Forbidden Land – CH 009

As soon as Zhang Chao saw Bai Qiu, he said, “Why are you waiting for me again? I called Xiao Zhu at noon today, and she said you weren’t here.”

Bai Qiu said, “Don’t call Xiao Zhu anymore.”

Zhang Chao seemed a little surprised: “What happened? Aren’t you and Xiao Zhu good friends?”

Bai Qiu said, “Don’t worry about what girls do.”

Zhang Chao said, “Did you two have a fight?”

Bai Qiu frowned in displeasure: “I don’t want to talk about it, so don’t make me.”

Zhang Chao smiled. He understood that conflicts were common in university dormitories, as girls were often petty and concerned about their image. They could easily quarrel over trivial matters. He could only comfort her: “Okay, I won’t ask anymore. It’s best if you two make up; after all, you’ve always been good friends.”

At this moment, Bai Qiu’s eyes reddened, and she seemed about to cry.

Zhang Chao quickly said, “Okay, okay, I won’t say anything more, alright? You can handle your own problems. By the way, you lost your phone; when are we going to buy a new one?”

Bai Qiu said calmly, “We’ll see.”

Zhang Chao said, “Okay, okay, I’ll pay for it, alright?” Zhang Chao’s family was in business, and they were more financially comfortable than most of their classmates.

Bai Qiu rolled her eyes at him: “Who asked you to buy it? I said we’ll see, so we’ll see!”

“Oh.” Zhang Chao clicked his tongue helplessly and said, “So, I can only call your dorm to find you from now on?”

Bai Qiu was slightly annoyed: “Don’t call. I said I’ll contact you soon; can’t you just listen to me?”

Zhang Chao was always afraid of her getting angry or crying, so he quickly coaxed her, “Okay, okay, I’ll do whatever you say.”

Bai Qiu smiled through her tears and said, “Why are you so late? I heard from Lin Yi’ang that you went to the School of Medicine’s Teaching Building and called him for help. What happened?”

Zhang Chao thought to himself that he couldn’t tell Bai Qiu about the woman in ancient costume. How could a girl like her not be afraid of that? He quickly said, “It’s nothing; I just played a joke on him and tricked him into coming, haha.”

But Bai Qiu didn’t smile at all. She just said seriously, “From now on, don’t go to the School of Medicine anymore.”

Zhang Chao asked, “Why?”

Bai Qiu just said with a stern face, “Everyone says it’s really bad there. Anyway, I told you not to go anymore; will you listen to me?”

Zhang Chao quickly coaxed, “I will.”

Bai Qiu nodded with satisfaction. “It’s getting late; I’m going back. You should go back too.”

Zhang Chao smiled. “Okay, you go in first; I’ll watch you from outside, then I’ll go back.”

Bai Qiu looked somewhat helpless. “I didn’t bring my access card.”

Zhang Chao sighed, both annoyed and amused. This silly girl had made another silly mistake. He could only wait with her. After a few minutes, the other girls entered the dormitory building, opened the access card, and Bai Qiu followed them in. Zhang Chao returned to his dorm room. The lights were off, except for the bathroom, which had power. Using the bathroom light, Zhang Chao looked around. Li Weihao’s bedding and belongings were all gone; his family had packed them up and taken them. The floor was spotless; the dorm cleaning lady must have cleaned it afterward.

Looking at the empty dorm room, Zhang Chao suddenly felt a pang of loneliness.

Finally, he reluctantly climbed into bed, pulled the covers over himself, and went to sleep. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but in his hazy, half-asleep state, he seemed to hear a faint hissing sound, like a pen scratching paper. Zhang Chao mumbled, “Who is it? What are you doing? It’s so late; can’t a person get some sleep?”

A voice replied, “Don’t go to the School of Medicine anymore.”

“Who’s there?” Zhang Chao jerked over. The dorm room was empty.

That voice… that voice was definitely Li Weihao’s. There was no way he could have been mistaken!

