“I can’t.” Zhuang Ning’s voice sounded very weak. “I can’t get out.”

Then, a shrill female voice suddenly came from the other end of the call. “You dared to stick your nose in someone else’s business!”

Not good!

I immediately got out of my hiding place and dashed toward the female dorm. I simply banged my fists on the door, no longer caring about appearances.

A drowsy, old woman came out with a flashlight in her hand. “Boy, it’s the middle of the night. Who are you looking for?”

“Hurry, you need to go to the third floor! Something happened in Li Xiaoling’s room!”

“What?” The old woman was bewildered. 

Fortunately, the banging on the door had awakened the students living on the first floor; they got out of their rooms to check. Some of the bolder girls dashed to the third floor after hearing my words. A moment later, the entire female dormitory fell into chaos, and the girls started screaming. I hurried to step away and hide.

The emergency light was turned on, and a group of security guards hurriedly carried the unconscious Zhuang Ning straight toward the school’s clinic.

I saw Zhuang Ning’s swollen lips under the dim street lights. A long, black thread was hanging from her wrist, and although she was unconscious, her right thumb and index fingers were tightly pinching a needle.

I opened my eyes wide in shock.

She had sewed her lips herself! There was no perpetrator sewing people’s lips at the campus... The victims had done that to themselves. However, they didn’t feel any pain while they were under the ghost’s influence.

The situation was even more complicated than what I had expected. I would need to find the other goldfish bracelets if I wanted to solve this.

But… How can I leave the university?

While I was trying to rack my brain for a solution, a hand patted my shoulder from behind. I jerked back in fright, seeing a familiar pair of eyes when I turned around.

It was Shiso, wearing a blue disposable mask. He gestured in silence, asking me to follow him. Although he looked strange, I didn’t have any other options at the moment; I hurried to catch up with him. Shiso took several turns until we reached a storage room stacked with broken chairs and tables.

He asked, “Did you find anything?”

“I did.” I nodded.

“Can you thoroughly subdue that ghost? Wang Nan and Tang Shuangshuang are dead. If 

Ge Xiaofei

 is the next one, it will prove that anybody related to Li Xiaoling’s case will die. That means, I… I will also die.” 

Shiso’s

 eyes were filled with fear.

I tried to comfort him, “Don’t worry. I have found an important clue! I’ll work on a solution in the morning.”

Shiso was restless. He squatted down and asked, “Why did this happen? I had nothing to do with this. Why were my lips also sewn shut?”

I didn’t tell him that the people who had contributed to spreading the vicious rumors were considered Li Xiaoling’s enemies.

I simply kept on comforting him and asked him to go back to his room so he could rest. He asked before leaving, “You’re an expert, right? You must help me. I don’t want to die!”

Who would want to die? Still, just how desperate had Li Xiaoling become to decide to finish her life?

After passing the night in the storage room, I went to the clinic as soon as it got brighter the next morning. The nurses and doctors were sleeping on their tables; they were all exhausted since they had to take action in the middle of the night to save Zhuang Ning. 

I quietly approached Zhuang Ning. She had an IV in her arm, and the wounds on her lips had been treated. I didn’t want to disturb her since she was sleeping peacefully, so I silently left the clinic. After I had left the university, the first thing I did was to call Li Mazi.

“Get up already! We’ll gather at Old Yao’s.”

Li Mazi sounded drowsy as he mumbled his protest, “Little Brother Zhang, are you trying to snatch the rooster’s job? Why did you wake up this early?”

I said in a serious tone, “Li Mazi, listen to me. The goldfish bracelets are much more dangerous than I had imagined. More people will die if we don’t deal with them! We won’t be friends anymore if I don’t see you at Old Yao’s today.”

“How could it be this serious…” I didn’t wait for Li Mazi to finish, and I simply hung up the call.

Li Mazi still had some conscience. I saw him holding a cup of Master Kang’s noodles when I arrived at the pier area. He was eating under Old Yao’s dissatisfied gaze.

Li Mazi stood up when he saw me. “Little Brother Zhang, what do you think? I’m a good friend, aren’t I? You called, and I directly flew here. Where would you find a good brother like me?” 

I cut him off to speak with Old Yao. “Senior, we have to ask you for help again! Please, take me to the grave where you found the goldfish bracelet. Some people died because of it, and I need to see the grave to find out about the bracelet’s origin. Please show us the way. There must be something else still buried in that tomb.”

Old Yao was surprised by what I said. He nodded and said, “Go.”

Li Mazi held up his cup of instant noodles. “Why are you in such a hurry? Is your butt on fire? Can’t you wait until I finish my noodles?”

Old Yao’s equipment was always ready. He took out two large backpacks and started off. I helped him with one of the bags.

Li Mazi gritted his teeth and threw the rest of his noodles into the trash can and followed us.

“Don’t call me if you do something for free later on. It really hurts my feelings…” 

While Li Mazi kept nagging, I told Old Yao about everything that had happened thus far. Old Yao seemed to be feeling regretful. 

I explained to him, “This has nothing to do with you selling the goldfish bracelet to her. It’s all because of the girl’s personality and the bad rumors. She was depressed, so she decided to walk on a deadly path.”

Old Yao nodded and replied, “Young.” Perhaps he meant Li Xiaoling had been too young to die, and it was something to be regretted.

The place where the grave was located was relatively remote. Fortunately, Old Yao’s limbs were still strong and agile despite his age. He was even faster than Li Mazi and I.

We had set out early in the morning, and when we stopped at this remote area in the forest, it was already around 3:00 PM.

The forest was full of poplar trees, with cornfields on both sides.

Li Mazi sat on the ground. “I can’t walk anymore. I’ll end up with a disability if I take another step!”

Old Yao’s face changed. He shouted, “Up!”

Li Mazi stood up in a flash. “What?”

Old Yao pointed at the place on the ground where Li Mazi had just been sitting, responding in his curt style, “Grave.”

Li Mazi had been sitting where Old Yao had unearthed a tomb.

Li Mazi felt very unlucky. He spat on the ground and said, “Holy crap, which bastard

 would leave

 a grave without a tombstone?!” 

Old Yao took out the digging tools from his bags. Li Mazi craned his neck to see. “Old thing, this place doesn’t even have a tombstone. How did you manage to find this grave?”

Old Yao lifted his head and looked at the other party. “Hinder.”

“Er? Grinder what? What do you mean?” Li Mazi opened his eyes wide.

I slapped his back and made him grimace. “Old Yao means that you’re getting in the way. Move!”

Li Mazi snorted. Since neither Old Yao nor I paid him any mind, he decided to run off to the nearby cornfield to steal some corn.

Old Yao had dug the area before, so he was familiar with the process. He grabbed a shovel and began to dig without giving it much thought, not even trying to pinpoint the target. Once I saw how he went about work, his severely hunched back suddenly made a lot of sense.

He had begun working as a grave robber when he was young and had continued to this day. There were three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. If a person hunched forward to dig the soil all year long, it would be strange not to end up with a hunched back.

Old Yao’s arms were strong, and his shovel moved continuously. Soon after, he had dug a large hole.