Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

“I believe that Hong Tian’s encounter with a ghost has nothing to do with Zhang Wenxuan.”

Zhu Guang thought for a moment and said, "Encountering ghosts should be an inevitable process, because those ghosts did not harm Hong Tian, ​​but instead let him escape from the forest. This should be to help us understand the meaning of the guidance."

After all, without Hung Tin's experience, everyone would be completely clueless and unable to understand the instructions.

Thinking of this, Zhu Guang frowned again.

Is this the difficulty of the Ninth Domain?

The red backpack wasn't where they first appeared; it was even hidden by mud. If they hadn't found the backpack, wouldn't they have never known what the guidance was?

He then thought back to the initial question: why didn't Hongtian have a corresponding ghost...?

Zhu Guang had a vague sense of unease about this.

Or perhaps Hong Tian has already been targeted by a ghost.

Or perhaps Hong Tian has indeed committed a taboo that none of them are aware of, a taboo that means that although Hong Tian is not dead yet, he is not far from death, so there is no need for the genius he corresponds to to appear!

His gaze involuntarily fell upon Hong Tian ahead, and his heart suddenly trembled.

I wonder if it was just his imagination...

Hong Tian's exposed arms appeared even whiter under the sunlight.

......

Hong Tian was furious.

Wan Xiaoshuang turned her head and sat down with Chen Ji in front of Hong Tian: "Zheng Meng's body was very stiff, and she didn't talk to him at all."

"She probably still thinks there's something wrong with Hongtian."

Chen Ji shook his head: "They originally wanted to team up. When everyone went to the river together, the two of them walked together."

At this point, the current seating chart came to mind.

Almost everyone sat with people they knew well, except for Tongzi, whose deskmate was Li Bi.

Li Bi did not belong to the group of children, but followed the tall man called Brother Zhong.

"You know him?"

Chen Ji tilted his head slightly towards the table where Zhong Ge and A Gou were sitting.

"uh-huh."

Wan Xiaoshuang smiled slightly: "His full name is Wan Chengzhong."

Wan… Chen Ji’s pupils shrank. The same surname and they knew each other. This was clearly not a coincidence.

“Wan Yaohong’s adopted son,” Wan Xiaoshuang said. “He adopted me after I left home.”

Adopted son.

Then consider the name itself: sincerity and loyalty.

Chen Ji seemed to be deep in thought, it seemed that Wan Yaohong was deeply affected by Wan Xiaoshuang's departure.

"If we hadn't run into each other, so be it," Wan Xiaoshuang said softly. "Since it's such a coincidence that we bumped into each other in the same domain, he'll definitely want me dead."

"Is there such a deep grudge?" Chen Ji was startled.

“I have no personal grudge against him, but we have a conflict of interest.”

Wan Xiaoshuang didn't explain much, but reminded Chen Ji that Wan Chengzhong would definitely target him if he saw that he was on the same team as him.

"Of course, not so soon, since we don't have any leads yet." Wan Xiaoshuang changed the subject, bringing up another matter:

"Tonight is unlikely to be peaceful."

"Hmm." Chen Ji nodded: "Teacher Zhan's reaction is strange."

Although 90% of what Teacher Zhan said was criticism, the last few sentences were the key points.

One is to observe the subtle changes in their expressions when asking them if they went into the river.

Chen Ji recalled the look in Teacher Zhan's eyes at that time, and for a moment he couldn't quite figure it out. It wasn't pure fear, but rather it carried some other meaning, and it was very complicated.

“He said he’d talk about it tonight,” Chen Ji said. “But I’ve heard that this rural middle school lets out at six o’clock, so it can’t be six o’clock when he says tonight.”

"Unless we see him again tonight, but why would we see him?"

Chen Ji did not overlook the bungalows next to the teaching building. He saw rows of iron bunk beds through the windows, which seemed to be the dormitory.

This aligns with his existing understanding of schools.

The girl wearing crystal sandals once said that Zhang Wenxuan's parents worked in Shenzhen.

