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墨書 Inktalez
Ye Chenfeng was worried that the light was too dim to see clearly, so he grabbed a flashlight and made sure the door was locked before returning to block the only exit beneath the bed. This way, even if someone were hiding under there, they wouldn't be able to escape.
In fact, the width of a single bed wasn't very large; with just a slight movement of the flashlight, he could see everything clearly. It was just precautionary, after all. He lacked confidence and didn't know where the old lady had come from. If she really was some kind of ghost or monster, then it wouldn't be something an ordinary person could handle.
As Ye Chenfeng crouched down and swept the flashlight across the jumble of shoes scattered about, all he saw was a thick layer of dust.
There was no one under the bed.
This was a school single dormitory, so it wasn't like Grandma's House where there might be some hidden hole or something.
No one was there, and the door was securely closed. So what about the marks around his neck?
Ye Chenfeng found it utterly baffling. He couldn't make sense of it, so he decided to scan under the bed again with the flashlight. This time, he examined every inch carefully; he could even see any bugs crawling on the floor clearly enough to catch one and study what type of creature it belonged to.
The beam of light finally settled on a single shoe. All the other shoes were in pairs, but this one was alone and remarkably clean, with not a speck of dust on it. Seeing this shoe made Ye Chenfeng shudder.
Wasn't this the shoe that the old lady had stolen and then discarded?
Had the shoe been returned by the old lady? Or had it walked back on its own!!!
It walked back on its own? Ye Chenfeng was startled by his own thought, and an image flashed in his mind of the shoe emerging from the darkness when no one was around, making its way to his dorm room and hiding under the bed.
Why would it want to hide?
His head throbbed.
Ye Chenfeng decided not to dwell on the shoe any longer. He grabbed it and threw it out of the room as far as he could. In a trash bin nearby, everything would be cleared away by the janitor before dawn; even the bin itself would be cleaned thoroughly.
Throwing away that shoe felt as easy as shedding a heavy burden.
Now it was deep into the night, and the campus paths had taken on an eerie quality—dark and foreboding, with not a soul in sight. The sky was overcast and cold; he hugged his arms tightly and tucked his chin in as he hurried back.
When he reached the dormitory door, he froze. The door was ajar, gaping open into darkness.
Ye Chenfeng furrowed his brows, shaking the flashlight as he let out a sigh. Damn it, when did he become so paranoid? This door, painted black, would make anyone think of a coffin even in broad daylight.
He recalled his grandmother's black coffin, which was also coated in black paint.
With a sigh, Ye Chenfeng opened the door and lazily sat down, feeling that something was still off.
He scanned the room, his gaze landing on an old guitar case, and he jumped up as if jolted by electricity.
There, neatly placed on top of the old guitar case, was the very shoe he had just thrown away.
Gulping nervously, Ye Chenfeng rubbed his eyes and swallowed hard. He grabbed the shoe and examined it closely. It was indeed the same shoe he had discarded; see! The shoe had returned all on its own without anyone around.
The shoe could walk—not on a person's foot but by itself.
Ye Chenfeng felt a surge of anger.
This had never happened before; it was both absurd and terrifying.
He seized the shoe with determination, contemplating using a knife to destroy it.
Ye Chenfeng had a knife—very sharp.
He rarely took it out. He had found this knife on his first day in the dormitory, its handle adorned with intricate patterns.
He liked this knife not for its handle but for its blade.
The blade gleamed coldly, slightly longer than a dagger but shorter than a watermelon knife. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it; it was delicate and captivating.
Ye Chenfeng used this knife to chop the shoe into several pieces.
Then he took the fragments of the shoe and buried them that very night.
By the time he woke up the next day, he could hardly remember where he had buried them.
When he came down for breakfast, a classmate noticed the bruise on his neck and asked, "What happened to your neck?"
Ye Chenfeng had prepared for this moment the instant he woke up, wrapping a scarf around his neck to hide the mark and avoid any annoying questions.
However, during breakfast, the scarf felt uncomfortable, so he loosened it, wanting to eat without any hindrance.
But with the scarf undone, the bruise was now visible.
"It's nothing, I bumped into something last night," he replied.
The cafeteria was crowded with people, both male and female, some familiar and others strangers. They all seemed to enjoy whispering to each other.
"Isn't he the one who can see ghosts?" they murmured, glancing at him with expressions that made it clear they were discussing him.
"That Single Dormitory is haunted. A long time ago, an old lady committed suicide there. It’s said her son had an accident, and she couldn’t take it anymore, so she used a knife she brought with her to cut her wrist."
"Yeah, I heard that too. There was so much blood; the floor was covered in it."
"Let’s go; he seems to be noticing us."
Ye Chenfeng couldn’t catch their exact words but could tell from their expressions that whatever they were saying about him wasn’t good.
He couldn’t remember when he had lost all his friends. Was it after Ding Li got married or after the incident at Purple City Fourth Hospital? Either way, he was alone now.
