Every city has its own supernatural ghost stories, and of course, the ghost stories in every school are more or less the same.
Song Mo clicked open the supernatural legends of Jiangcheng University and browsed through them one by one.
In the end, she filtered out the three most widely circulated and highly credible horror stories:
The first was 《Water Ghost Lake》.
This story felt like it shared a “setting” with many other ghost stories.
Just like the rumors that “all schools across the country are built on top of mass graves.”
Legend had it that when Jiangcheng University was built, it was constructed on top of a mass grave.
Later, the government leveled the mass grave and dug an artificial lake.
Who would have thought that while digging the lake, the excavators unearthed hundreds of coffins and skeletons.
However, to rush the construction schedule, the school buried the skeletons right there on the spot, dumping them into the lake.
From then on, every year someone would drown in the lake, without fail.
Many people said it was the water ghost in the lake looking for a scapegoat.
Oh, this story was of course fake.
Many people just parroted what others said, without considering that if someone really died every year, the school would have filled the lake long ago—
it wasn't like they were trying to boost the water ghost's performance reviews.
The second was 《The Jumping Ghost》.
This story said that ten years ago, a female college student named Lin Wan was abandoned by her boyfriend, so she wore a red dress and jumped from the roof of the old teaching building, dying on the spot.
Since then, the old teaching building was frequently haunted.
Some people saw a woman in red wandering the corridors in the middle of the night.
Others saw a white shadow drifting through the stairwell.
Many who claimed to be graduates of Jiangcheng University swore that if you met her in the stairwell, she would ask you, “What time is it now?” and if you answered incorrectly, you would be pushed down the stairs and fall to your death.
Of course, Song Mo had also investigated this story and found it to be equally fake.
The funniest part was that the building where Lin Wan allegedly jumped from ten years ago was actually built only five years ago.
The third story, 《The Toilet Ghost》, leaned more toward an urban legend.
Just like Japan's 《Hanako-san of the Toilet》, similar versions existed all over the country.
This one said that you should never enter the last stall of the girls' restroom on the third floor of the old teaching building.
If you went in at midnight, a cold hand would reach over from the neighboring stall and ask, “Do you want red paper or green paper?”
If you answered red, your skin would be peeled off.
If you answered green, you would be drowned in the toilet pit.
The only way to escape was to keep your mouth shut and say nothing until dawn.
“I've literally heard this story since I was a kid.”
Song Mo carefully read through the three stories, and a plan gradually formed in her mind:
She could merge these three legends together to create a multi-threaded parallel Instance.
Once players entered the Instance, they would be randomly assigned to three different areas: the artificial lake, the old teaching building, and the restroom.
Each area would have its corresponding tasks and dangers. Only by completing the tasks in their own area could they regroup with other players and ultimately clear the Instance.
This way, the playability and horror of the Instance would be greatly enhanced.
Correspondingly, the excitement rating would also be higher, and she would naturally receive more rewards.
...
Song Mo opened the script editing box, and black and white characters flowed at her fingertips:
【Instance Name: Campus Ghost Stories】
【Script Grade: Low-Grade Supernatural】
【Core Carrier: Jiangcheng University's Century-Old Resentment + Low-Grade Spirit Material * 100 + Internet Legends】
【Instance Location: Jiangcheng University (Reality Mapping)】
【Instance Players: 10–15 people】
【Consuming 100 Screenwriter Points, creating... Creation successful. Reality preview in progress. Rewards will be distributed after the first clear of the Instance—】
...
...
May 18th, 12:57 AM.
The lights-out signal at Jiangcheng University had already sounded an hour ago.
The campus had fallen into a deep sleep. Under the streetlights on the main road, dim yellow halos stretched across the roots of the banyan trees. The bamboo grove rustled, and the campus lake was perfectly still.
“Fuck!!!”
A sudden roar shattered the silence of Room 302 in Male Dormitory Building 3:
“Support, your dad is fucking dead!”
Zhou Shengsheng sat near the door, leaning forward, almost pressed against the computer screen.
His fingers tapped frantically on the mechanical keyboard, making sharp, clattering noises.
On the screen, the Yasuo he was controlling was already 0-8, feeding horribly, and their Nexus had only a sliver of health left.
“Dumbass jungler! Are you recovering from childbirth in the jungle, or are you picking spiritual herbs for your dying grandfather?!”
Zhou Shengsheng slammed the desk. “The enemy is already breaking our high ground, and you're still farming Gromp? Did your head get slammed in a door?!”
“Support, are you fucking blind? Don't you know how to ward? The enemy support is literally sitting on my face, and you're still farming minions!”
“And mid is a total actor! A 0-6 Ahri, are you fucking kidding me? Uninstall the game already and stop ruining people's matches!”
His voice was shrill and loud, filled with thick hostility, clearly audible throughout the entire floor.
