My organs are too abstract.

"Zhao Ze?"

Chen Fei and Xu Liang recognized him too. Their tense expressions relaxed instantly, and they let out a long sigh of relief. "Phew... It's you guys! You scared me to death! I thought I'd really encountered a ghost!"

The two collapsed to the ground, their chests heaving as they gasped for breath.

Zhao Ze was still somewhat shaken: "What are you all doing here?"

"We came...to take a look..." Xu Liang gasped for breath, unable to speak.

"What are you looking at?"

"Just...checking for ghosts..." Xu Liang leaned against the wall to stand up, his face a mixture of relief and disappointment. "We went around in circles, and there was nothing!"

Li Da couldn't help but interject, "You're here to find that baby?"

"Why would I look for it?" Xu Liang looked at him like he was an idiot. "That's terrifying! I'm not just wasting my time!"

"So what are you doing?"

"It didn't say there was only one ghost," Xu Liang said matter-of-factly. "Didn't they say there was also a female ghost? Of course I'm here to find her."

As he spoke, he sighed regretfully, "It's a pity we didn't run into each other."

"?"

A question mark slowly rose above Zhao Ze's head: "Dude, I thought what you said in the group was just abstract stuff, but you're actually serious?"

Liu Cheng watched in awe and couldn't help but exclaim, "Looking at the whole of Yanjiang, you, Xu Liang, can be considered a big shot."

Xu Liang clasped his hands in a fist and said smugly, "You flatter me."

"Do you think we're praising you?" Zhao Ze was speechless.

He turned to Chen Fei: "So, you're here to find the female ghost too?"

"No, that's not it," Chen Fei pushed up his glasses, "I'm here to confirm some information."

"I checked the school records, and nothing ever happened in this building. The whole thing about childbirth and the death of two lives is all made up."

"But in order to ensure the accuracy of the information, I decided to come and investigate in person to verify the authenticity of the news."

"What was that footstep sound just now?" Zhao Ze asked, frowning.

Chen Fei said, "That's us running."

"Why are you running so fast?" Li Da asked curiously.

"It's all Xu Liang's fault," Chen Fei said irritably. "He suddenly rushed out like a madman. I thought there was something there, so I ran after him and almost tumbled down the stairs."

"How can you blame me for this?" Xu Liang protested. "You were the one who suddenly turned around and shone your phone flashlight in your face, like something out of a horror movie. Who wouldn't run away after seeing that?"

Zhao Ze looked at the two who were still blaming each other and shook his head, saying, "They really are a pair of hidden dragons and phoenix chicks."

As he spoke, he subconsciously glanced to the side. Xu Yuan hadn't said a word since then and was looking down at his phone.

"Brother Yuan, what are you looking at?"

Chen Fei's eyes lit up: "Could it be... that you just photographed something?"

Xu Yuan nodded slightly: "We did manage to capture some images."

"Really?"

The group perked up and swarmed around the area, both nervous and excited.

Zhao Ze was the first to squeeze to the front, but his face froze the moment his eyes fell on the screen.

The first sound coming from the phone was his own heart-wrenching scream—

"Holy crap!! Yuan-ge, run—!!"

In the scene, Zhao Ze's face was deathly pale, his features were contorted, and he was gripping Xu Yuan tightly with both hands. He was so frightened that he almost jumped up, his eyes were full of terror, and his expression was extremely grotesque.

The camera was incredibly steady, capturing his cowardly behavior perfectly clearly.

Zhao Ze: "..."

The air was silent for three seconds.

next moment--

"Hahahahaha!"

Xu Liang was the first to break down, laughing so hard he slapped his thigh, leaning to one side, tears welling in his eyes: "Damn Zhao Ze, look at the way you looked just now, your face was all distorted with fear!"

"Ahem," Chen Fei, speaking in a strange, high-pitched voice, imitated, "Holy crap, Brother Yuan, run!"

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter again, almost laughing themselves to death.

But before they could laugh for even two seconds, their laughter abruptly stopped, as if they had been choked.

The camera in the video shifted slightly and focused steadily on the entrance of the teaching building.

"Bang--!"

The stairwell door was suddenly kicked open.

Xu Liang was in front, his hair disheveled, his steps unsteady, his hands flailing wildly, his legs weak, almost tripping several times, while shouting, "A ghost! Run!"

