Lu Mian reacted quickly and lunged forward with a kick, only to discover that Lin Yue possessed terrifying strength.
Good heavens, Lin Yue isn’t just a sleepwalker—she’s gone mad!
Mad people are incredibly strong; she might not be able to beat her, and it’s not exactly convenient to fight inside the rockery. Better to get out first.
Lu Mian dragged Su Qing out of the rockery, only to find Lin Yue standing right in front of them the moment they emerged.
Oh dear, how could she be moving so fast too!
But Lin Yue’s movements suddenly froze; she no longer lunged at Lu Mian, though her eyes burned with even more venomous fury.
Lu Mian immediately pulled Su Qing back to a safe distance.
Then she dialled the police.
No way. A mentally ill person having an episode is like a character with stacked buffs. If she lost, she’d be the one getting hurt; if she won, she’d have to cover the medical bills. It really fits the saying: ‘Win and go to prison, lose and end up in hospital.’ Leave professional matters to the professionals—let the police handle this.
Leaning against Lu Mian for a moment, Su Qing felt a little more composed, but she still cowered behind him, trembling uncontrollably.
A disturbance in a hospital, especially involving a mentally ill person—who knew how many people might get hurt if she had a fit? The police arrived very quickly and immediately subdued Lin Yue.
Pinned down, Lin Yue struggled frantically, her sharp nails clawing wildly at Lu Mian. “What’s it got to do with you?! What’s it got to do with you?! Why are you stopping me?! Why?! Go to hell! Just go to hell!”
Lu Mian took two steps forward, her eyes filled with sympathy. Although she and Lin Yue weren’t close, they had, after all, spent every day together for a month. Seeing a familiar classmate reduced to this state made her feel a pang of sadness.
“Officer, is she going to be sent to a psychiatric hospital?”
The young police officer held Lin Yue’s hands firmly in place; someone having a mental breakdown really does have incredible strength, but he still managed to answer Lu Mian, “Most likely. Your classmate’s mental state is far too unstable. Where are her family?”
“She has no family. Will I still be able to visit her in future?” Lu Mian couldn’t help but ask.
“Once her condition has stabilised, you’ll be able to visit her.” The young officer felt a twinge of sympathy for this distraught classmate. To have come this far from being an orphan—how difficult that must have been—only to be struck by mental illness. Truly, fate seems to take particular delight in tormenting those who have already suffered so much.
Lu Mian took Lin Yue’s cold, ashen hand in hers soothingly. “Lin Yue, don’t worry. I’ll come and see you from now on.”
Lin Yue, her hand gripped, struggled frantically. Look, look, look at you!
If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have ended up like this at all. She’s perfectly fine!
Aaaargh!!!
She’s going to kill this bitch!
No matter how much Lin Yue struggled, she was still led away by the police, disappearing from Lu Mian and Su Qing’s sight.
The police even kindly comforted Lu Mian and Su Qing.
Lu Mian was fine, but Su Qing had been thoroughly frightened; she was still trembling all over, clinging to Lu Mian, refusing to let anyone pull her away.
Lu Mian had no choice but to sit with her on a bench downstairs in the hospital ward, waiting for her family to come down and collect her.
Su Qing’s family arrived quickly. As soon as they saw Su Qing, who was in a daze, her mother burst into tears, clutching her daughter’s hand and unable to utter a word.
Su Qing’s father, however, remained relatively composed and remembered to thank Lu Mian: “Young lady, thank you for saving our Su Qing.”
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing—just a small favour,” Lu Mian hurriedly waved her hands. She had simply done what any ordinary person would have done.
“Young lady, would you mind telling me your birth chart?”
A sudden, aged yet kindly voice cut in. Lu Mian turned to look.
It was an elderly lady wearing a square headscarf; her face was weathered by age. What was distinctive, however, were her eyes: the sclera was a greyish-white, the pupils as translucent as glass, and her gaze was sharp and piercing.
“I’m afraid not,” Lu Mian refused immediately. Who on earth asks for someone’s birth chart the moment they meet? Her grandmother had told her that one mustn’t reveal one’s birth chart to just anyone. Although she was a materialist, she listened to her grandmother.
