Ghosts... could they also be weak and pitiful, begging for mercy?
Not only was Dai Minghan surprised, but even Chen Mo's face showed a hint of astonishment.
Even if this ghost was begging weakly and pitifully, as a participant, he absolutely couldn't let it off easily. Moreover, Chen Mo simply didn't believe that this ghost had done nothing at all!
Doing nothing actually suggested that the ghost must have done something.
What truly troubled him was that he didn't know what this ghost had actually done. The conversation at this moment was extremely critical—if he answered wrong, this desk-dwelling ghost, which might hold clues, could slip right through his fingers.
But judging by the ghost's attitude, it seemed like a student who had done something wrong, denying it after being caught.
To deal with a student unwilling to admit their mistakes, Chen Mo had a trick: pretend he already knew what the other had done, and threaten to report it to the school for severe punishment if the truth wasn't confessed.
After some thought, Chen Mo decided to use this method to bluff the desk ghost!
As soon as he finished speaking, the motionless arm began to tremble again, and from the pitch-black desk hole, a ghostly face slowly emerged.
A face of a male student wearing glasses!
But this ghostly face was twisted in extreme pain, pale and bluish, with a tongue sticking out and a ring of purple bruises around the neck.
This ghost student in the desk was a hanged ghost.
Yet, in stark contrast to this terrifying face was its fearful attitude!
"Give it back... I'll give back what I stole... Let me go, okay..."
Chen Mo and Dai Minghan exchanged glances. So this ghost was a student who had stolen things!
Lin Tianheng immediately found it amusing, thinking, "Stealing and getting caught—you're way worse than me," but he said aloud, "Hurry up and hand over what you stole!"
Chen Mo nodded at Dai Minghan and released the ghostly hand. Since the plot had been triggered, he wasn't afraid the ghost would just run away.
The ghostly hand and face retreated into the desk. After a moment, the hand reached out again, this time holding a thin card. Chen Mo took it and saw it was a student ID card with the name Zheng Zihao.
"Zheng Zihao? Isn't that a participant from Group Four?" Su Mu frowned, thinking. "This ghost's ability must be stealing participants' student IDs. It can't kill directly, but it can make participants lose their student identity credentials. If they encounter something like a patrolling security ghost or teacher ghost, it could trigger a deadly situation."
"However, even though this ghost steals student IDs, it can be caught. When caught, it hands over the stolen IDs..."
She wondered, "Could the task be to use this method to get other participants' student IDs without breaking school rules?"
Just as the arm was about to retract into the desk, Dai Minghan heard Chen Mo shout, "Don't let it escape!"
Dai Minghan reacted swiftly, grabbing the ghostly hand that was about to vanish into the darkness.
"The student ID I want isn't this one!"
Chen Mo said immediately.
There was a few seconds of silence inside the desk, and then the pale ghostly face emerged again from the darkness, letting out a faint voice.
"Then... what about this one?"
Another ghostly hand reached out from the darkness, holding another student ID. Chen Mo took it and saw the name Jiang Xiaohui. He had no impression of this name, and looking further down, the class was Senior Three, Class Three.
When they first found the student IDs, everyone had checked—all participants in this classroom were assigned identities as students of Senior Three, Class Seven. This ID for Jiang Xiaohui clearly didn't belong to any participant in this story.
He had only been testing, but unexpectedly, this desk ghost had produced another student ID. Since Jiang Xiaohui wasn't a participant in this task, that meant he might have obtained a ghost student's ID!
"Let it go."
Seeing Chen Mo nod, Dai Minghan released his grip. The pale ghostly hand instantly retracted into the desk, and Dai Minghan's blackened hand slowly returned to normal flesh and blood, though his face was full of curiosity: "Chen Mo, how did you know the ghost had another student ID from a ghost student?"
"I didn't know," Chen Mo shook his head. "I was just testing. A team task with four whole production teams and sixteen participants—there should be more than one way out."
As he spoke, he bent down, peered into the desk hole, paused for a moment, then reached inside. When he pulled his hand out, it held a folded piece of paper.
"This is...?"
Words gradually appeared on the white paper:
"Is it my fault that my grades are bad? I've tried so hard!"
"Can you imagine the despair of waking up earlier than everyone else, sleeping later, working harder at everything, yet still falling behind everyone?"
"Everyone hates me, everyone shuns me, but what have you done?"
"You mock me, bully me, talk behind my back, and even the teacher always picks on me, trying every way to kick me out of the class!"
"So, I hate you! I wish you were dead!"
"But, I'm just a student, an unpopular one at that. Even though I hate you, what can I do to get back at you?"
"So, I vent my anger by stealing, watching your frustrated faces—it brings me immense joy."
"But you still won't let me go!"
"It was my own carelessness, getting caught by that bitch Xu Meiqian. What I never expected was that she would use this secret to blackmail me, forcing me to do a series of cruel things with her."
"I didn't want to do it, but with her holding that leverage over me, I had no choice!"
"But soon, these things were exposed. Unsurprisingly, a 'model student' like her wouldn't be suspected by the school, so all the blame fell on me. I'd not only be expelled but also face legal punishment."
"Rather than wait for that to happen, I decided to end my life early."
"Not just Xu Meiqian, but all of you!"
"These classmates and teachers from Senior Three, Class Three—you killed me! I will never! Never forgive you!"
"—Jiang Xiaohui."
"So this desk ghost is Jiang Xiaohui."
This paper was both the desk ghost's suicide note and a crucial clue to the story of this task!
-- ps, second chapter delivered.