INSIDER Chapter 60

Lu Chu found himself immersed in memories of Zheng Ran. When he came to, it had only been a moment, yet Seven’s hands were already around Zheng Ran’s neck.

Zheng Ran’s face, pale and shocked, looked at Seven: “You can touch me?!”

Lu Chu, who was also in contact with Zheng Ran, was still confused, but then heard Zheng Ran say, while struggling in Seven’s grip: “Without my permission, no one can touch me…”

Lu Chu finally understood. As a ghost, Zheng Ran had no physical form, and without her consent, no one could touch her. From her words, it was clear she hadn’t allowed Seven the ability to touch her, yet he still firmly held her neck. It appeared she couldn’t escape, even in her ethereal form.

Having seen Zheng Ran’s memories, Lu Chu didn’t believe she intended to harm them. He gently touched Seven’s arm. Seven turned to look at him, understanding the message in Lu Chu’s eyes, and released his grip on Zheng Ran’s neck.

Zheng Ran immediately floated away in fear, landing on the back of Zhang Cheng, who stood by the window.

Lu Chu didn’t move closer but stayed where he was, softly asking Zheng Ran, “What did you do to Xu Yuan and Zhang Cheng?”

She blinked her eerie eyes, which seemed to contain black gemstones, and tilted her head: “Who?”

Lu Chu pointed to Xu Yuan, who was crouched on the floor, staring blankly at Zheng Ran, and then to Zhang Cheng, who had eyes growing on his face and remained unresponsive even with Zheng Ran on his back. “These two.”

Zheng Ran realized and said, “They’re afraid of me, trembling.”

Her expression was innocent: “This way, they won’t be scared of me.”

As she spoke, Zheng Ran’s mouth twisted into a grotesque grin, splitting to her ears. As she smiled, the eyes on Zhang Cheng’s face also curved, seemingly smiling happily.

Five eyes stared directly at Lu Chu.

Despite sharing Zheng Ran’s memories, the faces of those people were blurry, as if obscured by a thin veil. He remembered hearing from Zhang Cheng, when he was still lucid, that Zheng Ran once said, “Brother, there are two people over here.”

These two people must have been the ones who had humiliated and beaten Zheng Ran.

Instinctively, Lu Chu didn’t think these two could be Zhang Cheng and Xu Yuan, who had decent character and had been his companions.

Indeed, Zheng Ran’s gaze towards them held no hatred or malice. She had only driven them mad because their fear of her amused her.

So, the “two people” Zheng Ran referred to must have been the two day students who were staying in Room 318.

They had been scared by the eyes on Zhang Cheng’s face, fleeing the dormitory in panic. The door to Room 318 had then slammed shut and wouldn’t open, no matter how hard they tried. In retrospect, the sealed door wasn’t to prevent those inside from escaping, but to keep those who had fled from returning.

Convenient for the kill. Lu Chu looked at Zheng Ran: “Your brother is outside, isn’t he?”

Zheng Ran rested her head on Zhang Cheng’s shoulder: “You saw it all just now. I could feel it.”

Lu Chu nodded: “Yes, I saw it.” He understood what Zheng Ran meant. He had indeed seen the memories of her being bullied, beaten, and eventually killed.

Those memories were oppressive and humiliating, filled with pain, hatred, and an uncontrollable desire for destruction. It was this deep-seated resentment that kept Zheng Ran’s ghost lingering in the school.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Ran’s mouth returned to normal, and she said, “Brother said he would punish them.”

After speaking, she climbed off Zhang Cheng’s shoulder and floated in front of Lu Chu, excitedly asking, “Do you want to come and watch?”

Before Lu Chu could respond, the door to Room 318 suddenly opened by itself. Startled, Lu Chu turned to see that Zheng Ran had already appeared in the hallway, waving excitedly at him: “Big brother, come and see.”

She glanced at Seven standing beside Lu Chu, pouted, and floated westward.

Lu Chu and Seven exchanged a glance and followed her out.

The hallway was eerily quiet. Other dormitory lights were on, but no one noticed Zheng Ran floating by, nor did anyone notice Lu Chu and Seven stepping out. Lu Chu suspected that when the two day students ran out earlier, no one noticed them either.

