Chapter 37

There was only a female restroom in the girls' dormitory building. Shen Yunzhe silently said sorry in his heart before going in.

There was nothing in the empty bathroom. There was a crack on the mirror on the sink. Shen Yunzhe walked over, pausing after every step. He was listening for any other strange movements.

Girls' restrooms are also a hotbed for horror stories, including but not limited to: ghost babies, suicide, and school bullying.

But there was nothing unusual inside. Shen Yunzhe looked at himself in the broken mirror. The fragments of the mirror reflected countless of him, overlapping each other. Shen Yunzhe reached out and touched the rough cracks on the mirror.

"There's nothing strange here, except for that weird birdcage in the hallway of the teaching building."

"Do you know what kind of playground this is? It's only been one day, and more than half of them are dead."

[It's no use asking me. I'm an AI, not a player. Ask Codename Hope yourself.]

"He knows?"

[Codename Hope is the person closest to the top of the game field, and the hope of the world. Naturally, he understands the game field better.]

【Don’t contact them for too long, otherwise it will still cause your cognitive confusion. 】

Shen Yunzhe frowned slightly. How could he contact codename Hope?

At this moment, Shen Yunzhe saw the image in the mirror in front of him suddenly changed. He opened his eyes wide and took a step back. The next moment, he saw Codename Hope with long silver hair standing in front of him. The cracks of the broken mirror were engraved on his face and body, forming an extremely weird yet exquisite composition.

Like a painting.

There was still a bit of emptiness in Codename Hope's eyes, although he looked much more normal than before.

"Game fields aren't limited to a single location; they have different rules and leaders. In your new game field, the leader is a shadow, and the medium is a mobile phone. In the previous game field, both the leader and the medium were dolls. As you've guessed, the leader of this game field is a campus ghost story. You need to find the medium."

Shen Yunzhe placed his hand on the mirror. "What is the medium?"

"The medium can be anything that can be touched and felt. The rules haven't been fully formulated yet, so it's better to think boldly."

Shen Yunzhe asked him, "Then what do you think it will be?"

Codename Hope looked into his eyes. Such eye contact was rare because in his dreams Codename Hope liked to keep his head down. He didn't want to look anywhere, as if he had seen the same black patch too many times and it made him feel discouraged, so he was always unwilling to look anywhere.

Only this time, when they looked at each other at such a close distance, Shen Yunzhe suddenly discovered that his eyes were also silver, like eyes condensed from light.

But this light is full of loneliness. It is called hope, but not even a little hope can reside in it.

"It's in the announcement." Codename Hope murmured in a gentle yet chilling voice. "The medium will definitely appear in the background story of the game."

Shen Yunzhe suddenly remembered what he had said to the system before. What had he said? Codename Climber's habit of lying was very suitable for coaxing the Hope Doll trapped in the black box.

The words were out of his mouth before he could react.

"Can you feel the warmth of my hand?"

Codename Hope blinked, thought for a moment, and then tried to move forward.

Shen Yunzhe continued stubbornly, "But I seem to feel your warmth."

"Are you comforting me?" Codename Hope looked at him. He suddenly laughed, looking very happy. "Are you caring about me?"

"Thank you."

Before Shen Yunzhe could say "you're welcome", the code name hope in the mirror disappeared. Shen Yunzhe twitched his mouth, put his hand down, and looked at his palm. He closed his eyes and began to think about the possibility of changing the code name world now.

How can you say such things so casually! Even if you say it to yourself, it's too unreserved!

At this time, Shen Yunzhe, who was angry, didn't pay any attention to the live broadcast barrage. After all, he never liked to pay attention to the audience.

【???】

[Why is he talking to himself, and talking to himself in front of the mirror? ]

[Crazy? Or haunted?]

[I don’t understand, but he’s fine.]

[Hey! Stop looking at this guy, there's something going on over at the dorm!]

[What?! The guy who went to the bathroom is fine, but the two people left behind in the dorm are in trouble?!]

[Double kill! I haven't seen this in a long time!]

At this time in the dormitory, Li Yuluan locked the dormitory door after Shen Yunzhe went to the toilet. He was not very reassured and always felt that something might happen. Yuan Jing was also sleeping uneasily in bed, humming from time to time, and crying in her dreams, as if she was having a nightmare and being chased by ghosts.

Li Yiluan continued to be in a daze, and just then, he heard a knock on the door.

He turned to look at the dormitory door, and the shadows of people outside were visible on the matte glass.

"Li Yilu, open the door." The person outside knocked on the door and said, "Why did you lock the door?"

Yuan Jing was awakened by a knock on the door. She got up from the bed in a daze and looked at the dormitory door blankly.

"Shen Yunzhe, you're talking too loudly." Li Yuluan walked over, and the moment he put his hand on the door handle, his hand suddenly froze.

No, that's not right. Shen Yunzhe had just left. The toilet was at the end of the corridor. He shouldn't have come back so soon. Besides, Shen Yunzhe was very outgoing, but he was always respectful. He knew Yuan Jing was asleep, but he still asked Li Yuluan to stay and watch over her while he went to the toilet alone.

