“Wu Liqin?” Xiang Chen took the card from Ye Zhong and read it over carefully. 

However, he soon found his vision blurring and going dark. The noise around him was muffled, and he was no longer in the cold and dark classroom. Instead, floors and walls seemed like new, and many youthful students occupied the desks. 

Xiang Chen was standing in front of one particular desk where a quiet and demure-looking young girl was seated. She had peach blossom eyes and long black hair tucked behind her ears. She wore the same school uniform as the other students, but she seemed quite isolated and friendless. On her desk was a notebook that she scribbled away in. 

Xiang Chen glanced around, feeling strange as though he was in a dream within a dream. However, he found his bearings and decided to look for clues. 

The girl in front of him was most likely Wu Liqin. That meant that she was one of the people who had died in the old school. He just didn’t know if she was the first or one of the many afterwards.

Cautiously, Xiang Chen approached her desk. No one seemed to pay him any mind; it was a rather ironic situation, but he was almost like a ghost to them. 

Leaning down, he glanced at what she was writing in her notebook. 

♡ Wu Liqin x Zhou Guowei ♡

This was written repeatedly in her notebook, covering half the page. Then, as if remembering something important, Wu Liqin made another happy expression and flipped the page over. On the other page looked like… a list of names? However, there were no surnames; it was only first names.

Wu Liqin stared at the page, tapping her pen as she seemed lost in deep thought. 

Xiang Chen waited for a few minutes, but when she didn’t do anything else, he decided to have a look around the room and observe the other classmates. 

Judging from the lack of interactions, it seemed like Wu Liqin wasn’t very outgoing nor popular; the young female student seemed to always be stuck in her own little world as everyone else chatted happily around her. 

As Xiang Chen walked around, he happened to see his reflection in the windows facing the hallway. However, what he saw caused him to freeze in place.

All the faces of the other students in the classroom were staring straight at Xiang Chen with grotesque expressions. Some had lips that were stretched into abnormally wide smiles, seemingly pulled from ear to ear. Others had gaping open mouths where the jaw seemed to be broken as their chins almost rested on their chests. All of them had no eyes, but it definitely felt like they were still watching him. 

Xiang Chen’s heartbeat thudded heavily in his chest. With a bit of bravery, he tore his gaze away from the reflection and looked directly at the other students. They were still talking and going about normally, just as they were doing when he had first arrived. 

With slow steps, Xiang Chen backed up to the front of the classroom. Perhaps, when he wasn’t looking at them, were they watching him with such expressions? He didn’t want to, but he definitely felt compelled to look at the reflection in the windows once more.

But before he could, his vision was blocked by what felt like a pair of cold hands.

Xiang Chen’s back hit the wall, and he stood rooted to the floor, unable to move in fear of whatever was holding onto him. 

Strangely enough, he caught the scent of sandalwood surrounding him. It seemed almost… familiar. 

“Don’t look ah.” Ye Zhong’s voice whispered. “It’s time to wake up.” 

Xiang Chen’s eyes flew open, and he gasped as he awoke with a start. 

“Xiang Chen, are okay!?” A familiar voice whispered worriedly. 

“We have to keep it down ah! What if they come back?” Another voice said in a hurried whisper. 

The two voices belonged to none other than Bai Shen and Li Qianru. 

As Xiang Chen slowly sat up, he groaned, rubbing the back of his head which was a little tender. As his eyes slowly readjusted to the darkness, he noticed that they were still in the same classroom. Wu Liqin’s desk with the vases was right beside him, and Li Qianru was kneeling on his other side, looking at him with a worried expression. Bai Shen was standing guard by the door, peeking every now and then into the hallway. 

“Where’s Ye Zhong?” Xiang Chen asked, glancing around as he noticed the other’s absence. 

Bai Shen and Li Qianru gave Xiang Chen a strange expression.

 “What’re you talking about ah? Did you hit your head too hard when you fainted?” Bai Shen whispered. 

“I’m okay. I’m asking about Ye Zhong, our classmate. The one who was just here with me.” 

“Xiang Chen…” Li Qianru’s voice trembled quietly. “We don’t have a classmate named Ye Zhong ah…” 

Xiang Chen felt his heart drop into his chest. He took a deep breath, trying to sort out his thoughts. “When we first ran out of old school, I fell. Someone pulled me up and dragged me, saving me from the ghost. It was right before you guys came, and you gave gave me your handkerchief. You guys didn’t see me talking to someone?” 

Li Qianru looked scared, glancing at Bai Shen who looked confused. 

“There was no one with you when we came up to you…” 

Xiang Chen felt shivers run up his spine. He had clearly been talking to Ye Zhong, and he clearly remembered interacting with Ye Zhong… But for some reason, he couldn’t recall Ye Zhong’s face when they were in a group with the other students. He couldn’t remember if Ye Zhong had been with them when they came back in, and he couldn’t remember which group Ye Zhong had been in when they split up to search the different floors… 

“A ghost…” Xiang Chen murmured quietly. He looked up at Li Qianru and Bai Shen. “There was a ghost hiding among us ah…” 

The other two felt shivers tingle up their spine at Xiang Chen’s words. 

“A-A ghost!?” Bai Shen’s face paled with fear. “B-But how come it didn’t kill us then?”

Xiang Chen furrowed his brows and thought about his few interactions with Ye Zhong. Ye Zhong hadn’t seemed particularly malicious when they were together, even when they were alone… and the other had multiple opportunities to kill Xiang Chen if he wanted, but he did not. “Maybe he’s a good ghost?”

“A-Are there such things?” Li Qianru looked doubtful, shaking her head lightly. “Maybe t-there is… hopefully…”

Xiang Chen pushed aside the thought of Ye Zhong being a ghost, and he tried to remember what had happened before he had passed out. “How long was I unconscious?”

“We don’t know. We found you up here lying on the ground…Bai Shen thought you were dead at first, but… I wanted to be sure…” 

“What happened after everyone got separated?”

“Um, it’s a little complicated. A few of us got out, but a few others disappeared like you. We figured some people had escaped to hide… It was only me, Bai Shen, Shao Ming, Meimei, and two others who got out…” 

“So three people, including me, were missing.” Xiang Chen replied. “But Bai Shen, you were close to me, how did you manage to run out so fast?”

“This laozi was deathly afraid ah so my hidden talent kicked in I guess…” 

Bai Shen looked very serious, so Xiang Chen and Li Qianru could not refute him. 

“Bai Shen and I wanted to come back in for you, and Shao Ming said we should all come back to try to find the others because that’s what you would’ve done.”

Xiang Chen looked a little surprised because he knew that Shao Ming valued his sister greatly, and he would’ve guessed that Shao Ming would stay back to protect Meimei. 

“He said it was because you convinced everyone to go back that he was able to save Meimei ah.” Li Qianru explained quietly. 

Xiang Chen nodded his head lightly in understanding. It seemed like Shao Ming was a better person than he had thought. 

“What do we do now?” Bai Shen said nervously. “Should we try to make a run for it outside?” 

“No, I think we should look for clues. Try to figure out what had happened here so many years ago.” Xiang Chen said as he stood back up, dusting himself off. “I feel like… if we could just find out the truth, then the ghosts might let us go.”

“You t-think so?” Li Qianru sounded hopeful.

Xiang Chen nodded. “And the first thing we have to figure out now is: who is Wu Liqin and why did she die here?”

Ginseng

I have a work event that's taking up quite a bit of time, so I'll have to only do one chapter today, sorry!