After Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen got off the car, they crossed the yard and the tree-lined avenue, and walked along the lakeside towards the dormitory.
Along the way, most of the dormitory buildings were pitch black, with only orange street lights illuminating the surroundings. Compared with the South District, let alone groups of students, there was not even a single person in sight along the way.
The autumn wind blew across the clear waves of the lake, bringing with it moisture, making everything chilly.
As Ji Mingxia walked, he couldn't help but ask Ye Chen, "Does Ye Tian usually live like this?"
If he hadn't known that this was the North District of H University, Ji Mingxia would have had the illusion that he had come to an abandoned area in the suburbs.
It is so desolate and remote, to put it bluntly, even if someone was killed and the body was dumped in the middle of the night, it would not be discovered by anyone.
Ji Mingxia, a man, felt terrified, let alone Ye Tian, a girl, living alone in such a place, it would be strange for her to feel safe.
Ye Chen looked at the deserted surroundings and felt something was wrong: "It's not like this usually. Last time I came here, I could still see students coming in and out..."
It was quiet all around, with only the sound of Ye Chen and Ji Mingxia's footsteps coming and going.
After walking for a while, they finally arrived at their destination. In contrast to the deserted place before, the downstairs of Ye Tian’s dormitory was quite lively.
Looking from a distance, you can see figures walking back and forth. They should be the Ye family's bodyguards on patrol.
The surroundings were desolate. Not to mention two grown men, even a bird would attract attention. Therefore, when Ye Chen and Ji Mingxia appeared, the bodyguards quickly discovered them.
A figure walked out of the dormitory and greeted Ye Chen and Ji Mingxia.
Ji Mingxia initially thought that it was a bodyguard coming, but when he got closer, he found that the person coming was actually a middle-aged man.
As soon as he saw Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen, the middle-aged man immediately smiled: "Mr. Xiao Ye."
"Uncle Zhang?" Ye Chen was obviously a little surprised when he saw the middle-aged man. He glanced at Uncle Zhang, then looked at the dormitory not far away, and said, "Are your parents here?"
"Yes." Uncle Zhang nodded and said, "When the gentleman and his wife heard that the young lady was in trouble, they immediately bought a plane ticket and flew back, and they managed to see the young lady before dark."
"Have Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding come?" Ye Chen asked again.
Uncle Zhang shook his head, and then said, "But the gentleman and the lady have invited Master Zheng."
"Master Zheng?"
"Master Zheng is from Hong Kong. He happens to be free today. The gentleman and his wife paid a high price to invite him for help. Master Zheng is well-known and will definitely be able to help Miss." Uncle Zhang comforted her.
Seeing that Ye Chen not only did not look happy after listening to it, but frowned slightly, Uncle Zhang immediately realized that he had said too much.
He quickly glanced at Ji Mingxia and changed the subject: "Excuse me, who is this..."
Ye Chen's attention was drawn back, and he introduced him to Uncle Zhang: "His surname is Ji, his given name is Mingxia, he is Ye Tian's classmate and also my friend."
"Ji Mingxia?" Uncle Zhang read Ji Mingxia's name and felt that the name was familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere.
"Hello." Ji Mingxia said to Uncle Zhang.
"Hello, hello. I'm Old Zhang, the housekeeper of the Ye family." Uncle Zhang bowed slightly when he saw Ji Mingxia greeting him, and said, "Except for Mr. Xiao Ding, this is the first time I've seen Mr. Xiao Ye take the initiative to introduce a friend. I remember that Ji Mingxia is the lifesaver that the young lady mentioned before, isn't he?"
Uncle Zhang said this, looking at Ye Chen with wide eyes.
Seeing Uncle Zhang's big reaction, Ji Mingxia also looked at Ye Chen curiously.
Ye Chen had a stern face, showing no emotion. Seeing Uncle Zhang and Ji Mingxia looking at him, Ye Chen sighed and finally said, "It's windy outside, let's go inside and talk."
"Yes, yes, please come in." Uncle Zhang said, and took Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen into Ye Tian's dormitory.
Because Ye Tian was moving in, the school slightly renovated the dormitory, and built a small courtyard outside the detached villa. At this moment, Uncle Zhang brought Ye Chen and Ji Mingxia into the courtyard, and then personally made tea for them.
While handing the teacups to Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen, Uncle Zhang explained, "Master Zheng is very particular when performing rituals. No one can walk around casually, and no one can go upstairs to disturb him, so as not to destroy the formation..."
