Geister im Medizinstudium Horror-Akten

Kapitel 7

I gently cupped her face in my hands. Her eyes were still brimming with glistening tears, yet a hazy smile had already spread across her cheeks. I was about to hesitate for a moment when suddenly, the torrent of emotion overwhelmed my reason, and I pulled her close, pressing my lips to hers in a deep kiss. Her lips were warm and supple, her tongue raw yet sweet, filled with the fragrance of a young girl.

Hundreds of millions of years later, I released her, took a step back, closed my eyes, and awaited the sixth slap in my life. After a long while, nothing happened. I opened my eyes and found her still standing there, seemingly lost in thought. I couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

The fruit fly gazed at me intently: "So this is what kissing is like... I want more." She threw herself into my arms again, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and kissing me. My heart began to race, and the demons and angels in my mind clashed fiercely, a chaotic and indistinguishable battle. The girl in my arms seemed to be getting warmer, until she was burning hot...

The devil won. He routed the angel, sending him fleeing in disarray, and in the process, set a great fire. I unbuttoned the first button of her shirt; she didn't resist, but quietly awaited that moment.

…………

…………

…………

"How could this be? You...you..." After the fire burned out, I discovered something and, holding the fruit fly, I could barely speak.

The fruit fly's face was still flushed, as if she was still lost in the afterglow. Hearing my surprised tone, she lazily raised her eyes: "What? What's wrong?"

I stared at my jeans, now stained red, and stammered, "You...you still...but...Xu...he said...that..."

The fruit fly lazily closed its eyes and continued to cling tightly to me: "My most effective way of fighting back against men is to slap them. Two days ago in the woods, he was stunned when I slapped him, and I took the opportunity to run away."

Something seemed to be stuck in my throat, and it took me a while to finally utter a sentence: "About today... are you sure you didn't choose the wrong person?"

The fruit fly didn't even open its eyes, but a slight smile bloomed on its lips: "Even if I made the wrong choice, I won't regret it."

My heart was filled with a strange mix of emotions, feelings I had never experienced before in my life. I didn't say anything more, I just hugged her tighter.

On a bright, sunny morning, the dark clouds had completely disappeared from the sky. I brought the fruit fly to her dormitory door: "Take a good rest." She blushed and didn't say anything, then suddenly gave me a quick kiss and ran away like the wind, leaving me standing alone at the dormitory door, stunned.

I draped my shirt over my shoulders and strolled back, feeling the most carefree I'd felt in months. Unfortunately, this good mood didn't last long. I'd barely entered the dorm building when I bumped into my roommate, who was rushing out in a panic. I grabbed his shoulder: "Hey, what's wrong? What happened?"

The boss looked me up and down with a strange expression for a long time before saying, "You don't know anything? I just got a call. Xu Beijie is dead."

Chapter Five: Crossroads

edge

Xu Beijie was indeed dead. His body lay at the entrance of the highway for a long time until a driver returning from another city in the early morning happened to see his mangled limbs through the window. Half of his bones were shattered, and his cold, stiff face was filled with fear and resentment in his two bell-like eyes. His bare feet were covered in mud and blood.

Although the police quickly classified the incident as a "hit-and-run case," I was still summoned by the district police station as the last person to have contact with the deceased before the incident. The police officers who had just taken my statement a few days prior surrounded me, asking various questions, which I answered methodically. In general, my account of the events was as follows: Suspecting Xu Beijie was the mastermind behind my recent beating, Xu and I left my dormitory and first went to the botanical garden to talk until late at night, then continued our conversation in classroom 407 of the main building. Later, due to a disagreement and differing views on "love," Xu Beijie became enraged and left the classroom, disappearing without a trace. Afterwards, I remained in the classroom until dawn before returning to my dormitory.

No one asked me if I had assaulted Xu Beijie. His stomach and intestines, along with his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, had long since rotted into an indistinguishable mess—besides, I always knew my limits when hitting people. Xu Beijie's soaked clothes and mud- and blood-stained feet indicated that he had been running wildly in the rain for a long time, and didn't even realize his feet were cut. As for the teeth mark on his calf, according to the police's statement while I was in the hospital, it became one of the pieces of evidence that Xu Beijie was the mastermind behind the assault. No matter how the police tried to find a breakthrough with me, I gritted my teeth and refused to let go—you think you can make me a "heroic college student" who's been in the newspapers? You think you can twist me into Sun Zhigang? Not so easy.

