Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"Any other questions?"

Chen Ji paused for two seconds, then asked, "Do you have a photo of Zhang Wenxuan?"

To everyone's surprise, Teacher Zhan actually nodded. He opened the cabinet and found a photograph.

“When it was his birthday, I took him to a meal in the county and we took some pictures.”

Teacher Zhan said.

He took out a digital photo, in which Mr. Zhan, wearing glasses, stood next to a boy of medium height.

The background is a hamburger shop.

The boy had dark skin and a slightly uneasy look on his face, but he still seemed very happy.

Zhu Guang's eyes were subtle. This boy's appearance was completely different from the middle school ghost they had seen!

This is the real Zhang Wenxuan!

As expected, he was right. The ghost that the ghost called was Zhang Wenxuan, the hidden ghost in this domain!

He never appeared in public from beginning to end...

Therefore, the middle school ghost's words, "We were classmates, why didn't you save me?" were originally meant for Zhang Wenxuan, and the trigger that prompted it to say those words was Zhang Wenxuan's red schoolbag.

Chen Ji and Zhu Guang temporarily left the house and discussed things on the loess slope.

"The total number of people at the top is eighty-eight," Chen Ji said bluntly. "It's just that Teacher Zhan forgot about him."

Now it's eighty-five, and three people are missing: Ah Gou, Zheng Meng, and Zhang Wenxuan's deskmate. It's almost certain that they're the junior high school ghosts.

"Then why didn't Teacher Zhan forget Huang Ying and Zhang Wenxuan?"

Zhu Guang couldn't help but ask.

Chen Ji shook his head. He didn't know either, but he thought it was probably related to the close relationship between Teacher Zhan and his students.

Teacher Zhan valued Huang Ying highly and hoped that she would get into high school and achieve something in the future. Her death left Teacher Zhan feeling indignant and powerless.

Zhang Wenxuan is also a typical left-behind child. His parents work in Shenzhen, and on his birthday, Teacher Zhan took him out for a hamburger.

Moreover, since Teacher Zhan did not find his body, he believed that Zhang Wenxuan had simply "disappeared".

The reason why the junior high school student ghost couldn't enter the school was obvious: his name had disappeared from the school, there were no names on his original seats, and the teachers and students didn't remember his existence.

Huang Ying was able to come because Teacher Zhan remembered him.

Leaving that aside for now, the fog surrounding the domain has finally been lifted a little, and now there are three ghosts related to the Jagu River.

Zhang Wenxuan remained at the bottom of the river, refusing to come ashore.

Zhang Wenxuan's classmate is a middle school ghost who can't get into the school, but can appear and kill people through large areas of water.

And Huang Ying, who hanged her grandparents, may have used a rope as a means of murder.

Chen Ji suspected that Huang Ying would use a hemp rope because her grandfather had once cursed her to hang herself with a rope.

"I wonder if Zhang Wenxuan and the junior high school ghost died at the same time..." Zhu Guang pondered. "The junior high school ghost said, 'We were classmates, why didn't you save me?' He was probably the first one to drown."

"It is said that a drowning person will drag the person who saves him down into the water. Zhang Wenxuan may not have dared to save him and was eventually killed by his classmate who turned into a water ghost."

Chen Ji nodded; this guess was relatively reasonable.

The two walked silently back to Teacher Zhan's dormitory. At the door, Zhu Guang suddenly stopped.

"I always feel something is strange."

His eyes, squeezed into his flesh, narrowed slightly: "What is the connection between the background of this domain and the one-for-one exchange?"

Chen Ji didn't speak; he felt the same way.

All we know right now is that the middle school ghost is looking for a scapegoat, and Huang Ying's grandparents seem to want to replace a younger body; other connections aren't very strong.

But the one who entered the realm witnessed the ghost corresponding to himself and knew that they wanted him to die in their place... Then Ah Gou was killed by the drowning ghost, but was dismembered by Zhang Wenxuan?

There are also eight ghosts they are about to face, and tourist groups from the downstream village that appear regularly every year.

Just like water and oil, the experiences of those who enter the domain and the background of the domain always seem incompatible, exuding a strong sense of incongruity.

"It may still be related to Huang Ying's delirium before her death."

Chen Ji said.

He has now overturned his previous assumptions, and Huang Ying's suicide was probably not solely due to being forced to drop out of school.

Professor Zhan might know.

Back inside, Zhu Guang tentatively asked, "Teacher Zhan, before Huang Ying committed suicide, did her family force her to drop out of school?"

Teacher Zhan was silent for two seconds before nodding; this wasn't a secret.

After all, Huang Ying's grandparents had caused a scene at the school several times before.

"But I heard that Huang Ying is being haunted by a ghost?"

Chen Ji chimed in, "You make it sound very convincing."

“That’s not true.” Teacher Zhan frowned almost immediately and said curtly, “That’s all a lie.”

That means it happened.

Chen Ji observed Teacher Zhan's expression. When most people hear about this kind of thing, they are first surprised, then puzzled, and finally ask questions.

Teacher Zhan's reaction was not normal, and he witnessed Huang Ying's death firsthand. It's impossible for him to say that he knew nothing.

"Really?" Chen Ji muttered to himself, "I thought it was true. I heard that Huang Ying encountered a ghost by the river."

"After that, she started talking nonsense."

As he spoke, Zhu Guang observed Teacher Zhan's reaction out of the corner of his eye, and sure enough, he saw a slight change in the other person's expression.

"teacher."

Zhu Guang asked directly, "Do you know something?"

Before Teacher Zhan could refute him, he continued, "After we retrieved Zhang Wenxuan's schoolbag from the riverbank, you seemed to be acting strangely. What exactly happened at Jiagu River?"

"Nothing!"

Teacher Zhan's voice suddenly became rough, but after seeing Zhu Guang and Chen Ji's calm gazes, his tone became less confident.

I don't know why...

These two children, despite being so young, gave him the feeling of being with experienced adults.

Teacher Zhan's profession is what it is; she teaches at the school all day and doesn't have that many ulterior motives.

After a few words, he let slip the secret and completely lost his nerve.

"never mind......"

Teacher Zhan sighed wearily, looking as if she had aged several years in an instant.

He felt as if he had returned to the night Huang Ying committed suicide, when he was being questioned by the county public security bureau.

"Huang Ying did come to see me before she passed away."

"She told me a story, a ghost story she experienced herself."

The story takes place after the first downpour of early summer...