Chapter 165.2: Pen Spirit (6)

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When Shen Yu’an pinched his chin, Ruan Qing took something from his coat pocket.

The photo was clear, with a high resolution, showing no signs of photo manipulation.

There was a high probability that this was a real photo.

In other words, everything happening in the photo was likely real.

The picture seemed to be taken in some abandoned building, and it was at night.

The lighting was not great.

Because the camera focused on Shen Yu’an, it was challenging to see the exact appearance of the body behind him.

Ruan Qing carefully examined Shen Yu’an’s expression and found it strange.

The Shen Yu’an in the photo gave off a fierce and crazed vibe, with madness visible in his eyes.

The Shen Yu’an encountered during the day was different, though he exuded a strong oppressive aura. He appeared deep and restrained, giving an unpredictable feeling.

Was it a split personality? Or did he only reveal his true nature at night?

Ruan Qing couldn’t be certain; his gaze shifted to the body behind Shen Yu’an.

The head of the body was obscured by Shen Yu’an, making it impossible to see the face, but it was evident that the person was male, standing at around 1.8 meters tall.

Probably a student of this school.

The student wore casual sportswear, lacking distinctive features, making it challenging to identify him.

Ruan Qing had to temporarily give up on identifying the body, as the current priority was not about investigating Shen Yu’an but rather the matter concerning the spirit.

Ruan Qing placed the photo back into his pocket and then got off the bed.

Qi Yunshen, hearing the movement, glanced at him and continued with his own business.

Ruan Qing picked up Xia Qing’s laptop and climbed onto the bed once again.

Ruan Qing didn’t notice that although Qi Yunshen didn’t turn around to look at him, there was a mirror in front of him.

The angle of the mirror was directly facing his bed.

His every move was completely reflected in the mirror.

Qi Yunshen’s gaze was fixed on the reflection of him in the mirror until the curtain completely blocked the figure, and he casually withdrew his gaze.

After getting on the bed, Ruan Qing began to investigate the IP address that posted the comment about ‘A Building Dormitory Room 404’ earlier.

The university forum was generally linked to real names and ID cards. Ruan Qing quickly identified the person.

A Building Dormitory Room 402, Cheng Mingzhe.

Right next to room 404.

Ruan Qing didn’t believe in coincidences. He immediately hacked into the school’s system and retrieved information about Cheng Mingzhe.

The university would usually allocate dormitory rooms based on the college and major. In other words, people from room 402 and 404 were likely to belong to the same major.

Cheng Mingzhe belonged to the group of students who lived here four years ago. However, those who had moved in here four years prior were students from the physics department, and they had already graduated.

But Cheng Mingzhe’s information stated that he was... deceased.

The cause of death was unknown.

The police gave the answer of accidental death.

Ruan Qing searched the forum and the internet, even checked the school’s student system, but found no other information.

It seemed to be restricted.

Apparently, this informant had died inexplicably four years ago, and the trail was once again cut off.

University was typically a four-year program, and students usually didn’t move dormitories once they settled in.

So, when they arrived, the students from Cheng Mingzhe’s year had all graduated.

It would be inconvenient to ask his classmates about the situation.

Ruan Qing, through the Physics Department’s counselor in the system, found Cheng Mingzhe’s class group.

If there was an extra person in the class group, it would be very noticeable.

Ruan Qing silently hacked the account of the counselor without a sound, entering the class group.

Probably due to graduation, the class group had long ceased to be active.

The last time someone spoke was still two months ago.

Ruan Qing didn’t rush to contact people in the group to inquire about Cheng Mingzhe. Instead, he directly entered the group’s photo album.

After all, if he were to ask, it would be better to ask classmates who had a good relationship with Cheng Mingzhe to get useful clues.

Usually, photos of class members would be uploaded to the group’s photo album.

As expected, there were many photos in the group album, with the majority being graduation photos.

Cheng Mingzhe was obviously not found in the graduation photos, considering he died in his freshman year.

Ruan Qing scrolled directly to four years ago, hoping to find photos of Cheng Mingzhe and determine who had a closer relationship with him.

There were many activities during the freshman year, and quite a few photos were preserved.

However, Ruan Qing still didn’t find any photos of Cheng Mingzhe.

Perhaps Cheng Mingzhe had only been at the school for a short time before his death, so there were no photos of him.

No, wait.

Ruan Qing paused while flipping through the photos. Just now, on Cheng Mingzhe’s student page, he seemed to have seen that the credit points were not zero.

Credit points were something obtained only after completing exams at the end of the semester.

Ruan Qing returned to the school’s academic system page.

Sure enough, Cheng Mingzhe’s first-semester final exam records were still in the academic system.

In other words, he died in the second semester of his freshman year.

So, it wasn’t that there were no photos of him; rather, photos related to him had been intentionally deleted.

Ruan Qing pulled up photos from the class’s first semester, carefully examining each one.

Suddenly, Ruan Qing’s gaze froze. It wasn’t that he had found a photo of Cheng Mingzhe, but he saw a familiar piece of clothing.

He zoomed in on the figure in the corner of the photo, then took out a photo from his pocket and compared it with the body in the picture.

Indeed, very similar.

It wasn’t just the clothes; even the figure was very similar.

Because the photo was taken during the sports meeting, the person’s shadow was too far away, and the figure was barely discernible.

However, Ruan Qing had not come across this figure in any other photos from the sports meeting.

Ruan Qing speculated that this person was likely Cheng Mingzhe.

And Cheng Mingzhe was the person killed by Shen Yu’an.

Why?

Why did Shen Yu’an kill Cheng Mingzhe?

Did Cheng Mingzhe accidentally provoke him, or was there some connection between Shen Yu’an and the pen spirit?

There were too few clues, making it difficult for Ruan Qing to determine.

Ruan Qing lowered his gaze to the photo in his hand, ultimately took a picture of it with his phone, then temporarily registered an email online and sent it to the police.

If it was the original owner, he would definitely do this.

However, he certainly wouldn’t dare to make a police report; that would expose himself.

Doing this, he could temporarily delay Shen Yu’an.

Ruan Qing stayed up all night last night and, due to dreaming, didn’t get a good rest during class.

He’s now starting to feel tired.

But Ruan Qing dared not sleep.

Just as Ruan Qing tried to focus and continued to examine the sports meeting photo to see who was around Cheng Mingzhe, the system’s voice echoed in his mind.

[Go to sleep, I’ll keep watch for you.]

Ruan Qing paused and spoke in his mind, ‘System, you’re breaking the rules.’

System: [......Yes.]

He had already broken the rules when he went and try to seize the power belonging to ‘god’ for this person. (T/N: Really, I’m not sure if I should label the system as ‘it’ or ‘he’. Let’s just go with ‘he’ for the time being. Since this system seemed to be getting more human-like.)

If this were discovered, both the ‘god’ and the main system would not keep him around.

Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, thought for a moment, and said, ‘System, I’m afraid of ghosts.’

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