All the evidence was in my favor, especially since there was no blood on my military knife, making it impossible to determine whether I had committed any harmful physical assault or injury against Xu. So, after a day of being tossed around from the security guard to the morgue, I returned home triumphantly. The police didn't bother me much afterward, focusing their efforts on arresting the driver, whom I considered to be doing a public service.

As luck would have it, the forensic doctor who performed the autopsy on Xu Beijie was the same one who examined Chen Wenwen. After being absolved of all responsibility, I asked her about the autopsy results for Chen Wenwen. She told me with certainty that the deceased was a little over two months pregnant, a fact she remembered vividly and was absolutely certain of.

The series of unnatural deaths created widespread panic at school, with all sorts of detailed rumors flying around. Naturally, I was at the center of the storm. Someone even swore they saw Xu Beijie and me sparring on the main road that night, and that I kicked Xu several meters into the air and then used my "Foshan Shadowless Kick" to keep kicking him until he died. Of course, few normal people would believe such nonsense, but it was true that most people suspected me. My roommates were also looking at me strangely. I noticed they were always whispering behind my back, but when I noticed, they pretended nothing was wrong.

Having just gone through an emotional ordeal, I didn't want to dwell on it; wasting my breath and breath on it would be unwise. So, a few days later, one evening, I forcibly dragged everyone to a small restaurant. They watched as I downed a bottle of beer in one gulp, let out a loud burp, and, with a slurred tongue, asked, "Brothers, I brought you all here to ask you a few questions: 1. Do you think I would kill someone? 2. If I did kill someone, would you support me? 3. Do you believe in anything incredible in this world?"

All the students eating in the restaurant turned their attention to our table. I gave them a cold, sweeping look, and most of them pretended nothing had happened and continued eating. Just then, the preoccupied leader spoke up first: "Let me answer. First, yes; second, I support it; third, I know it exists, but I don't want to know. If you've experienced something like this, I believe you'll know how to handle yourself."

“I agree with the boss,” Ding Pao continued. Tian Momo scratched his head, looked at me, and said, “My opinion is: First, yes; second, I don’t support it, you can find other ways to resolve it; third, I’m too lazy to think about it. If you’ve encountered this before but don’t want to tell us, we won’t force you. Anyway, we’re all brothers, and since you did it, you must have your reasons. In short, I’m on your side.”

I turned my gaze to Blind Liu, who had remained silent the whole time. Seeing my expression, a glint flashed in his large glasses: "Why should I care about you? — If there's anything I can do, I'll help you; if I can't, I won't. You can go your own way."

That night, we drank too much again. After downing a glass of baijiu, Blind Liu, unusually, insisted I tell him my love story with Fruit Fly, threatening to cry if I didn't. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I'm sure their brains weren't much sharper than mine at that moment. I remember, fueled by alcohol, I also went on a very disrespectful rant about the sordid things Zheng Tuo and Xu Beijie had done in a small restaurant, wishing those two still-warm corpses a terrible fate. After that drinking session, even more people at school deliberately avoided me, but the rumors about me murdering Xu Beijie gradually disappeared.

Fruit Fly has had a tough time lately. After Xu Beijie died, she faced discrimination in the dormitory, and rumors about her were rampant. But she managed to pull through, which surprised me greatly—something unimaginable before. To prevent her from being further attacked, we tacitly maintained a distance, avoiding contact during public breaks and only meeting discreetly during our free time to exchange information.

"We're completely out of clues now." I lay lazily on a patch of grass in the botanical garden, chewing on a blade of grass. A fruit fly sat beside me, hugging its legs and staring blankly into space. The origins of Chen Wenwen's child are now like a mystery, shrouding us in mystery and leaving us utterly unable to discern any useful leads.

