He thought of the abused children Guan Qing had mentioned.
In the middle of the otherwise silent night, the bedsheets began to flutter slightly, as if blown by a breeze, but Jiang Mu was standing right there and knew there was no wind at all.
The bad premonition in Jiang Mu's heart grew stronger. He didn't step forward to investigate; instead, he turned to leave, but after two steps, he froze.
He looked down and saw his shoes stepping into a thin layer of water.
Flooding?
Jiang Mu instinctively glanced back. Normally, there were drainage holes under every faucet on the washbasin counter.
But at the washbasin where he stood, none of the seven or eight drainage holes were draining, and the faucets had been turned on at some point.
The faint sound of running water echoed across the counter. The washbasin wasn't deep, and the water was quickly overflowing.
Jiang Mu didn't know what he was thinking; his mind was consumed by a single thought: he had to turn off the faucets.
He rushed to the washbasin and turned them off one by one.
"Huff... huff..."
It wasn't a difficult task, but because of his nerves, Jiang Mu was breathing heavily.
The water was turned off, but the previous accumulation was still slowly dripping.
Drip.
Drop.
Jiang Mu looked down to see that the water had already risen to cover the tops of his shoes.
Under the snow-white light, there seemed to be something in the water.
Jiang Mu should have turned and left immediately; he was terrified, even forgetting to breathe.
But his entire being felt as if he were in a trance, his mind clouded as if covered by something. He slowly crouched down, huddling beneath the washbasin, and reached into the water to grab something.
He lifted his hand. In his palm was a clump of black hair, thin and long, coiled around his hand like tangled seaweed.
Jiang Mu immediately shook his hand frantically like a startled cat. At that moment, the foggy feeling in his head vanished, replaced by intense tension.
The hair was flung back into the water and floated away.
He was still shaken, but he quickly tried to rationalize it.
This was a washroom, after all. With so many female students in the school, it was perfectly normal for there to be hair on the floor.
He didn't want to ponder why he had suddenly come to the washroom anymore; he just wanted to go back.
He moved his legs, which had grown stiff from crouching in fear, and stood up.
Then, he bumped directly into a face obscured by black hair.
Something was crouching on the washbasin. It looked like a person, but its frame was incredibly small.
Messy black hair was draped over its face, revealing only cracked skin and pale eyeballs staring fixedly at him through the strands.
While Jiang Mu had been crouching to look at the hair, this thing had been silently perched on the washbasin above him, watching him for who knows how long.
...
The school's wake-up bell rang at seven o'clock. Nan Yue was awakened by the sound, and upon opening her eyes, she found that Zhao Zhenzhen and Bai La La had also just woken up.
Bai La La cleared her head quickly and shook her head at Nan Yue.
She hadn't sensed anything last night.
Zhao Zhenzhen, on the other hand, was still groggy, rubbing her eyes with her hands.
"A peaceful night."
Nan Yue breathed a sigh of relief. The three of them got up and tidied themselves, preparing to wash up.
"Aaaaah!!"
A terrified scream rang out. The three of them exchanged looks, and Nan Yue pushed open the door, running toward the source of the scream.
When she arrived, she saw Director Wu was already there. Teacher Gao was blocking the door, preventing the children from entering.
Jiang Xi Cheng and Gu Xiang Kai had also arrived. Both of their expressions were grim. Nan Yue only needed one look to understand why.
A man was lying on the washbasin counter.
He was soaked from head to toe, looking as if he had just been fished out of the water, lying motionless on the counter.
Director Wu turned to look at the new teachers with a very complex gaze.
Nan Yue could indeed see a deep sense of fear in Director Wu's eyes, but she also saw a trace of relief.
From the look of it, Director Wu and the others were certainly glad to see a scavenger die, but it seemed the one who had acted wasn't a teacher...
Because Director Wu and Teacher Gao themselves were extremely reluctant to go near or touch the corpse.
Nan Yue walked over. The man lying there, looking exactly like the death depicted in the students' drawings, was Jiang Mu.
Because he had been soaked in water, his body appeared more bloated than when he was alive, and his exposed skin was a sickly, glistening white.
Jiang Mu's expression was one of extreme horror, his eyes bulging with terror and his mouth hanging wide open in an unsettling, distorted way.
Nan Yue frowned; she thought she saw something in Jiang Mu's mouth.
Gu Xiang Kai found a glove for her and originally intended to do it himself, but Nan Yue refused.
She reached her hand into Jiang Mu's gaping mouth, feeling around for a moment before slowly pulling something out.
By now, almost all the scavengers had arrived, but several of the newbies stood far back, and the others didn't dare crowd too close.
Not everyone enjoyed looking at a companion's corpse.
"Is this... hair?"
Zhu Xi Ning had recovered today. She stood beside Nan Yue, carefully examining the object Nan Yue had pulled from Jiang Mu's mouth.
"Yes."
Nan Yue used the glove to wrap around the hair. "There's a lot more. I can feel it. His throat is completely stuffed with it."
"Ugh!"
Zhao Zhenzhen covered her mouth and rushed out.
Zhu Xi Ning's expression was also a bit pale as she made a dark joke.
"Haha, I hope his stomach isn't full of hair too."
Nan Yue glanced at the bloated corpse. "It's very likely."
Zhu Xi Ning couldn't bring herself to laugh anymore.
"Move the body away immediately!"
Director Wu's voice was sharp, and Nan Yue could even hear it trembling.
"You few, come with me."
Engineer Yang pushed through the crowd and pointed at several men, signaling them to carry the corpse.
Liu Kai was nearly scared out of his wits and didn't dare step forward. In the end, it was Gu Xiang Kai, Xu Yuan, and Gu Yun who carried Jiang Mu's body away.
"Who was Jiang Mu's roommate?"
"I was."
Jiang Xi Cheng's grim expression wasn't because Jiang Mu was dead, but because he hadn't noticed anything at all.
Jiang Xi Cheng, Jiang Mu, Gu Yun, and Liu Kai were in one dormitory. Because there was one extra girl, they had asked Director Wu if it was okay to move an extra bed in, freeing up a room.
Though it was a bit crowded for four men, they weren't there to enjoy themselves and hadn't complained.
However, Jiang Xi Cheng truly had no idea what had happened to Jiang Mu.
"He seemed to get up in the middle of the night."
Liu Kai had stopped shaking by now and shuffled over to say a few words.
Although Liu Kai looked sturdy, he was very timid. He had been tossing and turning last night, unable to sleep.
He had probably been lying in bed for over three hours before finally drifting into a light sleep.
Then, he felt Jiang Mu, who was sleeping next to him, get up. At the time, he thought Jiang Mu was going to the restroom. He had wanted to ask what he was doing, but he was afraid Jiang Mu would ask him to go along.
He didn't dare go to the restroom in the middle of the night.
So, he had remained silent.
"But he came back later."
Liu Kai scratched his head. "I heard him come back and lie down next to me. He seemed to be in a bad mood, muttering something."
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