Why is my anime art style so weird?

Page 7

Xu Ming discovered the figure in room 303.

Chapter Eight: The Madwoman

Xu Ming arrived at the door of room 303, gripped the fruit knife tightly, and then gently turned the doorknob.

click!

With a soft click, the door opened, and the scene inside immediately came into Xu Ming's view.

To Xu Ming's surprise, there wasn't a ghost in the room, and the furniture was minimal, consisting of just a simple bed, a set of tables and chairs, and a low coffee table.

An empty room?

Xu Ming looked puzzled, pushed open the door, and went inside.

A strong musty smell wafted over, and Xu Ming couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose.

However, the room was indeed sparsely decorated. Anyone who stayed in this room must have been someone like an ascetic.

Xu Ming covered his mouth and nose and took a few more steps into the room.

"Huh? What's this?"

Xu Ming suddenly noticed a charred circular mark on the floor near the window, which looked like someone had accidentally dropped a hot frying pan or something similar on the floor.

Considering that this place used to be inhabited by students from Totsuki Academy, it's not surprising to find traces of them practicing cooking in private.

Wait a minute! Polaris Dormitory, Room 303, charred marks... Isn't this the room that Soma Yukihira, the Medicine King, once lived in?!

A flash of inspiration struck Xu Ming.

Just then, Xu Ming suddenly heard a slight noise coming from the next room.

Xu Ming's expression changed slightly, and he rushed out of room 303 and ran to the door of room 302.

Without saying a word, he turned the doorknob.

Click!

To his surprise, the door was locked.

Xu Ming thought for a moment, then instead of rushing to break down the door, he went to open all the curtains in the corridor.

These curtains hadn't been washed for who knows how many years. As soon as Xu Ming touched them, it felt like he was holding a handful of flour; his palms were covered in dust.

Xu Ming, disregarding the dirt on his hands, quickly pulled the curtains open completely.

Bright sunlight suddenly streamed into the corridor, but his rough movements also caused a lot of dust to fly up, making the entire corridor gray and hazy.

Xu Ming had to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

As the dust gradually settled, Xu Ming took a deep breath, pointed his shoulder at the door, and slammed it shut.

Boom!

The door was suddenly flung open by Xu Ming.

The curtains in the room were completely drawn, and the only way to vaguely make out the scene inside was by the sunlight streaming in from the corridor.

The room contained a bed, a desk and chair, a low table, a wardrobe, textbooks, a photo frame, and a desk lamp. A yellow duck plush toy was placed on the bed.

Compared to Soma Yukihira's room next door, this room has a more lived-in feel.

Judging from the furnishings, it should be a girl's room.

The picture frame was stained with a large patch of dark brown dirt, the dusty quilt was piled haphazardly on the bed, and the duck doll had a large hole in its belly, with the cotton stuffing squeezing out like its internal organs.

This room appears to have been uninhabited for a long time.

Just as Xu Ming was looking around the room, a dirty arm suddenly reached out from behind the door and grabbed his wrist!

"!!"

Xu Ming was so startled that he almost stabbed the fruit knife in his other hand.

Fortunately, Xu Ming noticed that the hand that grabbed him still had some warmth in its palm, which was completely different from the icy cold feeling he had when the red-clothed female ghost grabbed him last night.

This should be a living person.

Xu Ming pulled hard, and the person behind the door was immediately dragged out.

She was a woman wearing a dress and with dark blue hair.

Her dress was filthy, covered in stains, and the original pattern was almost unrecognizable. Her face was also covered in stains and dust, making it impossible to see her original appearance.

Xu Ming looked the strange woman up and down and found that she wasn't even wearing shoes; her feet were bare.

Xu Ming tentatively asked:

"My name is Xu Ming. May I ask who you are?"

"..."

Are you the owner of this room?

Are you a student of Totsuki Academy?

……

However, no matter what questions Xu Ming asked, this strange woman kept her head down and remained silent, as if she hadn't heard him at all.

The communication seemed to have stalled, and Xu Ming scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do next.

At this moment, Xu Ming suddenly noticed that the woman was also holding a strange doll in her arms.

This doll appears to be handmade, with very rough workmanship. It has a strange dark red hedgehog hairstyle and wears a gray-blue dress and a white apron.

The more Xu Ming looked at the doll, the more familiar it seemed.

'Wait a minute! This doll looks a bit like... Soma Yukihira!?'

Xu Ming was somewhat surprised. He pointed to the doll in the woman's arms.

"Where did this doll come from? Can I take a look?"

Unexpectedly, the woman who had previously remained unresponsive to his questions suddenly showed an expression of extreme terror upon hearing his words.

The woman suddenly shoved Xu Ming away, then rushed to the corner of the wall, curled up into a ball, and held the doll tightly in her arms, like a mother animal protecting her cubs.

Xu Ming was somewhat confused. He went to the woman's side, only to hear her muttering to herself.

"I will absolutely not let you take Soshin-kun away..."

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

No matter how Xu Ming shouted, the woman kept repeating the same sentence.

Xu Ming reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

But the woman seemed to have gone mad, waving one hand wildly and grabbing at everything while screaming loudly.

"Don't come any closer!!"

This woman's nails hadn't been cut in a long time; they were long and dirty.

Fearing she would scratch him, Xu Ming had no choice but to take two steps back.

Just as Xu Ming was racking his brains about how to communicate with this strange, crazy woman, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Kid, that's why I told you not to come up to the third floor."

When Xu Ming turned around, he found Granny Wenxu standing at the door, staring at him with a gloomy expression.

Xu Ming suddenly felt like he had been caught red-handed by a parent for bullying a child.

He coughed twice to cover up his embarrassment.

"Ahem! I heard a noise upstairs and thought there was a thief, so I came up to check..."

Grandma Wenxu gave a cold smile.

“Besides this old woman and Xiaohui, no living person has come to this godforsaken place for a year or two.”

Grandma Wenxu's words immediately caught Xu Ming's attention.

"Megumi? You're saying she's Megumi Tadokoro?"

How do you know that name?!

Grandma Wenxu's eyes suddenly sharpened, and she looked at Xu Ming with suspicion.

Xu Ming explained calmly:

"After receiving my admission notice, I naturally looked up information about the school online. Senior student Megumi Tadokoro was quite well-known back then, and there were some reports about her online."

I know not only her, but also the Elite Ten, Soma Yukihira, Akira Hayama, Ryo Kurokiba, and several others..."

Chapter Nine Diary

"Kid, I don't care what you're here for, but this Polaris Lodge has been abandoned for three years. Only Xiao Hui and I live here, and there's nothing of value here. You're just wasting your time staying here."

Grandma Wenxu clearly didn't believe Xu Ming's words, but she didn't seem inclined to investigate further.

After leaving her advice, she turned and walked downstairs.

Having finally discovered a clue, Xu Ming naturally wouldn't let it slip away easily. He quickly followed and then cautiously asked:

"Tadokoro-senpai, what's wrong with her? Could it be that she..."

Grandma Wenxu suddenly stopped and stared intently at Xu Ming, her eyes holding a strange expression that Xu Ming couldn't understand.

"Xiao Hui isn't crazy, she's just waiting for someone!"

Xu Ming quickly pressed for more information.

"Waiting for whom? Could it be Soma Yukihira-senpai?"

To everyone's surprise, Granny Wenxu waved her hand impatiently.

"Kid, if you want to live, don't meddle in things that aren't your business."

Grandma Wenxu walked away.

However, Xu Ming had already gotten the answer he wanted.