Forbidden Land – CH 025

Hearing Chen Rong and Lin Yi’ang’s calls, Zhang Chao shouted back, “I’m here!”

Lin Yi’ang’s voice was filled with extreme impatience: “You son of a bitch, get down here right now!”

When Zhang Chao reached the third floor, Lin Yi’ang and Chen Rong also came up. Upon seeing each other, Lin Yi’ang cursed, “What the hell are you doing? Coming here in the middle of the night, are you crazy?!”

Zhang Chao looked at Chen Rong and said, “How did you get here?”

Lin Yi’ang cursed, “I saw you acting like a lunatic, running around in the middle of the night, and I thought you were insane, so I called your counselor.”

Chen Rong smiled, nodded, and said, “I brought you some ‘medicine,’ some calming medicine.”

Zhang Chao took a step back and said, “Medicine? Do you really think I’m crazy?!”

Lin Yi’ang cursed, “If you’re not crazy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? ;

Chen Rong smiled and said, “No, it’s just a calming ‘medicine.’ Don’t think too much about it. Just take the ‘medicine’ and get a good night’s sleep.”

Zhang Chao said, “Didn’t I tell you I came to see Bai Qiu?”

Lin Yi’ang continued to curse, “What Bai Qiu? Bai Qiu is sleeping peacefully in her dorm. What are you doing here!”

“What!” Zhang Chao’s face turned pale instantly. “Bai Qiu is sleeping in her dorm?”

Chen Rong nodded. “When Lin Yi’ang and I came out, we ran into Bai Qiu on the road north of the cafeteria. Bai Qiu said she couldn’t sleep and came out for a walk. We know about her illness, so we didn’t say much. We personally escorted Bai Qiu back to Baisha and saw her enter her dorm before coming here.”

Zhang Chao finally relaxed. It turned out Bai Qiu had gone to the north side of the cafeteria; no wonder he hadn’t seen her.

Chen Rong took out the medicine. It wasn’t packaged, just a small, transparent hospital bag containing dozens of small white pills. She said, “Sedatives. Take one or two when you can’t sleep. It’s up to you, but don’t take more. Take two when you get back. Go to the school clinic tomorrow and get some calming and brain-boosting liquid.”

Zhang Chao gratefully accepted it, his face slightly flushed. He said, “It’s all my fault. I got too excited and made you two get up so late.” He looked at Chen Rong with particular gratitude. He felt no guilt for bothering Lin Yi’ang, but he felt very bad for bothering Chen Rong.

Chen Rong smiled understandingly and said, “Alright, should we go back now?”

Lin Yi’ang rolled his eyes: “Ancestor, now you can get lost!”

Zhang Chao was about to leave but stopped and said to the two, “Wait a minute, I have something to tell you. Just now, I knocked on the door of the room closest to this side on the sixth floor, and I thought I heard a woman singing inside.”

Lin Yi’ang immediately cursed, “Chen Rong, why did you give this kid any tranquilizers? Just give him the strongest psychiatric medication! At worst, send him to the Seventh Hospital tomorrow!”

Chen Rong, however, didn’t react like Lin Yi’ang. Instead, she said, “Did you hear it clearly?”

Zhang Chao said, “I think so.”

Lin Yi’ang’s expression became even more contemptuous. He said, “You’re crazy! Go back now!”

Zhang Chao knew that someone like Lin Yi’ang wouldn’t believe him. What about Chen Rong? Did she believe him, or was she just listening to someone else’s description out of professional ethics as a psychological counselor?

But compared to Lin Yi’ang, Chen Rong seemed more reliable.

Zhang Chao added, “By the way, Chen Rong, did you tell him about the black shoes?”

Lin Yi’ang scoffed, “I already told you, it’s just a pair of worn-out shoes. What’s there to be afraid of? Where is it? Take me to see it!”

Zhang Chao said, “It’s on the fifth and a half floor of the stairs. Wait for me a moment; I need to use the restroom. Just now… hehe, I was a little nervous.”

Lin Yi’ang scoffed disdainfully, while Chen Rong smiled knowingly.

The sixth floor of this Teaching Building was used as a storage room, not for classrooms, so the three rooms were particularly large, but there were no toilets on the sixth floor.

The fifth floor and below were all classrooms, four rooms per floor. Toilets were located next to the south-facing staircase where they were now.

Chen Rong and Lin Yi’ang waited outside. Zhang Chao went into the toilet, pressed the switch on the door, and the lights inside turned on.

Two people were guarding outside, but he wasn’t afraid at all. He walked confidently to the urinals, relaxed, and then washed his hands at the toilet entrance.

The washbasin was on the right side of the entrance, like the other toilets, with a sink and a mirror on the wall, although the mirror here seemed a bit small.

In the east wing’s Teaching Building, there were two or three faucets, each topped with a large, connected mirror, easily two square meters in size. Here, however, there were only two faucets, each with a separate, small mirror, only 30 centimeters wide. A slightly overweight person would have to stand quite far away to see their reflection.

Just as he bent down to wash his hands, he felt a blur of light and shadow on the mirror, and someone walked past.

Zhang Chao was startled, then instantly reacted, shouting, “Lin Yi’ang, grab her!”

There was no response. Could it be… Could it be that Lin Yi’ang and the others weren’t outside?

He couldn’t worry about that anymore. Zhang Chao dashed out of the restroom. Outside, Lin Yi’ang and Chen Rong weren’t there.

Zhang Chao quickly went over. Around the corner was the staircase, but it was empty. The corridor was also empty; the figure that had passed by was long gone.

Zhang Chao yelled, “Lin Yi’ang, where are you?”

Lin Yi’ang’s reply came from the stairs: “What’s all the noise about? I’m looking at that worn-out shoe!”

Zhang Chao quickly ran upstairs. Reaching the fifth floor, he saw Lin Yi’ang staring at the worn-out black shoes on the ground, while Chen Rong stood beside him with her hands clasped in a ball, seemingly examining them.

Upon seeing Zhang Chao, Lin Yi’ang asked, “Why did you call me earlier?”

Zhang Chao sighed angrily, “If you hadn’t left, that figure would have been caught long ago!”

Lin Yi’ang looked puzzled. “What figure?”

Zhang Chao then recounted what had happened in the restroom.

Lin Yi’ang’s face was filled with disbelief. “You must have seen wrong.”

Zhang Chao retorted, “What do you mean, wrong? There’s no way I could have seen wrong!”

Chen Rong seemed thoughtful but didn’t offer any opinion.

Lin Yi’ang said, “Alright, let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about the shoes. After careful consideration and deduction, I’m absolutely certain this was a prank. The pair of old Beijing cloth shoes you picked up in the restroom was undoubtedly new. These worn-out cloth shoes—I don’t know where that bastard found them. And what about that knocking on the door and the woman singing? I’ll prove it to you right now; it’s all nonsense.”

With that, he ran up to the sixth floor, stood in front of the iron door, and kicked it several times, laughing loudly, “Go ahead and sing! You fucking sing me a little tune!”

Bang, bang, bang, several times in a row, then silence.

Lin Yi’ang spread his hands and laughed, “See? I told you there was nothing.”