Judge of Souls - Chapter 12

Shortly after Jiang Feng arrived at school, he received a notice from the class monitor saying that the Vice Dean had fallen ill, and all his courses were canceled. Students needed to re-select their courses.

Since the Vice Dean taught professional courses and his illness came suddenly, the college couldn’t find a replacement teacher immediately. They arranged for all enrolled students to be added to the other two course instructors’ quotas, and the classroom was changed from a medium-sized room to a large one.

However, the course selection system showed it was already full, so students had to go to the Academic Affairs Office to register manually.

Because the news came suddenly, just before classes were about to start, and the Academic Affairs Office was already busy during this pre-semester period, everything collided together creating a huge crowd.

When Jiang Feng arrived, there was already a long line in front.

At least the administration building had air conditioning, so waiting was quite comfortable for Jiang Feng.

Soon after, another batch of people came and lined up behind him. Several female students held their course schedules, discussing quietly.

“What illness does the Vice Dean have? I saw him just two days ago when I arrived at school, and he looked perfectly healthy! How did he suddenly become unable to teach?”

“I heard… it’s some kind of skin disease that makes him unable to be exposed to light.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. How could he suddenly get a skin disease at school? And if it’s just a skin disease, couldn’t he just take sick leave? Why cancel all the courses?”

“I suspect it’s not a skin disease but something contagious. That’s why he was quickly isolated. Hasn’t X City had another flu outbreak recently? Isn’t the Vice Dean from there?”

“But they would have notified us about prevention measures if it was the flu, right?”

“The class monitor from the next class called and asked. The Vice Dean said it’s a skin allergy he got at school, and it’s very serious. But they haven’t been able to identify the allergen yet, so he doesn’t dare come to school for now.”

“Ah…”

When it was Jiang Feng’s turn, he went in and randomly chose a teacher based on the free time slots in his schedule. After confirming everything was correct, he thanked them and left.

He had several part-time food delivery jobs near the school, specifically scheduled for after the semester started. It was time for him to go to work.

****

Every school has ghost stories that are passed down from generation to generation. Like the music room that automatically makes sounds at midnight, the bloody-eyed female ghost locked behind a door unable to escape, the legless vengeful spirit wandering in the bathroom at night, or the rotting corpse hidden under the bed…

People tend to dismiss these stories after hearing them too many times because, oddly enough, these inherited stories seem strangely similar across different schools – it’s hard to tell which story inherited from which.

People fear ghosts in their hearts, but very few truly believe in them.

At two in the morning, Tian Doudou got up from bed with bleary eyes. She climbed down from the upper bunk, searched for her slippers on the ground with closed eyes, then shuffled towards the bathroom.

When she reached the bathroom door and pulled it, she found it was locked, with a dim yellow light showing through the gap at the bottom.

She rubbed her eyes, becoming slightly more awake.

Who’s using the bathroom so late?

Unable to hold it anymore, Tian Doudou stamped her feet and went back, grabbed two pieces of tissue from her desk, opened the dorm door, and headed for the public bathroom.

Half the lights in the corridor were off, with only low-wattage fluorescent bulbs every five or six meters.

Fortunately, the moonlight was bright tonight, and once her eyes adjusted to the light, it didn’t seem too dark outside.

Tian Doudou made her way to the bathroom at the end of the corridor and went in.

The public bathroom had two rows of shallow basins on both sides for students to wash clothes, with toilet stalls further inside.

After using the bathroom, Tian Doudou felt much better. She walked to the basin and turned on the faucet, putting her hand underneath.

Although she turned the tap, the water didn’t come out immediately. Tian Doudou tapped it once, and finally, a stream of liquid spurted out.

She rubbed her fingers, feeling the liquid was somewhat sticky and very uncomfortable to wash with. She leaned in closer to look carefully and realized it wasn’t water. Although it was too dark to distinguish clearly, it seemed to be some kind of dark liquid.

There was also a fishy smell.

Tian Doudou stepped back, frantically shaking her hands and wiping them on her clothes. Her heart pounded violently a couple of times.

It must be… rust in the water pipes? Or some problem with the water source?

She heard herself swallow hard. She told herself internally: don’t worry about it, hurry back to the dorm. Go back!

She resolutely turned around, preparing to leave, when a rhythmic shaking sound came from the left side of the doorway, at the end of the basins.

“Thump, thump, thump.”

The sound was rhythmic and growing louder, impossible to ignore, as if something was about to break free.

Tian Doudou’s footsteps stopped.

The sound was tempting her to turn and look.

This thought was ridiculous, Tian Doudou mocked herself – most supernatural incidents are just people scaring themselves.

It must be the wind, right?

It has to be, right?

She gathered her courage and took two steps forward. As she approached the door, she looked toward the source of the sound.

In the corner sat a red plastic bucket, normally used for holding mops. But now, instead of tools, it contained a girl in a white dress. Somehow she had been stuffed inside, her limbs all folded together, and she was clearly dead. Only her face remained visible at the top, her neck bent at a ninety-degree angle facing the ceiling.

Her expression was one of terror, jaw dislocated, mouth stretched into a horrifying arc.

The face was very familiar – they had greeted each other just that day and attended the same class.

