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Cursed Diary Sparks Panic on Campus: Fourth Campus Author: Chen Ruisheng

Every medical school has a place where the morgue and dissection room meet – that's where the morgue and dissection room are located. In our college, the area where the morgue and dissection room are located is called the "Fourth Campus." There is only one cobblestone path leading to the Fourth Campus from the other campuses, and it is surrounded by a dense forest.

Since 1995, five students (four of whom were girls) have disappeared or died in that grove, which has been dubbed the "forbidden zone." It is said that all of them read a cursed diary and suddenly developed severe paranoia before their disappearances or deaths. The university has sealed off the grove leading to the fourth campus, requiring students to take a detour outside the university to attend anatomy classes there. However, some still risk their lives to sneak into the "forbidden zone" in an attempt to uncover the mystery…

Published by China Foreign Translation Publishing Corporation

The Fourth Campus - Reiko Maeda (1)

Weather on January 27, 1998: Cloudy; Time: 23:00

On a university campus, besides studying, there's only one thing that's eternal: the terrifying legends and tales of the supernatural. These stories circulate among students year after year, remaining a constant topic of conversation.

Every university has its own stories like this, which is not surprising, because the shadow of death always looms over the campus. If you pay attention, you'll find that almost every university has student suicides to some extent, some witnessed, and some shrouded in mystery. I tried to find the answers to these questions, but I couldn't until I experienced one myself.

You could say I was much luckier than the dead; several times, people helped me out of my predicaments. But they couldn't help themselves; they eventually joined the ranks of the dead. And because of this, I once again found myself in that thicket of thorns, once again felt the breath of death, and lived in the shadow of fear every day.

I don't know how long this situation will continue. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when my soul is struck by something again, that door to the spirit world will open to me once more. My intuition tells me that day is not far off. So I decided to write down this eerie story in time…

PART 1.

Perhaps among all university campuses, medical schools have the most numerous and terrifying rumors surrounding this type of institution. This is because medical schools all have a place where the living and the dead intersect: the morgue and the autopsy room. The story I'm about to tell takes place in such an environment.

PART 2.

Last August, when I received my acceptance letter, my heart sank. I never imagined I'd be studying a major that involves dealing with corpses all the time—forensic medicine. But I went anyway; after a year of intensive study, I had no other choice.

I never imagined that this train to school would lead me to the gates of death.

PART 3.

Almost all universities are the same; the first thing to do at the start of the semester is military training. Military training is not easy. We spend our days in drills from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The only time that is easy is the few hours after dinner until lights out. During this time, my roommates and I would stroll around the campus.

The school is divided into four campuses. Campuses one and two are the teaching areas, where all the teaching buildings are located; Campus three, which is where our dormitory is located, has three dormitory buildings on the north and south sides, as well as cultural and recreational facilities such as a library and gymnasium; Campus four is where the comprehensive laboratory building is located. After a few days, we discovered something strange: we couldn't find the way to Campus four.

A high wall separates the fourth and third campuses, with a large, old iron gate in the middle, secured by a large black padlock and a thick iron chain. Curiosity led us to frequently go there, trying to discover something.

Through the cracks in the iron gate, you can vaguely see a grove of trees inside, with a pebbled path winding its way forward. Every time I come here, I have an indescribable feeling, as if many secrets are locked behind the iron gate.

PART 4.

After seven days of hard work, military training was finally over. After the drill competition, we met up with our senior classmates from the same major. I was about to head back to my dorm when a girl called out to me. Strangely, she knew my name, even though I'd never spoken to her before. I didn't know if she'd misheard me, or if someone shared the same name.

"Are you calling me?" I asked.

"Yes." She bowed politely. "Excuse me, my name is Reiko Maeda, and I'm a '96 graduate in forensic medicine."

"ええ,さんは日本人ですか. (Is the lady Japanese?)" I asked in Japanese.

Reiko Maeda was also a little surprised, perhaps because she didn't expect me to speak Japanese. She started talking to me in Japanese, speaking very quickly, and this time, I couldn't understand her.