As he spoke, he looked at Ye Chen cautiously.
Ye Chen said in a deep voice: "So, have you settled all the students around here?"
Uncle Zhang laughed dryly, "Mr. and Mrs. paid for them to go to the city center for a night."
"Then Mingxia and I can't go up now?"
"Master Zheng said that if it's fast, the results will be out around eight o'clock. For the health of the young lady, Mr. Xiao Ye..." Uncle Zhang looked at Ye Chen pleadingly.
Seeing Uncle Zhang pleading for mercy, Ye Chen looked up at the dark dormitory and finally said, "Let's chat with Mingxia for a while, and you can go and do your thing."
Uncle Zhang heard that Ye Chen had given in, and immediately said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I won't bother you. Just call me if you need anything."
After saying that, Uncle Zhang put down the kettle, turned around and continued his patrol with the bodyguards.
As soon as they left, Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen were the only ones left at the round table in the small courtyard.
Seeing Ji Mingxia staring at him, Ye Chen said helplessly, "I'm sorry to make you laugh. My parents are businessmen and have always been superstitious. As far as I can remember, they are staunch supporters of feudal superstition. No matter what they do, they always consult with others. They can only feel at ease after getting a definite result."
Ye Chen said, looking at the dark and silent dormitory building: "But I thought they would invite Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding, but I didn't expect them to invite a master from Hong Kong..."
As Ye Chen spoke, his eyebrows unconsciously frowned, and it was obvious that he strongly disagreed with the move of inviting the Hong Kong master.
“Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding…are they talented people?” Ji Mingxia asked.
If he remembered correctly, when he and Ye Tian came back from the hospital last time, Ye Tian mentioned these two people and said that it was under their guidance that Ye Tian came to H University to study.
"We are old friends of the Ding family. Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding are good friends of my parents. I grew up with their only son Ding Jialin, just like family members." Ye Chen said, "They are professional secretaries, and they seem to be specially hired by the country to work in a research institute. As for talented people... my parents have always told me that the Ding family is not simple, but I have never seen them show any special abilities since I was a child."
Ye Chen said: "To be honest, I have never believed in the supernatural. The more superstitious my parents are, the more rebellious they make me. Although I am not as rebellious as before when I grow up, I believe in science more than science."
Ji Mingxia said: "So... Uncle Zhang was so surprised when he saw me just now?"
Uncle Zhang had heard of Ji Mingxia's name from Ye Tian, so he must have also heard of the elevator horror.
As soon as Ye Tian got into trouble, Ye Chen rushed Ji Mingxia over.
In Uncle Zhang's opinion, Ye Chen suddenly changed his nature. Not only did he believe Ye Tian's words, he even brought Ji Mingxia over. That's why he was so surprised.
"Yes." Ye Chen said, and couldn't help but laugh at himself. "I don't believe in ghosts in this world, but when my relatives got into trouble, I couldn't help but waver. I invited you here because of Ye Tian's request, and also because I thought, what if... what if there really are ghosts haunting this world."
Ji Mingxia understood immediately after hearing this.
The superstition of Ye's parents caused Ye Chen to have a rebellious mentality. In this regard, he always held opinions that were opposite to his parents.
But Ye Tian's accident made Ye Chen waver.
He is now in a state of wavering and doubt. He can't bring himself to go to his parents, but he doesn't want to give up hope, so he tries his best to invite Ji Mingxia to come and see what is going on.
Unexpectedly, just as they arrived at the dormitory, they ran into the large-scale superstitious scene of Ye’s parents. In order to clear the area for the Hong Kong master, they cleared all the students nearby.
Looking at this scene, Ye Chen's heart probably tilted a little towards science.
Ji Mingxia looked at Ye Chen's conflicted look and couldn't help but think of the scene when Ye Chen sent her a WeChat message before she set off just now.
It was obviously just a simple conversation, but Ye Chen persisted for a long time, with each sentence paused for a long time during "input", which showed his inner hesitation and anxiety.
At this moment, Ye Chen suddenly said to Ji Mingxia: "Mingxia, are there really ghosts in this world?"
When Ji Mingxia looked up, he saw Ye Chen staring at him intently. He felt that this question might be very important to Ye Chen, so he said, "Science can prove the existence of known things, but it cannot prove that unknown things do not exist, nor can it prove that non-existent things do not exist..."
