Fourth Campus

Chapter 10

I asked Lin Musen again, "You saw her too?"

Lin Musen nodded. "Yes. But we haven't found anything yet. Lin Yuan, try not to appear in this area recently, and try not to stand near your window. I have a very bad feeling."

"Let's go first, this place makes me feel uneasy." After saying that, Maeda Reiko walked downstairs. Lin Musen and I glanced back at the reading room and followed her downstairs.

When we got downstairs, Maeda Reiko said to me, "I need to discuss what happened earlier with the other members of the Séance Society. You should go back first; we'll contact you later. Also, remember the advice Lin Musen gave you."

"Yes, I understand."

After parting ways with them, I didn't go back to my dorm. Everyone else had gone to play basketball, and I didn't want to be there alone, nor did I dare to. I avoided the "clock tower" and wandered around the noisiest place on campus.

"Why did 'she' target me? Why is 'she' lurking in the shadows watching me? Will everyone involved in this become 'her' prey?" I wondered to myself.

I don’t know when I will reappear in front of me, since Ikeda Nami has been dead for two years, but I have a feeling that she will come looking for me soon.

And so, I wandered around the liveliest part of the campus all day until dusk, when I figured Lin Duyu and the others should have all gone back before I dared to return to my dorm.

Just as I expected, all three of them were there. I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the bed. Lin Duyu and the others asked me where I had been all day, and I gave them a few perfunctory answers before falling asleep.

When I woke up, it was already late at night. The sound of rain pattering outside the window indicated another stormy night. The wind was strong, and raindrops were blown in through the window. I got out of bed to close the window. A flash of lightning illuminated the scene, and I saw the "clock tower" silent in the rainy night. Then, the deep tolling of a bell filled the air.

One, two, three... eleven, twelve.

It was twelve o'clock again, and everything was just like the dream I had that night. Then, I felt a strong calling once more.

I closed the window, quietly walked to the door, picked up the raincoat hanging there, then went to the bed, took out a worn-out sheet from under the bed, gently opened the door and went out, then gently closed the door again. I knew that the dormitory building's main gate was already locked, so I went straight to the toilet on the second floor.

The series of movements seemed rehearsed and very familiar. I opened the toilet window and climbed onto the windowsill. I didn't know if there was a steel bar outside the window, but because of that nightmare, I didn't dare to jump directly across the deep ditch to the opposite retaining wall. I gripped the iron bars with both hands and looked down. At that moment, another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and I was immediately startled. Along with the lightning, I seemed to see a figure flash below the retaining wall again.

How come everything is just like last night's dream? Coincidence? Hallucination? It must be a hallucination, yes, it's a hallucination. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm myself down, constantly telling myself that yesterday's nightmare had affected me, and what I just experienced must have been a hallucination.

This self-regulation worked very well, and I quickly calmed down. Then I tied the bed sheet to the iron fence and prepared to go down to the deep ditch between the embankment and the dormitory building, and walk out from there. I knew that if I walked to the right along the outer wall of the building and turned the corner, I would reach the path leading to the "clock tower". The path had a downward slope there, which was no more than half a meter high.

The Fourth Campus: The Woman in White (8)

I put on my raincoat, checked that the sheets were sturdy, and then, holding onto the sheets, slowly slid out through the gap in the broken iron fence. I descended the wall little by little, and just then, another flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, and I saw the scene from my dream again: a woman in white, with long hair cascading down her back, instantly disappeared around the corner of the building.

The scene from my dream reappeared before my eyes exactly as it had appeared. I was so terrified that I dared not continue to fall. I tried to climb back up by holding onto the sheet in my hand, but with a "rip," the sheet was torn, and I fell into the ditch, which was more than 3 meters deep. Then, a heart-wrenching pain came from under my armpit.

I opened my eyes in terror and found myself still lying in bed. The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and birds were singing intermittently. My first instinct was to look at my shoulder. There were no marks. Then, Xu Zhifei came in from outside again, offering the same greeting as yesterday morning, and then telling me it was the weekend and he was going to play basketball. Everything was repeating yesterday. After Xu Zhifei left, I went to the bedside again to look at the row of windows of the "clock tower," and saw the same scene as yesterday morning: a figure flickered behind the window, grabbed the window frame with both hands, and then a head with long hair covering its face appeared behind the window.

I pulled down the curtains, frantically lay down on the floor, crawled under the table, and made a huge phone call to Reiko Maeda.

"She's appeared again! She's appeared in the reading room again!"

Reiko Maeda seemed confused by what I was saying. "Who appeared?"

I paused for a moment, then said, "Nami Ikeda! Nami Ikeda is behind that window again; she's watching me!"

