At 1:30 a.m., Jiangcheng University urgently initiated an emergency roll call.
Counselors from various departments rushed over from their homes in the middle of the night. Some ran over still wearing pajamas, while others had not even washed their faces.
Teachers from the Student Affairs Office sent out notifications repeatedly in their work groups, demanding that every department complete their headcounts within half an hour, without leaving a single person out.
The student dormitories were the first to show signs of movement.
Rapid pounding on doors echoed throughout the buildings, accompanied by the voices of the counselors:
“Open up! Roll call! Everyone wake up! Answer when your name is called!”
“Pull open your bed curtains, pull back your blankets, remind each other, and check in on the group chat!”
The students, half-asleep and suddenly jolted awake, were naturally full of resentment. Each of them looked like an evil immortal locked in a demon-sealing pagoda for thousands of years:
“What is this? A roll call in the middle of the night? Are they crazy?”
“I have an eight a.m. class tomorrow! Are they going to let us sleep or what?”
“What's going on? We've never had a roll call in the middle of the night before.”
“Insane, a roll call at this hour...”
Complaints rose from all directions.
But secrets could not be kept forever on campus. Soon, rumors of people going missing inside the school spread like wildfire.
Shock and panic quickly spread.
“Missing? What do you mean missing?”
“Who went missing? How did they disappear?”
“Teacher, is this true? I just saw someone post that Lover's Lake is haunted. I thought it was a joke!”
“Is this real? Holy crap, this is wild!”
“Wait, if they're missing, call the police... Huh? What do you mean ten people went missing all at once???”
The counselors did not actually know the specific details either. They could only repeatedly post the official stance in the group chats:
“[Please don't panic, everyone. The information is currently being verified. Everyone must stay in their dorms. Do not run around, and do not spread rumors. The school will notify everyone as soon as there is any news.]”
But the more they did this, the more terrified the students became.
The news seemed to grow wings, spreading at light speed through class chats, grade chats, and club chats.
【Did you guys know? A guy in Building 3 vanished into thin air! He just disappeared from his dorm!】
【More than one! A couple by the artificial lake is gone too. The security guard saw it with his own eyes!】
【Holy crap, I just heard from the dorm supervisor that several people have gone missing, even a cafeteria lady! (Image)】
【Ah, I remember that lady! She always shouts really loudly when serving food, but she never shakes the ladle. She's super nice!】
【Ten people missing at once? That's so eerie. Is the school haunted?!】
【Maybe they were abducted by aliens. Otherwise, I find it hard to understand how ten adults could disappear at the same time...】
【My hair is standing on end. Oh my god, I want to go home. I don't want to stay at school anymore.】
【Wait, can someone tell us if this is actually true? Our whole dorm is scared to death right now!】
Panic spread like a plague.
College students possessed boundless energy and curiosity. Despite the school's repeated warnings against spreading information, the inside details leaked like crazy.
The lights in the dormitory buildings turned on one after another.
Some of the more easily frightened students had already started calling their parents. The news could not be suppressed at all.
“What should we do? I'm so scared...”
“I don't dare to sleep alone anymore. Let's squeeze into one bed.”
“I'm calling my mom to have her pick me up.”
“Will the school lock down? Will they not let us leave?”
“Is this real? Vanishing into thin air? That's too absurd!”
“Why would I lie to you? The surveillance cameras caught it! My fellow townsman works in the security department, and he said ten people are gone. They all vanished right under the cameras!”
“Ten people, holy crap... They didn't get isekai'd to another world to start over, did they?”
“Stop talking about it! The more you say, the scarier it gets!”
As panic escalated, many students planned to leave campus overnight. Some even crowded at the bottom of the dormitory buildings, clamoring for the dorm supervisor to open the doors.
The dorm supervisor stood at the door, sweating profusely with anxiety:
“Students! Students! School regulations state that you cannot go out right now! Everyone, please go back to your dorms first and wait until daybreak!”
“Why won't you let us out?!”
A male voice, disguised, wailed from the crowd: “People have gone missing! It's too dangerous to stay here! What if we're next?”
“Exactly! We want to go home! Let us out!”
The crowd grew increasingly agitated, and it was only when counselors from various grades rushed over to soothe them that things finally settled down.
A group of people grumbled as they returned to their dorms, but no one could sleep.
...
Dim lights glowed in every dormitory. Groups of students huddled together, scrolling through their phones and whispering:
“I was just browsing Weibo, and someone already posted about it.” A girl held up her phone, her voice trembling. “#Jiangcheng University Haunted# is already trending locally.”
Everyone leaned in to look.
Under the trending hashtag, there were already hundreds of comments.
There were photos of the scene posted by students from the school, blurry screenshots of surveillance footage, and various speculations and leaks.
【This is seriously terrifying! I'm in Building 3! The police just arrived!】
【My friend goes to Jiangcheng University. They said all ten people vanished right in front of the cameras. Science can't explain this at all!】
【Did you guys forget about the zombie incident a while ago? That was also in Jiangcheng. Jeez, I think this place is seriously cursed!】
【I'm a parent. I'm currently driving over in the middle of the night... I hope my daughter is okay...】
【No way. How could a school this big lose ten living people? This has got to be a rumor, right?】
【Maybe they were kidnapped by foreigners for organ trafficking. They might already be on a cargo ship to Southeast Asia.】
...
The roll call continued.
The counselors held their rosters, checking room by room.
