Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Xu Jiayi was greatly shocked, never expecting Yu Ni to post a fake video rather than a supernatural one to ride the trend.

"Wait, why did she post this video? It's already blowing up—I bet the counselor is probably gonna call us in soon."

"She's lost it." Ruan Lan raised a hand to her forehead. "She's completely lost her mind."

"Could that thing be messing with her?" Xu Jiayi asked.

No one knew the answer. As Yu Ni's video started blowing up, the three were called in for a talk. After learning they had played the game, they got a stern warning never to do it again. They were also pulled aside individually to confirm there was no bullying before being allowed to leave.

Weirdly enough, when they pushed open the dorm door, the room was pitch black. The second the light came on, Yu Ni sat on her chair, staring straight at them, no telling how long she'd been sitting there.

"Holy crap." Xiao Ru was the first to yelp, gripping the doorframe tightly, gasping for air. "You scared the hell out of me—what are you doing? Why are you back?"

"You didn't want me to come back?" Yu Ni looked at the three, speaking in a low, creepy voice. Even sitting right under the light, her eyes were so dark they held no glimmer at all—downright terrifying.

"No, just curious how you wrapped things up so fast."

Xiao Ru brushed it off with a laugh, setting down her backpack, then remembering the wasted day, couldn't help but complain: "What did you post that video for? Got us dragged in for a whole day of getting lectured."

"It's the truth." Yu Ni tilted her head. "Aren't you three ganging up on me? I'm not sick, and there's nothing wrong with me. You three are the ones with problems."

"What the hell." Xiao Ru cursed loudly. "If your brain's fried, go get it checked out. Who bullied you? Your paranoia is off the charts."

"You three are the ones bullying me." No matter how agitated Xiao Ru got, Yu Ni just kept repeating the same calm, cold line.

Ruan Lan was too drained to argue with Yu Ni. She got ready for bed and lay down to sleep.

Xu Jiayi could tell something was off with Yu Ni but said nothing, quietly washing up. Right as she was about to kill the lights, Yu Ni, still sitting on her chair, suddenly spoke: "I put in a request to switch dorms. Aren't you three gonna say something, since you bullied me?"

Xu Jiayi froze, stuttering: "Yu Ni, you seriously still think we bullied you?"

"What else would it be?" Yu Ni shot back coldly. "Is this all in my head or what? You three have selective memory—you bullied someone and won't even own up to it."

Xu Jiayi felt like her head was spinning, trying to explain: "But we really didn't bully you."

She wanted to complain—she was the most invisible person in the dorm, often getting the cold shoulder from Yu Ni herself. If anyone was getting bullied, it was her.

"I think that game scrambled your brain." Xiao Ru rolled her eyes. "Your parents are useless—whoever they dragged you to see didn't do jack."

Hearing that, Xu Jiayi remembered the relative Ruan Lan had mentioned. She climbed into bed and quietly texted.

"Did you ask your relative?"

Ruan Lan was hiding under her blanket, not asleep: "I asked, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'll check tomorrow."

Xu Jiayi sent a sticker back. Right as she was about to roll over and sleep, she looked up and saw Yu Ni had somehow gotten onto her bed, with her neck craned at a weird, twisted angle, staring at her phone.

Xu Jiayi let out a yelp, clutching her blanket: "What are you doing?"

"Are you talking shit about me again?" Yu Ni said. "I'm already transferring dorms, and you're still talking trash about me behind my back. Aren't you scared of karma?"

Xu Jiayi didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "No, I'm just texting Ruan Lan. I'm not talking shit about you. Believe it or not, we really didn't bully you."

"Just ignore her, she's delusional." Xiao Ru lay with her back to them, facing the wall with her phone, furiously texting, posting a rant on the forum about her "psycho roommate."

Late night was prime time for the forum's night owls. The post had barely been up a minute before replies started rolling in.

"If you guys really summoned something from that game, then this chick is clearly possessed, right?"

"What if this isn't your roommate at all, but that thing? What if it got bullied when it was alive and thinks you're the ones who did it?"

"This theory checks out."

"Respect to you guys—this chick is this messed up and you can still sleep in the same room as her."

"..."

Xiao Ru was totally into the thread when she suddenly felt something off. She slowly turned sideways and abruptly met Yu Ni's ghastly pale face, lit weirdly by the light, making her jump out of her skin.

She was so mad her eyes nearly popped out.

