Chapter 108 Jinjiang First Launch

After hearing this, everyone around him fell silent. Shen Suifeng swallowed his saliva and said fearfully, "The two classmates who served as my wingmen were twin brothers. Their last names were both Wang. I usually called them Big Wang and Little Wang. But after returning home that day, Big Wang became very quiet. He used to be a talkative and cheerful person, but now he can barely utter a few words all day."

"I should have noticed his abnormality at the time, but I was immersed in the sadness of my failed confession and only cared about myself. I didn't pay any attention to him at all, which led to the tragedy that followed."

"Da Wang and Xiao Wang and I are both majoring in oil painting. Da Wang has not been to class since we returned. We are all playful people, so it is normal for him not to go to class. About two weeks passed like this. Da Wang always kept himself in the dormitory. Until three days ago, when we were about to take the final exam, Da Wang still did not show up. Xiao Wang was anxious and ran back to the dormitory to call him."

"Xiao Wang never came back after he left. After the exam, I heard the news from my classmates - Xiao Wang was dead. He was killed by Da Wang. Just after Xiao Wang entered the dormitory, Da Wang lifted the quilt, rushed towards him with a scalpel, and cut his throat directly! I heard that the dormitory was full of blood!"

"That day, an ambulance and police cars arrived. The ambulance took away Xiao Wang's body, and the police arrested Da Wang. Their parents cried heartbreakingly at the scene, and the school temporarily sealed off that floor."

"This matter has spread like wildfire in our school. Everyone is very confused as to why two brothers who have always had a good relationship would suddenly turn their knives against each other. There are rumors that Da Wang refused to explain anything after he went to prison. No matter how the police interrogated him, he didn't say a word. So the police will probably treat this as an ordinary family conflict. If nothing unexpected happens, Da Wang will be sentenced to death."

Shen Suifeng said sadly: "But I know that's not the case! I always play with them, and they both have good personalities. The king's temperament changed drastically after he went to that secret room. I suspect... I suspect he was possessed by a ghost, so he killed people!"

Bai Mian nodded: "That's possible. How is that girl now?"

Shen Suifeng: "Xiaoya? After the incident, I tried to contact Xiaoya in various ways, but she didn't reply. I don't know if she is in trouble too. Master, think about it. There are four of us. Now one is missing, one is dead, and one is about to be sentenced to death. I am the only one left. It will be my turn next. Master, what do you think I should do?!"

Shen Suifeng said as he opened his schoolbag, took out a small bag of grey powder and held it in front of Bai Mian: "Oh, yes, there is also this, Master, this is the ashes in the urn that day. During the ceremony that day, I was extra careful and secretly grabbed a handful. Afterwards, I asked someone to do a test - these are actually real ashes! So I am 100% sure that there is definitely something wrong with this store!"

After hearing this, some of the ladies nearby began to vomit. Shen Suifeng's hands holding the bag were also shaking slightly. Bai Mian took the bag of ashes, took a look at it, and then asked him:

"After this happened, did you go back to that store?"

"I did look for it, of course I did!" Shen Suifeng said angrily, "but the store had closed down. It was completely deserted overnight. I was so angry that I found two friends, pried open the store door at night and sneaked in to see if I could find any clues. The secret room was still the same as before, but the urn on the table was gone. I searched several times but didn't find anything useful."

"Finally, my friend reminded me that there was a camera with a light on above the front desk. We were afraid of being photographed, so we took something and smashed the camera down. After smashing it down, I found a memory card inside the camera. I thought I didn't want to come here in vain, so I took the memory card away."

"After returning to the dormitory, I played the contents of the memory card on my computer and made a surprising discovery——"

Shen Suifeng took out his cell phone and played a video for Bai Mian. This video was recorded on the day when they went to play the escape room. The four people walked into the escape room happily. After about an hour and a half, they walked out in a mess, looking very scared.

However, unlike when they came here, there was one more person in the surveillance footage this time, and when they walked out of the secret room, they became five people.

The people around were all shocked and broke out in cold sweats.

"That person is her!" Shen Suifeng pointed at a girl in a white dress in the lower left corner. "She doesn't belong to us. She is an extra person who came here later. She is a ghost that we summoned!"

Bai Mian signaled Shen Suifeng to calm down, and then continued to watch. After walking out of the secret room, they received the pass gifts at the front desk. Then Shen Suifeng knelt on one knee holding a large bunch of roses and confessed his love to Xiaoya. Xiaoya covered her face shyly, and the king and the little king cheered on the side. At this time, the girl in the white dress slowly circled behind the king. She stuck close to the king from behind and moved her body towards him. The two figures gradually merged into one, and in the blink of an eye, they became four people again.

