The stark contrast of Fan Yu's drawings lingered in Chen Ge's mind, the vivid interplay of colors creating a haunting visual that seemed to pulse with hidden meaning.
Red, with its long wavelength dominating the visible light spectrum, stood in sharp opposition to the void-like black, their combination crafting a jarring optical effect that was both mesmerizing and unsettling. In the boy's artwork, the black house loomed like a nightmarish monolith, its oppressive darkness swallowing light, while the red stick figures—vivid as fresh blood—seemed to writhe within its confines, their crimson forms evoking a sense of life trapped in a void.
Each drawing, meticulously crafted with only these two colors, exerted a strange pressure on Chen Ge, as if the images were windows into a truth too grim to face directly. The black phone's Deep Well mission hint—"Everyone has a deep well inside their heart where shameful and unknowable secrets stay buried"—echoed in his thoughts, tying Fan Yu's art to the horrors of Mu Yang High School. Chen Ge's pulse quickened, the chill in his eyes—Zhang Ya's mark—flaring as he sensed the boy's drawings were more than childish scribbles; they were a map to the nightmare awaiting him, a warning that Zhang Ya's crimson presence, her "Yours forever" vow, might not shield him from what lay ahead.
The black house and red figures burned into Chen Ge's memory, their unsettling imagery amplifying the pressure he felt standing in Fan Yu's clean but sparse bedroom. The drawings' relentless repetition—black house, red humans, crumpled and redrawn—suggested an obsession rooted in trauma, perhaps a glimpse of what Fan Yu had witnessed at Mu Yang High School.
"The boy's favorite pastime is drawing," the woman's voice broke through, startling Chen Ge as she entered the room, her presence unnoticed until now. She held two glasses of water, her hands trembling slightly, betraying her emotional strain. "He doesn't like going out, always shutting himself in here," she continued, her voice heavy with a mix of resignation and hope. "All I want is for Xiao Yu to grow up happy, like a normal boy." Her words carried a mother's longing, tinged with the pain of knowing normalcy might be out of reach for her nephew. She set one glass beside Fan Yu, who didn't acknowledge her, and handed the other to Chen Ge, her eyes flickering with guarded concern. "Let's go outside," she said softly, glancing at the boy. "He's afraid of strangers." Chen Ge nodded, sensing the boy's need for solitude, and followed her back to the cramped living room, the weight of the black phone in his pocket urging him to probe deeper into the mystery tying Fan Yu to his mission.
Chen Ge settled back into the living room's lone chair, the glass of water cool in his hands, its surface catching the dim light filtering through the room's single window. The woman sat across from him, her posture tense, her guard visibly rising as she adjusted her position on the worn chair. "Do you have any other questions?" she asked, her tone clipped, a sheen of sweat on her forehead suggesting discomfort—perhaps from the room's stifling heat or the weight of revisiting painful memories. Chen Ge leaned forward, keeping his voice gentle but firm, his mind honed on the mission ahead.
"Fan Yu's been through a lot," he began, choosing his words carefully. "I believe his condition stems from trauma, something deep-rooted from his past. To help him, we need to understand what caused it, work from the source. You're his only family, and it's clear you care deeply for him—would you mind if I ask a few more questions about what happened?" The woman nodded reluctantly, her fingers twisting together, her eyes darting to the kitchen as if seeking an escape. Chen Ge's thoughts flickered to the black phone's Mu Yang High School mission, its 11 p.m. deadline looming, and he knew every detail from the woman could be a lifeline—or a trap—in the night's coming horrors, where Zhang Ya's crimson influence might be his only ally.
Chen Ge pressed on, his tone measured to keep the woman at ease. "You mentioned earlier that Fan Yu's parents went missing after searching for him in the rain. Where was Fan Yu found that night?" The woman's expression tightened, her voice low. "At Mu Yang High School, hiding in my brother's office." The name of the school sent a jolt through Chen Ge, its recurrence in the boy's story and the black phone's mission no coincidence.
