Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Chen Ji carefully tiptoed and looked around. There were four or five abandoned iron cabinets in the room alone.

Not to mention the desk piled high with documents and clutter, arranged crookedly, with every nook and cranny crammed in.

He did not rush forward, but looked at Du Tingfeng:

"Where to find it?"

Du Tingfeng pursed his lips and pointed to the end of the cramped room, where a desk and a metal cabinet were piled up by the window, along with dozens of boxes stacked together.

Chen Ji remained motionless, awaiting Du Tingfeng's next instructions, and the room fell silent for a few seconds.

"Hmm," he turned his head, his face full of confusion, "And then?"

"Big brother, I don't have X-ray vision!" Du Tingfeng rolled his eyes.

"That's the general direction."

"Alright then." Chen Ji shrugged and was about to squeeze into the only gap in the room where he could put his feet when Du Tingfeng stopped him.

"I'll go first."

Having said that, he cautiously took a step and, like a deer, darted lightly into the winding path surrounded by clutter.

Chen Ji followed closely behind him, but after taking only two steps, Du Tingfeng suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ji asked softly.

Du Tingfeng didn't speak, staring straight at his feet.

A second later, as if blown by the wind, a dozen or so marbles slipped out from between a pile of books, crystal clear and almost blending into the ground.

If they hadn't stopped, they would have lost their balance from stepping on the ground.

Given the density of this room, if any one of them were to fall to the side, it would cause a violent chain reaction.

Du Tingfeng was pale as he led Chen Ji across the marbles, each step slower than before.

The room was small, and in less than a minute, the two of them went around to the cabinet by the window.

"This is so crowded..."

Du Tingfeng complained, awkwardly turning sideways to open the top door of the metal cabinet.

"The dormitory manager may have a hoarding habit."

Chen Ji casually remarked, rummaging through the things in the cabinet, where there were more than twenty glass bottles stacked up.

He crouched down, letting the light spill in, so he could barely make out what was inside.

Each bottle contained the same thing: a white, round blob, soaking in liquid.

Chen Ji wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt as if those things twitched.

Suddenly, Du Tingfeng's expression changed!

He stood to the side of the cabinet, unaware of what was inside, but whispered urgently:

"Quick, close the door! The pen isn't there!"

Before he could finish speaking, the contents of the glass bottle began to slowly rotate, and in the blink of an eye, it had turned halfway to the side.

Chen Ji slammed the cabinet shut, blocking out the light; he already knew what those things were.

He turned his head and saw Du Tingfeng's face, which was even worse than when he had almost stepped on the marble.

"What's inside?" Du Tingfeng stared at the cabinet, his voice hoarse.

"eyeball."

Chen took a deep breath and added, "The eyeballs were moving; the pupils almost turned around."

They looked at each other, all remembering the eyeball on the dormitory supervisor's forehead.

If one were to turn their eyes completely to make eye contact with the two people, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Holy crap, that's so sneaky, who could have reacted so quickly?"

Du Tingfeng sighed, wiped his sweat, and the blurry image of the future that had just flashed through his mind finally faded away.

They temporarily abandoned their investigation of the metal cabinet and turned to the desk next to it.

The desk has no drawers; it's covered with paper documents and materials.

Du Tingfeng flipped through it; there was neither a fountain pen nor any paper that looked like a diary, only official documents with red headers.

Chen Ji roughly knew his hopes and said, "It's unlikely that the last diary entry is here."

The dormitory manager would never take away a piece of ordinary draft paper.

He flipped through them casually and found things like "Dormitory Inspection Form" and "Daily Hygiene Inspection".

All that was left were a few dozen cardboard boxes under the table.

For some reason, Chen Ji had a feeling that these tattered boxes must have been stored inside for a long time, and some of them even had mold and rot at the bottom.

Du Tingfeng was closest to the box, but he didn't move. Instead, he took a few steps back and stood aside.

"Move the top few down first," he instructed Chen Ji.

"?"

Chen looked at him strangely, squatted down, and took down the boxes that were stacked on the top.

He opened the lid, and inside were mostly miscellaneous items, probably confiscated items by the dormitory manager, including a hair dryer and playing cards.

The second box was pink. Chen Ji opened the box and immediately felt that his eyes were not clean, so he quickly closed it.

"what?"

Du Tingfeng asked curiously, reaching out to lift the lid, but Chen Ji slapped it away.

"I advise you not to drive it." Chen Ji glanced at him.

"The dormitory manager's personal belongings are inside."

Du Tingfeng paused, his eyes filled with complex emotions, and silently put the pink box back.

The third box was the most rotten, and it even had a faint, pungent odor.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Du Tingfeng's expression was normal, he opened it anyway.

As soon as he lifted the lid a crack, several dark creatures darted out and crawled up Chen Ji's hand.

"insect?"

Chen Ji felt a bit nauseous and reached out to swat them away, only to find that they were several fat cockroaches.

He casually picked up a booklet from the table and killed the bizarrely large cockroaches, only to see countless long antennae protruding from the cracks in the box.

He didn't look at the box again; it was unlikely that the pen was in there.

Du Tingfeng watched silently from the side. Only after the box was put back in its original place did he squat down next to him with a grin and begin to check the remaining items with Chen Ji as if nothing had happened.

"..."

Chen Ji sighed, realizing he was being used as a deminer.

A few minutes later, everything except the box containing the insects had been collected.

The pen is not inside.

The expressions on their faces grew increasingly anxious.

"What time is it?" Chen Ji suddenly asked.

Du Tingfeng brought his watch close to his face; it was exactly 11:11.

Six minutes had passed since they left the house.

"Could the pen really be in that box full of cockroaches?" Du Tingfeng said irritably. He disliked insects and didn't want to open the box at all.

Chen Ji shook his head: "I don't think so."

"Let's look again. I can feel that the pen is right next to us."

Du Tingfeng spoke very quickly, and they didn't have much time left.

The two searched for a while longer before their eyes fell on the metal cabinet from before.

An eyeball was placed on top of the cabinet, which could not be opened. The large cabinet surface below was flat and seemed to be just for support, without any handles.

Chen Ji pressed his ear against the counter and tapped on the metal sheet.

"It's hollow inside."

He reached out and touched the smooth surface of the cabinet, all the way to the side of the metal cabinet, where there was only a gap between it and the wall.

There's a switch.

Chen Ji turned to look at Du Tingfeng, and with a flick of his wrist, a creak was heard, and a crack popped open at the bottom of the metal cabinet.

This is a pull-up cabinet door.

The two gently pushed upwards, and as the light shone inside, a white object came into view.

"is her?"

Chen Ji looked at Du Tingfeng with a solemn expression.

Deep inside the closet, a body dressed in a school uniform was twisted and curled up in a ball.

Her legs were forcibly twisted to be level with her upper body, her neck was almost completely broken, her pale, flat face was covered with lividity, and she hung on the ground, facing Chen Ji and Du Tingfeng.

She was the girl who had previously reported the incident to the dormitory manager.