When Chen Ling and his team arrived at Rongshen Middle School, the students were having evening self-study.
The principal stood at the entrance of a narrow, dark alley, waiting. As soon as the black car stopped, he hurried over and gently knocked on the car window: "Mr. Wu?"
Wu Weiwei lowered the window of the passenger seat, "Principal Jin?"
"It's me." The principal smiled kindly and had a humble attitude, yet was a little cautious, as if he was afraid that his bad attitude would offend people.
He took the initiative to open the car door for Wu Weiwei, bent over and peeked inside furtively, trying to see if there was anyone in the back seat.
But he was met with a pair of cold eyes.
Those eyes were immersed in the dim back seat, and the light from outside the car cast a deep and cold light, which scared him.
"Please move aside first." Wu Weiwei reminded.
Principal Jin finally came to his senses, stepped back in panic, and looked towards the back seat with lingering fear.
A young man with delicate looks pushed the door open, followed by another person coming down from the other side.
The man had a straighter and more robust figure, and his hair was neatly trimmed, which fully displayed his deep and handsome facial features.
Principal Jin evaluated it in his mind, walked around Chen Ling, and walked towards the man with a more powerful aura: "You must be Master Chen, I have heard of you for a long time."
Jiang Yu glanced at the other person's hand raised in front of him and said: "You recognized the wrong person."
Wu Weiwei was also speechless. How could this person just blindly recognize someone without asking any questions? "Principal Jin, this is my boss, Master Chen Ling."
Principal Jin suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and awkwardly chuckled twice, then walked back to the young man whom he had just ignored.
"Mr. Chen, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm shortsighted and made a mistake."
"It's okay." Chen Ling raised his chin towards the dark alley ahead, "Let's go into the school first."
Principal Jin was leading the way in front, keeping his ears open to the situation behind him all the time, and was worried in his heart.
This so-called master is too young, and his clothes are quite casual. If he were to wear a school uniform and be thrown among the students, no one would know that he is a social person.
Principal Jin became more and more uneasy the more he thought about it. Could he have been cheated
Now that the person has arrived, and in a moment of desperation, I had said something about the haunted creature in the message... If I chase them away now and then invite someone else over, it would waste a lot of time.
Principal Jin was in a state of confusion and finally did nothing, deciding to wait and see what would happen.
He stopped and reached out to push open the rusty red iron door.
The old hinges made a creaking noise that was harsh and unpleasant, and was very abrupt in the quiet environment.
The principal turned around and smiled, saying, "This gate was actually the original main gate. At that time, the school was not as big as it is now, and there was only a junior high school. Later, as the school grew, this gate was abandoned."
Fearing that Chen Ling and the others would feel slighted, he hastily added: "Please don't mind, I am bringing you here because the front door is too eye-catching. I am worried that if the students knew about this, they would be scared and it would affect their study and life."
Chen Ling knew whether he was afraid of affecting the students or the reputation of his school, and nodded silently.
The other party didn't want to talk, so Principal Jin pursed his lips awkwardly and gestured, "This way."
In order to avoid being discovered by the students, he deliberately took a detour to bring Chen Ling and others back to his office.
After brewing the tea, he sat opposite Chen Ling, "Chen..."
The principal felt very uncomfortable calling such a young man "master". He paused for a moment before continuing, "Mr. Chen, the purpose of inviting you here is very simple. It is just to exorcise evil spirits. Nothing else."
Chen Ling finally spoke, "Didn't you say there was a ghost in the school?"
The principal's face stiffened slightly.
Chen Ling: "Where is the haunted place? Who has seen it? Are there any casualties?" He tapped the handrail lightly with his fingertips and raised his eyelids to look across. "Principal Jin, please answer these questions first."
Principal Jin was stunned by the sudden aura that emanated from the young man and was stunned for a moment.
He calmed his expression and said, "Mr. Chen, in my opinion, exorcism is exorcism, it has nothing to do with anything else. You just need to perform a ritual."
Chen Ling sneered: "There are good ghosts and bad ghosts. We should always torture them to ask if they have been wronged. It is immoral to attack them without knowing right or wrong."
"They have all become ghosts, so how can there be any morality to speak of?" Principal Jin's purpose is very simple. No matter what, whether they are good or bad, just make them scare to death.
“How could there be none?” Wu Weiwei looked at him with some displeasure. “If we harm innocent souls, we will bear the consequences.”
Principal Jin doesn't understand all this. He just wants to resolve the issue quickly and have some peace and quiet as soon as possible.
"Even if I pay more money, it won't work?" He was a little annoyed. He felt that the people in front of him were complaining and he doubted their abilities more and more.
"No." Chen Ling stood up immediately, his attitude was clear and neat, "I don't think Principal Jin really wants to restore peace to the campus. If that's the case, there's no need for us to stay."
