My organs are too abstract.

10 PM, Yanda University male dormitory.

Xu Yuan had just finished washing up and was drying his wet hair when he walked to the bedside when Zhao Ze called.

"What's wrong, Aze?"

"It's nothing, I just wanted to let you know that we're not going back to the dorm tonight, so you'll be spending the night alone."

Xu Yuan chuckled and said, "What's wrong? Did going to a haunted house scare you so much that your legs went weak and you couldn't even get back to your dorm?"

"Hey, don't even mention the haunted house, we didn't even get to go!" Zhao Ze's voice was a bit annoyed. "We queued for ages, only to find out they were temporarily closing for equipment upgrades and wouldn't reopen until tomorrow night. What a waste of time, what bad luck."

Xu Yuan comforted him, "That's alright. Maybe it'll be even more exciting tomorrow after the equipment is upgraded?"

"That's what I thought too." Zhao Ze's interest was instantly piqued again, and he said excitedly, "Besides, the boss is quite shrewd. Knowing that we've come all this way only to wait in vain, he proactively contacted a nearby hotel for us and even gave us a discount. Since we're already here, we've decided to stay one night and head over tomorrow."

Xu Yuan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this: "Isn't that place in the suburbs? There are hotels there?"

"Yes, there are, but the conditions are so-so. It'll be fine for one night," Zhao Ze explained casually.

"Oh? You'd stay in such a terrible place?" Xu Yuan asked suspiciously. "That's not befitting of someone of your status, Young Master Zhao, is it?"

"Brother Yuan, you're underestimating me, aren't you?" Zhao Ze said righteously. "I can stay in a five-star hotel, and I'm not afraid to squeeze into a shabby inn. Living in a humble abode, yet my virtue shines brightly—this is my way of forbearance!"

"Yuan-ge, don't listen to his nonsense!" Li Da's loud voice came from the other end of the phone, ready to expose him. "The main thing is that several girls who were in line with us stayed too. The boss said we could have a bonfire party in the yard tonight, so everyone could get together and chat. Ze-ge couldn't resist the offer!"

"I'm not Xu Liang, I'm not that shallow," Zhao Ze quickly denied. "I just enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by a group of people. If we tell a few ghost stories, the atmosphere will be amazing, wouldn't that be super fun?"

Then, he enthusiastically urged Xu Yuan, "Brother Yuan, this is such an interesting thing, aren't you really going to come?"

"Never mind, it's so late, let's do it another day."

"Alright then." Zhao Ze sighed regretfully.

Just then, someone on the other end of the phone urged Zhao Ze on. He quickly responded twice and said into the phone, "Brother Yuan, they're calling us down. I'll hang up now!"

Hearing the lively background noise on the other end, Xu Yuan smiled and shook his head: "Okay, have fun, and be careful."

The phone call ended, and the dormitory returned to silence. Xu Yuan sat on the edge of his bed and scrolled through videos for a while. Before going to sleep, he casually opened his WeChat Moments and saw that Zhao Ze had posted an update just a few minutes ago.

Those were photos of a bonfire party, captioned: "Bonfire party, and new friends I met!"

In the photo, Zhao Ze has his arm around Li Da's shoulder, with Liu Cheng and Liang Xiaolong standing next to them, along with two girls he doesn't recognize.

One of the short-haired girls made a peace sign at the camera, with a cute bunny hair clip in her hair and a sweet smile.

Xu Yuan glanced at it twice, thinking that these guys were having a lot of fun, and then casually swiped over it.

As drowsiness gradually crept over him, he couldn't help but yawn.

Since his left hand regained consciousness and urged him to continue exercising, he completely changed his habit of staying up late and developed a regular sleep schedule of going to bed early and waking up early. He is prone to feeling sleepy at night.

"sleep!"

Xu Yuan placed his phone on the bedside table, stretched, and happily snuggled into bed.

He looked at the incandescent light still on above his head, casually stretched out his left hand, and the black rope wrapped around his wrist instantly shot out nimbly, precisely wrapping around the light switch by the door.

With a "snap," the lights went out instantly, plunging the dormitory into darkness.

