I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

Chapter 20 : High School Ghost Stories

Every city has its own ghost stories, and of course, the ghost stories in every school are pretty much the same.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he clicked on the supernatural legends about Jiangbei University and read them one by one.

Finally, she selected the three most widely circulated and most credible horror stories:

The first one is "Water Ghost Lake".

This story feels like it shares the same "setting" as many ghost stories.

It's like the kind of rumor that "all schools in the country are built on mass graves".

Legend has it that Jiangcheng University was built on a mass grave.

Later, the government leveled the mass grave and dug an artificial lake instead.

Who knew that when the excavator was digging the lake, it unearthed hundreds of coffins and skeletons.

However, in order to meet the construction deadline, the school buried the remains on the spot and dumped them into the lake.

Since then, one person has drowned in the lake every year without fail.

Many people say that it's a water ghost from the lake looking for a replacement.

Oh, of course that story is fake.

Many people love to parrot what others say, but they don't consider that if one person really died every year, the school would have filled in the lake long ago.

It can't be that they're just giving money to scalpers to boost their sales figures.

The second one is "The Ghost Who Jumped Off a Building".

This story tells of a female college student named Lin Wan who, ten years ago, jumped from the top floor of an old teaching building wearing a red dress after being dumped by her boyfriend, and died on the spot.

Since then, the old teaching building has often been haunted.

Someone saw a woman in red wandering in the corridor in the middle of the night.

Some people also saw a white shadow drift by in the stairwell.

Many people who claim to be graduates of Jiangbei University confidently assert that if they encounter her in the stairwell, she will ask them "What time is it now?" and if they answer incorrectly, they will be pushed down the stairs and fall to their deaths.

Of course, the story was also investigated at the end of the Song Dynasty, and it was also found to be false.

The funniest thing is that the building where Lin Wan jumped off ten years ago was actually built five years ago.

The third story, "The Toilet Ghost," leans more towards urban legend.

Just like the Japanese anime "Hanako-san," similar works can be found all over the country.

This refers to the last stall in the women's restroom on the third floor of the old teaching building; never go into it.

If you go in at midnight, a cold hand will reach out from next door and ask you, "Do you want red paper or green paper?"

If the answer is red, the person who answered will have their skin peeled off.

Those who answer green will drown in the cesspool.

The only way to escape was to keep quiet and wait until dawn.

"I've heard this story since I was a child."

After carefully reading these three stories at the end of the Song Dynasty, he gradually formed an idea in his mind:

She could combine these three legends into a multi-threaded, parallel storyline.

After entering the instance, players will be randomly assigned to one of three different areas: the artificial lake, the old school building, and the toilet.

Each area has its own tasks and dangers. Only by completing the tasks in your area can you meet up with other players and eventually clear the dungeon.

This will greatly enhance the playability and horror of the dungeon.

Correspondingly, her performance rating will be higher, and she will naturally receive more rewards.

……

At the end of the Song Dynasty, the script editor opened, and black and white text flowed from his fingertips:

[Instance Name: High School Ghost Stories]

[Script Rating: Low-level Supernatural]

[Core Material: Jiangcheng University's Century-Old Resentment + 100+ Low-Level Spiritual Materials + Internet Legends]

[Instance Location: Jiangcheng University (Real-world counterpart)]

[Number of players: 10-15]

[100 Scriptwriting Points consumed, in progress... Creation successful, in real-world rehearsal. Rewards will be distributed after the first clear of the dungeon.]

……

December 18, 00:57 AM.

The lights-out signal at Jiangcheng University went off an hour ago.

The campus was asleep. The dim yellow light from the streetlights on the main road tugged at the roots of the banyan trees, the bamboo grove rustled, and the campus lake was calm.

"Grass!!!"

The men's dormitory building No. 3 was completely silent when a loud shout suddenly came from room 302:

"Your dad's gone, support!"

Chow Sang Sang sat near the door, leaning forward, almost touching the computer screen.

His fingers pounded furiously on the mechanical keyboard, producing a piercing "clattering" sound.

On the screen, the Yasuo he was controlling was already 0-8 and had fed terribly; the base crystal was down to its last sliver of health.

"You stupid jungler! Are you resting in the jungle after giving birth, or gathering lingzhi mushrooms for your bedridden grandfather?!"

Zhou Shengsheng slammed his hand on the table. "They've already demolished the high ground, and you're still playing with toads? Did you get your brain caught in a door?"

"Support, are you blind? Can't you ward? The enemy support is practically camping me, and you're still farming!"

"The mid laner is a total troll! A 0-6 Ahri mage, are you kidding me? Uninstall the game and stop ruining everyone's game!"

His voice was shrill and loud, filled with a strong sense of malevolence, and could be heard clearly throughout the entire floor.

