Geisteswissenschaftliche Fakultät

Kapitel 45

Please answer me!!

Miaomiao Miaomiao 22:13:08

Are you still there? Talk to me!! Please...please talk to me.

Information about the mysterious person with a blank name 22:18:02

There was a thunderstorm and a power outage just now. Anyway, if you do as I say, you still have a chance to live; otherwise, you will surely die. That's all I have to say.

Miaomiao Miaomiao 22:18:09

Please tell me more, okay? Tell me, if I do what you say, will I be able to survive?

Information about the mysterious person with a blank name 22:18:28

I really can't tell you much, and I don't want to die myself...

Miaomiao Miaomiao 22:18:33

I understand, I will, I will definitely do it!

The long string of exclamation marks at the end perfectly illustrates how panicked Ye Miao was. For a man in his twenties to panic like that over just a few words speaks volumes about the hardships he endured that day. But…

"It feels a bit strange," Luo Lin said after reviewing the records several times.

"You noticed it too?" Qing Tong nodded and said, "The tone of the speaker is slightly different from the person you were talking to before."

"Well, strictly speaking, I think the tone of the mysterious person who appeared the second time was more similar to that of the mysterious person in the first half of my conversation, and was relatively mild. However, the tone of the mysterious person in the second half of my conversation was obviously much harsher."

So what do you think?

"Either it's a case of dual personality disorder, or this ID is being used by two or more people."

“BINGO.” Qing Tong exaggeratedly made a gesture as if she had hit the target instantly.

"By the way, you still haven't told me how you found out about Chengnan University?"

"That thunderstorm and power outage," Qing Tong said with a sly smile. "The thunderstorm on the evening of June 10th started at 10 p.m. and ended at 10:36 p.m., lasting a total of 36 minutes. During that time, the only university that experienced a power outage was Chengnan University. As for why, I can't tell you right now. And coincidentally, Ye Miao has a girlfriend who also studies at Chengnan University. She was on QQ at the time and made an appointment with Ye Miao to meet at a coffee shop the next day."

A flash of lightning streaked through Luo Lin's mind—could it be that girl?

"Is Ye Miao's girlfriend named... Zhang Anqi?"

This time, it was Qing Tong's turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"That's right, that's the name, Zhang Anqi."

As if by some unseen force, Luo Lin was dragged into it. At this moment, Luo Lin once again clutched his head in distress, realizing his tragic fate.

(vii) A Fragmented Soul

The matter was being handled by two people, or more precisely, by a person and a fox, proceeding simultaneously from two directions.

Luo Lin glanced at her watch. It was 3:10 PM when a few students walked out of the building housing the Information Center of Chengnan University.

To serve those who need to do course design, the professional libraries on the first and second floors of the Chengnan University Information Center building have remained partially open recently. Many students emerging from the building were carrying thick stacks of textbooks, complaining about how heavy the reference books were or how complicated the projects were, as they walked past Luo Lin. Others, like Zhang Anqi, came empty-handed from the internet cafe on the fifth floor of the Information Center.

Luo Lin looked at Zhang Anqi, who appeared particularly lonely in the sparse crowd, and couldn't think of a way to strike up a conversation with her. He had never been good at dealing with girls, especially since this was a purposeful approach.

Two days ago, after leaving the information center, he and Qing Tong quickly broke up. Before the breakup, the task was assigned to Qing Tong to continue tracking and investigating the unfamiliar ID and to pay attention to whether other similar cases had occurred or were happening. This part of the work would inevitably involve dealing with the police and other forces. Luo Lin was obviously not good at this, so his assigned task was to make contact with Zhang Anqi. The purpose was simple: for the soul that followed her—the deceased Ye Miao.

From the moment Luo Lin first saw Ye Miao, he felt that this soul was very strange. Generally speaking, humans who die of natural causes do not linger in the mortal realm, so it was obvious that Ye Miao did not fall into the category of natural death. However, even as an unnatural death, Ye Miao's state was still incomprehensible to Luo Lin. Ye Miao's almost tangible existence made his figure exceptionally clear in Luo Lin's eyes, which was why Luo Lin stared at Zhang Anqi so intently when they first met—he spent a long time trying to determine whether the person standing behind Zhang Anqi was a human or a ghost.

