Chapter 530: They “Killed” Jiang Yuzhen

Late at night, College of Liberal Arts experimental building.

In the [Ancient Special Characters Research Laboratory], a desk lamp was still on.

The faint light was not enough to dispel the darkness shrouding the laboratory, only illuminating the desk in the southeast corner.

A man with a gloomy demeanor, hunched back and caved chest, was bent over the desk. The glow from the computer screen cast his face in a ghastly, bluish-white pallor.

Jin Yecheng, after typing a period at the end of the document, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen: 23:47.

His advisor had warned him many times to leave the school before dark. When speaking, the advisor’s expression was grave, his gaze evasive, voice deliberately lowered, with an inexplicable heaviness in his tone.

As if he was afraid of something.

Although he noticed the advisor’s odd behavior when saying those words, Jin Yecheng still stayed alone in the laboratory until this hour.

He stared unblinkingly, his eyes bloodshot and ringed with heavy dark circles. In the depths of those tired eyes, there was a hint of desperate anticipation.

As if nervously and eagerly awaiting the arrival of some presence.

Time ticked by, second after second. Jin Yecheng stared at the lower right corner of the screen for a full three minutes.

When the numbers in the lower right corner changed to 23:50, he shut down the computer. By the dim light of the desk lamp, he bent down and rummaged under the gap between the desk and the floor, pulling out a package.

It was a black plastic bag, contents unknown, square-shaped, simply wrapped with tape and sealed.

Stuffing the package into his shoulder bag, Jin Yecheng got up and left the laboratory.

It was already very late. In the entire College of Liberal Arts experimental building, apart from the old men in the security room who were dead drunk and sleeping with their heads covered, only he remained.

The air on this late spring, early summer night was already somewhat stifling, making people restless and irritable.

The empty experimental building was eerily quiet. In the dark corners beyond sight, the sound of dripping water echoed intermittently like a hallucination.

“Tick… tick…”

At some point, the wind had picked up outside the window, making the window frames rattle and emit soft noises.

“Bang bang… bang bang…”

It sounded as if countless invisible little hands were gently patting the windows.

On both sides of the corridor, the eyes of the famous portraits on the walls became sinister in the darkness, silently watching everything.

Jin Yecheng clutched his shoulder bag tightly to his chest and walked quickly from the laboratory toward the stairwell, his footsteps echoing and echoing down the corridor.

“Pa—-!”

Something suddenly fell to the ground without warning, making a crisp sound. The voice-activated light at the end of the corridor suddenly lit up.

The light, like a giant hand, reached out swiftly and grabbed Jin Yecheng.

His body stiffened abruptly, he stopped in his tracks, slowly turned around, and stared at the end of the corridor illuminated by the ghastly white light, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

His heart pounded wildly, his contracted pupils trembled slightly in their sockets, as he stared at the lit area in panic and anticipation, as if confronting some invisible, sinister presence.

After waiting a moment, the voice-activated light went out, darkness swallowing the corridor once more. He let out a silent sigh, lightened his steps, and went down the stairs.

Leaving the College of Liberal Arts experimental building, Jin Yecheng crossed the deserted midnight campus, heading straight for the main path of Gate No. 4!

Of course he knew that Professor Ma had repeatedly emphasized he must leave school before dark because of the hauntings on campus.

But he knew even more clearly that Jiang Yuzhen would not let him go, because he was also a “murderer”!

That day when Jiang Yuzhen appeared before him, it was a warning to him…

So, he ignored Professor Ma’s advice, stayed in the campus this late, and then headed alone toward one of the most terrifying haunting sites on campus–the main path of Gate No. 4.

He had no choice but to go!

——–

Two or three years ago, on a rainy night, a girl named Jiang Yuzhen, while attending her boyfriend’s birthday party, got into a quarrel because her boyfriend was acting overly intimate with her best friend at the party. Upset, she left the gathering early.

She walked back to school alone along the main path of Gate No. 4, and by then it was nearly midnight.

The rain was pouring down, drumming against the ground with a relentless patter, mingling with the distant rumble of thunder, swallowing all the subtle sounds, so much so that Jiang Yuzhen didn’t notice danger approaching at all.

Until a soft “whoosh” sounded, something brushed past her. Before she could see what it was, a chill crept up her neck, and a crimson line of blood spread from her throat to the back of her neck.

Her eyes widened as she clutched her neck with both hands, feeling the warm blood gushing out uncontrollably. She let out a piercing scream, and then could make no other sound.

By the time the security guards near the main path of Gate No. 4, along with their colleagues, followed the scream to the spot, they found a headless female corpse lying in a pool of blood.

