Fourth Campus

Chapter 33

Enrollment date: June 10, 1995; Major: Forensic Medicine

...

The people in the two photos are exactly the same, except that the former looks a bit more childish.

"This information was only recently discovered. Maeda Reiko's real name is Hasegawa Yuri. She graduated from university in 1994. Why did she suddenly come to China under an alias? And most importantly, why did she hide her age? These are all things worth investigating. Especially her séance; as far as we know, it has at least 250 members, and the academy has always taken it very seriously—it's an illegal organization."

"If that's the case," I asked, "why not abolish it?"

Li Moran didn't answer for a long time before finally saying, "It's not the right time yet."

I don't know how many secrets this woman, this woman I always thought was named Maeda Reiko, is still hiding.

"I'm going to find her and get to the bottom of this!" I ran outside.

"Stop!" The teacher grabbed me. "Don't be impulsive. We went through a lot of trouble to get these materials. Don't alert them!"

"So what should I do?"

"Stop interfering in these matters."

I thought for a moment, then said, "Since you're a member of this research association, I'd like to ask why Zhao Jun tried to pin Lin Duyu's death on me. He said I was sleepwalking, but I wasn't sleepwalking at all that day! We were about to go back to the dormitory when Lin Duyu pulled me back to the 'Clock Tower' because he had discovered the secret passage."

The Fourth Campus - Yuri Hasegawa (2)

Teacher Li slowly placed Maeda Reiko's two registration forms back into the safe and said to me in a serious tone, "Didn't I just tell you not to get involved in these things anymore? Zhao Jun has his reasons for doing this, and if you stop interfering, he'll come and explain to you sooner or later."

"How many more secrets are you hiding? I never imagined you were investigating these things too. No wonder you came to see me every time I was hospitalized. It turns out everyone is so untrustworthy. I only trust myself! Thank you for telling me so much today, but I won't give up!" I flung open the door and rushed out.

PART 2.

Why has the world suddenly become like this? When you suddenly realize that the people you know best are actually people you don't understand at all, and everyone is so untrustworthy, will you fall into despair? My best friend in the dorm is spreading rumors about me, making everyone think I'm responsible for Lin Duyu's death; my class advisor has suddenly become his accomplice and has been investigating strange incidents on campus; Maeda Reiko, who has always worked alongside me, turns out her real name is Hasegawa Yuri, and she actually graduated from university long ago, and that terrifying summoning ritual suddenly makes me feel so distant from her. And then there's Meng Na—if the Clock Tower Night wasn't a dream, if her dying words were true, she was actually a murderer! No, I can't think of her like that. Maybe she's still in the world, maybe… even if she can't escape the time limit left by that strange disease, she will die a pure death, but where can I find her body! I don't know how many more unexpected things will happen. The only person I can trust left is Chen Yiming, but when will he come back? He's been away on a business trip for almost two months!

And so, as I wandered aimlessly through the campus, lost in thought, like a lost soul with nowhere to go.

I suddenly remembered the "Night of Returning Souls" in Nangong Xiaoxue's diary. That's right, Ouyang Jun performed a soul-summoning ritual for Nangong Xiaoxue, and it was almost identical to the one Maeda Reiko performed—also in a dimly lit room with a circle of candles. Maeda Reiko said that the soul-summoning ritual is best performed at the place of death. So, was Nangong Xiaoxue's soul-summoning ritual performed in the woods where she died? Was it in that red-brick house?

Ouyang Jun should be dead. How can a dead person be summoned? The soul-summoning ritual recorded in Nangong Xiaoxue's "Diary After Death" looks so much like the one Maeda Reiko performed. Could it be that Maeda Reiko wrote the diary on Nangong Xiaoxue's behalf, and that Maeda Reiko was actually the one who performed the soul-summoning ritual?

Thinking about this, I broke out in a cold sweat. If my guess is correct, this woman is truly terrifying.

Piecing together the information, a complete picture slowly emerged before my eyes, though it was only an outline. However, I believed the truth would soon come to light. Yes, I needed to organize all this information carefully from beginning to end; it might help Chen Yiming solve the case when he returned!