An old lady nearby screamed out in shock: "This-this is a ghost possessing me!"

"That's right," Bai Mian said seriously, "This is a complete process of seizing a body. The ritual of summoning ghosts that you performed in the secret room is also real. It seems that there is another master behind this matter. You really summoned a ghost."

Shen Suifeng had already prepared himself mentally. He said regretfully, "I know, this time it's all our fault. We provoked something we shouldn't have provoked. If I can get through this, I will never go to those scary places again. Master, I can only count on you now. Please save me! And, and Xiaoya, if she's still alive, please save her too!"

Bai Mian didn't say much. He grabbed Shen Suifeng's pulse, placed two fingers on it, and felt it quietly for a moment.

Shen Suifeng was so nervous that he didn't even dare to breathe.

After a while, Bai Mian opened his eyes, and Shen Suifeng asked anxiously: "Master, how is it?"

Bai Mian said slowly, "It's similar to what we guessed before. The ritual of summoning the Yin is real, but I also saw some extra things. These things may surprise you."

"What?" Shen Suifeng asked immediately.

Bai Mian blinked: "First, let's talk about Xiaoya. What is her full name?"

Shen Suifeng was stunned: "Qin Xiaoya, why are you asking this?"

"What major is she studying? Which dormitory is she living in?" Bai Mian asked again.

Shen Suifeng said without thinking: "Physics Department, Girls' Dormitory Qingzhuyuan 602, Master, you don't need to ask, I remember all her information clearly, after all, she is the person I like, how can I not be attentive?"

Bai Mian smiled slightly: "Are you sure that the information you have is true?"

Shen Suifeng hesitated: "Master, what do you mean? She told me all this in person. Could it be that...she lied to me?"

Bai Mian no longer tried to be tactful and directly told the truth: "She is the 'bait'. She appeared beside you just to lure you into the game."

"Bait... trap..." Shen Suifeng repeated these words, finding it hard to accept the reality. "How could this be? She is also a victim! She also drank the ashes. What good does this do for her?"

"Why did you choose this store? And under whose influence did you decide to hold the ceremony?" Bai Mian prompted further.

"It was Xiaoya who wanted to come to this store," Shen Suifeng had to admit. "This store is newly opened, not very popular, and in a remote location. I don't understand why Xiaoya insisted on coming here, but she liked it, so I agreed. As for the ceremony, although Xiaoya didn't say it explicitly, she kept looking at me expectantly, and I didn't want to disappoint her. It can be said that I performed the ceremony because of her."

"But," Shen Suifeng still didn't believe it, "this doesn't mean she's a bad person. You haven't met Xiaoya. She's really cute. She has big round eyes, a doll-like haircut, often wears miniskirts, and likes to jump when she walks. Anyone who sees her will like her."

Shen Suifeng said this with a happy smile on his face. Seeing that he was still obsessed, Bai Mian said directly: "Wake up, Qin Xiaoya doesn't exist at all!"

Shen Suifeng was confused: "Master, what are you talking about? She doesn't exist at all. Is it a ghost that has been with me all this time?"

Bai Mian: "You can try now to see if you can still find her."

Shen Suifeng was a little embarrassed: "She has already stopped replying to my messages, which clearly shows that she doesn't want to have any contact with me anymore. It's not good for me to keep harassing her, right?"

Bai Mian said patiently: "Even if you can't contact her, you can still try to find evidence of her existence. If you can't find it, you should at least believe me, right?"

After being prompted by Bai Mian, Shen Suifeng finally understood. He nodded and said, "That makes sense. We are from the same university. I can ask my classmates about her current situation. I remember that I happen to know a girl from the Physics Department. What's her name?"

Shen Suifeng flipped through the list for a while, found a few of his friends in the Physics Department, and then called them one by one. As the calls came one by one, Shen Suifeng's face became more and more ugly.

"Hey, Lao Hu, aren't you a study committee member? I want to ask, how did Qin Xiaoya from your department do in the exam... What? There is no such person as Qin Xiaoya? Then, then I must have made a mistake, sorry for disturbing you!"

"Weiwei, are you in the dormitory? Can you help me find Qin Xiaoya in Room 602? I want to order some takeout for her... There's no one named Qin Xiaoya in Room 602? Okay, okay, thank you very much, I'll treat you to dinner when I get back!"

…

Bai Mian crossed his arms and said, "Well, now you believe it, right?"

