003 News Received at Midnight

“Third brother, if what you’re saying is true,” I swallowed hard and continued, “then we’re completely isolated right now.”

“No, it’s worse than that,” second brother replied. “You probably can’t contact your father and the others anymore. In other words, you’ve gotten yourself caught up in this.”

“Is it really that serious?” The eldest seemed to think we were exaggerating and that things weren’t as dire as we claimed.

“This is definitely just some method the school uses to boost its employment rate,” he tried to justify, but it was clear he didn’t believe it himself.

“Don’t be naive, boss.” I argued back. “We knew when we enrolled—getting out is nearly impossible.”

“Don’t forget, we don’t even remember the initial ability assessment. This twisted school dared to wipe our memories, which is strictly forbidden by the state!”

“The depths of D University are far greater than we can imagine,” the third chubby guy said, resting his chin in his hand.

At that moment, I noticed an unread message on my phone.

It was from my good friend Zhou Zhenyu, sent exactly ten minutes to eleven, which was now.

“Zijian, I’m locked downstairs. Come help me ask the house mother to open the door.”

“Third brother, you guys keep talking. Carbon Head’s calling me down.” I tossed my phone to the chubby guy. “Charge it for me.”

Without bothering to put on a coat, I slipped on my slippers and set out. Since it was just downstairs and I didn’t need to leave the dormitory building, I wore only a sweater and strutted out.

The nickname Carbon Head was one I gave Zhou Zhenyu, because he’s dark-skinned. I started calling him Black Carbon, and he didn’t mind, accepting it without complaint.

I glanced at my watch—five minutes to eleven. But tonight, the house mother had locked up early; normally, she closed at exactly eleven. I knocked carefully on her door.

Softly, I called, “Auntie, are you asleep?”

I waited, but got no response, so I knocked again. “Auntie? Are you asleep?”

Her room was behind a glass door and an iron sliding door; with the lights off, it was pitch black—I could see nothing. A faint unease crept over me. Only one corridor light remained on, its dim yellow glow making me want to leave quickly.

I reached for my phone to contact Carbon Head, only to find my pocket empty. A cold wind swept through the first-floor window, making me shiver. Could I really be this unlucky? I muttered to myself. Peeking through the curtain at the entrance, I saw the streetlights outside had gone dark as well. The darkness outside seemed to devour everything.

I searched for Carbon Head’s silhouette, when suddenly I felt a stream of cold air brush the back of my neck. My heart raced—what was that! I clenched my fists, refusing to turn around. Yes, if I don’t look, nothing will happen. It felt as if a pair of hands were slowly resting on my shoulders, their icy touch nearly making me faint. I gritted my teeth, enduring as my body trembled uncontrollably. At last, those hands seemed satisfied and withdrew. The cold sensation faded from my neck, my body temperature slowly returning. I breathed out in relief and turned around.

“Ah!”

My face pressed against a skeletal visage, its eyes barely a centimeter from mine. I could even smell the foul stench of decaying flesh. I crashed into the door behind me and fell to the floor.

“What are you doing?” the house mother demanded, clad in a military coat and looking thoroughly impatient.

“Huh?” I gasped for breath, slowly raising my head, half-afraid I’d still see that corpse’s face. Thankfully, it was just the house mother. I struggled to calm myself—tonight was truly unlucky.

“House mother, my friend is locked outside. Could you…” I bowed my head, pleading with my eyes.

She looked at me with disgust, tossed me the keys. “Two minutes!” Then she turned and went back inside. I hurried to unlock the door.

“Carbon Head, hurry up! I don’t want to stay here another minute.”

A cold wind blasted over me, that icy feeling rushing back, but fading quickly. I looked outside—no one in sight, not even a shadow. The oppressive darkness was suffocating. “Damn Carbon Head, where are you?” I muttered. Checking the time, nearly two minutes had passed.

“Screw it, I’m not waiting.” Grabbing the keys, I locked the door in frustration, the dim light casting shadows across my face. The house mother’s room remained unlit. The iron gate was open, though, so I gently pushed the glass door. It wasn’t locked.

“House mother?” I stepped inside, tiptoeing.

“Bang!”

The glass door shut behind me on its own. Though the sound was soft, in the quiet night it sounded piercing.

“Where’s the light?”

My heart pounded as I groped around.

Suddenly, my hand touched something cold and sticky, shaped like a human hand. Instantly, I recoiled.

“House mother, I’m leaving the keys on the table,” I called out.

No table for me—I just tossed the keys and dashed out of her room.

I sprinted up to the fourth floor, arriving at Carbon Head’s dorm. The guy was playing League of Legends again.

“Damn it, Carbon Head, you bastard! Didn’t you call me to open the door? Where were you?” Without a word, I punched him.

He grunted, “Dead.”

“Come on, Zijian, are you nuts?” Carbon Head dropped his mouse and punched me back, but his small frame posed no threat. I shoved him onto the bed. “It’s all your fault, otherwise I’d have scored a triple kill!”

“Hey, Zijian, he’s been playing League all day. Did something happen?” Carbon Head’s bunkmate interjected.

“You didn’t message me?” I asked, confused.

“Message your ass, I was gaming,” Carbon Head cursed, and went back to his game.

“Damn.” I was baffled. I hurried back to my dorm, pushed open the door, and found my three roommates looking at me strangely.

“Fourth,” the eldest spoke first. “Why did you suddenly go downstairs?”

“I…” I scrambled for my phone. “I…”

“Looking for your phone, right?” Third brother handed it over.

I took it, opened the message panel. The most recent message was from the boss this morning, asking me to bring lunch. Nothing else. Unwilling to believe it was all an illusion, I checked my chat with Carbon Head—last conversation was yesterday.

My mind went blank.

“I saw you check the time and leave. Thought you had something to do?” Third brother joked.

I stood there for a long time, memories swirling in my mind. A chilling thought slowly surfaced. “Just now…I let…something in.”

“What?” The eldest didn’t catch it.

“I said, I think I let something in,” I said regretfully.

“I got a message from Carbon Head asking me to let him in downstairs, but now there’s nothing, and he says he never went down. Plus all those weird things happened…” I rambled.

“You mean, you let a ghost in?” the eldest said.

I nodded quickly. “Exactly. You know me well.”

“Come on, Fourth, you’ve read too many ghost stories.”

“Don’t be so paranoid.”

“Not necessarily,” Third brother chimed in. “Maybe Fourth hasn’t sobered up yet. Don’t forget, he’s the one who puked everywhere.”

“Hahaha.”

Faced with their disbelief, I had nothing more to say. After all, it didn’t happen to them. Their skepticism was understandable, but I was certain—this was no hallucination, no coincidence.

Meanwhile, in the distant principal’s office, the principal was furious once again.

“Teacher Wang! How could you let them steal the most precious contract books? Without those, we can’t control the situation!”

Teacher Wang’s face was pale. “I’m sorry, Principal, but I just couldn’t match them. After all, I’m only an ordinary person.”

“You’ve been studying at D University for so long—you know their abilities! Without the school’s trump card, we stand no chance against them, even those who haven’t found their hosts yet.”

The principal frowned; nothing he said could change the situation now. He could only take things one step at a time.