Departure

"I've already had someone bring your roommate over. I'll leave once they arrive."

When Yang Jian returned to his dormitory, he found that it had been cleaned up and many suspicious items had been removed, especially books and illustrations.

Although some things are missing, it doesn't affect anything.

"Do we really have to leave? It's already quite late," Miao Xiaoshan said.

"Um."

Yang Jian didn't say much, only responding with a slightly silent "We've come this far, and many things are no longer up to us. You've seen what happened before."

Miao Xiaoshan also fell silent.

The atmosphere in the quiet dormitory seemed somewhat heavy, completely devoid of the joy of a long-awaited reunion or a narrow escape from death.

The tranquility was broken by Yang Jian's phone.

At that moment, his GPS-enabled phone made a sound.

Yang Jian thought for a moment, then decided to answer the phone, perhaps because it contained information about the ghost painting.

"Yang Jian, it's me," Liu Xiaoyu's voice came through.

"I know, just say what you want to say quickly. I just finished something and I'm in a bad mood," Yang Jian said immediately.

Liu Xiaoyu replied, "It's good that you're alright. Here's what happened: Headquarters just sent out a notice asking you to attend a meeting at 8 a. m. tomorrow. You know the location. The topic should be the Ghost Painting Incident that has happened in recent days. The Deputy Minister thinks it's necessary to discuss this matter."

"Can I not participate?" Yang Jian, "I don't have as much time as you guys to spend all day in meetings."

"Well... you should still make the trip. I don't think this is as simple as it seems, otherwise we wouldn't have notified everyone this time," Liu Xiaoyu said hesitantly.

Yang Jian frowned. "Okay. Let's leave it at that for now."

"Okay." Liu Xiaoyu immediately disconnected the call.

"Is there something you need again?" Miao Xiaoshan couldn't help but ask as Yang Jian put down the phone.

Yang Jian, "It's nothing, the company just had a meeting and asked me to come. You know how tough it is to work these days. The pay isn't much, but the demands on employees are huge. It's either overtime, business trips, or meetings. They're not as enthusiastic about giving out benefits. So you should study hard and not drop out like me. There's no future in that."

In short, working for someone else is a dead end.

"You're talking nonsense again. It's not that exaggerated," Miao Xiaoshan said, giving him a strange look.

"But they're not that different," Yang Jian said casually.

After chatting for a while, two staff members brought over two female students. One was Liu Zi, who had run away earlier, and the other was Sun Yujia, who had been taken in by Yang Jian after jumping off the building.

As for Zhang Xia and Wang Yue from the dormitory, they have disappeared and probably will never appear in this world again.

"Mr. Yang, the person has been delivered," a staff member said.

Yang Jian, "Alright, you can go back now."

The two staff members nodded and then left, leaving Liu Zi and Sun Yujia behind.

Yang Jian glanced at her. Although the matter was over, the girl Sun Yujia was clearly in a bad mood. Her eyes still revealed fear, and her whole body was trembling slightly. Her eyes kept looking left and right, as if she suspected that there might be ghosts around her.

This is a typical aftereffect of a paranormal event.

Everyone's psychological resilience is different, and the degree of stimulation they experience varies. Yang Jian was already used to it.

Liu Zi, on the other hand, was much calmer. Because she had run out of the dormitory early, she escaped unscathed and was lucky enough not to be involved in the Ghost Painting Incident or see any ghosts. However, her eyes still held a hint of fear.

It was out of fear of Yang Jian.

"Don't be nervous. This dormitory building is currently the safest place on campus. There won't be any more ghosts. You can stay here without worry."

Yang Jian casually offered a word of comfort, then said, "As for why I brought you here, it was entirely because of Miao Xiaoshan."

"She's a bit timid, so your role is to stay and keep her company, understand?"

"Of course, if you have any brains, you should understand that staying by Miao Xiaoshan's side right now is the safest thing to do. If something happens to her, I will show up, and you will all benefit and survive, provided you're not as stupid as before and still think I'm telling ghost stories. If something happens to others, to put it bluntly, it's none of my business. If they die, they die."

After Yang Jian finished speaking, he ignored her, stood up, glanced at Miao Xiaoshan, and said, "I'm leaving. Call me if anything happens, but I hope you try not to call me, because you won't always be so lucky. Sometimes I can't make it in time if something happens. Also, keep the things I gave you safe; they could save your life in a pinch."

After saying that, he strode away without waiting for Miao Xiaoshan to speak.

"Wait a minute, Yang Jian."

Miao Xiaoshan seemed to have something to say, and hurriedly chased after him out of the dormitory.

But the outside was deserted, with only the corridor lights flickering faintly, their light seemingly turning a bright red at some point.

"Did you leave in such a hurry?" Miao Xiaoshan, slightly disappointed.

"He's gone?" Liu Zi, standing to the side, looked at the empty corridor outside with a hint of fear.

This kind of illogical and bizarre disappearance is terrifying no matter how many times you see it.

Is this Yang Jian even human?

Miao Xiaoshan, however, had already accepted Yang Jian's situation. She said, "He's gone, and he's still the same as before."

"Miao Xiaoshan, who exactly is this high school classmate of yours?" Liu Zi felt a strange fear of Yang Jian, but she still couldn't help but ask.

"I'm not lying to you, he really is my high school classmate," Miao Xiaoshan said.

Liu Zi then asked, "So how many high school classmates do you actually have? You can't have them all like this, can you?"

Miao Xiaoshan returned to the bedside and began tidying the blankets. "I only had six high school classmates, now there are five. Except for Yang Jian, the others are just ordinary people like us. As for Yang Jian, he is the most special and also the most unlucky. He didn't want to be like this, but he had no choice at that time."

"What? You only have five high school classmates? That means besides Yang Jian who just left, you only have four left? No way, what kind of high school did you go to? There can't be that few students in your class." Liu Zi was a little surprised.

Miao Xiaoshan paused for a moment. She had never told her college classmates about her past experiences, keeping them buried in her heart, but today there was probably no need to hide them anymore.

After a moment of silence, she said with a touch of sadness, "They're all dead, all of them are dead. Overnight, an entire school was reduced to just a few of us."

Dead? They're all dead?

Upon hearing this, Liu Zi felt a chill run down her spine, a feeling she couldn't quite describe.

"Is it haunted too?" she asked tentatively.

"Mm," Miao Xiaoshan responded.

Good heavens, it really is true.

At this moment, Liu Zi felt like the world had gone mad. She really didn't expect that her quiet roommate had experienced such a terrible thing so early on.

If I had heard this before today, I would never have believed it.

But after today, she believed it.

"You've seen that thing too?" Sun Yujia asked with a hint of fear.

Miao Xiaoshan nodded. "I've seen it before, but it should be different from this time. It was an old man covered in lividity who just appeared at the classroom door for no reason. Our class was having evening self-study that day."

"Stop talking!" Liu Zi quickly covered her mouth, pleading, "I've had enough of this today, I don't want to go crazy."

Sun Yujia's face turned pale.

Because the ghost she saw today was different from the ghost Miao Xiaoshan saw.

This means she is very clear about it.

There is more than one ghost.

My experience is not unique; there are many similar cases in this world.

"Okay, I won't say anymore."

Miao Xiaoshan broke free from her hand and said, "Yang Jian is right. It's better if you're kept in the dark and know nothing. Otherwise, you'll go crazy from scaring yourselves all the time."

Although she is rather quiet, her mental resilience is clearly much stronger than that of others.

Students who were too scared to move during the Knocking Ghost Incident have already been eliminated.

The seven survivors had all undergone a certain period of growth and transformation.