Where was he? Empty, utterly silent. He turned on his phone; the faint glow circled the room, but there was no one there, and the voice didn’t return.

Li Weihao?

Silent fear filled the entire dormitory room, a strange eeriness and terror enveloping him.

He knew that a shout would wake everyone in the neighboring rooms, but he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t just a matter of public decency; he knew no one would believe Li Weihao’s voice had returned. Science students were rational; they wouldn’t believe such a thing and would surely consider him mentally ill.

He sat on the edge of his bed, phone lit, wide awake, his mind perfectly clear, cautiously observing everything in the dormitory. Although he was somewhat afraid, this fear wasn’t like the one he felt on the sixth floor tonight. This was, after all, a dorm with lots of people. Even if there were some monsters or ghosts, a shout would wake everyone up—what was there to be afraid of! He didn’t believe in those ghost stories where one could open their mouth, but no sound came out.

Reality was reality, and no external force or so-called illusion could change it.

He sat on the edge of the bed for about ten minutes. Nothing else seemed unusual in the dormitory. He vaguely heard someone snoring next door. Normally, loud snoring would make him curse, but now, this snoring sounded quite pleasant. After all, it was a very real sound, pulling him back from panic to reality.

Then, drowsiness began to creep in again. He turned off his phone, lay down, and closed his eyes. But after only a few minutes, suddenly, a “tap-tap, tap-tap” sound rang out. He wasn’t asleep; upon hearing the sound, he immediately sat up.

Clearly, the sound was coming from the direction of the toilet, like something was knocking on the ventilation window above it.

Their dormitory was on the first floor of Baisha. The layout was very simple: the living quarters were right inside, and the furthest point from the door was the washbasin and the toilet. The toilet door was connected to the washbasin. Both the toilet and the washbasin had windows, outside which stretched a lawn and bushes. The toilet was tiny, only about two square meters, with a small, 20-centimeter square window on the top of the wall facing outwards, used for ventilation.

At that moment, a soft “tap-tap, tap-tap” sound came from that small ventilation window in the toilet.

Zhang Chao heard it clearly and listened carefully for more than ten seconds; the sound was still there. Unable to resist, Zhang Chao asked, “Who’s there? What are you doing?”

Then, the sound suddenly stopped.

Zhang Chao sat on the edge of the bed, thought cautiously for a moment, climbed down from the upper bunk bed, and walked towards the toilet.

To get to the toilet, he had to pass the washbasin, which had a large mirror. Zhang Chao carefully walked forward, and just as he reached the mirror, he was startled. Looking again, he saw himself in the mirror—he was speechless. Slightly relieved, he turned on the toilet light and stepped inside.

Once inside, he found nothing unusual. Looking at the small window again, it seemed like something was hanging outside. Zhang Chao opened the window and reached in to take a look. “Damn,” he thought, “it’s a tiny coffin, no bigger than a palm!”

He opened the lid, but there was nothing inside.

“What kind of beast would play such a joke!”

Zhang Chao was furious. He ran to the washbasin, flung open the glass, and looked outside. Outside was a vast expanse of grass and bushes, dark and dense, covering about half an acre. The bushes and grass were a meter or two tall. Although their dormitory was on the first floor, the foundation was high, and the window was a good two and a half meters above the grass. With so many bushes and grass, anyone hiding inside couldn’t be seen.

“This little coffin is definitely made by a person. No ghost would make something like this.”

Zhang Chao was extremely angry. Maybe the person hadn’t run away and was hiding in the grass. “Hmph, I’ll find them and beat them half to death!”

Zhang Chao climbed onto the windowsill, and despite the two and a half meters of height, he steeled himself and jumped. Luckily, there was grass below, so he wasn’t hurt. He looked around, but there was no one hiding in the grass. After searching several times, he still couldn’t find anyone, so he had no choice but to go back to his dorm and go back to sleep.