This defies common sense! When it comes to ghosts, if you ask any passerby, the characteristics they can usually describe are that the ghost's feet don't touch the ground, its form is ethereal, its face is pale and almost transparent, its face may look like it's about to die, and it's afraid of sunlight, etc. Ye Miao, aside from appearing somewhat transparent, basically doesn't fit any of these characteristics. He follows Zhang Anqi everywhere, and even as a "person," he seems relatively normal, but he is definitely not a person anymore! No one can walk on the street unseen by others; without a shadow, without a sound, silently following—this is Ye Miao's current state. However, conversely, if we were to say that Ye Miao is a soul or even a ghost, he possesses aspects that don't resemble a soul or a ghost. Although he follows Zhang Anqi, he seems to have never had the desire to communicate with her.

Generally, the soul of the deceased only appears near something when it is fixated on it. And when that thing manifests as a person, the soul will almost always try various methods to contact that person. However, Ye Miao clearly hasn't communicated with Zhang Anqi; otherwise, Zhang Anqi wouldn't be acting this way, waiting at the coffee shop every Sunday, constantly sending messages and calling Ye Miao's phone, and spending a fixed amount of time online every day waiting for him to appear… However, Luo Lin believes that Ye Miao's reluctance to communicate with Zhang Anqi isn't due to personal choice, because although he sees Ye Miao with Zhang Anqi, he appears dazed and confused. His state was vacant; his eyes were empty and lifeless, he only knew how to follow, as if he had no thoughts, no independent consciousness. This was not something a complete soul could exhibit. Luo Lin knew of the souls of some traffic accident victims who, because they died so suddenly, often didn't even know they were no longer human. In more serious accidents, the physical damage might also harm the soul due to reasons beyond human explanation, leading to things like memory loss and forgetting one's identity. Perhaps Ye Miao's state was somewhat similar, but…

What puzzled Luo Lin was that if Ye Miao died in an accident, why hadn't his body been discovered yet? And not only Ye Miao, but where were the other missing persons—the white-collar worker, the high school girl, the hoodlum? Were they following someone or something like Ye Miao, or was Ye Miao the only one who ended up in this state? From Ye Miao's second conversation with the mysterious person, it's clear that Ye Miao ultimately sent the message. Qing Tong had confirmed this from Ye Miao's QQ records. Although he seemed to feel guilty and used a less frequently used ID to send the message to twenty-one strangers, it's conceivable that he probably used methods like IP spoofing and VPNs to conceal his identity. But he still did it. Since he did as requested, why did Ye Miao still die?

"That's good. As long as you do as I say, you can survive, perhaps..."

Clearly, the problem lies in that "perhaps." If even following the instructions doesn't guarantee survival, then is the other party's goal simply to curse others to death online? If so, have those who received Ye Miao's message died? And what is this mysterious person's motive? A random massacre instigated by the internet? Although Luo Lin personally experienced the power of this curse, if it were truly so effective, why is the internet still so calm? Furthermore, if we assume it's selective killing, what are its selection criteria?

Right before Luo Lin's eyes, Zhang Anqi walked past, looking lost and dejected, completely oblivious to his presence. Although she had once generously rewarded Luo Lin with a glass of iced orange juice, Zhang Anqi clearly didn't remember his face at all. Or rather, Luo Lin's appearance meant nothing to Zhang Anqi. Regardless, after thinking for a moment, Luo Lin chased after her, and deliberately patted Zhang Anqi on the shoulder from behind.

In an instant, an unpleasant sensation traveled from Luo Lin's arm directly to his brain, because his hand had passed through Ye Miao's body before reaching Zhang Anqi's shoulder. Luo Lin was surprised. Although he knew he had a certain psychological aversion to contact with ghosts, this was the first time he had ever felt so uncomfortable passing through a spirit's body in the afternoon sunlight. Moreover, Luo Lin clearly recognized that this discomfort was not psychological, but rather stemmed from the external tactile sensation.

Ye Miao's frail body, though allowing Luo Lin's arm to pass through, also hindered him in some way. Ye Miao's body, which should have been ethereal, left a feeling in Luo Lin's hand similar to passing through a pile of sticky concrete or a thick swamp... Even the demon Liao felt this feeling, and Luo Lin could clearly sense the same feeling of disgust coming from Liao's side.

"Like dog shit!"

Luo Lin's lips twitched. Why couldn't he use some words that weren't so disgusting?

"Zhang Anqi." Trying to ignore the disgust in her heart, Luo Lin called out the other's name. Seeing that Zhang Anqi showed no sign of turning around, Luo Lin simply put her hand on Zhang Anqi's shoulder, interfering with her further progress.