Tian Doudou couldn’t hold back anymore. She screamed and ran out of the bathroom, fleeing at top speed toward her dorm.

In the short distance of less than a hundred meters, she felt several times like she would collapse halfway. In the darkness, she felt eyes watching her back, and every step filled her with terror. Just before her mental breakdown, she finally reached her dorm door.

She stopped at the door, trying to open it with her key, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t align it with the keyhole. When she finally managed to insert it, she twisted it roughly and opened the door.

Before entering, she took one last look toward the bathroom direction.

There was nothing there, completely empty, with only the dim corridor lights – as if everything had been her imagination.

Tian Doudou slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, breathing heavily. Looking up, she saw a figure standing at the bathroom door. The figure had long loose hair and stood with their back to her, seemingly just having come out and staring absently at the small balcony outside.

Tian Doudou tried twice before her throat could produce sound, saying hoarsely, “Liu Jing! Liu Jing, she—”

The girl asked. “What about her?”

Tian Doudou screamed. “She’s dead! She’s dead!”

The girl seemed completely unsurprised, with a hint of amusement in her voice, asking, “Is that so?”

Tian Doudou finally noticed something was wrong. Despite all the commotion she’d made coming back, there wasn’t a sound from either her dorm or the neighboring ones.

Her facial muscles began to twitch with fear, cold sweat running down her cheeks.

The next second, she flung open the dorm door and ran out again.

The figure behind her called out. “When reporting birth, don’t come empty-handed; when reporting death, don’t come empty-mouthed. Don’t leave, stay for a meal.”

(TL: 報生不空手 (bào shēng bù kōng shǒu) – When offering congratulations for life (birth or survival), you bring a gift.

報死不空口 (bào sǐ bù kōng kǒu) – When offering condolences for death, you do not speak empty words but offer something meaningful (like a gesture or gift).)

Tian Doudou was terrified to her core, thinking only of escape. Her world was spinning, completely out of her control.

Then she was tackled from behind, whatever it was pressing down on her back, saying enthusiastically, “Let me treat you to a meal.”

Tian Doudou’s hair was grabbed forcefully, her scalp stinging sharply, but she couldn’t care about that now, just struggling and crying, “I don’t want to eat! I don’t want to eat!”

“Don’t refuse, it’s very delicious.” The female ghost brought something to her face, saying, “This is your favorite food.”

Tian Doudou opened her eyes to look.

It was fresh meat, still bloody. Before she could make a sound, it was stuffed directly into her mouth.

Tian Doudou felt nauseous, but her mouth was firmly covered by the other party, unable to spit it out. Tears streamed down her face, and her limbs lost all strength.

The hand covering her mouth was as cold as ice, extremely slender but very strong.

Tian Doudou was forced to chew as her jaw was pressed firmly, but she didn’t have the courage to look back.

She didn’t know how much time passed. Towards the end, she thought she was already dead, her mouth and stomach full of cold meat. The person behind her was still there, but she had lost all sensation.

As consciousness gradually drifted away from her, suddenly her whole body jerked, shocking her awake.

She opened her eyes and found herself still lying in bed.

Someone was tapping on her bed rail, calling out, “Tian Doudou, what are you doing? Get up quickly, class is about to start!”

Tian Doudou took a while to come to her senses, then finally supported herself to sit up.

“A dream…” she checked her hands and feet, confirming nothing had happened, then laughed nervously. “It was a dream, a dream!”

As for why she had such a horrifying dream, it didn’t matter anymore – it was just a dream.

Her laughter was so creepy that it gave her roommate goosebumps. The girl tentatively asked, “Doudou?”

Tian Doudou’s eyes shifted before looking at her roommate, nodding. “I know. I’m getting up now.”

****

The first class started at eight-thirty in the morning. It was a major course, and the teacher might take attendance, so everyone arrived.

Before the class bell rang, Jiang Feng entered the classroom behind a female student.

The girl seemed distracted, walking very slowly. Her classmate had saved her a seat, and she stopped at her friend’s call when she reached the sixth row.

There happened to be an empty seat in the row behind her, so Jiang Feng spoke to the student next to it and turned in as well.

The girl walked in front of Jiang Feng, reached the empty spot, pressed down the wooden seat, and sat down. However, the supposedly sturdy wooden board suddenly collapsed, causing her to fall hard onto the ground.

It was quite a heavy fall, and everyone around turned to look at the sound. Jiang Feng was still standing, so he clearly saw her right arm get caught on the armrest, which literally stripped off a palm-sized piece of skin, exposing the red flesh underneath.

Jiang Feng thought it was his imagination, or perhaps something unclean at work, and fought back nausea without making a sound. However, the surrounding screams told him that no, this wasn’t a dream.

Her skin was missing a large piece.

“Doudou!” The girl next to her reached out to help her, “Quick, get up!”

“Ah—!” Tian Doudou screamed in resistance, “Don’t touch me!!”

The girl hurriedly withdrew her hand, but Tian Doudou’s arm still bore a palm-sized wound.

The girl’s breath caught – she stiffly looked at her palm and found that her touch had actually pulled off a piece of Tian Doudou’s skin.