But Yu Ni, who'd been standing on the ladder watching her for God knows how long, just gave her a two-second look, then turned and climbed into her own bed.

In the end, Xu Jiayi had no choice but to climb down and turn off the lights.

The room went pitch black, but Xiao Ru's brain was going a mile a minute.

What if Yu Ni really wasn't Yu Ni?

Then weren't they sharing a dorm with a ghost right now?

Xiao Ru scared herself with that thought and yanked the blanket over her head, yet couldn't help peeking through a tiny gap toward Yu Ni's bed.

A faint glint flashed in the dark. Before Xiao Ru could make out what it was, a voice spoke right next to her ear, like it was pressed against it: "What are you looking at?"

Cold sweat broke out all over Xiao Ru's back. She yanked the blanket tight, sealing the last gap, and didn't say a word.

Xu Jiayi had been dozing off when that flat, dead voice jolted her awake. Thinking it was aimed at her, she rubbed her eyes and mumbled: "Huh? I wasn't looking at you."

She forced her eyes open, squinting through the dark at Yu Ni across the room.

In the dark, a shadow sat bolt upright on Yu Ni's bed, back straight as a board, chest completely still.

It looked less like a person and more like a dead body.

Xu Jiayi shot up, squinting hard—only relaxing when she saw the chest rise and fall.

The adrenaline spike and crash left her wiped. She lay back on her pillow, trying to sleep, when she felt someone staring at her and had to open her eyes again.

There was no moonlight. The room was so dark she couldn't even make out outlines, yet Xu Jiayi could clearly see Yu Ni, head down, face-to-face with her.

Because of how they were positioned, Yu Ni's eyes were lower, her mouth lined up with Xu Jiayi's eyes.

She didn't have time to wonder how she could see Yu Ni's creepy stiff face in the dark—she was too busy trembling under that intense gaze, like prey being sized up.

"Yu Ni, why aren't you asleep?" Xu Jiayi said.

Yu Ni didn't say anything. Her nose was right up against Xu Jiayi's, and Xu Jiayi could feel her own shaky breath hitting Yu Ni's face, but she couldn't feel Yu Ni breathing at all.

The dorm was dead silent, and Xu Jiayi could hear her own heartbeat speeding up.

"This body's not working for me. Let me switch to another one." Yu Ni opened her mouth, and a stranger's voice came out.

Xu Jiayi screamed and shoved the face in front of her as hard as she could.

"Bang." Yu Ni's head smacked the wall, and Xu Jiayi's flailing hands stopped dead.

The next moment, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the deathly silent campus.

...

Under the harsh white light, Xu Jiayi's lips trembled as she continuously scratched her arms.

She was on edge, after all, having been yanked awake in the middle of the night, standing in the hallway in her pajamas, talking to the counselor.

"Why did you push her? Can't you two talk things out like classmates? Why would you hurt her?"

Xu Jiayi felt exhausted: "She was hovering over my face in the middle of the night, saying strange things. I shoved her because I was scared."

"She just asked if your bed was uncomfortable and whether you'd switch with her. If you didn't want to switch, you could've just said no," the counselor said helplessly. "Go apologize to her, and we'll pretend this never happened. After all, she hit the back of her head. What if she decides to press charges?"

Xu Jiayi was losing her mind.

She couldn't tell if it was Yu Ni herself trying to mess with her, or if something was actually possessing her.

It was all that stupid game's fault. Why did she even play it that day?

Xu Jiayi stared at the floor, dejected, her lips pressed into a tight line. She said "okay" out loud, but inside she was fuming.

No one noticed that the moment she lowered her head, faint wisps of black smoke began to drift from her fingertips.

As Xu Jiayi's resentment and complaints churned inside her, the black wisps thickened, turning as dark as ink, slowly enveloping her body.

"Stop spreading those ghost stories," the counselor warned. "It makes you look bad."

"I understand," Xu Jiayi nodded.

She'd figured she could just tough it out until morning and have someone check things out, but she never expected something like this to happen in the middle of the night.

Back in the dorm, Xu Jiayi saw Yu Ni sitting on a chair combing her hair, and climbed into bed without a word.

"Look at you, why'd you get so worked up?" Yu Ni raised a hand to touch the sore spot where she had been hit. "It's only because we're classmates that I'm letting this slide."

Xu Jiayi remembered she still had to apologize, so she bowed her head and said sincerely, "I'm sorry about that. It really was an accident."

