Chapter 37: Schoolyard Ghost Stories Spread Everywhere

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Chapter 37: Schoolyard Ghost Stories Spread Everywhere

School administrators usually spent most of their time away from campus. They were busy giving reports, delivering lectures, traveling, and writing. So when Yu Shenliu and Chen Yuan wandered into Zhuowen Academy together, Yu Shenliu didn’t bother hiding who he was at all. Even if an ordinary student happened to recognize him, who would care what he was doing?

“What are we supposed to look at?” Dressed casually and looking nothing like an official, Yu Shenliu stood on a tree-lined path, looking around.

Zhuowen Academy had an open campus, and people often came in to enjoy the scenery, so Yu Shenliu and Chen Yuan had no trouble getting inside. And being alone together in an environment like this gave Yu Shenliu a subtle feeling.

A date, perhaps?

Chen Yuan was holding a small notebook. He tapped it with his pen. “Hmm. According to the stories about the academy that I found online, we should start with the students jumping from the building. Most of the students who jumped at Zhuowen Academy did so from the Second Teaching Building. And although the Second Teaching Building has six floors, most of the students who jumped did so from the fifth floor.”

“Then let’s go to the Second Teaching Building first.” Yu Shenliu glanced at the sign beside the path and figured out which way to go before heading there with Chen Yuan.

After returning home yesterday, he and Chen Yuan had discussed the matter and looked up various stories about Zhuowen Academy. They ruled out things like moving statues and strange noises, which were half true and half false and could be found at almost any academy. The most famous stories about Zhuowen Academy were still the incidents involving students jumping from the Second Teaching Building, the depression cases, and a teaching building that supposedly had a maze-like layout that made it impossible to find the way out.

The incidents involving students jumping were just as they had heard before. The fact that nearly all of those who jumped chose the Second Teaching Building and jumped from the fifth floor was particularly strange.

As for the depression cases, Yu Shenliu had previously heard that they involved teachers in certain subjects. But Chen Yuan knew that it wasn’t limited to them. The woman’s daughter had developed depression too, hadn’t she?

Then there was the maze-like teaching building. This was also an issue with the Second Teaching Building. Its layout was extremely strange, and students often became completely disoriented inside and couldn’t find their way out.

And naturally, Chen Yuan’s investigation would begin by examining all the strange things about the Second Teaching Building.

Following the path, Zhuowen Academy had truly captured the essence of Chinese-style gardens. Every five steps brought a different view, with the scenery constantly changing, making the entire place breathtakingly beautiful. At the end of the path was a pond.

Summer was already coming to an end, yet half the pond was still covered with lotus flowers. Pink blossoms peeked out from among the green lotus leaves, their petals seeming to smile. The other half, where there were no lotus flowers, was a tranquil expanse of water. It wasn’t clear enough to see the bottom, and its dark color made it obvious that it was deep. The pond gave off a refreshing feeling, making it a rare beautiful sight in summer.

“It’s beautiful.” Looking at the scene, Yu Shenliu said softly.

Chen Yuan nodded in agreement, but his gaze fell on a sign beside the pond: Danger: Deep Water. Yet there were no railings or other protective barriers around the pond. Instead, there were several stone benches.

Looking up again, Chen Yuan saw that the Second Teaching Building stood behind the pond. Several people who looked like students were walking along the path surrounding the pond and into the teaching building.

This layout really was…

Chen Yuan shook his head before saying to Yu Shenliu, “Let’s go upstairs and have a look.”

The two of them then walked around the pond and entered the teaching building.

Normally, an ordinary teaching building should have a fairly simple layout. No matter how many staircases there were, they would all lead from the ground floor to the top floor. The classrooms would then be arranged in rows, clearly laid out. Yet Chen Yuan had no idea how Zhuowen Academy had planned its Second Teaching Building. The moment he entered, he was a little bewildered.

After entering the teaching building, there was a hall, which was normal enough. But why were there paths leading to the left, right, and straight ahead? More importantly, where were the stairs?

It really did feel like a maze-like teaching building. Chen Yuan sighed, took out his phone, and sent a text. At a time like this, it was better to find someone from the academy to show them the way. The woman had previously given him her daughter’s phone number, and now it happened to come in handy.

Yu Shenliu felt a little disappointed. This was supposed to be a date for the two of them, yet now there was going to be another person joining them. But seeing Chen Yuan’s completely oblivious expression, he ultimately said nothing. People said that one could control the feudal lords by controlling the emperor, but he hadn’t gotten the emperor into his hands yet, so he had no standing to say anything.

It wasn’t long before the girl arrived.

“M-Master.” After hesitating for a moment, she addressed Chen Yuan this way. “Which floor are you planning to go to?” It sounded almost like a taxi driver asking a passenger where they wanted to go.

“The fifth floor.” Chen Yuan answered. Seeing her hesitant expression, he added, “Tell us what you know along the way.”

The girl nodded and glanced around before murmuring, “The fifth floor… This way.” As she spoke, she led the two of them toward the passage on the right.

“You have to take different routes to get to different floors?” Yu Shenliu felt that something was off and couldn’t help asking. When he had come for his inspection yesterday, the academy staff hadn’t taken him to the Second Teaching Building, so he wasn’t very familiar with the situation here.

