Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"That rain was really heavy..." Teacher Zhan murmured, "The water level of the entire river rose."

"On the evening of the day after the rainstorm, Huang Ying received a call from her parents, who told her not to go to high school, saying that it was pointless for a girl to study so much, and that she should go to work in a factory."

“She was very sad and secretly went to the banks of the Jiagu River. It was very quiet there and no one could hear her crying. Huang Ying sobbed there alone until the sun had completely set and the moon was high in the sky, and the fireflies were twinkling in the river.”

She gradually accepted this fact.

"She walked home in silence, but for some reason, no matter which way she went, she couldn't find the yellow earthen slope behind the woods. No matter which way she went—up, left, or right—she would eventually end up back by the river!"

Chen Ji quickly exchanged a glance with Zhu Guang.

A classic case of being trapped in a maze.

"She started to get scared. It was late at night and the woods were pitch black. Huang Ying felt that nowhere was safe, as if something was sneaking around in the dark watching her."

Finally... she saw someone in the woods.

“A man wearing a yellow hoodie appeared. Huang Ying mustered up her courage and asked him if he could take her out of the way, because she was lost.”

"The person said yes."

"But it has to be one for one."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guang's heart skipped a beat.

One for one...

Just as Chen Ji said, we've come full circle back to that point.

Teacher Zhan continued, "Huang Ying didn't understand what he meant, but the man didn't explain either. He didn't say another word and led Huang Ying forward."

"Soon, we reached the end of the woods."

Huang Ying finally stepped onto the loess slope behind the school, and she instantly breathed a sigh of relief. But just as she was about to thank the man, she froze!

The man who had been walking less than a meter ahead of her simply vanished!

Huang Ying was terrified. But then...

Teacher Zhan's voice trembled slightly: "She suddenly heard someone calling her from the teaching building."

The man called out lightly, "Huang Ying!"

"The voice sounded very familiar," she thought, "who could it be?" So she looked up.

"She saw herself! The person calling her from upstairs was actually herself!"

"Wait a minute." Chen Ji interrupted Teacher Zhan and asked solemnly, "Is it a corpse that looks exactly like her, but is swollen from being soaked in water?"

"Do not."

Teacher Zhan looked at Chen Ji with a puzzled expression: "It's normal. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that she looks exactly like Huang Ying, like twins."

Ok?

Chen Ji was stunned.

In other words, neither the "Huang Ying" on the teaching building nor the Huang Ying below the teaching building was a drowned ghost?

Teacher Zhan continued:

"But that in itself was strange enough. Huang Ying was so frightened that she took a step back, just a small step, but she bumped into a cold object."

She turned around and saw... it was that man in the yellow hoodie!

"His back was pressed tightly against hers. He was very tall and was looking down at Huang Ying's face blankly!"

At this point, Teacher Zhan couldn't help but shudder, feeling a chill run down his spine, as if there was a ghost standing behind him.

Meanwhile, on the teaching building, "Huang Ying" was still calling her name faintly:

"Huang Ying..."

“Huang Ying.......”

"It's like summoning a spirit."

"In front of her was 'herself,' and behind her was that strange man in the hoodie. Huang Ying felt dizzy. Just then, she suddenly felt a strong sense of drowning, as if she had fallen into a river."

"At the same time, the voice disappeared."

"In its place... was a bone-chilling cold, and river water rushing into her mouth and nose. Huang Ying suddenly realized that she had fallen into the river without even knowing when!"

"She even plunged headfirst into the river, so she couldn't exert any strength!"

"But what terrified her even more was that something was crawling on her back. When she turned around, she realized it was the man in the yellow hoodie! He had followed her—no, he hadn't left at all!"

"Moreover, the man in the hoodie's face was so pale it was almost transparent, and his skin was peeling off in patches like wet tissues... He was basically a bloated corpse!"

Chen Ji had anticipated this.

The man in the yellow hoodie is clearly a ghost, and he's the ghost from that tour group; the timing also fits.

His eyes flickered slightly as he continued listening to Teacher Zhan retell Huang Ying's story:

"Huang Ying's sixth sense told her that if she stayed in the water a little longer, she would experience something terrible."

"Fortunately, Huang Ying was a good swimmer. In the chaos, she somehow managed to turn over, throwing the body off and swimming upwards with all her might."

“She climbed up the slope and saw her own footprints, coming from afar and leading all the way to the water. The corpse never led her to the loess slope; it was deceiving her all the way to the Jiagu River.”

"..."

Zhu Guang opened his mouth, but couldn't speak for a moment. This was a life-or-death experience for anyone who entered the domain, and it was a miracle that Huang Ying was able to escape alive.

But what he didn't expect was that the story wasn't over yet.

Teacher Zhan said:

"Huang Ying was shivering in the woods, but before she could relax for long, she heard a group of people talking not far away."

"The group of people kept crying and asking: Where is the river? Where is the river?"

"The tone was strange. She was clearly crying, but there was no emotion in her voice. It was like she was reading a book, speaking these words in a rigid and monotone way. After a while, Huang Ying heard the continuous splashing sounds of people jumping into the Jiagu River."

"The group of people jumped into the water."

After Teacher Zhan finished speaking, she gently closed her eyes, picked up her water glass with trembling hands, and took a sip of water.

"That's the end of the story."

"Huh?" Chen Ji was taken aback. He had been listening intently, and it was over just like that?

"What about Huang Ying?"

“Huang Ying escaped,” Teacher Zhan said. “She was so terrified that she was numb. She chose to walk on darker, more secluded paths. Those people… or ghosts, didn’t notice her.”

"After she reached the loess slope, she ran straight to my dormitory, where I was grading papers at the time."

"She was soaking wet, her face was unusually pale, and she was trembling. She said she had encountered a ghost."

Huang Ying told Teacher Zhan about her experience.

"What happened next is what you know."

Teacher Zhan murmured, "After that day, she was like a different person. She stayed at home all day and wouldn't see anyone who came looking for her... even when I went to visit her at home, it was the same."

“She didn’t come to me until the day she committed suicide. I will never forget that she was wearing a pink long-sleeved jacket, her back was hunched, she was trembling, and her face was deathly pale, just like a dead person.”

Huang Ying told me something:

"When she climbed out of the river, she discovered that she had an extra layer of skin on her body."

"The body in the yellow hoodie had its hands soaked for too long; the skin had peeled off while it was still alive."

"There was a card rolled up inside that leather bag," Huang Ying said. "From it, she learned about a method of having someone die in her place."