This was a bit difficult to understand. After Ye Chen heard it, he paused for a few seconds before he understood what Ji Mingxia meant.
This was already telling him the answer implicitly.
"I understand." Ye Chen said.
Ji Mingxia's mind flashed through all the ghosts and people he had encountered during this period of time, from the terrifying Lin Siyun, to Song Yuelin, Meng Xinyi and others in the forest, from Zhou Tao in Jiaoye Village, to the mysterious man who had been hiding behind the scenes...
Ji Mingxia couldn't help but say, "Even if it's a ghost, it's a human transformed. Sometimes humans are much scarier than ghosts."
"I totally agree with this." Ye Chen laughed.
He met all kinds of people in the business world, all of whom were ruthless and ruthless, and all of them were jackals in human skin.
"Then Mingxia, what does a ghost look like?" Ye Chen asked curiously after figuring it out.
Ji Mingxia thought about it and simply recounted the scene when Ye Tian encountered the ghost in the library that day.
After Ye Chen accepted the truth, he was prepared for a very horrifying scene, but when he heard Ji Mingxia's detailed description of the scene of Ye Tian in the elevator, he still changed color slightly.
Thinking of how Ye Tian had been tortured without his knowledge, Ye Chen's face darkened: "According to what you said, ghosts only appear to special people. Ye Tian is only a teenager, and her life has just begun. She has never done anything bad, let alone hurt anyone. Why has she become like this?"
Ji Mingxia was also very confused about this. Seeing that Ye Chen looked unhappy, he quickly comforted him, "We are still not sure what the situation is with Ye Tian. Let's observe and see. It happens that the Hong Kong master is still upstairs. Let's wait and see what news he has."
After Ji Mingxia's reminder, Ye Chen quickly looked down at his watch and found that it was already past eight o'clock. Before he knew it, it was almost nine o'clock.
The dormitory building was still pitch black and quiet all around, without a sound at all. If Uncle Zhang hadn't been guarding downstairs, Ye Chen would have even doubted that there was no one upstairs at all.
Realizing this, Ye Chen stood up suddenly: "Uncle Zhang, Uncle Zhang!"
Uncle Zhang was patrolling with his bodyguards. When he heard Ye Chen's voice, he immediately trotted over and said to Ye Chen nervously, "Speak softly, Mr. Ye, speak softly. The master said that we cannot be disturbed!"
"What time is it now? Why haven't they come down yet?" Ye Chen asked.
Uncle Zhang glanced at his watch and said to Ye Chen, "The master said he would come down around eight o'clock, but he didn't say exactly this time. For something like this, it's normal to come down earlier or later..."
Ye Chen looked around the dormitory, frowned, and looked at Ji Mingxia and said, "Mingxia, is this normal?"
"Um..." Ji Mingxia didn't expect Ye Chen to ask him suddenly. Seeing Ye Chen's worried face, Ji Mingxia could only say, "Why don't you wait a moment and consult your friend?"
Not only Ye Chen, Ji Mingxia also had a bad feeling in his heart when looking at the dormitory building. He quickly took out his mobile phone, opened the WeChat page, and planned to ask Yu Ning what to do.
The chat page between Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning was still at the point an hour ago, when he had just gotten out of Ye Chen's car and informed Yu Ning that he had arrived at his destination.
Yu Ning didn't reply to him, and Ji Mingxia didn't care. After all, it was just a notification, not a question.
It was not until he opened the page again at this moment that Ji Mingxia realized that it was not that Yu Ning did not reply to him, but that the message he edited an hour ago was not sent at all.
Ji Mingxia was startled and quickly edited another message to send, but it still failed to send.
He returned to the homepage of his phone and checked the network, only to find that his phone was disconnected from the Internet.
"My cell phone has no signal." Ji Mingxia said.
Uncle Zhang and Ye Chen looked at Ji Mingxia. They paused for a moment and quickly realized Ji Mingxia's subtext.
Ye Chen quickly took out his cell phone and found that his cell phone had also lost signal.
He looked up at Uncle Zhang, who also noticed something was wrong with his phone. Seeing Ye Chen staring at him, Uncle Zhang quickly said, "It's not me, there's no need to block the signal!"
"The last message was sent when I got off the bus, but it failed to send at that time. That is to say, at least in the entire doctoral dormitory area, there is no signal." Ji Mingxia said.
