INSIDER Chapter 103

Hearing this, Tang Shizhe quickly stepped forward and leaned closer to Lu Chu, putting his arm around Lu Chu’s shoulder, feeling instantly safe. Gao Yong also moved closer to Lu Chu for a sense of security.

However, their proximity to Lu Chu caused Seven, who was hiding nearby, to furrow his brows slightly.

Tang Shizhe felt a sudden cold wind blow by, so he pulled his arm back from Lu Chu’s shoulder and rubbed his arms in fear, saying, “This place has too much yin energy…”

At this time, there were still three girls in their group: Zhang Qian, Sun Qiao, and Yang Fengjuan. Sun Qiao and Zhang Qian were close friends, both quite timid. Chen Hong protected Zhang Qian, while Zhang Qian tightly held Sun Qiao’s hand. Yang Fengjuan seemed braver, but even she couldn’t easily accept the impact of the current scene.

Seeing the horror in the corridor, the three girls held their breath and turned their backs, closing their eyes.

“Let’s think of a way to escape,” Chen Hong said. “If we continue like this, we don’t know when it will be our turn to die.”

“What kind of way?” Tang Shizhe said in frustration, “I’m not quick-witted. I failed three exams last semester. Don’t count on me.”

The others also had no ideas.

Lu Chu pondered for a moment and muttered to himself, “To stop this supernatural event, we generally need to find the root cause first, then solve it so we can be saved. But what is the root cause…”

Du Yangnan agreed, “I’ve watched so many horror movies, and that’s usually the routine. Art imitates life.”

“The root cause?” Gao Yong asked. “Isn’t it the spirit of the pen?”

Chen Hong wasn’t sure, “It should be…”

Lu Chu shook his head, “I feel it’s not that simple. I think we’ve overlooked something.”

Tang Shizhe asked, “Overlooked what?”

“I don’t know yet. I can’t think of it for now,” Lu Chu glanced at the staircase at the end of the corridor. “We need to find out ourselves.”

During their conversation, Du Yangnan suddenly looked around and asked, “Where’s Cao Wenwen?”

Hearing this, Lu Chu looked at the corpses in the corridor. They immediately understood that she was dead and didn’t ask further.

“But since something happened to Cao Wenwen, shouldn’t this killing game stop?” Du Yangnan asked, puzzled. After all, it was Cao Wenwen who made the mistake.

“It’s hard to say. Ghosts don’t follow human logic,” Tang Shizhe was the first to present a contrary opinion. “Besides, I agree with Lu Chu. It seems it’s not just the spirit of the pen that caused the massacre.”

Du Yangnan thought for a moment and suggested, “Why don’t we go back and try to send the spirit away? Even if we can’t send it away, knowing something about it would be good.”

After several rounds of discussion, they all agreed with Du Yangnan’s suggestion to find paper and a pen and try to send the spirit away.

The turning point came when they were about to look for paper and a pen—

The corpses and blood in the corridor vanished as if evaporated, and at the same time, there was a knocking sound from the bathroom, accompanied by the sound of heavy objects falling and terrified screams.

They looked at each other, immediately understanding that the three people hiding in the bathroom were in trouble, and ran towards the bathroom.

It took only a few seconds to reach the bathroom, but the noise had already stopped.

Lu Chu hesitated.

It was always like this, as if the entity was maliciously toying with them, making them watch helplessly as their companions died miserably nearby. Moreover, since seeing the ghostly figure behind Cao Wenwen, they hadn’t seen “it” again, only fleeing from its killing spree.

Lu Chu stepped forward and opened the ajar bathroom door.

A heavy scent of blood hit them.

Inside, where three people were hiding, now lay five corpses piled together. Two were the previously missing female corpses, and the other three were the male classmates Lu Chu’s group had tried to call out, including Wu Xuan, who suggested playing the pen spirit game.

Seeing five more people dead, the three girls were on the verge of a psychological breakdown.

