I won't be your doll

Chapter 12

Seeing Zhong Lei nod, the senior continued:

"The dormitory building was eventually built, and the first batch of students moved in in the mid-2000s. These students were all transferred from high schools in remote rural areas and had no prior knowledge of this place. Even the parents of students who knew about this place did not send their children here."

Zhong Lei nodded again, his handsome face showing a look of sudden realization:

"Now I understand why there are so few people. But I've heard that our school's first batch of students all got into university!"

The senior student nodded, his small mouth splitting into a wide grin, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.

"Yes, that batch of students were originally outstanding students from the townships below. With the strict management and higher-level education here, not a single one of them remained. They all left, and even the worst ones went to regular universities, while about 60% went to key universities!"

Zhong Lei opened his mouth in surprise.

"That's incredible!"

The senior chuckled, his small eyes narrowing into slits.

"Yes, aren't you very proud of your school?"

However, the smile vanished in an instant, and the senior student regained his serious expression:

"Do you know what terrible thing is hidden behind this glory?"

Zhong Lei still had a smile on his face, but it had frozen, as if he had been startled by his senior and hadn't reacted to the change in his senior's expression.

"I...don't know..."

The senior student glanced at Zhong Lei with a serious expression:

"The newly built boys' dormitory building hasn't completely settled down yet, or rather, the fear it brings us has only just begun." The senior student took a deep breath, as if preparing for a difficult task, and continued:

"Three months after the start of the semester, a student jumped from the sixth floor of the first boys' dormitory. Because he jumped headfirst, his brains were splattered on the ground instantly. This student was the least likely to die. I once asked one of my seniors, who was also this student's roommate and close friend. He said that this student was usually in a better mood than anyone else, a typical optimist, and he didn't show any unusual behavior before his death. So it definitely wasn't a psychological problem. His academic performance had been the best in the class since the initial placement test at the beginning of the semester."

"This is just the beginning. Six months after the start of the semester, and I say this because every three months since the start of the semester, someone has jumped from the sixth floor of the first dormitory. This seems to have become a routine. The second person to die was a girl. You might be wondering why a girl would jump from a boys' dormitory. I can't answer that for you because it's still a mystery to this day. Nobody knows."

"That girl was the undisputed school beauty at the time, not someone chosen because there weren't enough applicants. Although she was from the countryside, her extraordinary beauty was such that I dare say she would have been the school beauty in any school! The reason I know so much about her beauty is because I grew up with her; she was very famous in our village. We always went to the same school, including high school, although she wasn't there when I came here."

After speaking, tears seemed to well up in the senior's eyes. Zhong Lei could also tell from the crowd that the senior's relationship with that girl seemed to be more than just ordinary. So Zhong Lei reached out and patted the senior's back.

"Senior, don't be sad. How about we don't bring up those old secrets anymore? I don't have to listen!" Although I still really want to know!

The senior waved his hand.

"It's alright. We grew up together, and this is the first time I've ever been so deeply in love with someone. I still haven't forgotten her."

The senior student coughed lightly and wiped his eye with his hand:

"Where were we? Let's continue!"

"Speaking of the sixth floor of the first dormitory building, someone died every three months."

"Oh, let me continue. This situation lasted for almost a year. The school couldn't handle the public pressure caused by so many students dying, so they ordered the sixth floor of the dormitory building to be emptied and used as storage rooms. The students were dispersed to the five floors below, which resulted in some dormitories on the lower floors housing more than a dozen people."

Chapter Five: A Sleepless Night (Part Six)

"However, this measure still couldn't change the three-month deadline. Some students still went to the sixth floor for various reasons and never returned... Among them, one student couldn't find the clothes he had hung out to dry on the balcony. He anxiously searched everywhere because they were his school uniform, which he had to wear the next day."

