Actions fantômes

Chapitre 2

Walking down the corridor, the sounds from the dormitories on both sides could not be suppressed and entered his ears. In fact, at times, sleeping people can be quite terrifying. For example, sometimes the sleep talking they make is indescribably bizarre, and unconscious sleepwalking can also make people who see it shudder.

So, Su Shengwen became increasingly nervous as he walked. Damn it! The corridor lights went out again, flickering a few times before mysteriously going dark!

Suddenly, Su Shengwen stopped abruptly, goosebumps spreading across his back.

A sleepy voice came from a nearby dormitory room:

"Grandma, I miss you so much! Why did you leave me so soon! Please come back!" The voice trailed off at the end, as if deliberately drawn out, like a call to a departed soul.

The words had barely left his mouth when the dormitory door clicked open, as if someone was pulling it. Su Shengwen didn't even have the courage to stand still; he took off running. Behind him, that lazy voice came again:

"Grandma, you're here! Are you tired from your journey? Please sit down..."

Hearing these words faintly, Su Shengwen was on the verge of tears.

Then, he bumped into something hard and almost fell to the ground. When he looked closely at what was blocking him, he couldn't help but let out a scream:

"Ah ...

The voice was unusually shrill, like a girl's. After the scream, there was a thud, and Su Shengwen collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

II

"Ring..." The crisp sound of the school bell lured out the hungry students; it was lunchtime.

After a morning of intensive study, the boys and girls surged towards the cafeteria like a tide, making the school avenue look like a marathon, with everyone jogging. The food in the cafeteria wasn't great, and it was limited. If you went late, you might not even find an empty plate. In fact, if you were accidentally locked in a classroom, you might not even see the cafeteria at all, because every classroom had to be locked at noon.

In the sea of people, a tall boy stood out. Firstly, because of his exceptional height, nearly 1.9 meters tall. Secondly, while others were striving to be second best, he strolled along with small, unhurried steps, his expression indifferent and his gaze vacant. Occasionally, he would glance at the crowd, but his calm eyes would not show the slightest ripple, as if he were indifferent to the world.

After the "tide" receded, the cafeteria food was completely gone. The boy also entered the restaurant, still unhurried, as if he wasn't worried at all about not being able to eat lunch today.

He found a quiet corner with few people and sat down. Instead of buying food, he stared blankly at the dirty dining table in front of him, motionless, like a statue.

The restaurant is very large, with hundreds of tables and chairs. The roof is a steel frame structure covered by a semi-transparent plastic canopy, allowing sunlight to reach every corner of the restaurant during the day, especially on sunny days.

In a corner sat the same boy from earlier, the scene from that morning replaying in his mind:

“Zhong Lei, let me be blunt with you. If you don’t study hard, you might as well go home. Don’t waste your parents’ hard-earned money here and affect the school’s college entrance rate…”

The hurtful words from the homeroom teacher haunted Zhong Lei's ears like a persistent ghost.

Zhong Lei had dropped more than ten places in this latest exam, and he was already numb to his own performance.

He has now fallen to the fifties; if he drops any further, he will be in the bottom ten.

When Zhong Lei first entered his second year of high school, his grades weren't this bad; he ranked 13th in his class. However, in the nearly six months since then, his grades have been steadily declining, following a parabolic trajectory.

However, it wasn't because he wasn't diligent, but because some truly unacceptable things had been occupying Zhong Lei's mind for a long time. It was like a computer with its memory completely full; running other programs became extremely difficult. Furthermore, because Zhong Lei studied humanities, his inability to retain information was a fatal flaw, making his rapid decline in grades inevitable.

The sunlight grew lazy, gently caressing Zhong Lei. The drowsiness of lunch break arrived on time; the restaurant was almost empty. Although Zhong Lei yawned, he still showed no intention of leaving. He didn't want to go back to his messy dormitory; he needed some peace and quiet. Just quiet, without a sound.

Three

Those things started during my first week of duty in my second year of high school.

(Cut! Lights! The author, Xiao Sui, makes a dazzling entrance, wearing a crisp black trench coat, Neo sunglasses, basketball shorts, and Nike slippers. The audience erupts in uproar; some, both over fifty and too young, faint on the spot. Xiao Sui tosses his trench coat, revealing his well-developed pectoral muscles, drawing another round of boos. He raises the microphone, and his raspy voice echoes across the stage: "Phoenix City Special Features Tutorial - Weekly Duty: Weekly duty is a unique feature of this semi-military school's management. During the week, the class on duty doesn't have classes; they are responsible for cleaning the entire campus. They also guard the school gate and the reception room, check on students during lunch and evening breaks, and patrol the campus at night to prevent people from leaving and to guard against people from entering." After finishing, he tosses his two-centimeter-long hair and sways off the stage, followed by broken radish roots, rotten cabbage leaves, and rotten eggshells...)

On the first day of his duty week, Zhong Lei was assigned to night patrol.

There were ten people on night patrol, divided into two groups of five, who took turns patrolling the wide cement roads around the school.

Zhong Lei is in a group.

Time flew by as the two groups of personnel took turns patrolling. When the clock on the wall of the duty room showed 2:30 a.m., one group relieved the second group and left the stuffy duty room.

It was just past mid-September, and the temperature in the small town remained high. Although it was already midnight, the residual heat of the earth could still be felt by people, and even through sandals, the soles of their feet were still repeatedly bothered by the heat waves.

A chilly wind blew gently in the middle of the night, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible chill. Zhong Lei and his group of five walked along the wide cement road. All around was quiet; the night was oppressively dark. Only a single incandescent bulb atop the teaching building, its light barely visible, seemed to be swallowed by the darkness at any moment. Even the bulb itself seemed afraid, let alone offering any courage to the students. Conversely, a dim, yellowish light flickered in the wind amidst the vast darkness, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the night.

