Chapter 80 [VIP]
Jiang Zhuochen, wearing a mask, sat in a milk tea shop opposite the gate of the No. 1 Middle School. His hot milk tea was almost empty. He was aimlessly wondering if the surroundings were too quiet. Why hadn't he seen many customers after sitting there for so long?
He turned on his phone screen for what felt like the umpteenth time, and just as he was about to lose his patience, there was finally movement at the school gate across the street. A large wave of people then surged towards the shops on both sides with a speed he hadn't anticipated.
It's no exaggeration to say that he never craved food this much when he was starving before.
With more people around, more eyes were drawn to him.
Although half of his face was covered, judging from his hairstyle and clothing, he looked to be someone of similar age.
The only visible feature is a pair of almond-shaped eyes that are deep yet gentle, giving the illusion that the other person is intently watching you even when you make eye contact unintentionally.
These intentional or unintentional probings were impossible to ignore. He lowered his eyes, stood up, and walked out without hesitation.
As soon as he pushed open the door, he bumped into two people who were rushing inside. Jiang Zhuochen clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Are you being chased by ghosts? Why are you running so fast?"
"ah?!"
The two were shocked and turned to look behind them.
Oh, Jiang Zhuochen forgot, didn't they only come to him because they saw a ghost?
"There's nothing here." He replied as he walked to the side, making room for the students who came later.
"Oh, that scared me to death." Chen Sheng patted his chest hard. "I thought that ghost didn't like playing games anymore."
“Yes,” Jiang Zhuochen scoffed, “I don’t like playing games, but I like playing with you.”
Chen Sheng choked up, following behind Jiang Zhuochen with a pitiful expression. "Brother Jiang, why are you so angry? Have you been waiting for us for a long time?"
Chen Sheng stood on the left, while Wu Duo ran to the right, chattering as he explained, "Sorry, we thought you'd be coming over close to the end of the school term. We only remembered you didn't go to school after we received your message, and didn't know we can't go out before school is over..."
The volume kept getting lower and lower, like someone who had done something wrong and was feeling guilty.
"I also know that boarding students are not allowed to leave the school after school. If it weren't for Friday today, I would have made a wasted trip."
Thanks to these two, Jiang Zhuochen, having nothing better to do, searched for contemporary school education regulations and learned quite a bit of information.
"No, no, no!" Chen Sheng quickly waved his hand, "We are all day students, we can definitely come out to pick you up."
“And Friday is perfect, we don’t have to go to evening self-study.” Wu Duo’s eyes gleamed. “Perfect for us to pull off a big heist! I’ve called all those possessed classmates over for you.”
"..." Jiang Zhuochen stopped and looked them over suspiciously. "You didn't reveal my identity, did you?"
"No, no!" The two shook their heads in a copy-paste manner.
"We just said that a friend of ours wanted to participate, and he wanted to come and see for himself," Wu Duo explained without thinking.
"Hmm." Jiang Zhuochen withdrew his gaze.
The two breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Sheng, like a good buddy, hooked his arm around Jiang Zhuochen's neck and said casually, "Come on, Brother Jiang, I'll treat you to dinner. You'll have the energy to work if you're full."
After Jiang Zhuochen finished eating with them, Chen Sheng, as if on cue, took a school uniform out of his bag and put it on him. Taking advantage of the large number of people coming and going at the school gate, they walked in openly.
They made their way to the fifth floor of the boys' dormitory. They bought two beds in one room so they could make do with whatever they could because they were too lazy to go home.
Chen Sheng said he would wait here for the others to arrive, so Jiang Zhuochen idly observed the layout of the place.
It was actually a four-person room, but the two beds opposite were unoccupied and there was not much clutter, so the whole room seemed much more spacious.
It wasn't until dark that the other three boys gradually arrived.
Jiang Zhuochen scanned the three boys' faces one by one. The one with the most severe symptoms looked haggard, with a smile that looked more like a grimace. The symptoms then decreased in that order.
However, judging from his appearance alone, there was nothing particularly suspicious. At most, one could tell that the nightmares of the past few days had ravaged him beyond recognition.
"You guys play this once a day?" Jiang Zhuochen asked. "You know there's a problem, yet you still dare to play?"
The boys looked at each other, speechless with frustration.
"No, Brother Jiang," Chen Sheng interrupted, a little guilty, "At first they thought it was a nightmare. We thought it couldn't be that effective, so we tried it a few more times..."
"If you want to die, just say so. Why go to all this trouble?" Jiang Zhuochen sighed.
He sat on the edge of the bed and listened as the others recounted the whole story.
It all started last Thursday night when a few of them were bored and one of them came across a blog post about folk customs and strange tales. One of the comments included a guide to playing a horror game.
On a whim, they returned to their dormitory and started playing the game according to the rules. The chosen person bowed four times to the southwest as instructed and silently recited a spell.
They waited for a while, but nothing happened, so they scoffed, dusted themselves off, and went back to sleep.
Unexpectedly, after that, the boy who was chosen started having nightmares every day. In his dreams, a child kept laughing, staring at him with big, dark eyes that were so big they made his hair stand on end. The child slowly climbed onto him and reached out to ask him for food.
After dreaming about it for two consecutive days, the boy started to become paranoid during the day. Finally, Sunday evening study session arrived, and he quickly told others about it.
No one believed him, but Chen Sheng and Wu Duo had witnessed it firsthand, so they were wary and suggested playing it a couple more times. Without exception, everyone ended up like the first boy.
The two were shocked and quickly contacted Jiang Zhuochen. However, after three or four days of relentless searching and even visiting the Taoist temple, they finally managed to get in touch with him today.