Suddenly, a voice reminded him to go to the sixth floor to look. Later, he realized that none of the people present could have made that voice. According to a senior student who was there, it was a woman's voice. In the boys' dormitory, and on a day when it wasn't visiting hours, how could a woman's voice be heard? However, everyone seemed to be under a spell and didn't notice anything unusual. No one stepped forward to stop them.

"So the student went to the sixth floor. A classmate who was following behind him heard him exclaim in surprise when he arrived at the sixth floor first: 'Huh!? It's really here!' Little did he know that these words would become his last words."

Zhong Lei was startled:

"How did he die?"

"He jumped from the building, just like the others before him. This man died the most unjustly, because his classmates had thrown his clothes on the sixth floor as a joke, but they never expected it would lead to his death. The students who had joked with him dropped out of school not long after."

"Phew..." The senior student let out a long sigh of relief. "That's it! That's about it." He smiled sweetly at Zhong Lei. "So, junior, how did you feel?"

Zhong Lei gradually closed his surprised mouth:

"I never expected this, I never expected this, I never expected this." He said "I never expected this" three times in a row to express his surprise.

"Hehe!" the senior chuckled.

"Do you still dare to go back to sleep for the night?"

Zhong Lei shook his head to clear his head. When he first arrived at high school, the principal personally came to check the dorms and repeatedly emphasized that there were two places on campus that were absolutely forbidden: one was the dilapidated house behind the main building, and the other was the sixth floor of the boys' dormitory. Zhong Lei remembered that he and Yu Kai, whom he had just met in the dorm, had run to the staircase between the fifth and sixth floors to see what the mystery of the sixth floor was. They discovered that one of the two stairwells leading to the sixth floor was bricked up, and the other had an iron door with a wooden sign that read "Storage." As they tried to get a closer look, an angry face rushed out from the other side of the iron door, making them both tremble.

"What are you doing?! Go back!"

Zhong Lei calmed down a little:

"Sorry, teacher, we were just curious."

"Go back! Get out!"

The two of them had no choice but to leave, feeling quite embarrassed. As they walked, they wondered what kind of teacher they were, so fierce, and even began to wonder what kind of terrible state they would be turned into in this school known for its strictness.

Soon after, the truly rigorous military training began, followed by a tense academic life. The two of them almost completely forgot about this terrifying experience. But tonight, Zhong Lei reviewed the whole thing again.

Shortly after the week's duty ended, just as the senior student had said, the story about the sixth floor of the first male dormitory building had spread throughout the entire campus.

Suddenly, the sixth floor became the talk of the town in the first dormitory building, and various opinions began to circulate. Some students wanted to transfer schools, fearing they might be the ones to jump off the building someday. Others, more daring, even wanted to go up and see what was going on. A sense of unease permeated the area for a while.

However, during this period, no one actually went to the sixth floor. Although the school administration did not want to see unrest among the students, at least no one dared to take the risk, which pleased the administration. Therefore, neither the principal nor the teachers restricted the students' discussions.

Despite this, one person dies every three months, and nothing has changed.

Chapter Five: A Sleepless Night (Part Seven)

Five

Zhong Lei dragged the shivering Liu Dong to the sixth floor. Zhong Lei's mind kept flashing back to the scene of his first time here, while he kept recalling the conversation he had with that senior a year ago.

Liu Dong was still thinking about the mysterious singing he had just heard, and he was extremely nervous.

Zhong Lei suddenly asked Liu Dong:

"Have you been staying up all night a lot lately?"

Liu Dong was taken aback:

“Yeah, what? You want to go too? Hehe…” He forced a wicked smile as he looked at Zhong Lei.

"Pshaw, I don't want to go! (Actually, quite the opposite) Where's your phone? Let me make a call!"

Liu Dong touched the pair of shorts he had hastily put on, then a regretful expression appeared on his face:

"I didn't bring it. I turned it off before bed and put it under my pillow. Should I go back and get it?"

Zhong Lei waved his hand.

