Chi Wang clutched his phone, glancing around with his peripheral vision. A chill ran down his spine as his expression cracked.
The reply looked like a ghost story. It was supposed to be just the two of them having skewers, where the hell did four people come from?
After a few seconds, he realized Su Lian was making things up to help ward off admirers, fabricating non-existent friends out of thin air.
He wanted to ask why, but couldn't open his mouth while wearing this online disguise. Stuck in an awkward position, he had to reply obediently.
[Sweet Taro Bubble Tea]: Okay, I hope you all find happiness tat
After sending the message, he stared at Su Lian still scrolling one-handed on his screen. Feeling guilty, he changed the subject: "Why are you glued to your phone? Don't tell me your ex-girlfriend saw some romantic video and came running back to reconcile?"
With a plop, the skewer fell back into the soup pot, splashing a small puddle of red oil.
Having just helped fend off an admirer, Su Lian awkwardly pulled out a napkin and wiped his hands leisurely: "I'm replying to that account. Weren't you also tapping away all evening? Did some fangirl come to confess to you?"
Chi Wang was caught off guard and momentarily speechless.
Normally, he would have casually placed his screen on the table for all to see. Look, go ahead and look.
But now, hiding behind the Sweet Taro Bubble Tea username, coming clean would mean social suicide for both of them, plus public humiliation.
He quickly logged out of the account, out of sight out of mind.
Then he started spouting nonsense: "I've had plenty of girls confess to me, but bro doesn't care. Women only slow me down when I'm drawing my sword, I mean, making money."
Su Lian took a sip of water, feeling a cool sensation slide down his throat, very refreshing.
After a few seconds, he clicked his tongue softly: "What a rigid straight guy."
"No, but is dating really that enjoyable?" Chi Wang asked slowly, fingers propping up his forehead.
Su Lian froze, giving a vague answer: "It's just okay, not really that interesting."
Holding the cold soda in his palm, a thin layer of mist formed on the outer glass before condensing into droplets, making his hand wet and slippery.
As a water droplet slid down his fingertip, Su Lian stared at the bead, momentarily recalling the first time he met Chi Wang.
That guy had pulled him down from the rooftop. The two young men, neither children nor adults, crouched in the hospital hallway, silently facing each other.
Chi Wang stared at him for a while, then ruffled his own hair somewhat helplessly. It was the young man's first time encountering such a situation - outwardly calm but inwardly flustered. After pondering for a while, he got up and bought an orange-flavored soda from the vending machine, pushing it directly into his hand.
It was very cold, carrying the low temperature from the refrigerator, and just like now, it made his palm damp.
"Drink something sweet, it'll make you feel better," Chi Wang had comforted him then.
Under his watchful gaze, Su Lian tilted his head back and gulped down half the bottle. It might have had too much artificial sweetener - it was sickeningly sweet.
He couldn't remember the brand of soda anymore, only that the guy had stood in front of him, leaning down slightly to ruffle his hair: "Don't do anything stupid in the future. If you really have no one to look after you, Big Bro Chi will take care of you."
"Don't say things like that, it's lame."
"Really, Big Bro Chi means what he says."
Not even knowing each other's full names, just a brief encounter, and this person had made such a promise. It was hard to say who was more foolish.
Su Lian let out a derisive laugh, coming back to his senses to find his palm completely wet.
Seeing him lost in thought, Chi Wang recalled their conversation in the cafeteria last time and slowly replied: "Yeah, I guess your ex didn't give you a great experience, so you didn't get to enjoy the happiness of being in love."
"He... was actually quite good, except for breaking promises," Su Lian released the glass bottle and wiped the moisture from his hands. "I'm full, let's head back."
Chi Wang nodded and got up to pay. After a messy calculation, he also compensated for the broken chair - several hundred yuan, an absolute waste of money.
The two walked side by side towards the school, their shadows stretching long under the streetlights.
Thinking of the unfinished topic from earlier, Chi Wang added: "I'm not badmouthing anyone, but breaking promises is not okay. I'm different - my personal motto is that Lord Wang always keeps his word, never goes back on what he says."
Always keeps his word? Su Lian zoned out.
At this moment, their paths overlapped, which felt quite magical. Though they were completely different people, some things seemed to be innately carved into their bones, unchanged even a little bit.
Perhaps after some more time, the current Chi Wang would slowly revert to the version he liked.
Thinking of this, he felt a bit more hopeful about the future.
