Jiang Luo nearly laughed.
What thing out there could be more terrifying than you?
With a vicious ghost in human skin beside him and another filthy entity outside the door, Jiang Luo honestly preferred facing the ghost outside.
He didn’t expose the malicious ghost’s clumsy act just yet, but he had keenly picked up on the undercurrent of malice in the malicious ghost’s voice.
That malicious intent made Jiang Luo’s nerves tighten.
Inside the cramped utility room, the air was damp and sticky, with only a small space available for standing.
Jiang Luo slapped Bai Yefeng’s hand away and took a step back, putting some distance between them.
The flickering ceiling light looked like it could explode at any second. A foul stench seeped in through the crack under the door, and a thin layer of frost formed on the single-stall door.
Suddenly, chaotic footsteps sounded outside the restroom.
A coarse male voice shouted viciously, “Where is she?! Don’t let her get away!”
“Hurry! She’s hiding in the bathroom! Find her quick, or we’re going to get caught!”
Jiang Luo concentrated, listening carefully. There were footsteps from three people, but only two were speaking. They argued loudly, without any concern about being overheard. Judging by their voices, they were all around thirty years old.
Why would men in their thirties be inside a dorm full of competition participants?
Jiang Luo quickly understood. Just like how he had once accessed the memory of the landlady in the 129 Hotel, he was now very likely caught in a reenactment of an event from the past.
The tone of the three men outside grew increasingly vicious. “Search every stall.”
While Jiang Luo was focused, Bai Yefeng, on the other hand, seemed bored, idly twirling a lock of Jiang Luo’s black hair with his finger.
With a loud “bang,” the door of the first stall was kicked open. The man cursed, “D*mn it, that b*tch isn’t in the first one.”
Another door was kicked open.
Jiang Luo was in the sixth stall—the storage stall.
The repeated door-kicking echoed like muffled thunder. Soon, four stall doors had been kicked open.
Only the fifth one remained.
Jiang Luo couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat for the girl they were hunting. Even knowing this had already happened, the tense, terrifying atmosphere still made his heart race.
The three men outside seemed to think the girl was hiding in the fifth stall. They let out lascivious chuckles and casually spoke horrifying words.
“B*tch, still hiding?”
“Ran me ragged, you little wh*re. Good thing it’s vacation—no one’s around. Before we kill her, I’m gonna enjoy myself first.”
“Hahaha, still not satisfied? Don’t die on top of her.”
“She’s not as pretty as her friend, but she’s alive. Gotta make the most of her, right?”
Amidst their filthy speech, someone kicked open the fifth stall door.
Jiang Luo’s brow furrowed. He could already imagine the horrific scene to follow.
But unexpectedly, there was silence.
One of the men spoke in surprise, “She’s not in the fifth one either?”
Not in the fifth one?
Then where?
Jiang Luo frowned, and his face suddenly went stiff as a chill ran up his back.
He suddenly realized—there was still the storage stall.
The one they were in.
Slowly, Jiang Luo turned his head. From the corner of the stall, a hand suddenly grabbed his leg.
From what had been an empty corner, a ghostly girl in tattered clothes appeared. She lifted her head through her messy hair, revealing a deathly pale face.
Her bruised and battered face was streaked with blood-tears flowing from her eyes. Her face covered in blood, she gave Jiang Luo a chilling, terrifying grin.
Jiang Luo’s breath caught.
Outside, there was another loud bang as the stall door was kicked open. In the next second, three fierce, brutal-looking men barged in. It was as if they couldn’t see Jiang Luo or Bai Yefeng. Ignoring them entirely, they dragged the screaming girl out.
The lights flickered wildly again.
Jiang Luo steadied his mind. He suddenly found the ghost girl familiar. Focusing carefully, he recognized her through the flickering light.
She was Wang Xinhui—the missing classmate of Fu Yuaner.
Then the light went out.
In the darkness, the ghosts outside vanished. But the sounds didn’t stop—doors opening and closing, and the sound of toilets flushing repeatedly.
By Jiang Luo’s ear, Bai Yefeng spoke, “Hm? Sounds like they chopped her up and flushed her down the drain.”
Yes. Jiang Luo realized it too.
Not only that—he also thought of the foul smell he noticed when he first entered the dorm, and what the staff had said: “The pipes here clog all the time.”
Who knew how long passed before the flushing finally stopped.
The bathroom returned to silence.
Bai Yefeng, feigning concern but hiding a smile, asked, “Are you scared?”
In that moment, Jiang Luo understood the malicious intent in Bai Yefeng’s earlier words.
This malicious ghost had known the ghost would be hiding in the storage stall. That’s why he pulled Jiang Luo inside.