"Thanks, but no need to bother!" Wasn't Liu Dong's phone confiscated by the principal? What's going on now? One of him and Yu Kai is lying to me, and Liu Dong's current behavior doesn't seem like he's lying, even though he has a habit of boasting. And Yu Kai doesn't seem to have any reason to lie to me! Zhong Lei was depressed for a while, then thought again, "Pshaw! It's just a broken phone! Why worry so much!" However, the scene of Liu Dong being hacked to death in front of him still made Zhong Lei feel like vomiting. Although the experience was bizarre and he had no clue how to solve the mystery, he let it go. Anyway, there's always a way out! Then Zhong Lei glanced at Liu Dong again and almost vomited.

Zhong Lei noticed Liu Dong's complicated expression, and Liu Dong seemed to flinch.

"Hey! What are you spacing out for! Don't stare at me like that! It's making me feel like there's something around me! It's so eerie in the dark." Liu Dong couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Hehe! It's nothing! Keep going, keep going!" Zhong Lei laughed it off, not intending to let Liu Dong know that he had already been "killed" once.

After they went up to the sixth floor and turned left, they saw the three large characters "Duty Room" posted on the door of the first dormitory room on the left.

With a mixture of helplessness and nervousness, Zhong Lei took out the key the teacher had just given him, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. Immediately, a musty smell hit him.

Two young men went inside, and Liu Dong casually closed the door behind him.

Although it was just a duty room, it was fully furnished. The original duty officer lived here; he seemed to have been recruited from a nearby rural area. He rarely came downstairs, so the students usually didn't see him.

After turning on the light, the two began to rummage through the small room to vent their anger at the teacher's severe punishment.

A framed, palm-sized photograph hung on the wall near the window. After Zhong Lei noticed it, he called Liu Dong over to take a look.

"Look! Doesn't this person look like the teacher from earlier?"

Liu Dong, smiling, approached with the cup he had just picked up. But when his eyes met the photograph, his expression slowly darkened.

“How can you say it looks like me? It’s the same person! Look at this mole!” Liu Dong pointed to the person’s chin in the photo. “I clearly remember that teacher had a mole like this! Even if two people look alike, they wouldn’t look this similar, so it’s definitely the same person!”

It turns out Liu Dong's reasoning skills are quite good! Quite convincing.

"Yes, it seems so."

"That's outrageous!"

“?”

"If he is indeed the duty officer, then why is he deducting points from our account? He even hit me just now! I really want to strangle him!"

"Wait! You don't need to strangle him, he's already dead."

"What? Don't scare me!" Liu Dong was ultimately a coward, and he gripped the cup in his hand even tighter.

"I heard the news yesterday afternoon from Li Xue when she came to visit me. She said, 'The warehouse manager on the sixth floor of your dormitory was hit and killed by a car this morning while he was going downstairs to buy something.'"

With a crisp "crack!", the cup fell to the ground and shattered.

"So he was the one who got hit by a car and died yesterday? Haha! He deserved it!"

Liu Dong was suddenly startled. Wait a minute! Who was that I just saw?!

Zhong Lei was thinking the same thing. The two looked at each other and then turned and ran towards the door at the same time!

However, no matter what he did, he couldn't open the door. Zhong Lei grabbed the doorknob and shook the door desperately, but the door remained coldly closed and didn't budge!

Chapter Six: The Return of the Dead (Part One)

One

Perhaps such things have happened for a long time, but this time, it has come on a large scale and in a very formal manner, bringing with it the warning of death...

II

Zhong Lei frantically shook the doorknob, his entire focus on the door. Ever since his visit to the dilapidated house, he had lost the patience he once so proud of. His mind was blank; only one thought remained: to open the door. He paid no attention to what was behind him, nor did he hear the voices behind him. When he felt tired, he remembered that Liu Dong had come with him, and hadn't been seen for a while! He wondered where Liu Dong had hidden himself, so he turned around to look for his young companion.