"Alright, stop looking so gloomy. Who needs a damn relationship when you've got bros?" Chi Wang reached over and hooked an arm around Su Lian's shoulders, saying casually: "Next time I'll take you to another barbecue place, absolutely delicious."
Su Lian replied dryly: "Your life seems quite rich and colorful."
Chi Wang shamelessly boasted: "Of course, everyone knows I'm the nightlife prince of Third High School."
"Idiot," Su Lian cursed softly, laughing lightly.
The two snuck in through the back gate of Third High School. There was a long, steep slope between them and the dormitory. Having just run 3000 meters and gotten into a fight, climbing it would be torturous.
After walking a short distance, Chi Wang tilted his head towards Su Lian: "I know a shortcut, let's go that way. I'm dying here."
Following his gaze, Su Lian looked towards the gloomy staircase, feeling a bit uneasy. Then looking at the long uphill slope ahead, he finally compromised and followed Chi Wang into the tree-shaded path to the side.
This area saw less foot traffic, so there were no lights installed. The path ahead was very dim, each step forward a blind guess.
The two climbed the stairs with messy, uneven steps. To the side, the lotus pond's leaves had mostly withered, the bare stalks swaying in the wind. The further they went, the more eerie it felt.
Su Lian was a person who respected nature, believing in science, mysticism, gods and ghosts alike. Usually, he would schedule surgeries during the day and avoid night shifts if possible, mainly because he had an inexplicable fear of unclear beings from the netherworld.
But as a cool guy, showing it would make him look like a coward, so he just silently clenched his fists.
Chi Wang suddenly blurted out: "Did you hear something?"
Su Lian's scalp tingled as his back tensed up: "Didn't hear anything."
"Sounds like crying," Chi Wang whispered close to his ear, his breath entering Su Lian's ear and amplifying the eerie atmosphere. "Have you heard the ghost stories about our school?"
Su Lian felt a chill run through his fingertips, his heart racing: "No, and I don't want to hear them."
As they spoke, faint sounds emerged from the trees, rising and falling, mixing with the swaying treetops. Each sound more spine-chilling than the last.
Chi Wang listened intently for a while, then let out a breath and patted Su Lian's back reassuringly: "It's probably just cats meowing. Third High School has great landscaping, so there are lots of stray cats."
"How much further is this path? Wasn't it supposed to be a shortcut?" Su Lian turned his head to look at him, somewhat exasperated. "We might as well have climbed that slope."
Chi Wang: "Almost there, almost there."
Su Lian: "You said the same thing five minutes ago."
Chi Wang said confidently: "Right away, immediately, three minutes tops."
After fumbling in the dark for a while longer, the study rooms in the nearby teaching buildings had also fallen into darkness. The entire school was shrouded in impenetrable blackness, looking unsettlingly creepy.
A phone dinged, and Chi Wang pulled out his device to check the notification: "Shit, the school's having a power outage. No wonder it's so dark."
Su Lian urged: "Stop dawdling, let's hurry."
The phone's flashlight cast a stark white glow in the night, illuminating a small circle around them. Chi Wang glanced sideways, seeing half of Su Lian's face obscured in shadow, making the other half appear ghastly pale in contrast.
You're afraid of ghosts? He didn't dare ask directly, fearing it might hurt the other's pride.
Instead, he reached out and put an arm around Su Lian's shoulders, making up an excuse: "I have night blindness, can't see the path clearly. Help me out a bit."
"So high-maintenance," Su Lian grabbed his other wrist, twisting like a pretzel as the two advanced forward in an extremely contorted posture.
Halfway there, a dark shadow appeared in front of them, swaying back and forth, indistinct and blurry.
Both of them stopped in their tracks, holding their breath.
I forgot to check my horoscope today, Su Lian cursed inwardly. He should have been in bed by 11 PM, then he wouldn't have to deal with all this trouble in the middle of the night.
Chi Wang turned his head and said in a low voice: "How about I go check it out first?"
"Together," Su Lian gripped his fingers tighter, back ramrod straight as he feigned calmness.
The twisted duo inched forward a couple steps. Chi Wang lifted his chin and shouted towards the shadow: "Hey! Who's there?"
Hearing the noise, the dark shape ahead quickly split into two halves, huddling to the left and right, silently motionless.
Chi Wang turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it forward, illuminating a couple standing frozen in place. Both parties stared at each other awkwardly, the girl's face turning as red as a tomato.
Su Lian: "..."
