Chapter 1 The Lonely Souls and Wild Ghosts

Lonely souls and wild ghosts... Jiang Cheng thought about it, and it was indeed true.

"Then after their heads were chopped off, their bodies didn't fare well either. After the army left, the nearby people dug up the corpses from the soil and used knives, scissors, and things like that..." Yuan Xiaoyi's voice grew softer as she spoke, but Jiang Cheng understood that their end was definitely very miserable.

After a pause, Yuan Xiaoyi added, "Senior, do you remember that male teacher?"

This sentence reminded Jiang Cheng. After a moment, Jiang Cheng stroked his chin and nodded, "You want to say that the way this male teacher died is very similar to the fate of this bandit's corpse, right?"

"Yeah." Yuan Xiaoyi responded softly, and then added, "According to the old man, the place where those bandits were shot was in this area of our university, but at that time it was a wilderness. Now everything has changed, and there is no way to confirm the specific location."

Although that was what she said, it seemed that the sculpture hall was the right location.

And this strange bust statue was the bandit leader who had been beheaded back then.

Unexpectedly, after so long, he had returned.

And in such a strange way.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Cheng looked at Yuan Xiaoyi and asked, "What do you mean when you say that there is more than one moving sculpture?"

"Senior, that's what I'm going to talk about next." Yuan Xiaoyi replied quickly, "According to what Xiaoyu told me last night, she said that in addition to the bust statue, there are some sculptures that are alive. These sculptures are occupied by the bandits who used to be led by the bandit leader, and they all listen to him."

"Anyone who walks in at night will be killed by them." Yuan Xiaoyi added, "Just like... just like the male teacher, they have a lot of resentment."

"Then how can we rescue people?" Jiang Cheng thought for a long time, but didn't think there was any way out.

"If you want to rescue Xiaoyu, then you need to find the bandit leader, which is the bust statue, and then destroy it!" Yuan Xiaoyi said with certainty.

"How to find it?" Jiang Cheng asked, "Are there any photos or anything like that?"

Hearing this, Yuan Xiaoyi shook her head. "No, but it is said that the bust statue is very strange. You can recognize it at a glance because..." Yuan Xiaoyi pointed to her neck and said softly, "He died by beheading. Although his head is hanging on his neck, it is... tilted."

Recalling what the security guard said before his death, the psychologist's words, it all seemed to fit.

"Also, its weakness is behind its head. Xiaoyu said that only by hitting there can the bust statue be completely destroyed. Once the statue is destroyed, this bandit leader will completely disappear." After a pause, Yuan Xiaoyi added, "The same goes for those sculptures controlled by it."

"But the bust statue is not completely the same as the other sculptures. It doesn't have much aggression." As if afraid that Jiang Cheng would misunderstand, she immediately added, "Those sculptures are very ferocious. They were like that when they were bandits, and they are still like that now. Perhaps their methods are even more brutal."

"Although they have retained their nature, their brains are just average. They are like a group of beasts that have lost their minds, only knowing how to pursue and kill. And the tamer who controls them is the bust statue."

"As for the bust statue, it is the opposite. Its mobility is limited, but it is unusually cunning, and its killing methods are even stranger."

Speaking of this, Yuan Xiaoyi paused and looked at Jiang Cheng, saying, "It can kill people just by staring at them for a long time."

Yuan Xiaoyi's words were scattered, and Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment, extracting the useful information and summarizing it: "The sculptures in the sculpture hall are divided into three types. The bust statue is a separate category, the remaining moving sculptures are one category, and the last category is the immobile ones, which are normal statues."

"The characteristics of the bust statue are cunning, it can control other moving sculptures, but its own mobility is limited, and its killing method is to stare at people for a long time."

"The remaining moving sculptures don't have much brains, but they are highly mobile and have cruel methods. In simple terms, they can fight, run, and withstand attacks, just like zombies."

"But no matter which type, they are all afraid of attacking the back of their heads. That is their weakness, right?" Jiang Cheng summarized a lot and said.

Yuan Xiaoyi thought for a while, "That's right, Senior, that's... that's what I meant."

Jiang Cheng's analysis was very logical, and his wording was very appropriate, making it easy to understand.

There would be no results from asking further questions. Jiang Cheng looked at Yuan Xiaoyi and started the final topic, "What time is suitable for us to go?"

"Midnight 12 o'clock." Yuan Xiaoyi said, "You stand in front of the art center gate. After entering, first go to the security room and turn off the alarm. It's on the position below the table. There is a red alarm switch there. Just turn it off."

"Then go to the sculpture classroom. There are some tools in there that you might find useful."

Jiang Cheng thought for a while, looked up at Yuan Xiaoyi, and said, "But we don't know the way."

Analogous to the activity center, the interior of the art center must be more complicated. It might not be easy to find all the places in a short time.

However, Yuan Xiaoyi seemed very confident about this. "Senior, you don't have to worry about this. There is an internal map of the art center hanging on the wall facing the entrance of the art center. You can follow the map."

Jiang Cheng nodded, "I see."

