37 : Brother Mu,

 Song Shi was stunned, frowned, and turned to look. He had always been a materialist and didn't believe what Chen Zhoumu was saying.

So when he turned around, he saw a familiar face. The person raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Then, the person standing next to him put his index finger to his lips and

clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture. Song Shi nodded, crossed his arms, and looked at the person who was still staring straight ahead.

Chen Zhoumu swallowed, then felt the weight on his shoulder and said in a low voice, "If you're scared, hold my hand. It's not good to put it on your shoulder."

Although he said it, the strength on his shoulder didn't lessen and even increased. Chen Zhoumu turned to look at Song Shi and found that the other person was looking at him with his arms crossed.

"What's wrong?"

Just as he was about to turn his gaze back, he noticed that Song Shi's two hands were placed in front of his chest. What was with the hands on his shoulders?

Chen Zhoumu turned his head stiffly, thinking he was going to see something bloody and terrifying.

He spotted a familiar face—Zhang Jingxiao, smiling as she held her phone. Then he saw He Xi standing behind her.

The person behind her was also holding a phone, playing the sound of a baby crying. No wonder he'd felt that thing ringing right next to his ear.

Chen Zhoumu's lips twitched. He turned around: "Looking for a beating?"

He then silently stood next to Song Shi. Zhang Jingxiao turned off the sound on her phone and looked at Chen Zhoumu: "Brother Mu, I didn't know you were afraid of ghosts?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with a grown man being afraid of these things?" Chen Zhoumu said confidently, clinging tightly to Song Shi's arm.

Zhang Jingxiao mimicked Chen Zhoumu and linked arms with Tan Qi: "Qizi and I aren't afraid at all!"

Tan Qi raised an eyebrow at the arm being held, then leaned against her.

He Xi had been smiling at the others, but he quickly sensed something was wrong. He looked at what Zhang Jingxiao was holding—the phone was on silent.

But...why was there still a sound?

Watching the two bickering like two elementary school kids, Chen Zhoumu had to admit that he was sometimes even more childish than Zhang Jingxiao. He stood to the side and gestured,

"Stop talking, there really seems to be a sound here."

Upon hearing this, the two who had been arguing fell silent and turned to look at He Xi.

Sure enough, after the sound of talking stopped, the baby-like crying sound seemed to be there.

"Holy crap! What's that?" He Xi asked, a slightly panicked voice looking towards the toilet door not far away.

Everyone's gaze followed that direction. A figure had appeared at the toilet door, a dark shadow swaying.

'It' slowly moved towards them, making that indistinct sound. 'It' seemed to walk silently, just drifting straight towards them.

Everyone shivered; combined with the wind blowing in, the scene before them now seemed exceptionally eerie.

Someone's heart started pounding, the thumping sound mingling with the noise.

For a long time afterward, whenever Song Shi thought of horror and suspense stories, he didn't think of fear.

Instead, he thought of the absurd, ridiculous series of campus horror stories from his high school days, and their abrupt, clichéd ending.

The person standing beside him, clearly terrified and needing to hold his hand tightly for a tiny sense of security,

straightened up, turned to look at him, grinned broadly, and said, "Don't be afraid, Song, I'm here." Song

Shi stared at the somewhat blurry face, stunned for a moment.

The group exchanged glances, then took action. He Xi led the way, heading towards the thing.

Holding their breath, the strange, indistinct thing suddenly stopped moving. The others stopped too, looking at him. He Xi turned to look: "What do we do?"

Song Shi looked at the thing that was neither human nor skeletal, glanced at his phone; it was almost 10:30 PM, and he felt a wave of sleepiness wash over him.

Then, looking up at that spot, they

said, "We've come this far, are they waiting for us to go up, exchange greetings, and then leave?" "That makes sense, maybe we can still be friends," Zhang Jingxiao said, linking arms with Tan Qi.

"..."

After discussing for a while, the group continued walking towards that spot. Just as they were about to get close, He Xi suddenly jumped, grabbed the thing, and bent it down.

With a 'clatter,' the sound of glasses falling off accompanied the thing's cry.

Zhang Jingxiao turned on her phone's flashlight and looked at the person in front of her in shock: "Oh dear, looks like we can't be friends anymore."

The next morning, a group of people were pulled to stand in front of the classroom. Zhou Wei stood in front of them: "It's one thing to stay in the teaching building in the middle of the night instead of going back to the dormitory, but to attack a teacher!"

"It's you again, Chen Zhoumu! I haven't even settled the score with you for the last self-criticism, and now you're offering yourself up again."

Who would have thought that the person standing motionless at the toilet door last night was Zhou Wei? He Xi tried to tackle the person but failed, but the glasses on his face fell off.

In the midst of the struggle, he accidentally smashed his glasses to pieces.

