"Our major?!" I was stunned for a moment. The girl with unclosed eyes from last night flashed before my eyes again.
"Yeah, yeah!" Zhao Zifeng nodded like a bobblehead. He quietly leaned over and said mysteriously, "The experimental building has been sealed off. After 7 p.m., all students have to return to their dormitories. The dorm supervisor will take attendance, and no one is allowed to go out! I wonder what's going on!"
I knew what was going on. The school must be really frustrated. Such a thing happened right at the beginning of the semester. Not only could the parents of the deceased student not accept it, but the school leaders might also be on the verge of collapse!
The two of us entered the school gate with the returning students and went back to our respective dormitories.
Hearing the door open, Lin Li nervously jumped up from the bed and almost hit her head.
"It's me," I quickly said.
Only then did Lin Li let out a long sigh of relief and put down the hand that was tightly holding a yellow talisman.
"Lu Xiyu, why did you come back so late?!" Lin Li slid off the bed and grabbed my arm. "Yesterday when you local students went home, I was scared to death! The new student, Li Shanshan... she... she committed suicide by jumping off a building!"
"What happened?" I wanted to know more about the situation, so I pulled Lin Li to sit on the chair and gave her a bottle of fizzy water I bought at the mall.
"She came yesterday afternoon. I showed her around our school," Lin Li took a sip of water. I noticed that her fingers were trembling badly. "It was almost dinner time, and Li Shanshan hadn't gotten her meal card yet, so I used my card to buy her a meal."
Lin Li was a kind and helpful girl. I knew that on the first day of school. Seeing her pale face, I gently held her left hand.
Lin Li gave me a grateful look and then continued, "After dinner, we planned to take a walk back to the dormitory. But in the blink of an eye, she was gone!"
My heart skipped a beat. Li Shanshan must have been led astray by the female ghost, Wang Anran, just like me, and taken to the experimental building.
"I couldn't find her. I thought she had gone back to the dormitory first. So I went back by myself..." Lin Li's face turned even paler. "But she didn't come back. I didn't think much of it and just lay in bed watching dramas!"
At this point, Lin Li suddenly grabbed my hand tightly. Her lips were trembling so much that she could hardly speak. "U-until almost one o'clock at night, she came back!"
"What?! Who came back?" I was startled by Lin Li's words.
"Li... Li Shanshan..." Lin Li's voice changed. It sounded like she was crying and talking to herself nervously. "I asked her why she came back so late, but she ignored me and just went to bed!"
By now, I knew why Lin Li was so scared! Li Shanshan had fallen from the building before 8 p.m. last night... The one who came back to the dormitory at almost one o'clock must not be her!
"I watched dramas too late and didn't get up until someone knocked on the door at noon," Lin Li continued. "The school principal, the department head, and a lot of people came. They asked about Li Shanshan. I was confused and said she was sleeping in bed. But their expressions were so strange! The department head walked over and opened Li Shanshan's mosquito net... There was no one in the bed. Her bedding wasn't even unpacked! The department head said... Li Shanshan died last night. She committed suicide by jumping off a building. Her body was in the freezer of our mortuary major, but now... it's gone!"
"Ah..." I couldn't help but scream.
"They... they told me not to talk and not to go out!" Lin Li grabbed my hand like a drowning man grabbing a lifebuoy. "I'm so scared. What if she comes back again tonight?!"
I was in pain from her grip, and a chill ran down my spine.
The night had already covered the whole campus. The usual laughter and noise of the students were gone. Only the cicadas on the trees were chirping, showing that there was still a glimmer of life in the world.
There was a knock on the door. Our dorm supervisor poked her head in and saw me.
"Lu Xiyu is back!" She greeted me and took out a yellow paper folded into a triangle from her pocket. "This is the mascot of our major. Keep it close to you."
I thanked her and took it. It was a piece of yellow paper with faint cinnabar lines inside. It must be some kind of Taoist talisman.
It seemed that our mortuary major had ways to deal with these supernatural things.
Seeing me carefully put it in my pocket, the dorm supervisor nodded and reminded me, "No matter what sound you hear tonight, don't open the door and go out."
Hearing the dorm supervisor's last words, Lin Li finally couldn't hold it in anymore. She rushed up and grabbed the teacher's sleeve, pleading, "Teacher... Can I not stay here? I'm so scared!"
"What are you scared of? Our department will deal with the dead every day in the future. Can you skip classes just because you're scared?" The dorm supervisor was very calm. She smiled and comforted Lin Li. Then she looked at me and said, "It's good for you two to keep each other company. As long as you stay in the room, the department will take care of everything. Don't worry!"
With that, she pried Lin Li's hand off and closed the door again.
"Teacher... What did she mean just now?" Lin Li's face was full of tears. She stared at the doorknob for a long time and then turned to ask me.
"Maybe the teachers in the department have the ability to solve everything," I comforted Lin Li. "Maybe you were just dreaming that Li Shanshan came back."
My comfort seemed to work. Lin Li finally calmed down. I also packed my things and climbed into my bed.
I wasn't very familiar with my new phone. I thought I had just fiddled with it for a while, but it was already twelve o'clock.
Lin Li's mosquito net opposite was still made of semi - transparent white gauze. There was a faint light from her phone screen inside. I guessed that she planned to watch dramas until dawn to fight her fear...
In the quietness, I always felt something was strange. It was as if this small room was isolated, and I couldn't hear any sound from outside.
Just as I propped myself up to look out of the window, there was a soft sound on the dormitory door.
"Creak, creak, creak..." It was like something was scratching the door panel.
"Lu Xiyu!! Did you hear that?!" Lin Li suddenly sat up on the opposite bed. Her terrified expression was distorted in the cold light of the phone screen, looking scarier than a ghost.
"Don't worry about it," I also sat up and comforted her. "Didn't the teacher say that we just shouldn't open the door?"
"... But... Can I sleep with you?!" Lin Li's voice was filled with sobs.
I hesitated for a moment but still agreed to her.
Lin Li got out of bed shakily and was about to walk to my bed. Unexpectedly, the empty bed that should have been Li Shanshan's, near the door, suddenly moved. A dark figure climbed down from the bed.