With a thud, a curled, charred corpse tumbled out of the metal cabinet! "What is this..." "This... is the crime Xu Meiqian and her accomplices committed." This was... the body of Sun Jingyan, locked in the storage room and burned to death by Xu Meiqian and Jiang Xiaohui! For the timid and cowardly Jiang Xiaohui, it might have started as just one of Xu Meiqian's pranks, meant only to scare Sun Jingyan. But he never expected that beneath Xu Meiqian's beautiful exterior lay such a venomous heart. She wasn't just trying to warn or intimidate him—she intended to silence him for good! The weak and fearful Jiang Xiaohui, unwittingly dragged into a murder, witnessed Sun Jingyan being burned alive. His mind must have been shattered, filled with immense anguish, ultimately leading him to leave a suicide note and take his own life. Although part of the mystery in the suicide note had been unraveled, many hidden secrets still lurked within the seemingly peaceful school. Xu Meiqian had discovered Jiang Xiaohui's secret of stealing and used it to blackmail him into obeying her orders. Meanwhile, she herself seemed to have a secret that Sun Jingyan had uncovered, forcing her to help him cheat under threat. But Xu Meiqian was no timid Jiang Xiaohui—faced with blackmail, she chose murder without hesitation! Setting the fire in the storage room was clearly meant to fake an accident, making it look like Sun Jingyan had carelessly ignited the place while burning books. The deeper the investigation went, the more tangled and bewildering the events at the school and the relationships among these ghostly students became. Their attention returned to the corpse. The curled body was pitch-black from the fire. Fortunately, the group consisted of veterans or semi-veterans who had endured numerous stories, building up a strong immunity to terrifying and supernatural phenomena. Though startled, they weren't scared out of their wits. "Look, what are those!" Lin Tianheng suddenly shouted, pointing into the cabinet. Everyone's focus had been on the fallen corpse, but his reminder drew their eyes to the inner walls of the cabinet, covered in black marks. Upon closer inspection, they were all faint, scrawled words. Xu Meiqian... Xu Meiqian... Xu Meiqian... Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!... "These... words written in blood..." The black traces sent chills down their spines. It was easy to imagine how desperate Sun Jingyan had been, cornered and hiding in the cabinet, his fear of death turning into pure rage and hatred. He had used his own blood to scrawl Xu Meiqian's name over and over, knowing he would die but leaving clues so others would know who killed him! These words, written inside the cabinet, hadn't been blackened by smoke and had survived. Under the intense heat, the dried blood had left these dark marks. "Dying so horribly, no wonder the resentment is so strong." Lin Tianheng clicked his tongue, pulled out his spirit-banishing dagger, and prepared to destroy the corpse—the source of the haunting in this storage room. "Wait." Chen Mo crouched down and reached for the charred body. Dai Minghan's face changed, and he called out a warning, but Chen Mo seemed not to hear. He turned the corpse over, and with a clatter, something fell out. A white card! "Just as I thought, hidden on the body." Chen Mo picked up the card. The name on it was indeed Sun Jingyan, and the class was Senior Three, Class Three. Without a doubt, another ghost student's student card! "Alright, we can now fend off its attack." If they stayed any longer in this storage room, he wouldn't be able to hold out. The invisible ghost fire made his lungs feel like they were burning. Lin Tianheng didn't need further instruction. With a flash of cold light, the dagger plunged into the charred head. A piercing scream echoed through the room. Centered on the dagger's point, the blackened corpse began to crumble, turning into a pile of ash that scattered. The crackling sounds of burning in the storage room quickly faded, and it returned to being a normal, empty space. The black marks inside the cabinet vanished without a trace. Chen Mo stood up and pocketed the card. Su Mu stood behind him, turning her head toward the door as it slowly swung open. A cold wind blew in, stirring her long hair like a ghostly wisp in the night sky. Just as he was about to stride out of the room, Lin Tianheng called out from behind, "How did you know not to immediately drive off the supernatural attack?" "Because the clue hadn't appeared yet." This time, Su Mu answered for Chen Mo. "The ghost student attacking us wasn't very strong. Though it had the power to kill, it gave us plenty of time. That didn't match the pattern of how ghosts execute killings in this supernatural event, so..." "So I judged that this was also a ghost providing clues." Chen Mo picked up the thread. "And I just realized something. At the start of the mission, the prompt specifically said, 'This story does not restrict the use of items,' which was also a misdirection for the participants." "Misdirection?" Lin Tianheng was taken aback. "Not restricting item use implied that whenever supernatural changes or ghost attacks occurred, we could use means to defend ourselves. But in this supernatural mission, some phenomena and attacks were part of the clues. If we used items too early to drive them off, we might avoid the ghost's assault but miss crucial hints." "I see." Lin Tianheng's face lit up with sudden understanding. "That's really insidious." "Insidious?" Chen Mo smiled. Perhaps to the monster that designed these mission scenarios, everything was just a game, and the participants solving the puzzles was merely the fun of it. One day, I'll uncover your true face, he thought to himself, but said aloud, "Let's go. First, complete the check-in." As before, when they returned to the hall, the red check-in machine appeared before them again. It seemed that, with a mere thought, it could turn any place into the "Comprehensive Building." This time, Chen Mo completed the check-in and obtained the second password number. Naturally, no ghost attack was triggered. It seemed this mission was about collecting the student cards of ghost students wandering the school. But the first two ghost students had been triggered randomly, so gathering all four wouldn't be easy. Chen Mo flipped the student card over, looking at Sun Jingyan's name. All the ghost students involved in this incident were from Senior Three, Class Three. -- PS, here's the first update. Today, I'm making up for yesterday's double update. The author is heading out now; the second update will come later, but it's guaranteed.