—Li Hao, from the opposite bed, abruptly pulled back the curtains and, unable to contain himself any longer, reminded him:

"Zhou Shengsheng, could you please keep your voice down? It's almost 1 PM, and we have a class at 8 AM tomorrow. We need to sleep!"

"sleep*****#!"

Zhou Shengsheng didn't even turn his head, and spat out: "I lost three ranked games in a row, all because of these pig teammates!"

"So what if I'm making noise? Who told you to be so poor you can't afford a house off-campus? If you can't afford it, then don't live there. Go back to your own place. I paid for it, why should I be quiet?"

"Can't you be reasonable for once?"

Li Hao's face turned red with anger. "We didn't say a word all night, but you were the one yelling and screaming! You were the only one in the whole dorm who didn't sleep, and you're blaming everyone else?"

"So what if I argued?"

Chow Sang-sang turned her head and said, "If you're so tough, why don't you hit me? If you're too scared, shut up. You're poor and cause a lot of trouble!"

"Does being in a bad mood give you the right to bother others?"

Li Hao tried to reason with his roommate, saying, "You do this every day, how long have we been putting up with it?"

Just then, the base crystal on the computer screen exploded with a loud bang.

"Defeat!"

A cold, impersonal system notification sounded.

"Damn! We lost again!"

Chow Sang Sang roared angrily, grabbed the keyboard, and slammed it to the ground:

"What a piece of junk computer! What junk games! They're all rubbish!"

Zhou Shengsheng, panting heavily, turned around and grabbed a cigarette from the table, starting to puff away.

"I'll talk to the counselor tomorrow, don't go too far—"

Li Hao lay in bed, feeling increasingly frustrated. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he became. Suddenly, he got up and pulled back the bed curtains.

The next second, all sound inside 302 came to an abrupt halt.

There was no more of Chow Sang Sang's cursing, nor the pungent smell of cigarettes.

The entire dormitory suddenly became unusually quiet, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind outside the window.

Li Hao clung to the edge of the bed, looking down to see what Zhou Shengsheng was doing.

Then, he froze:

Chow Sang Sang, who was standing on the balcony smoking, was nowhere to be seen.

The broken keyboard was still lying on the ground.

The cigarette pack was still on the table, and a freshly lit cigarette lay on the balcony floor, its butt glowing an orange-red light.

Chow Sang Sang's earphones fell to the ground, and the sound of his teammates cursing could still be heard through the headset.

[Jungler my ass! AFK, huh? Reported!]

However, Chow Sang Sang himself has vanished without a trace.

The dormitory room is only this big, with four bunk beds, a table under the beds, and a balcony of less than two square meters.

Everywhere was clearly visible; there was nowhere for anyone to hide.

"Chow Sang Sang?"

Li Hao called out tentatively, his voice trembling slightly.

No one responded.

"Stop hiding, we won't argue with you anymore," another roommate said, trying to appear calm, and went over to open the balcony door.

There were only clothes hanging out to dry on the balcony, nothing else.

The three people looked at each other, and their dissatisfaction and anger gradually faded.

"Where...where did he go?" a roommate asked tremulously. "He was just here...how could he suddenly disappear?"

Li Hao's heart was pounding.

He walked to where Chow Sang Sang had just been standing and reached out to touch the chair.

The chair was still warm, still carrying the warmth of Chow Sang Sang's body.

He really was here just now.

But now, he's gone.

There was no sound of a door opening, no sound of someone jumping out of a window, absolutely no sound.

A perfectly healthy person simply vanished into thin air right under the noses of their three roommates.

"A ghost...there's a ghost!"

"Holy crap, Chow Sang Sang lost a game and jumped off a building!"

"Quickly call for help, you idiot! Someone jumped off a building!!"

……

At the same time, under the willow trees on the west side of the campus lake.

Deng Ziwen and Zhao Weilai are having a heated argument.

The lonely streetlights by the lake cast long, long shadows of the two people.

When the wind blows, the aquatic plants in the lake sway with the ripples, like a woman's hair.

"I've already told my parents that I'll go back to my hometown to take the civil service exam after graduation."

Deng Ziwen's voice was weary and helpless. "Our county's tax bureau is recruiting. It's a job that matches your major, so there's not much competition. If you pass the exam, you'll have a stable job for life."

"Stability, stability, all you ever think about is stability!"

Zhao Weilai abruptly shook off his hand. "Deng Ziwen, we're only 22! I've studied for so many years, finally managed to get out of that small county, only to go back and live a life with you that I can't see the end of the road?"

"Then what do you want?"

Deng Ziwen raised his voice, "Stay in Jiangcheng? What do we have to offer to stay?"