"Sorry about that, brothers. Carry on." Chi Wang laughed awkwardly, waving his hand as he quickly pulled Su Lian away.
Exiting the small path, the two finally made their way back to the dormitory, slowly climbing the stairs to the fourth floor. Thinking about the startling encounter just now, Chi Wang couldn't help but laugh.
Su Lian, who had broken out in a cold sweat from the fright, finally caught his breath and laughed along, "Fuck, that was some creepy hookup."
"The couples at our school are really something else. I bow to their skills," Chi Wang chuckled as he pushed open the door to room 404. "Goodnight, see you tomorrow."
Su Lian walked to the opposite door, his hand on the doorknob. He turned back to look at Chi Wang once more, "I just remembered tomorrow's the weekend. You're not going home?"
"Don't feel like it. I'll stay here," Chi Wang answered lazily through the door crack.
Su Lian made a sound of acknowledgment, "Then I'll wake you up at seven for tutoring."
Chi Wang's smile instantly vanished, his shoulders sagging in resignation, "Teacher Su, you really don't need to be so dedicated to your job."
"It's settled then." Before Chi Wang could protest, Su Lian pulled the door shut, leaving him outside.
As soon as he entered the room, the other occupants reacted like mice spotting a cat. They all quickly jumped into their beds, pulling their blankets over their heads as if they'd seen a ghost.
"It's me," Su Lian casually announced as he walked to the bedside to grab his pajamas.
Hearing his voice, Gu Anjiu poked his head out from under the covers, letting out a long sigh of relief. "Fuck, I thought... never mind. You startled me."
"I'm going to the bathroom," Lin Yan smoothly slid down from the upper bunk, brushing past Su Lian without a greeting and heading straight for the toilet.
Gu Anjiu called out, "Didn't you just go a minute ago?"
Lin Yan retorted, "I need to go again, alright?"
Due to the power outage, the room was lit by several candles. Su Lian picked up his toothbrush cup and cast a suspicious glance at his roommates in the flickering light.
One moment they were acting tough outside, the next they were cowering in fear.
Another suddenly developed frequent and urgent urination.
Something felt off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Qui-qui-quick..." Song Jiaci leaned over the edge of his bed, frantically waving at Su Lian. He was so anxious that his next words got stuck in his throat.
His entire face looked as if someone was forcefully gripping his neck, his complexion appearing an unnaturally rosy hue in the eerie candlelight.
Su Lian lowered his gaze and slowly brushed his teeth. "Alright, I'll get in bed soon. What's gotten into you all today?"
Gu Anjiu hesitated before speaking, "It's nothing special... just brush your teeth..."
Finding their behavior odd, Su Lian finished his nightly routine. He glanced at the time - exactly midnight - and decided to do his usual divination.
As he casually moved to place his toothbrush in the cup...
A mysterious force suddenly bumped him from behind, causing his elbow to jerk upward and altering the intended trajectory.
With a clatter, the toothbrush fell into the cup, pointing steadily at seven o'clock.
Dead center in the third quadrant - a great misfortune that hadn't appeared in a long time.
Su Lian's brow twitched, and he whirled around just in time to see Lin Yan emerging from the bathroom with a bewildered expression.
"Sorry for bumping into you. It's too dark, I couldn't see clearly," Lin Yan apologized in a low voice. The usually composed young man scrambled up to his bed as if being chased by ghosts.
Su Lian shook his head, "It's fine."
He tentatively reached out his hand, considering whether to divine again.
But... what if this collision was the will of heaven?
What if it was the Goddess of Mercy, the Jade Emperor, Buddha, the Supreme Lord Lao, Jesus, Jehovah, and all manner of unnamed deities specifically using this coincidence to warn him:
Tonight - great misfortune, inauspicious omens.
For a moment, his finger hovered in midair, caught in indecision.
Su Lian splashed some cold water on his face and fell into deep thought.
As a staunch materialist doctor and an exemplary youth guided by socialist core values, Su Lian decided...
To change into his pajamas at top speed, close the door leading to the balcony, and quickly burrow under his covers.
Feet: fully inside.
Sides: completely wrapped.
Shoulders: successfully entering the blanket's sphere of influence.
With the eerie cat cries from the tree-lined path flashing through his mind, Su Lian stared at the yellow-tinged ceiling and discreetly let out a sigh of relief.
As long as he stayed put in the dorm for a day, nothing would happen.