I lay there for a while, then sat up. "Alright then, let's analyze this carefully: the people who had close contact with Chen Wenwen are Zheng Tuo, Xu Beijie, and Li Zhengliang, as well as an evening newspaper editor. Now Zheng Tuo and Xu Beijie are both dead, and based on the timeline, they couldn't possibly be the child's father. The remaining person is..." At this point, I picked up a twig and idly drew circles on the ground. "This conclusion is ridiculous, it's unbelievable. Could it be... that vanished evening newspaper editor?"

"Don't be silly, even judging from the timeline, it can't be him," the fruit fly said coldly. She snatched the branch from my hand and dug a small hole in the ground: "You once told me not to be deceived by a person's appearance, but now you've forgotten that? Or is it because you're too kind-hearted to believe that he's the prime suspect?"

I was speechless. I truly couldn't believe that Teacher Li was the culprit behind Chen Wenwen's tragic suicide, because during my conversations with him, I could see the sincerity in his eyes; I believed he was a genuinely passionate person. However… then again, other people are hell, and the more impossible something seems, the greater the chance of it happening. So, what should I do now?

"Hey." A fruit fly playfully tapped my head with a branch. "Stop thinking nonsense, you won't figure it out. Class is starting." I replied listlessly, "No. I'm not going. I'm so annoyed, I don't want to see anyone."

"Then I'm leaving. This is the last data analysis session, you two will be doing the presentations." Fruit Fly chuckled as he stood up, then ignored me and walked away.

I was seething with hatred, yet utterly helpless. Chen Wenwen, if you are watching over me from heaven, please guide me, okay? I prayed silently.

cause and effect

June weather is always strange. One moment it's a warm world, and the next, the clear sky is filled with swirling, sticky black clouds, as if they were the sky's illegitimate children, eager to reclaim their right to return to the earth. When I stumbled into 407, the room was still sparsely populated. Although everyone knew the importance of this class, given the special nature of this classroom and Ergui's usual behavior, many people hadn't arrived early to secure seats, nor did they have much hope of passing this subject. We all knew what kind of guy Ergui was, just as we all knew this classroom was an ominous place, and that this school was actually cheating us out of our money and youth.

Five minutes before the bell rang, people slowly filed in, finding their seats. I sat in the first row by the window, a pen dangling from my mouth, listlessly looking around. The boy in the second-to-last row, nicknamed "Fruit Fly," shook his pen at me, then quickly lowered his head to silently flip through his book. I turned my neck back, staring at the dim view outside the window, my mind a jumbled mess.

The door slammed open, and Wang Ergui rushed to the podium, slamming his thick textbook and handouts onto the table. He saw me leaning listlessly against the window, gave a cold laugh, and then turned to the class, raising his famously loud voice: "Classmates, today is the last class of data statistics. I will give you a review of the key points and explain the issues. But before that, I need to announce a list."

I picked at my ear, barely managing to listen. The list included me, Ding Pao, and a dozen or so others. I was wondering what the list was for when Ergui slammed the paper with the names on it onto the table and roared, "All of you students have missed classes to varying degrees this semester due to reasons beyond your control. I hereby declare that you have lost your eligibility to take the exam. This class is meaningless to you now, and you can leave!"

The wind howled outside the window, and a thick, yellowish haze filled the air. Power lines whistled sharply in the air, as if they might snap at any moment. The classroom windows struggled to hold on against the violent wind, rattling incessantly. Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation rush to my head and jumped to my feet. "Teacher Wang," I cried, "I haven't missed a single data statistics class. Why was my exam eligibility revoked?"

Wang Ergui looked down at me with a smug expression, as if he were watching a bug wriggling in his palm: "Oh, so it's you. I might mistake others, but just recently you missed two classes, and you still have the nerve to say you were wronged?"

I glared at Wang Ergui, looking at his smug and ugly face: "Teacher Wang, please don't forget that I strained my thigh that day, and I went to your office myself to ask for leave. You personally approved my leave, are you going to deny it in broad daylight?"