“I mean no harm; it’s just that your features are rather unusual, young lady, and I instinctively wanted to take a look.” The old lady smiled kindly and, in the end, did not press the matter further.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. If there’s nothing else, I’d better be off—one of my classmates is still in the emergency room.” Lu Mian made to leave; Li Zixuan was still in the emergency room, and her situation was quite serious.
“Lu Mian, I want to stay with you!” Su Qing hurriedly grabbed Lu Mian’s arm; she trusted no one but Lu Mian at that moment.
“You’re still a patient,” Lu Mian gently pushed Su Qing’s hand away, trying to reassure her. “You should focus on your treatment and not wander off. Once you’re better and back at school, we can hang out together again.”
Su Qing looked at Lu Mian with reluctance. Seeing that Lu Mian was insistent, she could only nod in agreement. “All right.”
Lu Mian ran back to the ER. Li Zixuan had woken up and had already been transferred to a general ward. Lu Mian went to find them, and as soon as she arrived, she saw Li Zixuan clinging to Xu Xia and the other two, crying so hard she was completely distraught.
Lu Mian felt as though she’d wandered onto the wrong film set; today was nothing but weeping and wailing, more so than in any melodramatic tearjerker.
The four of them spotted Lu Mian and immediately pulled her into their embrace, sobbing, “Lu Mian, our dorm is haunted!”
Li Zixuan took the lead, “Lu Mian, thirteen years ago, the residents of Room 404 took part in a summoning game and died one after another…”
“Wait a moment. Is the summoning game you’re talking about the one described in that book with the cover showing a dilapidated house, with lots of ghostly hands scrambling to reach out from inside?” The image of the book Lu Mian had just seen that evening flashed through her mind.
Li Zixuan’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Yes! How did you know?”
“Because I’ve seen it,” Lu Mian said, spreading her hands in a matter-of-fact manner.
“You’ve seen it?! That book appeared thirteen years ago?! Has it reappeared?! Six people died back then—could it be the six of you in the dorm this time? No, wait—Lin Yue isn’t human, so does that mean I’m the one who has to die instead?!” Li Zixuan spoke rapidly, becoming more and more distraught as she went on.
Lu Mian turned her gaze to Xu Xia. It was surely Xu Xia who had suggested Lin Yue was a ghost, so Lu Mian couldn’t help but offer a brief explanation. “Lin Yue is just ill; she’s already been taken away by the police. Let’s not talk about ghosts and spirits, shall we? We’re university students—let’s believe in science, shall we, dear classmates!”
Hearing that Lin Yue had been dealt with, Xu Xia’s eyes lit up with immense relief, and she couldn’t help but ask repeatedly, “Has she really been taken away?”
Lu Mian nodded in confirmation, then turned her thoughts back to that evil book. Indeed, Lu Mian had now classified it as such. What respectable book would record such things? And to have caused the deaths of six young university students in the prime of their lives—it must be the work of some premeditated, evil organisation.
Report it. I’ll report it tomorrow!
Lu Mian, who had already resolved to shut down the entire Paranormal Society, was finally met by Li Zixuan’s tutor.
The four of them could finally return to their dormitory to rest.
…………
Under the thick, heavy night sky, a white, flowing dress hung from the balcony of Room 504, its black hair growing wildly, covering the entire balcony.
“Wu Yun has vanished.”
“She’s the most useless of them all; isn’t it only natural she’d vanish?”
“Lin Yue’s about to vanish too. She’s gone completely mad; they’re holding her down to inject her with a sedative.”
A long, crimson tongue dangled idly from the clothesline, and an angry voice rang out across the balcony.
“Why isn’t she afraid of me? Why won’t she get in the elevator?!”
“Aaaah!!! She’s ruining my plans! I’m going to kill her!”
Three ghostly figures hovered in mid-air, staring intently at the balcony door, their sinister voices echoing through the space.
“We can only succeed if we kill her!”
“Kill her!”
“How? We can’t just kill her outright.”
“Didn’t someone drink Lu Chuyu’s ‘milk tea’? Let Lu Chuyu make some more ‘milk tea’—the sort a dormmate treats you to. Will she drink it?”