Forbidden Land – CH 078

T/N: There is no Chapter 77

That evening, Chen Rong accompanied Zhang Chao to the study room on the fifth floor of Building A East 1 to study. After all, the spring semester exams were in a few days, and they needed to prepare a little.

After they finished studying, it was nearly 10 PM. Leaving the classroom and going downstairs to the second floor, Zhang Chao led Chen Rong out of the stairwell to the second-floor terrace, pointing and saying, “This is where the girl in black walked last night, all the way to East 4.”

Chen Rong looked at the several-hundred-meter-long, dark corridor ahead and smiled. “Come to think of it, that girl really is a bit strange.”

Just then, in the distance, they saw a figure walking by.

They hadn’t seen it when they were talking because the figure had moved into the shadows of the terrace, but now that it was passing through an area illuminated by the streetlights, it had become visible.

Zhang Chao watched in surprise as the figure disappeared into the darkness again, exclaiming urgently, “Did you see that?!”

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Chen Rong looked puzzled. “It seems…it seems someone walked by.”

Zhang Chao said, “Do you think it could be the same person from yesterday?”

Chen Rong shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe they finished studying and just took a stroll.”

Zhang Chao said, “Walking all the way here for a stroll? They must be crazy!”

Chen Rong hesitated. “With so many students, it’s normal for some to be a little strange. Let’s go back; it’s getting late.”

Zhang Chao gritted his teeth, seemingly after a mental struggle, and said, “How about…we go check it out?”

“Huh?” Chen Rong clearly didn’t want to go. “No need. What if it’s another student? We…we’d just be wasting our time.”

Zhang Chao said, “Let’s go. Let’s just pretend we are taking a stroll.”

“A stroll?” Chen Rong pouted. “Only someone crazy would come here for a stroll.”

But Zhang Chao seemed determined to go, and unable to dissuade him, she could only follow him.

The two ran and walked, but it was pitch black ahead, and they couldn’t see where the figure had gone. They ran all the way but never saw the person again.

They ran to the end of the corridor, but still didn’t see the person.

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and said, “That person walked fast; they should have already gone downstairs. Let’s go down and check. Just get to the road and see if anyone is walking west. If not, we’ll go back, okay?”

Chen Rong nodded helplessly, “Whatever you say.”

Zhang Chao felt a sense of accomplishment at Chen Rong’s obedience. They turned the corner to the stairs, and Zhang Chao cautiously went in first to peek. The girl from yesterday had been hiding in the corner behind him, scaring him half to death.

Thankfully, there was no one on the stairs this time.

Relieved, he and Chen Rong went downstairs and walked south along the road to its end, then turned west. Sure enough, about two or three hundred meters away, a woman in black was walking.

Zhang Chao couldn’t help but point and exclaim, “Look, it’s her again!”

Chen Rong looked at the person. From a distance, she couldn’t see clearly, but she could make out that she was dressed entirely in black, with long, flowing black hair.

Zhang Chao nodded and said, “Let’s follow her and see what she’s up to. Since you saw her too, she’s definitely not a ghost. I’m not afraid of her. I want to find out why she pretended to be a ghost and stood in the corner yesterday, scaring me like that.”

Chen Rong hesitated for a moment, then said, “I think there’s something strange about this.”

Zhang Chao asked, “What’s strange?”

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Chen Rong said, “You’ve never met this girl before. Why did you encounter her after self-study yesterday, and why did you encounter her again today? You finish self-study at different times each day, yet you’ve seen her two days in a row. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence? It’s like…like someone deliberately arranged for you to cross paths with her.”

Zhang Chao said, “I think it’s just a coincidence. If that girl deliberately appeared after my self-study, how would she know I’d be curious about her and follow her?”

Chen Rong frowned slightly. “What if it were someone who knows your personality?”

Zhang Chao was taken aback, thought for a moment, then shook his head decisively, “Impossible. How could anyone know that seeing this girl would necessarily lead them to follow her? Besides, if it was a deliberate attempt to lure me in, then yesterday outside Nanhua Garden, they shouldn’t have scared me away, but instead continued to lure me into Nanhua Garden to plot against me. What do you think?”

Upon hearing this, Chen Rong nodded and said, “What you said does make sense. Okay, let’s go take a look. I’m also quite curious about this girl in black you mentioned.”

With that, the two quickly ran up. Since they were far enough apart, it didn’t matter if their footsteps were loud. Along the way, only one security car passed by; there was no one else in sight.

The security guards, used to the students’ strange behavior at school—some even stayed up all night for activities—naturally wouldn’t notice why they were running.

The two closed the distance to the girl in black to over a hundred meters, then stopped running and pretended to be a couple taking a casual stroll, following behind her.

The girl in black didn’t turn back to look at them, continuing to walk at the same pace. Her large skirt concealed her foot movements, making her appear to float as she moved forward.

Not long after, the girl in black reached the same road as yesterday, but this time, she didn’t make a turn; instead, she continued walking west.

Zhang Chao asked in surprise, “Why didn’t she go to Nanhua Garden?”

Chen Rong thought for a moment and laughed, “I think you’re overthinking it. She’s just an ordinary student. Maybe she’s stressed from studying, and she just takes a walk around after finishing her self-study before going back to her dorm. What’s so strange about that? Her clothes are a bit odd but not outrageous.”

Zhang Chao was about to nod in agreement when he saw the girl in black suddenly cross the street and head towards the School of Medicine.

Both of them were startled.