Astrology Hall with Flesh and Blood

Chapter 18

The iron gate of the ivy-covered building was already rusted. Lonely Ox had no choice but to pour some oil into the keyhole before he could successfully insert the key. As soon as he entered, a musty smell that had been sealed for many years wafted out with the dust, and Yan Wuyue couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.

“How can anyone live in such a dilapidated house? We should find a better place,” she suggested.

Lonely Cow was busy opening the door without turning his head. "Girls are so delicate," he said, pursing his lips. "If you're so capable, go ask for another room! I've done my best!"

"Alright, let's just bear with it for now..." It was a girl named An Lin who interjected. She was usually timid and shy, but quite active online. "We'll move there after the activity center is built. What do you think?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Lonely Bull nodded vigorously. Why couldn't he talk to him like he did to An Lin? The difference in attitude was like night and day... Even when the three of them were cleaning the room, Lonely Bull rolled up his sleeves, smiling and eagerly helping An Lin, while he only nodded at Yan Wuyue. This favoritism was too obvious! Yan Wuyue was seething with resentment and silently finished her part. The three of them worked up a sweat, and by the time they finally cleaned the room spotless, it was already completely dark.

Just as Lonely Ox was about to lock the large iron gate, An Lin suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no, I forgot my bracelet!" She had taken it off while wringing out the rag to prevent the silver bracelet from tarnishing, and had forgotten to take it with her. Lonely Ox offered to go get it for her, but she politely declined. "It's just a short walk, it's fine. You guys go eat first, don't wait for me!" Thinking about it later, perhaps An Lin wasn't entirely going back to get the bracelet; perhaps she was deliberately trying to escape Lonely Ox's overly enthusiastic pestering. However, regardless of what others thought, she went alone. Yan Wuyue could never forget the image of An Lin joyfully skipping up the steps under the dim streetlights, running towards the dark, gaping stairwell that resembled a monster's mouth. Because from that day on, she never saw An Lin again.

The next morning, she was woken up by a phone call from Lonely Cow. "An Lin is missing!" he shouted in panic on the other end of the line.

“She didn’t return to her dorm last night. I called her several times, but her phone was always busy, and the voice message said ‘out of service area’!” Lonely Cow gasped. “Today I called her dorm again, and her roommate said she didn’t come back all night and didn’t go to class this morning. Something must have happened to her!”

"Could it be that something came up and she went somewhere else?" Yan Wuyue tried to comfort him. "She was perfectly fine at school, how could she just disappear for no reason? Don't be too pessimistic, let's wait and see."

However, it turned out that Yan Wuyue was the overly optimistic one. An Lin had been missing for two days, and all her classmates and friends said they hadn't seen her that night. Perhaps, Lonely Ox and Yan Wuyue were the last two people to have contact with her. Thinking about this, Lonely Ox was so frustrated he was practically going crazy.

"Ah, if I had insisted on my own opinion back then, if I had gone with her to get the bracelet, maybe... no, she definitely wouldn't have been in this situation! I'm so useless!" He pounded his head with all his might.

Regardless, she had to go back to the Ivy House to check on things. Standing on the rotten wooden planks of the corridor, looking out at the bottomless darkness around her, Yan Wuyue suddenly had a thought, "Could it be that An Lin is trapped in this house?"

"Huh? You mean...?" Lonely Cow asked.

“Look,” Yan Wuyue jumped up and down, causing the wooden planks to creak under the weight, “this house is quite old, and it’s dilapidated everywhere. Maybe she stepped on a broken plank, or fell into some hole or secret room…”

Before she could finish speaking, Lonely Cow leaped up like a man possessed, rushing towards the depths of the corridor. The door at the end of the corridor wasn't locked, and it was pitch black, making it impossible to see what was inside. Fortunately, although the building was old, the electricity still worked. Yan Wuyue fumbled around in the doorway for a long time before finally finding a rope. As if by magic, when she pulled the rope, the incandescent light hanging in the center of the room cast a hazy yellow light, revealing the dusty objects that had been gathering dust for years. The bookshelves were piled high with books, newspapers, and magazines. Next to the books on the table was a stack of forms, the first page still turned, an ink bottle pressing it down. Beside it was a fountain pen, the cap still open, as if its owner had just left and was about to return. Several photos and certificates hung on the wall, and some banners stood neatly in the corner, covered in dust, their writing illegible. The room gave the impression that someone had used it just yesterday, but overnight, time had passed swiftly, and it was covered in dust.