Whether strolling along the campus paths or sitting quietly in some secluded spot, he was always by himself.
It was lonely.
Silence wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly had its own set of problems.
Ye Chenfeng's mother discovered the problem; he was unwilling to return home.
He also refused to contact his family.
There were many rumors circulating at school.
One rumor was about a certain student who excelled academically and received the awards they deserved. Another rumor revolved around the story of an old lady.
Recently, Ye Chenfeng had lost many things, such as the Ghost-Collecting Gourd. He couldn't remember where he had put it, and since that last incident, he hadn't found it.
Then there was that book.
The book was titled The Ghost-Quaking Scripture.
Perhaps it was because the book was too old and worn out that when Ye Chenfeng moved from the Boys' Dormitory, he carelessly tossed it into the trash.
That book had now turned into a handful of dirt, black and devoid of any value—less than even dog waste. Dog waste could still be used as organic fertilizer, but a tattered old book was nothing. If you didn't believe it, just bury the book underground and dig it up later; it would undoubtedly be useless.
Without The Ghost-Quaking Scripture, Ye Chenfeng turned to other books. For instance, he read the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Collection and Zhang Zhen Tells Ghost Stories.
He could still feel the cold gaze watching him from all directions and could still see the old lady casually entering and exiting his dorm room. The shoe that had been chopped off by a blade had returned on its own.
If this continued for long, Ye Chenfeng would be finished.
He shut himself off from everything external, unwilling to interact with people, drowning in darkness all day long.
The fact that Ding Li was getting married was something he couldn't accept; it drove him into self-destruction.
Until one day, a person suddenly appeared before Ye Chenfeng.
This person was not just anyone; he was Ye Feng.
Ye Feng was Chen Peiling's boyfriend. When he appeared before Ye Chenfeng, he caught sight of him disposing of his last remaining shoe.
"Where have you been?" Ye Chenfeng remembered Chen Peiling saying that Ye Feng went to do good deeds, to accumulate merit, and seek Reincarnation.
"Look at you, you've changed so much." Ye Feng approached Ye Chenfeng as if he were an old friend, extending his arms in the most affectionate way friends greet each other—with a hug.
Ye Chenfeng felt a chill; Ye Feng was not "human," he carried an aura of the supernatural.
"You still haven't answered my question. Where have you been for so long?" Ye Chenfeng felt that in the entire world, only Ye Feng was his true friend.
Others feared him, kept their distance, isolating him. Only Ye Feng did not. If Chen Peiling were still around, she would treat him like Ye Feng did, visiting him occasionally and showing concern.
"I've been to many places, helping many people."
Ye Feng sat down.
Ye Chenfeng was preparing instant noodles, the fragrant aroma mixed with the scent of beef wafting through the air. "Are you hungry?"
Ye Feng replied, "Hungry, but I can't eat. I can only smell." As he spoke, he inhaled deeply. "Mmm... not bad, spicy beef noodles."
Ye Chenfeng slurped down a bowl of noodles when he noticed the old lady had come in again. She entered silently, picked up a knife, and walked into the bathroom. Soon after, a stream of blood oozed out from under the bathroom door.
Ye Feng seemed oblivious to it and grabbed Ye Chenfeng's arm. "Let's go for a walk."
"She comes every day. At first, she just stole my shoes, but then that shoe appeared every day. Oh, and she called your name."
As Ye Chenfeng spoke, he led Ye Feng into the bathroom.
Inside, the old lady was sitting on the squat toilet, her wrist bleeding from a fresh cut. Blood trickled down like a stream from her wrist to the floor and then flowed outside.
Watching this scene, Ye Chenfeng felt a strange impulse; it was as if he saw the old lady as Ding Li.
Ding Li said, "If I grow old, will you despise me?"
The already deceased old lady straightened up and handed the bloody knife to Ye Chenfeng.
Ye Chenfeng gripped the knife tightly, rolling up his sleeves to reveal his wrists. In his mind, a voice urged him on, whispering, "Go on, accompany her. She's old, and you're still young."
The blood from the knife dripped onto the ground, each drop echoing in Ye Chenfeng's heart.
He recalled the recent events vividly; a phone call from home had ignited his fury. "I'm not your pet! Don't push me..."
"Ye Chenfeng, you need to wake up," Ye Feng said as he grabbed him and pulled him out of the dormitory.
It was raining outside.
Ye Chenfeng's mother had rushed over from home, wanting to see him in person.
The rain wasn't heavy, more like cotton fluff drifting down, soaking their clothes and hair. When Ye Chenfeng spotted his mother, he stood there in a daze, still clutching the sharp knife. It slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a soft clatter.
Ye Chenfeng lunged toward his mother.
"You scared me to death!" she exclaimed.
"Mom, I'm fine..." He turned to look at the elderly woman beside him, who had stealthily taken one of his other shoes.
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