The apology was sincere, but she couldn't stand the thought of living with Yu Ni anymore. She was now convinced this Yu Ni wasn't normal.

"Go to sleep." Still shaken from the incident last night, Ruan Lan urged Yu Ni to get back in her own bed when she saw Xu Jiayi lying down.

"You guys sleep. I can't." Yu Ni switched on her desk lamp and turned off the dorm's main light.

Luckily, her lamp wasn't bright, so Ruan Lan closed her eyes.

Xu Jiayi was so exhausted she ached, and the second her eyelids closed, she was out cold.

The next morning, Xiao Ru was full of pep, humming a tune while washing up.

Ruan Lan was dragging, glued to her phone.

Xu Jiayi was okay, just a little sore all over.

"Did that person ever reply?" she asked.

"No." Ruan Lan said irritably, "I've been pestering them for ages and got nothing."

"Maybe we should look for someone else?" Xu Jiayi mused.

"There's no one else to find." Ruan Lan shook her head, glancing at Yu Ni who was doing her makeup. "Aren't you supposed to be switching dorms? Why haven't you made a move yet?"

"Duh," Yu Ni said, drawing her eyeliner with a perfectly steady hand. "I have to wait for the application to get approved."

Compared to her earlier creepy, off-putting vibe, she seemed way more lively now.

But Ruan Lan wasn't the least bit happy.

Yu Ni was decent at makeup, but eyeliner was always her weak spot. Yet now she nailed both eyeliners in one smooth stroke without a pause—there was no way Yu Ni could do that.

Xiao Ru dried her face and poked her head out: "No one's actually bullied you. Are you seriously transferring dorms?"

"Yeah." Yu Ni kept smiling. "What if you guys bully me later? Then I'd be all alone, how sad for me."

Xiao Ru pursed her lips and said nothing.

Xu Jiayi climbed down from her bunk, stunned by Yu Ni's flawless makeup: "Since when did you get so good at makeup?"

"I've been practicing behind your back. Pretty good, huh?" Yu Ni grabbed her bag, stood up, and without another word, brushed off her clothes and left the dorm.

The door clicked shut, and Xu Jiayi and Ruan Lan exchanged a look, both seeing the doubt in the other's eyes.

"Something's off. She's definitely not Yu Ni," Xu Jiayi said.

Ruan Lan paused, then lowered her voice: "Actually, I never fell asleep last night."

"Because of me? Sorry," Xu Jiayi said guiltily.

"No." Ruan Lan exhaled, her voice dropping even lower. "After the lights went out last night, I was just about to fall asleep when I felt someone watching me. I didn't open my eyes, but I knew it was her."

"Then she climbed up the ladder and just stood there, staring at me for a long time. Then, before she left, she said something."

"What?" Xiao Ru was dying of curiosity. "Spill! Don't leave us hanging."

"I know you're awake. I was gonna swap bodies with you, but you're too chicken, so forget it."

As Ruan Lan finished mimicking Yu Ni's teasing tone from last night, Xiao Ru and Xu Jiayi both shuddered at the same time.

"That's insane." Xiao Ru muttered, rubbing her arms.

A chill ran down Xu Jiayi's spine: "She's basically admitting it to us, isn't she? She talked to me about swapping bodies before, and now she's telling you the same thing..."

"Otherwise, why else would she be switching dorms?" Ruan Lan glanced at the dorm door, her tone serious. "She probably thinks she can become Yu Ni. That's why she's acting so normal today. Once she switches dorms, she'll fully become Yu Ni. Then only the three of us will know something's wrong with her, and if she tells people we're bullying her, even if we say she's not Yu Ni, everyone will just think we're bullying her again."

Xiao Ru was stunned: "This thing is way too smart. What do we do? Do we just give up on Yu Ni?"

"Contact her parents," Ruan Lan said flatly. "We should be grateful that thing is inside Yu Ni's body. If it took turns possessing us, that would be way scarier."

The three of them skipped class and huddled in the dorm to contact Yu Ni's parents.

At first, her parents were cursing up a storm, but Ruan Lan stuck to her guns and laid out her reasoning until Yu Ni's parents finally believed her.

"You need to hurry. She'll probably switch dorms tomorrow. Once she does, it might be too late," Ruan Lan warned.

Her parents agreed, and only then did the three of them hang up, relieved.

"So, are we still looking for that person?" Xu Jiayi asked.