"I'm sorry, I've only been learning Japanese for six months..."

"Is that so?" Reiko Maeda smiled and switched to Chinese, "I have something very important to tell you, but it's not convenient to talk right now. I'll be in the reading room at 8 PM tonight."

"What important thing?" I was a little confused.

Reiko Maeda's expression suddenly turned very serious. "Yes, it's very important, so please make sure Hayashibara-kun comes." She then bowed to me again.

"Okay, 8 pm tonight." Curiosity prompted me to agree to this inexplicable appointment.

PART 5.

Back in my dorm, I collapsed onto my bed, trying to process what had just happened. I couldn't understand why this girl named Maeda Reiko, whom I didn't know at all, knew my name; and why her expression turned so serious when she mentioned that supposedly important matter.

"There's a welcome party tonight, wanna go?" Zhao Jun, who sleeps in the bunk above me, poked half his head out. I shook my head.

"Not going?" Zhao Jun clearly didn't understand why I shook my head.

I said listlessly, "I don't know."

"Go if you want, don't go if you don't want to. What do you mean by 'don't know'?" Zhao Jun seemed a little unhappy.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and Xu Zhifei, my roommate, rushed in, wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel as he asked me, "Who was that girl you were talking to on the playground just now? She didn't seem to be from our class?"

I sat up in bed and shook my head. "I don't know her either, but she said her name is Maeda Reiko, and she's a '96 graduate in forensic medicine."

Xu Zhifei, who was wiping sweat from his brow, suddenly stopped. "Japanese? Probably in the graduate program."

Zhao Jun seemed even more surprised than Xu Zhifei, jumping off his bunk. "What does she want with you?" Judging from Zhao Jun's tone, he seemed quite familiar with Maeda Reiko. But that's understandable; Zhao Jun should have been a year ahead of us, but he had to repeat a year due to illness and hospitalization, so he ended up with us.

I didn't tell him what had just happened, and just made up a few lies to evade the truth. I don't know why I lied, but luckily neither of them suspected anything.

"It's best not to have anything to do with her," Zhao Jun seemed to be advising me.

The Fourth Campus - Reiko Maeda (2)

"Why?" I asked.

Zhao Jun shrugged. "She's not an ordinary person. There's an informal group at our school called the 'Séance Society,' and Maeda Reiko is its leader."

"A séance? I've never heard of that before."

"Didn't I say it's an informal group? You'll find out soon enough. By the way, are you going to the welcome party tonight or not?"

"I don't really want to go, I'd rather rest."

Zhao Jun glanced at his watch. "Alright, Xu Zhifei and I are off. See you later."

After they left, I lay alone in bed, my mind in turmoil. Reiko Maeda's inexplicable invitation, and the séance she led, were all swirling in my head. For some reason, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

All I can do now is wait patiently, wait for night to fall, and wait to meet her in the reading room at 8 p.m. tonight. Only in this way can I resolve the doubts in my heart and escape this feeling of unease and oppression.

I lit a cigarette and began to wait for night to fall. But what awaited me?

PART 6.

As dusk fell, the sky suddenly darkened, thick, dark clouds obscuring the blue sky. A fierce wind howled, rattling the windows. Lightning and thunder followed. I looked out of my dormitory window; across the street stood an old building with a large clock hanging on it. We called it the "Clock Tower," but it was actually our school library. The reading room was on the top floor, and the other two floors housed the book collection.

The wind grew stronger and stronger; dark clouds churned above the clock tower as if to devour it.

I checked my watch; it was 5 to 8. So I sat up in bed, closed the window, grabbed an umbrella from under the table, and prepared to go to that mysterious appointment.

The dormitory building was now completely empty and unusually quiet.

I stepped out of the dormitory building; raindrops were already falling. I opened my umbrella and looked up at the clock tower—it was completely dark. "Hasn't Maeda Reiko arrived yet?" Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the top of the clock tower, and the lights came on.

PART 7.

The rain was torrential, and in just a short time, puddles formed on the ground. I checked my watch again; it was exactly 8 o'clock. I wiped the rain from my face and walked towards the ancient building.