Zhang Anqi slowly turned around, with the kind of reaction that only someone still immersed in their own thoughts would have. Although she looked at Luo Lin, there was nothing substantial in her eyes.

“Zhang Anqi, do you remember me? We met at BlueCafe before.” Luo Lin thought for a moment, then took out a handkerchief she had prepared beforehand from her pocket—Zhang Anqi’s handkerchief. “This is your handkerchief.”

Zhang Anqi silently took the handkerchief, as if no one was standing in front of her. She simply completed the action of taking the handkerchief and then putting it in her pocket.

"Can...can I talk to you?" Seeing that Zhang Anqi was about to leave, Luo Lin had no choice but to stop her again. Some students passed by and glanced at them. One boy even whistled, seemingly assuming that Luo Lin's behavior was just trying to pick up girls.

"Don't you remember me? I'm Luo Lin, I...I once mentioned you as your boyfriend..."

“Ah Miao…” Upon hearing Luo Lin mention Ye Miao, Zhang Anqi’s expression changed visibly. “Ah Miao, I saw Ah Miao!! I really saw Ah Miao!!” As she spoke, she suddenly grabbed Luo Lin’s arms and gripped him tightly, her slender fingers seeming to dig deep into Luo Lin’s flesh.

"You...you saw him?" Frowning and enduring the pain, Luo Lin asked in confusion, "You could see him?"

As Luo Lin said this, he intentionally looked at the soul following behind Zhang Anqi. If Ye Miao had come into contact with Zhang Anqi, he wouldn't be able to maintain his current state; his blank, empty eyes were no different from before. Ye Miao behind Zhang Anqi showed no reaction to the outside world.

"Ah Miao isn't dead! Ah Miao is coming back soon! Believe me, he's really coming back! I... I'm going to find him!"

"Wait!" Luo Lin forcefully pulled Zhang Anqi back, who seemed to have gone into a frenzy. She looked like she was possessed; the lively and well-behaved girl she had met the first time was nowhere to be seen. "Ye Miao! Where did you see Ye Miao?!"

"You don't believe me, do you?" Zhang Anqi suddenly stopped struggling, forcefully shaking off Luo Lin's hand, pointing her finger at his nose and yelling, "You don't believe me, do you?! You all think A-Miao is dead, don't you? I'm telling you, he's not dead, he's alive and well!"

"Calm down! I didn't say that... Okay, I did say Ye Miao was dead, but that was..."

"Facts?! What a load of rubbish!" Zhang Anqi sneered. "What good would it do you if A-Miao died?"

“Okay…” Luo Lin paused. Ye Miao’s death did him no good at all. He even hoped to avoid dealing with these people altogether. But now he was stuck on a sinking ship, falling into the same trap as Ye Miao. If it weren’t for Qing Tong, he might have become the new number one missing person…

Thinking of Qing Tong, Luo Lin couldn't help but feel worried again. He didn't know how Qing Tong had survived the third day after accepting the crisis transferred from him, but judging from Qing Tong's tired voice on the phone yesterday, something unusual must have happened on that third night. Of course, he knew very well that Qing Tong was capable; otherwise, Liao wouldn't have been so wary of her.

Although he was tricked into sharing a body with Luo Lin by Luo Lin's grandfather, Luo Sifeng, and then subjected to severe restrictions, forcing Liao to share a body with Luo Lin to protect him, great demons have their principles. Liao said that although he hated Luo Sifeng and the Luo family to death, and that if he were given the chance to regain his freedom, the first thing he would do was tear Luo Lin to shreds and then massacre the Luo family, he still faithfully protected Luo Lin until then. Therefore, despite not saying it, Luo Lin knew that Liao was always wary of Qing Tong, who possessed considerable cultivation.

"A monster is a monster, and it's only natural for monsters to eat people." Countless times, while savoring the taste of the junk food he'd just eaten—potato chips, jelly, and the like—Ryo brazenly told himself, "So, kid, don't think too highly of the world. If I find an opportunity..."

At times like this, Luo Lin would clutch her head and wail in exasperation: "I know, I know, tear me to pieces first and then massacre the Luo family, sparing no one, women, children, or the elderly, right?"

"Hmph, at least you have some self-awareness."

So, another reason why Luo Lin can't find a girlfriend is... a man who's always nagging, talking to himself, and gloomy is already scary enough, let alone one who likes to buy snacks like a girl, and besides liking to eat snacks, he also likes to say things that make people's hearts skip a beat...