The classroom was deathly silent; all eyes were on me and Wang Ergui. Wang Ergui gave a slightly mocking sneer, slowly walking down from the podium to my side. "Oh, I see. How strange, why don't I remember?" His tone suddenly turned stern. "Everyone in this school knows I absolutely do not allow students to miss my classes, no matter the reason! You say you asked for leave, then I ask you, where is your leave slip? Where is your doctor's diagnosis from that day?"

I froze. That day, Ergui had only verbally granted me leave; there was no written proof whatsoever. And the doctor's diagnosis, which could serve as proof, was lying on Ergui's desk—I'd forgotten to take it. In fact, I had no proof whatsoever that I'd lied that day; the situation was extremely unfavorable for me. Sweat slowly trickled down my forehead, sliding past my eyebrows and nose: "You…!"

"What do you mean, 'you'? How dare you talk to me like that? You've always been disrespectful to your teachers and do all sorts of crooked things! How many things have happened to you this semester? A car accident, being beaten by a group of people—do you want to die? In my opinion, you deserve it! You deserve it!" Wang Ergui, seeing an opportunity, practically grabbed my ear and shouted. I glanced at his face and noticed that his agitated and ugly demeanor bore a striking resemblance to Xu Beijie's, so I couldn't help but sneer softly: "A clown..."

"What did you say? What did you say? You dare say it again?" Wang Ergui howled, jumping up and down like a castrated frog. I didn't want to look at him anymore, so I abruptly pulled the chair away from me, grabbed my schoolbag, and walked towards the door. Behind me, several other people also stood up and began packing their things.

"Guo Yingying! What are you doing?" Ergui's shout made me shudder. I turned around and saw Guo Yingying calmly stuffing everything into her schoolbag and walking towards me. She walked up to Wang Ergui, smiled gently, and said, "Teacher Wang, I was hospitalized for a month and missed your class, so I'm not qualified to take the exam. Goodbye." After saying that, she smiled at me, slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and said, "Let's go."

Suddenly, the classroom erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers. Students stood up, shouting wildly, their cries almost drowning out the wind outside. I saw Tian Momo practically standing on her stool, waving her arms and yelling, "K-bro, awesome! Fruit Fly, awesome!"

"What...what do you want?" Ergui panicked, desperately trying to suppress his cries, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree—completely futile. In desperation, his hateful gaze suddenly fixed on my face, as if I were the root of all evil in the world: "You! You little bastard, I really don't know how your parents raised you! And you!" He pointed viciously at Fruit Fly: "At such a young age, you're already learning bad habits, hanging out with this kind of scum! If I remember correctly, you even spent the night with him outside, didn't you? Shameless, shameless!"

"Wang Ergui!" I roared. "You're picking on me, but you don't need to drag my parents into this, and it has nothing to do with Guo Yingying!" My brain was filled with rage. I threw my schoolbag aside and glared at him. "You're a teacher, yet you wear this mask in vain! You can deprive students of their right to take exams, but you can never deprive them of their right to speak!" A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I continued to shout at him, "Don't think I don't know about the despicable things you've done! If you're an upright person, why are you afraid to teach in this classroom? Why do you feel terrified every time you come here? Why did you use me to ask Secretary Li to change classrooms, but you yourself are too afraid to show your face?"

Wang Ergui's face suddenly turned ashen, like someone whose face had never seen arterial blood flow. His shrill voice seemed to have been torn apart by his vocal cords: "You...you're talking nonsense! You're spouting lies! What am I afraid of? I'm not afraid of anything at all! I've never been afraid of anything!" By the end, his voice was so hoarse it was inhuman, as piercing as a chainsaw cutting through metal.

"Bang—crash!" No one could have predicted that at that moment, the windows of classroom 407 shattered all at once with a deafening crash. A gust of wind, carrying shards of glass, dirt, and sand, instantly swept through the room, filling the small space with the piercing screams of boys and girls. I was hit on the head by a flying pebble and nearly fell; Fruit Fly huddled tightly behind me, struggling to control his breathing. All the fluorescent lights were smashed to pieces, fragments of the tubes scattering like mercury rain over people's heads.