He turned to look at Jiang Yu: "Let's go."
The principal was dumbfounded. Why was this young man so impatient and just left without saying anything
If he is really a scammer, why wouldn’t he even want your money
The principal's attitude was more serious than before. "I was anxious and my attitude was not good. Please forgive me. I will tell you whatever you want to know."
Chen Ling did not sit down again. He stood straight on the ground and nodded, saying, "What on earth is going on with what you said before?"
"It was the school's water room," said Principal Jin. "The old man guarding the water room said he saw a person in the room, crying in the corner. But when he got closer, he saw nothing."
He sighed and said, "This has happened more than once."
"But the ghost you met was not in the water room."
Chen Ling's firm tone made Principal Jin's face turn pale instantly, "You, how do you know?"
Chen Ling: "The bottled water in your office is full, and the water dispenser is running normally. There is no need to go to the water boiler. And you said that this kind of thing has happened more than once, and you were not in a hurry before. Now you suddenly call us here in such a hurry. It is obvious that you have encountered something terrible yourself."
Principal Jin did not dare to look down on others and said honestly: "Before the evening self-study class, I went to patrol each floor as usual, and then, I saw someone running through the corridor..."
He was walking up the stairs with his hands behind his back. When he looked up, he saw a blue-white shadow passing by in the corridor above.
For some unknown reason, Principal Jin followed.
The student ran very fast, rushing all the way from the third floor to the top floor.
The door leading to the rooftop on the top floor has been locked for a long time. No one has the key except the person in charge of campus maintenance logistics and himself.
But when he reached the top floor, he found that the iron door was ajar.
There are no windows on the staircase leading to the top floor. Darkness fills every corner and one cannot even see the steps under one's feet.
Principal Jin stomped his foot.
The voice-controlled light above my head seemed to be broken and wouldn’t light up.
Because of his night blindness, the steps, which were already shrouded in darkness, became even more blurred. For safety reasons, he took out his cell phone and turned on the flashlight.
The flashlight illuminated the stairwell, allowing him to see that there was a person sitting on the stairs at his feet.
The man's face was pale, with red bloodshot eyes all around his eyeballs. There was blood-red liquid in the corners of his eyes. His mouth was open, revealing a bright red tongue.
He stretched out his cold hands, hugged Principal Jin's thighs, tilted his neck back 90 degrees, and stared straight at Principal Jin.
"I don't know him, I really don't know him..." Principal Jin suddenly collapsed, covering his head and trembling all over.
The scene was truly horrifying. It had been almost two hours since the incident, but he could still feel those hands wrapped around his legs.
"Why would he look for you if he doesn't know him?" Chen Ling asked.
"How would I know!" Principal Jin suddenly shouted.
The sound was like thunder and could be heard even in the corridor outside.
Realizing that he had lost his composure, he wiped his face and apologized: "Mr. Chen, I heard that this was a mass grave when this school was first built. Later, the city wanted to sell this land for urban development, so they picked up all the bones."
Chen Ling asked back: "What do you want to say?"
Principal Jin said, "I want to ask, could the things that the old man in the water room and I saw be the ghosts of the former mass graves?"
Chen Ling took a sip of the teacup slowly and smiled, "Principal Jin, you just said that the ghost you saw was wearing white and blue clothes. As far as I know, your school uniform is a white and blue sportswear."
Principal Jin was speechless. He didn't expect that he would accidentally let the cat out of the bag.
Wu Weiwei chimed in: "Yes, and you said it was a student."
Principal Jin felt cold all over, his head felt heavy, and he began to stutter. "Yes, really? Did I say these words?"
"You did." Chen Ling pressed on, "Principal Jin, what exactly happened in your school? If you can't tell the truth, we won't be able to trace the source and solve the problem from the source."
Principal Jin was pushed to the limit and stood up angrily, "No matter what happened, it is our school's business, and you are just the people I paid to do the job. Since you can't do it according to my requirements... Please leave. I won't see you off."
Chen Ling was not angry and immediately got up and left.
Jiang Yu stood up and chuckled as he passed by Principal Jin. His voice was trembling with sharpness: "God is watching what you do. Truth cannot be hidden."
Principal Jin immediately got goosebumps all over his body and turned around quickly, only to find that the person who had just passed by him was gone.
He chased out and saw that the man who had just spoken to him had actually walked up to Chen Ling.
He didn't have time to think about why the other party was so fast. His mind was now filled with this sentence: God is watching what you do.
Chen Ling and his companions did not leave the school. They went directly to the student dormitory after leaving the teachers' office building.
After standing in the woods downstairs for nearly an hour, the bell for the evening self-study get out of class rang. Not long after, the thin boy who had sneaked into the classroom to burn paper appeared.