The price of housing in Jiangcheng is over 10,000 yuan per square meter. Even if the two of us don't eat or drink, we still can't afford a house in thirty years.

"Does this mean I have to endure the daily grind of squeezing onto the subway for two hours, working overtime until midnight, earning a meager salary, and barely able to pay rent... Is this the kind of hard work you want?"

"Even if it's tough and tiring, I'm willing!"

Zhao Weilai cried and said, "Here, we still have a chance to go back to our hometown. Otherwise, our lives would just be like that."

We're destined to stay in that small place forever, and I don't want that!

"What's wrong with taking the civil service exam?"

Deng Ziwen's face flushed red. "NIO, can't you be realistic?"

"I don't care! I'm not going back!" Zhao Weilai gritted his teeth. "If you want to go back, go back yourself! We're breaking up!"

"Fine, let's break up!" Deng Ziwen blurted out.

As soon as he finished speaking, both of them were stunned.

The wind by the lake suddenly picked up, causing the willow branches to sway wildly.

Zhao Weilai's tears fell, and she turned and left.

Deng Ziwen panicked and quickly grabbed her: "NIO, I didn't mean to... Don't be angry, let's talk this out, okay?"

"There's nothing to say," Zhao Weilai struggled. "Since you're so eager to go back to your hometown, let's leave it at that."

"Stop it, okay?" Deng Ziwen hugged her tightly. "I just... I'm just afraid that we won't have a good life together in the future, that we'll resent each other, and that things will end up in a mess."

Just as the two were struggling, the beam of a flashlight and the shouts of a security guard came from afar:

"Who's there? It's so late and you're still not back in the dorm! School rules say lights out and everyone back in the dorm by 11:30, don't you know that?"

The beam of the flashlight shone directly on Deng Ziwen and Zhao Weilai's faces.

The next second, the flashlight beam flickered.

The two young men who were just standing in front of him have disappeared.

All that remained on the ground was Zhao Weilai's white canvas bag and resumes scattered everywhere.

Deng Ziwen's phone slid out of his pocket, its screen shattered but still lit up, showing a sweet photo of two people with their heads close together.

Two living people simply vanished into thin air.

The security guard stood there dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unable to utter a sound for a long time.

"A ghost—!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream shattered the midnight silence.

The security guard turned and ran, so fast that he forgot to pick up the flashlight that had fallen to the ground.

"There's a ghost! The artificial lake is haunted! Two students have been kidnapped by a ghost!"

……

The security guard's screams didn't attract much attention.

The campus was too vast at night, and his voice was quickly carried away by the wind.

Nobody knew that this was just the beginning.

Over the next hour, disappearances occurred one after another in various corners of Jiangcheng University.

Like a silent plague, it spread quietly.

……

It was 1 a.m. in the kitchen of the canteen at Jiangbei University.

The cafeteria, which had been busy all day, finally quieted down.

Most of the employees had already gone home, leaving only the dishwasher, Aunt Liu Guilan, to clean up the mess.

The sink was piled high with greasy bowls, chopsticks, and plates, and the dish soap foam was piled up like a small mountain.

Aunt Liu, wearing a rubber apron and gloves, stood by the sink, humming a folk tune from her hometown as she deftly washed the dishes.

She is 48 years old and came to the city from her hometown to work. She has been working as a dishwasher in the canteen of Jiangcheng University for five years.

They are always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Although it's hard work, I can earn more than 3,000 yuan a month, which is enough to pay for my son's tuition and living expenses while he is studying at university in another city.

"Sister Liu, I'm leaving now!"

Xiao Zhang, who was in charge of chopping vegetables, took off his apron and called out to Aunt Liu, "Let's wash the rest of the dishes tomorrow, it's so late."

"It's alright, there's only this much left. I'll finish cleaning before I leave." Aunt Liu waved her hand, "Be careful on your way back, and ride your bike slowly!"

She is deaf in one ear, so she always unconsciously raises her voice when talking to people.

"Okay, I heard you!" Xiao Zhang turned and left the kitchen.

Liu Guifang was the only one left in the kitchen.

The tap was running, rinsing away the grease from the dishes and chopsticks.

After washing the last stack of bowls, Aunt Liu put them into the sterilizer.

Then she took off her gloves and placed them by the sink, intending to get a rag to wipe the table.

Just then, she heard a "gurgling" sound coming from the sink.

Aunt Liu turned around and looked at it curiously.

The water in the sink has been drained, leaving only a little bit of standing water.

But the "gurgling" sound continued, as if something was bubbling underwater.

She frowned, wanting to see what was going on—if it was cockroaches or rats, she would have to call someone to kill the pests.

But if the food waste gets stuck, she'll have to clean it herself.