"Mu Yang High School again," he murmured, his mind racing. "Strange things keep happening there." The woman sighed, her shoulders slumping as if the weight of the school's reputation pressed down on her. "You're not wrong," she said, her voice heavy with resignation. "Mu Yang High School is Jiujiang's worst. I don't even know why it existed. Before it shut down, the police were there constantly—fights, vandalism, you name it." Chen Ge leaned closer, absorbing every word, realizing this firsthand account was far more valuable than any online research. The school's dark history, its rumored hauntings, and its connection to Fan Yu's parents were pieces of a puzzle he needed to solve before stepping into its halls tonight.
The black phone's weight in his pocket felt heavier, Zhang Ya's presence stirring, her sadistic whims a reminder that the school's secrets might demand a price he wasn't prepared to pay.
The woman stood abruptly, her tone growing serious as she paced the small room, her hands gesturing as if to ward off the memories. "That's not even the half of it," she continued. "The school's infamous for being haunted. Elders nearby say it was built on an old crematorium, torn down for city planning. A school on a site like that—how could it be peaceful? I begged my brother not to work there, but he wouldn't listen." Chen Ge's eyes narrowed, latching onto the detail.
"Why was he so set on teaching at Mu Yang High School?" he asked. The woman hesitated, her gaze dropping. "The pay was good, and he had a record, so jobs were hard to come by. He was fired from his old school for drinking—couldn't handle his liquor. It left a mark on his record, made finding work in Jiujiang tough." Chen Ge seized on the new information. "A record? Did he have enemies? Could his disappearance be tied to that?"
The woman shook her head firmly. "No, nothing like that. He drank, but he wasn't the type to make enemies." Her certainty piqued Chen Ge's curiosity, his instincts sharpened by countless missions. "How can you be so sure it wasn't revenge?" he pressed, watching her closely. The woman's confidence wavered, her eyes flickering with something unspoken, and Chen Ge felt the black phone's hum, Zhang Ya's crimson allure urging him to dig deeper, knowing the answer might lead him straight into the heart of Mu Yang High School's nightmare.
The woman's hesitation was palpable, her fingers trembling slightly as she opened a worn drawer in the cramped living room, pulling out a faded photograph that she placed on the table with a heavy sigh. "When Mu Yang High School first opened," she began, her voice low and tinged with unease, "there was a classroom that was always locked, off-limits to everyone—students, teachers, even janitors.
Only the headmaster knew why, but after the old headmaster died, the reason became a mystery shrouded in rumors." She paused, her eyes distant, as if seeing the school's shadowed halls. "People whispered all sorts of stories: some said the room was reserved for spirits from the crematorium the school was built over, others claimed a tragedy struck the workers before construction finished. Whatever the truth, that classroom is a dark place, steeped in dread."
Chen Ge's mind raced, the black phone's Deep Well mission and its cryptic hint—"Everyone has a deep well inside their heart where shameful and unknowable secrets stay buried"—echoing her words. The mention of a haunted classroom tied to Mu Yang High School sent a chill through him, Zhang Ya's mark flaring in his eyes, her "Yours forever" vow a silent warning that this mystery might lead him into a nightmare far worse than Ping An Apartments. The woman's story felt like a key to the Mu Yang High School mission, but its connection to Fan Yu and his parents remained elusive, urging Chen Ge to probe deeper despite the risks.
Chen Ge's confusion deepened, his brow furrowing as he leaned forward, his voice steady but probing. "What does that classroom have to do with your brother's disappearance?" he asked, sensing the weight of her words but struggling to connect the dots. The woman's gaze dropped to the photograph, her expression a mix of fear and resignation.
"Take a look at this, and you'll understand," she said, sliding the photo toward him. Chen Ge picked it up, his fingers brushing against its worn edges, and his breath caught at the sight. It was a group photo, but nothing about it was normal. A drunken man—presumably the woman's brother—sat in the center, his face flushed and bleary, surrounded by rows of students in Mu Yang High School uniforms. But every student faced away from the camera, their backs turned in an eerie, unified stance, and closer inspection revealed an even stranger detail: they were all standing on their tiptoes, as if suspended or reaching for something unseen.