In the dim, dusty haze, I could vaguely see Wang Ergui standing there, motionless, his face and body riddled with shards of glass. Half his cheek was covered in blood, and his entire body was covered in filthy mud and sand. He seemed oblivious to his predicament, his eyes wide and bulging like balloons, muttering, "Don't do this...it's my fault...don't do this...I was wrong...please forgive me...please forgive me..."

What happened next is something I will never forget. I swear on the lives of myself and the fruit fly: we witnessed something terrifying that defies explanation by science and the laws of nature. Amidst the flying sand and stones, crush marks suddenly appeared on Wang Ergui's neck; the bluish-purple stripes clearly resembled human hands. Ergui forced out fragmented sounds from his trachea, his hands frantically flailing in the air like a drowning man, a clear sign of impending death. His feet slowly left the ground, his body moving against the sandstorm sweeping into the classroom towards the window.

Wang Ergui clutched his neck in agony, kicking his legs desperately, trying to break free from the unknown, terrifying force. But those mysterious hands were clearly irresistible. I watched helplessly as Ergui was dragged to the windowsill, half his body already hanging out of the window. He no longer cared about his neck, gripping the two broken window panes with both hands, still trying to avoid being thrown out—but his fate was no longer his own at this moment.

As Wang Ergui let out a long, agonizing scream, I was suddenly struck hard on the back of the head. My vision went from bright to dark, then gradually sank into bottomless darkness, with only Wang Ergui's heart-wrenching scream echoing in my mind.

cycle

The sandstorm suddenly disappeared. I sat blankly on the floor of classroom 407, panting heavily. When I looked up again, I saw a girl standing by the window, gazing at the blood-red sky. Her long skirt fluttered in the wind, and her disheveled hair drew messy arcs in the air. The girl lowered her head, murmuring something, then placed her hands on the windowsill, and slowly climbed onto the edge with one long, snow-white leg.

"No! Don't do this!" I screamed, desperately trying to get up to stop her. The girl seemed to hear my cries, remaining in that position as she turned back to give me a sorrowful smile. Perhaps from the force of her movements, a crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, and her head slumped limply against her back. Suddenly, her face was covered in veins of blood, staining her delicate dress crimson. The gruesome blood crawled across the ground, spreading to my side, as if alive, climbing up my skin, veins, and nerves until it completely enveloped my heart and brain. I felt an immense pressure, even my lungs stopped expanding. Stars danced before my eyes, then dazzling flowers bloomed. Darkness closed in on me, and my tongue trembled uncontrollably in my mouth: "This isn't real...this isn't real..."

Then, with my last bit of strength, I bit my lower lip hard. It didn't hurt! It was just an illusion…

"K! You fucking let go of my mouth right now!" I heard the boss's furious shout, a sound that shattered my nightmare. I opened my eyes and felt something stuck in my mouth, salty blood flowing down my tongue. As soon as I released my teeth, the boss swiftly pulled his hand back, revealing the bloody teeth marks on it. He glared at me angrily: "You fucking did this on purpose, didn't you? Stopping your breathing first, then biting me so hard, what have I ever done to you?"

I looked around in a daze: "Where am I? Where am I? Where is everyone? Where is Wang Ergui?"

“We’re still in 407,” Fruit Fly said softly, kneeling beside me and cradling my head. I struggled to sit up and looked around. My roommates stood silently in a circle around me. The wind had stopped sometime earlier, but the dark clouds still churned in the sky. The classroom was still a mess, and some people were searching for their belongings. My gaze wandered around, finally settling on the window directly opposite me: it was wide open as if it had been smashed from the inside, and the two outer windows were gone.

"So..." I didn't finish my sentence. Tian Momo leaned closer: "You were unconscious just now, so you don't know anything, right? A sudden gust of wind shattered all the windows, and we couldn't see anything. At first, we lay on the ground to avoid the flying things, and then we heard Ergui scream... We thought you pushed him down, but when we ran to the front, we found that you had been unconscious for a long time. You suddenly stopped breathing, which scared us all. The boss was about to clean the dirt or blood clots out of your mouth so he could give you CPR, and then you woke up."