At first, Luo Lin wasn't unfazed by Liao's "what if," but on one hand, he gradually got used to it, and on the other hand, he had enough confidence in his grandfather Luo Sifeng's abilities—this day would never come. How could his grandfather possibly allow a monster to slaughter his family? But the thought that if this "what if" didn't happen, it meant he would have to endure a fate tied to a loud and boisterous monster for the rest of his life made Luo Lin want to bang his head against the wall...

“Ah Miao showed up today, and he even talked to me a lot!” Zhang Anqi seemed to suddenly regain her composure while Luo Lin was wallowing in self-pity, and she started to smile. It was this smile that made Luo Lin feel a little cold.

"In the afternoon sunlight, a girl followed by a ghost smiled at him. Without a doubt, at that moment, the chill that welled up in his heart was enough to tell him what terrible situation he was about to face..."

Luo Lin frowned again: "When did you become a supernatural novelist?"

The monster in my head chuckled smugly: "I'm thinking of finding a side hustle, so I'm trying out various things."

Luo Lin was too lazy to pay attention to that guy anymore. A supernatural novel written by a monster... No, no, no, this joke wasn't funny. The world was so big, there must be a lot of monsters. He really couldn't be sure that Liao's idea was unique.

"Where exactly did you see Ye Miao? Did he call you or come looking for you?"

Seeing Luo Lin's nervous expression, Zhang Anqi smiled smugly: "He talked to me on QQ!"

"…………"

"When and what did you say?!" Luo Lin suddenly realized, and this time it was his turn to grab Zhang Anqi's arm. Unlike Luo Lin, Zhang Anqi cried out, "Ouch!" and shook off his hand, then ran far away towards the lawn, like a free rabbit running in the sunlight…

"Lin, I've just thought of another fragment..."

"Don't say it!"

The attempts to stop it had no effect; two voices, one after the other, shouted in his mind.

"Brother XX, come and chase me!"

"Little sister XX, wait for me~~~"

"Oh ho ...

Luo Lin made up his mind: he was going to bang his head against a wall!

(VIII) Qing Tong Disappears

It was evening when Luo Lin came out of the information center. Unable to bring himself to chase after Zhang Anqi on the sunny grass, he opted to go directly to the information center to retrieve Zhang Anqi's records. He was just trying his luck, but to his surprise, the same male intern teacher who had greeted him and Qing Tong that day was on duty. Even more fortunately, Zhang Anqi's records had been saved.

In fact, the moment the intern teacher saw Luo Lin walk in, he showed an expression that was probably only seen on the face of a survivor who had been stranded on a deserted island for more than ten years after a shipwreck and had seen a ship pass by. He was excited, curious, and also had a bit of longing and excitement to try his hand at it!

Clearly, for this young male teacher, who was forced to work a monotonous job for a meager salary, the daily tasks of swiping cards and collecting money, and the occasional computer maintenance and repairs, were nothing compared to the excitement of this "hacking incident." So, without Luo Lin needing to present forged documents or say much, the teacher readily pulled up the internet user registration form for the past two days and showed it to him. With boundless enthusiasm, he told Luo Lin that, to cooperate with the police, he had secretly disabled the network monitoring software the school had installed on the computers for system security. This software, besides preventing viruses, also prevented students' chat logs and cookies from being saved. When he said "secretly," the teacher glanced around. Although there were only a handful of students online in the information center at the time, he still lowered his voice to show his sincerity and earnestly declared that he was a computer science graduate and might be able to help Luo Lin; he told Luo Lin to just ask if he needed anything.

"Uh, okay, thank you." Luo Lin, who was almost oblivious to social niceties, gave the male teacher the best response he could think of after all his efforts—simply thanking him. After that, when he realized he might need to use the computer in the information center and made a request, Luo Lin could only smile bitterly at the male teacher's immediate expression of disappointment and sudden coldness.

Flipping through the list in his hand, which clearly recorded a batch of numbers and the information of the cardholders to which those numbers belonged, it was obvious that after Qing Tong's investigation last time, the male teacher already knew roughly what kind of information they needed, so this time the list was organized particularly clearly.

“Zhang Anqi, Class 3, Political Science…” Luo Lin successfully found Zhang Anqi’s online history using the information she had gathered yesterday about her major. The time was from 1:40 PM to 2:59 PM, a total of one hour and nineteen minutes. According to Qing Tong’s information, Luo Lin knew that Zhang Anqi had a habit of spending a fixed amount of time online every day, which had started before Ye Miao disappeared.