This is not the first time that Ji Mingxia has experienced no cell phone signal.
Basically, every time it appears, it is accompanied by the appearance of mysterious objects and supernatural events.
Thinking of this, Ji Mingxia looked towards the dead silent dormitory building.
Ye Chen also thought of something, his face changed slightly: "They are still up there..."
As he spoke, he immediately prepared to go upstairs.
Uncle Zhang saw this and quickly stopped him: "Mr. Xiaoye! The master and the mistress have told us that you must not go up!"
Ye Chen's face was filled with anger: "It's already this time, and you're still trying to stop me?"
"But… "
"That Hong Kong master is really reliable, but why has there been no news until now? Ye Tian is still in a coma, and my parents are old. What if something really happens..." Ye Chen said angrily.
Seeing Ye Chen and Uncle Zhang arguing, Ji Mingxia hurriedly advised: "No, let's leave here and find a place with a signal to seek help from the police?"
Ji Mingxia had encountered no cell phone signal several times before, all in extreme circumstances and was unable to seek help from the police.
But this time is different.
Although there is no signal in the dormitory building, they have a car and they can always find a signal as long as they drive towards the south area.
Although ghosts are powerful, they usually dare not come out if there are too many people. What's more, the police are so righteous that they will definitely solve the problem immediately.
Ji Mingxia thought this was a good idea, but as soon as he finished speaking, he was strongly opposed by Uncle Zhang.
"No, we can't call the police!" Uncle Zhang shouted, "Madam and Mr. Zhang have also told us that no matter what happens, we must never call the police. The young lady has been on the hot search list for a day. If something happens again, the entire Ye family will be on the hot search list!"
Ye Chen said in disbelief: "It's already this time, and you're still worried about trending searches?"
Uncle Zhang saw that Ye Chen was full of anger, and it was obvious that he couldn't convince him just by talking, so he gritted his teeth and said, "How about this, you guys wait here, I'll take someone upstairs to take a look, and if there's nothing wrong, I'll come down immediately."
Uncle Zhang said this, as if he was afraid that Ji Mingxia and Ye Chen would go back on their word, so he immediately called two bodyguards over.
If he could call the police on the spot, Ye Chen would definitely choose to call the police now.
But there is no signal in this area, so if you want to call the police, you have to leave the North District.
At this moment, Ye Chen's parents and sister were all in the dormitory building. He was extremely anxious. Seeing Uncle Zhang bringing bodyguards to check the situation, and looking at the bodyguards' burly bodies, Ye Chen finally agreed.
"I'll wait for you downstairs for half an hour." Ye Chen said.
"It's all fine, don't worry." Uncle Zhang nodded and walked towards the dormitory door with two bodyguards.
The "click" sounds of the door lock being opened seemed particularly loud in the silent night.
The dormitory door was opened, revealing a dark entrance. Uncle Zhang and two bodyguards entered one after another with flashlights in hand. Their figures were almost swallowed up by the darkness.
As the door closed with a click, silence returned to the surroundings again.
The surroundings were originally very desolate. Originally, Uncle Zhang and his bodyguards were walking back and forth, which made the place quite lively. But after Uncle Zhang and his two bodyguards entered, there were only four people left in the courtyard, which made it seem even more deserted.
In the dead silence, time suddenly became extremely unbearable.
Ye Chen tried several times to chat with Ji Mingxia to ease the tense atmosphere, but both of them were concerned about the situation in the dormitory and no longer had the heart to chat.
After enduring for a long time, twenty minutes finally passed.
Ye Chen gradually became unable to sit still.
"No, we won't stay here. You drive out of this area and find a place with a signal to call the police?" Ji Mingxia suggested.
Ye Chen was about to answer him when suddenly, a scream was heard from the dormitory building!
Ye Chen suddenly stood up from his chair and stared at the dormitory building.
The scream was not loud and was extremely rapid. It appeared and disappeared in an instant. If not everyone heard it, they might even have suspected that it was an illusion.
Ji Mingxia's hearing has improved recently. He carefully distinguished the voice and said, "The young man's voice... should be the bodyguard's."
Ye Chen said: "These bodyguards are all special personnel hired by my parents from abroad at a high price, especially the two people who just went in, they all crawled out of a pile of dead bodies..."
In other words, he had seen all kinds of storms and waves, and if he had not been extremely scared, it would have been impossible for him to make such a scream!