"Lian bro, run..." Song Jiaci finally managed to complete his sentence, causing Su Lian's heart, which had just settled, to leap once more.
Su Lian, who had just positioned his limbs comfortably, asked, "What do you mean?"
"They're, they're saying..." Song Jiaci stuttered.
"Gossip," Lin Yan smoothly interjected, sighing resignedly.
"..." Su Lian stared at his three roommates wrapped up like mummies, utterly baffled. "You're all acting like cowards over some gossip?"
Gu Anjiu cleared his throat softly, "Dark night, power outage in the dorm, perfect atmosphere, so we were discussing the gossip about room 303."
Su Lian pulled the blanket over his head, "You guys are really bored."
"It's just that the gossip about 303 is rather spooky, so they're a bit creeped out," Gu Anjiu, unable to keep secrets, lowered his voice and said, "Do you want to hear it?"
The word "creepy" registered in Su Lian's ears, causing his heart to sink. He pressed his lips together in silence.
"Since Lian bro wants to hear it, I'll start then," Gu Anjiu answered his own question. "You guys who just heard it, don't interrupt."
Su Lian: "?"
Which ear of yours heard me say I wanted to listen?
Lin Yan silently put on his headphones, while Song Jiaci retreated under the covers, leaving only his dark eyes visible. Only Gu Anjiu smacked his lips, adopting an extremely eerie tone to create a tense atmosphere.
"You should know that at our Third High School, dorm rooms have always been in short supply. Every year, countless students are forced to commute because there aren't enough rooms. And those who violate dorm rules are all kicked out, never allowed to return."
"It doesn't matter if your family is rich or your dad is some big official. Principal Song is extremely impartial; he doesn't care who you are."
"There was this son of the Fog City police chief who was punished with commuting after repeatedly breaking school rules. The chief personally came to see the principal, hoping he'd do him a favor. But guess what happened?"
Su Lian, feeling drowsy, responded, "If you tell me he was directly put under disciplinary review, that would be ridiculous."
"The man knelt down right there," Gu Anjiu became more animated as he spoke, as if he wished he had a judge's gavel to slam down. "Principal Song was his former teacher. As soon as the police chief entered the room, he was recognized. What use was that? The principal casually told him to stand outside the door, and that chief ended up standing there for over two hours."
The build-up was too long, and Su Lian yawned, "Are you trying to say the people in room 303 downstairs were punished with commuting?"
Lin Yan: "If only the story was that simple..."
Song Jiaci: "It, it would be better..."
Su Lian wondered when these two had started eavesdropping. A sense of foreboding welled up in him, and he wanted to interrupt.
But Gu Anjiu's mouth was faster than his brain, quickly continuing, "Lian bro, you've never been to 303. What I'm trying to say is, despite how tight dorm space is at our school, 303 is actually empty."
"Not only that, but the door of 303 is completely covered with newspapers, and they even deliberately built out a section of the wall in front of the door, as if to block something."
"Guess... why, in a school like ours where dorm rooms are so scarce, there's an entire room that no one lives in?"
Sensing the increasingly supernatural direction of the story, Su Lian could guess the continuation with his toes, "Because someone died there?"
"You're only half right," Gu Anjiu hesitated before continuing, "In a room of four people, three died, and the remaining one... went insane."
All ghost stories start this way, Su Lian thought, closing his eyes and beginning to recite a heart-purifying mantra in his mind.
"According to their senior classmates, those guys were playing with a Ouija board in the dorm and things went wrong. Think about it, what kind of place is Third High? Back before the liberation, it was a mass grave, a pit of ten thousand corpses. The number of vengeful spirits here is unparalleled in the entire main urban area of Fog City. The probability of encountering an evil spirit, well, it's about the same as Lord Wang failing Chinese class."
"Of the three who died..."
"One was firmly nailed to the underside of the upper bunk bed..."
Su Lian silently turned from lying on his back to his side.
"Another was cut into more than a dozen pieces of flesh, mixed with cement and embedded in various positions in the dorm walls..."
Su Lian buried his head in the blanket, bringing the back of his head facing the wall completely under the blanket's protection.
"The last one..."
"It's said that the lower half of his body was stuck in the original position of the electric fan..."
Su Lian opened his eyes and glanced at the electric fan in the center of the dorm room. The power, which had been out for a while, suddenly came back on. The dorm lights brightened, and the fan began to rotate slowly.
"Creeak... creeak..." The ceiling fan swiveled intermittently, as if surveying the occupants of the room, emitting an eerie laugh.
