Chapter 113: The Chemistry Preparation Room’s Echoes

At precisely eight o’clock, the twilight hues began to deepen.

Under the dim streetlights, the old teaching building cast a silent, imposing silhouette, appearing less sinister than it would in the dead of night.

A subtle, crisp chill, characteristic of an autumn evening, permeated the air.

Suddenly, five figures materialized before the building.

Qin Xuan, as always, carried his remarkably professional black backpack. In his hand, he held a tablet-sized instrument, its screen alive with complex waveforms and flickering data.

Lu Yang, on the other hand, was fully equipped: a powerful flashlight, a portable camera, and a retractable baton tucked into his waistband, its origin a mystery. His face radiated an eager, almost palpable excitement.

“Old Qin, where did you get all those gadgets?”

“They look so professional!”

Qin Xuan replied calmly, “From home. They’re all instruments designed to detect energy fluctuations and magnetic field changes.”

“Besides, if you actually encounter those ‘dirty things,’ that baton of yours won’t be much help!”

Lu Yang let out a hearty chuckle. “This is just for moral support! I never said I’d use it to fight them, ah!”

Hua Liang listened to their exchange, his hands casually tucked into his pockets, his posture as relaxed as if he were strolling through his own backyard.

Yet, as his gaze swept over the teaching building, a sharp glint, uncharacteristic of his usual nonchalance, occasionally flashed in his eyes.

Xue Li stood quietly half a step behind him, her ice-blue hair swaying gently in the night breeze. Her eyes occasionally drifted towards Su Mian, who walked beside her.

Su Mian trailed at the very end, her fingers unconsciously tracing the pendant of the necklace nestled between her collarbones.

She had told Xiao Moyuan that she wanted to grow, to improve.

And with Xiao Moyuan waiting outside, her resolve was strong.

Still, a faint tremor of nervousness fluttered within her.

“Everyone’s here.”

Qin Xuan adjusted his glasses, their lenses reflecting the faint glow of his instrument’s screen. “Based on our previous experiences and data analysis, abnormal phenomena significantly increase in activity after ten o’clock.”

“This current time offers us a relatively safe window for investigation.”

“Tonight, we won’t split up. We’ll move as a collective, focusing our re-examination on the eastern restroom on the third floor. We’ll also attempt to explore higher floors to locate the source of the ‘Sixth Staircase’ rumor.”

“Understood!”

Lu Yang was the first to respond, rubbing his hands together. “Tonight, we absolutely have to uncover the mystery of that ‘Sixth Staircase’!”

Hua Liang chuckled softly, offering no words.

Xue Li gave a slight nod.

Su Mian also murmured a quiet “Okay,” striving to make her voice sound calm and natural.

The group pushed open the heavy, old-fashioned main door, immediately met by a familiar scent—a mix of dust, aged wood, and a faint, damp mildew.

The sound-activated lights in the corridor flickered on one by one with their footsteps, emitting a faint crackling of electricity.

The light was dim and intermittent, stretching their shadows on the mottled walls, making them alternately long and short.

The atmosphere unconsciously grew heavier.

Even the usually boisterous Lu Yang lowered his voice.

They first arrived at the entrance of the girls’ restroom on the third floor’s east side.

The old green wooden door remained ajar, unchanged since their last visit.

“Xue Li, please go inside and check again. Pay attention to any temperature changes and residual energy traces.”

Qin Xuan directed his thermal imager towards the restroom door and walls. “I’ll scan the external energy field and temperature distribution from here.”

Xue Li nodded without hesitation, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

The door hinges let out a familiar, teeth-grating ‘creak.’

Su Mian and the others waited outside the door.

She could vaguely hear Xue Li’s steady footsteps within, followed by the soft sound of a faucet being twisted open and then shut—Xue Li was likely checking the pipes.

A few minutes later, Xue Li emerged, her expression as calm and unruffled as before.

“Nothing abnormal.”

Her voice was cool. “The temperature is slightly lower than the corridor, but it falls within a normal range.”

Qin Xuan observed the data on his instrument’s screen, his brow furrowing slightly before smoothing out again.

“Thermal imaging indeed shows that the temperature inside the restroom and its surrounding walls is marginally lower than the corridor’s average, by about three to five degrees Celsius.

However, considering the building’s structure, ventilation, and plumbing factors, this temperature difference remains within the normal fluctuation range for an old building.”

“Energy field scan… the readings are weak and stable. No obvious active psionic hotspots detected.”

He looked up, concluding, “It seems it’s still quite early. That residual thought-form, or whatever entity is connected to it, has very low activity at this time, possibly even in a ‘dormant’ state.”

“This aligns with the pattern of most spiritual phenomena being most active around midnight.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang let out a disappointed “Ah.”

“So, we came all this way for nothing tonight? Do we have to wait until midnight?”

“No need. Safety is always the priority for this operation.”

Qin Xuan put away his instrument, his gaze drifting towards the deep end of the corridor before settling into a calm expression.

