This fallen female student's body should be Xu Meiqian!
Somewhat different from what I imagined, Xu Meiqian hadn't actually jumped to her death in "suicide"—she was pushed off the rooftop and killed. The one who murdered her in a fit of rage and lost reason was named Chen Mingyuan. Could he be that ghost teacher carrying a flashlight?
Although the story doesn't explicitly state it, based on the clues at hand, deductions can be made. Even if Chen Mingyuan insisted that Xu Meiqian couldn't bear the pressure and jumped to "suicide," with four student deaths occurring in his class one after another, as the homeroom teacher, he would face strict police interrogation.
Moreover, regardless of whether he would ultimately be held criminally liable, causing so many incidents and such a negative impact within the school, he couldn't escape blame. The school would never allow him to continue as a teacher. For Chen Mingyuan, abandoned by his wife and having lost his daughter, with his career being his everything, this was tantamount to losing all meaning in life.
So in the end, Chen Mingyuan likely chose to end his own life. His obsession with his school job turned him into a wandering ghost at night, always roaming around with a flashlight, just like when he was alive, seeking out students who lingered at night, tried to leave school, or broke school rules as targets to kill.
The idea that Xu Meiqian would develop murderous revenge thoughts because her grades were tampered with sounds unbelievable, but in this school where even the corridors were fitted with iron cages, the pressure on students was unimaginable. Here, people became learning machines, constantly instilled with the notion that grades were everything. So when Xu Meiqian discovered her desperate efforts had been manipulated, she harbored such intense resentment that she didn't hesitate to kill in revenge.
From this perspective, although Xu Meiqian's methods were cruel, she herself was nothing short of a tragedy.
The deceased Xu Meiqian became the third ghost student in the haunted school. Her ability was to create illusions of upside-down perception. Within the ghost's ability range, people's eyes were deceived, mistaking stairs going up for stairs going down. What appeared to be the first floor was actually the rooftop of the teaching building. One misstep would result in the same death as Xu Meiqian's.
Zhong Qing's teammates, He Zhongtian and Zhang Haochen, failed to see through the ghost's illusion and were killed by this upside-down trap.
However, this kind of illusion, similar to a ghost's maze, wasn't without flaws. An illusion was still an illusion—it could only deceive the eyes but not affect one's senses. What looked like going downstairs was actually going upstairs, consuming the energy of climbing up. Meanwhile, hearing the sound of a fall but not seeing the fallen body—these were all clues given by the story, with one purpose: to remind participants that what they saw wasn't real.
Sure enough, when everyone ran upward instead, they found Xu Meiqian's fallen body on the "rooftop," which was actually the first floor.
The third ghost student's ID card must be on Xu Meiqian's body!
"Little one, so you were hiding here." Lin Tianheng chuckled a few times as he walked over, intending to search the body for the third student card. Chen Mo was watching him approach Xu Meiqian when suddenly, as if struck by a thought, his expression changed drastically. He called out, "Lin Tianheng!"
But it was too late. Lin Tianheng's hand had already reached for the body. In that instant, a pale ghostly hand emerged from beneath Xu Meiqian's corpse and grabbed him!
Damn it, how did I overlook this!
I thought that by solving the upside-down trap and finding the ghost's true form, I could get the third student card. But I forgot one thing.
Xu Meiqian's death wasn't a suicide. When she died, she must have carried deep resentment. Now, they had only found the ghost's true form but hadn't dispelled the ghost's grudge. Reaching for the third student card at this point would still trigger the ghost's killing intent!
The moment the pale ghostly hand grabbed him, Lin Tianheng reacted instantly, reaching back for the dagger at his waist.
But a pale ghostly face emerged from Xu Meiqian's body at the same time. Xu Meiqian's ghost was hiding inside the corpse. The pale face swelled to an enormous size, opening a mouth like a black hole, lunging to swallow Lin Tianheng whole.
At the same time, Lin Tianheng realized his left hand was also seized by another writhing pale ghostly hand, immobilizing him.
This change happened too fast. Dai Minghan's face turned pale as his right hand instantly ghostified, but even so, he couldn't pull Lin Tianheng away from the ghostly face in time.
Just then, someone moved faster than him. Chen Mo, closest to Lin Tianheng, charged forward, pulling out a talisman paper and slapping it onto Lin Tianheng just before the ghostly face could devour him.
Upon touching Lin Tianheng, the yellow talisman instantly burst into flames, burning fiercely.
Lin Tianheng vanished in that moment!
A teleportation talisman!
Even Dai Minghan hadn't expected Chen Mo to use a teleportation talisman—a life-saving item—for Lin Tianheng.
Teleportation talismans, though relatively low-level paper talisman items, were special and rare, rarely appearing on the exchange list. Despite being single-use, they could instantly relocate a target to another location when facing an unbeatable ghost!
Due to their unique property of countering unsolvable ghosts, they cost as much as 30 plot points on the radio station's exchange list.
Xu Meiqian's ghost attack happened in an instant. When other exorcism methods couldn't be deployed in time, Chen Mo reacted without thinking, causing Lin Tianheng, who was nearly swallowed by the ghost, to vanish from the "rooftop"!
Coming to his senses, he couldn't help but wince at the loss.
Staring at Xu Meiqian's massive, ferocious ghostly face, Dai Minghan let out a low growl. His ghostified right hand shot toward the face, aiming to grab the vengeful spirit clinging to Xu Meiqian's corpse!
"Wait! Dai Minghan, don't drive it away!"
Driving the ghost away wasn't hard, but doing so might cause the student card it carried to disappear. "The story doesn't restrict item use"—that itself was the big trap the mission had set for participants!
"The solution to Xu Meiqian's grudge was already given in the story!"
Not only was Dai Minghan startled, but even Su Mu's face showed surprise.
"Chen Mo, what have you figured out?"
With that, Chen Mo reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled paper—the grade report found in Xu Meiqian's desk drawer.
--- PS, thanks to Kuang Shi A Kuang's Kuang, Lord Wang, xl, and fellow readers for their tips, thank you.