Jiang Chen spent over an hour reading. The file came from a criminal profiling expert who had drawn extensively on school records and the few fragmentary words an Unusual Person had sent back before dying.
Three taboos to observe after entering Sunward Middle School were highlighted.
1. Do not mention a certain name.
2. Do not go to the top floor of any building.
3. Do not violate any school or class rule.
As for what that name was, the file did not say.
When that Unusual Person had entered Sunward Middle School, all they had seen on the desks were heaps of the word "death." The one or two books they had flipped through contained only a vague outline of a schoolgirl.
Stranger still, the same name had been erased from all the school's paper and online records.
Some school administrators vaguely recalled that there had indeed been such a girl. Her parents had died in a car crash, none of her relatives could be reached, and even their home had been rented.
A girl who had only just started high school had been left utterly helpless.
After discussing it, the school had decided to fund the rest of her education and give her special permission to stay in the dormitory over summer and winter breaks.
Yet no matter how hard the administrators and teachers tried, none of them could remember the girl's name!
Everyone only vaguely remembered that the series of strange incidents at Sunward Middle School seemed to have begun with that girl's death. As for how she had died, not a single person could say.
But an expert was an expert. Even with such vague information, the profiler had still offered a plausible theory.
-the girl had been forced to the edge of a balcony by a group of people over some incident. Someone had secretly reached out and pushed her off the building to her death.
As for why those people had done it, the circumstances were more complicated.
After her parents died, the girl's personality had grown very strange. She often muttered things that made people's skin crawl, about how the dead would wake again and how death was only a new beginning.
Her roommates had begun rejecting her more and more, isolating her. That had only been the beginning.
Eventually, all the girls in her class had begun ostracizing her. Someone had given her the nickname Madwoman and carved her name, along with the word "madwoman," in various places around campus.
As a result, almost everyone in the school had known that Senior Year Class Four had a madwoman named XX.
One evening, the girl had sneaked out alone to burn joss paper beside a flower bed. It was the anniversary of her parents' deaths.
A security guard on night patrol had caught her and taken her to the disciplinary office. Although the dean of discipline had pitied her circumstances, his principles were ironclad. He had still publicly reprimanded her and put a major demerit on her record.
Perhaps by coincidence, on the very evening the girl had been publicly reprimanded, a popular girl in her class had developed acute appendicitis and been taken to the hospital.
Everyone knew that sudden illnesses like that were beyond anyone's control and perfectly normal.
But a group of students had thought otherwise. Someone had started claiming that XX had secretly put a curse on the other girl to harm her. She was always muttering weird things, so she must have known some tricks for hurting people.
That had set off a storm. Eventually, a group of students had taken XX up to a balcony, perhaps intending to scare her into revealing the supposed truth.
In the end, whether by accident or on purpose, someone had pushed XX off, causing the tragedy.
After finishing the file, Jiang Chen felt deep admiration for the profiling expert. In his view, the theory's logic and grasp of children's mindsets were both spot-on.
This story was probably very close to the truth!
"And there's something else here that gets more horrifying the longer you think about it. Why did someone immediately assume XX had harmed that popular girl as soon as she fell ill?"
"Does that mean the girl with appendicitis had already done something to XX? Maybe she was the one who first called XX a madwoman, and the one who led the others in carving XX's name all over campus?"
Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes as he speculated. He had never shied away from assuming the worst of human nature, especially after witnessing one Paranormal Incident after another.
The evil of ghosts often originated in humans. So which was truly more evil-humans or ghosts?
Besides the information about the school's most terrifying ghost, the file contained other material, but Jiang Chen did not read it closely. It was too long, and he would struggle to remember everything even if he finished it. Better to remember a few key points.
He had no classes the next day, so he slept until noon, then ate and rested.
A little after eight that evening, Chen Xue arrived amid the roar of a sports car. Jiang Chen went downstairs and got in.
Sunward Middle School was in southern Jiangbei City, where the old and new commercial districts met. Towering buildings stood everywhere, and at night the area glittered with neon and buzzed with voices.
The school itself was not in the busy downtown area, however. Otherwise, no matter how short-staffed they were, this mission could never have been left unresolved until now.
After driving some distance toward the sparsely populated outskirts, the 911 stopped outside an old park. Construction tape had been strung up to keep people out. An elderly security guard with a sharp gaze hurried over, flashlight in hand.
"No entry! Construction work-it's dangerous!" he barked at them.
"Hello. We're here on a mission." Chen Xue opened the Underworld App and showed him the screen.
The old guard's gaze sharpened further. He took out a device and scanned Chen Xue's phone. After checking the result, he straightened his back and gave them a crisp military salute.
"Thank you both for your hard work!"
"Thank you for yours, too, sir. You don't have to be so tense. There's a chair over there if you want to sit and rest," Chen Xue replied.
The old guard nodded, then continued pacing with his flashlight, scanning his surroundings warily.
It was a soldier's habit. When on sentry duty, he had to remain standing regardless of how urgent or important the assignment was. That was how he stayed as alert as possible.
The two of them crossed the park, surrounded by deathly silence.
Once past the park, they followed a river for another hundred meters or so, and a school appeared before them.
Its buildings had white walls and red roofs and still looked new. Sunward Middle School had only been established a little over a decade ago, but repeated strange incidents had forced it to close.
When Jiang Chen and Chen Xue arrived, several figures were already waiting outside the school gates.
"Heh, we're late." Chen Xue walked over.
"We only just got here, too," someone replied with a nod.
Most of the others merely turned to look them over without speaking.
"Young Master Qin isn't here yet, either."
Silence settled over the group. This was their first time working together, and everyone was a little wary of everyone else.
After a short wait, several more people arrived one after another.
Qin Ze was among them. He was still dressed casually and seemed relaxed. As soon as he arrived, he began introducing everyone.
"These two are my cousins, Qin Hai and Qin Feiyang. Their strength ratings are D+ and D, respectively." He pointed to a powerfully built young man and another young man carrying two short daggers.
Everyone's eyes lit up.
Another D+ would undoubtedly improve their chances of completing the mission considerably.
"This is Liu Kai..."
Qin Ze continued making introductions one by one.
Whenever he reached someone he did not know, he gave them a smiling look, his meaning obvious.
Jiang Chen nodded. "Jiang Chen. D-rank strength."
After the introductions, he had a rough idea of the team's composition.
There were the three Qin cousins, as well as Liu Kai and two other middle-aged people. Their strength was not particularly high: only Liu Kai was D+, while the other two were D.
But all three exuded a fierce air. They had clearly survived piles of corpses, and the danger such people posed could not be judged by strength alone.
Then there were Jiang Chen and Chen Xue.
"We're still waiting for a beauty from the Yang Family. Please give her a little longer. We agreed on eight thirty, so perhaps she prefers to arrive right on time," Qin Ze said with a smile. His light, easy tone put everyone at ease. Someone like him seemed capable of getting along with anyone.
But Jiang Chen noticed that Liu Kai and another middle-aged woman both looked up at Qin Ze, their gazes somewhat meaningful.
During the introductions, Qin Ze had said he had found those three on the Underworld App's discussion forum and did not know them well himself.
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