Li Hao, on the opposite bed, yanked open his bed curtain, unable to take it anymore, and warned him:
“Zhou Shengsheng, can you keep it down? It's almost one o'clock. We have major classes at eight tomorrow morning, and we need to sleep!”
“Sleep my f***ing—!”
Without even turning his head, Zhou Shengsheng spat, “I've lost three ranked games in a row, all because of these pig teammates!
So what if I'm loud? Who told you to be too poor to rent a place off-campus? If you can't stand it, don't live here. Go back to your own house. I paid my tuition, so why the hell should I keep quiet?”
“Can you be reasonable for once?”
Li Hao's face flushed with anger. “We haven't said a word all night, while you've been screaming non-stop! You're the only one in the entire dorm not sleeping, and you're blaming us?”
“I'm being loud, so what?”
Zhou Shengsheng turned around. “Hit me if you've got the balls! If you don't, then shut the fuck up. You're poor and demanding!”
“Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you can disturb others!”
Li Hao tried to reason with his roommate. “You do this every single day. Do you know how long we've tolerated this?”
Right then, the Nexus on the computer screen exploded with a boom.
“Defeat!”
The cold system voice announced.
“Fuck! Lost again!”
Zhou Shengsheng roared in anger, grabbing his keyboard and slamming it violently onto the floor:
“What a piece of shit computer, what a trash game! It's all fucking garbage!”
Zhou Shengsheng panting heavily, turned to grab a cigarette from the desk and began to puff away.
“I'm going to the counselor tomorrow. Don't push it too far—”
Li Hao lay in bed, his stomach churning with pent-up frustration. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. He suddenly sat up and yanked back his bed curtain.
The next second, all sound in Room 302 came to a screeching halt.
There were no more of Zhou Shengsheng's curses, nor was there the pungent smell of cigarette smoke.
The entire dormitory suddenly became abnormally quiet, leaving only the rustling of leaves blown by the wind outside the window.
Li Hao gripped the edge of his bed, looking down to see what Zhou Shengsheng was doing.
Then, he froze:
Zhou Shengsheng, who had just been standing on the balcony puffing smoke, was gone.
The shattered keyboard still lay on the floor.
The cigarette pack was still on the desk, and a freshly lit cigarette had fallen onto the balcony floor, its tip glowing with an orange-red light.
Zhou Shengsheng's headset had dropped to the floor, and his teammates' curses were still coming through the microphone:
【Your dad's a dick, jungler! AFK, huh? Reported!】
But Zhou Shengsheng himself had vanished without a trace.
The dorm was only so big, with four bunk beds, desks underneath, and a balcony of less than two square meters.
Every spot was visible at a glance; there was absolutely nowhere to hide.
“Zhou Shengsheng?”
Li Hao called out hesitantly, his voice trembling slightly.
No one responded.
“Stop hiding, we're not going to fight with you anymore,” another roommate said, forcing himself to stay calm as he walked over and opened the balcony door.
There was only laundry hanging on the balcony; nothing else.
The three of them looked at each other, the resentment and anger on their faces gradually fading into unease.
“Where... where did he go?” one roommate asked, trembling. “He was just here... how did he suddenly disappear?”
Li Hao's heart beat rapidly.
He walked over to where Zhou Shengsheng had been sitting and reached out to touch the chair.
The chair was still warm, retaining Zhou Shengsheng's body heat.
He had really been here just moments ago.
But now, he was gone.
There was no sound of a door opening, no sound of jumping from the window—nothing.
A living, breathing human being had evaporated into air right under the noses of his three roommates.
“A ghost... there's a ghost!”
“Holy shit, did Zhou Shengsheng jump off the building because he lost his game?!”
“Call for help, you dumbass! Someone jumped!!”
...
...
At the same time, under the willow trees on the west side of the campus lake.
Deng Ziwen and Zhao Weilai were arguing heatedly.
The solitary streetlight by the lake cast their long, stretched shadows onto the ground.
When the wind blew, the water weeds in the lake swayed with the ripples, resembling a woman's hair.
“I've already settled it with my parents. I'm going back to our hometown after graduation to take the civil service exam.”
Deng Ziwen's voice was filled with exhaustion and helplessness. “Our county's tax bureau is hiring. It fits my major, and the competition is low. Once I pass, my life will be stable.”
“Stable, stable, that's all you care about!”
Zhao Weilai fiercely flung his hand away. “Deng Ziwen, we're only twenty-two! I've studied for so many years and finally made it out of that small county town. Did I do all that just to go back and live a life where I can see my entire future at a single glance with you?”
“Then what else do you want?”
Deng Ziwen raised his voice as well. “Stay in Jiangcheng? With what?
Housing prices in Jiangcheng are over ten thousand yuan per square meter. Even if the two of us don't eat or drink, we won't be able to afford a house in thirty years.
Do you want to be like everyone else, squeezing onto the subway for two hours every day, working overtime until midnight, earning a few thousand yuan, and barely being able to afford rent? Is that the kind of 'struggle' you want?”