After swaying and staggering around half of the campus, they found nothing unusual. Several team members showed signs of fatigue, and some were already yawning repeatedly.

When they reached the front of the teaching building, group leader Zhong Lei suddenly stopped, turned around, and said to the four people behind him:

"Aren't you bored just wandering around here like this?"

Behind Zhong Lei, the tall teaching building, shrouded in darkness, seemed menacing, as if it were about to pounce on him. In this oppressive atmosphere, the sudden sound of voices startled the others.

Liu Dong raised his head slightly:

"Why didn't you give me a heads-up before you spoke? You startled me! It was so obvious, it's incredibly annoying!"

Su Shengwen stroked his chest and nodded:

"A little."

Bi Bin stretched lazily:

"I'm so sleepy, I want to go back to sleep!"

Lin Wei, as always, remained expressionless and uttered two words:

"Boring."

Upon receiving these four answers, Zhong Lei couldn't help but smile sweetly.

"If we're all bored, let's find something fun to do?"

Zhong Lei spoke slowly, his handsome eyes slightly narrowed, and his thick eyebrows arched up, as if he were hiding a great secret.

The other four were intrigued by the boy's mysterious demeanor.

"What's interesting?" Liu Dong asked eagerly.

Zhong Lei glanced at him.

"Do you think there are still people on duty in the girls' dormitories?"

Liu Dong's eyes widened.

"What? Lei Zi, you're not going to spy on the girls' dormitory, are you?"

Zhong Lei looked up and laughed heartily, saying:

"Of course I was just kidding! By the way, do you guys remember that little shabby shack behind our dorm building?"

"I remember! It's that little room that the principal kept emphasizing during the school assembly, telling us not to go near it, right?"

“Yes! I think there must be some secret in the cabin, otherwise, why would they be reluctant to let us ‘visit’ such a small, shabby cabin, right? And now, it’s so late, and there’s no one here…” Zhong Lei stopped abruptly before he could finish speaking.

His meaning was already very clear.

The other four were also passionate young men. They were instantly wide awake, their blood boiling with excitement, almost bursting with adrenaline.

However, amidst his excitement, Su Shengwen also felt a lingering fear, and he expressed his opinion:

"But I've already fainted once. Ever since then, I've been living in constant fear. I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the slightest unexpected event!"

"Hey! What are you worried about! That night, someone just left their clothes hanging in the hallway! Nothing unexpected happened at all! All those ghosts and gods we talk about don't exist!"

Zhong Lei kept explaining to Su Shengwen, spat out his words, and occasionally winked at Liu Dong and the others. Su Shengwen still didn't realize that the clothes hanging in the corridor and the groaning in his sleep were all their "excellent" creations.

"Let's go?" Zhong Lei waved his hand decisively when he saw that Su Shengwen was still hesitating.

“Okay!” Su Shengwen nodded with difficulty.

4

Zhong Lei turned on the flashlight he had just turned off, and a straight beam of light immediately shone from it, pointing forward. It had just been charged today, so the beam was exceptionally bright.

They were still over a hundred meters from the dormitory building, the five of them walking side by side, with Zhong Lei in the middle, holding a flashlight. There were two people on each side, forming a 2-1-2 formation.

We're getting closer to the dormitory building. It's pitch black now, and the students who are fast asleep must be having a lot of dreams!

No one spoke along the way; in the darkness, only the sound of hurried footsteps echoed, "Pat! Pat!"

Zhong Lei couldn't hold it in any longer:

"Say something! Don't be so quiet!"

Then he started looking for topics to talk about, saying:

"Hey! Do you guys think there might be ghosts in there?"

No one responded to his words, and the surroundings remained eerily gloomy.

Zhong Lei looked around and noticed that the four people on both sides were acting strangely. No one was speaking, and he couldn't even hear their breathing. All four of them were walking with their heads down, focused on their feet. Only the sound of their footsteps remained, which felt like they were stepping on Zhong Lei's heart, making him hold his breath and his breathing become rapid.

Immediately following, an immense sense of oppression stirred something in his ears, and his emotions momentarily spiraled out of control, causing him to roar:

"What's wrong with you guys? Speak up!!!! Are you all fucking dead?"

Liu Dong, walking to Zhong Lei's left, suddenly shivered, as if waking from a dream:

"Huh? Zhong Lei, what did you say?"

Zhong Lei, feeling helpless, repeated himself:

"I just said, I wonder if there are ghosts in there!"

"Damn! If there were ghosts in there, you'd be the fastest runner!" This time, it was Bi Bin, the strongest among them, who was 1.8 meters tall, with arms thicker than Zhong Lei's calves and a head bigger than Zhong Lei's butt.

A sense of displeasure washed over Zhong Lei; he disliked this physically strong but simple-minded person.

"We'll have to go there to find out!"

“Hmph! If it’s a ghost, I’ll grab it by the neck,” Bi Bin ignored Zhong Lei’s rebuttal and childishly boasted, “I’ll throw it on the ground fifty times and then throw it into the toilet!”

However, once he took the lead, the other three also began to speak arrogantly.

Liu Dong spoke first:

“If that ghost were to touch me, I could cut it into forty-nine pieces with a knife, divide it into seven portions, put them into seven plastic bags, throw four portions into the four corners of the school, throw one onto the hill behind the school, throw one onto the roof of the dormitory building, and throw the last portion onto the roof of the teaching building!” As he spoke, he pulled a pencil sharpener from his pocket, his movements stiff.