The scream sounded neither close nor far away, just loud enough to hear clearly without hurting their ears. It rang out abruptly and echoed down the corridor, taking two seconds to begin fading.
Li Xian walked slowly toward the door and cautiously poked his head outside.
As it happened, there was a full moon that night, without a single dark cloud in the sky. Cool, pale moonlight spilled unobstructed through the windows into the corridor, taking on a faint blue tint against the floor and lending a little visibility to the pitch-black space.
Li Xian soon spotted a moving figure several meters down the corridor. He could only make out the rough outline of a man, who seemed to be holding something. A clump of shadow lay at his feet...
Li Xian narrowed his eyes. That looked like... a person lying down?
Had that scream come from him?
The slowly moving silhouette seemed oblivious to Li Xian's gaze. His steps maintained their steady rhythm, and a few seconds later he disappeared around the corner, leaving only the body sprawled on the floor.
Li Xian beckoned to Teacher Shang and Xu Loubai, signaling for them to follow. The three quietly left the dorm room. Li Xian first checked next door, where the door stood wide open, bearing obvious signs of impact. Two corpses lay in front of it with their eyes wide open: the boy who had demanded the recording from Li Xian, and his roommate.
Teacher Shang lost his composure and staggered back two steps, nearly tripping over his own feet.
After confirming that both were dead, Li Xian turned and walked toward the figure lying farther down the corridor.
Once they were close enough, the three could make out his condition.
He was also a student from Class 32.