Chapter 81 Old Campus "Ouija Board, Ouija Board, you are my present life..."
The girl couldn't resist Xue Chao. She was still a little afraid of him. It wasn't the initial sense of oppression from his figure and aura, or the shock of his terrifying appearance, but something beneath the surface that gave her a vague premonition that he would do something crazy with a calm expression.
For example, at this moment, he shooed her to the other side and extended his right hand—he automatically took on the role of "main questioner," the one who needed to bear greater risks.
She had no choice but to leave the corner of the table and nervously sit opposite him. Their hands were clasped together, holding the pen between them, the tip hovering in the center of the paper. They were focused, as if trying to project their souls onto the paper. Xue Chao followed the girl, who was already familiar with the process, and recited: "Pen spirit, pen spirit, you are my present life, I am your past life. If you want to continue our bond, please draw a circle on the paper, pen spirit, pen spirit..."
The incantation was repeated for the third time. The surroundings became quiet, and the girl felt something slowly descend, like grass, sweeping across the top of her head.
Her hand was a little immobile, as if it were being held down by something, and she didn't dare to look.
Xue Chao knew what it was without even looking; the hanging hair was that of a female ghost.
He opened his eyes without any hesitation, and sure enough, there were piles of hair ends on the paper. Following the waterfall of black hair, he saw a woman hanging under the lamp, her whole body buried in hair twice as long as hers, swaying back and forth.
There was also some other sound, a rustling sound, like sand rolling from one side to the other.
Xue Chao: "Who are you?"
The girl fell silent, knowing that his words implied the presence of the Ouija board.
The hair piled on the table slowly moved, lingeringly entwining the two people's clasped hands, gently pulling them, stopping at an "F".
"Is your surname Fang? Fu? Fan? Feng?"
Their hair once again guided their hands, stopping at "No".
Xue Chao guessed a few more uncommon surnames starting with "F", but his pen kept stopping at "no". Xue Chao asked, "Your surname doesn't start with 'F'."
The pen tilted slightly and stopped at the word "Yes".
"So what's your last name?"
The pen tip moved, passing over letter after letter, but it didn't stop after passing all of them. It started drawing circles on the paper, and the faster and faster it drew, as if it had gone mad and was about to lose control.
The girl felt her hand being pulled back and forth, and looked up in fright at Xue Chao. Xue Chao stated, "You don't remember your name."
The scribbling pen tip suddenly stopped at the word "yes," its force penetrating the back of the paper.
"What does 'F' mean, or rather, which person does it represent? What kind of person?" Xue Chao asked, only to see the pen start spinning wildly again. Helplessly, he stopped it. "Alright, you don't remember either. Let's get straight to the point. You kept us here, so what do you expect us to do for you?"
The pen tip stops, moves slowly, and stops at the "S".
The girl whispered, "S...search...search your background?"
The answer is "no".
Xue Chao: "Murder."
The pen tip quickly moved to "Yes".
Xue Chao: "Killed 'F'?"
The pen tip quickly tapped the character "是" a few times, leaving it riddled with holes.
He doesn't remember who he is, nor who the other person is, only the obsession to "kill them" remains. Xue Chao diagnosed: "A blood feud."
The panel beeped, and the corresponding side quest was indeed started.
The girl just wanted to end the Ouija board session as soon as possible. Although the task given by the female ghost was unclear and would probably be difficult to complete, she decided to leave it for later and figured she could run away now.
She tried to give Xue Chao a meaningful look, but she couldn't quite manage it. Then she heard Xue Chao ask without batting an eye, "Will you kill us if we don't finish this?"
The pen tip remained stuck on "Yes," without moving.
Xue Chao asked again, "Once it's finished, will you kill us?"
The girl was stunned... Was she really going to ask that?! What if he genuinely hadn't thought of that? Wouldn't that be setting a trap for him to use her and then discard her?
