Supernatural and Paranormal Research Society

Zhang Xiaowen waved her hand in front of his eyes.

Chen Haoran slowly raised his eyes, his gaze focusing very slowly: "Sorry... where were we?"

"Third dialogue. Your turn."

Li Lingyun continued the conversation.

Chen Haoran hummed in agreement and opened the book.

But as soon as my gaze fell on the words, the surrounding noise vanished as if a vacuum had been drawn out.

The letters on the pages began to twist and crawl, turning into tangled black lines.

"Ah Hao! Chen Haoran!"

Zhang Xiaowen's voice rose, tinged with obvious panic.

Li Lingyun also gave his shoulder a hard push.

Chen Haoran suddenly snapped back to reality, his back covered in a layer of cold sweat.

He glanced at his watch; only three minutes had passed.

But where did he go in those three minutes?

What were those things just now?!

Looking at the worried looks in their eyes, he finally realized that his excuse of "not sleeping well" could no longer fool anyone.

"……All right."

He slumped his shoulders in resignation: "Go to the school clinic after class."

What can the school hospital diagnose?

Li Lingyun immediately retorted, "Let's go to the First Municipal Hospital. Get an X-ray and a blood test, just for peace of mind."

Zhang Xiaowen turned to Tong Qianxue sitting next to her: "Qianxue, shall we go together?"

Tong Qianxue noticed from the morning that Chen Haoran's "aura" was off.

It's like a feeling of emptiness, as if something is slowly "draining" you.

She adjusted her glasses and nodded, "Okay."

……

The corridors of the First Municipal Hospital were filled with the smell of disinfectant.

The incandescent light was blinding, but it couldn't dispel the chill in Chen Haoran's bones.

Inside the examination room, the doctor flipped through the examination reports, his pen scratching across the medical record.

Chen Haoran unconsciously clenched his fists, swallowing nervously.

"All indicators are within the normal range."

The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his temples.

"Young man, have you been staying up too late lately? High levels of stress can cause autonomic nervous system dysfunction, leading to auditory hallucinations, difficulty concentrating, and excessive sleepiness. I'll prescribe some calming and brain-boosting tonic and vitamins for you. Go home and get some good sleep, and don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"that's all?"

Chen Haoran's voice was strained.

"That's it. There's no organic disease, don't scare yourself."

The doctor handed over the prescription: "Go to the pharmacy on the first floor to get your medicine."

Chen Haoran walked out of the consultation room clutching the prescription, his heart finally settling down.

I was definitely overthinking it.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

It's just tiring.

"Hiro!"

Zhang Xiaowen immediately came to greet her, her eyes slightly red: "What did the doctor say? Are you alright?"

"fine."

Chen Haoran waved the prescription in his hand and gave a relieved smile: "The doctor said it's just from staying up late, and he'll prescribe some sedatives."

Li Lingyun also breathed a sigh of relief and patted him on the shoulder:

"That scared the hell out of me. Okay, grab your medicine and head back to your dorm to catch up on some sleep. Don't touch the computer today."

Tong Qianxue stood two steps away, but her gaze fell on Chen Haoran's hand holding the prescription.

His fingertips were almost transparently white, and his nails had a faint bluish-purple tinge.

What made her heart sink even more was that when he turned to walk towards the pharmacy, the light from the corridor overhead lamp fell on his profile, but did not cast a clear shadow.

The shadow was extremely faint and ethereal, like ink stains blurred by water, its edges slowly and imperceptibly contracting inwards.

Tong Qianxue quietly tightened her grip on the strap of her schoolbag.

Just standing next to Chen Haoran made her feel cold all over.

"It's nothing serious. The doctor said it was just from overwork and prescribed some sedatives."

Chen Haoran shook the white medicine bag in his hand, deliberately making his tone relaxed.

The three of them visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

The process of paying the bill and picking up the medicine was so smooth that there was nothing to complain about.

Chen Haoran's anxiety finally subsided.