He held the book in his arms, head down, and moved towards the dormitory step by step like a weak little bean sprout that had been destroyed.
Compared with the students who were chatting and laughing in groups around him, he really looked out of place.
Chen Ling patted Wu Weiwei on the shoulder and nodded his chin in the direction of the little boy: "It's up to you."
"Leave it to me." After saying that, Wu Weiwei walked out of the grove and hooked his arm around the boy's neck.
The boy was startled and shouted in panic: "Who are you? Let me go!"
His voice was loud, but his facial expression was not strong enough, he looked completely weak inside.
Wu Weiwei smiled at the students who were watching nearby and said, "I'm his brother, and this is my younger brother. We've had some minor conflicts recently." After saying that, he led the little boy to the edge of the woods.
Seeing that there were two others besides the person who was restraining him, the boy was so scared that he struggled even more violently to leave.
Chen Ling signaled Wu Weiwei to let him go, and at the same time put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "We are not bad people. We just wanted to ask you some questions."
The three of them standing here were too conspicuous, so Jiang Yu suggested, "Let's talk outside."
"Where are you going? I'm not going, I'm not going anywhere!" The boy was about to cry, using his hands and feet.
"We are here for Zhou Yuanxin." Chen Ling only remembered the pronunciation of the name and didn't know the specific characters, so he said the one that sounded closest.
When he heard it was for Zhou Yuanxin, the boy immediately froze, his face turned pale, and he bit his lower lip tightly.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Chen Ling breathed a sigh of relief and led people to the garbage dump behind the cafeteria. In the summer, flies flew everywhere and the stench was overwhelming, so no one wanted to go there.
Ever since the boy heard that name, he lost his soul and was pulled into a secluded place by Chen Ling like a puppet. Even the messy environment around him failed to arouse his reaction.
"Why did Zhou Yuanxin hang himself?" Chen Ling asked directly.
The boy raised his eyes suddenly, his pupils shrank because of this sentence, "You, who are you to him?"
"Neighbors," Chen Ling said, "Auntie Zhou and Uncle Zhou are very sad about this. They have always believed that Zhou Yuanxin's death was not suicide, otherwise how could he climb up the tree and hang himself? There was not even a stool to stand on."
Hearing the other party describe Zhou Yuanxin's death in such detail, tears welled up in the boy's eyes and he said in a hoarse voice: "He committed suicide. He really committed suicide. He, he even left me a suicide note."
Chen Ling asked: "Where is the suicide note?"
The boy took a step back like a cat whose foot was stepped on.
Chen Ling could feel that the boy's spirit suddenly tensed up, and he was trembling with fear and anxiety.
He stepped forward, gently pressed his palm on the other person's shoulder, and whispered, "Tell me what happened, I can help you."
"You can't. No one can help me. No one can help us... We are all carved on the table. We can't run away..." The boy's tears finally rolled down. He raised his elbow and wiped them casually, choking and saying, "Don't worry about it. What if he blames you too?"
"Who would blame me?" Chen Ling's unhurried voice seemed to have a soothing effect. The boy shook his head and his voice was clearer than before, "Zhou Yuanxin, Zhou Yuanxin has been in school all the time. He didn't go to reincarnate. He is watching us nearby."
Chen Ling discovered that although the boy looked weak and could be bullied, his eyes were wide open when he talked about his classmates who had committed suicide. He was filled with fear and nostalgia at the same time.
He asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”
"What are you afraid of? Zhou Yuanxin?" Seeing Chen Ling nod, the boy pursed his lips and smiled bitterly, "I am afraid, but if possible, I really want to see him in person and say sorry to him."
Chen Ling slowed down his tone and asked, "Are you good friends at school?"
"How can I be considered his friend... I don't even dare to stand up for him, I deserve to die... I am also wrong, I am an accomplice." The boy suddenly became emotional, his eyes filled with inexplicable hatred.
Chen Ling lowered his eyes to look at his clenched fist, reached out his hand, and used his fingers to pry open and straighten the curled fingers.
The boy looked up in astonishment and suddenly asked, "Since you are here, do you want to help Zhou Yuanxin pack his things?"
"Didn't his family come to take it away?" Chen Ling wondered.
"No." The boy asked again, "Do you want to take it?"
Chen Ling thought about it, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll send it back to his parents."
"Then wait a minute."
Not long after the boy ran away, he came back holding a cardboard box.
In the box there was a pair of shoes, some books, some pens, and a worn-out watch. The hands of the watch stopped at exactly six-thirty and did not move.
In addition, there is a table about the division of liberal arts and science.
The form contained the home address and mother's name, with the father's name crossed out.
Chen Ling took the carton and weighed it. It was very light. "Are these the only things in it?"
"These are the only things I hid secretly. The rest were all burned by my classmates."
