Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Chapter 385 [Domain·Drowning] Village?

The strangest thing is that the doors and windows were tightly closed, with no trace of them ever being opened.

The boy clicked his tongue, his face immediately falling. For some reason, Chen Ji even saw a hint of old age in him.

"A ghost is looking for you?"

“Yes. He has my face and is trying to trick me into leaving.” Chen Ji nodded. “Agou probably escaped in a panic.”

“Same,” the boy said. “My ghost looks exactly like me.”

They then confronted each other for a while, and their experiences were similar. However, the boy did not look at Huang Ying's booklet, but instead discovered another clue.

There is a village downstream of the Jiagu River.

He said, "A few years ago, something happened in that village, and it seems that seven or eight people died."

"A village?" Chen Ji frowned slightly. When they were by the river, they didn't see any villages nearby.

Moreover, the Jiagu River is not a small river; it is quite long, spanning several counties and cities, and is close to countless villages.

"This clue is strange."

The boy said, "The newspaper mentioned that those seven or eight people drowned one after another over three days, so it must not have been as simple as accidentally falling into the water."

"But how do we investigate?" Chen Ji understood what Tong Zi meant.

"The domain has limitations; it's impossible for us to leave this area. So what's the point of this clue?"

The boy shook his head slightly and remained silent.

Chen Ji found the old newspaper where the boy discovered the clue. It was just a short report, and the topic wasn't even about this incident. Instead, it was an appeal to everyone not to swim in rivers, reservoirs, or lakes in the summer to cool off.

Last August, in a village downstream of the Guangjiagu River, eight people drowned within three days; this May, six junior high school students drowned in Tianzhong City; according to reports, approximately 50,000 people drown in my country every year, half of whom are minors...

There's no need to look at anything after that; it's just about analyzing the data.

"I'll ask Teacher Zhan when he wakes up," Tongzi said, taking the newspaper away and putting it away.

They need to go and see how far the village is and whether this is true.

Like Chen Ji, not long after finding the clues, he also heard a ghost emerge from the woods and call to him from outside the door.

At the same time, the boy confirmed that the demon's true form was indeed outside the house.

He hadn't considered the distinction between dreams and reality.

But as I stepped out of the house, I suddenly realized that there were no wet footprints inside.

At that moment, the ghost's hand was already within arm's reach of him. Fortunately, the boy reacted in time and only half of his body was pulled out.

He pointed to the wall between the window and the door, "The ghost is hiding there; that's a blind spot."

“The ghost in the house is just an illusion; it doesn’t actually exist,” Chen Ji explained. “Hiding in the house will make you feel like you’re drowning, but it’s not serious. It’s just a way to force us to go out.”

This ghost didn't actually use any tricks; it just put pressure on people to force them to go out.

“The room is too small,” the boy said. “It’s so small, and it’s an enclosed space where you have to share a room with a ghost.”

"Ah Gou was probably affected by Huang Ying's situation before going to sleep, and subconsciously tried to escape, only to be caught by the ghost."

However, the two still had a few doubts in their minds.

First, Ah Gou's body is missing.

Chen Ji believed that it was because he had transformed into the form of a water ghost, thus replacing the original ghost, and therefore his true form had completely disappeared.

This also aligns with the "one-for-one" policy.

The second is the red schoolbag.

Chen Ji and Tong Zi's dreams both started just as Teacher Zhan described: they sat up, there was no light, but neither of them saw the red schoolbag by the bedside!

"Is Professor Zhan's dream really the same as ours?"

Tongzi glanced at Teacher Zhan on the bed; the other person was still asleep and hadn't woken up.

But her breathing was steady.

This is completely unlike what he previously said, that he was plagued by nightmares all night...

I don’t know how long it took.

As dawn broke, a creaking sound came from the bed, and Teacher Zhan finally woke up.

He yawned contentedly and rubbed his eyes.

"Ok?"

He looked down at the ground and suddenly paused: "You two got up so early?"

Chen Ji nodded, observing Teacher Zhan's reaction. The other party seemed completely unaware of Ah Gou's disappearance.