PART 3.

Another night has arrived before I knew it. The dormitory lights are still not fixed. The wiring needs major repairs. They said they'd have to wait until the holidays to break open the wall and rewire it. For now, I'm using candles.

I compiled a thick stack of manuscript paper, filled with densely packed logical reasoning formulas. Ever since I first encountered these bizarre events on campus, I have been self-studying logic.

It was ten o'clock. I looked out the window again. The campus was unusually quiet on a winter night, and now a thick layer of snow had accumulated outside. A sudden unease gripped me. Tonight would be the beginning of Nangong Xiaoxue's vengeful terror that engulfed the campus. Who would she take with her?

I've never believed in ghost stories, but now I'm lost again. The old saying, "It's better to believe it exists than not to believe it doesn't," has convinced me.

Yesterday during the soul-summoning ceremony, her spirit kept staring at me. Could it be my turn? I crawled into bed, lost in thought, and before I knew it, I was asleep again.

"Dong--Dong--" In my daze, another bell rang from afar, and I couldn't help but count along with the sound.

"One, two, three, four, five... eleven, twelve." Twelve shots again! I opened my eyes; the room was pitch black, and I was still lying in bed. Outside the window, the north wind howled.

Am I dreaming again, or is the clock really ringing? I got out of bed, drew back the curtains, and opened the window.

The ancient clock tower stood silent in the cold winter night. The thick snow reflected the dim light of the streetlights, and in the silvery white, stood a figure in a white dress, seemingly gazing at the girls' dormitory building.

Nangong Xiaoxue? Could her target be the girls' dormitory tonight? Just as I thought of this, she suddenly disappeared. I opened the window, stuck my head out, and searched for her, but apart from the stationary buildings and the snow on the ground, I couldn't see anything at all.

Was I seeing things? Maybe. I was about to close the window and go back to sleep when something black flickered under the windowsill. I looked down, and a terrifying face came into view. It wasn't really a face at all, but rather a clump of long hair and a single, protruding eye.

This scene was just like in my nightmare. She was about to climb up, and I tried to pull the window shut, but it was too late. Her cold hand had already grabbed my wrist, and then she leaped onto the windowsill.

The cold wind kept blowing in, whipping her white dress, the floor-length hem brushing against my face, giving me goosebumps. Strangely, she seemed completely unfazed by the cold, standing quietly on the windowsill, looking down at me with her one eye, which wasn't hidden by her long hair.

One minute, two minutes, my strength slowly drained from my body, and her eyes seemed to be sucking my soul away. Everything before my eyes gradually blurred, and finally, I was plunged into boundless darkness.

I felt as if my soul had left my body, drifting in the darkness, unable to see anything, only faintly hearing the echo of footsteps. I wandered in the darkness for an unknown amount of time until finally a beam of white light shone towards me, strong and blinding. Instinctively, I rushed towards it. In an instant, my soul seemed to return to my body, and my eyes could see again, yet I wished I hadn't seen anything at all—

The Fourth Campus - Yuri Hasegawa (3)

I stood in a corridor, facing a large floor-to-ceiling mirror. In the mirror was an image of someone in a white dress, her face obscured by long hair. I took a step forward, and she took a step forward too; I stepped back, and she stepped back as well. Whatever I did, she repeated it. A sense of foreboding rose within me. I trembled, watching the person in the mirror slowly lift her hair. The person in the mirror repeated the same gesture. When the long hair was lifted, I collapsed to the floor. That scene was enough to shatter anyone's spirit—I saw another "me," a "me" in a dress, with long, flowing hair!

After sitting on the ground for a moment, I slowly came to my senses and ran frantically towards the back stairs. I had to get out of here; I couldn't let anyone see what I was like. But as I reached the corner of the stairs, all the streetlights suddenly turned on. Before I could even see my surroundings clearly, I felt a heavy blow through my cervical spine, everything around me shook violently a few times, and I lost consciousness.

PART 4.

"Heartbeat is normal."

"Blood pressure is normal."

"The EEG results show that the patient's emotions remain unstable."

Should the dosage of sedatives be increased?