"Where is the suicide note you mentioned?" Chen Ling asked, "I want to see if he has any words for Aunt Zhou and the others."
"No..." The boy looked at the gentle young man, hesitated, and said, "See for yourself."
He placed the suicide note in the interlayer of his schoolbag. It was so flat without any creases, and looked just like new.
When the boy took out the suicide note, his fingertips turned blue because he used too much force. He stared at the note with guilt, but more than that, there was an indescribable huge fear.
He stuffed the suicide note into Chen Ling's hand and said in a trembling voice: "Actually, I had already thrown away this suicide note, but when I woke up the next day, it was back in my schoolbag. I don't know if he was blaming me, or if he was just following me and wanted me to accompany him."
Chen Ling opened the suicide note and saw a boy's name at the beginning, Ji Nan.
The content of the letter was very simple, with only one sentence: This is the abyss of sin, I can only see darkness, Ji Nan, I want to leave, why don’t you go too.
The name left at the end is Zhou Yuanxin.
Chen Ling silently wrote down these three words, folded the suicide note again, put it in the envelope, and returned it to Ji Nan.
Ji Nan put the suicide note back into his schoolbag and asked quietly, "Can I leave now?"
Chen Ling: "Let's go."
Ji Nan looked back every few steps. He didn't know whether these three people were really Zhou Yuanxin's neighbors as they said, but he was grateful that they listened to his pale confession.
Ever since Zhou Yuanxin committed suicide, I have been living in torment, and sometimes even wonder if the last two words in the suicide note are hinting that he should die too.
This school is so miserable. Every day is filled with angry and frightening bullying. He sometimes feels it is so meaningless. What is the point of living if he has to be poked in the head and kicked all day long.
But when he thought of his mother and father who had high hopes for him, he gave up the idea of dying.
Just bear with it for a while. In two more years you can graduate and leave this damn place.
Jiang Yu took the cardboard box from Chen Ling. Seeing that the young man was staring at the form, he asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Chen Ling hummed, "I don't think Zhou Yuanxin will commit suicide."
Jiang Yu glanced at him and asked calmly, "Why do you think so?"
"Let's not talk about how Zhou Yuanxin hanged himself without any obstacles. Just the suicide note is not right." Chen Ling didn't think Zhou Yuanxin was asking his friends to die with him. "Don't you think the words on the paper are not a farewell, but more like Zhou Yuanxin asking Ji Nan to leave school together?"
"Since you have some suspicions, continue investigating." Jiang Yu freed a hand and patted the back of the young man's head, his tone cold, "This matter is not that simple. The resentment of the evil spirits on campus is very weak, and it is hidden by the not-so-strong yin energy."
Chen Ling opened his eyes wide in surprise: "Is there something else here?"
Jiang Yu nodded, pressed his shoulder and asked him to turn around, "But now, we have to leave here first."
"We can't leave now." Wu Weiwei pointed ahead and said, "Principal Jin is here."
The three of them had been gone for nearly a quarter of an hour before Principal Jin remembered that they might be wandering around the campus asking questions, so he quickly chased after them. After going around in a circle for a long time, he still couldn't find them. Finally, he went to the monitoring room to check the surveillance and discovered that these people had gone to the dormitory building.
But what’s strange is that the surveillance camera downstairs in the dormitory building is full of snow and nothing.
For some reason, Principal Jin suddenly remembered the young man who had warned him coldly before leaving, and he couldn't help but shudder.
Experts, these ones are definitely experts!
But the more certain he was of the other party's ability, the more Principal Jin dared not to keep him. He was very afraid of Chen Ling's attitude of getting to the bottom of things.
The surveillance camera couldn't capture anyone, so he could only look around. When he passed the cafeteria, he suddenly remembered the garbage storage area behind it and hurriedly went in.
"Why haven't you left yet!" Because he was afraid of the abilities of Chen Ling and others, Principal Jin was not as angry as before. He turned his gaze and stopped on the box in Chen Ling's hand.
"What is that?" He stepped forward quickly, but before his hand touched the edge of the box, his arm was blocked by someone's hand.
Jiang Yu protected Chen Ling behind him and looked at the middle-aged man with thinning hair in front of him with a cold gaze.
Principal Jin was about to push the person away when he suddenly felt a chill crawling up his calves. He looked down suddenly and saw a pair of snow-white hands reaching out from the concrete floor.
“Ghost…Ghost…!”
Jiang Yu withdrew the Yin Qi that passed through his fingertips, turned around and put his arm around the young man's shoulders: "Let's go."
Wu Weiwei could not see Jiang Yu's little movements, he only knew that Principal Jin suddenly looked down at his feet and then went crazy. However, Chen Ling, whose vision was half blocked, saw it clearly. The ancestor just passed a little Yin Qi to Principal Jin's eyes, blinding his eyes.