Chapter 14: Quarrel

Lin Xiao Yan ran away so quickly she disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Recalling last night’s incident, Su Min immediately climbed out of bed.

While doing so, he shook Lin Yiri awake. It was out of the question to leave him here alone; if they looked at the horror movie’s track record, what waited for him was a tragic fate.

Lin Yiri woke up with a start, “What, what happened?”

Putting on his shoes, Su Min replied, “Lin Xiao Yan ran out.”

He originally thought that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, so he didn’t bother changing clothes. Who would’ve known he’d actually be able to fall asleep?

There was a complex emotion in Su Min’s heart.

Lin Xiao Yan should be heading to the office building.

Since Lin Yiri had already changed after entering the dorms, all he needed to do was put on his shoes before chasing after Lin Xiao Yan.

When the two came outside, there wasn’t a trace of her figure.

It was 11 PM. Street lights lit up the desolate road. Occasionally, a person could be seen, some accompanied by their companions.

They were shocked to see Su Min and Lin Yiri coming out of the female dormitory.

“Let’s go to the office building first,” Su Min said.

“Take the shortcut.” Lin Yiri unexpectedly said something useful, “I know a path that directly leads to the office building and cuts the travel time by half.”

“Don’t get us lost.” Su Min was doubtful.

“Maybe we’ll get there faster than her,” Lin Yiri said.

The path he spoke of was created by students who were too lazy to take the main road. Nowadays, some students still took that path in the daytime.

Before, the commute from the female dorms to the office building was very long. Now, however, it only took them three minutes to reach the grove.

As soon as they entered, Su Min had the feeling that someone was following them. He pulled Lin Yiri to a stop and said, “Wait a minute.”

There was something wrong; the thing he grabbed onto didn’t have any hint of warmth.

Su Min was startled, realizing that he was holding a ghost. At lightning speed, he recoiled his hand, “Sorry...”

This school was really from a horror film–there were ghosts everywhere. No wonder the director titled this movie ‘University Thriller’–his name of choice was very accurate.

The ghost in front of him was male. In his hand was an examination paper he had hastily written on before Su Min grabbed his wrist.

He looked at Su Min and said, “What do I do? I didn’t finish my exam. Tomorrow, the teacher will deduct all my points. What do I do if I fail the course?”

Su Min didn’t have the time to listen to his break down. He had to find Lin Yiri.

As if the ghost had found a confidant, it followed after him and wailed, “Why are there so many topics on the exam? Why do even ghosts have to take tests? Wuwuwu1...”

He covered his face, weeping.

Su Min rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. When he blinked, Lin Yiri suddenly appeared next to him.

“What’s with that expression on your face?” Lin Yiri asked.

“Have you been there the whole time?” Su Min answered with another question.

Lin Yiri looked at him suspiciously, “Where would I be if I’m not here? Should I be under a car2?”

He sang the last sentence.

Su Min didn’t ask any further, “Stop. We’re going to the office building first. I’m afraid Lin Xiao Yan will jump off the building.”

Like Jiang Hui, Chen Ke had hung herself. Who knew if Lin Xiao Yan would follow after Su Ya and jump off the building.

Lin Yiri nodded, “Okay, okay, okay.”

Actually, he had wanted to tell a ghost story about students who took a shortcut. In the end, he rethought this plan and decided not to scare himself.

He once heard that when a group of students went to night class, they, like them, took a shortcut through the grove and saw a ghost.

Su Min and Lin Yiri quickly maneuver their way out of the grove. Soon, the office building appeared before their eyes.

After two days, he ended up back at the office building. Su Min felt that this place was getting weirder and weirder. Maybe he would get an answer by tonight.

However, the cinema’s prompt said that the conclusion was two days away. The ending wouldn’t be tonight, but tomorrow.

Naeda Translations

The lock on the office building was once again broken and thrown to the ground.

Lin Yiri touched it, “I feel sorry for this lock. These ghosts are really too violent.”

Due to their unexpected delay in the grove, Lin Xiao Yan had already arrived.

Su Min didn’t know what would happen tonight.

He whispered, “Let’s go to the seventh floor.”

This time, they safely ascended the staircase without any problems. When they were halfway up the sixth floor, they could vaguely see the inside of the seventh floor.

Lin Yiri whispered, shocked, “The doors are open!”

The doors to the seventh floor had never been opened, not even when the police were there. To their surprise, it was open now.

The two doors leaned against the wall, and an office door in correspondence to the stairs could be seen, locked. For the first time, the entire seventh floor appeared before them.

No lights were turned on. If not for the moonlight leaking through the window sill at the end of the corridor, there would’ve only been darkness. The walls were painted a pale color, looking brand new.

In this late hour, it resembled the gloomy white of the hospital.

Unlike the scorched black they’d imagined, the walls were painted with layers of white paint during the renovation.

Su Min took a deep breath, “Go in.”

Lin Yiri stuck closely to him.

Between the crevices where moonlight couldn’t reach was only pitch-black darkness. Because there were no windows in the offices, nothing could be seen inside.

There was still the smell of paint in the air. Presumably, it had been trapped here since the renovation.

The smell was difficult to endure.

Su Min didn’t know which office had belonged to Teacher Chen. When passing by, he would push each door, but they wouldn’t open.

These doors were new and made of iron. When pushed, there was no reaction at all; they were tightly locked.

Lin Yiri was becoming frantic, “Which office is it?”

Every time he pushed a door, he would tighten up. He feared that once opened, countless ghosts and dead bodies would greet him.