A glittering object stood out conspicuously in the ash heap. Lonely Ox carefully dug it out; it was a shimmering silver bracelet with a delicate, wavy pattern. "Is this Anlin's bracelet?" he asked.

“I’m not sure if it’s An Lin’s,” Yan Wuyue said gravely. “However, I’m certain this thing is a recent find. 925 silver oxidizes and tarnishes very easily. I have a silver necklace that turned a grimy black in less than a year. But this bracelet, buried in dust, is still so shiny…”

"So, this bracelet must have fallen here within the last couple of days at the latest?" Lonely Bull's face turned deathly pale, and he screamed, "An Lin! An Lin!"

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident (Part Two)

No one answered. The dim light flickered on their equally pale faces, their expressions equally unpredictable. Only the frantic roar of Lonely Ox echoed in the room. "Let's search the house carefully again; maybe we can find some useful clues," they decided, and together they began cleaning the dust. Yan Wuyue swung the broom, accidentally knocking over a pen on the table. She quickly crouched down, only to be surprised to find a large, fresh blue ink stain where the pen nib had hit the floor.

What was going on? Her heart was filled with curiosity. The fountain pen buried under the ash pile still had ink? She tried running it across her palm a few times; after the initial dryness, several lines of ink flowed smoothly onto her hand. Just as she saw, the pen and cap, which had been separated, had been tightly joined together not long ago, and the thick layer of dust was merely a veil to conceal the truth. Just as she was wondering, Lonely Ox exclaimed, having also made a new discovery. Unfurling the banners in the corner, the embroidered gold lettering, though somewhat faded, still stood out against the dark red background. The first banner read "Outstanding Student Club," and the second read "...Research Association." The first few characters had likely lost their adhesiveness over time, leaving only fragmented strokes. Yan Wuyue held the pen, a sudden thought striking her. She quickly walked to the table, brushed the dust off the stack of forms, and began to read.

It was a club activity application form, extremely tedious to fill out. Although it differed from the application forms currently used at K University, it wasn't difficult to recognize. Strangely, although the first page was covered by an ink bottle, as if preparing to fill out the second page, when Yan Wuyue opened it, she found it completely blank except for one item. She silently handed the form to Lonely Ox. To be honest, it didn't look like it had been dug from an old pile of papers; the paper was clean, white, and crisp, rustling softly in her hand. Yan Wuyue pointed to the only ink stain on the paper, remaining silent.

It clearly stated the date as October 31, 1990.

The lonely ox opened his eyes wide in terror, staring at her in bewilderment, his words becoming stammered:

"Ten...fifteen years ago?"

“But the paper from fifteen years ago is still so well preserved.” Yan Wuyue pointed out the crisp texture of the paper. Then, she walked to the bookshelf and casually pulled out a dusty magazine. “UFO Exploration, April 1989 issue,” she read aloud. “Fifteen years have passed, and the paper has turned quite yellow.”

"How could this be?" Lonely Cow looked around in disbelief, as if that would confirm his existence. "Did we accidentally stumble into a time tunnel? Back to fifteen years ago?"

"Don't talk nonsense, it can't be that absurd!" Though she said this, Yan Wuyue couldn't help but waver. She remembered there were still a few photos on the wall that hadn't been checked, so she forcibly dragged Lonely Cow to look at them. Most were landscape photos, showing houses and wilderness, including many scenic spots. It seemed this club might be similar to K University's famous "Scientific Expedition Association," enjoying trekking and exploring the traces left by nature's forces throughout the country. A photo in the very center caught their attention simultaneously. In front of the bronze statue of Guo Moruo, K University's most prestigious former president, stood more than a dozen young students, all standing ramrod straight, offering Yan Wuyue their heartfelt smiles—this must be the club's group photo. Yan Wuyue's mind wandered as usual; the senior students in the early 1990s were quite fashionable…

By this point, the entire room had been searched, but there was still no trace of An Lin. Lonely Ox suggested searching the other rooms as well, and Yan Wuyue clearly agreed, so she immediately borrowed a walkie-talkie from the "Scientific Expedition Association".