"What? Nami Ikeda?" I could tell that Reiko Maeda was very surprised.

"What, have you forgotten? Lin Musen saw it yesterday too."

"Lin Musen? Was he with you yesterday?"

"Don't you remember? We went to the reading room together yesterday!" I didn't understand why Maeda Reiko had forgotten everything that happened yesterday.

"Lin Yuan-kun, what's wrong? We didn't meet yesterday?"

"Impossible, impossible, impossible!" I was going crazy.

"Lin Yuanjun, calm down, I'm coming right away. Wait for me downstairs."

"No, I can't stand up! She's watching me from the reading room window! Call Lin Musen to come up and get me!"

"Hayahara-kun, calm down, we're coming right away." Maeda Reiko hung up the phone.

Another agonizing wait under the table ensued. About ten minutes later, the phone rang again. A woman's voice came through, speaking slowly, "Lin Yuan-kun, is it fun?"

That's not Reiko Maeda's voice!

"Who are you?" I asked.

A terrifying laugh came through the microphone: "Hahaha, I see you, and you see me. You can't hide, you can't hide."

The terrifying sound was like steel needles piercing my heart. I threw away the receiver, kicked the phone aside, crawled out from under the table, ran to the bedside, pulled back the curtains, and looked out the reading room window.

She had her hair down, long hair covering her entire face, and stood at an angle by the window, looking directly at me.

I completely broke down and ran out of the dormitory like a madman, rushing downstairs. Due to excessive panic, I fell heavily down the stairs.

The Fourth Campus Psychological Research Association (1)

PART 1.

When I opened my eyes again, I was still lying in my own bed, sunlight shining directly on my headboard. I struggled weakly to sit up, and just then, the dormitory door opened, and Xu Zhifei walked in.

Oh my god, it's the same scene again. I realize now, I'm still stuck in this terrible nightmare.

"What's wrong?" Xu Zhifei repeated his question to me.

I didn't answer; I stared at him wide-eyed and tilted my head. I began to actively change the course of this nightmare.

Xu Zhifei suddenly stopped talking, staring at me with a blank expression on his face.

"Nightmare!" I said.

"Nightmare? You had a nightmare?" Xu Zhifei's face instantly returned to its normal expression.

I gave a cold laugh and said, "This is a nightmare," I pointed around, then at him and me, "We made up a nightmare."

Xu Zhifei hesitated for a moment, then walked to my bedside and asked, "Lin Yuan, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

I sneered again, "You're not Xu Zhifei."

"Don't be silly, are you still half asleep? How come I'm not Xu Zhifei?"

"You don't exist at all. You're just a figment of my imagination, a character in my dream," I said coldly.

Xu Zhifei suddenly became expressionless, his hands slowly hanging down, his waist slightly bent forward until his palms drooped to his knees. He lowered his head and said in an unusual voice, "Lin Yuan, your willpower is truly strong. You can even maintain a clear mind in your dreams, but..."

"But so what?"

A strange smile flickered across Xu Zhifei's lips as he approached me step by step. "However, you still can't escape this nightmare, you'll never get out of it, hahahahaha." The laughter was terrifying. It started as his voice, gradually turned into a mixed male and female voice, and finally, the male voice was completely drowned out by the female voice.

Everything before my eyes began to blur. Xu Zhifei's body became erratic, his hair grew longer and longer, and his body suddenly twisted. Then, what appeared before me was Ikeda Nami, who had been dead for two years, her face hidden by long hair!

"...Nami Ikeda." My voice began to tremble.

She didn't speak, but simply stretched out her hands—which were practically claws—and gripped my neck. In that instant, I felt a chilling coldness spread from my neck throughout my body, followed by a sharp pain as her fingernails dug into my throat. A warm gush of fluid surged from my throat, and blood spurted from my mouth.

She continued to let out that sinister, terrifying laughter: "You can't change your dreams, you can't control your dreams. Come, be my companion."

Everything in front of me was gradually turning black, and I felt my body slowly getting colder and my strength gradually disappearing.

I had to break free from this devil's clutches; I couldn't die. A fierce will to live compelled me to muster my last bit of strength, raise my hands, grab her arms, and pull with all my might. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break free. In desperation, I grabbed the ashtray by the bedside and smashed it against her head.

With a muffled thud, the ashtray landed heavily on her head. She pushed me down onto the bed, and my head slammed against the headboard. I opened my eyes in pain.

I touched the back of my head; there was a large bump where I'd bumped my head. Looking towards the bedside, I saw Xu Zhifei crouching on the floor, his hands covering his head, blood seeping through his fingers. Immediately afterward, Lin Duyu and Zhao Jun rushed over and helped him up. Lin Duyu stared at me in surprise and exclaimed, "Lin Yuan, what are you doing!"

