Forbidden Land – CH 086

Zhang Chao had just gotten on his bicycle when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw a long string of strange numbers—not a mobile number.

“Probably another scam call,” he thought.

He answered, only to hear a long series of buzzing sounds. After a while, still no one spoke. Zhang Chao couldn’t help but yell into the phone, “Who is it?!”

The buzzing sound continued.

Zhang Chao cursed, “Get to the point, or I’m hanging up.”

“Hehehehe…” A chilling male voice laughed.

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Zhang Chao was startled, finding the caller strange. “Who are you? What do you want?!” he said.

A pale male voice slowly said from the other end, “The secret of the School of Medicine, don’t you want to know? Hehehehe…”

Zhang Chao angrily shouted, “Who are you?”

The male voice replied in the same rhythm, “Bai Qiu, Li Weihao, did they really ‘commit suicide’? Hahahaha…” Then he hung up.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chao was filled with fear and immediately dialed back, only to hear a disconnected number.

Who was this man? How did he know about the School of Medicine?

And what secrets lay behind Bai Qiu and Li Weihao’s deaths?

Now everything seemed even more of a mess.

Zhang Chao pondered carefully. It seemed he should go back and check what kind of number this was.

He quickly rode his bike back to his dorm. Standing in front of Room 123, Zhang Chao suddenly had an indescribable feeling.

What feeling?

In short, a feeling of oppression and unhappiness.

He took out his keys, hesitated for a moment, opened the door, turned on the light, and glanced around the room.

Something seemed off.

A few seconds later, it dawned on him—where was the black cat?

The window was left open, not closed. Had the black cat gone out to relieve itself?

Zhang Chao walked towards the window, but as he approached the toilet door, he smelled a metallic odor.

Rust? He sniffed again. No, it wasn’t rust; it was the smell of blood!

He leaped into the toilet, but the sight inside horrified him so much he froze, his body going limp.

Hanging from the small toilet window, bolted shut, was the black cat.

The cat’s head was pierced through the bolt, its entire skin still attached. The flesh beneath had been brutally ripped off, its remains missing, and blood flowed down the wall to the floor below.

“Ugh—” he gasped, feeling sweat clinging to his back. He clenched his fists, growling in a mixture of shock and rage, “Who! Which beast did this! A beast, a beast!” His body trembled violently.

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After a few minutes, he turned and ran out, calling Lin Yi’ang.

At first, seeing his strange appearance, Lin Yi’ang yelled, “Why did you drag me here? Are you having another episode?” But when he got to the restroom and saw this scene, he shut up, his heart pounding. After a long pause, he finally said, “This…this thing, who…who did this?”

Zhang Chao shook his head, let out a deep breath, and said, “I don’t know. I received a phone call earlier, and I think it might have been done by the person on the other end.”

Lin Yi’ang asked, “What call?”

Zhang Chao took out his phone and showed him the number, saying, “It’s a disconnected number. It’s probably a call made by some kind of software.”

Then, he quickly turned on his computer and searched online, discovering that the call was made using a VoIP service like Skype. Once made, the return call naturally resulted in a disconnected number. Moreover, many people used these kinds of calls specifically to make harassing or threatening calls, making it impossible to trace the source.

Lin Yi’ang said, “Let’s call the police! This isn’t a small matter.”

Zhang Chao said, “It’s useless. It’s a big deal for me, but to the police, it’s just a dead cat, like a neighborhood dispute. At most, they’ll register the case, but they won’t investigate further. Even if they did, the source of these internet calls is just the IP address. If it’s a virtual IP, what good is that?”

Lin Yi’ang said, “Before, when I knocked on your window in the middle of the night, it was as a way to treat you. This time, this kind of thing seems very strange.”

Zhang Chao said, “To tell you the truth, Chen Rong and I both received a package a few days ago. Inside were urns containing ashes, and the name Li Jiaming was written on them. I suspect that today’s incident is related to that Li Jiaming.”

Lin Yi’ang exclaimed in surprise, “Urns? Who is Li Jiaming?”

Zhang Chao said, “A Singaporean exchange student, who pursued Chen Rong unsuccessfully in the past, later ‘committed suicide.’ But several years have passed, and this name has suddenly resurfaced. Sigh… I feel things are getting increasingly chaotic.”

Lin Yi’ang pondered for a moment, then said, “The strange things you encountered at the School of Medicine and the recent events—could they all be related to this Li Jiaming?”

Zhang Chao said, “But he’s definitely dead. Unless some of his friends are avenging him. But his ‘committing suicide’ after failing to win Chen Rong’s heart isn’t Chen Rong’s fault. This kind of revenge is a bit…”

Lin Yi’ang said, “Southeast Asians are very strange. Be careful. Today, they actually killed your cat and hung it in your dorm. To put it bluntly, you and Chen Rong need to be more vigilant lately.”

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Zhang Chao said, “What do you mean?”

Lin Yi’ang said, “If necessary, I suggest you two get the hell out of here.”

Zhang Chao said, “You mean we should leave the school? But I think the school is always the safest place, right? With so many security guards, who would dare cause trouble on campus?”

Lin Yi’ang said, “I can’t say for sure. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare cause trouble at the school, but it’s hard to say about these Southeast Asians. If you encounter anything strange or suspicious next time, call me right away, and I’ll take care of you.”

Zhang Chao looked at Lin Yi’ang gratefully. “Brother Lin…”

Lin Yi’ang smiled calmly, “If what follows is about feelings, then don’t say it. If it’s about sex, it’s disgusting for a man to talk about it, haha.”