Valid within 500 meters. A "over" must be added after each statement. Also, to be on the safe side, cell phones should remain switched on. After agreeing on the details, they each assigned different areas. Yan Wuyue went up to the second floor, while Lonely Ox continued his investigation on the first floor. After countless pointless questions and answers, at least both of them were safe. The second-floor apartment was utterly unremarkable, furnished like a standard office—desks, chairs, and filing cabinets, all so similar they were almost repulsive. Yan Wuyue couldn't help but yawn repeatedly. She asked into the walkie-talkie, "Lonely Ox, this is Yan Wuyue. The second floor has been searched. Nothing noteworthy. Did you find anything there? Over."

There was no response for a long time, leading Yan Wuyue to believe that either the walkie-talkie or her ear had malfunctioned. She pressed her ear to the walkie-talkie, afraid of missing any message, when suddenly a heart-wrenching scream, almost inhuman, piercingly shrill, came from it. That scream still replays in Yan Wuyue's nightmares:

"Wow!!! A ghost..." Then, there was deathly silence.

"Lonely Cow!!!" Yan Wuyue rushed downstairs in a panic, but there was no sign of Lonely Cow anywhere. Even the walkie-talkie had vanished without a trace. She shouted his name, but in this eerie, ghostly old house, only silence answered her—the silence of the dead on the road to the underworld. "Right, there's his cell phone!" She quickly dialed his number, but only a sweet, mechanical female voice came from the cold line:

"Hello, the user you are trying to reach is not in service area..."

This is unbelievable! The mobile signal is terrible, there's even an out-of-service area! Wait, Yan Wuyue suddenly shuddered. She remembered something Lonely Ox had told her? After An Lin disappeared, her cell phone signal was also out of service. And Lonely Ox was the same way? Where on earth did those two go...?!

Maybe it really is a ghost town?

Yan Wuyue suddenly felt a cool sensation on the back of her neck, as if an invisible ghost hand was gently stroking her neck and slowly sliding upwards along the lines of her skin... She felt a chill run down her scalp, screamed, and rushed out of the Ivy Ghost House.

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident with Spider Lily and Ivy (Part Three)

This time, she only felt at ease once she arrived at the astrology hall. She told herself that while her teachers and classmates were warm and kind, they were ultimately just ordinary scholars with no physical strength. Only the astrologer, though a ghoul who used humans as bait and possessed immortality, was far more adept at dealing with supernatural phenomena. Who else could she turn to if not him? Just as she was thinking this, the astrologer suddenly appeared before her with a serious expression, his icy green eyes filled with profound sorrow and despair. Yan Wuyue immediately tensed up; she sensed that she was about to hear extremely important news from him.

“There is a very serious problem,” he said, burying his head deeply in his hands, his voice incredibly low, “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

Yan Wuyue held her breath.

"The milk powder is moldy," he groaned weakly.

"……What?"

The astrologer hurriedly explained to her that he never drank fresh milk and therefore had never bought milk powder. The reason he had milk for her last time (in *Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth - A River of Blood Flows East*) was because it was a free gift with a three-box yogurt purchase he had a long time ago; it had now expired and gone moldy. He said that the only drinks he had on hand were yogurt and Maya's personal blood plasma, and if she was really thirsty, he would reluctantly give it up.

"But remember to return the yogurt you drank," he added immediately.

Yan Wuyue rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. A girl had come seeking refuge in him for a life-or-death matter, yet he was haggling over a mere yogurt, acting like a typical stay-at-home dad! Getting back to the point, she recounted the strange events that had occurred in the Ivy Haunted House to him in detail. Maya stood on the table, sipping blood from her cup through a straw, not missing a single word she uttered. When Yan Wuyue uttered the last word spoken by Lonely Cow before his death, Maya's cat-like eyes suddenly lit up. She threw away the straw, leaped into the astrologer's arms, and begged him to come out of seclusion.

"It's been so long since I've communicated with ghosts, my eyes are almost blind! Let me have some fresh air this time, okay?" Her way of pleading was clearly that of a child.

The astrologer readily agreed. On the other hand, he became very interested in the name "Ivy Haunted House." According to Yan Wuyue's description, long before An Lin disappeared, they had secretly called this old building "Ivy Haunted House." So, when, where, and by whom did this name originate?

To this end, Yan Wuyue consulted some senior students and discovered a strange phenomenon. Senior students who were one, two, or even seven years ahead of her quickly recognized the name "Ivy League Ghost House"; while senior students who were eight years ahead of her, whether studying or working abroad, repeatedly said they had never heard of the name.

Does this mean that the nickname "Ivy League Ghost House" originated five years ago? That is why the alumni who graduated five years ago are unaware of it?