Suddenly, Su Lian's eyelid twitched, and his back tensed.
The lower half was stuck in the ceiling, but the upper half...
"As for the upper half of the body, it hasn't been found to this day..." Gu Anjiu's ghostly voice drifted over from the adjacent bed, plunging the entire dorm room into an uncanny silence.
In the late summer of September, the clamor of insects and birds abruptly ceased. The weather, which should have been sweltering, now felt chilly as if a cold wind was blowing across their backs.
303... 403... It sounded quite sequential.
Su Lian's mind stuttered for a moment before reconnecting. The dorm room he was lying in right now was directly above 303.
"Story's over, time to sleep," Gu Anjiu said, feeling relieved. He cast a fawning glance at Su Lian. "Lian bro, could you turn off the light?"
Su Lian raised his hand and threw a notebook at the switch. The dorm lights went out, plunging the room into darkness.
These guys had pretty strong nerves. One moment they were scared to death, the next they were all fast asleep. The overlapping sounds of sleep-talking and snoring began, as the dorm room symphony orchestra officially commenced.
Thinking about the mutilated upper half of the body, Su Lian wiped his face. What sin had he committed to deserve this tonight?
First, he was led down a ghostly path by Chi Wang, then he got an ominous fortune from a divination, and now he was unsettled by Gu Anjiu's dorm room ghost story. It was never-ending.
Actually, he hadn't been this afraid of ghosts before. As a medical student, he had seen all sorts of strange things - blood and gore, the living and the dead.
Once, these two brothers had brought back a top-tier horror movie. They closed the curtains and insisted on a group test of courage.
Su Lian had joined with a cold attitude, thinking it was all just carbon compounds. He sat on the sofa, observing dispassionately.
Then, as the eerie background music startled everyone, slowly but surely, he found himself reaching for Chi Wang's hand to cover his eyes.
Through the thin gaps between his fingers, he saw a long-haired woman in a red dress crawl out of the hospital morgue. That scene became a psychological trauma. Ever since then, every time he passed by a hospital morgue, his scalp would tingle.
Chi Wang, on the other hand, was quite brave.
Su Lian, lying in the strange dorm room 403 above 303, couldn't sleep. He turned to look at his phone - it was already 12:43 AM.
After some thought, he decided to go chat with Chi Wang, the nocturnal creature, and stay over for the night. After all, Chi Wang had plenty of beds.
Grabbing his pillow, Su Lian quietly got out of bed, silently left 403, and walked to the room across the hall.
He knocked three times and waited a while before the door slowly opened.
Chi Wang had a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers. He was shirtless, with loose sweatpants hanging low on his hips, clearly showing his abdominal muscles and V-line.
He leaned against the doorframe, looking at the cool guy with a pillow and an expressionless face. He raised an eyebrow slightly: "What's up?"
Su Lian nodded slowly, his face impassive: "The dorm's too noisy, can't sleep. Figured you'd be awake, came to sit for a while."
Chi Wang lowered his eyes and chuckled softly: "Aren't you health-conscious? Just sitting for a while but bringing a pillow? Planning to chat with me until dawn?"
Su Lian: "...Forget it, never mind."
"Hey, I'm just joking." Seeing that Su Lian seemed distracted and hadn't even reacted to his smoking, Chi Wang guessed he must have been shocked by something.
He reached out to grab Su Lian's wrist and pulled him inside, kicking the door shut behind them.
Su Lian hugged his pillow and sat down on the small sofa, not saying a word.
It wasn't so much looking for someone to chat with as it was coming to claim a life.
Chi Wang bent down to extinguish his cigarette and walked a couple of steps towards the bathroom. He then turned back and asked, "The power was out earlier, did you take a shower?"
"No," Su Lian replied, his legs slightly bent as he half-reclined in the chair, looking dazed as if he had blacked out.
Chi Wang stood at the bathroom door, casually untying the drawstring of his sweatpants. He began to pull them down quite naturally, his long, straight legs suddenly coming into view.
The ghost story about room 303 was instantly forgotten. Su Lian blinked slowly, his gaze focusing on the familiar small mole below Chi Wang's abdomen.
His throat went dry as many fragments of old, sensuous dreams flashed before his eyes.
Chi Wang tossed his pants aside and carelessly glanced back at Su Lian. His gaze seemed to carry heat, instantly making the air feel scorching.
"Well then, want to shower with me?"