Chapter 3: Baby's Red Shoes

  As I walked out of the library, my mind was a complete blank. From time to time, I would look back, feeling as if someone was following me. Thinking about what happened yesterday sent shivers down my spine.

  Is it her? Has she returned from the dead? I cleared my head and felt like I was on the verge of collapse. Rushed back to the dormitory immediately.

  The tension of the day had made me sweat a lot, and my body already reeked of sweat. I decided to take a shower. The dormitory was empty, so I took off my top and rushed into the bathroom. The sound of water hitting the ground created an echo in the bathroom, like the sound of hammering from an alleyway. Occasionally, I could also hear the wind outside the window. Overall, the atmosphere felt off, quieter than usual, except for the sound of the water.

  Suddenly there was a loud thud, as if something had fallen to the ground.

  "Hey! Who's there? Li Meng?" I mustered up the courage to ask, but no one responded.

  I quickly wrapped myself in a towel and took a glance outside, suddenly seeing something red on the floor in front of the large mirror, but it was impossible to make out what it was due to the steam from the hot water. I slowly approached it.

  It's a little red shoe, a baby's shoe. Who would be so bored? It must be a prankster. I thought to myself.

  As I turned around to take out the shoes and throw them away, my eyes caught a glimpse of someone standing by the door, seemingly sneaking a peek at me. It must be Li Meng, that kid loves to play pranks on people. This time, I'm going to turn the tables on him. I couldn't help but smile secretly.

  I quickly hid on this side of the door, thinking that when he wonders why it's quiet, he'll come out. At that time, I'll definitely scare him so much that his butt will pee.

  Hid for a minute, still no sound, that kid won't know I'm going to scare him, I doubted in my heart.

  I walked out of the door in a dull mood, and at that moment, a pale face appeared in front of me. I was so scared that I sat down on the ground. The face had no expression, with white eyeballs and no black pupils, but there was an unspeakable sadness floating on it. Isn't this the female corpse I saw in the mortuary today?

  "Sister, spare me, I have no grudge against you." My voice trembled.

  The face looked at the red shoes in my hand, tears streaming down, the tears were red, flowing from the corners of the eyes to the ground.

  I let out a loud cry of fright.

  At this time, footsteps came from the stairs, and the face immediately turned into a mist and disappeared.

  I just felt a chill on my back, as if something had crashed in.

  "Yang Guo, what's going on?" Suddenly came Li Mubai's voice.

  "No, nothing's wrong, I just took a bath and the water was a bit cold." I quickly got up and responded loudly.

  The blood and tears on the ground had disappeared, and the baby's red shoes had turned into a piece of red paper.

  It's probably a case of "things will turn into their opposites when they reach the extreme", but at this moment, I, who have calmed down, am unusually calm. The female corpse didn't intend to harm me; if she wanted to harm me, I would have been dead long ago. At this time, my strong curiosity is driving me again to understand the truth of things.

  I must go back to the storage room again, what secrets are hidden? I made up my mind.

  I stood under the dissecting building again, and the wind blowing on my body was cool and refreshing. I couldn't help but shiver. The lights of the whole building were only bright in a few places, and after hesitating for a while, I still took a step forward. Because the corridor lights are voice-controlled, I kept tiptoeing, seeing that empty corridor, and at the end of the corridor was also pitch black, my heart began to panic. The wind started blowing in the corridor too, causing the door panels to vibrate slightly. Looking around, unfortunately, there was no one. Just as my line of sight turned back, a shadow flashed by at the end of the corridor.

  "Hello, classmate." I tried calling out, but no one answered me. Summoning courage from somewhere, I walked step by step towards the end of the corridor. Just as I reached the motion-sensing light area on this side, the ones in front went out again, and I darted back and forth between darkness and light, my footsteps echoing, one step at a time, with only the sound of my footsteps and rapid breathing audible. The storage room was to the left at the end of the corridor; I nervously passed by each classroom, the silence was too frightening.

  "Is anyone there?"

  I've been cheering myself on all along.

