Just as Lin Tianheng steeled his resolve to push open the door, Chen Mo reached out and stopped him. Then, stepping forward, he leaned his ear closer. Amid the tearing sound of ripped pages, there were indeed other noises mixed in, like three people arguing.
"Do you think you can blackmail me just because you've got something on me? Threatening to make me help you cheat? You're practically asking for death!"
"I've put up with you long enough! Go die!"
This was a girl's voice.
"Xu Meiqian, let it go. Sun Jingyan didn't mean it..."
That was clearly another voice, a boy's.
"No way, this can't just end like this. If we let this guy off, it'll be endless trouble!"
"Wait... Xu Meiqian... What are you doing! Stop! Stop it!"
"Are you crazy! Jiang Xiaohui, if we let him escape and report to the teacher, both of us—you and me—we're finished!"
"What are you doing! Jiang Xiaohui, you scumbag, get away from me!"
Through the closed door, a chaotic clatter could be faintly heard, followed by a thud, as if someone had been shoved to the floor.
"Xu Meiqian, you... you..."
From behind the door, voices rose again, trembling with fear, as if something horrifying was unfolding before this person's eyes.
"Watch closely—this is what happens when you cross me!"
"Xu Meiqian, you... what are you trying to do... Let me out! I'm warning you, if you don't let me out now, I'll report everything you've done to the school!"
Inside the storage room, a third voice rang out, suddenly filled with extreme terror, as if something had gone wrong.
"Xu Meiqian, what are you doing! You crazy! Let me out! You vicious monster!"
"No... no... I was wrong! Xu Meiqian, let me out... I beg you, let me out..."
"I... I don't want to die! Aaaaaah—!"
With a bang, Chen Mo shoved open the storage room door. All sounds ceased instantly. A thick, dusty smell rushed toward them. This storage room hadn't been opened in who knows how long.
The empty, hollow room naturally held no figures, only an iron cabinet door creaking back and forth, as if something had just brushed against it.
Dai Minghan's expression shifted slightly. "What was that just now..."
Before he could finish, a bang sounded behind them. The door they'd just opened slammed shut heavily, as if pushed from the outside, plunging the storage room into pitch darkness.
"Xu Meiqian, do we... really have to do this?"
This time, the voice came from outside.
"What's there to fear! We've already committed a sin; are you afraid of committing it a second time? Jiang Xiaohui, we have no way back!"
Amid these two voices, Chen Mo's ears suddenly caught another sound—crackling, crackling—mixed in with the tearing of pages, as if...
Something was burning.
Crackling, crackling. The sound grew louder. Though the storage room remained empty, the temperature was clearly rising! At the same time, a burnt smell permeated the air!
"Not good!"
Chen Mo shouted inwardly, suddenly realizing what this ghost was trying to do!
"The ghost in this storage room is a burning ghost!"
Xu Meiqian and Jiang Xiaohui had locked this boy named Sun Jingyan in the storage room, then set fire to the torn books, igniting the piled-up clutter!
Though he didn't know what leverage Sun Jingyan had over Xu Meiqian, to resort to murder to escape harassment—this girl was terrifying!
This was no longer a prank; it was premeditated murder!
As for Jiang Xiaohui, he was clearly coerced by Xu Meiqian into participating in this killing.
A flash of insight struck Chen Mo's mind. Could the cruel act Jiang Xiaohui bitterly mentioned in his suicide note, done under Xu Meiqian's threat, be... being forced to join in murder?
Connecting the two clues, this possibility was entirely plausible!
Though no ghostly figure appeared in the storage room, as the crackling sound of burning debris grew, the surrounding temperature rose higher and higher. Breathing became increasingly difficult.
Without a doubt, this was the burning ghost's method of killing. Though he knew it was a hallucination-like ability, the sensation was utterly real, as if this sealed storage room had truly become a sea of flames!
This was undoubtedly... recreating the scene of its death, and its deep-seated resentment! Compared to the timid desk-drawer ghost Jiang Xiaohui, Sun Jingyan's ghost, killed by others, harbored far stronger hatred. The realistic hallucinations this ghost created could genuinely kill!
This ghost was clearly intent on burning them to death!
The storage room had no windows, and the door was locked. Dai Minghan's gaze turned cold, clearly ready to use the ghost's power within him to fight a way out.
But Chen Mo grabbed his right hand, which was about to ghostify. Dai Minghan's face changed instantly.
"Chen Mo, what are you doing!"
"Wait... let me think a bit more..."
Amid the fierce burning sounds, the skin exposed to the air felt intense scorching pain, blisters forming one after another. Breathing became extremely difficult, as if inhaling not air but scalding smoke.
If they didn't use an item to repel the ghost's attack, they would truly be killed in this sealed space!
But the chaos caused by such ghost attacks often made people overlook crucial clues.
Chen Mo's gaze suddenly fell on a row of cabinets in the corner.
In the empty storage room, the large iron cabinet stood out conspicuously.
Placing shelves and cabinets in a storage room was ordinary, but the situation was different. In this carefully designed scene of the story, other superfluous items had been removed, leaving only this one deliberately placed thing—often containing clues.
Chen Mo suddenly strode over and yanked open one of the iron cabinet doors.
Not this one...
Not this one either...
Until he opened the third cabinet door, everyone's eyes were instantly drawn to what was inside, their faces showing shock.
"This... this is..."