I didn't say anything, I just held my head in my hands, feeling like my head was about to explode.

"Take Xu Zhifei to the infirmary first!" Zhao Jun shouted, and then they helped Xu Zhifei out.

I slowly got out of bed and looked around. I didn't know what had happened, or whether I was awake or dreaming. My first reaction was to walk to the window of the reading room and look at the window that Nami Ikeda's ghost was watching me.

I stared at it for a long time, but the ghost with long hair did not reappear.

I let out a long sigh and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

PART 2.

Still shaken, I lit a cigarette and took deep drags. "Am I dreaming or am I already awake?" Because each dream is slightly different, and these changes occur earlier in time, I can no longer tell.

I kept smoking and then started coughing violently. Zhao Jun and Lin Duyu walked in.

Lin Duyu immediately demanded, "Lin Yuan, what are you doing? Why did you hit him so hard? Xu Zhifei only saw you struggling in bed, your face covered in sweat, and was afraid you were having a nightmare, so he went to wake you up. How could you be so rough and break his head?"

I threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped it out, and buried my head in my hands, muttering, "Nightmare, a terrible nightmare. I didn't mean to smother him, it's just that he suddenly..."

"What's all of a sudden?"

"He suddenly turned into that woman, his hands gripping my neck!"

Lin Duyu patted my shoulder and said, "You've been under too much pressure lately, it's no wonder you're having nightmares. Get some rest."

I nodded and lay down on the bed. Zhao Jun, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up: "Lin Duyu, didn't you two go to that grove of trees a few days ago?"

Lin Duyu nodded. "Yes."

Zhao Jun seemed a little angry. "Didn't I tell you and Xu Zhifei not to go to that place, and even avoid getting close to it? Why didn't you listen?"

Lin Duyu said, "Yes, we didn't want to get involved in this either, but can't you see Lin Yuan like this? Shouldn't we, as his friends, help him?"

Zhao Jun glanced at me, then started pacing back and forth. For the first time ever, he lit a cigarette, looking quite agitated. "In short, you'd better not set foot in that forbidden area." He threw down his cigarette butt and walked straight out of the dormitory.

Lin Duyu sat on the edge of my bed. "What are you going to do?"

The Fourth Campus Psychological Research Association (2)

I looked up at the window; the ancient clock tower gleamed with an evil light in the sunlight. I declared resolutely, "Tonight, tonight I must go in and see what's inside!"

Lin Duyu nodded. "Okay, I'll go with you. I'm just as curious as you about what secrets are locked inside. But it's best if we delay our operation today, so we don't get stopped by the Spirit Summoning Society like last time. Also, we should go straight there and not go back to the dormitory, lest Zhao Jun find out."

I glanced at Lin Duyu, then looked out the window. "We can't let him have any doubts. We need a perfect reason. I'll leave this to you. There might be a downpour tonight. We'll set off at midnight." With that, I stood up.

Lin Duyu looked at me in surprise, and even I was surprised by my own sudden change. In that instant, I felt like I wasn't the same person I used to be.

"Don't worry, I'll find a good reason to prevent Zhao Jun from suspecting us. I'll take care of it now. You should get some rest."

PART 3.

During evening self-study, Lin Duyu sat next to me and slipped me a note. I opened it and read: "After self-study, call Xu Zhifei to go to the arcade."

I didn't understand what he was up to, but he was always cautious and shrewd, so I didn't ask any further questions.

The bell rang, and I packed up my books. Lin Duyu stood up too, deliberately speaking loudly to me, "Lin Yuan, want to play some games? Resident Evil 2 is pretty good!"

I looked around and suddenly felt like an actor in a play, so I nodded in agreement. "Okay, I've played the first one, it was pretty good. I wonder how the second one is. By the way, let's invite Xu Zhifei, he also likes these kinds of adventure games."

Xu Zhifei seemed to have known everything beforehand, and immediately ran over from the back row, looking excited. "Great! Great! Anyway, we don't have class tomorrow morning, so we can stay up all night tonight!"

"Zhao Jun, wanna come along? The four of us in the dorm haven't gone out together in ages." Lin Duyu deliberately called out to Zhao Jun, even though everyone knew he had absolutely no interest in games and definitely wouldn't go. Now I understood Lin Duyu's intention; he had indeed found a perfect excuse to avoid Zhao Jun.

As expected, Zhao Jun went back to his dormitory by himself, and the three of us wandered around outside the school for a while before heading towards that forbidden area.

"Let's go to the clock tower first, avoid acquaintances, and then we'll move around after the lights go out at midnight." Lin Duyu had arranged everything flawlessly.