Just to scare him?
Instead of getting angry, Jiang Luo chuckled. His tone was cheerful, as if he had just received a gift. “Scared? Not at all. I should thank you, Bai Yefeng—for giving me another clue.”
He gave Bai Yefeng a friendly pat on the shoulder and added sincerely, “Classmate Bai, good thing you acted so fast and dragged me in here. I really appreciate it.”
The black-haired youth’s eyes sparkled with sincerity. “At first, I thought you were targeting me. But now I realize I misunderstood you. I judged you with a petty heart. Bai Yefeng, you’re a good person.”
“Good Person” Bai Yefeng: “…”
His smile faded slightly.
Jiang Luo gave him another bright smile and stepped out of the stall first.
Zhuo Zhongqiu was still waiting outside, completely unaware. When she saw the two of them come out, she couldn’t help but complain, “Weren’t you just going to the bathroom? What took so long?”
Jiang Luo asked, “How long were we gone?”
Zhuo Zhongqiu crossed her arms and said, “Fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Jiang Luo mused. “I thought an hour had passed.”
This unexpected episode didn’t disrupt their plan. On their way to Liu Zhi’s office, Jiang Luo was still thinking about what had happened in the restroom.
The three men had looked like laborers. Jiang Luo had memorized their faces and didn’t overlook one easily missed detail:
Among the three workers, one had never spoken from beginning to end.
Coincidentally, during the 2012 expansion project, two workers had died.
These two events were undoubtedly connected in some unusual way.
Jiang Luo mentally replayed the words of the workers over and over: “This b*tch isn’t as pretty as her best friend, but at least she’s alive.” Could Wang Xinhui’s best friend be Fu Yuaner?
Had the three workers seen Fu Yuaner after she was already dead?
A vague framework was beginning to form in Jiang Luo’s mind, though some key points still needed investigation to be fully understood.
At this hour, the teaching block was completely deserted. The three of them walked silently through the quiet corridors and arrived at the locked office door. They climbed in through the window.
Jiang Luo headed straight to Liu Zhi’s desk. The drawer was secured with a small lock, but such a lock was child’s play for them. Zhuo Zhongqiu popped it open and set it aside, pulling the drawer open.
Inside were many workbooks and documents. Jiang Luo and Zhuo Zhongqiu went through them one by one. Finally, at the very bottom, they found a folded newspaper.
Jiang Luo picked it up—it felt oddly heavy. He peeled it open layer by layer and discovered a bundle of women’s jewelry wrapped inside.
As a designer—though a landscape designer—Jiang Luo had studied various design styles during his foundational training. At a glance, he could tell that the jewelry came from five different brands.
The welding techniques and design motifs also indicated different time periods. If Liu Zhi had bought these as gifts, there were at least one to two years between each purchase.
Despite the small differences, the overall aesthetic remained consistent—favoring a mature, feminine style.
One pair of earrings matched the necklace Fu Yuaner had worn around her neck—they were a set.
Jiang Luo took out his phone and carefully took photos of each piece. “How many girls have gone missing from 2012 to now?”
Bai Yefeng said leisurely, “Five.”
Jiang Luo fell into thought.
After taking the photos, they restored the office to its original state and climbed back out the window to return to the dorm. Jiang Luo could now be certain that Liu Zhi and Fu Yuaner had been in a romantic relationship, but he still couldn’t piece together the relationship between Fu Yuaner, Wang Xinhui, and the workers.
Among the three workers, Liu Zhi wasn’t one of them.
By the time they got back to the dorm, it was already 3 a.m. Even the most seasoned night owls would feel the fatigue by now.
After tidying up, Jiang Luo laid down in bed. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his phone rang again.
He immediately snapped awake and picked it up. As expected, it was that same unknown number from the night before.
But this time, the contact had a name attached:
[Liu Zhi].
The female ghost was using Liu Zhi’s phone to call Jiang Luo.
Jiang Luo pressed the record button before answering, then calmly said, “Hello?”
Zzzzt… zzzzt…
The same broken static crackled through the line. Jiang Luo waited patiently for the female voice to emerge.
“I… zzzzt…” a blurry, garbled female voice said, “I’m back-to-back with you…”
“Are you back-to-back with me, or are you back-to-back with Liu Zhi?” Jiang Luo asked in return.
His words seemed to hit a sore spot. The ghost’s voice began to speed up. “I’m back-to-back with you. I’m back-to-back with you. I’m back-to-back with you…”
The voice grew sharper and more shrill.
So it wasn’t just humans whose nature was to repeat things—ghosts were repeaters too?
Important things must be said three times?
Jiang Luo held his phone and looked down under his bed.
—There was nothing there.
