“What was that? What is it?!”The shadow streaked across the sky with such incredible speed that no one could discern its true form. Even Shirley could only vaguely make out what appeared to be a winged creature.
Miss Huang, who had been on the verge of stepping out, was naturally startled as well. She trembled uncontrollably, raising her selfie stick above her head like a short spear, her face a mask of panic as she stared at the sky. Yet, just as everyone assumed this outwardly fierce but inwardly timid individual might abandon her plans and retreat, Li Nini approached her and whispered a few words. Instantly, Miss Huang’s expression underwent a complete transformation.
“Students, there’s no need to worry!”Having visibly relaxed, Miss Huang declared, “That was merely a common pigeon.”
“Huh?!”Almost everyone was dumbfounded. While no one had clearly seen the shadow, its size was undeniably comparable to at least a golden eagle. ‘A pigeon?’ they thought. ‘Since when are pigeons that massive?!’
“Eek… Xia Hua’s scared…”Simultaneously, a certain ‘occult researcher,’ still petrified, clung tightly to Shirley. In stark contrast to Ji Bingyao, whose muscular physique felt capable of crushing someone when embraced, Xia Hua’s body was soft and fragrant, akin to the pliable stress-relief toys found in markets. It was incredibly comfortable to hold, inspiring a desire to keep embracing her. Unfortunately, this was hardly the time to indulge in such a pleasant distraction.
“If you’re scared, just stay behind us.”After catching a murderous glare from Ji Bingyao and Eileen in her peripheral vision, Shirley hastily released Xia Hua. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you… er, protect everyone.”
At Shirley’s swift correction, both Ji Bingyao and Eileen’s expressions brightened with satisfaction. Subsequently, as Miss Huang, holding Li Nini’s hand, exited the dormitory, the exploration team members fell in behind them, forming a long, single-file line as they ventured into the dense fog.
Only upon truly stepping into the mist did Shirley realize it was far denser than anticipated. Despite it being morning, she found herself unable to discern the facial features of others if they were more than five meters away. Even stranger, the temperature today was remarkably low. The previous day, before her “solo rendezvous” on the teaching building’s roof, the weather forecast had clearly stated a high of 36 degrees Celsius and a low of 22 degrees Celsius for today. Oddly enough, however, she was now covered in goosebumps from the biting cold wind, experiencing a perceived temperature that felt no higher than 10 degrees Celsius.
The chilling cold in the wind affected the other members of the team as well. Shirley observed that everyone instinctively tightened their formation, seeking warmth from each other’s body heat. Given the extremely low visibility, this was not necessarily a disadvantage. Yet, when Ji Bingyao and Eileen began to close in on her from either side, the situation became… an entirely different matter.
Though no words were exchanged, it was clear these two intended to feign seeking warmth while indulging in a rare ‘tofu feast’ at Shirley’s expense. Ji Bingyao casually pressed her firm buttocks against Shirley’s waist, rubbing subtly in a suggestive manner, while Eileen positioned her “weapon”—a veritable behemoth by high school standards—against Shirley’s back, repeatedly nudging with an almost imperceptible force. Had Shirley been a boy of the same age, he might have mistakenly believed he had stumbled upon the gates of paradise. For Shirley, however, their actions brought far more trouble than pleasure.
Regrettably, Shirley dared not push them away. She knew full well that their timing for this behavior stemmed from the same underlying logic as a dog marking its territory: Xia Hua’s earlier ‘taking advantage’ had clearly provoked their instinctive displeasure. Hence, they had chosen this method to assert their dominance over the ‘occult researcher.’
Fortunately, this awkward situation did not persist for long. Less than half a minute after leaving the dormitory building and heading southwest towards the broadcast room, Li Nini, who was leading the way, abruptly halted. She rushed to the roadside bushes, bent over, and began to vomit.
“What’s wrong with you?”Ji Bingyao inquired. Miss Huang, however, stopped her.
“Nini is fine,”The plump dorm matron’s voice, muffled by her N95 mask, carried an indescribable sense of unease. “She’s just caught a slight chill. Leave her be.”
“A chill?”Shirley muttered to herself, finally free from the ‘pincer attack’ of Ji Bingyao and Eileen. While she understood that a sudden cold shock to the digestive system could cause vomiting and diarrhea, Li Nini’s condition still struck her as rather peculiar. What was particularly unsettling was that the substance she expelled, much like the acidic fluid Miss Huang had spewed after being attacked by that giant ‘stink bug,’ emitted a strange, deeply familiar odor.