"And you bit me so hard." The eldest brother said angrily, took out tissues from his pocket to wrap his wound, and threw a stack of them at me. "Your bleeding has stopped. Wipe the blood off your head, let me see how big the cut is."

Besides the gash on my forehead, I also had a huge lump on the back of my head, which Fruit Fly said was from a door flapping open in the strong wind. "Where's Ergui?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. "He's lying downstairs. Don't bother looking, he's probably beyond saving," Tian Momo replied sullenly.

I struggled to my feet and, with Fruit Fly's help, stumbled towards the stairs, the others following silently behind. Reaching the top of the stairs, I looked down and felt a wave of dizziness wash over me; I nearly collapsed. The eldest brother and Blind Liu rushed to support me and dragged me towards the elevator.

The elevator in the main building was old and dilapidated; it took a lot of effort to go down just four floors. After some trouble, we finally arrived at the building and saw the appalling scene. The eldest brother turned his head away first, Tian Momo bent over and started gagging, and I raised a hand to block the fruit flies' view, quietly observing this tragic sight.

The two demons crashed onto the flowerbed where Chen Wenwen had once splattered blood. Their heads were split open in the middle, their eyes bulging from their sockets, a glaring bloodstain cleaving their contorted faces in two. The surrounding hedges and low walls were covered in red and white splatter. Their necks were twisted into a strange, contorted shape, causing their heads to slump against the edge of the flowerbed, their bodies pressed against it in a sitting position. Beneath them, a deep, dark red stain had stopped expanding, shimmering with eerie ripples. Beside them, two shattered window frames lay scattered, wood chips strewn everywhere. In the distance, an ambulance approached with its blinding blue lights, its wailing siren sending a shiver down one's spine.

"Is it over?" I asked the fruit fly, turning back to her. She didn't answer immediately, but instead grabbed my hand and pressed it against her face. After a long while, she softly said, "Maybe."

Aside from me and Fruit Fly, it seems no one else saw how the two devils fell from the building; at most, they heard a scream. Therefore, the numerous eyewitnesses present proved that the two devils were not pushed down the building by external force—like me—especially since, according to my roommates, I was unconscious at the time. I think only Fruit Fly and I probably know the truth of all this.

"You mean that's Chen Wenwen?" I asked that evening as we left the hospital. Fruit Fly tightened her grip on my hand noticeably. She blinked. "I...I don't know. Or...I'm not sure."

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

“I did see it. But I have a feeling something’s not right,” the fruit fly replied. She didn’t say anything more until we parted.

The school administration, driven to the brink of collapse by the endless stream of bizarre events, was utterly helpless in this matter. Wang Ergui's death was ultimately ruled an accidental fall, and classroom 407 was sealed off. No one dared to take over our data collection, and two days later, the department head announced that everyone in our course had passed without examination. The only one who cheered was Ding Pao, because he hadn't attended a single class. I quietly let out a long sigh: since the unbelievable thing had already happened, I was finally free…

"I've thought of a problem." The next day, as I was engrossed in reading a comic book in the woods, feeling relaxed, the fruit fly next to me suddenly said.

"What?" I looked at her face and saw a very serious expression. Fruit Fly grabbed my shoulder and said, word by word, "According to the calculation, Chen Wenwen was pregnant two months before she died, but Er Gui should have been at home celebrating the Spring Festival at that time."

My mind went blank again. Doesn't this mean the two ghosts became vengeful spirits? "Then why did he... the hands we saw... how do we explain all this?"

"I don't know. But I feel this isn't over yet." Fruit Fly's eyes were clear as water. "I want to know, what exactly happened to Chen Wenwen in the two months before this? What was the real reason she committed suicide?"

testimony

Chen Wenwen's home is in a small, remote town in the province. Going to her hometown to investigate is obviously impossible; we can only focus on people who know her well. However, the series of tragedies in classroom 407 have completely terrified these people, and everyone is avoiding the topic altogether. Moreover, a hasty move would only make the situation worse. So, after some thought, I started by investigating those close to me.

"Blind Liu." That day, when it was just me and Blind Liu left in the dormitory, I called out to him, "I have something to ask you."