The image sent a shiver down Chen Ge's spine, its unnatural composition evoking the blood-red cubicle in the Haunted House's mirror and Fan Yu's black-and-red drawings. This isn't just a photo—it's a glimpse into something wrong, he thought, the black phone's weight in his pocket a reminder of the supernatural threads tying this to his mission. Zhang Ya's crimson presence stirred, urging him to unravel the photo's secrets, even as it promised danger.
Chen Ge placed the photo back on the table, his palms slick with sweat as he rubbed them together, trying to shake off the unease crawling up his spine. "Where did you get this picture, and have you shown it to the police?" he asked, his voice calm but insistent. The woman's tone flattened, as if recounting a nightmare she'd memorized. "The night before he disappeared, my brother was at a bar watching a ball game with friends.
To make it to work, he decided to sleep in the school's nurse's office. Passing a classroom, he saw people inside, standing in rows. Thinking they were students working late, he praised their dedication and stopped by the door. They were taking a class photo and invited him to sit in the center. He was drunk, so he didn't think much of it. After the photo, the students left, and someone—he couldn't recall who—handed him this picture." Her voice remained steady, but the story made Chen Ge's skin prickle, the chill in his eyes intensifying.
"When he saw the photo later, he sobered up instantly, realizing he was in the sealed classroom. He told only me and my sister-in-law, thinking it was just a strange incident. But the next day, Xiao Yu vanished, and when they went to find him, they never came back." She pushed the photo back toward Chen Ge, her eyes haunted. "I'm convinced their disappearance is tied to that classroom, not revenge." The black phone's mission loomed in Chen Ge's mind, its 11 p.m. deadline a ticking clock, and Zhang Ya's presence whispered that the sealed classroom held answers—and horrors—he couldn't ignore.
Chen Ge's eyes flicked to the photo, its eerie details burning into his memory as he pressed further. "What did the police say about this?" he asked, sliding the photo back to her. The woman's hands trembled as she took it, her voice barely above a whisper. "They investigated, took the photo back to Mu Yang High School. The students in the picture wore the school's uniforms, but none could be identified—no records, no matches. They opened the sealed classroom and found only my brother's footprints, proving he'd been inside. Nothing else—no clues, no bodies." Her words trailed off, her gaze distant, as if reliving the fruitless search.
Chen Ge asked a few more questions, probing for details about the school, the classroom, and Fan Yu's behavior that night, but her answers grew vague, her exhaustion evident. Sensing he'd reached the limit of her knowledge, Chen Ge stood to leave, the weight of the conversation settling heavily. The woman's story had painted a clearer picture of Mu Yang High School's darkness, but it also raised more questions, each one a thread in the School of the Afterlife tapestry. Zhang Ya's crimson influence pulsed, her sadistic whims a reminder that the sealed classroom might be a trap waiting to spring when he entered the school tonight.
The woman looked up, surprised by his abrupt movement. "Leaving so soon? It's hot outside—why not take a sip of the water?" she offered, her voice tinged with weary hospitality. Chen Ge shook his head, offering a polite smile. "Thank you, but I'm not thirsty." He thanked her for her time, his mind already racing toward Mu Yang High School and the mission's looming deadline. As he descended the creaking stairs of the terrace block, the fetid stench of the drains hit him anew, grounding him in the reality of the task ahead.
The conversation had clarified the stakes: two of the four Mu Yang High School side missions were tied to Fan Yu's family—the Deep Well and, likely, the sealed classroom. He pulled out one of Fan Yu's crumpled drawings from his pocket, its black house and red figures stark under the fading daylight. Is this the school? The classroom? The colors mirrored the blood-red cubicle and the photo's eerie students, suggesting Fan Yu's art was a window into the school's horrors. The black phone's hum vibrated faintly, Zhang Ya's presence urging him forward, her "Yours forever" vow a chain binding him to the mission. As he stepped onto the desolate path, Chen Ge knew the black house and red men were a warning, a clue to the nightmare awaiting him at Mu Yang High School, where survival until dawn might demand confronting truths even Zhang Ya couldn't protect him from.