“Since it’s temporarily quiet here, we can use this time to explore upwards, searching for other potentially related anomalies.”

“The rumor of the ‘Sixth Staircase’ isn’t baseless; it likely points to a specific area of energy anomaly.”

Hua Liang interjected at this point, his tone still light. “So, in other words, Master Peng ‘hasn’t’ woken up yet, and we’re just going to wander around his bedroom door?”

This analogy made Lu Yang snicker, easing the tense atmosphere slightly.

Qin Xuan glanced at Hua Liang but didn’t refute him, implicitly agreeing with the sentiment.

“You could interpret it that way.”

“We’ll just head up. The fifth floor is our main observation point. Let’s go.”

The group left the third floor, ascending the stairs.

Their footsteps echoed in the hollow stairwell, amplifying the building’s profound silence.

Perhaps it was the slight sense of security afforded by moving as a group, or perhaps the building was genuinely “quiet” at that moment, but the atmosphere on their way to the fifth floor felt more relaxed than before.

Lu Yang even began to quietly discuss other ghost stories about the building from the campus forum with Qin Xuan.

“Old Qin, do you think… besides the female ghost and the stairs, could that rumor about ‘piano music automatically playing in the music room at midnight’ also be related to what we’re investigating?”

“I heard that music room is on the west end of the fourth floor…”

Qin Xuan continued walking, recording his instrument’s readings without looking up.

“The probability is very low. The music room on the west side of the fourth floor was built fifteen years ago, a significant time gap from the three core incidents.

I believe it’s more likely caused by pipe resonance, wind pressure differences, or human pranks.”

“Oh…”

Lu Yang seemed to understand, yet not quite.

Hua Liang, trailing leisurely behind, suddenly turned his head and whispered with a low chuckle to Xue Li beside him, “Isn’t our human club president especially interesting when he’s so earnestly analyzing supernatural events?”

Xue Li’s ice-blue eyes flickered at him, but she said nothing. However, a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of helplessness seemed to cross her eyes.

Despite his playful words, Hua Liang’s opinion of Qin Xuan had risen sharply.

As an ordinary person without spiritual power, Qin Xuan’s analysis was entirely accurate. They could clearly perceive that there was indeed no anomaly on the fourth floor.

Su Mian silently listened to their conversation, her gaze, however, vigilantly sweeping over every classroom door and dark corner they passed.

She could feel that the higher they ascended, the more the inexplicable “stagnant sensation” in the air seemed to subtly intensify. It wasn’t demonic energy, but a profoundly oppressive feeling.

Finally, they reached the fifth floor.

The layout of the fifth floor was similar to the lower levels, but it was noticeably more dilapidated.

Broken railings, and the rooms at the very end were even darker. Several lamps seemed completely broken, and the few that remained emitted a dimmer light.

Dust had accumulated much thicker, and some classroom doors even bore faded seals from years past, their lettering barely legible.

“Energy readings are starting to show minor fluctuations, though not significant.”

Qin Xuan stared at his screen, leading the group along the corridor towards the east side.

The eastern side of the fifth floor appeared to have been a preparatory classroom and storage area for science subjects back in the day, with much of the lettering on the room plaques having peeled off.

As they checked each room, Qin Xuan’s instrument occasionally emitted a faint “drip-drip” sound, but it quickly returned to silence.

Until they neared the end of the corridor.

Qin Xuan’s footsteps abruptly halted.

The previously stable waveform on his instrument’s screen now displayed clear disorder.

The values representing energy intensity jumped up and down, and energy signals of different frequencies intertwined, forming a chaotic “snowy region.”

“It’s here.”

Qin Xuan’s voice was low, tinged with the gravity of a crucial discovery. “This is the anomalous energy fluctuation area. The core point should be just ahead.”

Everyone followed his gaze.

At the far left end of the corridor stood an unusually heavy, old-fashioned wooden door.

Most of the paint had peeled away, revealing the dark wood beneath. A rusty brass lock hung from the door’s staple, its keyhole clogged with dust.

Above the doorframe, a broken plaque hung askew, barely legible as “…Chemistry Preparation Room.”

Hua Liang and Xue Li’s expressions shifted almost simultaneously.

Hua Liang’s usual relaxed smile receded slightly, and a sharp, scrutinizing glint, befitting the “Lord of the Hundred Night Parade,” flashed deep in his eyes.

He subtly sniffed the air, murmuring under his breath, almost inaudibly, “Hiss… this smell, it’s quite ancient.”

Xue Li, on the other hand, felt it more directly.

As a Snow Woman, her perception of “temperature” and “emotional energy” far surpassed that of ordinary people.

At this moment, she distinctly sensed an extremely chilling aura emanating from behind that door.

She instinctively moved half a step closer to Hua Liang, a subtle posture of vigilance and cooperation.

Su Mian’s reaction was even more visceral.

