill tomes…"
"But the penalty doubles too," Li Ninghao countered coolly. "A thousand points. None of us can afford that."
Lu Xingliao rubbed the overheated pocket watch. "Yet if we refuse, we may never learn the truth—never know what truly happened to those missing students, nor whether we ourselves will be next."
Silence fell.
Shen Qingdai raised her hand first. "I accept. I refuse to die here in ignorance."
One by one, the others voiced their consent.
The instant the quest was accepted, every light in the common lounge extinguished. In the darkness, the whiteboard upon the wall ignited of its own accord, bleeding forth crimson words:
"You have finally begun to notice."
"Three years ago, three of the seven mentors abused the academy's resources to conduct forbidden research."
"Their experiments triggered a 'Spiritual Vein Rampage.' Seventeen students were affected—nine perished or vanished, eight were transformed into lingering spirits."
"The school concealed the truth and dismissed the three mentors, yet the root of the disaster was never resolved."
"The spiritual vein remains unstable, surging once every three years. This year marks the third cycle."
"If you wish to live to graduation, you must uncover and eradicate the underlying cause before the next rampage. (Countdown: 87 days.)"
"Hint: Begin with the sealed B3 level."
The words dissolved. The lights returned. Every face was drained of color.
"Spiritual vein rampage… what is that exactly?" Chen Xiaowei's voice trembled.
Li Ninghao inhaled slowly. "My guess? A large-scale paranormal eruption. The entire campus could devolve into a colossal ghost domain."
New information unfurled upon their student cards:
[C-Rank Hidden Quest Accepted: Investigate the Truth of the Spiritual Vein Rampage Three Years Ago]
[Phase One: Enter the Experimental Building, B3 Level (Restricted Area)]
[Time Limit: 48 Hours]
[Recommended Team: All Members]
[Warning: Residual experimental energy may cause spiritual sight instability, hallucinations, and distortions of reality]
[Special Reward: Upon completion, all members are promoted to D-Rank and unlock "Mentor Guidance" privileges]
"A full-team mission," Lu Xingliao murmured, looking at the others. "This time, we go together."
Shen Qingdai inspected her gear. "We need further preparation. The shop must still hold items we overlooked."
At that very moment, the bell outside the dormitory tolled—three o'clock sharp. Every student card shrieked with a piercing alarm:
[Emergency Notice: Abnormal Spatial Fluctuation Detected]
[Dormitory Room 404 Has Materialized]
[Repeat: Dormitory Room 404 Has Materialized]
[All students are instructed to avoid the fourth floor and await the response team… bzzzt… error… response team unavailable…]
The broadcast collapsed into static.
The seven rushed to the window and looked toward the dormitory. Atop the building—where only three floors had ever stood—a fourth level was slowly emerging: crumbling walls, a weather-worn plaque marked "404," and wavering candlelight leaking from its windows.
Behind the glass stood two silhouettes, hand in hand, gazing silently down at them.
One of the figures lifted an arm and pointed toward the experimental building.
Zhao Yan swallowed. "They're… showing us the way. Telling us to go to B3."
In Lu Xingliao's pocket, the watch quivered violently, its hands spinning counterclockwise, the casing so hot it was nearly unbearable to hold.
He understood. The watch had once belonged to a student of Room 404. It was guiding him—and warning him in equal measure.
At 3:07 a.m., the true horror of Shanhai University was only just beginning to unveil its curtain.
What they did not know was that, within the principal's office, Qin Chuan was observing everything through a levitating crystal sphere. Behind him, three indistinct phantoms released low, amused laughter.
"These children are perceptive—triggering the hidden quest so swiftly."
"The experiment from three years ago requires 'fresh material.' They are most suitable."
"Especially the boy with spiritual sight… his eyes are the spitting image of hers."
Qin Chuan's expression remained impassive. "Initiate Phase Two of the game. Let us see who survives to the end."
Within the crystal, deep beneath the experimental building, the seal upon B3 flickered in pulses of light and shadow—like a darkened heart awaiting its awakening.