Sure enough, the atmosphere around them subtly changed again. The lamp hanging above the female ghost suddenly flickered, half-lit and half-lit. Xue Chao looked up and saw that under the flickering light, the female ghost's hair was empty; she had no body.
No... is that really the top of my head?
Xue Chao immediately lowered his head, his hair hanging down, piling up on the table more than a hand's width high, almost obscuring the paper. The clump of hair crawled forward, and suddenly an eye appeared from the gap in the hair, staring straight at Xue Chao.
The top of his head was right in front of him.
The girl couldn't see the eyes, but she could tell there was something in the hair... It must be a female ghost! She froze, her hands still buried in the layers of black hair, feeling as if something was sticking to their hands, like paper, with many wrinkles.
"Looking at me won't help."
The girl thought Xue Chao was talking to her, so she looked over stiffly. Then she saw Xue Chao lean closer and stare directly into something in her hair, saying, "I can't work for a ghost for free."
The sound he made was more eerie than a female ghost swinging a rope.
"..."
"【Xue Chao (Agent Player)】I'm sure both the female classmate and the ghost were stunned for a second."
"【Xue Chao (Agent Player)】 Hahahaha, I'm really impressed. This resentment feels heavier than a ghost. I'm so scared of being tricked by your game's system!"
"【Xue Chao (agent player)】Seriously, being stingy is one thing, after all, your game has always been so capitalist, but lately there have been a lot of bugs. This is only the second dungeon, Xue Chao."
"【Xue Chao (a proxy player)】 can't say that. The other rooms are all normal. Chun Chun is just a bugged character (doge)."
"【Xue Chao (Accountant Player)】They should give us an extra reward for testing; we found quite a few bugs :)"
"【Xue Chao (agent player)】...It's good enough that he's not shifting the blame. His popularity points have been deducted, and he finally sent out a compensation gift pack, but he hasn't opened it yet. I don't know when he'll be waiting for it (wiping sweat)."
Perhaps because Xue Chao didn't look human at all at this moment, and because of his aura as a fugitive mental patient who could stop children from crying at night, the three eyes stared at each other for a long time. It was hard to say who scared whom. The female ghost seemed to realize that she had made a fool of herself, and her eyes shrank back slightly, partially hidden by her hair.
However, the hands clasped together in the hair moved again, the pen tip didn't draw a circle, and it actually answered, stopping steadily between "yes" and "no".
The girl was completely confused. What did that mean? Was it true? Was it false? ...Or did it depend on her mood?
The female ghost didn't explain; her hair slowly disappeared, and the door lock clicked open, signaling her passage. The girl immediately forgot everything else, wanting nothing more than to throw down her pen on the spot, but she restrained herself and proceeded with the proper ritual: "Ouija board spirit, Ouija board spirit, thank you for your explanation, please return to your place, Ouija board spirit..."
Xue Chao didn't follow along. The girl gestured to him, but then the thoughtful man suddenly stretched out his other hand and plunged it into his thick hair, like stabbing a fish in the water with a fork. He spread his fingers, grabbed something, and pulled it down, raising a chin-like outline from his hair.
She stared in disbelief as Xue Chao brushed aside her hair and saw clearly that the ghost's head wasn't a human head, but an oval-shaped sandbag with a photograph perfectly pasted on its surface. The right side was uneven, clearly torn from a group photo. It showed a woman in a red shirt and white shirt, smiling slightly, looking very happy.
But in the same spot on this face, there are several pits that have been etched into it over the years, making the whole photo wrinkled and full of ugly creases.
So what she just touched was...
The female ghost screamed shrilly, her hair whipping angrily as she lunged at Xue Chao. Xue Chao released her grip and stepped back, calmly saying, "The person you want to kill is your husband."
The hair that was tangling around Xue Chao stopped just in time, and she patted him blankly.
The girl realized that the photo was a wedding photo!
So the person with the surname "F" is her husband?