Legend has it that after her tragic death, the girl became a haunting, wandering near the main path of Gate No. 4. Every night or on rainy days, she would appear on campus, holding a rose-red umbrella, half her body hidden beneath it, drifting like a lonely ghost…

This is roughly how the haunting legend of the headless senior sister is told at Hua City University of Technology.

But regarding the tragedy three years ago, he knew even more.

He was Jiang Yuzhen’s classmate, and that day, he was at the birthday party.

He was also the roommate of Jiang Yuzhen’s boyfriend, and he knew that Hu Chuan had pursued Jiang Yuzhen from the start just to get close to her best friend.

He also knew that on that day, everyone at the party together caused Jiang Yuzhen’s death!

That day, after Jiang Yuzhen stormed out, Hu Chuan and her best friend became even more brazen, and, emboldened by alcohol, Hu Chuan even confessed his feelings to the best friend.

Feigning modesty, the best friend said to Hu Chuan, “No, we can’t. If we’re together, I won’t be able to face Jiangjiang anymore!”

“Then let’s teach her a lesson and make her disappear from our world! She’s always making a fuss for no reason, I’ve had enough of her.” In a moment of agitation, Hu Chuan actually said such words.

His tone made it sound as if his girlfriend of a year was nothing more than a bag of trash to be discarded at will.

By then, after several rounds of drinks, everyone at the party was a bit tipsy and muddled. Hearing Hu Chuan’s “bold declaration,” they all started egging him on.

Jin Yecheng was already drunk that night, and he couldn’t quite remember what everyone had said.

He only remembered someone saying, “Do it if you say it, or you’re not a man!”

Someone else said, “Talking so big–these days, if you really want someone to disappear, it’d have to be a haunting incident!”

And he himself had joked, “Haha, Hu Chuan, do you know a haunting or something?”

Then…

Hu Chuan’s eyes suddenly turned cold and terrifying. The hazy KTV lights cast shadows across his face, half hidden in darkness, half crimson as blood.

He said in a low voice, “I know someone scarier than a haunting. If I ask him to teach that woman a lesson, it’ll be enough to make her leave for good!”

After hearing those words, for some reason, a chill ran down Jin Yecheng’s back, and he sobered up almost instantly.

——–

When news of Jiang Yuzhen’s death came, those who had attended the party gathered again for a brief memorial after laying wreaths.

Almost everyone believed that Jiang Yuzhen’s death had nothing to do with them.

They were just joining in the fun–how could they be the ones who killed Jiang Yuzhen?

Even Hu Chuan, the instigator, thought he had only wanted someone to teach Jiang Yuzhen a lesson, and what happened was just an accident.

At the time, Jin Yecheng thought the same, and, like everyone else, went on with his life with a clear conscience.

But…

But in the days that followed, everyone seemed to avoid each other, intentionally or not, drifting further and further apart. Everything from that day and the name “Jiang Yuzhen” became a taboo that could not be mentioned.

Originally, when Jin Yecheng was applying for graduate school, he didn’t want to return to Hua City.

But after failing his first attempt and unable to withstand the immense pressure from his family, he applied to his alma mater for his second try, hoping for a smoother admission.

So, after going in circles, he returned here and met Jiang Yuzhen…

——–

A month ago, the last spring rain fell in Hua City.

Spring is good for dreaming, closing one’s eyes to wander among peach blossoms.

Oversleeping by accident, Jin Yecheng was urged by a call from Professor Ma, and hurriedly left his rented apartment, braving the spring breeze and drizzle, taking a shortcut and jogging toward the experimental building of the College of Liberal Arts.

The alley he took as a shortcut had been around for quite some years in Hua City University of Technology, wedged between two old buildings.

The damp road was mottled with moss, rain tapping the treetops, and the washed leaves glistened with a lush green. Glancing back unintentionally, he saw a girl walking alone in the alley.

She had a graceful figure, wore a thin white dress, and held a rose-red umbrella. Strolling through the misty, rainy alley, she seemed like a fairy untouched by the world.

Looking at her back, Jin Yecheng couldn’t help but think of a passage from the poet Dai Wangshu’s “Rainy Alley.”

[…

She is like lilac in color, lilac in fragrance, lilac in sorrow.

In the rain, she is mournful, mournful and wandering, she wanders in this lonely rainy alley.

Holding an oil-paper umbrella, just like me.

Just like me, walking silently, cold, desolate, and melancholy

…]

Jin Yecheng felt that such a dreamlike encounter was a special kind of fate. Coming to his senses, he jogged to catch up and called out to the girl.

Then…

He discovered that he and the girl truly had a “special” connection.