Behind him, Chen Fei was deathly pale, his glasses were askew, and he was clutching his phone in one hand while desperately clinging to Xu Liang's clothes with the other, running and stumbling as he tried to escape.

The two of them scrambled out, looking utterly disheveled.

"Hahahahaha!"

This time, it was Zhao Ze's turn to laugh out loud.

He clutched his stomach with one hand, laughing so hard he was shaking, while his other hand trembled as he pointed at the screen, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

It took him a while to recover, and he wiped away the tears of laughter, saying, "Oh my god, look at the way you two are dressed, it's absolutely hilarious!"

Xu Liang's face darkened, and he immediately dragged the video back to the beginning, pointed at Zhao Ze, and slapped his thigh with glee.

Not to be outdone, Zhao Ze pulled the progress bar back and burst into laughter at the two of them.

"Haha, Zhao Ze, you're absolutely hilarious!"

"You two are hilarious!"

The group of children, like elementary school students, bantered and teased each other, creating quite a lively atmosphere.

After an unknown amount of time, the laughter of the three gradually subsided, their faces stiff from laughing, and they were just mechanically swiping the screen while still grinning foolishly.

Xu Yuan then put away his phone with satisfaction, as if to soothe him, "Alright, alright, you're a grown man, what kind of talk is this?"

"snort!"

The three were still somewhat unconvinced, but they went along with it and ended the farce.

They looked at each other, then at Xu Yuan's sincere face, and felt that something was wrong, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

The others stood by, looking at the three with eyes full of concern for the mentally challenged, and couldn't help but shake their heads.

Looking at Xu Yuan's calm demeanor, Liu Cheng couldn't help but give him a thumbs up: "Brother Yuan, that was a cunning move!"

Li Da shook his head and sighed, "These three unlucky kids were treated like stinky dogs."

Zhao Ze belatedly realized what was going on and looked at Xu Yuan with suspicion: "Wait a minute, Brother Yuan, this video..."

Seeing that Zhao Ze was at risk of developing intellectual disabilities, Xu Yuan subtly changed the subject: "Let's go, it's so late, why aren't you going back to sleep? Have you forgotten what we're doing tomorrow morning?"

"Right, right, let's go back to sleep!" Li Da immediately chimed in, "We have to get up early tomorrow to go to the flea market to see Senior Pei Yan!"

Xu Liang had already sensed something was off, and upon hearing this, his ears immediately perked up: "Pei Yan, is that the Pei Yan I know?"

"Yeah, Pei Yan will be at the school flea market tomorrow, helping the anime club with their stall," Liu Cheng explained from the side. "And the anime club is also having a ring toss game, with prizes being the anime club members' collections and unused items."

"Unused items?" Xu Liang's eyes lit up, and he asked excitedly, "Then... do you have any of Pei Yan's things too?"

Liu Cheng thought for a moment, then said somewhat uncertainly, "There should be...maybe."

Xu Liang immediately pressed, "Could there be any cosplay outfits she wore?"

"I think you're really repressed," Zhao Ze said, looking at him speechlessly. "You probably don't have a cosplay outfit, but do you want some smelly socks?"

Xu Liang stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and said, "It's not entirely impossible."

Zhao Ze paused for two seconds, then silently uttered a single word: "6".

The group chatted and laughed as they turned and walked towards the dormitory building.

Xu Yuan was walking at the very back, and just as he was about to turn the corner, he suddenly stopped.

A very faint sense of unease rose up from behind him, as if something was watching him from behind.

Xu Yuan slowly turned around.

At the end of the empty road, two teaching buildings in Area C stood silently in the dead of night, looking no different from ordinary old buildings.

Xu Yuan glanced at it twice but didn't find anything unusual. He frowned slightly and asked, "Is it just my imagination?"

"Brother Yuan, why are you stopping?" Zhao Ze called out as he turned around.

"It's nothing."

Xu Yuan withdrew his gaze, quickened his pace to catch up, and soon disappeared into the depths of the night along with the others.

The campus fell silent once again.

I don't know how much time passed.

In the corridor on the first floor of the teaching building, the emergency light that had been shining with a stark white light flickered slightly without any warning.

It was as if something in the darkness had quietly blinked.