Lu Chu shielded the gruesome scene, making the girls feel slightly better.

The boys, though scared and nauseated, were relatively better and not completely paralyzed by fear.

Lu Chu’s group saw the state of the bathroom.

The situation was clear—

The women’s and men’s bathrooms were separated by a wall, which now had a hole big enough for an adult to crawl through. The two previously missing female corpses had climbed through the hole into the women’s bathroom, killing the three hiding there.

Lu Chu remembered that after those three hid in the women’s bathroom, they had tried to open the door but couldn’t, leading Lu Chu to kick away the headless female corpse. It turned out that the door couldn’t open because “it” wanted those inside to die.

.

Lu Chu’s group found paper and a pen.

The pen was broken in two, and the paper had a large “death” written in an unknown black-red fluid, now dried and leaving dark red-black traces. The paper was slightly wrinkled and rough from being soaked and dried.

Tang Shizhe frowned, “This paper can’t be used, right? We didn’t bring our bags, so we don’t have new paper or pens. Does anyone else have any?”

Du Yangnan raised his hand, “I do.”

He searched the sofa for his bag, took out a sheet of paper, and began looking for a pen.

Suddenly, his face changed, and he pulled out a severed finger from his bag, instantly throwing it away in horror.

Lu Chu: “…”

Despite being startled by the severed finger, they still needed to find a pen.

This time, Du Yangnan didn’t search but emptied his bag, dumping its contents onto the sofa.

He pulled out a pen and placed it on the table.

Tang Shizhe, looking at the items dumped on the sofa, praised, “A collection of beautiful women’s photos? Not bad.”

Du Yangnan was silent for a moment before punching Tang Shizhe’s shoulder, “Have you gotten used to being scared? Still in the mood to notice this?”

Tang Shizhe quickly apologized, “My bad.”

After they were ready, Chen Hong asked, “Who’s going to play this time?”

Normally, those who invited the pen spirit should send it away. But with two of them dead, Chen Hong and Gao Yong were left, and they needed others to fill in.

Lu Chu volunteered, “I’ll do it.”

Given Lu Chu’s previous strength, everyone felt a strange sense of security with him leading, so they all agreed.

With one person decided, Du Yangnan asked, “Who will take Cao Wenwen’s place?”

“I think it’s better to match the gender,” Tang Shizhe suggested.

Indeed, to send away the spirit they invited, they needed the same configuration. With Cao Wenwen gone, they should choose someone of the same gender to replace her. The balance of yin and yang must not be disrupted.

Now, only three timid girls remained, making it hard to choose who would play.

Du Yangnan asked them, “Which one of you dares to play?”

The three looked at each other in terror, unable to speak.

Not wanting to force them, Du Yangnan persuaded, “We need to do this to leave this place safely. If we don’t find a solution, we’ll all die here. I don’t want to die, and I bet you don’t either.”

After hesitating, Zhang Qian raised her hand weakly, “I’ll do it…”

Chen Hong asked worriedly, “Are you sure?”

Zhang Qian, pale-faced, nodded, “I’m fine. Sit next to me, and I won’t be scared.”

.

With the participants settled, they sat as before, with a pen and paper in front.

However, just as they were about to hold the pen, Lu Chu felt a moment of dizziness and smelled a faint familiar, unpleasant scent.

The scent was strongest around the gruesome corpses.

Lu Chu turned towards the source and saw Zhang Qian, curled up in Chen Hong’s arms, just a step away.

Everyone has a unique smell, including souls.

The entity causing their tragedy had a pervasive scent, present where it had killed, though varying in intensity.

Lu Chu, being Chen Hong’s friend and roommate, had always maintained a respectful distance from Zhang Qian. Even while fleeing, Lu Chu stayed with Tang Shizhe, while Chen Hong protected Zhang Qian elsewhere.

This meant Lu Chu had never been close enough to smell her.

Finally, he realized the key clue he had overlooked—Chen Hong’s fatigue and his yin energy at the start of the semester.