Chapter 168.3: Pen Spirit (9)

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Ruan Qing’s gaze fell on the text message from Qiao Nuo, with a thoughtful expression.

This Qiao Nuo seemed to know that there was danger at night?

Those people in Room 404 were really suspicious, not at all like ordinary students.

Ruan Qing even began to doubt, was it really because of his alarm clock that made that presence leave last night?

Or did the alarm wake up his roommates, and it was because of his roommates that the presence left?

Ruan Qing found it challenging to judge, but at least Qiao Nuo definitely had a significant issue.

He knew there’s danger at night, maybe even knew about the existence of the pen spirit.

Even more so, he might intentionally have summoned the pen spirit.

But... why?

Was he close to the pen spirit, trying to bring back a loved one? Seeking revenge for a family member?

Or maybe using the pen spirit to get rid of someone he wanted dead?

All were possible.

Although it’s unclear what exactly it’s for, people in Room 404 definitely intentionally summoned the pen spirit.

At least among those three, someone did it on purpose.

However, the current clues were too few to determine who it might be.

Staying in this teaching building at night was undoubtedly a waste of time. After some rest, they decide to investigate nearby for clues.

Ghosts were most powerful in the place where they died, as it accumulated the most Yin energy and resentment. So, the pen spirit must be someone from this university, coincidentally meeting their end here.

Otherwise, the ghost domain couldn’t precisely cover the entire First University.

So, there must be traces left by the pen spirit at the First University.

As long as it existed, it could be found.

This was the rule of the infinite horror game.

The players had no information about the pen spirit and were unsure where to find traces of its existence. Therefore, they decided to investigate places frequented by computer science students in the student union.

To see if they could uncover any clues or traces.

Ruan Qing had checked before, and it turned out that students from the same department didn’t necessarily reside in the same dormitory building every year.

Perhaps the current residents were from the computer science department, and the next batch would be from the art department.

After all, every year there were new students moving in, but a class of students stayed for four years, so the new students had to be assigned to other dormitory buildings.

In such a situation, it was natural that not every class in the same dormitory building would consist of students from the same department.

Moreover, Ruan Qing had checked the school dormitory allocation system, and it revealed that Building A had been constructed around twenty years ago. Within that period, the Computer Science department had only recently started occupying it.

Of course, it’s also possible that the pen spirit was not someone from room 404 but was harmed by someone from that dormitory room in the past.

If someone recognized the pen spirit and was familiar with them, it’s likely they were from the same department.

In other words, searching where the computer science students go might not be the right direction.

Ruan Qing remembered that seven years ago, the department assigned to building A was the art department, and four years before that was the sports department.

Four years before that was the mathematics department.

In Ruan Qing’s mind, the image of the hand extending under the toilet partition like a work of art appeared. Speaking softly, with hesitation and uncertainty, “Could ‘he’ be from the art department?”

“The art department?” Several people didn’t quite understand why Ruan Qing said that.

Ruan Qing naturally couldn’t reveal that he had hacked into the school system.

The original owner as a computer science major could have the ability to hack into the school system, but he could not hack in ahead of time to look for clues about the pen spirit when the incident with the pen spirit had only happened less than a day ago.

That would be highly suspicious, and it would easily reveal that he was also a player.

Ruan Qing pursed his slightly red lips. “Because ‘his’ hand... looks good, like the hands of someone who plays the piano.”

Unfortunately, not everyone who played the piano developed calluses, and Ruan Qing couldn’t be certain about this.

But as long as he knew when the incident in room 404 occurred, he could determine which department ‘he’ was from.

Ji Zhiyuan, seeing Ruan Qing praising someone, showed a hint of displeasure in his eyes. He shook his head directly and said in a deep voice, “Many ghosts have the ability to deceive people; what you see may not be real.”

“And having attractive hands doesn’t necessarily mean someone can play the piano.”

“Yes, making such a judgment is definitely not right,” the chubby player immediately nodded. “Even though ‘that person’ may not necessarily be from the Computer Science department, the fact that the occupants of your dormitory room is from the Computer Science department might not be a coincidence.”

“There must be some connection in all of this.”

The chubby player spoke with great certainty. After all, the summoning game involving the pen spirit was quite famous at the First University, and many dormitories had played it, but nothing unusual had happened in any of them.

The information given when they entered the instance was that the residents of room 404 were playing the pen spirit game, which seemed too coincidental.

Ruan Qing didn’t say anything more upon hearing this. He would consider the suggestion once the group couldn’t find any clues.

Moreover, he couldn’t be certain that his guess was one hundred percent correct.

It’s easy to find where computer science students would go because there were only two buildings they frequented. 

One was the lecture hall for theoretical classes, and the other was the laboratory building for practical classes.

Both were not far away.

The lecture hall was even right next to this building; they could get there directly through the corridor.

With Ruan Qing, a computer science student, guiding them, the group quickly arrived.

The players immediately searched the lecture hall, even checking the rooftop, but found nothing.

They decided to head to the computer science department’s laboratory building.

Perhaps due to drinking too much water during the day, one of the players suddenly felt the need to use the restroom halfway.

Originally, he thought about finding a dark place to relieve himself, but then he remembered that they were in the ghost domain of the pen spirit, and if the spirit felt his behavior was provocative, he would be in trouble.

He endured for a while, but after passing by the school’s public restroom, he couldn’t hold it any longer.

But going to the restroom at this moment obviously meant being left alone, so he looked at the others and quietly said, “I need to go, can someone come with me?”

Ji Zhiyuan didn’t respond, but suddenly thought that the person next to him seemed not to have gone to the restroom since they met around noon.

Ji Zhiyuan slowed down, looked at the restroom not far away, and said, “Let’s all go together.”

There were lights in the restroom. The group entered cautiously. After all, it was midnight, and the restroom was empty, with only a mop in the corner.

The mop’s head was pure black, looking extremely eerie under the light.

The player originally planned to relieve himself at the urinal, but after a faint glance from Ji Zhiyuan, his scalp tingled, and he entered one of the restroom stalls.

Since they were already in the restroom, the other two players also entered stalls one after another.

Ji Zhiyuan entered a stall as well, leaving only Ruan Qing outside.

Feeling a bit nervous and uneasy, Ruan Qing thought for a moment and pushed open the stall next to Ji Zhiyuan.

However, after entering the stall, he suddenly couldn’t hear the voices of the others anymore.

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