"Let's observe first before making a decision."

Where am I? In a hospital? I can vaguely hear some conversations. I want to open my eyes, but I don't even have the strength. I'm so tired, so sleepy.

When I woke up, I found myself lying in a small bed. The sheets were white, the room was white, and there was nothing else besides the bed. The walls were all white, just like the sheets, even the door was white. There was a small glass window in the door, and a strange man's face flashed by.

Where am I? I struggled to get out of bed, still feeling a little dizzy. I slowly walked to the door, trying to open it and go out for a walk. But the ward door was locked from the inside, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't turn the handle.

"Open the door! Let me out, let me out!" I started banging on the door. The doorknob clicked open, and five or six nurses rushed in, dragged me to the bed, and forcefully pushed me down. These weren't nurses at all; they were like vicious she-devils, incredibly strong. My hands were quickly chained to the bed. This wasn't even a bed; it was a torture device. It seemed like there were shackles everywhere, and my feet were soon chained as well.

A man who looked like a doctor came in, looked at me, and then turned to the nurses and said, "Give him another sedative injection."

Shortly after the needle was removed from my body, I felt a little dizzy and my eyelids started to droop. No matter how much I struggled, I eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up again, there were two policemen standing by my bedside, the same two who had taken me back to the police station at the park entrance last time, and a doctor behind them.

"You're awake. We don't need to explain why we're here, do we? We've met a few times already. Let me introduce myself: my name is Mo Hui, and this is Wu Jiansheng."

I glanced at them both and then turned my head away.

"We just want to ask if you remember what happened the night before last," Mo Hui said.

I didn't say anything, maintaining my silent attitude towards them.

"Lin Yuan, it doesn't really matter whether you talk or not. We have a clear understanding of everything. Letting you talk is just giving you a chance!" Wu Jiansheng was starting to get impatient with my silence.

"The patient's emotions are still unstable. I think it would be better if you came back in a few days," the doctor standing behind me said, trying to put me at ease.

On my fourth day in the hospital, I was finally allowed to take a walk in the garden every afternoon, but I was always accompanied by a doctor or nurse, which made me very uncomfortable. The patients in the hospital were all very strange, and I eventually found out that it was a mental hospital.

I found a chair by the flower bed and sat down, trying to recall how I got in, but I had no recollection of it at all.

Just as I was racking my brains, a sudden burning pain shot through my face, and two hands frantically reached out to grab me. I quickly stood up and backed away, and a disheveled girl kept shouting at me, "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!" Then she lunged at me again, tearing at my clothes.

The nurses quickly pulled her away. I recognized her; it was Xu Silu!

After dinner, I was locked back in that white room with only one bed. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The sounds of madmen crying, laughing, and shouting came from outside the door, which was even more terrifying than the school where people kept dying.

I don't know why I was sent here; I'm sure I'm not mentally unstable. Now I only have one thought: escape. I got out of bed, walked to the door, and looked through the glass. The corridor was empty. How could I open this door? I tried to turn the doorknob, but it was no use. Disappointed, I returned to bed and continued to endure the howling of the mentally ill patients.

After a long time, just as I was drifting off to sleep, the locked door suddenly clicked open. My first reaction was to sit up in bed.

It's her, Xu Silu!

PART 5.

"That lunatic is causing me trouble again," I thought to myself, but I was a little puzzled as to how she got out of her room and how she got my room key.

She quickly closed the door, turned around, put her index finger to her lips to make me quiet, then walked to my bedside and whispered, "Don't make a sound, I'm here to take you out."

"Take me out of here?"

"Now is not the time to explain too much. The nurses will hand over their duties in three hours, and then they will do their rounds. You only have three hours. You have to be back within three hours." Xu Silu said, as she took out the clothes I was wearing when I came in from under the bed.

I was completely bewildered by what I was seeing and had no idea what she was going to do.

"Hurry up and change your clothes. Walking on the street in a hospital gown will make you easily recognized." She had already started helping me get dressed.

"Wait, I can do it myself." Although I was baffled by everything she did, I still changed my clothes.