"Have you tried making offerings to it?" Jiang Zhuochen asked.
"I tried," the first boy to suffer said, scratching his head. "But I don't know what it wants... I've put a bunch of them at home and a bunch in my dorm, but it still bothers me! I... I can't take it anymore!"
Jiang Zhuochen had a headache. "What's the point of offering sacrifices if you don't confess?"
"Huh? I have to bring it out again?" the boy asked, puzzled. "But it can even come to me in my dreams."
"So it only looks for you in your dreams?" Jiang Zhuochen retorted. "You don't encounter it at other times either."
...That seems to make sense, and the boy became even more frustrated.
“Brother Jiang,” another bespectacled boy licked his lips, “Aren’t you scared? It’s really terrifying. I have nightmares every day, and I can’t wake up.”
"It's nothing," Jiang Zhuochen smiled slightly. "I've been looking for inspiration lately, maybe a little scare will give me some."
Upon hearing this, the others assumed he was an art student and were no longer surprised by the strange ideas of these art students.
"You're really bold," the boy chuckled dryly.
Jiang Zhuochen turned his head towards Chen Sheng and Wu Duo: "Where do you guys usually play games?"
"The top floor," they both answered in unison.
Is it really that hot to go to the top floor? Jiang Zhuochen was at a loss for words, not quite understanding what modern teenagers were thinking.
When the time was almost up, the group slowly walked up to the top floor, intending to make Jiang Zhuochen lose as previously agreed.
Jiang Zhuochen and the others formed a circle, each holding a glass of water, with a small mirror fixed behind them, and an old-fashioned red candle placed in the middle.
After doing all this, everyone looked at each other, then Chen Sheng stepped forward to light the candles and returned to his original position.
Jiang Zhuochen frowned inwardly, sensing something was amiss. It wasn't until the next moment, after he closed his eyes and chanted the summoning incantation along with them, that he realized what was happening.
"The moonlight sways, the candlelight shines, lonely child, come and see! The candy wrappers are sparkling, the toys are bouncing, a friend from afar is coming, happy child loves excitement. Let's play together, shall we? Shall we?"
They didn't bring any of the food or toys mentioned in the spell. If they really attracted a ghost, it's no wonder they asked for offerings.
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone opened their eyes, picked up their water glasses and slowly poured water down their sides. Once the water had spread, they retreated behind the mirror and waited quietly.
Jiang Zhuochen's position was chosen after observing the angle of the moon's tilt for a long time. In addition, the water in his cup was twice as much as others, so a puddle of water naturally accumulated where he stood, successfully making the mirror reflect the light in the water.
He stepped forward, bowed four times towards the southwest, and began to silently pray.
"Shadows fade with dust, objects leave behind traces. Now, let us use candles as our guide and mirrors as our reflections. Passersby, if you have any thoughts to share, please let us reveal a glimpse of them."
"Finished reading?" Chen Sheng peered out from behind.
Jiang Zhuochen put his hands in his pockets and hummed in agreement.
"Can we go back now?" Wu Duo asked. After all, nothing had happened to them these past few times, so he figured they should wait until they got back to sleep before that ghost bothered them.
"You can go back first," Jiang Zhuochen said calmly. "I'll wait a bit longer."
The boys didn't recognize Jiang Zhuochen and wanted to persuade him to leave with them, but Chen Sheng and Wu Duo knew each other's identities, so they tacitly understood each other and started to cover for each other.
Jiang Zhuochen stayed alone on the top floor for a short while before the two people who had left returned quietly pushed open the iron gate and peeked out.
"hey-hey."
Jiang Zhuochen was exhausted and really wanted to crack open the two men's heads to see what was inside. But at least this time he had his master backing him up, so he wasn't worried about being unable to defeat them both.
"Brother Jiang, why are you still waiting?" Wu Duo asked.
Jiang Zhuochen took out a handful of chocolates from his pocket. He had just casually taken them from Xu Xing's office drawer before leaving home earlier that day, and he hadn't expected them to come in so handy.
"Could it be that I brought offerings?"
The two belatedly realized that despite reciting the incantation so many times, they hadn't even considered that their preparations were insufficient!
Not long after the chocolate was taken out, the temperature on the rooftop suddenly dropped sharply in the middle of the night.
The three of them shuddered. Jiang Zhuochen rubbed the back of his hand that was offering sacrifices and looked toward the place where they had held the ceremony.
The candle's faint, warm light had gone out at some point, and in the thickening fog, a small, shadowy figure gradually emerged, accompanied by the clear yet chilling laughter of children, reaching everyone's ears.
Chen Sheng and Wu Duo almost instinctively hid behind Jiang Zhuochen, tightly gripping his sleeves, making 'hoarse' sounds, whether from the cold or from fear.
"They're here...they're really here!" Chen Sheng secretly opened one eye and scanned the unclear surroundings.
The only purpose of these two useless snacks was that when they leaned in from the left and right, they helped Jiang Zhuochen block some of the cold air, making him less cold.
He turned his head and threatened in a sinister tone, "Speak again, and I'll put the tribute in your hands."
Chen Sheng immediately fell silent.
The illusory figure in the distance materialized and appeared. He looked to be only five or six years old, wearing slightly worn clothes, and his fingers were even licking a lollipop in a rather convincing manner.
Those eyes, so black they had no whites at all, stared intently at Jiang Zhuochen for a moment before settling on the chocolates in his palm.
"Brother," the little devil's voice was high-pitched, sounding no different from that of an ordinary child. "You finally brought me candy."
A note from the author:
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