Fortunately, Lu Bing's fellow townsman and senior classmate, Qiao Yongfa, had enrolled at K University five years ago and was now a second-year graduate student. He knew the details of what happened back then quite well. After lighting a cigarette, he gazed at the rising blue smoke and calmly recounted everything that had occurred five years ago.

Back then, the "Ivy Ghost House" wasn't as desolate and dilapidated as it is now. There were no ivy climbing on the walls, and the fiery red walls were as lively as the crowds coming and going inside. There were more than a dozen golden plaques hanging on them, the most eye-catching of which was this one.

K University Student Union Office.

Indeed, back then, the K University Student Union and its more than ten subordinate student clubs, including the Youth Volunteer Association, Student Journalist Group, Scientific Expedition Association, Calligraphy and Painting Association, and Literary Society, were all based at the site of the Ivy League Ghost House. Qiao Yongfa knew this so clearly because he was not only a member of the Student Union's Publicity Department but also held leadership positions in several clubs. Like many curious freshmen, joining any club that appealed to them without hesitation was a sign of their broad interests and the best reason for them to develop their abilities. It was precisely because of this that he was able to escape that calamity and witness that unbelievable tragedy firsthand.

Among the student clubs residing in the Ivy League's "ghost house" was an organization called the "Science Exploration Club." Unlike the "Science Exploration and Research Association," which focused on "scientific research, adventure, and environmental protection," this club specialized in then-popular topics such as aliens, UFOs, special abilities, and mysterious phenomena. It was a student group that skirted the edge of science. Although official scientists had already pointed out that so-called masters of special abilities were all fraudsters using deception, many students still held a deep interest in mysterious phenomena. Moreover, mysterious phenomena abound in nature; wasn't seriously analyzing and researching them under the banner of science a characteristic of science and engineering universities?

Qiao Yongfa thought so too. He often had heated discussions with the commune members about a certain unsolved mystery, such as the lake monster in Kanas Lake in Xinjiang, the mystery of the wild man in Shennongjia in Hubei, the megalithic structures in the Irish wilderness, and the four deadliest valleys in the world. Whenever they got excited, they would roll up their sleeves and argue until their faces turned red, wishing they could sprout wings and fly to the scene to find out the truth.

At a routine discussion, the topic was "Human Extraordinary Abilities." As usual, the members naturally split into two camps, arguing fiercely. One side believed it was a clever magic trick, pure pseudoscience, while the other insisted that humanity had not yet fully explored its potential, and that perhaps some individuals did indeed possess abilities beyond the ordinary. Qiao Yongfa did not join either side.

The reason is simple: he was late.

Because he was attending a group dinner organized by the hometown association, he arrived at the meeting a full half hour late. By the time he rushed to the Ivy League Haunted House, it was already completely dark. The lights were still on in the club activity room on the first floor, and the heated debate coming from inside could be heard from afar. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; it seemed he wasn't too late. But the moment he stepped into the Ivy League Haunted House, everything suddenly fell silent, as if a television had been unplugged. He was stunned for a moment, doubting his own ears. The sounds of his companions banging on the table and shouting, which he had just clearly heard, were now dead silent, with only the fluorescent light ballast emitting its usual faint "humming" noise.

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident with Spider Lily and Ivy (Part Four)

Yes, fluorescent lights. When he pushed open the half-closed door of the activity room, all he saw was the pale white light cast by the fluorescent lights. Apart from the empty light, there was no one there. All the people, including the president and vice president—ten people in total—had vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye. Only the pens, bags, and other items scattered on the table, and the still-warm chairs, bore witness to their existence.

In Japanese folklore, mysterious disappearances have a special name: "kamikakushi" (神詩). Kamikakushi refers to children being abducted by monsters or gods and mysteriously disappearing, usually associated with tengu (天狗) or mountain gods. However, in the minds of most Chinese people, there is no concept of a "god" transcending the mundane world. Everything has a reasonable scientific explanation; those that cannot be explained are classified as mysterious phenomena, and disappearances are no exception. The mass disappearance of K University attracted the attention of the police, who secretly investigated for three months without finding even the slightest clue. This incident inevitably brings to mind the legend of ghost ships—the most famous "ghost ship" in history is the Mary Celeste, which appeared in the Atlantic Ocean in the 19th century. In 1872, while sailing from New York to Guinea, the captain, his wife, daughter, and eight crew members suddenly and mysteriously "vanished." The 1,700 barrels of fine American liquor on board remained perfectly preserved, even the tables were piled high with steaming food, as if they had been forcibly taken away by some unpredictable force just as they were about to eat—mysteriously vanishing in an instant. However, if this had happened abroad, the media would have portrayed it as a third-kind encounter with extraterrestrials, or given it sensational headlines like "Cannibalistic House," exaggerating its significance. But the situation in China was entirely different. From provincial and municipal levels down to local levels, newspapers and news outlets tacitly suppressed this mysterious event for five years.