Chen Ji believes that the vast majority of children in this school are left-behind children who come from villages all over the town to attend school and usually live and eat at the school.

"I have an idea, how about we stay with Teacher Zhan tonight?"

Wan Xiaoshuang suddenly said, "His dark circles are very heavy, like he hasn't slept well... If that's the case, then it makes sense that he asked us to meet with him."

This guess soon became a reality.

After the fourth period, Teacher Zhan appeared at the classroom door and invited them to have lunch with her.

However, not everyone!

The people who were called out were Chen Ji, Tong Zi, and A Gou.

"You'll have to sleep on the floor again." Teacher Zhan smiled, but the smile looked forced.

During their trial and error, they discovered that it was a rotation system that had started a week earlier.

Today it's the three of them, tomorrow it will be other newcomers.

It turned out that Teacher Zhan had been having nightmares. In the end, he was completely unable to fall asleep and only felt a little better when there were other people around.

As compensation, he bought roast chicken in town to improve everyone's meals.

Sitting in Teacher Zhan's dormitory, the three of them looked rather solemn. It was clear that if anything happened tonight, it would be one of them.

"Teacher Zhan."

The boy stared at the roast chicken in front of him without touching it. The roast chicken was too salty, and he was avoiding anything that would make him drink more water.

"What exactly did your dream mean? Could you tell us about it in detail?"

Teacher Zhan hesitated.

After a long pause, spurred on by Chen Ji, he slowly spoke:

"Ok."

He looked around, a hint of disorientation in his eyes.

"That dream was very simple."

"The scene is right here... in my house."

These words made Tong Zi's eyelids twitch. His worst fears had come true. There was a 90% chance that Teacher Zhan's dream would become a reality.

"That dream?" Chen Ji noticed this phrase: "Is it always the same dream?"

"Correct."

Teacher Zhan nodded and distributed the chicken legs to the three of them: "At the beginning, nothing changed, it was all the same. I was lying in bed when I suddenly opened my eyes."

"The room was very dark... Even if I left the light on before I went to sleep, it was still just as dark in my dreams."

"Then I sat up and saw a backpack next to my head."

The boy immediately asked, "Zhang Wenxuan's red schoolbag?"

Teacher Zhan looked at him with a puzzled expression: "Yes, how did you know?"

The boy remained silent.

“But I haven’t seen that schoolbag since Zhang Wenxuan disappeared,” Teacher Zhan continued. “The people in town searched for a long time, but they didn’t even find his body, let alone his personal belongings.”

Chen Ji was still listening quietly.

Suddenly, he was stunned.

and many more.....

its not right?

The body wasn't found?

How come the body wasn't found?

All that could be heard was Ah Gou's terrified cry: "Didn't you collect his body?!"

"what?"

Teacher Zhan paused for a moment, then shook her head bitterly.

"They haven't even found the body, how can they possibly recover it? His parents don't care at all..."

"But the girl said you were the one who collected the body! She also said you asked her to come and get her schoolbag!" Ah Gou stood up abruptly, his face turning deathly pale. Who was lying?

"I did not ask anyone to fetch my schoolbag."

Teacher Zhan frowned slightly: "What's that girl's name?"

"I don't know... She had dark skin, was very thin, had a very soft voice, and was wearing crystal sandals..."

Teacher Zhan's expression changed drastically!

He stared incredulously, rushed to his desk, pulled open a drawer, and took out a booklet.

Inside was a teenage girl giving a shy smile to the camera.

"It's her!" Chen Ji recognized her at a glance.

Teacher Zhan's fingers trembled slightly as he turned the page. The next page had a photo with the logo of the county public security bureau printed on it.

Everyone was silent.

Chen Ji stared at the swollen, floating corpse in the photo. Its swollen skin was all wrinkled, and he didn't know how long it had been soaking in the water.

She was wearing a pink dress covered in seaweed and mud.

The skin on the feet that peeled off after being soaked in water looked like a sock...

It was wrapped around those crystal sandals.

“Her name was Huang Ying,” Teacher Zhan murmured blankly. “She drowned a year ago.”