Chapter 81: It Has Arrived

Su Qing and Shen Qingyue hadn’t had a single peaceful night of sleep for days.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to sleep.

They were too afraid to.

Every time they closed their eyes, they felt like something was watching them.

And when they opened their eyes again, there was nothing there.

But the feeling remained.

That suffocating terror constantly tormented the nerves of both girls.

Daytime was slightly better.

Once the sun came out, the feeling disappeared.

But as soon as night fell—

“It” returned.

Neither of them knew what it was.

And neither wanted to know.

They only knew one thing:

That thing was after people.

Shen Qingyue’s condition was worse than Su Qing’s.

She felt like the thing had been targeting her specifically.

She hadn’t attended class for two days.

Curled up on her bed, wrapped tightly in her blanket with only her eyes exposed, she looked utterly exhausted.

Dark bruised circles hung beneath her eyes.

She couldn’t eat.

Barely spoke.

She simply stayed curled up there, trembling from time to time.

Su Qing brought her meals, but she shook her head.

Su Qing asked if she wanted to go to the hospital.

She shook her head again.

“Qingyue.” Su Qing sat beside her bed. “You can’t keep going like this.”

Shen Qingyue said nothing.

Her eyes stared straight at the curtains.

“Qingyue.”

“Don’t turn off the lights.”

Shen Qingyue suddenly spoke, her voice filled with fear and urgency.

“What?”

“At night. Don’t turn off the lights.” Shen Qingyue slowly turned toward her. “It’s afraid of light.”

A chill crawled down Su Qing’s spine.

“Who? Who’s afraid of light?”

Shen Qingyue didn’t answer.

She curled back under the blanket again, pulling it up to her nose so only her eyes remained visible.

Those eyes stared fixedly at the window.

The window was shut.

The curtains were closed.

But Su Qing couldn’t shake the feeling that something was standing behind them.

She walked over and yanked the curtains open.

Outside was the school wall lit dimly by yellow streetlamps.

Nothing there.

She let out a breath of relief.

But just as she was about to close the curtains again—

She saw a face reflected on the glass.

Blurry.

Like looking at someone through fogged-up water.

But Su Qing saw it clearly enough.

A young woman’s face.

Short hair.

Glasses.

The corners of her lips slightly curved upward.

Not smiling.

More like…

The expression of someone who had been discovered but wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Su Qing screamed and stumbled backward several steps.

Shen Qingyue sat upright immediately, face pale.

“What happened?!”

Su Qing pointed at the window.

“There was someone outside!”

Shen Qingyue looked over.

The curtains were open.

Outside was only the school wall and the dim glow of the streetlights.

Nothing else.

“There’s nobody there,” Shen Qingyue whispered.

Su Qing saw it too.

Nothing.

But that face—

There was no way she’d imagined it.

“I’m going to find Lin Mo,” Su Qing said suddenly.

Shen Qingyue hesitated for a moment.

“Qianqian…”

“What?”

“Go ahead.”

That was all she said in the end.

Su Qing opened the door and hurried out.

Lin Mo was in his dorm playing games.

Zhang Yang sat nearby watching videos with the volume blasting loudly.

His phone vibrated.

He glanced down.

A message from Su Qianqian:

“Classmate Lin Mo, can you come over? Qingyue… isn’t doing well.”

Lin Mo stared at the message.

Shen Qingyue wasn’t doing well?

He typed back:

“What happened?”

Su Qianqian replied:

“She can barely speak. Can you come over? We’re in Room 406.”

Lin Mo hesitated.

Going into the girls’ dorm as a guy wasn’t exactly appropriate.

Then another message arrived:

“She keeps trembling. I don’t know what to do.”

Lin Mo put down his phone and stood up.

Zhang Yang looked up.

“Where’re you going?”

“Something came up.”

Lin Mo grabbed his jacket.

“What kind of thing?”

Lin Mo didn’t answer.

He was already out the door.

The door to Room 406 was slightly open.

Su Qianqian peeked out.

The moment she saw him, her eyes reddened slightly.

“Lin Mo, you finally came.”

“What happened to you two?” Lin Mo walked inside.

Shen Qingyue sat on the bed wrapped in her blanket up to her chest.

Her face was pale.

Her lips were dry and cracked.

Her hair was messy.

The moment she saw Lin Mo, her emotions nearly collapsed.

“Lin Mo… I…”

Her eyes reddened as she struggled to even form words.

“Su Qianqian asked me to come.” Lin Mo walked over and sat beside her bed. “Are you okay?”

Shen Qingyue didn’t answer.

She lowered her head and wiped her eyes gently.

“We haven’t really slept these past few days,” Su Qianqian said quietly from the side. “We’ve been too scared to.”

Lin Mo looked at Shen Qingyue.

The dark circles beneath her eyes were severe.

Her cheeks had sunken in.

She’d lost weight noticeably.

“Are you sick?” he asked softly. “Should we go to the infirmary?”

Shen Qingyue shook her head.

“Then maybe see a doctor—”

“Lin Mo.”

She interrupted him.

