Chapter 223: 219 Hanako in the Toilet

The Blood Moon shone high in the sky, and the school was filled with a ghostly aura. Perhaps it was her own psychology at work, but Misaki Naomi always felt that in the shadows where the light could not reach, black figures were writhing. They were like gluttonous and starving demons from hell, eyeing the only two living people walking in this abnormal world with covetous, salivating gazes.

Misaki Naomi prayed inwardly that at the end of this corridor, or perhaps around some corner, she would find a way out. Yet, walking through this silent and deep old school, every inner prayer was involuntarily influenced by fear, and she could not help but imagine that at the ends of those corridors and around those corners, some hideous monster might truly be hiding, waiting quietly for its prey to arrive...

She was just an ordinary high school girl, a common person who would usually hesitate even to touch a stray cat on the side of the road. Her courage could never compare to that of a professional, which was why she felt a sense of admiration for He Jia'an, who walked in front of her. His firm, steady pace and the calm expression that seemed to fear nothing gradually fascinated her, and she could not help but fantasize about his past.

As an Investigator, what kind of terrifying desperate situations had he encountered in the past to have forged this tempered heart of steel?

Uncle, even without hair, you seem quite handsome!

On He Jia'an's calm face, his eyes observed the surroundings with keen focus, checking every moment whether the New Year Red Envelope was still on his person. In this abnormal dimension, comparable to a "Ghost Domain," there must be countless monsters lurking.

The moment he arrived in this world, he had already sensed a cold aura similar to a "Blessing" permeating and lingering throughout the entire campus. Therefore, even though the New Year Red Envelope was currently shielding and isolating him from ghostly things—making them invisible and untouchable to him—he could still feel them.

The two moved forward while exploring, pushing open the doors they passed. If they felt the interior space of a room was sufficiently open and the danger factor seemed low, they would go in to explore, trying their best to find useful items or clues.

However, after passing several classrooms, they were all "spotless." They had checked the drawers, the teacher's podium, and every place in the classrooms where things might be stored or hidden, but they found nothing; it was just empty.

Unknowingly, the two arrived at the end of the corridor: the first-year teaching building's restroom.

"Let's go, into the women's restroom," He Jia'an said. His words instantly caused Misaki Naomi's favor for him to drop in temperature.

"Why are we checking the women's restroom first?" The muscles between Misaki Naomi's brows could not help but twitch slightly.

He Jia'an said as a matter of course, "I've never been in a women's restroom in this life. It's a rare opportunity; I might as well go in and take a look."

"What's there to see? It's nothing more than being bigger than the men's room and full of stalls," Misaki Naomi said, somewhat speechless. But she still followed He Jia'an inside, mainly because she didn't dare to be left alone and could only accompany this bald uncle to satisfy his curiosity.

Before they even entered the restroom, a foul stench rushed toward them from afar. The two covered their mouths and noses in unison and pushed open the toilet stalls one by one. Seeing the uncleared, filthy sights in some of the stalls, Misaki Naomi almost vomited her dinner from the night before.

Misaki Naomi couldn't bear to look, yet He Jia'an actually attempted to use a toilet brush from one of the stalls to explore further.

"Hey, perverted uncle, that's enough." Misaki Naomi couldn't take it anymore and turned her back, though she didn't forget to grab one of He Jia'an's wrists with one hand.

"Don't be impatient, I'm just investigating."

"What is there to investigate about this!?"

"You don't understand..." He Jia'an shook his head. He used the toilet brush to clear away the filth, and the sight he saw afterward made his brows furrow instantly.

He Jia'an's sudden silence made Misaki Naomi somewhat nervous, and she immediately asked, "Did you find something?"

"Yes, but I suggest you don't look," He Jia'an said, trying his best to restrain his instinct to gasp in this environment. "This isn't a restroom for humans."

He had just seen an incompletely digested eye inside.

He Jia'an's simple sentence made Misaki Naomi imagine everything about this restroom. She urged He Jia'an to leave quickly, feeling somewhat panicked.

"No rush." But He Jia'an just threw away the toilet brush in his hand unhurriedly, and then took Misaki Naomi into the men's restroom.

Compared to the women's restroom, the environment of the men's restroom, besides the foul stench, had an extra layer of eerie and terrifying atmosphere. The motion-sensor lights in the restroom seemed to be broken, flickering on and off.

And here, only one stall was abrupt and conspicuous—the one at the very back of the restroom—because only the door of that stall was covered in drawings and writings in various black and red paints.

"Trash!"

"Stinking bug!"

"Waste!"

"Go die!"

"..."

All sorts of vicious words surrounded that stall like a seal.

He Jia'an gently nudged the stall door open with his foot. The sight inside scared Misaki Naomi so much that she hid behind He Jia'an, not daring to look.

Large patches of bloodstains covered the inside of the stall. The undried, filthy blood almost covered the even cruder and more vicious insults inside, as if a very brutal slaughter had once occurred here; otherwise, there wouldn't be such an extremely terrifying amount of blood.

Drip—drip—

Blood dripped down from overhead. He Jia'an looked up at the ceiling corresponding to the stall and saw a large amount of mold suddenly appearing on the white ceiling, along with text arranged in fresh blood, which read: "I was just afraid of retaliation, what did I do wrong!"

This text was different from the vicious words covering the stall; it was more like someone's cry of grief and indignation.

"Has something happened here before?" He Jia'an suddenly thought of another legend of Kisaragi High School and hurriedly turned back to ask Misaki Naomi, "By the way, I remember you mentioned 'Hanako in the Toilet' before. What kind of legend is that?"

Misaki Naomi had likely thought of this rumor as well, so she explained without hesitation: "It's a story about a child of a staff member at Kisaragi High School, an elementary school student named Hanako. While waiting for her mother, who was a teacher, to finish work, she was dragged into a restroom by a perverted school janitor and brutally murdered. Later, rumors spread throughout Kisaragi High School that Hanako's vengeful spirit would not dissipate and was filled with great resentment. She wanders in any restroom in the school, waiting for an opportunity. She cries while looking for her mother, and drags any unlucky person who hears her voice into the restroom to torture them to death."

"Has anyone actually died because of this?" He Jia'an raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but it's said that it happened in the past," Misaki Naomi said with a bitter smile. "But that was back in the Showa era. I haven't heard of any students dying in the restroom now. I heard the school hired a master to perform some rituals or something."