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墨書 Inktalez
Ding Li had recently become paranoid.
Whether in the dormitory or the dining hall, alone, with one person, or even in a group, she felt an unmistakable chill watching her from behind, a lingering cold gaze that followed her since Men'er Gou had appeared. The icy sensation creeping up her back made her shiver uncontrollably.
The Ghost Festival had just passed, and there should still be a brief warm spell in October, yet she had already started wearing thick sweaters and occasionally wrapped a scarf around her neck. Walking alone on the street, she glanced left and right, looking around anxiously, unsure if she was imagining things or if there truly were faint footsteps echoing behind her.
Rustle~ rustle!
She felt an urgent need to see Ye Chenfeng. But he was indifferent to her, treating her with a coldness that left Ding Li heartbroken. Thoughts of her parents and peers her age flooded her mind, and she found a secluded spot to cry quietly.
Leaves began to fall with the wind, blanketing the ground. There was a little-known place at the Vocational University. It was tranquil there; she didn't know if it was left by a Senior Sister or an upperclassman, but a swing hung there as if no one had played on it for ages, covered in speckles of dust.
The speckles were deep brown, resembling mold.
Ding Li's purpose for coming here was to think quietly and reminisce about the moments she shared with Ye Chenfeng in this serene environment.
She didn’t sit on the swing but instead perched herself on an artificial rock opposite it, which was covered in cedar leaves. Facing the artificial rock, beside the swing, stood a Ginkgo Tree.
The Ginkgo Tree was a rare sight; as autumn arrived, its leaves turned a beautiful ginger yellow that adorned the tree splendidly.
At this moment, the Ginkgo Tree had not yet begun shedding its leaves; that season would come later in deep autumn when October transitioned into November. So Ding Li sat on the rock, resting her chin on her hand as she admired the Ginkgo Tree while memories of her time with Ye Chenfeng played like a movie in her mind.
There was no wind at this time; even if leaves fell, it was simply their season to do so.
Out of the corner of Ding Li's eye, she noticed the swing moving up and down. If she hadn’t looked closely, she might have thought it was just the wind. The breeze swayed the swing gently at first, but then it began to move more vigorously, giving her the unsettling impression that someone was sitting on it.
The swing flew up and then fell down rhythmically. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. Suddenly standing up in terror, she stared wide-eyed at the swinging seat before bolting away.
Ding Li ran frantically; plants along the roadside seemed to retreat as she dashed past. "Xiao Xiao..." She suddenly froze—who had just laughed? Her hair stood on end as panic gripped her; turning around cautiously revealed nothing but plants and some dusty flowers abandoned here to fend for themselves.
Looking at those flowers reminded Ding Li of her own fate, plunging her into deep despair.
Hopefully, I’m just daydreaming; there couldn’t have been any laughter—I'm all alone here! Ding Li reassured herself, patting her chest in an attempt to ease the psychological pressure caused by fear and anxiety.
As she approached the entrance to this place, she overheard someone discussing it.
"That backyard is haunted. I can't remember the last time I came here," said Girl A.
The two speakers were female classmates.
Girl B seemed somewhat skeptical and replied in a surprised tone, "Is that true?"
A affirmed, "Of course it's true. There was once a couple who made it a point to meet here every day after class. They were deeply in love; a day apart felt like three seasons. When they met, they had endless topics to discuss and would secretly share intimate moments here."
B said enviously, "That sounds wonderful!"
A responded, "Wonderful? Not for long. Later, a beautiful transfer student came to our school. This couple should have been unaffected, but unfortunately, the guy ended up betraying his girlfriend and started dating the new girl, announcing just days later that he had a new girlfriend. Even so, the Ex-Girlfriend remained loyal, coming to this backyard alone every day to swing."
B was speechless for a moment before sighing, "Sigh! Men are ultimately unreliable. Poor Ex-Girlfriend."
A continued, "But that's not the end of it. Actually, after that day, the Ex-Girlfriend stopped attending classes. People saw her entering and leaving this backyard countless times and quietly followed her, hoping to comfort her. But then..."
Ding Li felt anxious upon hearing this and wanted to know what happened to the lovesick Ex-Girlfriend. She quickened her pace to eavesdrop on the conclusion of their story without being noticed.
B's feelings mirrored Ding Li's; after a few seconds of silence, she grew impatient and asked, "What happened in the end?"
A seemed to be teasing them; after hesitating for a moment, she said, "Someone saw her but it wasn't really her. The figure looked aged and was wrapped in a checkered scarf covering her hair and face. However, she sat on the swing in exactly the same posture as the Ex-Girlfriend."
B thought there was nothing strange about that; perhaps the Ex-Girlfriend had quietly left school for another place.
But A insisted, "That's not it. Just after the Ex-Girlfriend disappeared, that guy had an accident—he jumped from the highest point of the teaching building. It was gruesome; he died on the spot with blood everywhere."
B fell silent as if stunned.
A added, "The Ex-Girlfriend also died. But she looked terrifying—she appeared old and emaciated. In just half a month, she seemed to age from twenty to eighty years old. There were no injuries on her body, yet she looked like nothing but skin and bones."
"Don't say that, it's so scary," Yi said with a sigh.
"But it feels like everything about her has been stolen by something, or maybe exchanged for her boyfriend's life," Jia continued, still caught up in the story.
"Ah... stop it," Yi said, running away.
"What are you afraid of? Hahaha, I'm just teasing you, silly," Jia laughed as she chased after her.
As the sound of their footsteps faded away, Ding Li stepped out from her hiding place. The two girls had already disappeared from sight, having run off quickly.