Two years prior, during a holiday visit back to Britain, Shirley had been taken on an outing to a botanical garden by her adoptive parents. Her curiosity had led her to a minor mishap: she had discovered several enormous swallowtail butterfly larvae on a citrus tree and, out of curiosity, poked them. The very next second, these threatened caterpillars all extended their Y-shaped tentacles, releasing a profusion of pungent chemical substances. As a result, her nose had remained irritated and burning for the better part of the day after she returned. In this very moment, Shirley finally recalled that the smell of what Miss Huang had expelled earlier, and now what Li Nini had just vomited, bore a peculiar resemblance to the scent emitted by those caterpillars.
‘This… is it a coincidence?’
After a period of retching, Li Nini finally staggered back to her feet, resuming her duties as guide. Driven perhaps by the curiosity inherent to her “scholar’s soul,” Xia Hua made to run and examine the vomit on the grass, only to be shooed back by Miss Huang, who wielded her selfie stick.
“No one is to act alone! Form a line and follow us! This is all for your own good!”
By the standards of an elite academy, St. Lian Girls’ Academy was not particularly vast, its overall layout forming a rectangle 400 meters wide and 550 meters long. To the northeast of this rectangle lay the middle and high school dormitories and academic buildings, while the northwest housed the swimming pool and main gymnasium. The southeast comprised the kindergarten area, and the southwest contained the administration building and primary school section. These four distinct areas were separated by a cross-shaped network of roads, with a circular park, 120 meters in diameter, situated at the very heart of the campus.
“Look, that’s the dormitory building where Alice and Yurizumi are staying.”Despite the unsettling aura surrounding Li Nini, Shirley had to concede that she seemed remarkably competent in her role as guide. Under her guidance, this hastily assembled team had safely traversed a quarter of the campus. Although strange shadows had streaked across the sky several times, and peculiar insects—resembling those in Lu Ying’s earlier sketches—could be seen scuttling through the surrounding fog, they had, at least, not yet come under attack. They had, in fact, arrived safely near the central park of the school.
Another high school dormitory building stood merely twenty meters north of the small park.
Miss Huang had emphatically stated that no one was permitted to act alone. Nevertheless, upon leaving the dormitory, Shirley and her companions had, quite naturally, treated the dorm matron’s ‘authority’ as if it were thin air. While the other trepidatious exploration team members were distracted, Shirley’s group of four discreetly slowed their pace, then quickened their steps as they stealthily made their way towards the dormitory building.
Then, they stopped once more.
As a sudden gust of cold wind swept through, the fog in front of the dormitory building thinned slightly, granting them an early glimpse of the scene: unlike the other high school dormitory, this building’s main door stood wide open, its glass observation window and several dormitory windows shattered. A large expanse of dark liquid, its origin unknown, was splattered across the steps, amidst scattered books, miscellaneous items, and even a torn pink teddy bear backpack. The sight was utterly eerie.
On the ground beside the teddy bear backpack, scrawled in white chalk, was a single word: “DANGER!”
While the presence of this warning was certainly alarming, even without it, Shirley would never have rashly entered the dormitory in search of the other two members of the “Pink FM Frequency” band. After all, though she hadn’t “eaten pork,” she had certainly “seen pigs run,” so to speak. Over the past few years, she had (of course, unbeknownst to Viscount Collins) learned a crucial lesson from vivid and compelling works of fiction like *Resident Evil*, *Silent Hill*, and *Left 4 Dead*: certain buildings that *appear* exceedingly dangerous usually *are* exceedingly dangerous!
“Hey, I mean, maybe we… shouldn’t go in?”Eileen’s calves began to tremble involuntarily.
“Hmm, but what if Alice or Yurizumi are still inside?”Ji Bingyao remained somewhat reluctant.
“I think that’s unlikely.”Shirley pointed to the torn pink teddy bear backpack. “Look, that’s Alice’s bag.”
“Oh, it really is!”Ji Bingyao also recognized it.
“The handwriting next to it… if you’ll forgive my bluntness, it looks a bit like Shijō Yurizumi’s.”Eileen pointed to a spot just after the word “DANGER.” There, the person who had written the warning had actually drawn a minimalist smiley face. “To have the leisure to draw something like that during such a critical, urgent moment… well, that could only be that heedless chuunibyou.”
“In other words, ‘something happened’ in this dorm building, but they definitely escaped. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had time to write these warnings for others,”Shirley analyzed. “As for everyone else’s situation, I’m currently… hmm?”
A swaying, stumbling figure suddenly emerged from the dormitory building’s main entrance.