“Yes. The Second Teaching Building is a square-shaped building with a courtyard in the middle. If we had kept going straight just now, we would have reached the section in the middle of the square. That’s a separate building, connected to the outer ring by several enclosed walkways. But the walkways are in different places on each floor. One is to the east, another to the west. It’s impossible to figure out which way you’re going,” the girl answered. She seemed much quieter than when Chen Yuan had seen her last time, and she also looked somewhat listless.

Chen Yuan looked over the classrooms on both sides of the corridor. He occasionally saw people attending class or studying on their own inside. As he did so, he asked the girl, “What about the stairs? Do we have to take this way to get to the fifth floor?”

“The Second Teaching Building is an old building. Originally, the outer ring only had three floors, while the building in the middle had only two. The middle building was also sealed off at the top, with no passage leading up. Later, because there wasn’t enough space, they added several floors to the entire Second Teaching Building. They started with the outer ring. Since there had only been an entrance to the rooftop before, the staircase from the third floor to the fourth floor ended up in a very strange location. Later, because they had to consider the load-bearing capacity of the existing structure below, the staircases for the added floors weren’t aligned with those below. Instead, they were built in different directions, with each staircase leading up one floor. And since each floor is so large, the staircases are very confusing. To get to the fifth floor, it’s closer if we go this way,” the girl explained as she spoke.

It really was quite a mess. Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. “What about the walkways over there?”

“Because the building in the middle only has two floors, if we had gone straight just now, we could only have reached the first and second floors. To get to the third floor, we have to go through the walkway from this side.” The girl answered as she led Chen Yuan and Yu Shenliu through a series of turns before they finally reached the fifth floor.

There was no need for the girl to lead them anymore, so Chen Yuan stepped forward. He figured out which direction they were facing, then casually chose an empty classroom and went inside. Walking over to the window, he looked down.

Half the pond was water and half was flowers. The lotus pond lay directly below. The wooded area they had walked through was in front of it, while there were large open spaces on either side of the pond.

There were people studying in the classroom, after all, so making too much noise would be impolite. Chen Yuan beckoned the girl over and asked in a lowered voice, “From up here, can you find the spots where the people who jumped from the building that you know about died?”

The girl leaned forward to look and likewise answered in a lowered voice, “I don’t know about very many of them, but I think several of them were in that spot.” She pointed toward a section of the open area.

Chen Yuan looked around, determined roughly where that spot was, then left the classroom. Without saying anything, he walked forward, scanning the classroom signs on both sides. When he estimated that he had reached the classroom corresponding to the spot the girl had pointed out, he went inside and looked down through the window. He confirmed that most of the students who had jumped had probably jumped from here.

It was broad daylight, and everything should have felt bright and open, but being in a place like this still made the girl somewhat uneasy. She stayed close behind Chen Yuan. Once Chen Yuan had confirmed that this was indeed the right classroom, he said quietly, “Let’s get out of here.”

Chen Yuan nodded and led the way out of the classroom. As he stepped through the door, he glanced back and saw that the room number was 502.

Sure enough.

Although Chen Yuan’s expression remained unchanged, Yu Shenliu could tell that he had already come to a conclusion.

The three of them went downstairs and returned to the lotus pond. Chen Yuan casually sat down on one of the stone benches, then asked the girl, “Has anyone drowned in the pond before?”

“Ah, I heard there was, but it was a long time ago.” Once they were out of the teaching building, the girl’s uneasiness eased, and she sounded a little more lively.

“I know what’s going on. Go back to class. It won’t be long before this is resolved.” Chen Yuan smiled and said this to the girl in a relaxed tone.

“Hm? Ah!” The girl was a little stunned, not knowing how to react. Was that it? She still felt uneasy, but since he had said so, she quietly went back.

Once the girl had left, Yu Shenliu’s mood instantly improved. He sat down beside Chen Yuan and asked, “Did you figure out what was going on?”

“It’s still a matter of feng shui, actually,” Chen Yuan said. “But there’s another factor involved. That classroom we just saw was 502, right?”

Yu Shenliu nodded.

“This factor can actually be considered part of the realm of metaphysics as well, but it’s very difficult to explain. Generally speaking, most people consider numbers containing 4 to be unlucky. But that isn’t necessarily the case. If you pay attention to your surroundings, you’ll find that places like schools, homes, and even hotels, anywhere with room numbers, tend to have something… strange about rooms whose numbers contain 2 and 5. Especially 502 or 205. Whenever you hear stories about ghosts and other supernatural things, the locations where they happen are often associated with these numbers. I don’t know why even now, but the phenomenon does exist. So there’s an explanation for why so many students jump from Room 502 on the fifth floor.” Chen Yuan looked toward the classroom and shrugged.

Yu Shenliu had never heard that these two numbers were so strange. He was somewhat surprised, but he knew that there was ultimately some basis to what Chen Yuan said. Although the idea that having a certain number in a room number could make it unlucky sounded extremely unscientific. It was almost like people paying high prices for supposedly lucky license plates or phone numbers to scam money out of others.

Wasn’t that something only superstitious people did?

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