Fourth Campus

Chapter 22

Xu Zhifei said, "I don't believe anyone's words, I only believe evidence. At least for now, it's hard for me to believe that Lin Duyu's disappearance has nothing to do with you."

"Okay, let me ask you. Zhao Jun said I was sleepwalking, did you see me?"

"No."

Did you see him and Lin Duyu come out with me?

"No, not at all."

"You didn't see anything, so how could you believe I was sleepwalking? How could you believe Lin Duyu followed me into the 'Clock Tower' and then disappeared? Didn't Zhao Jun tell you all of that?"

Xu Zhifei lowered his head even further. "It's a fact that you were found next to the morgue."

"What does this have to do with Du Yu's disappearance?"

Xu Zhifei shook his head. "Don't ask me anymore. I've never been good at speaking, and I don't know how to answer. But my intuition tells me that even if Du Yu's disappearance isn't directly related to you, it must be indirectly related."

I sighed. "Yes, I can tell you that I was with Lin Duyu that night, but I wasn't sleepwalking. Someone can testify to that!"

"who?"

"Me," Hu Xiaoli arrived as well. "I can testify that Lin Duyu entered the reading room first that night, but Lin Yuan followed behind."

"How can you prove it?" Xu Zhifei asked.

"Because I was there too."

"How did Lin Yuan get injured, and why was he found unconscious next to the morgue?"

When Xu Zhifei asked this crucial question again, Hu Xiaoli looked completely bewildered.

The Fourth Campus: Three Female Corpses (5)

"That's why I've called you here today," I said. "I'm going to take you somewhere."

"Where?" Xu Zhifei and Hu Xiaoli asked in unison.

I turned to the "clock tower" and said, "Hu Xiaoli, you should remember the shadow of that 'woman' we saw outside the reading room that night."

"Yes, of course I remember."

Now it was Xu Zhifei's turn to look bewildered.

"You must be wondering why that 'woman' disappeared after we went in," I said.

Hu Xiaoli nodded.

"After you and Wang Siyue left that night, Lin Duyu and I didn't leave. We went back to the reading room to find that 'woman.'"

"You mean..." Hu Xiaoli seemed to have understood where I was taking them.

I nodded. "Yes, Lin Duyu and I discovered a secret in the reading room, a terrible secret!"

"What secret?" Xu Zhifei asked.

"A secret passage leading to a forbidden area on campus!" Upon hearing this, Xu Zhifei and Hu Xiaoli's faces immediately paled in horror. I continued, "You may not believe me now, but later, when you see it with your own eyes, you won't doubt me anymore! That night, Lin Duyu and I got separated in that secret passage! Three identical 'female corpses' were chasing us in the darkness!"

"Corpses chasing you? Three identical corpses?" Xu Zhifei didn't quite believe me.

I smiled helplessly. I couldn't blame him; looking back, I sometimes even suspected it was a hallucination caused by extreme fear. "Let's just assume it was a 'corpse.' If you were in that situation, you would have thought so too. Now, there's no need to say anything more. After the reading room lights go out at 10:30, I'll take you to that secret passage." I checked my watch. "Ten minutes."

Yes, ten minutes left. In ten minutes, I would clear my name and figure out why Zhao Jun had targeted me. I began to wait patiently, but little did I know that things wouldn't go as I expected; I was even more unaware that I was walking into a trap that had already been laid.

Exploring the Secret Path of the Fourth Campus (1)

PART 1.

At 10:40, the lights in the reading room had been off for ten minutes, and the students who had been studying had all left. The "clock tower" was once again deathly silent.

I shone my flashlight and, along with Xu Zhifei and Hu Xiaoli, once again ascended the ancient wooden staircase in the darkness.

We quickly arrived at the reading room door. The shattered glass from that night had been repaired, and the door was locked. I pulled out a piece of wire I had prepared beforehand from my pocket and handed it to Xu Zhifei. "Now it's up to you."

Xu Zhifei hesitated for a moment, then slowly took the wire and skillfully picked the lock. Soon, with a "click," the padlock was opened. I led the two of them towards the bookshelf containing the complete works of Marxism-Leninism.

Guided by my memory, I quickly found the book I couldn't pull out and pushed it back in with force. With a "whoosh," the bookshelf moved aside, revealing the sinister entrance to the secret passage once again.

I turned around and saw Xu Zhifei and Hu Xiaoli looking at each other in surprise.

