Lin Tianheng took a deep breath, reminding himself to stay calm.
The call couldn’t get through.
This wasn’t an ordinary phone—it was an item redeemed from the app, capable of normal communication even in areas with no signal. So, the reason for the crackling static and eventual disconnection had to be interference from some supernatural force. That meant the space he was in now was dangerous, with the potential for ghostly presence.
He turned on his phone’s flashlight and spun around to survey the sealed-off area. With no windows, the space was pitch black. The small patch illuminated by his phone revealed white tiles, likely long unused, stained with grime. Slowly shifting his gaze, he spotted the pool behind him again. Its still surface gave the illusion of something lurking beneath.
Beside the pool was a structure resembling a corridor. As the flashlight’s beam moved, it showed a figure walking into the passage. Glancing sideways, he saw row after row of showerheads. Moving further, he turned a corner and came across a row of iron lockers. By now, Lin Tianheng was fairly certain this was an abandoned student bathhouse, though he didn’t know why it had been left to rot.
He approached the only exit and tugged at the iron door. Rusted and seemingly flimsy, it wouldn’t budge.
“Planning to trap me here? What exactly do you want?”
A creak sounded behind him. Lin Tianheng turned to find one of the previously closed lockers now open. He walked over and peered inside, spotting something flat and neat, like a letter.
This time, I’m on my own.
He reached into the locker and picked up the folded white paper. Just then, something shot out from the depths of the locker and grabbed his hand.
An icy touch, enough to make his hair stand on end. For a split second, Lin Tianheng nearly pulled out his dagger, but the cold hand only held his—nothing more. So, it was a hint, not a threat. This ghost was trying to convey something.
“You opened the locker for me to see what’s inside, didn’t you? If you want me to do something for you, let me read this letter.”
As he finished speaking, the icy grip on his hand vanished. Lin Tianheng took out the envelope, opened it, and found a folded sheet of paper inside. He pulled it out, unfolded it, and read carefully by the flashlight’s glow.
This was… a letter from Chen Mingyuan to Chen Jingyue!
“This guy’s strange. Chen Jingyue is right in his class—why not just talk to her directly? Why write a letter?”
Muttering to himself, Lin Tianheng continued reading, his expression gradually turning odd.
“So, this day was Chen Jingyue’s birthday.”
Due to lingering resentment with his ex-wife and his own lack of expressiveness, Chen Mingyuan couldn’t bring himself to verbally wish his daughter a happy birthday, even though he wanted to. So, he resorted to a letter. It was neatly folded, suggesting Chen Jingyue treasured it. At the end, Chen Mingyuan mentioned wanting to give her a special gift and asked her to convey his apologies to his ex-wife.
Receiving this letter, Chen Jingyue probably felt overjoyed, even if she said nothing. Chen Mingyuan cared about her and still thought of his ex-wife—maybe this could even be a chance to mend fences and reunite the family.
With such a happy heart, when Xu Meiqian and the others said they needed to talk to her that day, she likely followed them to this abandoned facility without a second thought.
“No way…”
As this realization hit, a chill ran down Lin Tianheng’s spine.
“Could it have been that day… on that very day…”
Did Xu Meiqian and Jiang Xiaohui kill Chen Jingyue?
Killed her when she was holding onto her brightest hopes—and right here?
Lin Tianheng’s heart jolted. At the same time, he felt the cramped, sealed room turn icy cold, as if an air conditioner had been turned on. Behind him came the sound of dripping water.
He spun around to find a puddle of water that hadn’t been there before. He recalled that the pool area, being lower, had collected most of the water, but when had droplets from the showerheads formed this puddle right behind him?
Then he saw it—the ghostly face of Chen Jingyue reflected in the shallow water.
Beneath the thin layer of water, her pale, beautiful face looked as if she were merely asleep, floating serenely in the dark depths. Chen Jingyue was indeed a pretty girl, unlike Xu Meiqian. Her beauty was gentle and harmless, inspiring goodwill. In this story, she had never hurt anyone. Chen Mingyuan’s tampering with Xu Meiqian’s grades was his own doing; Chen Jingyue knew nothing about it.
She had harmed no one, yet others harmed her.
Suddenly, the ghostly face in the water opened its eyes, its mouth slightly agape as if crying for help or struggling. Her beautiful features twisted and contorted in pain.
It looked like someone was holding her underwater.
Chen Jingyue must have been drowned like this in the abandoned bathhouse pool by Xu Meiqian and the others. To cover it up, they slipped away quietly, leaving behind the illusion of an accidental fall and death.
But they hadn’t expected Sun Jingyan to witness it, sealing his own fate.
The ghostly face in the water kept changing. Her once-beautiful features swelled grotesquely from prolonged submersion. By this logic, Chen Jingyue’s body must have gone undiscovered for days. Poor girl, left alone, abandoned in this forgotten pool.
Just then, Lin Tianheng felt the ground vanish beneath him. The puddle had somehow moved under his feet, the shallow water suddenly turning deep and dark, pulling him down into its depths!
Chen Jingyue’s swollen, hideous ghost face was right in front of him!