Chapter 21

After a brief adjustment, Xia Tianqi gradually adapted to the current darkness, which wasn't so pitch-black that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

Although he had several legendary items that were supposed to ward off ghosts, they were, after all, just legends. Xia Tianqi didn't have the courage to bet his life on them.

So at this moment, he didn't hesitate and, after turning around, he fled down the stairs as if his life depended on it.

However, his decision to flee wasn't entirely voluntary. If he could have performed the same tricks as the middle-aged man or Liang Ruoyun, would he be so cowardly? In the end, it all came down to a lack of strength.

"This time I'll let you off, but once I find a way, I'll make sure to grind your bones to dust!" Xia Tianqi vowed to himself, but his legs didn't dare to slow down for a second. Before long, he had fled back to the first floor.

During his escape, he glanced up a few times, but fortunately, the pair of blood-red eyes did not reappear.

Despite this, Xia Tianqi remained on high alert, as his heart was still pounding with a strong sense of impending danger. The feeling was so intense that he couldn't bear to stay for even a second longer.

However, it was all for nothing.

The dormitory's main door had been locked by some damn bastard. He tried to push it, but it didn't budge at all. Even if he had crashed into it with all his might, he wouldn't have been able to break it open.

He imagined the other three exits would be the same, making it almost impossible to escape outside.

After some hesitation, Xia Tianqi finally returned to his duty room. After all, he had carefully prepared it, and as for its actual defensive capabilities, only God knew.

He squatted down and leaned against the door, trying to make the duty room look as if no one was inside.

Meanwhile, in the area Li Xiaoxiao was responsible for:

"It's already 10:30, everyone, stop chatting and get some rest. We have to wake up early tomorrow..."

In the morning, the principal had clearly outlined their responsibilities as dormitory supervisors, which included urging students to sleep after the lights were turned off, serving as a supervisory role.

So, despite not wanting to leave the duty room, she steeled herself and walked out.

Because the dormitory was pitch-black with very low visibility, Li Xiaoxiao would often look back after taking a few steps and shine her phone in that direction.

She was actually a very timid person. She remembered that when she was in school, a classmate telling a story had made her cry even before it got scary.

Though she had grown up and was slightly better, she still never dared to walk alone at night or stay home alone.

"It's 10:30, everyone, stop chatting and get some rest!"

Li Xiaoxiao tried to make her voice sound as steady as possible, but while she was urging the students to sleep, she really didn't want to. She hoped to hear some whispers from the students rather than the current eerie silence.

As she continued up the stairs, she felt her footsteps being amplified, accompanied by some echoes.

It felt as if... as if someone was following her up the stairs.

She suddenly turned around, and the flashlight beam darted around in the darkness. To her relief, there was nothing behind her.

When she reached the seventh floor, Li Xiaoxiao's fear erupted like a tsunami. The sound of the windows being blown by the wind filled the air.

The sound was like nails scraping on a plastic board, making her heart race and feel very uncomfortable.

Of course, this wasn't the only reason for her fear. What truly terrified her was the conversation she had with Xia Tianqi and the others in the morning.

Both Xia Tianqi and the woman named Leng Yue, as well as the interviewer who had them try out for the job, had mentioned the haunting here.

Though she said she didn't believe it, if she thought about it carefully, it wasn't entirely baseless. As Leng Yue had said, if the company treated them like exorcists, then the trial salary wouldn't be so outrageous.

"But I'm not an exorcist, how could I catch ghosts? And... are there really ghosts here?"

People often think more when they are afraid, and the more they think, the more afraid they become.

Li Xiaoxiao was in such a state, feeling extremely scared but unable to control her wandering thoughts, which made her feel the cold wind and the presence of ghosts all around her.

"It's... 10:30, everyone, please... get some rest..."

"Thump, thump..."

Just as Li Xiaoxiao was about to turn and go downstairs, a series of footsteps coming up the stairs made her body stiffen.

"Is... is someone there?"

Li Xiaoxiao asked instinctively, her legs trembling as much as her voice.

The surroundings returned to the previous eerie silence, so quiet that even the wind had stopped. Li Xiaoxiao took deep breaths, patting her chest and muttering to herself that she must have heard wrong.

However, just as she was about to turn and go back to the duty room, her body stiffened again.

Because at the bottom of the stairs, a woman in a red dress had appeared!

The woman's hair was disheveled, and her long bangs covered most of her face. All Li Xiaoxiao could see was her mouth.

It was a particularly eerie mouth. In the light of her phone, the woman seemed to be smiling.

It was a smile that was hard to describe, neither happy nor mocking, but rather... greedy!

Li Xiaoxiao didn't know why she thought of the word "greedy," but the woman's smile made her very uncomfortable.

Of course, the red-dressed woman brought her more fear.

Bone-chilling fear!

"Y-You... are... from which dormitory... student?"

Despite her efforts to remain calm, Li Xiaoxiao's efforts were clearly ineffective.

The red-dressed woman didn't respond to Li Xiaoxiao's question, not even lifting her head.

This made Li Xiaoxiao even more uneasy, and she began to doubt whether the woman was human or a ghost.

"It's... late, you... should go back to sleep."

Li Xiaoxiao stammered, then decided to ignore the red-dressed woman and rush down the stairs. However, just as she was about to pass the woman, the red-dressed woman suddenly moved!

She raised an arm to block Li Xiaoxiao's path, and the face mostly hidden by her hair suddenly lunged at Li Xiaoxiao.

"Ahh..."

Before Li Xiaoxiao could even scream, her head was already separated from her body.

What was even more terrifying was that the blood gushing from her wound didn't splash outside at all; it only made the red dress look even more vivid.

The red-dressed woman paused for a few seconds, then slowly walked down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Leng Yue, who was resting on the bed in the duty room, suddenly got up as if sensing something and left the duty room.

On the seventh floor, in room 703:

"Ling Yan, do you think there are really ghosts in this world?"

"You ask me, who should I ask? Maybe there are, or maybe there aren't."

"You're just being vague!"

"Alright, let's not discuss this anymore. It exists if you believe in it, and it doesn't if you don't."

"Yeah, you've been discussing this all night, and I'm too scared to sleep."

"Alright, alright, let's go to sleep. But I need to go to the bathroom first. Does anyone want to come with me?"

"Snore, snore..."

"You're all such good friends!"

Seeing that no one was willing to go with her, the girl reluctantly picked up her phone. Just as she was about to go alone, another girl stepped forward.

"Ai Mei, I'll go with you."

"..."

Since there was no bathroom in the dormitory, they had to go outside. However, the bathroom wasn't far, no more than 15 meters away, just a few steps.

The girl who suddenly needed to go to the bathroom was named Yin Yanjing. In fact, she didn't want to go out at all because she believed Wang Yiran had been murdered, not committed suicide, and the killer was one of the students in this building.

"Thank you for coming with me. To be honest, I've been quite scared since Yiran's incident."

At the bathroom door, Yin Yanjing thanked her good friend for coming with her.

"Go ahead, I'll wait for you here."

Hearing the girl's promise, Yin Yanjing felt a warm feeling in her heart and didn't hesitate to run into the bathroom.

In the dead silence of the corridor, the girl who was waiting outside had a sinister smile on her face.

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