Forbidden Land – CH 074

The girl in black stood motionless in the dark corner, staring at him expressionlessly until Zhang Chao uttered the trembling name “Bai Qiu.” At that moment, she seemed to snap out of her daze, her breath causing her hair to sway slightly.

So she wasn’t dead!

She glanced at Zhang Chao, then coldly walked out of the corner and headed downstairs.

“Bai Qiu! Where are you going? Are you still alive?” Seeing she was alive, Zhang Chao suppressed his fear and couldn’t help but call out.

The girl in black stopped, slowly turned her head, glanced at him indifferently, then turned away again, quickening her pace and walking down the stairs.

Zhang Chao was panting heavily; he was clearly terrified.

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Standing in the corner, completely black, looking like a dead person, staring at him, sent chills down his spine. Her face was unusually pale, and she looked remarkably like Bai Qiu.

Who could this be? Why was she so strange? Was she a human or a ghost? Was she really Bai Qiu?

But after Zhang Chao calmed down and thought about it carefully, he realized she probably was not. Her hair was much longer than Bai Qiu’s, her nose was larger, her lips were slightly fuller, and the distance between her eyes was wider.

However, in that situation, at first glance, she really did look like Bai Qiu, which was why Zhang Chao had mistaken her for her.

He had never heard Bai Qiu mention having any sisters before. Was this person related to Bai Qiu at all?

Zhang Chao took a dozen seconds to calm his breathing, then decided to follow her to see where she was going.

He quickly ran downstairs and saw that the girl was about fifty or sixty meters away from him, walking briskly south along the road.

Why was she walking south? Going back to the dormitory should be north; if she weren’t from Zhejiang University, she couldn’t leave the campus by walking south.

After a moment’s thought, Zhang Chao secretly slipped into the shadows of a building and quietly followed her.

The girl in black walked quickly, like a wisp of smoke, gradually widening the distance between herself and Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao eventually had to jog to catch up.

The girl in black reached the southernmost end of the road and turned west.

West? Was she going to the School of Medicine, or would she turn back to her dormitory later?

Unsure, he could only continue following.

After walking for five or six minutes, the girl approached the westernmost end of the road. Instead of turning towards the School of Medicine, she turned in the opposite direction.

Zhang Chao, who had been following her for about two hundred meters, saw that she was now out of sight and quickly ran to the spot where she had turned.

His gaze fell on the road she had turned into. It was a small road leading north, leading to the Teaching Buildings on the west campus, and from there, he could also return to his dormitory.

Had the girl in black gone back to the dormitory area?

At that moment, his gaze fell upon a dark figure about a hundred meters away, who turned a corner and gracefully walked westward.

She was going to Nanhua Garden!

Zhang Chao felt a surge of curiosity. Nanhua Garden was a small garden carved out of the school’s marshy fields. It contained two ancient buildings in the Ming Dynasty style, standing in the marshland, surrounded by water on all sides. Access was via a wooden walkway over the water. The two buildings reportedly housed some paintings, sculptures, and a few cultural relics for visitors.

Although Nanhua Garden could be considered a historical site, with its antique charm, some students who preferred quiet would sit by the water with a book during the day. However, at that time, Nanhua Garden was newly built, and at night it was completely dark, without any lights. Standing in the middle of a marshy field overgrown with dense reeds, even walking past felt chilling. Who would go there in the middle of the night?

If the School of Medicine buildings were eerie, at least they had moonlight and distant streetlights.

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But Nanhua Garden, surrounded by lush reeds and standing in the middle of the water, was completely dark, with no light from the streetlights or the night’s lights penetrating.

The girl in black went into Nanhua Garden?

Was she crazy?

Zhang Chao had been to Nanhua Garden once during the day, but his memory of it wasn’t very clear. However, the thought of going into those Ming Dynasty buildings standing in the middle of the water at midnight sent chills down his spine.

Besides, he’d heard online that a child in red often jumped rope in Nanhua Garden at night, scaring many people. He didn’t know if it was true. Anyway, back then at Zhejiang University, no one would go into Nanhua Garden at this hour.

Should he follow her in and take a look?

Zhang Chao was struggling with this decision intensely, but finally decided to go check it out.

He cautiously approached Nanhua Garden, reached the wooden plank walkway, and peered inside. It was pitch black; he couldn’t see anything.

Should he still go in?

Zhang Chao slowly walked in, his heart pounding.

Suddenly, a “plop” sounded, like a stone falling into water, followed by a woman’s strange scream.

Zhang Chao yelled, turned, and ran. He ran over a hundred meters before stopping, panting heavily.

“Forget it, I didn’t even bring a flashlight. I’d better not go look.”

“Could this person have some kind of relationship with Bai Qiu?”

After thinking about it for a moment, curiosity killed the cat. Oh well, never mind. In the end, he turned and headed back to his dormitory.

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