Shen Suifeng lowered his head in pain: "Master, you are right, Qin Xiaoya does not exist at all. Her name is not Qin Xiaoya, and she does not study physics. She is not a student of our school at all!"

Shen Suifeng recalled the first time he met Qin Xiaoya. He played exceptionally well on the basketball court that day and won applause from the audience. A girl came bouncing over to him and handed him a bottle of mineral water. He was so stunned by the girl that he was so obsessed with pursuing her that he completely forgot to drink the water.

"She is so young and full of energy. She looks like a college student. I never doubted her at all," Shen Suifeng hugged his head. "I am stupid. If I had found someone I know to confirm her identity earlier, I wouldn't have fallen into this trap!"

Bai Mian waved his hands: "It's not entirely your fault. After all, Qin Xiaoya is your favorite type, so of course you will be attracted to her."

Shen Suifeng looked confused: "But how could the person who set up the scheme know what type of person I like?"

Bai Mian: "Do you remember that you filled out a 'College Student Aesthetic Survey' half a year ago? It was in that questionnaire that you wrote about your own criteria for choosing a partner. You said you liked girls with short hair and big eyes. So they found this actor based on your aesthetic."

Shen Suifeng was very sad: "It turns out that she is just an actress. I really thought I was lucky in love... How is she now?"

Bai Mian: "She has completed the work entrusted by her employer and has now taken the money and left. Don't worry, she is not affected by the ghost. However, you will never see her again."

Shen Suifeng was very disappointed: "No wonder she never replied to my messages. I am such a fool. I was fooled by someone. Who was fooling me? Who spent so much effort to hire actors to perform this big show?"

Bai Mian pointed to the piece of paper with the ritual of summoning the Yin written on it:

"Who else could it be? The answer is right in front of us."

Shen Suifeng suddenly understood: "Yes, the person who did this could only be the owner of the escape room shop. The shop was newly opened and renovated not long ago, and now it has closed down in a hurry. It has only been open for less than a month. He didn't open this shop for money at all. The purpose of inducing us to perform the ritual of summoning ghosts!" Bai Mian nodded, and then Shen Suifeng asked in confusion: "But I still don't understand, what good is this for the shop owner? He summoned a ghost for no reason and made us brothers suffer. He has nothing to do!"

Bai Mian slowly unfolded a fan: "Have you ever heard of earthbound spirits?"

Shen Suifeng: "Of course I've heard of it. A land-bound spirit refers to a person who has died and cannot be reborn due to various reasons. His soul is bound and can only wander around in the same place every day. Master, are we attracting land-bound spirits?"

Bai Mian waved his fan and said, "Yes, there is actually a second half to the legend of the earthbound spirit. If the earthbound spirit can find a substitute to be trapped in the same place for itself, then the original earthbound spirit can be freed."

After explaining all this, Bai Mian finally told the truth: "The ghost you summoned is the boss's daughter. Many years ago, the boss's daughter Qianqian died there and became a ghost. The boss hired a master to communicate with Qianqian through dreams and learned about his daughter's predicament. In order to free his daughter, he opened this escape room shop and summoned a group of young people to perform a ghost summoning ceremony."

"So that's how it is..." Shen Suifeng found it hard to accept. "His daughter was looking for a stand-in, and we were the ones he chose. Because he was afraid that I would give up the game, he hired an actress to lure me. I didn't realize it at all, and I fell into his trap step by step. I'm such a fool!"

He slammed his head, blaming himself: "It's me who harmed Big King and Little King. They were supposed to be my wingmen, but unfortunately they were chosen by the female ghost and lost their lives. It's me who harmed them!"

As he was talking, he suddenly thought of a question: "Master, how is the real king now?"

Bai Mian: "After Qianqian succeeded in taking possession of the body, the king's soul was squeezed out of his body. Now his soul is wandering in that secret room, becoming a new earthbound spirit. Unless someone replaces him, he will never be able to get out."

Shen Suifeng felt his scalp tingling. He bit his fingers in fear, digesting what Bai Mian had just said.

The lame man who was boiling medicine far away couldn't help but stepped forward to defend the injustice: "Young man, don't blame yourself too much. This is not your fault. You just made an appointment with friends to go out and play. Who could have thought that something like this would happen? If you want to blame someone, blame the boss. Damn it, he really lacks virtue!"

"It's pitiful that his daughter is trapped there, but he can't let an innocent person die. Others also have parents and were raised with great difficulty. How could he have the heart to do this?"

Bai Mian suddenly raised his head and looked at Que Ge: "How do you know that Da Wang and Xiao Wang are innocent?"