"Don't be surprised, come down with me. You'll be even more surprised when you get to that forbidden area on campus." With that, I turned on my flashlight and stepped onto the wooden stairs at the entrance of the passage.

Just like that night, I climbed the stairs, turned off my flashlight, and walked straight ahead, touching the movable bluestone to guide them up.

Soon, the passage appeared before them.

"Right here, the secret passage leads all the way to the forbidden area of the campus." I pointed to the dark entrance.

Xu Zhifei had been silent ever since he entered the secret passage, but now he was the first to go inside.

Following this secret passage straight ahead, you soon arrive at a three-way intersection.

"It was right here that Xu Zhifei and I encountered three identical 'female corpses,' and then we were chased. That's how I got the injury on my leg." As I spoke, I shone my flashlight on the ground, where the bloodstains were still clearly visible.

"In fear, we all fled for our lives," I said, leading them toward the middle road. "I injured my leg and ran slowly, and that's where I got separated from him."

We arrived at the stone steps leading to the exit. "We'll be there after we climb these steps," I said.

At this moment, Hu Xiaoli spoke up: "Can you smell anything?"

Xu Zhifei nodded, then looked at me.

I took a few deep breaths, and thought, "There is a strange smell, but I didn't smell it that night."

"It stinks." Hu Xiaoli pinched her nose.

I shone my flashlight around but didn't find anything, so I said, "Never mind that. Maybe it's because this place never gets any sunlight and smells musty. Let's go upstairs and talk about it." With that, I stepped onto the bluestone steps.

As the steps rose higher, the stench grew stronger.

"Lin Yuan, what is this smell?! I can't stand it anymore!" Hu Xiaoli pinched her nose.

Xu Zhifei snatched my flashlight and shone it upwards on the steps.

"Ah--!" Hu Xiaoli screamed.

A blurry figure appeared at the end of the steps.

Xu Zhifei ran there quickly.

It was a male corpse that had already decomposed. The face was highly decomposed, making it impossible to identify the person. But judging from the expression, the person had clearly suffered severe shock before dying.

"How come there's a dead person here?" Hu Xiaoli asked me, puzzled.

"It's Du Yu, it must be Du Yu!" Although I can no longer see his face clearly, I can still be sure that this corpse is Lin Du Yu!

Xu Zhifei was heartbroken. "Yes, it's Lin Duyu. I recognize her too."

"That's right, it's Lin Duyu. I was right, he really is dead." Another man's voice suddenly came from behind!

"Who?" Xu Zhifei and I turned around and looked down the steps.

In the dim light of the flashlight, a figure was walking towards them step by step. "It's me."

Only then did I realize it was him—Zhao Jun.

I was surprised, and so were Xu Zhifei and Hu Xiaoli. How did he get here?

"Lin Yuan, I've been following you all along and finally discovered this secret! Now what do you have to say?" The voice drew closer, and Zhao Jun was already standing in front of him.

"I don't understand what you're saying?" I said coldly.

"Don't you understand? Du Yu is lying right in front of you. How long are you going to keep pretending?" Zhao Jun shouted angrily, pointing at Lin Du Yu's corpse. Hu Xiaoli and Xu Zhifei were clearly stunned by his preemptive question and stood aside, staring blankly at the two of us.

You can't blame them; they had no idea that Zhao Jun was framing me.

"Your acting is really good! I don't understand why you did this, why you framed me, what did I do to offend you!" I yelled at Zhao Jun.

"I'm acting? Hmph, that's laughable," Zhao Jun said coldly. "Let me ask you, how did Du Yu die?"

"I don't know, I was just about to ask too!" I retorted, not to be outdone.

Zhao Jun didn't continue speaking. Instead, he snatched the flashlight from Xu Zhifei's hand, squatted down beside Lin Duyu's body, and examined it carefully. "Clearly, he was scared to death, in extreme terror." The flashlight beam shone directly on Lin Duyu's dead face, making his distorted expression and wide-open eyes, almost detached from their sockets due to decay, appear even more eerie and terrifying under the light.

"Look at his hands, raised high above his head. Clearly, before he died, he was desperately pushing this stone slab; he wanted to get out. And look at his eyes, staring intently at this blue stone, his expression so terrified and eerie. Obviously, when he opened this blue stone, he saw an extremely frightening scene. This sudden fear killed him on the spot. What kind of scene could scare a calm person like Lin Duyu to death? Only you, Lin Yuan, know best!" Zhao Jun stood up, staring intently at my face.

