I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

Outside the music classroom, the thick fog had dissipated at some point.

Walking down the stairs from the teaching building and across the playground, a small red brick building covered with ivy stands in the night.

The sign for "Girls' Dormitory" hung above the iron gate, which was ajar with a crack.

Lin Yan pushed open the door and went in.

A light was on in the dormitory manager's room on the first floor. The light was a little yellow, and there was a smell of face cream in the room.

Behind the wooden table sat an old woman with gray hair and a shriveled figure.

She was knitting with her head down, her whole being in a semi-transparent, blurred state.

The faceless man you first encountered and the girl you later met in the classroom both had physical forms.

Lin Yan guessed that she was just a fleeting NPC in this space-time.

Seeing Lin Yan wearing the school worker's uniform, the old woman buried her head in her study again.

He casually pulled a bunch of keys and a thick black attendance book from the drawer and pushed them to the side of the table.

"New here?"

The old woman's voice sounded like she was playing the violin with her fingernails and a blackboard. Lin Yan silently took two steps back.

"Take your things and be sure to go on patrol and check the dormitories after 11:30 p.m.

Lin Yan stood by the table without moving.

He glanced at the things on the table: a brass ring holding three keys, and a tattered roll call book. He became wary.

Since I came here, I've only ever been the victim. Why are you so kind-hearted, old man?

He took out the key and roster that the girl in white had given him in the music room from his pocket.

Lin Yan arrogantly waved the two items in front of the old woman.

"I have the key and the attendance list, so I won't trouble you."

The old woman paused in her knitting, slowly raised her face, and stared lifelessly at what Lin Yan was holding.

Her eyes were already cloudy, as if she were trying to confirm whether what she was seeing was real or not.

"Tsk."

The old woman pursed her lips.

"This time, the sacrificial offering was quite lucky; she actually managed to get her to hand over her personal belongings."

The old woman withdrew her gaze, swept the fake key on the table back into the drawer, and muttered something ominously, seemingly unwilling to give up:

"What a pity, I couldn't trick you into opening those doors..."

"But don't get too cocky. Once you're inside this building, no matter whose key you're holding, you'll be in for a world of hurt."

Indeed, being careful was the right thing to do.

Every NPC in this timeline is a sly fox; they're all digging traps and waiting for people to take the bait!

Luckily, I didn't try to take the easy way out just now.

If you are discouraged by those two contradictory rules, or if you slack off in the music classroom and come to the girls' dormitory without getting the real key.

If you take the fake key that old hag gave you to check the dorms, you'll most likely be in big trouble.

Lin Yan turned to go upstairs, but as he was leaving, the old woman said one more thing:

"Remember, if you knock three times and no one answers, leave immediately. Don't disturb them; they're... resting."

repose?

I don't believe you for a second! You wicked old woman!

Lin Yan ignored her, flipped open the roster in his hand, and quickly scanned the row of rankings before finally stopping at room 404.

This column lists the names of four people: Wang Xiaoya, Li Li, and Zhang Ting.

In the last position, the name had been repeatedly scribbled over, almost tearing the paper.

But the two characters are still faintly discernible:

[Su Hong]

That makes sense.

That aloof figure playing the piano in the classroom, the only victim in the tragedy thirty years ago whose body was never found.

And later, there was the eccentric blind date who liked to hang upside down in high places and call out "little brother" repeatedly.

So your name is Su Hong.

He looked up at the clock; it was 11:45.

It's time for room checks.

Let me see which naughty student is still awake!

The green paint on both sides of the corridor was rather sloppy, with the paint peeling off badly, and the sound of dripping could be heard constantly coming from the water room at the end of the corridor.

This scene, this atmosphere, makes it a perfect filming location for a horror movie.

Lin Yan made his way up to the fourth floor without any obstacles.

The door to room 404 was closed.

Lin Yan withdrew his hand from the door and peered through the small glass window on the door.

The scene in the dormitory made him frown.

No one is sleeping.

The middle of the dormitory room was cleared out, and three girls sat cross-legged in a circle, all wearing the same pink floral pajamas.

Among them, a candle nearly half a meter tall was lit.

Lin Yan peered through the gap between the two girls and saw that the candle flame was actually green.

Lin Yan thought this was just a typical plot point in horror movies, where the dormitory group foolishly played with Ouija boards or similar supernatural devices, attracting evil spirits that would harm themselves and others.

He listened outside the door for a while, and although he couldn't make out the specifics, the regular and deep buzzing was definitely not from an ordinary Ouija board game.

Was what the old woman said at the end true?

As Lin Yan was thinking, he noticed another girl in the corner.

She looked exactly like the girl he had seen in the music classroom; she must be Su Hong.

Su Hong was huddled in the corner of the upper bunk; she was the only one in the entire dormitory who wasn't wearing that pink nightgown.

She wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, leaving only her eyes showing, occasionally stealing a glance at the three figures sitting around the candle on the ground.

The candlelight cast a pale green glow, and the shadows of the three people stretched across the wall. She huddled in the corner of the bed, motionless, as if...

I'm afraid of being discovered to be scared.

Lin Yan could understand the situation of the dormitory at a glance.

He had seen this type of seating before at his ex-girlfriend's friends' gatherings and at company team-building events.

The three sat together, and one sat opposite them; no one spoke.

"Knock knock knock".

Lin Yan raised his hand and knocked on the door.

The buzzing in the room stopped instantly, and the green candle was quickly stomped out by a foot.

A few seconds later, the door was opened a crack.

The person who opened the door had bangs and a rather sweet appearance.

Lin Yan remembered the photo on the roster; her name was Xiao Ya.

"Who is it? In the middle of the night..."

Xiaoya peeked out with half her face. Her originally gloomy eyes immediately changed when she saw that the person standing outside the door was a young, even somewhat handsome, new school worker. Her expression transformed into an extremely sweet smile.

"Oh, is that the new dorm supervisor? Checking rooms so late, you must be tired."

Lin Yan ignored her comment and instead pushed the door open halfway, swaggering around the room.

The green candle was gone, and the other two girls had already pretended to climb into bed.

But Lin Yan saw something hidden beneath the calm.

It's not really fair to call it a cover-up, because the three of them never intended to hide anything.

There were only three intact chairs in the room; the fourth chair had a broken leg and was casually tossed on the balcony.

On Su Hong's lower bunk desk, there were piles of cosmetics, clothes, jewelry, and... unwashed underwear belonging to the other three people.

Su Hong's own few books could only be pitifully squeezed into a corner.

Even basic living space has been wantonly encroached upon.

Senior, if you do this, I'll laugh at you when I get out of here.

"Check the dorms and register the number of students."