Chapter 522: Second Dorm Inspection

Eleven at night.

Room 901.

The dorm inspector stepped into the room with an odd gait.

“Are all the students asleep?”

Of course no one answered her—after yesterday’s experience, everyone knew how to handle inspections; all kept their eyes tightly shut, feigning deep sleep.

The dorm inspector deployed her three standard tactics.

Face-to-face observation, flashlight shone into the eyes, and pretending to leave while hiding on the floor.

But the same tricks were useless on the Returned and newcomers.

She stayed for nearly an hour.

Finally, the dorm inspector climbed off the floor, clattered away down the hall, and slammed the door shut—throughout the dormitory building, doors began slamming one after another.

It was the same last night.

The dorm inspector only stayed in the room for about an hour, and by midnight at the latest, everyone left together.

Whether this departure was real or fake remained unknown for now.

With the dorm inspector gone, Wei Kang, Jiang Dong, and Ji Yaning closed their eyes as drowsiness slowly crept over them.

Half-asleep.

Ji Yaning felt the bed shake twice.

At first she thought it was Wei Kang or Jiang Dong turning over—but the moment the thought arose, she broke into a cold sweat. Her bed was number four; Wei and Jiang’s beds weren’t connected to hers, and the occupant of the adjacent number three bed, Sun Lingchuan, was already dead, his corpse swept into the dustpan.

Why was her bed shaking for no reason?

Was there still something on Sun Lingchuan’s bed?

……

The room was pitch black.

At the farthest bed, a figure slowly sat up.

This was Room 902.

The one who sat up was Wu Xian.

He kept his eyes closed, his mouth crooked, drool dripping, mumbling incoherently.

“I want to eat beef!”

Finished speaking.

He slumped back down, dazed and half-conscious.

A few minutes later.

Wu Xian sat up again—this time with his eyes open, his expression normal.

“So she really left.”

His earlier sleepwalking act had been a test to see if the dorm inspector had truly departed.

To obtain more ghostly talismans, Wu Xian needed to meditate; the safest and least disturbed time to meditate was during sleep.

But the dorm inspector’s presence made Wu Xian dare not meditate.

After all, she had pretended to leave last night and tricked Su Mi—how could anyone be sure the midnight departure was real? But if he kept doubting like this, he’d never act.

Wu Xian didn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater, so he’d just performed the test.

The dorm inspector only cared whether students were asleep—she couldn’t stop them from sleepwalking, could she?

Even if she could.

To find a safe time to meditate, Wu Xian was willing to risk losing one red bar.

“Then, let’s continue meditating.”

Wu Xian assumed the Five Points Toward Heaven posture, about to activate the Human Spirit Path—when he noticed movement on the bed ahead: Jin Shasha had sat up.

Her hair was disheveled, her eyes closed, her mouth crooked, drool dripping; she slipped quietly off the bed, opened the door, and walked out.

Wu Xian sat on his bed.

He couldn’t see the details outside the door.

He could barely make out, under the corridor’s dim light, two shadows embracing each other.

One was Jin Shasha’s human-shaped shadow.

The other was a tall, upright mass resembling a giant clump of hair, writhing endlessly in the shifting light…

Morning.

Sunlight streamed into the dorm.

Jin Shasha stretched lazily in bed.

She had no confidence in her own courage, so to handle inspections, she chose the dumbest but most effective method:

Sleeping early! After yesterday’s three classes, she’d been exhausted and starving; once asleep, she dropped like a dead pig—no need to fear being startled by the dorm inspector.

She hummed a tune as she left Room 902 and washed her face briefly at the restroom sink.

The sink area downstairs was crowded, but only nineteen people remained on the ninth floor, so there was no need to fight for space; by the time she returned to the dorm after washing, she found her cleaned uniform laid at the door.

She took the uniform inside.

While changing, she urged Wu Xian and the others.

“Let’s go to the cafeteria early today—I’m about to faint from hunger. If I don’t eat something soon, I’ll die before breaking any rules.”

But her words received no response from Wu Xian and the others.

She glanced curiously at Wen Tinghua.

“What’s wrong? Your expressions look strange.”

Wen Tinghua hesitated two seconds before asking: “You seem in good spirits today—did something good happen?”

Jin Shasha’s face flushed slightly: “No, I was with you all last night. But just surviving this long is already a good thing.”

Her good mood came from:

A dream last night that filled her with joy—she couldn’t recall the details, only that it was deeply embarrassing and exhilarating, giving her a bright mood even within the Blessed Land.

Wu Xian and the other two exchanged glances, then said nothing.

Last night, Jin Shasha’s sleepwalking was almost certainly engaging in a “teacher-student romance” with the Etiquette Teacher.

If he told her outright, she might break down in terror—and that wouldn’t benefit her or anyone else. So Wu Xian decided not to reveal the truth yet, and would observe further.

“Ah!”

“It’s you—you’re not…”

A scream erupted from Room 901; other rooms stirred with various noises; the original residents downstairs were in chaos.

Wu Xian had just put on his sports uniform and was about to step out to investigate when a figure passed by the dorm door.

It was a middle-aged woman in a sports uniform, her face pale.

It was Cai Chun—who should have been headless!

Behind Cai Chun followed Deng Qiaoling, equally pale-faced.

As Deng Qiaoling passed Room 902’s door, she deliberately waved toward Wu Xian’s direction, offering a slightly stiff smile.

“Good morning!”

She wore a badge on her chest.

The badge bore no red bar—instead, it read: “Student Union!”

She had become a Student Union member! Wu Xian thought for two seconds, then smiled and waved back—but Deng Qiaoling’s face instantly hardened, and she turned away, walking downstairs with Cai Chun.

“Any of you three know Deng Qiaoling well?”

The answer was no.

Deng Qiaoling was a female staff member from the Resort Island; before entering the Blessed Land, none of them had even known her—and she died early. How could anyone have been close to her?

Wu Xian scanned the dorm room, a chill creeping up his spine.

If none of them knew Deng Qiaoling well, then her greeting must have been meant for someone else inside Room 902.

But who was that someone? And where were they hiding? Wu Xian stepped out and saw Deng and Cai waiting briefly in Room 901—then Sun Lingchuan, movements stiff, emerged from the room; the three walked down the stairs side by side.

Looking down through the stairwell gap,

one could see pairs of hands on the railing—all equally pale, all moving with identical stiffness as they descended.

Jiang Dong, the sunken-eyed middle-aged man, stepped out of Room 901 and stood beside Wu Xian, looking down.

“These three aren’t the same people who died yesterday.”

“Though they look identical, their skins hold different people.”

(End of Chapter)