With every name called, they let out a sigh of relief.
At 2:37 a.m., the first round of the roll call concluded.
Aside from the seven students and three staff members confirmed missing, all other students—excluding those staying off-campus or on leave—were accounted for.
The good news was that there were no new missing persons.
The bad news was that the ten missing people remained unaccounted for.
...
At 1:57 a.m., four police cars and two black SUVs roared into Jiangcheng University.
Red and blue lights flashed in the night.
Police tape had already been set up at the school entrance. As soon as the car came to a halt, Chen Xi stepped out of the front passenger seat.
She wore a black windbreaker, her short hair neat, her eyes sharp, with not a single trace of sleepiness on her face.
Behind her, over a dozen criminal investigators looked solemn, while technicians carrying forensic cases quickly followed.
Following Chen Xi were also several young men and women in plain clothes.
—Since the Route 404 Bus incident, the municipal bureau had urgently established a Special Task Force to handle supernatural cases that could not be explained by science.
After Jiangcheng University reported the incident, the alert was escalated through the ranks, and Chen Xi's Special Task Force was dispatched to the scene.
...
Logically speaking, when a disappearance occurred on campus, the school would typically prioritize an internal investigation before involving the police.
But “ten people vanishing into thin air” had clearly exceeded the school's ability to comprehend.
“Captain Chen!”
The president, accompanied by the school administrators, rushed forward to greet them. His voice was on the verge of tears, and his expression made it look as though he had just reunited with long-lost family. “We've been anxiously waiting for you!”
“Hello.”
Chen Xi shook hands with him and went straight to the point. “Please take our technicians to the surveillance room first. I've already gotten a general grasp of the situation on the way here.”
“Yes, of course, no problem at all. We will fully cooperate. This way, please.”
The group quickly walked into the security department's surveillance room.
The technicians immediately stepped forward, using technical means to pull up the footage from the minute before each person disappeared.
Without exception, every single missing person had vanished without warning.
It was as if someone had snipped a single frame out of the video at lightning speed.
The Special Task Force also conducted a meticulous investigation of the scenes of disappearance, but they found no clues left behind.
Footprints, tire tracks, or even signs of struggle—nothing.
...
Chen Xi reviewed the investigation results carefully, her expression darkening.
It was just as she had thought.
The missing persons had all disappeared in an instant without leaving any trace—highly similar to how Su Ya and the others had been pulled into the Instance during the Route 404 Bus incident.
This non-human, supernatural power... there was no mistake, it could only be an Instance.
After the Route 404 Bus case, some within the police force had already speculated that the so-called “Instances” would definitely not be isolated incidents.
The police had been doing everything they could to track the movement of the Route 404 Bus during this period, but they had not expected a new Instance to appear so quickly.
“Ten people, all disappearing in this exact manner?”
“Yes, all of them—except for one case, as there are no cameras inside Men's Dormitory Building 3. However, witnesses claim that this student named Zhou Shengsheng vanished into thin air, so he was included in the count.”
The technician was absolutely certain. “There's nothing wrong with the cameras, and we didn't detect any external interference. It's almost as if...”
—As if the people in the video had been erased from existence by a giant eraser.
“Send the physical evidence back to the forensics center first to see if there are other clues. Contact the school and request that they deploy personnel to help maintain order on campus, soothe the students' emotions, and try to avoid causing a large-scale panic.”
Chen Xi looked back at her colleague from the Special Service Department, a slender young man.
“Captain Chen, I suspect this shares the same origin as the Taiping Cemetery case. A new Instance must have opened.”
The man flipped through his notebook and added, “According to those who have entered Instances, we speculate that each Instance might have specific entry conditions. Just like the Taiping Cemetery Instance, where all participants boarded the Route 404 Bus. Could there be some commonality among these ten missing people as well?”
“Then have the school provide detailed profiles of these ten missing people, including their identity information, social relations, and recent movements. Technicians, compare the surveillance footage to see what they were doing before they disappeared. Temporarily lock down the campus and prohibit unauthorized personnel from moving around inside the school to prevent more people from going missing. All personnel must maintain open lines of communication and conduct dynamic check-ins every ten minutes—have all the scenes been cordoned off?”
“They're all sealed. There are nine disappearance locations in total, and we've set up police tape at all of them. Xiao Li has already taken people to guard the scenes.”
“Well done.”
Chen Xi pondered for a moment before issuing orders. “Zhou Chong, take the forensic team to inspect each scene and extract trace evidence. Do not overlook any detail. Mo Mo, take your team to interview witnesses, take detailed statements, and handle confidentiality work. The tech team will stay here to continue reviewing the surveillance footage to see if they can find any clues about the Instance through the videos.”
She paused here, then pointed out two people:
“Jin Sui, Xiao Zhang, come with me to walk the scenes again to see if we can find clues on how to enter the Instance.”
—If the Instance was indeed like what Su Ya and the others had described, then the ten people currently pulled into this unknown Instance were very likely facing a life-or-death crisis.
Perhaps she could use her status as a player to enter the Instance and confirm the whereabouts of the missing people.
“Yes, ma'am!”
“Yes, ma'am!”
Everyone immediately went into action, attending to their respective duties.
Though Chen Xi appeared calm, she knew in her heart that she could not stop the speed at which the news was spreading.
—If the Special Task Force failed to find the missing persons before daybreak, the pressure from public opinion alone would be enough to draw national attention to this place.
...
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