Nightmare Strikes

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Zhou Taifu stood in front of an archive shelf, looking somewhat strange, with Yu Wen standing beside him.

It was very dark here, the only light coming from the mobile phone in Yu Wen's hand.

Their faces were hidden in the darkness.

"How could this be?" Yu Wen gazed at the scene before her, her delicate brows furrowing, her previous calmness gone.

The archive shelf was divided into four layers, from top to bottom.

Except for the first layer, which showed no signs of disturbance, the other three layers were in disarray, with several brown paper bags scattered on the floor.

Zhou Taifu squatted down and touched the paper bags.

There was no dust on them, indicating they had been disturbed recently.

In other words, this mess was made by Luo Yi.

It seemed he had taken the clues about the female ghost from here.

But… they had just searched this area again and found nothing.

Zhou Taifu slowly stood up, his voice cold. "It seems the ghost has taken the clues away."

This was the last thing he wanted to see.

Midnight tomorrow was the final deadline.

They didn't have much time left.

"Let's go," Yu Wen said without hesitation, turning to leave.

Zhou Taifu followed her, hesitating. "Where to? The equipment center?"

"C building, music classroom."

After closing the door, the two quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor, and the area returned to a dead silence.

A few minutes passed.

A very faint scratching sound arose as a closed door was pushed open a crack.

This door was located directly opposite the archives.

It looked inconspicuous.

After a while, a bloodshot eye slowly emerged from the crack in the door.

The eye looked around before turning its head, softly calling, "Doctor, they've left."

Jiang Cheng sat up from a dusty rattan chair, first brushing off the dust from his pants, and tucked a brown paper bag under his arm.

Upon closer inspection, there were bloodstains on one corner of the paper bag.

"Doctor," the chubby man gulped, looking at Jiang Cheng with a flattering and admiring expression, "you're really amazing. How did you know they would come to the archives for clues?"

"Luo Yi was replaced by a ghost; they naturally would think he died in the archives and thus suspect he might have found some important clues before being silenced by the ghost," Jiang Cheng replied simply.

"But…" The chubby man pondered for a moment before looking up and asking, "How did they confirm Luo Yi was impersonated by the ghost without a camera?"

Jiang Cheng held the brown paper bag in his hand, the seal already torn open, indicating Luo Yi had looked inside.

"It's the mirror," he turned the paper bag upside down, and a small booklet slid out. Jiang Cheng flipped it open casually and replied, "I saw Zhang Yinyin use it before; you can verify a ghost through the reflection in the mirror."

Upon hearing Jiang Cheng mention Zhang Yinyin, the chubby man suddenly realized he hadn't seen her earlier.

"Doctor," he looked towards the door, his tone strange, "that Zhang Yinyin split off from them."

"Mm." Jiang Cheng nodded, glancing toward the door as if his gaze could penetrate it and see the outside. After a moment, he said, "Time's running out."

Though he didn't understand Jiang Cheng's words, the chubby man instinctively felt there were some profound and complex issues intertwined in this.

He also understood that even if he asked, Jiang Cheng wouldn't explain.

He was a strange man, extremely self-absorbed.

On the way here, when Jiang Cheng grabbed his collar and looked down at him, he felt as if the latter might kill him.

"Doctor," he carefully changed the subject, stretching his neck and asking about the booklet in Jiang Cheng's hand, "what's written in there?"

Jiang Cheng casually handed over the booklet.

It was small, not very thick even including the cover, and had the words "2009 Dance Department Student Files" embossed in gold on the front.

Just as Yu Wen had surmised, after the ghost killed Luo Yi, it took the files from his hand and put them back in their original place.

It was a pity that they wasted too much time finding their way and dealing with Zhang Yinyin.

This allowed Jiang Cheng to get there first and take the files.

Hearing footsteps upstairs, he had hidden in the small room opposite the archives.

This room was likely once an office, not large but well-equipped.

Jiang Cheng's gaze swept around the surroundings.

The only window in the room was covered with dark curtains, allowing only a little light to seep through the gap in the middle.

A deep brown bookshelf stood against the wall, next to a white water-cooler.

At this moment, the water cooler was already dry.

There were four or five empty barrels on the floor, tipped over and too dirty to discern their original color.

A few red clay pots for planting flowers were neatly lined up under the window, but the plants inside had long since withered away.

Right behind the chubby man was a wooden coat rack with a few garments hanging on it.

An old desk held a desk calendar; Jiang Cheng hadn't seen one of those in a long time. He picked it up and discovered the last date marked was in December 2009.

"Doctor," the chubby man also noticed the calendar on the desk, his brow furrowing, "it seems the person in this office left in a hurry; they didn't take anything with them."

December 2009.

Jiang Cheng seemed to be deep in thought.

The chubby man, holding the files, asked in confusion, "Wait, does this academy even have a dance department?"

He remembered this was a specialized music academy, as the teacher who brought them in had introduced it that way.

"Yuying Music Academy doesn't have a dance department, but Yuying Art Academy does," Jiang Cheng replied. "That was the predecessor of this academy."

The chubby man was momentarily taken aback.

"There's a mention of it in the files," Jiang Cheng replied casually.

As he flipped through the files again, the chubby man indeed found the name of Yuying Art Academy inside.

"When did it change its name?"

"Ten years ago. I found the archives from 2010; by then, the name had already been changed to Yuying Music Academy," he paused and looked at the chubby man, saying meaningfully, "The dance department was also eliminated."

The chubby man felt as if he had caught a whiff of something.

The sudden renaming of the school, the disbanded dance department, the obscure files… everything seemed to indicate that a hidden secret lay beneath.

Especially when he recalled the female ghost who danced ballet.

"It must have been the girl's death that triggered this series of changes!" the chubby man gripped the files, his tone certain.

(End of the Chapter)

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