Lifting her head, eyes red, she looked straight at him.

“Do you believe ghosts exist?”

Lin Mo froze.

The dorm room fell silent for several seconds.

“Why would you suddenly ask that?” he said.

Shen Qingyue didn’t answer.

Her gaze drifted toward the window again.

“These past few nights, someone keeps coming to find me. I can’t see her, but she’s always there. She whispers beside my ear, pulls my blanket, stands next to my bed staring at me.”

Her voice trembled with fear.

Her shoulders began shaking.

Her hands trembled violently too.

“At first I thought it was a dream. But it wasn’t. I can feel her. She stands right beside me… very close. I can even feel her breathing.”

She paused there.

Then looked directly at Lin Mo.

“Do you believe me?”

Lin Mo didn’t know how to answer.

He didn’t believe in ghosts.

But he also couldn’t say that.

He had come here to comfort them.

So instead, he decided to first agree with their feelings before finding a logical explanation.

“I don’t know,” he said softly. “But even if ghosts do exist, I’ll protect you.”

Shen Qingyue looked at him.

For a long time.

Then she lowered her head, and a faint blush appeared on her pale face.

“Can you stay?”

Lin Mo thought he’d heard wrong.

“What?”

“Tonight… can you stay in our dorm?” Shen Qingyue’s voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. “She’s afraid of boys. Before, she only appeared when Qianqian and I were alone. During the daytime when there are lots of people—especially boys—she never comes.”

Lin Mo opened his mouth, intending to refuse.

This completely broke dorm rules.

If anyone found out, no amount of explaining would clear his name.

But Shen Qingyue looked up at him.

Her eyes were red.

Filled with pleading.

“Okay,” he said.

At eleven that night, the dorm lights went out.

Shen Qingyue and Su Qianqian squeezed together under one blanket on the same bed.

Lin Mo sat on the other bed, leaning against the wall with his phone dimly lit in his hand.

“You two sleep,” he told them quietly. “I’ll stay awake.”

Shen Qingyue nodded.

She closed her eyes, but her eyelashes trembled constantly.

Su Qianqian wasn’t asleep either.

Her eyes remained open, watching Lin Mo.

The dorm was silent.

The air conditioner hummed softly, blowing cold air.

Lin Mo leaned against the wall.

Time passed.

The clock on his phone shifted to 11:30 PM.

He was getting sleepy.

His eyelids started drooping.

Just as he was about to close his eyes—

A sound came from beneath the bed.

Very faint.

Like something slowly dragging itself across the floor.

Lin Mo’s whole body stiffened.

He didn’t dare move.

Neither did Shen Qingyue or Su Qianqian.

But their breathing grew heavier.

They heard it too.

The sound stopped.

Nothing happened for a long time.

Lin Mo slowly relaxed.

Just as he was about to calm down—

Shen Qingyue’s bed started shaking.

As if something underneath was pushing it.

Shen Qingyue didn’t make a sound.

But her blanket trembled violently.

Su Qianqian didn’t speak either.

Her face was buried in the pillow while one hand tightly gripped Shen Qingyue’s arm.

Summoning his courage, Lin Mo stood up.

He walked to Shen Qingyue’s bedside and cautiously glanced beneath it.

Nothing.

Empty.

He crouched lower and checked carefully again.

Still nothing.

Lin Mo finally let out a breath of relief.

But when he stood back up—

His gaze accidentally swept toward the small window beside the dorm door.

And what he saw made his scalp go numb.

There was a face pressed against the window.

A woman’s face.

Short hair.

He couldn’t make out the details clearly because her face was flattened against the glass, distorting her features slightly.

But she was smiling.

A cold sensation crept down Lin Mo’s back.

He took a step backward.

The face didn’t move.

It simply remained there against the glass.

Watching him.

“Lin Mo?”

Su Qianqian’s voice came from behind him.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Mo didn’t turn around.

Pretending to look elsewhere instead of at the window, he quietly asked:

“There’s someone at the window… can you two see her?”

Su Qianqian immediately sat upright and looked toward the window.

Shen Qingyue did too.

Both stared at it.

There was nothing there.

Only moonlight and the shadow of the curtains.

“There’s nobody there,” Su Qianqian whispered. “I don’t see anything.”

Lin Mo turned toward Shen Qingyue.

“What about you, Qingyue? Do you see anything?”

Shen Qingyue shook her head.

The tiny trace of color that had finally returned to her face disappeared instantly, turning even paler than before.

“What did you see?”

Lin Mo cautiously glanced back toward the window.

The face was still there.

Still watching them.

His heartbeat pounded wildly against his throat.

His palms were drenched in sweat.

But he couldn’t let the girls notice.

They were already terrified enough.

“Nothing,” he said quietly. “I saw wrong.”

He returned to his bed and sat down.

But the face outside the window never disappeared.

It kept staring at him.

Lin Mo didn’t know what it was.

He only knew one thing—

Shen Qingyue and Su Qianqian couldn’t see it.

Because only he could.

And somehow, that realization terrified him even more than the face itself.