I was just scaring myself.

He sneered inwardly.

The so-called ghost marriage is nothing but a fabrication by someone who's been working non-stop on a live stream and has lost their nerve.

"bite--"

The elevator doors slid open to both sides. The four people filed in.

Chen Haoran reached out to press the button for the first floor.

The moment my fingertips touched the cold metal panel, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye—

On her bare wrist, she noticed that a two-finger-wide strip of red silk was wrapped around it.

The red was so thick it was almost black, as if it had just been pulled from a pool of blood, and it clung wetly to his pulse, tightening with each heartbeat.

Chen Haoran's pupils suddenly contracted.

"hiss--!"

There was no thought involved; it was purely a physiological resistance.

He suddenly raised his hand to tear off the piece of red silk.

The fingernail scraped hard against the skin, bringing a burning sting.

"Hiro!"

Zhang Xiaowen screamed in surprise.

Tong Qianxue was also startled and stepped back.

Just a second ago Chen Haoran was perfectly fine, but now he seemed possessed by something dirty, his eyes were bloodshot, and his fingers were scratching his wrists like crazy!

"Stop him!"

Li Lingyun lunged forward, trying to pry his hands off.

Chen Haoran let out a beast-like growl, with astonishing force.

Several bloody marks instantly appeared on Li Lingyun's arm.

Tong Qianxue grabbed his other wrist, her fingertips touching skin that was as cold as ice.

"Chen Haoran! Wake up!"

A sharp shout.

Chen Haoran shuddered violently, as if his spine had been removed, and his whole body suddenly lost strength.

He was panting heavily and looked down.

There was no red ribbon on her wrist.

There were only four deep, flesh-covered gashes, with the skin turned inside out, and fresh blood dripping from the fingertips onto the stainless steel floor of the elevator.

"I……"

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping, and his eyes were filled with confusion and lingering fear.

"What... happened just now?"

"You suddenly started grabbing your own hand like crazy, and you couldn't stop yourself."

Li Lingyun grimaced and rubbed his arm, still shaken: "Brother Hao, the look in your eyes just now... it didn't seem like a living person."

Chen Haoran fell silent.

He had no memory of the scratching process; all that remained in his mind was the suffocating feeling of the red ribbon tightening around his pulse.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temples hard: "Sorry... I guess I didn't get enough rest, my nerves are a bit twitching."

Tong Qianxue silently withdrew her hand, the chilling coldness still lingering on her fingertips.

She pushed up her glasses, said nothing, but her gaze lingered heavily on Chen Haoran's pale profile.

……

After returning to his dormitory, Chen Haoran didn't even take a shower. He swallowed two white pills and went straight to sleep.

The medication takes effect very quickly.

It wasn't like falling asleep normally; it was more like a boulder crashing into a deep pool, my consciousness instantly swallowed by darkness.

There were no dreams, no struggles, only a suffocating feeling of weightlessness, as if one were being slowly dragged to the bottom of the water.

I slept very soundly.

The next morning.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, cutting out a bright beam of light.

Chen Haoran opened his eyes.

An unprecedented level of clarity.

The heaviness in his limbs and bones was swept away, and the chill, aches, and auditory hallucinations of the past few days seemed to have been forcibly suppressed by those two pills.

He sat up, stretched, and his joints cracked crisply.

"He's alive!"

He let out a long sigh of relief, and a long-lost light shone in his eyes.

Li Lingyun was playing ranked games with her headphones on. Seeing him get up, she took off one earphone and asked, "Awake? How are you feeling?"

"Much better."

Chen Haoran got out of bed and stretched his shoulders, his tone light: "That doctor is a miracle worker! His medicine cured me instantly!"

He didn't notice that when the morning light fell on him, his shadow on the ground was a whole circle lighter than that of an ordinary person, with the edges blurred like ink spreading.

He didn't even notice that the white breath he exhaled while speaking was particularly clear in the early summer morning.

His body temperature had fallen below the normal threshold.