"Who knew that ghostly thing was Performance Bro?" He Xi and the others complained after being put back in their seats. "He just stood there silently, not even turning on the lights, and then he bumped into us and started talking about that terrifying girls' restroom story."

Fortunately, the teaching building was empty last night, except for them and Zhou Wei, so they didn't cause too much of a commotion. But even though not many people knew the details of the incident,

this morning, the people standing at the entrance of Class 1 spread the story, embellishing it as they went.

"What happened this morning? Does anyone know?"

"I heard Chen Zhoumu and Sales Bro got into a fight last night, and someone tried to break it up."

"Wow, that's explosive! Sales Bro keeps a close eye on Chen Zhoumu every day. If I were him, I wouldn't stand for it either."

"But I didn't see any signs of a beating on either of them. I just saw that Sales Bro's glasses looked broken."

"Maybe they deliberately didn't want you to see it? I've seen Chen Zhoumu fight before. I heard he's really fierce." "

Who has he fought with? I'm a freshman. I only know his name and that he's handsome."

"Tsk tsk, that happened back in freshman year, but all the news was blocked the next day. The guy who got beaten up was bleeding. His background must be something else."

Chen Zhoumu was called to Zhou Wei's office alone. He sat at Zhou Wei's desk writing a self-criticism. Sales Bro stood next to him with a stainless steel cup

filled with hot water. The steam fogged up his new glasses, making him look somewhat comical with his hairstyle and clothes.

He took a sip of water: "3000 words, not a single word less. I'll be waiting right here. You can leave as soon as you finish."

"Old Zhou, don't you have anything else to do?"

"Mind your own business?"

"I was just worried you'd be busy. I can finish it myself. You can go now."

Zhou Wei stared at Chen Zhoumu for a few moments, coughed, and then someone called him from the doorway: "Teacher Zhou, something's come up at the administration office."

"Okay."

He put the cup on the table and said finally, "If you're not feeling well, go get some hot water. If you really can't write, search online and write this for me. I'm leaving now."

After Zhou Wei left, Chen Zhoumu took out his phone and randomly searched for a self-criticism online. As he was writing, a shadow fell over his head.

Chen Zhoumu looked up, and the person standing in front of him made him feel extremely disgusted. The person was wearing a white coat typical of the administration office.

He put his hands in his pockets and just stared at Chen Zhoumu. He slammed the pen on the table, then stood up and looked at the other person coldly.

The other person just stared at him, then smiled, "Chen Zhoumu, long time no see. I really wanted to see you."

Chen Zhoumu scoffed, "Wanted to see me for what? Don't you want your left hand anymore?"

Zhu Mingjing's lips stiffened for a moment, his right hand, tucked into his pocket, clenched into a fist. He still couldn't feel anything in that hand.

Because his right hand had become an artificial arm.

He wiped his smile, then stroked his chin, as if recalling something, "Hiss, Xie Yimei seems to be no longer at No. 1 High School?" He

then lowered his head sadly, saying, "What a pity, such a good kid." His eyes darted around,

then he looked up at Chen Zhoumu with a smile, "I have to say, he's the most well-behaved person I've ever seen..." A gust of wind blew, and Zhu Mingjing was knocked to the ground, his body crashing into a nearby table before he lay on the floor, his head tilting back in pain.

Chen Zhoumu's eyes were coldly fixed on him, then he stepped on Zhu Mingjing's right hand.

"Ah...!" The man on the ground screamed in pain.

Chen Zhoumu, seemingly oblivious, grabbed the other man's head and slammed it to the ground, his tone cold: "Didn't I warn you? Didn't I fucking tell you not to come to No. 1 High School again, and not to mention his name again?"

"Chen Zhoumu!" Zhou Wei hadn't gone far when he heard the commotion from the office. He put aside the academic affairs office matters for now; he knew the other man wasn't in good health.

Thinking it was a fainting spell or some other discomfort, he quickly ran upstairs from the first floor, barely catching his breath before seeing the scene in the office.

The scene before him was far more serious than a fainting spell.

Zhou Wei went in and slammed the office door shut, then quickly pulled the two men away. Although the noise was loud, thankfully it was during class time.

The office door was also closed, and no one saw anything.

He froze for a moment after recognizing the person lying on the ground. He hadn't seen Zhu Mingjing in a long time, not during his career as a teacher.

He had transferred to No. 1 High School and stayed in Xia City for three years, meeting Chen Zhoumu when he was a freshman.

That year, he also handled the most difficult student fight of his life—a one-sided assault on a teacher by a student, with no prior cause or effect. Even now, he doesn't know what happened between the two.

But now, the two absolutely cannot meet again, and the video that went viral back then cannot be released.

Although it was suppressed last time, it might not be possible this time.

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