The hallway was dark, with doors lining both sides, giving the impression that they might open at any moment, and a pair of hands would reach out and pull you in.

A faint sound drifted over.

"Did you guys hear something?" Shen Mengyun whispered.

Everyone heard it, but no one answered her. Everyone's nerves were on edge.

"Drip."

Jiang Cheng frowned.

Now they could hear it clearly.

It was the sound of dripping water.

"Drip."

"Drip."

...

It sounded like a faucet wasn't tightened properly, or was old and in need of repair.

Water gathered little by little at the rusty faucet spout until it formed a drop, then, unable to bear the weight any longer, it fell, shattering on the concrete floor.

But everyone knew.

This wasn't so simple.

Because they couldn't pinpoint the source of the dripping.

The sound seemed to come from all directions.

Suddenly, Shen Mengyun, lost in thought, bumped into Jiang Cheng. Gao Yan reacted quickly enough to prevent a chain reaction.

"What's going on?" Gao Yan asked in a low voice. The constant pressure had made them all jumpy.

Shen Mengyun looked at Jiang Cheng. He was the one in the lead and had stopped first.

Jiang Cheng always kept the light from his phone limited to a small area. When he saw the water stains, he knew that something from the dormitory had found them.

"No way out," Jiang Cheng said, raising his phone. Shen Mengyun and Gao Yan stared wide-eyed. Ten meters away was a gray concrete wall, like in a bare room without paint.

"No way out..." Gao Yan seemed unable to believe his eyes. "How can that be? It was fine when we came!"

Based on his experience, he shouldn't be so flustered, but this was only the first night. If the first day was like this, then what about the days to come...

"Don't panic." Jiang Cheng looked at the suddenly appearing wall. "Since this path is blocked, we'll just take another."

Not long ago, this was a staircase, the one they came up. Changing routes now would be even riskier.

After calming down, Gao Yan reached out to stop Jiang Cheng from turning around. "Mr. Jiang, I don't think we should change routes. This is clearly an obstacle set up by that thing, to force us onto other paths."

"Other paths will only be more dangerous." Gao Yan stared at Jiang Cheng, his tone certain. After all, this wasn't the first time he'd encountered something like this.

Jiang Cheng turned his head, looking at Gao Yan with an unreadable expression. After a moment, he asked, "So what do you suggest?"

"Let's go up and check." Gao Yan said, "I bet this is a ghost wall, an illusion. Let's see if we can break it."

Jiang Cheng nodded, cupping his fist at Gao Yan. "Senior is right. After you, please."

"Me?" Gao Yan asked in surprise, his face clearly saying, "Are you serious? You really trust me to go alone?"

Following Gao Yan's gaze, Shen Mengyun naturally avoided his eyes.

Now Jiang Cheng suspected Gao Yan even more. The suddenly appearing wall was made of concrete, completely out of sync with the painted walls around it.

If he had to compare it, Jiang Cheng thought it looked a lot like the wall in the warehouse...

A bold guess rose in Jiang Cheng's mind: Were they still in the warehouse, and had never left? Was the hallway just a ghost wall, all fake?

Under these circumstances, rashly going forward to investigate would only lead to trouble.

Logically speaking, Gao Yan shouldn't be fooled by such a simple trick.

Two possibilities.

Jiang Cheng's eyes swept across Gao Yan's slightly panicked face.

Either this guy was a ghost in disguise, trying to lure them to their deaths, or he was just plain stupid, scared out of his wits by the scene before him.

Either way, Jiang Cheng had reason to keep his distance.

Seeing that no one was supporting him, Gao Yan didn't dare go alone, and could only say weakly, "Or... maybe we should wait a bit longer, think of other ways."

"Listen." Shen Mengyun suddenly looked into the darkness behind them, interrupting. "The dripping... it sounds closer."

Jiang Cheng listened intently, and after a moment, his expression changed.

Indeed, the fuzziness caused by distance was gradually fading. If the source of the sound was 30 meters away just now, it was now 20 meters.

And Jiang Cheng was sure that this distance would continue to decrease over time.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng seemed to understand something. How could he have associated the dripping sound with a faucet? There was something much more fitting!

The "person" who had followed them from the dormitory, hiding behind the shelves to spy on them!

The dripping sound must be coming from her.

Slowly, a picture began to form in his mind: a person standing in the darkness, soaked to the bone, face obscured, hands hanging limply at her sides, water dripping from her sleeves.

"Drip."

The next second, a crisp drip of water was like a sharp knife, cutting through his thoughts.

This time it was even closer, only about 10 meters away.

"Let's go!" Jiang Cheng quickly changed direction. Fortunately, the activity center had a complex layout. In addition to the normal floors, there were even low paths leading to intermediate floors sandwiched between the 3rd and 4th floors.

Jiang Cheng's initial plan was to go in as many different directions as possible, to see if they could break free from the ghost wall.

"Mr. Jiang," Shen Mengyun said, following behind Jiang Cheng. They had just come down a flight of stairs, and after turning a corner, there was another corridor, seemingly endless. "Running like this isn't a solution. We should first analyze the purpose of this thing."

Gao Yan looked strange. "It's been chasing us all this time. What purpose could it have other than to kill us?"

"I mean, we can start with the ghost's identity." Shen Mengyun said "ghost" in her anxiety.

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng slowed down and asked, turning his head, "You suspect the ghost following us is Xiao Ran?"

Shen Mengyun nodded, saying quickly, "We all know that a ghost's appearance and state are closely related to how they looked before they died. Xiao Ran was on the school diving team, and the ghost leaves large puddles of water wherever it goes. Is that a coincidence?"

"That makes sense." Jiang Cheng let out a breath, looking at Shen Mengyun's face. "Beauty, if you have a plan, tell us quickly. I'm afraid it'll be too late otherwise."

"It's not much of a plan. Think about it: Since she appeared so long ago, why is she only attacking us now?"

"Because we found a key clue." Gao Yan frowned.

"Let's assume that's the reason for now." Shen Mengyun seemed puzzled, then suddenly lowered her voice. "And don't you find it strange? The ghost following us doesn't seem intent on killing us, but rather on constantly pushing us, putting pressure on us, as if... we owe her something?"

"But we're strangers. What could we owe her?" Gao Yan was even more confused, but he vaguely felt that Shen Mengyun's words made sense.

Then, they saw Jiang Cheng stop, reach into his pocket, and slowly take out something. It was... a pair of swimming goggles!

"When did you take those?" Gao Yan was about to explode, looking at Jiang Cheng as if he had found the culprit.

Jiang Cheng touched his nose, explaining somewhat embarrassedly, "I just grabbed them casually. Don't overthink it."