Lu Chu’s eyes turned to the west side of the hallway, which had been boarded up to prevent students from being scared. But now, the large wooden board was gone, replaced by a deep, dark, seemingly endless corridor.

Lu Chu coughed twice, and the dim sensor lights in the hallway flickered on.

He and Seven walked side by side, slowly.

As they passed the lit dormitories, they saw people huddled together in fear, laughing and chatting boldly, or lying in bed staring blankly at the ceiling. Despite only being a door away, it felt as if they were in a different world from Lu Chu. Even when someone occasionally looked out the window, they didn’t see Lu Chu.

When Lu Chu walked past where the wooden board should have been, he felt a strange sensation, as if stepping into another dimension.

Without hesitation, Lu Chu stepped in.

Instantly, a thick, nauseating smell of rust filled the air.

Usually silent and head-down, Zheng Wei stood at the end of the west hallway by the window. One of the day students lay at his feet, abdomen slit open, organs exposed, bleeding profusely, but still breathing. Another student, expressionless, was being strangled by Zheng Wei. It was clear he was in pain but unable to move, his body out of his control, the pain excruciatingly clear.

Zheng Ran stood nearby, clapping excitedly.

Zheng Wei saw Lu Chu and Seven, showing no surprise. He calmly lifted the lit cigarette in his hand, smoke curling around his fingers as he pointed to the boy he was strangling: “Li Wenlong, once insulted and burned Ran Ran with a cigarette.”

With that, he pressed the cigarette into Li Wenlong’s left eye, the sound of burning flesh chillingly clear. Li Wenlong had already wet his pants in fear, but his body betrayed him, his remaining eye watching helplessly as the cigarette was pressed into his left eye. The sizzle was horrifying, the smell of charred flesh nauseating.

After the cigarette burned down, Zheng Wei crushed it into Li Wenlong’s eye, his left face caving in, blood mixing with the sole of Zheng Wei’s shoe.

Zheng Wei said calmly, “They deserved it.”

Lu Chu, inappropriately, praised him: “Your alibi was well-crafted.”

Zheng Wei’s doting gaze fell on Zheng Ran, floating beside him: “It was just a trick. I killed those two long ago and placed them there. With Ran Ran around, no one could see my footprints or the chaotic bloodstains. Originally, it should have been simpler.” He looked at Lu Chu. “Ran Ran could have created the illusion of me being in the dormitory, saving me the trouble of arranging a plausible timeline. But before the plan started, I noticed you were different. If it wasn’t me lying there, you might have figured it out.”

“Your perception is sharp.”

Zheng Wei scoffed. But how sharp could it be when he hadn’t realized the suffering and humiliation of his loved one?

Zheng Wei pulled a student from the washroom, a classmate of theirs, who had been cleared by the police and was supposed to go home, now dragged here.

Lu Chu asked, “Why speed up the killings?”

If Zheng Wei continued at his previous pace, killing one by one, neither the police nor the suspicious Lu Chu could confirm it was him. With Zheng Ran’s cover, finding evidence would be difficult. But now Zheng Wei had killed two from Lu Chu’s dormitory and revealed Zheng Ran.

“Ran Ran couldn’t wait,” Zheng Wei smiled. “She wanted to see them die.”

Zheng Wei murmured as if reminiscing, “When Ran Ran told me someone was bullying her, I shouldn’t have thought it was a joke. I didn’t realize it. Ha, who would have thought kids barely thirteen or fourteen could do such things.” He sounded deranged, pulling out a sharp utility knife and pressing it to the boy’s neck, eyes filled with hate and bloodshot. He roared, “And what did they say? These kids were just fooling around, just being immature, that we should give them a chance to change!”

Zheng Wei laughed bitterly, “Give them a chance? Who gave me a chance? Who gave Ran Ran a chance to live again? The insults, the beatings, the humiliation, how do those count? They were just kids, but my Ran Ran? A life taken, and those kids were just detained for a few months, then released for being minors.”

Zheng Wei’s obsession was chilling. He said, “I’m not willing to let them off. I want to make them suffer the way Ran Ran did. Now, there’s only this one left.”

Lu Chu looked towards the washroom, where six bodies lay, their deaths all strange and gruesome.

Zheng Wei stabbed the knife into the last boy’s neck, blood flowing down his skin. He said, “Lu Chu, will you stop me?”