The black rope quickly retracted along its original path and obediently rested on Xu Yuan's wrist without making a sound.

Xu Yuan touched the black rope on his wrist with satisfaction and smiled, "Not bad, it's quite useful."

A heavy drowsiness quickly swept over him, and the dormitory was silent except for the occasional chirping of insects outside the window. Xu Yuan did not stay awake for long before falling into a deep sleep, his breathing becoming even and long.

……

I don't know how long I slept, but in my hazy state, a clear and abrupt knocking on the door suddenly broke the silence of the night, sounding particularly jarring in the empty dormitory building.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The knocking was slow and steady, carrying an inexplicable eeriness in the still of the early morning, and went straight into Xu Yuan's ears.

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze fixed precisely on the direction of the dormitory entrance in the darkness, his brows furrowing slightly.

The knocking sound came from right outside his dorm room.

Zhao Ze and his friends had already said they wouldn't be back tonight. Apart from a few roommates, he didn't know anyone else in the men's dormitory. Why would someone be knocking on the door at this hour?

"Knock knock knock!"

There was a moment of silence outside the door. A dozen seconds later, the knocking started again, but this time the sound was different – ​​it was fast and urgent, with a hint of urging.

In the early hours of the morning, in an empty dormitory room, a strange knocking sound came from the door...

An ordinary person would probably be terrified, but Xu Yuan simply asked in a calm tone, "Who?"

The knocking at the door suddenly stopped, and then a familiar yet somewhat flustered voice came from outside: "Brother Yuan, is that you? It's me, Xu Liang!"

Xu Yuan was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised: "Xu Liang?"

Although he and Xu Liang got along fairly well during the day, they weren't actually that close. Why would the other party suddenly come looking for him at this time?

Xu Liang's voice outside the door was filled with urgency and excitement: "Brother Yuan, it's so good to see you here! Open the door quickly!"

Although Xu Yuan was full of doubts, he didn't think much of it and slowly walked to the door, reaching out to turn the lock.

As soon as the door opened, Xu Liang rushed in as if he had been startled.

His hair was a mess, standing on end, and his face showed a hint of suppressed fear. He exuded a sense of lingering shock. Only after he completely entered the dormitory did his expression relax a little.

Xu Yuan chuckled when he saw the tuft of hair sticking up on his head, and joked, "Why are you in such a hurry? Did you bother some senior and get chased down?"

Xu Liang snapped out of his daze and subconsciously shook his head: "It's not that scary."

"So, what's wrong with you looking like this?"

Xu Liang swallowed hard, his face pale, and stammered in a trembling voice, "Brother Yuan, I might... have encountered a ghost."

"A ghost encounter?" A question mark slowly appeared above Xu Yuan's head. "Isn't this scarier than being chased by my senior?"

"Brother Yuan, why can't you get the point!" Xu Liang rubbed his messy hair, looking heartbroken. "I'm telling you, I really might have encountered a ghost, I'm not kidding!"

Xu Yuan opened his mouth, but seeing his disheveled appearance, he ultimately couldn't be bothered to argue with him about who had misunderstood the point first.

Xu Yuan grabbed a chair, gesturing for Xu Liang to sit down, before asking curiously, "Did you encounter a ghost? What did it look like?"

Xu Liang sat in the chair, frowned, and recalled for a while before saying uncertainly, "Actually, I didn't actually see it with my own eyes, so I'm not sure if there really is a ghost."

"Ever since I went back to school today, I've felt like there's something watching me from behind, something gloomy and making me feel really uncomfortable."

"When I turn off the lights and go to sleep at night, as soon as I close my eyes, I can clearly feel something staring at me from the side of the bed. The feeling is so real that it gives me the creeps."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan stroked his chin and analyzed, "Could it be psychological?"

Xu Liang nodded, then shook his head vigorously, and said hesitantly, "That's possible. I did encounter something quite scary today, and maybe I was just scaring myself."

"Something scary?" Xu Yuan asked curiously, intrigued. "What is it?"

Xu Liang paused for a moment, then lowered his voice: "Today on the street, I saw a girl jump off a building. She... died right in front of me."