It is impossible for Shen Yunzhe to knock on the door so hard when he comes back.

It's not Shen Yunzhe!

Yuan Jing rubbed her eyes and looked over here, "Li Yiluan, why don't you open the door? Isn't that Shen Yunzhe?"

"No!" Li Yuluan answered him.

Yuan Jing was stunned, her face turned pale instantly. Any normal person would know what Li Yuluan meant.

Li Yuluan pulled the cabinet next to him against the door, and then kept backing away from Yuan Jing's position. At this moment, they heard a sound, a faint singing voice. They looked grim as they listened to the music, and the sound of knocking on the door was mixed in with the sudden music.

The music is very familiar. Li Yuluan and Yuan Jing have heard it before.

It was the sound of the bird in the cage, and the bell for recess that Yuan Jing had heard.

Bang bang bang, the knocking on the door continued.

"Where is Shen Yunzhe?!" Yuan Jing had already woken up from the fright, and she grabbed Li Yuluan's sleeve.

"Toilet." Li Yiluan stood in front of Yuan Jing. "I don't know what's going on right now. If everything is fine, I hope he can come back later so we don't run into each other."

Yuan Jing huddled in a corner in fear, not daring to speak.

As if they realized that they didn't open the door even after knocking, the knocking finally stopped. But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, there was a bang and the knocking sound came from another direction. They turned their heads suddenly and saw a pale hand knocking on the window on the balcony.

The crisp sound of the glass being knocked almost crushed Yuan Jing's sanity.

"The balcony door is not locked!" Yuan Jing screamed, "It will come in!"

But it didn't seem to intend to come in, it just kept knocking on the balcony window.

"There's something outside, and there's something on the balcony too. What should we do?" Yuan Jing said with a sad face, "We can't run away."

Li Yiluan looked around, his eyes showing a hint of subtlety. He turned around and looked at Yuan Jing, "Do you believe me?"

"What?"

"I've calculated that we're not doomed. No matter how I calculate, we'll be alive. Do you believe what I said?"

Yuan Jing began to cry, "But Bi Jiayin is dead, and everyone else is dead too. How can I believe it?"

Li Yiluan knew this would happen, and he lowered his head in frustration. "I believe in myself. I'm sure... I won't die."

Just then, knock on the door again.

This time the sound was so close that their first reaction was that something outside the balcony started knocking on the balcony door, but when they looked over, they found that the thing was still knocking on the glass. So where did the sound come from?

Yuan Jing opened her eyes wide and slowly lowered her head to look at the wooden bed beneath her.

Click, click...

A pair of pale hands stretched out from under the bed.

…

Shen Yunzhe came out of the bathroom. He had no intention of going to the bathroom in the first place, and he just made up a lie to cover it up.

Returning to the dormitory door, Shen Yunzhe reached out to open the door, but unexpectedly found that it was locked.

"Li Yilu?" Shen Yunzhe knocked on the door quietly. "I'm back. Is everything okay?"

Very quiet.

There was no sound in the corridor or in the dormitory. It was as if everyone was asleep, and Shen Yunzhe's slight voice could not wake them up at all.

Shen Yunzhe stood there for a while, then he started knocking on the door again, "Li Yiluan? Yuan Jing?"

"Hello!"

He finally realized something was wrong and started trying to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. Not to mention opening it, he couldn't even turn the door. Shen Yunzhe quickly turned around and ran downstairs. He walked past Bei Chuanchuan's body to open the dormitory manager's room and took the key hanging on the wall.

I ran back while looking for the key and finally found it after going up.

Shen Yunzhe opened the door with the key and pushed it open only to find that it was propped up by something inside.

Throwing the key aside, Shen Yunzhe kicked it, but the force was not enough to make the thing inside fall down, so Shen Yunzhe kicked it again.

There was a bang, the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, and Shen Yunzhe finally opened the door.

Then he saw a scene like hell.

Yuan Jing fell on the bed, Li Yiluan lay on the ground on his side, blood soaked the entire bed board and spread out on the floor bit by bit. In the entire dormitory building, there was no one else who was breathing except him.

"Li Yiluan? Yuan Jing?" Shen Yunzhe walked over and felt their breathing. "Hey, what happened?"

No one answered because they had already stopped breathing.

Finally, Shen Yunzhe pulled out a photo from Li Yuluan's neck. The photo was a group photo, mostly stained with Li Yuluan's blood. The photo showed a female student and a female teacher. The female student was shyly making a scissors hand gesture, while the teacher's entire face was covered with a black pen.

"One day?" Shen Yunzhe looked at the two corpses. "Am I the only one left?"

"Are you really not kidding?"

Shen Yunzhe sat on the bed, pressing his temples, looking like he had a terrible headache.

He remembered the live broadcast, so he took out his mobile phone and clicked on it next to the two bodies.