In the sight of her faintly activated demon eyes, thin wisps of extremely faint yet heart-pounding grey-black aura were seeping out from beneath the old wooden door’s crack and around its keyhole!

“This is it…”

Qin Xuan stepped forward, attempting to scan the door panel more closely with his instrument. “This is where the energy readings are most chaotic and intense. Multiple frequency bands of residual energy intertwine… there’s definitely something unusual behind this door.”

Lu Yang leaned in, clicking his tongue as he observed the messy waveforms on the screen. “Old Qin, your instrument is seriously impressive. You can even detect those things.”

“Just spend enough money,” Qin Xuan said blandly.

Lu Yang paused, then asked, “So, Old Qin, are you a hidden rich second generation too?”

Qin Xuan offered no explanation. He tried to push the door, but it didn’t budge; the old lock was indeed still fastened.

“It’s locked. We’ll need tools to open it.”

Qin Xuan frowned, pondering whether to contact the school’s maintenance staff or…

Just then, Su Mian, as if drawn by some invisible force, involuntarily took two steps forward.

Her gaze was fixated on the grey-black aura seeping from the door cracks, unable to tear away.

The aura seemed alive, subtly writhing, creating a strange resonance with the fox demon bloodline within her.

An irresistible curiosity, mingled with a deep-seated chill, compelled her to reach out her hand.

“Su Mian?” Qin Xuan noticed her movement and called out.

Lu Yang also looked over.

Hua Liang and Xue Li’s gazes simultaneously sharpened, focusing on Su Mian with a newfound depth of meaning.

Su Mian seemed not to hear.

Her fingertips gently brushed against the cold, rusted brass lock.

The moment her fingertips made contact with the lock’s body—

“OOOOOMMMM—!!!”

A colossal roar, audible only to her, as if from the depths of her soul, suddenly exploded!

Everything before her—the dim corridor, her companions, the old door—twisted, shattered, and spun like a reflection in a water mirror struck by a stone!

A powerful sensation of weightlessness and dizziness swept over her.

Lu Yang’s cry, Hua Liang and Xue Li’s suddenly sharp voices, all the fear, despair, hatred, abhorrence, all the gazes—

Everything rapidly receded and faded.

Her five senses were forcibly stripped away.

The coordinates of time and space disintegrated in an instant.

Darkness swallowed everything.

She didn’t know how long passed—perhaps an instant, perhaps a century.

A faint glimmer of light emerged deep within her consciousness, rapidly expanding.

Sounds reached her ears before images—the sharp, panicked, malicious arguing voices of several young girls, mixed with suppressed sobs and desperate pleas.

“Hand it over! Chen Wan, hand over that tattered manuscript you picked up!”

“Do you think if you don’t speak, everything will be fine?”

“Don’t you know what kind of background Zhou Li’s family has? What do you think you’re doing keeping something like that?”

“I’m not… I didn’t… it was just something I bought randomly from an old bookstall…”

A soft, trembling girl with a tearful voice tried to explain, filled with fear and helplessness.

“Shut up! Who believes your nonsense! If you don’t hand it over today, you won’t leave this room!”

Her vision gradually cleared.

Su Mian “found” herself standing in an unfamiliar room.

The room looked much newer than the current chemistry preparation room, but it was cluttered, piled with dusty glass instruments and wooden laboratory tables.

The windows were high, and the sky outside was dim, like late evening.

Four girls, dressed in styles from decades past, were surrounding another girl cornered against the wall.

The surrounded girl was thin, with two braided pigtails, her face pale, and tears streaming down, looking quite pitiful.

Among those surrounding her, the leader, a girl with arrogant features and exquisite clothing, wore a cruel expression unsuited to her age.

The argument escalated, and shoving began.

“Ah!” Chen Wan was violently pushed by one of the girls, stumbling backward.

Her head hit the protruding, sharp metal edge of the laboratory table behind her with a sickening thud!

A dull impact sound.

Blood instantly gushed from her dark hair, staining the dusty floor red.

Chen Wan’s eyes snapped open, her pupils dilating. Gurgling sounds escaped her throat as her body softly slumped to the ground.

Time seemed to stand still.

The four abusive girls also froze, their faces drained of color. They stared at the rapidly spreading pool of blood and the convulsing Chen Wan on the floor, their eyes filled with extreme terror.

“She, she…” one girl’s teeth chattered.

Zhou Li, the leader, was the first to snap out of her fear, but there was no remorse in her eyes; only thoughts of how to deal with the situation.

“We can’t let her live… no one can know…”

She murmured, her gaze sweeping the room before she violently tore down a heavy curtain by the window.

Under the terrified gazes of the other three girls, and in Chen Wan’s eyes, still wide with pain, bewilderment, and despair before she completely lost consciousness, Zhou Li wrapped the curtain fabric around Chen Wan’s slender neck and pulled with all her might—

At that moment, Su Mian instinctively wanted to rush forward to help, but found she couldn’t make a sound, nor could she move. ‘What’s happening?’

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