However, nothing stays hidden forever. The news of ten K University students' sudden disappearance during a club activity spread like wildfire. Even though the general public had no way of knowing about the deliberately suppressed information, the morning after the ten students' disappearance, dark green ivy suddenly covered the walls of that building overnight. The large, palm-shaped leaves clung to everything they could climb, tenaciously clinging on until several people had to work together to break off the ivy and save the student council plaque from its clutches. The building was haunted! People exchanged terrified glances, and from then on, "The Haunted House of Ivy" became the only name for that building. It was also from that time that the student council and its affiliated clubs all moved out of the Haunted House of Ivy, and the university, without official authorization, forcibly sealed off the entire building, a rusty iron gate completely isolating people from it. From then on, no one dared to step into that haunted house. Only the ivy raised its countless silent, dark green palms, like an invincible overlord, openly occupying the territory of mankind.

Five years later, history repeated itself.

Yan Wuyue stood outside the iron gates of the "Ivy Haunted House," her heart filled with awe. Qiao Yongfa's testimony at most proved that the "Haunted House" indeed had many problems, but it still didn't trace the root of the problem. What had happened in the Ivy Haunted House before the mass disappearance five years ago? Unfortunately, he was just a freshman back then and couldn't provide any more clues. She thought to herself, "I'll try to find some older senior students."

Before she knew it, she had finished dinner and strolled back to "Ivy League." The cheerful laughter of K University students seemed completely irrelevant to that lifeless old house; a single iron gate separated the two worlds. Yan Wuyue pressed herself against the gate, her hands barely able to suppress the temptation—the key was in her backpack, given to her by Lonely Cow. If she wanted, she could open the gate anytime and rush into "Ivy League" to explore. But the only question was, did she still have the courage right now?

She hesitated for a moment, then held the backpack to her chest, and Maya's dark head peeked out from inside. "Are you trying to suffocate me?!" Sure enough, as soon as she appeared, Maya started chattering, "You've messed up my hair, see how you're going to make it up to me!"

Is something unusual? Knowing her own cold psychic abilities, she had no choice but to turn to Maya's psychic powers—it was said that the world's greatest psychic was this doll who was no more than thirty centimeters tall. Of course, this was Maya's own boast, and its veracity was highly questionable. Maya pretended to listen and look around, even twitching her nose a few times. "Nothing unusual," she finally replied. "There are no undead, and no smell of living beings either."

"Really?" she asked, somewhat doubtful.

Mayo's golden cat eyes suddenly turned to her, almost spitting fire. "You actually don't believe me!" She clenched her small, snow-white fists and waved them threateningly in front of Yan Wuyue. "My psychic abilities are unparalleled! How dare you, this cold-hearted tomboy, look down on me!"

"Alright, alright, I believe you!" Yan Wuyue hurriedly admitted her mistake, finally managing to calm Zhenye down. A glimmer of white light gradually illuminated her eyes and brows. Looking up, she saw a lamp lit up in the pitch-black Ivy Ghost House.

A stark white fluorescent light shone through the glass window, casting a soft white glow, like a lighthouse on a vast sea, illuminating the dark and gloomy ivy.

Yan Wuyue and Zhenye exchanged a glance, the same thought flashing through their minds simultaneously: why would someone turn on the lights in an uninhabited ivy grove for no reason? Even more strangely, besides this iron gate, there were no other entrances or exits. Yan Wuyue had been leaning against the iron gate the whole time, and hadn't seen anyone pass by. Moreover, she still held the key to the gate in her hand; it should have been locked long ago…!

When and how did the person in the Ivy Ghost House manage to enter so silently, without her noticing?

The iron gate creaked loudly under her forceful push, reluctantly opening its arms, clearly heavily rusted. She quietly walked up to the gate, across the porch, and stopped before the room bathed in white light. The door was ajar, and there was no sound from within to prove human presence. Yan Wuyue and Zhenye stood there, holding their breath for a long time, afraid to even breathe. Time passed agonizingly, each second, each ten seconds, as if the person inside and the person outside had conspired to test each other's patience, until finally Yan Wuyue couldn't take it anymore. She slammed her hand on the door, the blinding white light instantly dazzling her eyes—

There was no one inside.