Ding Li had something on her mind and didn't want to verify the truth of what she had just heard. However, she felt that this incident was somewhat similar to what had happened to her parents. She was eager to know whom her mother had met during that time and what she had done.
But the person was already gone, and thinking about it was pointless.
Ding Li hurried toward the dormitory, passing an old woman hunched over and walking slowly in front of her. The woman wore black clothes, and a hat covered her head and face completely. Her gait was strange; she kept her head down, staring intently at the ground as if searching for something.
Everyone in this school felt unfamiliar to Ding Li.
She felt a sense of being teased and a deep sense of abandonment. The phone case in her hand felt hot, and she was reluctant to dial that familiar set of Arabic numbers again.
As Ding Li walked past the old woman, she ignored her presence and continued on her way.
But the old woman called out behind her, "Young lady, you've dropped something." The woman's voice was hoarse, sounding like a broken wind instrument. If it weren't broad daylight but rather dusk or nighttime, it would have sent chills down anyone's spine.
Ding Li didn't think she had dropped anything. Why would the old woman say that? As she turned around, she felt a fleeting chill of scrutiny—an all-too-familiar gaze. But it felt like an illusion; perhaps she was just being overly sensitive.
The old woman continued to stare at the ground, yet Ding Li felt as though she were being watched.
Beneath that large hat brim was a pale face. The woman's sleeves were long; Ding Li noticed her hand moving. Suddenly—her fingers emerged from the sleeve, and Ding Li's eyes widened in terror as she saw that the woman's hand resembled a skeletal claw.
Ding Li screamed in fright, "A ghost!" Then she mustered all her strength and ran away. Her scream faded into the vast campus, unheard by anyone else; it felt as if she were the only person there.
The teaching building was lifeless, filled with an eerie atmosphere. She gasped for breath, her mind blank, feeling as if the old woman behind her was chasing her at a terrifying speed.
She dared not look back, fearing she would see a dark figure rapidly closing in.
The Girls' Dormitory appeared before her, and she stumbled inside, running without stopping. Even though the frantic pace caused a dull pain in her chest and pressure in her lungs, she couldn't bring herself to stop until she burst into her dorm room and slammed the door shut, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
Strangely, there was no one in the dorm room.
Moreover, she was shocked to find it filthy. The floor was littered with scraps of paper, cobwebs hung from the iron bunk beds, and a pile of tattered cotton on the bed emitted a foul odor.
Where was this place? Ding Li trembled all over, retreating in terror, wondering if she had taken a wrong turn. Had she ended up at the university's Abandoned Girls' Dormitory? When she first arrived at Vocational University, she had heard about an Abandoned Girls' Dormitory that was uninhabitable due to its dangerous condition, awaiting funding for demolition and reconstruction.
Ding Li racked her brain, recalling that she hadn't gone the wrong way while fleeing. How could she have ended up here? She paced around the dorm room and inadvertently caught sight of a Broken Mirror hanging by the window. In the mirror, her pale face and trembling body looked mysterious as she glanced around anxiously.
Just then, there came a knock at the door.
The sudden sound startled Ding Li so much that her heart raced to her throat. She cautiously approached the door, wanting to see who was knocking outside—could it be an Old Witch dressed in black with her face completely covered?
At the same time, she hoped that the knocking would cease quickly.
There was a crack in the broken door just wide enough for Ding Li to crouch down and peek through. She saw a shadowy figure, thin like a dried-up twig—so frightened that she forgot to scream. She turned back to look inside the room; there was nothing to defend herself with.
The knocking continued.
Ding Li was terrified beyond measure; she covered her ears to block out the sound.
Finally, she spotted a knife on the bed—a rusty blade that seemed to have been carelessly left behind by someone who had used it to peel apples. It was long and could also be used to pry open fruit can lids.
Ding Li gripped the handle tightly, her knuckles turning white.
She shook uncontrollably like chaff in the wind before walking to the door. Suddenly, she flung it open and began wildly hacking at the Old Witch dressed in black who had been pursuing her. The Old Witch crumbled like a dry branch under the blows, yet her eyes blinked within the tattered black fabric.
Ding Li's eyes widened in shock, and she crouched on the ground, letting out a hoarse scream.
Ye Chenfeng was reading when he received a call from Vocational University, informing him that something had happened to Ding Li.
He hurried to the school and found Ding Li locked in an empty room. The teacher who greeted him recounted the events that had unfolded an hour earlier.
A classmate had seen Ding Li looking gloomy as she headed to the school's backyard, where she sat alone on a rock, lost in thought. When another classmate called out to her, she ignored them, prompting the classmate to leave. They then noticed her acting strangely, sneaking toward the backyard exit and inexplicably pressing herself against the wall to listen.
It seemed like she was trying to hear someone speaking.
However, aside from her classmates, there was no one else around.
The classmates were frightened and quickly went to find a teacher.
Someone later saw Ding Li walking down the path, constantly looking back. Eventually, she became frantic and ran wildly through the campus. She burst into the Girls' Dormitory, where her roommates greeted her, but she ignored them completely, moving restlessly around the room as if possessed.
Then she stood by the door, gripping a small knife used by her classmates for gardening. In a fit of rage, she slashed a new black dress belonging to one of her classmates into strips and, still unsatisfied, picked up the knife again to cut up some fabric scraps.
Ye Chenfeng watched Ding Li with a heavy heart. He hadn't realized that by being preoccupied with investigating matters at Four Hospitals and neglecting her, he had allowed her to spiral into this state.
After being examined by doctors at the hospital, it was confirmed that Ding Li was suffering from severe depression.
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