It's like Ah Gou has been erased from Teacher Zhan's memory... Is it because Ah Gou is already dead?

Chen Ji seemed to be thinking about something, then changed the subject: "Teacher Zhan, how did you sleep last night?"

"Very good." Teacher Zhan said with a sigh, "She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and didn't even dream."

"Phew, I can finally rest today."

Not dreaming.

Chen Ji remained silent. Had the dream been transferred to them, or...?

Because Huang Ying took the red schoolbag?

"That's great!" the boy said with a smile. "Then it proves that it was just a dream."

"Teacher, can you tell us now what happened in your dream?"

“Last night you stopped halfway through your story, and the more I thought about it, the more scared I became. I couldn’t sleep and kept thinking about what would happen next.”

Teacher Zhan frowned: "Neither of you slept all night?"

Chen Ji and Tong Zi nodded, feigning drowsiness.

Teacher Zhan sighed, clearly not wanting the matter to affect the students' sleep: "It's not as complicated as you think, it's just that I keep dreaming about Zhang Wenxuan."

"Isn't he missing?"

“Yes,” Teacher Zhan said, “After that dream, this is what happened:”

"After I sat up, I heard footsteps outside, coming closer and closer."

Just like Chen Ji had experienced, he didn't speak and continued to listen quietly.

"Then I looked up and saw Zhang Wenxuan standing in front of my window."

Teacher Zhan paused for a moment, seemingly unable to continue.

His face looked very sad.

“He looked cold and scared. Through the window, he kept saying that he wanted to go back to school.”

"I'm feeling really upset, and I want Zhang Wenxuan to come in—"

Chen Ji and Tong Zi both coughed.

"...But he said he wouldn't be coming back," Teacher Zhan continued.

He asked me if I could bring him his schoolbag.

"I immediately turned around to grab my schoolbag, but just as I picked it up, I heard a pattering sound outside the window. I turned back again..."

"Zhang Wenxuan's appearance has changed."

"His whole body was soaking wet, his hair was full of water plants, and his face was swollen, just like Huang Ying's after she died, almost unrecognizable."

"His skin was completely white from being soaked, and it was peeling off in patches."

The look on Teacher Zhan's face returned to the one she had when she first mentioned the nightmare—fear mixed with melancholy.

As an ordinary rural teacher, he couldn't accept that his former student had turned into a floating corpse in the blink of an eye, and the corpse looked extremely horrific.

"Then, the dream ended."

Teacher Zhan murmured absentmindedly.

Chen Ji and Tong Zi exchanged a glance; it was indeed still related to the red schoolbag.

After asking a few more questions, it was found that Teacher Zhan's daily life was not affected, but she kept having this dream.

Seeing that Teacher Zhan was unwilling to talk about it anymore, Chen Ji turned to ask about the matter in the newspaper.

"...I think I've heard about this before." Teacher Zhan recalled for a moment before saying, "That village isn't far from the school, maybe four or five miles away."

"Those people were all tourists from out of town. They didn't know how deep the water was. Sigh, this kind of thing happens every summer."

Teacher Zhan doesn't know much about it either.

Unsure of the depth of the water... Chen Ji's expression remained unchanged, but his suspicions grew even stronger.

If it were a random drowning, that could be explained by common sense. But how could a tour group continue to go to the water's edge when someone had just drowned the day before?

This doesn't make sense.

Without saying anything more, Teacher Zhan cooked noodles, and the three of them ate in silence.

In half an hour, they will be going to class with Teacher Zhan.

But just then...

Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking on the door!

"Boy!"

It was Zhu Guang! What was he doing here so early?

Tong Zi's expression changed immediately. He and Chen Ji quickly made up an excuse and went outside, where they saw Zhu Guang and Zhong Ge standing outside.

Zhu Guang's expression was very solemn.

"Something has happened to Hongtian."

"He's dead?" The boy frowned slightly.

"Do not.

Zhu Guang's tone was strange: "He... is dying."