"But you have to pay attention to one thing. When you enter the sculpture hall for the first time, you must knock on the door. You must... you must not forget." Yuan Xiaoyi said very seriously.

"What's that about?" Jiang Cheng asked.

Hearing this, Yuan Xiaoyi shook her head, indicating that she didn't understand either. These were all what Xiaoyu told her last night, and she was just repeating it.

After a moment, Yuan Xiaoyi felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised her head and met Jiang Cheng's eyes. "Xiaoyi, promise me, when I'm not around, you must take care of yourself and don't make me worry."

"Senior..., I, I know." Yuan Xiaoyi lowered her head, her voice as small as a mosquito's hum, her ears slightly red, looking somewhat cute.

The goal had been achieved. Jiang Cheng turned around and walked out of the grove.

This time, without Gao Yan, the team was unexpectedly harmonious. Jiang Cheng hadn't walked far out of the woods when he saw Fatty, Huai Yi, Shen Mengyun, and Wang Qi sitting together, lined up on the long stone by the roadside, one next to the other.

From left to right, Wang Qi was the first, then Fatty, Huai Yi, and Shen Mengyun.

The people were facing away from Jiang Cheng and lowered their heads from time to time, not knowing what they were doing. Jiang Cheng couldn't help but be curious, so he went around in a circle to see what they were doing.

As a result, from another direction, he saw that each of the four of them had a jianbing guozi (a type of Chinese crepe), wrapped in a paper bag.

Sitting in a row, everyone grabbed it with both hands, and then lowered their heads to munch in tacit understanding, while communicating something in a low voice.

Fatty had sharp eyes and was the first to spot Jiang Cheng. After Jiang Cheng approached, Fatty quickly took out a wrapped jianbing guozi from his clothes and handed it to him. "Eat it quickly. Two sausages, four eggs, extra vinegar, less sugar, double the scallions, no spice. I asked him to put it in according to your habits. Eat it while it's hot, it won't taste good when it's cold."

Taking the jianbing guozi, Jiang Cheng took a big bite, and said while chewing, "Why did you guys come so early?"

"Is this early? It's almost after school." Fatty mumbled, "Don't even mention it. We were just thinking about coming to find you, but we were caught by a teacher on the way. It's... it's that teacher who wanted to catch us last time but didn't." Fatty hinted.

Jiang Cheng immediately remembered. He was talking about the teacher who almost chased them from the experimental building to the library.

It was really a ghost, wearing slippers, he actually chased them for more than 200 meters and almost caught them.

Wang Qi didn't care much about these things. He threw away the half-eaten jianbing guozi, turned to look at Jiang Cheng and asked, "What did that guy say?"

"She said she dreamed of Xiaoyu." Jiang Cheng reminded, "Tonight we are going to take a trip to the sculpture hall, at the art center."

After speaking, Jiang Cheng sat down and told them what he had gained from "Yuan Xiaoyi" this time.

"This time we are going to face the ghosts head-on?" After listening to Jiang Cheng's words, Fatty was not well, and even the jianbing guozi in his mouth didn't taste good anymore, "Also... also have to destroy them, smash the back of their heads?" He raised his voice sharply.

If it weren't for the doctor, if someone else had told him this, he would definitely think that the other party was trying to screw him over, the kind that would screw him to death.

Imagining the scene of him smashing the back of a ghost's head, Fatty couldn't help but shiver. Whether the ghost would be hurt or not was another matter, Fatty felt that his life was probably coming to an end.

The ghost would have to tear off his head in a backhand.

And while tearing it off, he would ask, who gave him the courage to smash the back of his head, are people so brave now?

"That's interesting." After a moment, Wang Qi nodded and said.

Fatty opened his eyes wide, looking at him like he was looking at an alien, his face full of words asking you to tell him what was interesting?

Huai Yi thought for a moment and nodded, "Although it sounds unreliable, I think this just shows that the Heart-Eating Demon didn't deceive us."

Jiang Cheng shook his head, "It has nothing to do with this. I don't think the Heart-Eating Demon doesn't want to deceive us, but can't, after all, she still needs us to help her deal with the ghosts in the strange tales."

After eating, everyone prepared to go back to the dormitory to rest, but Jiang Cheng noticed that Shen Mengyun, who had been following behind and hadn't said much, was walking in an unnatural way.

She had sprained her foot, and after one night, it seemed to be more serious.

"Miss Shen." Jiang Cheng called her to stop, "Your foot..."

"It's okay." Shen Mengyun quickly said, "It just hurts a little. It will be fine after resting for a while. It doesn't matter."

Jiang Cheng squatted down and rolled up Shen Mengyun's trouser leg. He found that her originally slender and fair ankle was swollen, more than a circle thicker than the other ankle, and it was faintly tinged with cyan and purple.

"This is what you call it doesn't matter?!" Jiang Cheng raised his head, staring at Shen Mengyun's eyes with a slightly angry tone.

"Let's go, to the school infirmary." Jiang Cheng stood up and said.