“Even if it's hard and exhausting, I'm willing!”
Zhao Weilai cried, “Here, we still have opportunities. If we go back to our hometown, our entire lives will be set in stone.
We'll be stuck in that tiny place forever. I don't want that!”
“What's wrong with taking the civil service exam?”
Deng Ziwen's face turned red. “Weilai, can you be a bit more realistic?”
“I don't care! I'm not going back anyway!” Zhao Weilai gritted her teeth. “If you want to go back, go back by yourself! Let's break up!”
“Fine, let's break up!” Deng Ziwen blurted out.
As soon as the words left his mouth, both of them froze.
The wind by the lake suddenly grew stronger, causing the willow branches to swing wildly.
Zhao Weilai's tears spilled over, and she turned around to walk away.
Deng Ziwen panicked, quickly grabbing her. “Weilai, I didn't mean it... Don't be mad, can we please just talk this through?”
“There's nothing to talk about.” Zhao Weilai struggled against his grip. “Since you want to go back to your hometown so badly, then let's end it here.”
“Stop it, okay?” Deng Ziwen held her tightly. “I'm just... I'm just afraid that we won't have a good life in the future, that we'll end up resentful and our relationship will turn into a complete mess.”
As the two of them were pulling back and forth, the beam of a flashlight shone in the distance, followed by a security guard's shout:
“Who's there? It's so late, why aren't you back in your dorms? Don't you know the school rules state you must be back and lights out by eleven-thirty?”
The flashlight's beam fell directly onto Deng Ziwen and Zhao Weilai's faces.
The next second, the flashlight flickered.
The two young people who had just been standing right in front of him were gone.
Only Zhao Weilai's white canvas bag and a scattering of resumes were left on the ground.
Deng Ziwen's phone had slipped out of his pocket. Its screen was shattered but still lit up, displaying a sweet photo of the two of them leaning their heads together.
Two living, breathing people had vanished into thin air just like that.
The security guard stood frozen on the spot, his mouth wide open, unable to make a sound for a long time.
“Ghost—!!!”
An incredibly shrill scream pierced the silence of midnight.
The guard turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, forgetting to even pick up the flashlight he had dropped on the ground.
“There's a ghost! The artificial lake is haunted! Two students were taken by a ghost!”
...
...
The security guard's screams didn't attract much attention.
The campus at night was too vast, and his voice was quickly dispersed by the wind.
No one knew that this was only the beginning.
Over the next hour, disappearances occurred one after another in various corners of Jiangcheng University.
Like a silent plague, it quietly spread.
...
...
At 1:00 AM, in the back kitchen of the Jiangcheng University cafeteria.
The cafeteria, busy all day, had finally quieted down.
Most of the staff had already gone home, leaving only the dishwasher, Auntie Liu Guilan, to clean up the remaining mess.
The sink was piled high with greasy dishes and trays, the dish soap bubbles stacked like a small hill.
Auntie Liu wore a rubber apron and gloves, standing by the sink. She hummed a tune from her hometown while efficiently washing the dishes.
She was forty-eight years old, having come to the city from her hometown to work. She had been a dishwasher in the Jiangcheng University cafeteria for five years now.
She was always the first to arrive and the last to leave.
Although the work was hard, earning over three thousand yuan a month was enough to pay for her son's tuition and living expenses at an out-of-town university.
“Sister Liu, I'm heading out first!”
Xiao Zhang, who was in charge of prep, took off his apron and called out to Auntie Liu, “Leave the rest of the dishes for tomorrow, it's already so late.”
“It's fine, there's only a few left. I'll finish before I leave.” Auntie Liu waved her hand. “Be careful on the road, and ride your bike slowly on the way back!”
She was deaf in one ear, so she would subconsciously raise her voice whenever she spoke to people.
“Alright, got it!” Xiao Zhang turned and left the back kitchen.
Only Liu Guilan was left in the back kitchen.
The faucet ran with a rushing sound, washing away the grease on the dishes.
Auntie Liu finished washing the last stack of bowls and placed them into the disinfection cabinet.
Then she took off her gloves, placed them by the sink, and reached for a rag to wipe down the counters.
Just then, she heard a gurgling sound coming from the sink.
Auntie Liu looked back in confusion.
The water in the sink had already drained, leaving only a tiny puddle.
Yet the gurgling sound continued to echo, as if something was bubbling beneath the surface.
She frowned, wanting to see what was going on. If it was a cockroach or a rat, she would have to call someone for pest control.
But if it was clogged with food waste, she would have to clean it herself.
Bloop—
A very, very soft sound.
The sink was completely empty, with only a single rubber glove floating on the water's surface.
Silence returned to the back kitchen.
The faucet was still running, and the disinfection cabinet hummed as it operated.
Liu Guilan was gone.
Rate on N.U.
