Chapter 81: The Twenty-Four Curse

His mouth was wide agape, the blood already dried, yet it traced a line down his chin all the way to his neck, like a bizarre totem.

Your mind went blank, your entire body feeling as if it were plunged into an ice cellar; all thoughts vanished, leaving only the urge to turn and run.

Yet Zhou Ye's voice pinned you to the spot, unable to move.

"What did you say?"

"N-nothing."

"I heard it, classmate."

His palm rested on your shoulder, leaning in slightly, "You said you liked me."

The suffocating air nearly made you faint, but he just smiled, "But it seems to lack a bit of sincerity."

"If there were a love letter, it would be perfect."

【You returned to the dormitory, trembling with fear, and did not sleep all night. That horrific scene played over and over in your mind like a film clip.】

【He said that after school today, he would be waiting for you in the same place.】

Su Mian had just realized the plot had ended when a hand patted her shoulder.

Su Mian jumped in surprise. She looked up to see the person sitting in front of her using a book to shield her face, grinning at her.

This was one of her roommates, Jiang Yue.

Her grades were consistently at the bottom of the class; she was the social butterfly and gossip master of the group.

"Zhou Ye actually isn't dead yet? It seems what they said is true!"

"What?"

Su Mian blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what she was talking about.

Jiang Yue looked at her with pity, "Just keep reading your useless books. You don't even know how many people have died in this school."

"The Twenty-Four Curse—you really don't know about it?"

Jiang Yue didn't care if Su Mian wanted to listen or not; she put down her textbook and leaned lazily onto Su Mian's desk. Su Mian knew this was an NPC providing information, so she didn't stop her.

"Every year, our school forum holds a vote for the school heartthrob. Back when we were freshmen, the one elected was a sophomore senior. Not long after he was chosen, he started dating that 'Divination Sister' in our dorm."

She lowered her voice, her face full of disdain.

"That girl has no looks and no figure; it's a ghost's work if he actually liked her!"

Su Mian recalled the Divination Sister Jiang Yue mentioned. Her name was Liang Chuchu; she was plain-looking, short, and obese, but her personality was extremely nasty, and she loved ordering people around.

She spent money lavishly and looked down on everyone in the dorm.

Why was she called Divination Sister? Because she always felt there were ghosts in the world, often wrote letters claiming to be for ghosts to possess dreams, and even goaded them into playing games like the Four-Corner Game or Bloody Mary. Naturally, the others in the dorm kept their distance.

"Everyone was betting on how many days it would take for that senior to break up with Liang Chuchu. As it turned out, they stayed lovey-dovey until sophomore year. Even when the heartthrob election was about to change, they still hadn't broken up."

"That's when the bizarre part started."

Jiang Yue lowered her brow and beckoned Su Mian to lean closer.

"That senior died on the 24th day of that month. The school suppressed the incident, and we had no way of knowing how he died."

"We thought it was over, but that sophomore year, the newly elected heartthrob started dating Liang Chuchu again!"

"And he died too?"

Su Mian asked. Jiang Yue nodded excitedly. She wanted to continue, but the head teacher had appeared beside them before they knew it.

Jiang Yue sat back up with a jolt and began pretending to read.

Su Mian immediately flipped the page, hiding the love letter tucked in the crease. The middle-aged man didn't speak, just stared at her.

Su Mian couldn't put her finger on what was wrong; although he had the appearance of a normal person, she felt his gaze was chilling, looking at her as if she were a corpse.

Fortunately, the head teacher didn't intend to punish them; he looked for a moment and then left.

Su Mian noticed Jiang Yue let out a sigh of relief, her forehead covered in cold sweat. She frowned.

Is it that scary?

The sound of reading gradually faded, and the bell rang. The people in front began pulling out test papers and exercises one after another. The entire classroom was left with only the sound of paper and pens scratching.

For the last ten days, no teachers came to give lessons. Su Mian slowly wrote a line on her draft paper.

The Twenty-Four Curse

Then she added a question mark.

Jiang Yue said Zhou Ye wasn't dead, which meant he was originally supposed to die because he was this year's elected heartthrob. As for why he didn't die?

Su Mian couldn't figure it out. Her script only told her that Zhou Ye was gentle yet cold, and had never dated. Did that mean Liang Chuchu hadn't succeeded, and thus Zhou Ye naturally didn't die?

Then how did Liang Chuchu succeed with the first two heartthrobs?

The script was extremely stingy; it didn't even tell her who the target to kill was or what the motive was. She could only passively follow the plot step by step.

By the time it was nearly six o'clock in the evening, the entire sky had gone completely dark. Although she had been on pins and needles all day, nothing had happened.

Except for the strange head teacher, the students in the class were very normal—some even asked her to pass notes, some flirted when the teacher wasn't looking, some ticked boxes on their papers very deliberately, some tapped their heads or shook their legs. Su Mian had almost been absorbed into this atmosphere.

But she knew there was one big event waiting for her after school.

"Jiang Yue, I'm not eating with you today."

Jiang Yue blinked, not appearing overly surprised. She suddenly said, "You've been a bit unusual these past two days, classmate Luo Yi."

She leaned forward with a look that said she saw through everything and poked Su Mian's cheek.

"Tell me, are you dating someone!"

……

She actually guessed it. Su Mian swatted her hand away, neither nodding nor shaking her head, just telling her to go first.

Jiang Yue pouted, saying she had become increasingly cold lately, and left crying.

Su Mian followed her memory to the tool room next door. The sound of splashing water came from inside.

She took a deep breath, prayed internally that no horrific scene would appear, and called out inside.

"Zhou Ye?"

No one answered. She waited a few seconds before stepping inside. The tool room was darker than she imagined; the space was narrow but had four stalls, each containing different cleaning tools.

She walked to the very back and found no one. The faucet at the sink was running on its own, slapping against the stone floor.

Su Mian reached out to turn it off, but the entire space became abnormally silent.

Her ears twitched, and she felt an inexplicable chill.

It shouldn't be this quiet; she could clearly hear the sounds of horseplay in the corridor just a moment ago.

Su Mian gripped the envelope tighter. She felt a weight on her shoulder, shivered slightly, and immediately turned around.

"Sorry, I'm late."

It was Zhou Ye. Su Mian sized him up.

He truly deserved the title of "Heaven's Pride." He was very handsome, with black eyes and black hair, fair skin, and deep eye sockets. A hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth made people want to get close to him involuntarily.

He wasn't particularly stunning, but he inexplicably made people feel he was very charming.

Su Mian hadn't expected him to be this tall; to the naked eye, he looked nearly 1.9 meters.

"It's okay."

Su Mian lowered her eyes and handed over the love letter in her hand. ===== CHAPTER 82 =====