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident with Spider Lily and Ivy (Part Five)

"What are you doing?" A man's voice suddenly rang out from behind her, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, startling her so much that she trembled.

He was a slender boy of medium height, sporting a hairstyle popular in the 1980s, wearing a cashmere sweater over a serge jacket. However, this outdated style of dress and hairstyle was still common at K University, given the university's traditionally unpretentious academic atmosphere, where students valued their intellect more than their appearance. The boy's face was remarkably pale, the kind of pallor that comes from years of apathy and lack of exposure to the sun. He adjusted his large, black-rimmed glasses and, in a slow, deliberate tone characteristic of scholars, asked her again:

"What are you doing?"

"That was terrifying!" Yan Wuyue patted her chest, looking shaken. She glared at the boy, who was waiting for her answer with an incredibly clear gaze, completely oblivious to the meaning behind her look.

"I haven't even asked you yet!" she retorted bluntly. "What are you doing sneaking around behind me? Trying to scare me?"

The boy didn't seem to have quite grasped the situation. "I..." Before he could even speak, Yan Wuyue launched into a barrage of questions:

"Also, did you turn on this fluorescent light? If so, how did you get into this house? I have the only key to the iron gate. Don't tell me you used to live here... If it wasn't you, why did you follow me in? This is the Ivy Haunted House. If you have nothing to do, go study. Don't cause me any trouble!"

"...&%#@..." The boy's CPU completely froze. He could only stare blankly at Yan Wuyue's rapidly moving lips, speechless and unable to utter a single word. Fortunately, Yan Wuyue had full confidence in the power of her rapid-fire delivery. She took a breath and looked at the boy with a hint of smugness:

"Look at you! I'll just ask you one by one. Now, just answer my questions honestly, and don't give me any other nonsense, understand?"

The person being questioned nodded hurriedly.

"First question," Yan Wuyue paced back and forth, raising her index finger high to represent "one," "Did you turn on the fluorescent light?"

He shook his head. "No, I just arrived too..."

Before he could finish speaking, the middle finger also curled up, "Second question, when did you come in?"

Like her, the boy also followed her in out of curiosity after seeing the lights suddenly turn on in the usually deserted Ivy Haunted House. No, he didn't see Yan Wuyue lingering outside the haunted house, nor did he notice that she had already opened the iron gate. He was just passing by, simply driven by curiosity.

It seems she's just a minor character, not very useful. Yan Wuyue immediately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant. At this moment, the boy became more lively and took the initiative to ask her what happened.

What else could be good news? Missing persons cases, of course. Starting with the disappearance of ten people five years ago, and continuing until An Lin and Lonely Cow, Yan Wuyue listlessly told him everything that had happened, causing the boy to gasp in shock.

"This is outrageous!" he said. "If we don't do something about it, who knows how many more people this haunted house will harm? No, we have to find out what's going on!"

Contrary to his thin appearance was his strong sense of justice. Yan Wuyue glanced at him gratefully; perhaps he would be an unexpectedly good companion! So she introduced herself, "Yan Wuyue, a sophomore. And you?" she asked.

The boy smiled, a smile that made him seem somewhat mature. "I didn't expect you to have to call me senior brother." He generously extended his hand. "My name is Da Wenxuan, I'm one year ahead of you, junior sister." He deliberately raised his voice, emphasizing the last two words.

Yan Wuyue didn't seem to care much, only casting her questioning gaze towards the "fluorescent light" room. It was no different from what she'd seen before: bookshelves, a desk, a banner in the corner—everything seemed so familiar. Yes, this was the room where she and Lonely Ox had found An Lin's lost silver bracelet—this was the room at the end of the corridor. There was an uncapped pen on the desk, a stack of forms, and magazines on the bookshelf that were fifteen years old… Wait, something seems off! Yan Wuyue reached out and touched the wall, feeling left and right, but couldn't find what she was looking for. Strange, she'd found that thing so easily last time! Da Wenxuan couldn't hold back any longer and asked if she needed help.

"The light switch..." she whispered to him.

He smiled, simply placed his finger on the single-button switch, and with a click, they were both immediately plunged into relative silence and darkness.

"Isn't that enough?" he told her.