“After all, you don’t remember anything. If I want to fulfill your wish, I’ll have to use some extreme measures.” Xue Chao smoothed the female ghost’s long hair again and patted the ends of her hair comfortingly. “Ouija board spirit, Ouija board spirit, thank you for your answer. Please return to your place.”
The long hair flowed back into the light bulb like water flowing against the current, and the ghost's figure disappeared again. She stopped hitting the bed frame, and only the swaying window shadows and faint rustling sounds hinted at her existence.
Girl: "Isn't she a senior? She looks like an adult in the photo..."
"And it has a very vintage feel, like it belongs to the older generation," Xue Chao said. "The ghost's eyes under the table are real; that's probably your senior."
Regardless of who was who, the girl eagerly stood up: "Then let's go quickly..."
"Where's the book you borrowed from the classroom book corner?" Xue Chao searched her desk.
The girl paused, and after a moment of thought, she remembered: "Ah, it's in the table where you sign in on the fourth floor."
Xue Chao paused, then asked, "Why did you put it there?"
"I left it in the study room on the fifth floor last time. The book was quite worn out. The auntie thought someone didn't want it, so she used it to prop up the corner of the table. When I asked her, she found out that the book was mine. She said it was in the table where I signed in and told me to take it after evening study."
"Why didn't you take it? It's not there."
"...I don't know if it's there or not." The girl said cautiously, "I forgot about it when I went back to the dorm, and only remembered it when it was almost lights out. I went downstairs to check...You saw that table when you came up, right? It was sealed off, and there seemed to be something inside."
Xue Chao remained expressionless: "Your book?"
The girl whispered, "...I think it's a head."
Xue Chao nodded, indicating that "great minds think alike."
The girl was stunned: "So my book is with a head."
Xue Chao: "It's more likely that it was placed underneath."
Girl: "...No, thank you."
Xue Chao: "I'm afraid that won't work. What book?"
Girl: "What, Venice's 'The Time Machine'?"
Xue Chao: "Do you remember the content?"
Girl: "Haha, I don't remember what I ate tonight."
Xue Chao: "..."
Girl: "Oh, you can tell from the title that it's about time travel or something. What do you want this book for?"
Xue Chao didn't answer. He pushed open the door and first heard a soft meow.
The girl froze instantly.
The corridor was covered in red light, like strings of small red LED plastic bulbs hung during the Chinese New Year. The red light was so dim that it seemed to cast shadows on people and objects around them, creating a dark, almost thermal image. The world consisted of only red and black.
A black cat sat at the door of the dormitory in front, meowing twice at them, the sound echoing in the dimly lit, empty corridor.
Xue Chao had just followed when the girl grabbed him, her voice tight: "Where are you going?"
“It made us keep up.” Xue Chao thought this was obvious. She had no facial features, so he couldn’t judge her from her expression. He observed the girl’s state and asked, “Are you afraid of cats?”
"...I just find their calls a bit scary," the girl said somewhat reluctantly. "They're actually quite cute when they're not making noise."
It's better not to say this at all.
Without Xue Chao needing to persuade her, the girl adjusted herself, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's go."
"Not afraid anymore?"
"I'm scared." The girl said decisively, then looked dejected. "But if I follow it, I can't trigger the plot, right? That's how it's portrayed in TV dramas and games. I can't just stay stuck here forever."
Xue Chao was in front, with the girl walking alongside him but slightly behind. After receiving permission, she tightly gripped Xue Chao's clothes, and they followed the black cat downstairs. The other female ghost guarding the stairwell had disappeared, but after entering the fifth floor, in the blink of an eye, the cat that had been leading the way also vanished.
drop--
It made a sound like a machine starting up.
They stopped right at the entrance of the laundry room on the fifth floor. Looking inside, they saw the washing machine had its red light on and had started up by itself, wringing out water.
I don't know what they're washing, but there's a rhythmic thumping sound coming from inside.
Like something very heavy, constantly being tossed up and down.
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