Chapter 63: Peace Charm

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Peace Charm

Lily Golding took a sip of the milk tea Heath Hale had pushed toward her before she slowly began to recount what she had seen.

"You know I decided to go to grad school and got accepted here. It all started about a month ago.

"You know what the streetlights are like over by Kaelen Hall. That day, one of them was flickering. I was walking back from the library when I saw a girl in a white dress standing under it."

At this point in her story, Lily Golding couldn’t help but swallow nervously.

As she spoke, the events unfolded before Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale.

She’d spent the entire evening cooped up in the library, so she didn’t think much of it at first glance.

But as she got closer, the light flickered, and the girl in the white dress suddenly vanished.

The drowsiness that had clung to Lily Golding was instantly shattered. She stopped dead in her tracks.

Then, the light flickered again.

The girl reappeared.

This happened several times. To Lily’s horror, she realized the hem of the white dress was beginning to stain red, and the girl’s body was slowly turning to face her.

Just then, a light breeze rustled the girl’s skirt and hair.

Terrified, Lily Golding took a step back and bumped right into her roommate, who had caught up to her.

Before the other girl could ask what was wrong, Lily grabbed her arm, her voice trembling. "Shannon, do you see someone under the streetlight...?"

"The streetlight?"

The girl, Shannon, peeked out from behind Lily Golding. Just then, the light flickered again.

The girl in the white dress reappeared before them.

"Holy shit!" Shannon Shelby blurted out, then grabbed Lily Golding, and they ducked their heads and bolted past.

They didn’t slow down until they had run a good distance away.

"You saw her too, right?" Lily Golding asked excitedly, tugging on Shannon Shelby’s sleeve.

Shannon Shelby clutched her chest, looking terrified. "Don’t talk about it, don’t talk about it! We just need to run! Who knows if that was some vengeful spirit? What if it comes after us?"

Lily Golding was already shaken, and after hearing Shannon’s words, she didn’t say anything else, just quickly followed her roommate away from the area.

A few days later, Shannon Shelby came in holding two peace charms. She said she’d asked her mom to get them from a temple and told Lily Golding to keep them on her at all times.

For the first few days, Lily Golding didn’t see anything when she passed by that spot. But the peace only lasted a short while. One day, on her way back to the dorm, she encountered the girl who looked like a ghost again.

This time, it was on a different, more secluded path where Lily usually liked to take walks.

And this time, the witnesses weren’t just Lily Golding, but also a young couple who happened to be jogging by.

The incident blew up, and soon, a rumor began to spread throughout the entire campus.

They said that decades ago, a girl who had worked her way out of the mountains to get into the university had mysteriously disappeared on campus.

A month later, her classmates suddenly found the clothes she was wearing before she vanished, neatly laid out on her bed.

From then on, students in other dorms would occasionally see a white figure flash past their windows.

The thing was, their rooms were on the fourth floor!

The rumor claimed the missing girl had been murdered and buried somewhere on school grounds. Because the killer was never caught, her restless spirit was now wandering, searching for her murderer.

The situation got so out of hand that the school organized a search party, but they found nothing. In the end, they could only swap the male and female dormitories, hoping the influx of male (yang) energy would suppress the spirit. After that, things did indeed quiet down.

And the incident was gradually forgotten.

Now that Lily Golding and the others had seen her again, the rumor re-emerged from some forgotten corner and began to spread across campus once more.

As the rumor spread, the ghost began to appear more frequently. And the harassment of Lily Golding, who had seen it first, grew even worse.

Because the ghost had started appearing in her dorm room, day and night!

The kind that her roommate, Shannon Shelby, couldn’t even see!

The school organized another search, combing the entire campus, but once again, they found nothing.

Lily Golding started having sleepless nights, and her mental state was nearing a breaking point.

Finally, she suddenly remembered seeing Zoe Sawyer with someone in a police uniform. Figuring she had nothing to lose, she gave Zoe a call.

And that led to this meeting.

After hearing the whole story, Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale exchanged a look. ’The whole thing feels so staged, doesn’t it?!’

From the sudden reappearance of the rumor to the ghost tormenting Lily Golding, and even Shannon Shelby giving her the peace charm.

Having worked on so many cases, Zoe Sawyer’s intuition was screaming that something was wrong.

"Lily, that peace charm your classmate gave you, did you ever get it checked out?" Zoe Sawyer asked, choosing her words carefully.

Lily Golding glanced at Zoe Sawyer and nodded. "I know what you’re thinking. After the second time I saw it, I had the peace charm analyzed. There was nothing hallucinogenic in it, just some powdered herbs commonly used for calming the nerves.

"Besides, I never take the charm off, so there’s no way someone could have swapped it."

She’d read enough palace intrigue novels to know a few tricks, so she had been suspicious too.

But everything checked out. Plus, she wasn’t the only one who saw it. The constant, round-the-clock harassment from the ghost was what really caused her mental state to decline.

"I see. Can we go take a look at your dorm room?" Zoe Sawyer asked, closing her notebook.

’Hearing about it is one thing, but an on-site investigation is better.’

Heath Hale said nothing, listening to the entire account. His index finger tapped rhythmically on the table as if he was deep in thought.

"Let’s go. A student can sign you in, and since you have a police officer with you, it’ll be even easier," Lily Golding said with a shrug, getting up from her seat with Zoe and Heath.

The trio soon arrived at the school gate, signed in with the guard, and headed toward the dormitories.

"Hey, watch out." Heath Hale grabbed Zoe Sawyer’s arm and yanked her into his arms.

Just in time to avoid the garbage cart being pushed toward them, and the iron shovel resting in its bin.

"Aunt Monroe, watch where you’re going! There are people here," Lily Golding cried out, nearly jumping out of her skin at the sight.

"Huh? Oh, there are people! I’m so sorry, so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention!"

Hearing her voice, an elderly woman’s voice called out from behind the garbage cart.

She peeked her head out, saw the people behind the cart, and began apologizing profusely, clearly startled.

A strange smell drifted toward them on the wind.