Ruan Lan glanced at the chat window—still no reply. She sighed, staring off: "That person probably doesn't use this account anymore. Let's drop it. We'll contact Yu Ni's parents later and see what the exorcist they find has to say."

Xu Jiayi nodded, rubbing her shoulder, feeling an inexplicable heaviness that restricted her movements. Every move felt like carrying a mountain on her back, and her breathing immediately became erratic.

"Are you okay?" Xiao Ru asked. "You look pale."

"Probably didn't rest well last night," Xu Jiayi said, regretting the previous night's encounter. "I shouldn't have played that game."

"Good thing I didn't play," Xiao Ru said, scratching her head. "I won't take Yu Ni's advice anymore."

"The game was fine—the problem was asking that question," Ruan Lan said with a grim expression.

There had been no issues at first. If Yu Ni hadn't asked the forbidden question, they would never have run into this mess.

The three fell silent, sitting blankly on their chairs.

A sharp ringtone broke the oppressive stillness of the dorm.

Ruan Lan answered, instinctively putting it on speaker, then changed her mind and held it to her ear.

"Auntie, what's the situation?"

"There's a spiritual expert living nearby. She said you've attracted a restless spirit, and the solution is simple—burn some paper offerings and apologize," Yu's mother said.

"Should we do it, or—"

"Her father and I will handle it," Yu's mother said. "Do you know her name?"

Ruan Lan looked at Xiao Ru.

If the thing inside Yu Ni really was the hanged girl she'd mentioned before, only she would know the name.

"Name, right?" Xiao Ru pulled out her phone, scrolling frantically. "Wait, let me search and see if I can find it."

Xu Jiayi scratched her shoulder, feeling an intense itch that spread through her body as she clawed at it. She began to feel itchy everywhere and couldn't help but stand up, scratching wildly.

Ruan Lan wanted to ask her something but was interrupted by Xiao Ru: "Found it—her name is Wen Yushi."

Ruan Lan relayed the information, then asked worriedly, "If it doesn't work, how will you be able to tell?"

"The expert said if the paper burns properly and everything turns to ash, that means the spirit accepted it. If the fire won't catch or it doesn't burn completely, that means it refused," Yu's mother said. "We'll handle it first and contact you later."

Ruan Lan said okay, hung up, and let out a slow breath. She turned to see Xu Jiayi jumping around frantically and froze. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm so itchy all over," Xu Jiayi said, on the verge of tears as she grabbed at her clothes. "Can you check—is there something on me?"

As soon as she lifted her shirt, raw red marks were visible. Ruan Lan quickly grabbed Xu Jiayi's hands. "You did all this scratching yourself. Why are you scratching so hard? You've torn your skin in several places."

With one hand held back, Xu Jiayi scratched even harder with the other, drawing blood from her shoulder.

But there was nothing there—only the scratches she'd made herself.

"It's all in your head, isn't it? Stop scratching and sit down to calm yourself," Xiao Ru said, startled by the blood welling up from her shoulder. "Stop it, this is scary—you're ripping your own skin off."

Xu Jiayi's collar had slipped, revealing a piece of flesh she'd scratched off her shoulder. Blood wouldn't stop flowing, quickly soaking her clothes.

Even from a few feet away, you could smell the blood.

Xu Jiayi couldn't settle down.

Her body felt fine—she was just itchy. She had to scratch. If she didn't, she felt like she'd lose it.

But if you asked her what kind of itch—bugs crawling or what—there was nothing. She was just plain itchy.

It was like her brain had been taken over, constantly sending itch signals to her body. Xu Jiayi could only ease it by scratching hard.

"Stop scratching—we're going to the hospital." Seeing that her shoulder and back were a mess, Ruan Lan grabbed both of Xu Jiayi's hands and shoved her toward the door.

"I'm so itchy, let me go, hurry, please, I'm begging you!" Xu Jiayi screamed, struggling wildly, her face turning red from the effort.

She turned to Xiao Ru, begging: "Make her let go! Scratch me—itchy, so itchy!"

Students from other dorms with no class came out, thinking Xu Jiayi had gone crazy.

What should've been a ten-minute walk took them half an hour to get Xu Jiayi to the campus clinic.

"There's nothing wrong," the doctor said after examining her, watching Xu Jiayi's condition. "Has she been acting off lately?"

At that, Ruan Lan's arm trembled as a thought crossed her mind—one that seemed too crazy to be true.

