Lu Mian hurriedly crouched down to take a closer look and saw a familiar face—Li Zixuan!
Good heavens! Hadn’t they only just seen her half an hour ago? How on earth had she fainted here?!
Lu Mian quickly pulled out her mobile to dial 120, then checked Li Zixuan’s pulse. Seeing that she was still alive, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why is there another person lying here?!” Xu Xia and the others were so startled their voices trembled.
Having just dealt with the female ghost, they’d let their guard down, only to find another classmate lying there, seemingly unconscious, the moment they looked down. Who could handle that?!
“She’s from Chemical Engineering Class 1. Does anyone have her advisor’s contact details? We need to get in touch with the teacher straight away!” Lu Mian quickly asked her flatmates for any leads.
“I’ve got it!” Chen Jiaqi quickly opened her phone; as a member of the Student Union, she’d saved the contact for work-related handover purposes.
After notifying Li Zixuan’s academic advisor, the group dared not attempt to resuscitate her themselves. They weren’t medical professionals, and any mishandling could prove fatal. Their university was close to a hospital, so an ambulance should arrive shortly.
The group crouched nearby, waiting for the ambulance.
The ambulance arrived swiftly, reaching the school in under ten minutes. However, although the ambulance had arrived, Li Zixuan’s advisor had not yet arrived, so the four of them had no choice but to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Li Zixuan was rushed into the Emergency Room, and the four of them sat on chairs outside to wait.
They hadn’t even had time to settle into their seats when Wang Ying, with her keen eyes, spotted an unexpected figure—Lin Yue.
“Lin Yue! What’s she doing in the hospital?”
Wang Ying called out directly; her voice wasn’t too loud or too soft, but it was loud enough for those nearby to hear.
Lin Yue?
Xu Xia’s face went pale in an instant; she’d almost forgotten that the hospital where Su Qing was being treated was the closest to their school!
“Come on! Let’s get out of here!”
Xu Xia grabbed Chen Jiaqi’s hand and tried to leave the hospital.
“Is she ill too?”
Spotting a familiar face, Lu Mian scampered over to say hello, only to find the spot completely empty when she reached it.
Lu Mian had no choice but to run back. “She’s gone. You weren’t seeing things just now, were you?”
“I don’t have poor eyesight; I wouldn’t have seen wrong,” Wang Ying replied with certainty.
Only Xu Xia knew that Lin Yue was a ghost. And because Lin Yue had briefly appeared before them, Xu Xia, fearing she might be targeted by Lin Yue, dared not say a word; she merely clung to Chen Jiaqi’s hand and huddled to one side.
So at that moment, Wang Ying and Chen Jiaqi were still very concerned about Lin Yue.
“If she didn’t go back to the dorm today, does that mean she came to the hospital because she’s ill?”
“Lu Mian, didn’t you say this morning that she suffers from sleepwalking? Did they discover other conditions whilst investigating that? Otherwise, why is she still in hospital?”
Lu Mian nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. But what about her family? If she’s ill, why haven’t her family come?”
“Her family?”
The group was momentarily stumped; Lin Yue didn’t seem to have ever mentioned having any family.
“She’s an orphan,” Xu Xia said suddenly, her voice distant and her gaze vacant, though she regained her composure a moment later.
“Wait! Lin Yue’s an orphan? Then why doesn’t she have a part-time job? Can she afford medical treatment? A single session of psychological counselling costs eight hundred yuan!” Lu Mian’s focus shifted immediately; her grandmother’s best friend’s granddaughter had suffered from depression, and her grandmother’s best friend would constantly tell her grandmother how much the treatment cost, which was why her grandmother had been so concerned about her emotional state.
Wang Ying and Chen Jiaqi exchanged glances, then turned to look at Xu Xia; Xu Xia was closer to Lin Yue, so she should know more than they did.
Xu Xia shook her head silently; she didn’t know either. Lin Yue had never mentioned any of this to her.
A terrible suspicion formed in Lu Mian’s mind: “She isn’t here in the middle of the night to jump off the building because she’s ill, is she?!”
