Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The table looked greasy.

"boss!"

Li Yinghe called out in her dialect, craning her neck to look behind the kitchen, and said to the other three, "Huang Ying's house seems to be connected to the shop."

There is a door at the very back of the kitchen, through which you can barely see the stairs. This two-story self-built house has a noodle shop on the first floor and living quarters on the second floor.

No one appeared for a long time.

Zheng Meng asked hesitantly, "Did they go out?"

What she really wanted to say wasn't that she was going out, but rather... that something had happened.

After all, according to Chen Ji, Huang Ying's family treated her very badly, and now that Huang Ying has become a ghost, it's hard to say what will happen to her.

Li Yinghe frowned slightly. She tried calling out again, and just then, a loud thud suddenly came from upstairs. A few seconds later, a series of dragging footsteps followed.

Everyone's expression shifted, and after a short while, a dark-skinned old man pushed open the back door of the kitchen and came out.

His face was deeply lined with wrinkles, and he was wearing a t-shirt. He looked Chen Ji and the others up and down.

"What?"

“We are Huang Ying’s classmates,” Li Yinghe said. “Are you her grandfather?”

The old man didn't answer. He took a crumpled cigarette from behind his ear, but before he could light it, it broke limply.

He clicked his tongue, and then his gaze swept over the four people present.

“You two aren’t students.” The old man pointed at Wan Chengzhong and Zheng Meng. “Your faces are all wrinkled, and you’re just lying.”

Zheng Meng's face immediately turned ugly, and even Wan Chengzhong, who was standing next to her, was caught off guard by the old man's words.

Although they are indeed no longer students and are over thirty, they look like they are in their twenties. It's impossible for them to have wrinkles on their faces.

However, compared to the other two, especially Wan Chengzhong, who has been helping to manage the company for many years, he does seem to have a strong sense of social interaction.

"A reporter, huh? Get lost."

The old man said, staring at them with his hands behind his back.

The atmosphere was heavy. Wan Chengzhong stared silently at the old man for a few seconds, then turned and left the noodle shop.

The old man's gaze fell on Zheng Meng again.

Zheng Meng gritted her teeth. She was determined to stay, because the old man might reveal crucial information about Huang Ying!

A clue you hear yourself is different from one you hear from someone else... there might be discrepancies.

But now she has no choice.

The old man seemed quite wary, as this wasn't the first time he'd been asked about Huang Ying.

She saw Li Yinghe secretly gesturing to her to go first. Zheng Meng's eyes darkened slightly, she clenched her fists, and walked out of the noodle shop.

The old man followed behind her and lowered the roller shutter.

Only then did he turn his head and look at Chen Ji: "Speak."

"What's wrong at school?"

“It’s like this—” Li Yinghe had just started to speak when Chen Ji interrupted her, asking abruptly:

How much money did the school pay in compensation?

Li Yinghe was full of questions. This was not the point at all; Chen Ji's question was completely inexplicable.

"Why should I tell you?" The old man rolled his eyes at him and plopped down on the table.

"Teacher Zhan wanted to apply for compensation for Huang Ying, which is why she asked us to come," Chen Ji said.

"Compensation?"

The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "How much?"

"It depends on the amount of compensation the school has paid previously," Chen Ji said.

He then explained to the old man that if they wanted to apply for compensation, the amount of compensation needed to be verified; if it was too little, they would receive more in compensation.

Without thinking, the old man held up a number on his fingers, which wasn't much.

"So little? Why?"

Chen Ji asked, then took out a small notebook and wrote it down.

"Because that shitty school said it wasn't their responsibility!" The old man's face was scrunched up tightly. "That little brat Huang Ying committed suicide, and of course, it happened during summer vacation, before school was even open!"

"and......"

A hint of hatred flashed in the old man's eyes: "That guy surnamed Zhan said that Huang Ying was mentally ill before she died!"

Neuropathy?

Chen Ji frowned. The original words probably weren't that harsh, but he did notice that Teacher Zhan's previous diary entries were very vague about what happened before Huang Ying's death.

"What's up with her?"

Li Yinghe asked, "Are you talking nonsense?"

"How old is she? Kids always talk nonsense, don't they?" The old man said impatiently. "She's in school. When she goes to the factory, she won't have time to think like that."

"So she really was talking nonsense." Li Yinghe said thoughtfully, "What did she say?"

The old man was silent for two seconds, then tilted his head slightly and looked at the ceiling.

"She has a very strange personality. She stays cooped up all day like a quail, never helping with anything, or she just goes to the river to stay by herself."

"Until one day, after she returned home, she acted as if she had a hysteria, wandering around and crying and crying."

"Who bullied her?" Chen Ji asked. "Is it because you won't let her go to high school?"

"who knows!"

The old man said with dissatisfaction, "She doesn't sleep at night either. That night, when I woke up, I saw her standing at the head of our bed, chattering on and on."

"She almost scared us to death. I was so angry I gave her a beating. I told her that if she has another episode, she should just find a rope and hang herself, so she won't cause us any more trouble..."

"Get to the point." Li Yinghe couldn't listen anymore: "What was she muttering by your bedside?"

"say what....."

"One for one, one for one... She's unwilling..."

One for one!

Chen Ji's hand holding the pen moved almost imperceptibly.

Why did Huang Ying start saying this before she died?

Chen Ji clearly remembered that Zhu Guang had mentioned that when Zhang Wenxuan was lying to him outside the door, he was also asking him what this sentence meant.

But Huang Ying said she didn't want to... didn't want to do anything? Did she not want to be killed in someone else's place by a ghost?

"I see."

Putting that question aside for now, Chen Ji made a note of it.

The noodle shop fell silent.

The old man asked again, "When you two talked about the subsidy, do you need to provide certificates or something? Huang Ying has a bunch of them in her room, but I don't know where she threw them away."

"No need," Li Yinghe said dismissively, lost in thought.

Seeing the old man's suspicious expression, she added, "The school has records."

Without saying another word, Chen Ji subtly stopped Li Yinghe from asking any more questions and got up to leave.

The old man looked at the two of them, thought for a moment, and then slowly said, "Oh, right..."

"And one more thing."

"A woman came to see her a few days ago and left something in her room that I found a bit strange..."

......

Zheng Meng hid in the shade, feeling irritated.

Grandpa Huang closed the door, not wanting the two of them to hear their conversation... Why? Just because they're old?

"Hey."

Wan Chengzhong, who had disappeared before, came out from behind the noodle shop and waved to her.

"what happened?"

Zheng Meng's heart stirred slightly.

"There is a window at the back, and footprints in front of the window. Judging from the shoe size, they belong to a woman."

Wan Chengzhong succinctly stated, "I suspect Huang Ying has been here before."

"what?!"

Zheng Meng was startled: "When did she arrive? Is she still in the store?"

The thought that a ghost might be nearby sent a chill down Zheng Meng's spine, even though it was the middle of summer.

"That won't happen."

Wan Zhongcheng said, "The footprints are bidirectional. She walked through them, but I suspect she hid something here."

He pointed to the window on the second floor, then led Zheng Meng to adjust their direction.

From a certain angle, he took out his phone, took a picture, zoomed in several times, and handed it to Zheng Meng.

The image quality is blurry, but you can see a little bit of a cabinet and a wall. There are certificates of merit on the wall. This is Huang Ying's room!

Beside the cabinet, a glimpse of dark red seemed to be peeking out...

"Red schoolbag!"