The Fourth Campus - Yuri Hasegawa (4)

"I know you must be wondering, and you probably don't understand what I'm saying. But we all have one goal: to find the real culprit behind Ling Min's murder."

Xu Silu's words immediately surprised me. From the moment she entered until now, everything she had done and every word she had spoken seemed completely unlike someone who was mentally unstable, especially regarding Lingmin's suicide; it seemed she knew more about the inside story.

"Wasn't Lingmin's suicide?" I couldn't help but ask.

Xu Silu nodded. "Yes, on the surface it looked like suicide, but it was actually murder. They forced her to die in a very unique way."

"Do you know...?"

Xu Silu smiled. "I don't have any evidence yet, and I've been under surveillance the whole time. I have no way to find evidence, and I don't dare to tell the police the truth. If I did, I would become the second Ling Min."

"What do you want me to do in these three hours?"

"Go get the evidence."

"evidence?"

"Yes, there's a patch of wild mushrooms in the restricted area of the campus. You need to pick some within three hours."

A chill ran through me. During that night at the clock tower, when I couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality, Mengna had said, "Near that well, there's a large patch of wild mushrooms. Pick one and bring it out to Chen Yiming, and everything will be answered." Now Xu Silu was asking me to find that wild mushroom patch. Could the night at the clock tower have been real? Had Mengna really died in front of me? But there was no trace of Mengna in the clock tower… I was lost in thought when Xu Silu interrupted me:

"Time is running out! You need to leave quickly! There are many shards of glass on the forbidden area's walls; they're difficult to climb over. The only way is to climb over the large iron gate!"

It seems Xu Silu didn't know there was a secret passage in the morgue. I said, "Don't worry, I'll hurry. But why don't you go by yourself? You're not at school now, so no one should be watching you; everyone thinks you've gone crazy."

Xu Silu smiled helplessly. "If I could go, would I need to look for you? I'm still under surveillance here, but you're different. At least they don't know you also know the secrets about those fungi. Besides, you're a member of the Séance Society. Heh, the murderer is somewhat wary of the Séance Society. Okay, I won't say any more. I'll take you out. I need to go back to my ward immediately; someone checks on me every half hour."

PART 6.

The campus was quiet in the dead of night. Under the cover of darkness, I successfully climbed over the gate of the fourth campus and headed straight for the morgue.

The morgue, this boundary between the living and the dead, is forever shrouded in an atmosphere of mystery and terror. I quickly found the air vent—the one Lin Musen and I had seen Nangong Xiaoxue appear with the candle. Now, it's no longer surprising why Nangong Xiaoxue was in the morgue; since there's a secret passage leading to the forbidden area, she must have come from there. And listening to Maeda Reiko's words and treating Old Man Sun as a crucial clue in pursuing the morgue key was clearly a huge mistake.

After I climbed through the air vent into the morgue, I started to regret not following Xu Silu's advice and going straight in through the iron gate. Although going in there might have led to me being discovered—the location of that large iron gate wasn't exactly secluded, especially in winter when all the surrounding trees were bare and leafless, making everything there completely visible—the situation wasn't much better here.

The pungent smell of formaldehyde made me feel unwell; perhaps this was the smell of death. Would Nangong Xiaoxue's ghost suddenly appear at this moment? To be honest, I've always had a deep fear of it.

A sliver of silvery moonlight slanted through several skylights into the morgue, adding an eerie touch to the already grim atmosphere. Around me stood a row of freezers used to store corpses. Following Mengna's dying wish, I began searching for freezer number 13.

I pulled the flashlight Xu Silu had given me from my coat pocket and started searching by the blurry numbers. Finally, I saw the number 13 on the door of the bottom freezer in the corner. I eagerly pulled open the door. Unexpectedly, there was no secret passage, only a stiff female corpse!

This sudden fright made me collapse to the ground.

The silvery moonlight shone on the stiff female corpse, her face already blurred beyond recognition by knife cuts. I vomited instantly. Who was this woman in life? Why was she disfigured? As I pondered this, I dragged the drawer, continuing my search for the secret passage. Sure enough, when the drawer containing the body was pulled out, a dark hole appeared below, with several steps leading downwards.