"Too much psychological stress can cause this. Has she been worried or upset about anything lately?"

The doctor barely finished asking when Ruan Lan grabbed Xu Jiayi and rushed out.

Xiao Ru looked baffled and hurried after her. "What's going on?"

"Xu Jiayi's condition is probably from that game. We can't wait for Yu Ni's parents—we need to find someone to ask as well," Ruan Lan said grimly. "Right now it's Xu Jiayi, but next it could be us."

Xiao Ru's face turned white as a sheet. It took her a moment to choke out: "But I didn't play."

"You were there too—who knows if something's wrong with you," Ruan Lan said, glancing at her. She told Xiao Ru to hold Xu Jiayi down while she got out her phone to call someone.

After more than a dozen calls, the person finally picked up.

"Who's this? What's up?"

Ruan Lan caught Xu Jiayi's hand as she tried to scratch when Xiao Ru wasn't looking, quickly explained the situation, stressing what Yu Ni's parents were doing and Xu Jiayi's current state.

"What the girl's parents are doing is fine—that works. As for your roommate, she's probably become a backup option for that thing," the person said.

Ruan Lan had only met this relative once. To put it nicely, they were distant relatives with a loose connection; to put it bluntly, they were basically strangers.

Hearing how calm the person sounded, Ruan Lan knew she had a solution and asked politely, "Please help us—money is no issue."

"Why would I take money from a kid like you?" the other person chuckled. "No charge. I can help you fix it. But why'd you play that game? Isn't that just making yourselves a target, telling that thing to come mess with you?"

Ruan Lan had been kicking herself the whole time. She promised she'd never play again and begged the person to tell her what to do.

"Find something that thing has touched, burn it in the bathroom, and give me its birth date and time," the person said.

Ruan Lan asked Xiao Ru if she knew.

"I have the name and birthday—is that enough?" Xiao Ru said, struggling to hold Xu Jiayi down. She was losing strength and had to pin her to the ground, looking like she was trying to start a fight.

Everyone passing by gave her a weird look until they heard the explanation and looked away.

"That works," the person said. "After you burn it, text me, then find somewhere to hide."

Ruan Lan said okay, hung up, and she and Xiao Ru each grabbed one of Xu Jiayi's hands, dragging her back to the dorm.

The good thing was, Yu Ni had touched a lot of stuff. Ruan Lan grabbed a wooden comb, went to the bathroom by herself to burn it, texted, then came back to the dorm.

"Come on, let's get off campus. Not here." Ruan Lan propped up Xu Jiayi, "Quit scratching, just hang in there."

Xu Jiayi's eyes were bloodshot, and she kept letting out slurred pleas: "Let me go, please, I gotta scratch, it's so itchy, so damn itchy."

Xiao Ru accidentally brushed Xu Jiayi's shoulder and yelped.

"She's freezing cold."

Ruan Lan checked. Her forehead was still normal temp, but the rest of her body was cold as if she'd just stepped out of a fridge.

"Hurry, let's get off campus first." She urged, gritting her teeth.

What normally took ten minutes, they covered in five, sprinting with Xu Jiayi and ducking into a nearby boba shop.

They'd barely sat down when the phone rang. It was Yu Ni's parents.

"It didn't work," Yu's mom said. "Forget burning it—the fire wouldn't even catch. It's so strange. I tried a bunch of different spots, finally got it lit once, and it went out a second later."

"Didn't the expert say what to do?" Ruan Lan asked.

"She said to try talking it out, and if that doesn't work, there's nothing else we can do." Yu's mom's voice was choked with tears. "What am I supposed to do about my daughter? Why is she so unlucky? Tell me, why did you all play that game in the first place?"

Ruan Lan stayed silent. Her relative's voice call came in. She quickly wrapped up the conversation, hung up, and answered the relative's call.

"Oh man, this isn't gonna work." This time, the relative had lost her previous leisurely demeanor and was extremely anxious. "This thing's pretty nasty. I can't handle it. You need to find someone else quickly."

"Don't say that," Xiao Ru quickly spoke up. "Auntie, if you can't handle it, we have even less idea what to do. You're so skilled in this line of work, you must know others. Recommend someone."

"I do know one person, but she's about the same level as me. She can't help you either." The relative was at a loss too, explaining, "This thing died with extreme unwillingness and deep resentment. Now it just wants to live in someone's place and isn't willing to negotiate properly."

Author's note:

None