Su Min heard a voice in his ear, “Quiet.”

Jing Xian suddenly appeared again.

There was an indescribable feeling of security in his heart as he turned and said, “Lin Yiri, don’t talk. Listen for any sounds.”

Lin Yiri held his tongue and pricked up his ears to listen.

The silence was heavy; the whole building resembled the dead. The fear created in this environment was like maggots digging into their bones.

At this time, fragments of a voice drifted into their ears.

Incisively grasping it, Su Min promptly said, “Come with me.”

He eased his footsteps, but his pace quickened. Finally, he stopped in front of the office closest to the elevator.

The door was covered up.

Su Min gently pushed it open. In contrast to the newly painted walls outside, the office looked very old.

Lin Yiri poked him on the shoulders and pointed to the corridor behind them.

Su Min turned around only to see that the floor had completely changed.

The appearance of the corridor became outmoded. There were ceramic tiles and yellowing walls that supported portraits of celebrities.

All of their eyes turned and fixed onto the two students.

This scene was honestly a little terrifying.

Su Min couldn’t help closing the door to hide from all those eyes.

In the office, Lin Xiao Yan stood by the desk. It was unknown what she was gesturing in the air, but she didn’t seem to notice them coming in.

It looked like she was quarreling with somebody.

Lin Yiri guessed, “Could it be related to a failed course?”

Su Min didn’t feel that that was likely, “Maybe it’s related to Jiang Hui’s hanging. Isn’t the greeting card we’re looking for in her hands?”

He took the birthday card to the female dormitory with him in the evening, but he didn’t expect that it would be taken by Lin Xiao Yan.

While they were guessing, Lin Xiao Yan appeared to have been pushed back a step. A second later, she started to wrestle with the air, and soon, her body got closer and closer to the window.

Then, she stood on top of it herself.

Su Min was frightened, “Hurry and grab her!”

As soon as his voice fell, Lin Xiao Yan fell from the window.

Su Min only had time to grab her wrist, and he almost got dragged down himself. Fortunately, a ghost was helping him.

Hanging outside in the cold wind, Lin Xiao Yan looked up at him.

When Su Min was about to tell her to not be afraid, her face suddenly changed and she became Su Ya, one of the girls in the photograph and the ghost girl he had seen on the stairs.

There were no bloodstains on her mouth now, but he was afraid it would be a different story if she fell to the ground.

At this moment, the death scene from that year replayed.

“Su Ya” smiled at Su Min. Then, she loosen his hand and fell to her death.

At the height of seven stories, he could only see a small figure lying on the ground.

Su Min shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he found that Lin Xiao Yan was still in his hands. Everything before was an illusion.

He breathed out a sigh of relief.

Lin Yiri ran to his side, and together, they pulled Lin Xiao Yan up. “What the hell? My soul nearly flew away.”

Lin Xiao Yan lost consciousness.

Su Min was gasping, but he wasn’t tired. Although Jing Xian had helped him a moment ago, the fright he received in his heart was not small.

He almost thought that Lin Xiao Yan fell to her death.

Su Min poked Lin Xiao Yan but seeing that the latter didn’t respond at all, he guessed that this was the aftermath of Su Ya’s possession.

“Su Min... Su Min...”

Lin Yiri patted him nonstop.

Su Min turned around, “What’s wrong?”

When the last word left his mouth, he realized that it was an unnecessary question. The scene before him was the answer.

Lin Yiri was scared stiff, “All of these ghosts suddenly appeared. What should we do? Su Min...”

In front of them was a congestion of ghosts.

Previously in the office, there was not a soul in sight; now, it was filled to the brim with ghosts.

Both of them froze up, cold sweat running down their backs.

The true appearances of these ghosts were unclear. They stood in the office with their heads bowed, forming a dense mass of black.

Su Min thought that the ghosts would tear them into pieces, but they didn’t.

He frowned, “Is this the ghost party?”

After he carefully observed them for a while, Su Min discovered a familiar face: Sun Chaoyang.

Sun Chaoyang was among them.

According to the previous phone conversation, Sun Chaoyang was burned to death in the office building. So, when Su Min found him here, he didn’t think that it was strange.

Did all of these ghosts die during that time?

Nearly half of the people in the graduation photo were without faces. The scene here matched with that data.

A big fire burned the students to death.

Lin Yiri looked for a while and suddenly remembered something, “This is like the scene I saw on the elevator that day!”

Several days ago when he and Lin Xiao Yan were in the elevator, they saw countless of dark shadows. At that time, they thought that the whole seventh floor was haunted by ghosts.

Having heard those words, Su Min became more certain these were the students who had died on the seventh floor.

Just then, another silhouette appeared.

Caught in the midst of the sea of ghosts, his face revealed panic and fear, appearing very uncoordinated and ugly.

Su Min suspected that he was Teacher Chen.

This Teacher Chen was shoved and jostled around by the ghosts. Both sides began to quarrel again, and the greeting card on the table was thrown.

In a disorderly fashion, the ghost hurried to crowd around the other desk.

Then, a strange smell spread in the air. Su Min sniffed, “What’s that smell?”

Something was burning.

Lin Yiri looked around, and a spark from another desk caught his eye, “The power plug is burning!”

A candle from the cake fell on the wire of the power plug.

When Su Min saw it, the power plug on the table exploded, setting the entire office aflame.

The fire engulfed everything in its wake. From the documents on the table to the flag hanging on the wall, everything was burned into ashes. In an instant, the office turned into an inferno.

Meanwhile, the ghosts all fled outside.