Each of us freshmen received a "Campus Introduction" which said that the clock tower was built in the 1930s and was originally a French seminary. Later, along with the land it occupied, it was transferred to the medical school. In order to preserve its original appearance, it has not been repaired much for decades.

Stepping through the "clock tower" gate, the corridor was pitch black. I didn't even know where the light switch was, so I had to grope my way up the stairs. The building truly lived up to its name as "ancient"; even the floorboards were wooden, creaking underfoot. Reaching the top floor, I found the reading room door open, all the lights on, but it was empty. The windows were all closed, raindrops pattering against the glass, and a faint, pleasant fragrance filled the stifling air. I checked my watch: 8:05.

"Strange, she clearly told me she'd meet me at 8 o'clock, and the lights were turned on precisely at 8 o'clock. Where could she be?" I muttered to myself.

At 8:10, Reiko Maeda still hadn't appeared. "Could it be that she was never here at all? And who turned on the lights? If someone else came, where did they go?"

The reading room was large, and I stood in its center, surrounded by rows of neat, empty seats. This environment made me extremely uncomfortable. I stood motionless, hearing nothing but the patter of rain outside the window. The silence instilled unease in me. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead.

"Fool, what's there to be afraid of?" I told myself. "There's a welcome party tonight, who would come here? It must be Maeda Reiko. That faint fragrance might be her perfume, maybe she went to the restroom and will be back soon." Thinking of this, the tension in my heart eased. I walked to the bookshelf, randomly picked up a magazine, and found a chair by the window to sit down.

The magazine was very interesting; it contained articles about encounters with people from different backgrounds, and I was quickly drawn to them.

PART 8.

I don't know how much time had passed, but I changed my sitting posture and was about to read an article called "Alaya Consciousness" when I suddenly noticed that Reiko Maeda was sitting opposite me.

"Oh my god," I said, "you gave me quite a fright."

"I'm sorry," she smiled, "I startled you."

"Why didn't you say anything before coming in?"

"You were so engrossed in your book, how could I possibly wake you? Besides... that focused expression of yours was really quite amusing."

"Interesting?" I was a little annoyed.

"Honestly, I've never seen such a focused expression before."

"Your Chinese is quite good." I wanted to change the subject.

"Thank you for your compliment. My father is Chinese, and I grew up in China."

"So that's how it is."

Her eyes were full of smiles, a captivating smile, which, combined with her melodious voice, was truly enchanting.

"Is my face strange?" Reiko Maeda interrupted my thoughts.

"Ah, no... nothing." I awkwardly looked away from her face. "What did you want to see me about today?"

As soon as I finished speaking, the smile on Maeda Reiko's face vanished, and she stared at me with a nail-like gaze, making me feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Stop what you and your friends are doing. Curiosity is leading you step by step into an abyss of terror, and the seeds of fear have already been planted in your hearts. They will gradually swell, take root, and sprout with your curiosity, eventually ending your lives."

I found this nonsensical remark amusing, but I couldn't laugh, for some reason. "Why do you say that?" I asked.

She stared into my eyes. "I can see into the deepest secrets of your heart."

I finally laughed. "Saw...saw the secret in my heart?"

The Fourth Campus - Reiko Maeda (3)

"Do you find it funny?" Maeda Reiko's tone was icy.

I laughed so hard I bent over. "No...no, there's nothing funny, really...not funny at all."

"The moment you stepped into this room, you tasted fear—didn't you think, 'She's not in this room, so why is the door open and the light on?'"

Reiko Maeda's words pierced my chest like a sharp sword. I suddenly realized that what she had just said was not funny at all, but rather somewhat terrifying. I slowly raised my head; she still had the same expression, but her eyes were staring straight ahead.

"You shouldn't laugh," she said, "because it's not like you think; I wasn't around here at the time."

"Do you think I would believe that?" I asked back.

Her expression remained blank, and she said nothing more.

Once again, a silent stalemate ensued.

PART 9.

I checked my watch: 10:30.