The live broadcast interface showed his face, and next to him were two corpses with their eyes open, while the audience in the live broadcast were opening champagne.

[Wow, it's really a double kill, so exciting! ]

[This playground hasn't had a double kill in a long time. If that guy hadn't gone to the bathroom, would there have been a triple kill?]

[It's strange that this guy didn't encounter any ghosts in the restroom, as restrooms are known to be hot spots for paranormal activity.]

[Could it be that he has some special feature that makes him immune to all kinds of evil?]

Didn't he say that? He's a forensic pathologist, redressing the dead. Maybe those ghosts will thank him and stop looking for him.

[Hahaha, do you believe this? If you don't believe it, who else do you expect to believe it?]

Shen Yunzhe only confirmed one piece of information from these comments, that is, both of them were dead, and he escaped because he left the dormitory. The audience was even wondering why he didn't encounter any ghosts when he went to the toilet.

Perhaps it was because of the sudden appearance of Codename Hope that those strange creatures were afraid of him.

After turning off the live broadcast, Shen Yunzhe closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He avoided the corpse and found a bed near the dormitory and lay down on it, thinking that he would get through tonight first.

After lying down and resting for a while, before Shen Yunzhe could sort out his thoughts, a strange song appeared in his ears.

The voice was very strange, as if someone was singing next to Shen Yunzhe's ear. It was too close.

Shen Yunzhe opened his eyes and the singing stopped abruptly. He looked around and saw nothing but two corpses.

He sat up and looked to the side. The blood-stained photo seemed a little different from before. Shen Yunzhe held up the photo and carefully turned it over. He unexpectedly found a line of black writing on the back of the originally white photo.

The handwriting is very beautiful, as if it has been specially practiced in calligraphy. Even though it is a little flustered, it is still much more beautiful than that of a normal person.

"Student Yin committed suicide. She was my study committee member and we had a very good relationship. I know she couldn't have committed suicide so casually. I have to find out why she committed suicide. I will never let you suffer any injustice."

Teacher? Student Yin?

Shen Yunzhe remembered the announcement. When introducing the playground, the announcement said: A female student committed suicide by jumping off a building. The next day, the teacher attacked with a weapon, resulting in numerous casualties.

Are these the teachers and students in this photo?

He put the photo in his pocket. The next moment, the music sounded again. Shen Yunzhe was stunned for a moment. He stood up and looked around, trying to find where the song came from.

There was nothing around, just this song repeating over and over again.

No matter how he listened to it, he felt that the tune was from the strange bird in the teaching building. Looking at the two bodies, Shen Yunzhe chose to go down directly from the balcony. He didn't dare to go through the main gate. The teaching building was in front of the dormitory building. Shen Yunzhe ran towards the birdcage.

When I arrived in front of the birdcage, I saw the bird was singing. It kept chirping, and its voice became more and more shrill, until blood flowed out of its mouth and it did not stop.

The flesh-colored wings kept flapping, and Shen Yunzhe unexpectedly discovered that there seemed to be an extra clock on its birdcage.

The clock ticked slowly, making a clicking sound that blended with the birds' chirping.

With a click, Shen Yunzhe saw the clock stop and the bird's singing stopped. The bird closed its mouth and stared at Shen Yunzhe with its strange eyes, or rather, at Shen Yunzhe's pocket.

Shen Yunzhe looked at the bird. He put his hand in his pocket and took out the photo, but after just one glance, Shen Yunzhe threw the photo to the ground.

Because the photo was not the photo he remembered, but a strange woman. The woman's face could not be seen clearly, her pale face was stuck on the photo, her black eyes were staring at Shen Yunzhe, and her ten fingers were twisted and clinging to the edge of the photo.

Shen Yunzhe was sure at a glance.

Campus supernatural horror legend: the ghost trapped in the photo.

The song sounded again, like an alarm. The bird opened its mouth and continued to cry bloody tears. The photo thrown to the ground had turned blank, and the woman in it had long disappeared.

Shen Yunzhe looked around, and finally he breathed a sigh of relief and chose to climb up the birdcage to occupy the commanding heights.

Of course, I climbed up, but it seemed to be of no use.

A pair of pale hands hugged Shen Yunzhe's neck from behind. Feeling the cold touch, Shen Yunzhe subconsciously lowered his head. It was at that moment that he saw the clock running backwards rapidly.

fall back?

The pain of having my neck pinched, the feeling of suffocation from lack of oxygen, and finally everything went black before my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, I was awakened by a familiar song.

Shen Yunzhe opened his eyes and saw the clear and bright sky, as well as other game players still alive around him.

……What?

Everyone looked at each other, with surprise and doubt in everyone's eyes. They subconsciously touched their bodies and moved their body parts.

"I'm still alive?" Yuan Jing was the first to speak. She trembled and kept touching her chest. "I'm not dead?!"

The bell rang suddenly, and everyone was startled. They listened to the familiar school bell in horror.

Shen Yunzhe took out his cell phone to check the time and found that it was exactly the time they had just entered the game field.