Blind Liu's body tensed suddenly. He slowly turned around: "K, stop messing around. Are you going to ask me about 407 again? Forget it, I don't know as much as you do, just let me go. You're possessed, go see a doctor and get it checked out."

Blind Liu's answer was exactly what I expected. I calmly continued, "It's not about 407. I just heard that you and Chen Wenwen are from the same hometown, and I wanted to ask you about her past."

After a moment of silence, Blind Liu said coldly, "I don't remember her either. She's dead, and I don't want to think about it."

I didn't want to give up: "Just one thing. I told you about my encounter with the fruit fly that day, so why are you keeping it a secret from me? Besides, I was just curious and simply asking, which didn't hurt you at all."

The large, gleaming glasses on Blind Liu's face made it impossible for me to guess what he was thinking. After a long while, he finally sighed, "Alright, I really can't persuade you otherwise. Actually, she and I were classmates in high school."

Although Xia Liu was always taciturn, he was always very direct and straightforward when he spoke, which was one of the key points that distinguished him from ordinary bookworms. Xia Liu recalled carefully and slowly said, "In high school, she was a very cheerful and lively girl, just like when she first entered college. But at the first class reunion after entering college, her expression started to become somewhat melancholy. Before, when we were all together, she could always talk and laugh, but that time she left very early. Later, I asked her, but she wouldn't tell me why."

"And then what happened?" I asked with interest. Blind Liu thought for a moment, then continued, "She didn't attend the class reunion during the winter break of her sophomore year. Another high school classmate and I went to her house, but she wouldn't even come out, saying she wasn't feeling well and really didn't want to go. We didn't want to force her. Then this winter..." Blind Liu's glasses suddenly flashed. He seemed to have suddenly realized something and said, "You still suspect the cause of Chen Wenwen's death, don't you?"

I was taken aback: "Why do you say that?"

“Because I sensed you’d been secretly following this all along. My high school classmates were all heartbroken by her death… but everyone felt she wasn’t the type to give up her life so easily. So, I’ve been wondering about this too, though I haven’t said anything,” Blind Liu said hurriedly. He moistened his lips, as if making a decision, and continued, “You know how small our hometown is, we see each other all the time, and outsiders rarely come here. But around the Spring Festival, I happened to see an outsider at the train station in my hometown. He was with Chen Wenwen, and their behavior seemed to go beyond what's acceptable. They didn’t notice me, they were just talking about their own things. I was shocked, because logically, this person shouldn’t be here at all…”

This was perhaps the last thing I wanted to hear, even though it was clearly irrefutable evidence. I ran out of the dormitory, my head buzzing. I truly couldn't believe that the kind, warm, and energetic person I knew was completely the same person who had so cruelly driven Chen Wenwen to the windowsill of room 407. The sky remained overcast, with a few lonely birds occasionally flapping their wings and gliding overhead. I don't know how long I ran before I finally collapsed, exhausted, onto a tree by the roadside, panting heavily. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but the result was simply unacceptable; the contrast was too stark. I caught my breath for a while, and a nameless rage slowly rose from the depths of my being: all that so-called kindness, friendliness, warmth, and peace was a complete facade—this person painstakingly hid among the crowd, putting on a respectable and beloved persona, yet committed such a despicable act, and shamelessly made their disguise so convincing! I can endure humiliation, but I cannot tolerate being deceived!

Thinking of this, I gritted my teeth and slammed my fist into the tree trunk, then strode back: Li Zhengliang, I misjudged you! I will make you get what you deserve!

The dormitory was completely empty; I had no idea where Blind Liu had gone. I collapsed onto my bed, trying to calm my anger, when the phone on the wall rang at the most inopportune moment. I ripped the phone down: "Hello? Who is it?"

"Come into the woods, I have something to show you," the fruit fly said succinctly before disappearing. Without thinking, I immediately ran out...

The fruit fly held a crumpled piece of white paper in her slightly trembling hand, on which were messy yet beautiful handwriting. She waited until my breathing had completely calmed down before handing the paper to me: "I found this in one of Chen Wenwen's old books. Take a look."