"I don't understand what you're saying, and I don't understand what your intentions are. In short, I have a clear conscience about Lin Duyu's death!" After I finished saying this, I felt weak and powerless. Although this was the truth, sometimes the truth is far less convincing than the illusion.

Exploring the Secret Path of the Fourth Campus (2)

"Lin Duyu followed you into this secret passage. Even if his death wasn't directly related to you, you can't deny that he died because of you." Zhao Jun's attack was fierce.

"That's right. If he had come with me, then of course I would bear some responsibility. But it's the opposite; I came with him! He's the one who found this secret passage! You say I was sleepwalking, you say Lin Duyu followed me into the 'Clock Tower,' but who saw it? Who can testify? Who else but you? Everything you said is your own; why should anyone else believe you?"

"That's right, you're absolutely right, no one else saw it. So, who can prove that you discovered this secret passage, that Lin Duyu found it, and that Lin Duyu brought you here?"

I smiled calmly. "I knew you'd ask that, so I brought Hu Xiaoli with me today. She's an eyewitness to the discovery of Lin Duyu in the reading room that night."

"It wasn't just me," Hu Xiaoli said, "Wang Siyue saw it too."

However, Zhao Jun was not defeated. "Lin Duyu might have gone to the reading room first, but he went back to the dormitory with you later. Until lights out, none of the four of us in the dormitory left. Xu Zhifei knew this best; he even asked him that night."

Neither of you said where you went!

Now it was my turn to be shocked. Impossible, impossible! I remember clearly, Lin Duyu and I never went back to the dorm! I turned to look at Xu Zhifei, but he said:

"Lin Yuan, I really want to know today that you have nothing to do with Du Yu's death. I don't want to believe Zhao Jun either, but you are my friend, and he is my friend too. I won't take sides. The fact is, you and Lin Du Yu did go back to the dormitory together. Zhao Jun is absolutely right about that." His eyes revealed disappointment and sorrow.

"What? Impossible! Impossible! If that's the case, why did you come in with me when I told you the truth outside?" I became agitated.

"Lin Yuan, I didn't want to say anything at the time. I came in with you hoping you would produce evidence and that we could find Du Yu here, or the three 'female corpses' you mentioned. But now, what we found is Du Yu's body! You still can't explain yourself. Lin Yuan, I still believe you wouldn't harm Du Yu, but I have to believe you have sleepwalking! And it's somewhat aggressive! Do you remember when you hit my head with an ashtray after having a nightmare?" Zhao Jun seemed very agitated and heartbroken, his eyes were wet.

I was speechless, utterly speechless. I felt as if the three people standing beside me and the corpse lying there were spinning around and around, faster and faster. Xu Zhifei, I didn't believe he would slander me, but if he was telling the truth, why didn't I remember going back to the dormitory with Du Yu? Impossible, impossible! We definitely went straight back to the reading room, we didn't go back to the dormitory! But Xu Zhifei, why was Xu Zhifei so certain? Could he be conspiring with Zhao Jun to frame me?

I don't want to doubt my friends, but now I have to, and this doubt is causing me great pain!

"Lin Yuan, I didn't say you killed Du Yu, but at least he died because of you. There's no need for you to be so agitated." Zhao Jun suddenly changed his tone. "Now that Du Yu's body has been found, we must report this to the academy. You can't bear to see Du Yu unable to rest in peace, can you?" Suddenly, he changed the subject. "However, don't forget something else: Ling Min's death is directly related to you! I don't want to say it now, nor can I reveal the reasons, but next time, I'll catch you!"

These words seemed to deeply affect Hu Xiaoli, who had remained silent until now, and she began to look at me with a strange expression.

I stared blankly at the two men and one woman beside me, both familiar and strange. Their bodies seemed to be drifting away, disappearing into the unfathomable darkness of this secret passage. And I could only watch helplessly as they left, leaving me standing alone in the darkness, enduring loneliness and fear by myself.

I felt isolated and helpless. From that moment on, it seemed that everyone would leave me and abandon me. From that moment on, I felt a fear ten thousand times stronger than before.

This is a terrible trap, yes, a premeditated and terrifying trap! I'm like prey, lured step by step into the snare by the hunter, and then the hunter appears, watching his prey struggle helplessly within the trap. Who can save me? Who can help me escape this trap at this moment? I thought of Chen Yiming, but he's not here now. Then I thought of Maeda Reiko, and Meng Na. Yes, perhaps only the two of them can save me now. But will everything turn out the way I think it will?

Hypnosis (1) in "The Fourth Campus"

PART 1.