Not long after, the office door creaked open. A petite silhouette emerged before our eyes—barely five feet tall with shoulder-length hair and a delicate face dotted with faint freckles. The young girl of perhaps nineteen years stood frozen in the doorway, scrutinizing us three with wary eyes.

"Hello, we're here to see Huang Yang teacher. We called earlier," Xiaoxuan offered politely, her femininity proving better suited for this encounter.

"I am Huang Yang. You must be Inspector Lan. Please come in." The girl's voice was flat as she stepped aside, granting just enough space for one person to pass through.

I rubbed my eyes, staring at the figure who was supposedly Lily Li's academic advisor from the Communications Engineering Department. Xiaoxuan mirrored my stunned reaction so perfectly we forgot to mask our rudeness. Zhang Jiewei remained his usual unshakable self while Huang Yang maintained a cold expression identical to his. Their expressions, both carved from stone, seemed accustomed to the shocks they provoked.

The office was cramped but overcrowded with desks, now occupied only by us four beneath completely drawn curtains. A single desk lamp cast dim light over Huang Yang's workspace, its glow extinguished rather than competing with any overhead lighting.

Even as we entered, she showed no inclination to adjust illumination levels.

Following the host's lead, we sat hesitantly on three waiting chairs, their silence broken only by faint creaks from the furniture.

"Detective Wang," my voice emerged soft in this oppressive atmosphere, "you understand our purpose here. We'd appreciate your cooperation."

"Hmm." Huang Yang nodded without expression, her mind seemingly drifting through memories. "Lily was an excellent student though extremely quiet. Beyond her dormmates, she rarely socialized. Her pallor was alarming - I once suspected some rare illness..."

"What changed this?" I watched closely as she mentioned a past period of concern.

"Contact with her family clarified it," she replied carefully. "Her aunt said Lily had always been this way, medically clear but with minimal capillaries beneath the skin. Multiple attempts were needed to draw blood during checkups. After researching possible genetic causes, I ceased worrying."

"You pay special attention to Lily?" I smirked meaningfully.

"Of course. With few students, each requires my care." Her composed answer surprised me. This tiny woman radiated maturity and detachment incongruous with her youthful appearance.

"I want to see Lily's dorm room," I declared rising abruptly without leaving room for refusal.

"Fine." The moment she agreed, the desk lamp sputtered out plunging us into absolute darkness like midnight at noon.

Complete silence followed. Xiaoxuan and Zhang Jiewei made no sound as we waited in place. The blackout curtains admitted no light while the door lacked any viewing aperture.

Then came a whisper of breath against my nape - icy cold that made me shiver involuntarily. Reaching out to grip Xiaoxuan's hand, I instead touched something alien: an impossibly cold finger. A jolt shot through me and I recoiled instantly.

No sound followed the lost digit.

Next second, overhead lights blazed on with disorienting suddenness. Huang Yang now stood at the door clutching her bag, one hand lingering near the switch as she coolly instructed us to follow.

Like a harbinger of hell.

I turned toward where I'd just grasped - no Xiaoxuan there. The floor showed nothing below, not even amputated fingers. Glancing opposite direction revealed Xiaoxuan staring at me in concern: "What's wrong? Let's go."

"Right," I muttered distractedly, following toward the door.

As we stepped outside, my gaze lingered on that same spot - still empty. Had I hallucinated?

The corridor ahead remained unnervingly gloomy as Huang Yang led us, her pace bafflingly swift for someone so short. Despite our police academy training, keeping up proved exhausting.

At ground level she paused to extract a black umbrella from her bag, unfurling it without pause before stepping into sunlight.

My heart clenched. This peculiar woman with sun-shielded skin... Even July's rays felt mild yet she still hid beneath that expansive umbrella. Swallowing hard, I followed as Xiaoxuan and Zhang maintained close proximity.

Passing through academic zones and dining halls, we reached student housing where shadows clung to the buildings like mournful shrouds. Huang Yang guided us into a dormitory, removing her umbrella before swiping a card that granted entry for three of us.

The security guard below glanced up from knitting but said nothing upon seeing our escort.

"You're quite careful about sun exposure," I remarked casually as we ascended. "Even today's mild weather didn't deter you."

"Photophobia since childhood," she replied laconically. Red rashes form wherever sunlight touches me."

"Unfortunate condition," I responded, thinking of those thick blackout curtains.

"She's incurable," interjected Zhang Jiewei unexpectedly, not Huang Yang.

Indeed - lifelong photophobia meant perpetual darkness. A vampire-like existence?

A massive sapphire mirror dominated the dorm entrance, its hue casting our reflections in unnatural blue shades. Before me stood Huang Yang, behind her Xiaoxuan and Zhang Jiewei... And another shadow whose face remained obscured.

The shadow! My body spun before my mind registered movement - only Xiaoxuan and Zhang remained. Turning back at the mirror showed four distinct figures: one, two, three, four - no shadow now.

"Did you see something?" I asked urgently as heartbeats thudded violently in my chest.

"No," both Xiaoxuan and Zhang looked puzzled while Huang Yang ascended stairs without acknowledging us.

Reaching floor 4, she stopped at room 406 where the door opened precisely when knocked. The resident wore a backpack - clearly about to depart.

"Huang Teacher! What's this about?" She gazed at us in baffled surprise.

"These are police officers wanting to speak with your dormmates," Huang Yang explained gently, her tone contrasting sharply with previous coldness. "Ling Xiao is studying. Zhu Yuqing and Hu Xi should be here - regarding Lily?"

Before the door closed, a girl had fainted against the wall dropping a ceramic basin. Her tear-streaked face vanished behind slamming doors.

"Who was she?" I asked but only received Huang Yang's icy glare as response.

"She was startled," Huang Yang rebuked before entering the room where another student now wept openly.

The 4-person dorm was typical except for the sorrowful atmosphere. Bookshelves overflowed with cosmetics and gaudy trinkets alongside textbooks.

"This is Hu Xi, Lily's closest friend." Huang Yang comforted the sobbing girl as Zhu Yuqing - our door opener - identified herself from bed #3 across from Lily's #4.

"Her roommate said," Zhu Yuqing answered my questions while I examined the neatly made bed. My fingers found something beneath the pillow which I swiftly pocketed.

"We got along well despite her silence," she continued, "Ling Xiao could be insensitive but Lily never held grudges..."

"Why didn't you report missing?" I challenged Hu Xi who remained in Huang Yang's arms.

"Lily said her uncle was ill and she needed to return home. Three days passed before her aunt came seeking..." Her self-reproach flowed as Huang Yang glared at me for my harshness, revealing patterns eerily similar to the O Jinglan case - both involved fabricated excuses delaying discovery by three days.

"Before disappearance," I softened now, "did she show anything unusual? Meet strange people?"

"No... until about a month ago. Every evening around 7pm she'd leave without me and return post-midnight..." Hu Xi's voice trailed as realization struck. She produced her phone showing Lily's final call at precisely 7:10pm.

After searching drawers filled with trivialities, I examined the back balcony where two dorm buildings stood less than ten meters apart. Below, a figure in black embraced herself against the wall - face obscured by a massive black chrysanthemum.

Then she lifted that flower to reveal her features...

And my brain short-circuited instantly.

There below me stood Lily Li's exact twin, pale as death with eyes full of silent anguish, holding a black chrysanthemum like some morbid offering.