Ye Miao, a programmer at a PC game company in the city, often works overtime, which means his dates with Zhang Anqi are frequently subject to last-minute changes. Especially during the later testing and bug fixing phase before a game's release, working through the night is common. So, compared to their rare face-to-face dates, the couple often communicates online.

It's truly remarkable! After reviewing the information, even Luo Lin, who lacked experience in dealing with girls, felt a sense of admiration for Zhang Anqi! Many girls would hesitate to date a boyfriend like Ye Miao, who was always busy with work and rarely had time to spend with his girlfriend. Yet, Zhang Anqi had stayed with him for over two years without complaint... There's further evidence to support this: Last summer, Zhang Anqi was hospitalized with acute appendicitis. Since her parents weren't around, her roommate took her to the hospital and called Ye Miao to inform him of the situation. However, upon receiving the news of his girlfriend's illness, Ye Miao openly claimed he couldn't get to the hospital to be with her, citing work as the reason. In the end, Zhang Anqi spent the most difficult time alone in the hospital until her condition stabilized a few days later, when Ye Miao finally arrived.

"How could someone have such a boyfriend? We really feel sorry for Anqi!"

Regarding Zhang Anqi's boyfriend, most of Zhang Anqi's classmates and friends who were familiar with their situation expressed extreme dissatisfaction, a fact repeatedly confirmed by Luo Lin's investigation throughout the day yesterday. No matter how casually Luo Lin inquired about the situation from people around Zhang Anqi under various guises, the conclusion was always the same: almost no one gave a positive evaluation of Ye Miao! On the contrary, comments such as stubborn, unromantic, cold-blooded, inhuman, and unkind were everywhere. In short, almost everyone believed that Zhang Anqi's liking Ye Miao was a complete waste of talent, because "that Ye Miao, apart from being good-looking, is nothing but a scoundrel."

However, Zhang Anqi liked Ye Miao. Clearly, it was precisely because of this liking that she was so distraught over his disappearance, even to the point of being in this state. So, to be honest, before Luo Lin opened Zhang Anqi's QQ history, he had suspected that her claim of meeting Ye Miao online was merely a hallucination caused by a girl who had suddenly lost her boyfriend and was excessively missing him. After all, Zhang Anqi's current state was practically indicative of a mental breakdown.

That said, Luo Lin wasn't exactly a computer expert, and while Liao was a demon, demonic powers weren't necessarily effective against mechanical or electronic devices. So, if we're being realistic, Luo Lin's trip to the information center to check Zhang Anqi's records was rather reckless. Of course, Luo Lin's initial plan was actually to ask the person sitting next to Zhang Anqi if they'd noticed anything, but coincidentally, Zhang Anqi was sitting in the far corner of the computer room, and according to the records, the computers to her left and behind her were unused while she was online.

After thinking for a while, Luo Lin figured asking the male teacher for help might cause unnecessary trouble, so he came up with a rather clumsy method. He opened the QQ chat window, found Zhang Anqi's QQ number in the drop-down menu (Qing Tong's profile also included Zhang Anqi's QQ number), and then clicked the password retrieval option. A few seconds later, a webpage popped up. Luo Lin glanced at Zhang Anqi's password protection question: Who is my favorite person? After thinking for a moment, he entered "Ye Miao," then checked the box to send the password to a newly set email address. In the next step, he entered his own email address and Zhang Anqi's ID number as verification information. As for the default email address set by Zhang Anqi, Luo Lin glanced at the information in his hand and entered it. The system responded quickly, and the message was sent successfully. Looking at the webpage showing the email was sent successfully, Luo Lin sighed. So this is how you steal accounts, although this method doesn't sound as sophisticated as brute-force hacking techniques…

The email arrived quickly, and a few minutes later, Luo Lin, feeling a bit guilty like a novice criminal, logged into Zhang Anqi's QQ account in stealth mode.

Many avatars on Zhang Anqi's QQ list were lit up, but none of them were Luo Lin's target. Scrolling down the drop-down menu, Luo Lin found Ye Miao's grayed-out avatar in a private group at the bottom, marked "Currently offline." Indeed, how could someone who had disappeared still be online? However, just in case, even though he knew it was a bit foolish, Luo Lin still opened the chat window and sent a message to Ye Miao. After waiting for a while and still not receiving a reply, Luo Lin calmly opened Zhang Anqi's chat history, though he himself didn't know why he felt relieved by not receiving a reply from that ID.

However, a few seconds later, Luo Lin's gaze froze on the screen.

Date: 200X-07-14

Angel爱淼 13:45:04

Amiao, are you there?