Don’t blame her for thinking such things; her grandmother’s best friend’s granddaughter had once attempted to jump, and it was only by a stroke of luck that she was discovered in time.
“No, I’m going to check on her!”
Lu Mian said, already heading over to find Lin Yue.
Wang Ying and Chen Jiaqi hurried to follow, terrified at the thought of being left alone.
But Xu Xia suddenly grabbed both their hands tightly. “Don’t go!” She tried to stop Lu Mian, only to realise she was already running away at breakneck speed. How had she never noticed before just how fast she could run?!
“Xu Xia, why are you holding us back? Hurry up and catch up! We’re scared staying here on our own!”
“Don’t go! Lin Yue is the same as that one from school!” Xu Xia explained cryptically.
“That one from school…”
Terror clouded the girls’ eyes. Upon receiving Xu Xia’s affirmative nod, they were too frightened to say another word.
The three of them gazed at the corner where Lu Mian had vanished, able only to pray for her safety.
They didn’t dare follow her. At least here there were medical staff, offering a modicum of security; chasing after her didn’t guarantee they’d catch up, and being left alone would be even more terrifying.
…………
Lu Mian remembered that Lin Yue had vanished around this very corner. There was only one path leading from here, so Lu Mian immediately set off along it, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lin Yue’s back.
This path connected the inpatient ward to the outpatient department, with a small garden in between.
Lu Mian had almost reached the inpatient ward, yet she hadn’t seen a single soul.
Wait, did Lin Yue used to walk this fast?
…………
Under the thick cover of night, the hospital’s small garden was unlit, so dim that she could barely make out the path beneath her feet.
Su Qing was hiding behind a rockery, clamping her hand tightly over her mouth, but tears of fear still trickled down her cheeks despite her best efforts.
Waaah!
Why?!
When she’d opened her eyes to see her mum, dad and Grandma, she’d thought she’d escaped the ordeal. But before the relief of having survived could even settle, the female ghost had set her sights on her again. She’d clearly been in her hospital ward, yet in the blink of an eye, her family had vanished, the talisman the shaman had given her had turned to ash, and that terrifying female ghost was still clinging to her heels.
She had run as fast as she could, all the way from the hospital ward to here. Why wouldn’t it leave her alone?
‘Tick-tock—’
The sound of water droplets hitting the ground was unmistakable in the silent night. Su Qing immediately grew alert, pricking up her ears to listen carefully. She realised the sound seemed to be coming from behind her.
Why had the sound of dripping water suddenly appeared?
Had the female ghost caught up with her?
Frightened, Su Qing ducked into the other side of the rockery, taking care to keep her movements as quiet as possible.
The rockeries were stacked one upon another—three in total—forming two separate spaces. From where Su Qing stood, she could not see the full extent of the second space.
Su Qing crept forward cautiously, not daring to breathe heavily.
As soon as she passed through, Su Qing witnessed a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life—
A corpse suspended mid-air swayed towards her; its feet, dangling in the void, were twisted and grey, its head hung limply, and dark red blood dripped steadily onto the ground.
“Ah!!!”
Su Qing screamed and spun round, desperate to bolt from the rockery.
But a gaunt hand suddenly rested on her shoulder, and a shrill voice whispered in her ear: “Don’t you love listening to my stories? Come and keep me company!”
…………
Lu Mian, who had been hesitating over which way to go, suddenly heard a terrified scream coming from the rockery in the small garden.
The kind-hearted Lu Mian immediately ran over to investigate and, at a glance, saw Su Qing cowering on the ground, a quivering heap of fear, and Lin Yue beside her, her hair in disarray.
“Su Qing? Lin Yue? You two…”
“Help me! Help me!”
Hearing the familiar voice, Su Qing’s mind—though momentarily frozen—could not quite make out who was speaking, yet she still threw herself at the figure like a madwoman.
Lin Yue, gazing at the empty space where her prey had been, fixed a gaze of venomous fury upon the culprit.
It’s her again! It’s her again!
So close!
She’ll kill her!
Lin Yue’s gaunt hands curled into claws as she reached out towards Lu Mian’s heart.