The girl turned around. Under the rose-red umbrella, it was empty–like a stalk of wheat after harvest, no head, only a neck, bloody and mangled, with tissues–artery or muscle, he couldn’t tell–still writhing at the wound.

“Huh? You can see me? Who are you? Did you see my head? It was just taken away by a dog!”

He heard the girl say this, and his heart stopped. He fainted on the spot.

Since that day, although Jin Yecheng hadn’t seen Jiang Yuzhen again, that bloody and mangled scene was deeply imprinted in his mind.

He felt that Jiang Yuzhen must have sensed that he had returned to this school and wanted to take revenge on him!

As for why she hadn’t made a move yet…

Maybe she was just waiting for a rainy night, just like the night she was killed.

Thinking this way, Jin Yecheng had nightmares every night, dreaming of that headless female ghost appearing by his bedside, staring at him with resentful eyes, growling “murderer.” His spirit was tormented and he became more and more haggard.

A week ago, on the verge of collapse, he began staying late in the lab every day. When it was close to the time Jiang Yuzhen was killed, he would bring paper money and the finest incense candles to the place where she died, burning incense to pay his respects.

He wanted to obtain Jiang Yuzhen’s forgiveness, or have her appear sooner, so he could die quickly and be done with it.

The past month, living like a walking corpse, made him long for redemption…

——–

In front of a small warehouse near the main path of Gate No. 4.

Lu Yibei was holding a head in her arms, her eyes hollow as she stared at the sky where clouds covered the moon, lost in thought.

She was tired and in a gloomy mood.

The head looked eighty or ninety percent like her own–it was the detached part of the Paper Cicada Immortal.

“Sigh–!”

She let out a mournful sigh, lowered her head to look at the head in her arms, and that head also looked up, staring at her with wide eyes.

A deep, emotional gaze, but a bit creepy.

She felt like someone who bought a fish to release it, except she was releasing the lower half of a body.

Although, in theory, once the Paper Cicada Immortal was activated, even if the head and body were separated, it could still move. In other words, she could still control the lower half of the Paper Cicada Immortal that had disappeared.

She could also sense its general location, not far from here.

But the problem was, the missing lower half might have its own ideas, and she couldn’t control it well!

As soon as her thoughts touched that half of the Paper Cicada Immortal, it would start running wildly in bizarre poses.

If she wasn’t careful, the head in her arms would even let out a few creepy screams.

And they were genuine “surround sound” from a “detached” body!

Lu Yibei felt like she was playing hide-and-seek with a dog that had gone wild and didn’t want to come home.

“If this doesn’t work, I’ll just have to cut off the connection first and look for it slowly later?”

Muttering to herself, Lu Yibei looked up again, just about to sever her connection with the Paper Cicada Immortal, when she suddenly saw a flicker of fire by the roadside in the distance, and vaguely made out the outline of someone squatting on the ground.

She extended her psychic sense to probe, confirmed it was just an ordinary human, and paused for a moment, frowning.

Who’s playing with fire here in the middle of the night?

Aren’t they afraid of wetting the bed tonight?

Weird. I’ll go check it out!

As Lu Yibei had this thought, there was suddenly a rustling sound from the grass nearby, as if some creature was running quickly.

The next second, she saw a headless figure leap out of the tall weeds across the main road with a “White Crane Spreads Its Wings” pose, landing steadily, then flailing its limbs wildly as it charged at the person “playing with fire” by the roadside.

Along the way, it even instinctively used a simplified version of The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe’s movement technique, its speed suddenly increasing, and with those wildly flailing limbs…

If she didn’t know it was the Paper Cicada Immortal, even Lu Yibei would have been scared.

“Damn! I said I’d go check it out, not you! Why are you so worked up?” Lu Yibei couldn’t help but curse under her breath.

As she spoke, she chased after the Paper Cicada Immortal’s head, holding it in her arms.

At that moment, the person “playing with fire” heard the frantic footsteps of the Paper Cicada Immortal’s lower half approaching and turned his head.

For a few seconds, the air froze.

Then, a wretched wail echoed above the main path of Gate No. 4.

“Ah! Ah–ah–! Jiang, Jiang Yuzhen, don’t come over, I was wrong, it was Hu Chuan who killed you, not me, please let me go!?”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei paused, darting into the grass nearby.

Jiang Yuzhen… wasn’t that the headless senior sister’s name?

And who the hell is Hu Chuan?

From what he said, it seemed to have something to do with senior sister? Could it be that the headless senior sister has been hiding from this guy lately?

As Lu Yibei thought about it, she narrowed her eyes, sizing up the man by the roadside, and a bold idea quietly formed in her mind, growing more and more twisted.

Dare to bully senior sister? You’re in for it!