  Only two rooms were left. I took a deep breath and approached the classroom next to the storage room step by step, the air seemed to have solidified, just a few more steps and I would be there. Suddenly, the light outside the classroom flickered once, click, and went out. I stomped my foot hard, no response, was it broken? I tried to remain calm, quickly taking out the spare fruit knife and phone. I opened the phone's flashlight with one hand and held the fruit knife in front of my chest with the other.

  "Ow!" I clutched my forehead in pain, having bumped into the wall. Why was it a wall? The light illuminated what was ahead, and I panicked, hastily knocking on the wall that had suddenly appeared before me.

  Where did the storage room go? How could this be a wall? I was shocked.

  I don't dare to guess what it is, I just feel that the sudden situation makes my head buzz. I try to control my breathing and keep my emotions normal. But the hand holding the fruit knife is already sweating, I tightly grasp it, afraid of being scared away, the other hand holds the phone and slowly moves towards the wall, hoping to find some clues.

  Just as I was fully focused, a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder.

  I let out a loud cry and the fruit knife slipped from my hand, making a crisp sound.

  "Shh! Don't make a sound, I know you." The person behind him whispered.

  I slowly turned around, only to see that his face had already been scared pale, and the sweat on his forehead had already wetted the hair by his ears.

  "Who are you?" I asked timidly.

  "My name is Lin Mo."

  My heart skipped a beat, Lin Mo, wasn't she the female corpse who sent me a text message?

  "Ah! Big sister, I didn't intentionally offend you before, don't kill me!" I cowered on the ground with my eyes closed, or more accurately, my legs were so weak that I couldn't stand up.

  "What did you say?" The man replied.

  "You sent me a message before, didn't you ask me to come see you?" I continued to say anxiously.

  "What are you talking about? I didn't ask you to come see me. We've met in the morgue before, haven't we? You were sleeping among the corpses and I even laughed at you." Lin Mo looked puzzled.

  At this moment, I suddenly thought of the girl next to the teacher, was she that female corpse? Thinking about the book in the library, could it be a case of borrowing a corpse to return a soul? The more I think about it, the more frightened I become.

  "Have you returned from the dead? Elder sister, spare me a way out." I continued to wail.

  "What are you talking nonsense about, are you crazy? I'm a human being, touch me." Lin Mu was so angry that he squatted down and grabbed my hand to put it on his face.

  "Huh, how come it feels so good? Could it be that I'm really a person?" I thought to myself that being able to enjoy this before dying isn't bad.

  Roughly intentionally touched for half a minute, and hands still had a tendency to continue exploring downwards.

  "Shameless!" Lin Mo looked at me with disapproval and directly slapped me in the face.

  I felt a scorching pain and sprang up from the ground immediately.

  "Cough cough, I believe you're human now, but how did you know my phone number?" I asked awkwardly to ease the tension.

  "You've fallen into your own trap. How can a man be so narcissistic, using his own selfie as his phone wallpaper? Are you a man?" Lin Mo said with annoyance.

  "I was just trying to tease you and play a joke on you, but you actually scolded me as a female ghost, I'm angry." Lin Mo continued with a pouting mouth.

  "What's that, I didn't do it on purpose. You didn't make it clear, how was I supposed to know who you were? These two days I've been encountering some strange things, I'm scared." I saw she was a bit angry, and my heart softened immediately.

  Lin Mo looked at me with a sincere attitude, "Alright, I forgive you!"

  "Hey, why are you here? Something happened this afternoon and the police came. I don't know why the school sealed off this place with walls." Lin Mo continued to say.

  I didn't rush to answer her, but instead asked back: "What happened, so serious?"

  "It's said that he's dead, but the news is sealed off and nobody knows what the reason is. It's making everyone anxious." Lin Mo replied.

  I was thinking in my heart, this must be related to the female corpse.

  "You said you came here for what, I just saw you outside holding a knife and sneaking around, so I followed you. Are you going to do something bad?" Lin Mo asked again.

  "I, I, I'm fine, I just came to practice my courage, I was afraid of running into ghosts, so I brought a knife." I muttered and hid the knife behind my back, casually glossing over it with a smile.

  Lin looked at me with half-belief and half-doubt.

  At this moment, the lights in the corridor suddenly lit up, giving both Lin Mo and me a big fright.

  The scene before us did not make us consider the problem of the lamp too much, but rather filled our hearts with wonder...