Xu Hui scrambled out of the car, full of energy, and lifted his leg ready to walk toward the iron gate opposite.

Kuang Feifan sighed at him, "Hey, wait a moment. We should make sure we are fully prepared before heading over."

As he spoke, a harsh sound pierced the air without warning, startling both of them. Kuang Feifan hastily reached out and pulled out the source of the noise—his mobile phone.

"Damn, what kind of awful ringtone is this," Xu Hui complained, waving his hand.

Kuang Feifan frowned. He didn't recall changing the ringtone. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw it was Bai Ru calling. Without time to explain, he quickly answered, immediately asking, "Ru, why did it take you so long to turn it on? I called several times and sent quite a few messages..."

"It's nothing, the battery just died. But I was held up and couldn't charge it. It's mostly sorted now, but I still need a bit more time. How are things on your end?" Bai Ru's voice sounded exhausted, punctuated by several yawns.

Kuang Feifan hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's fine. Nothing to do right now, just waiting around."

To keep Bai Ru from worrying, he didn't tell her the truth.

Bai Ru didn't notice the strange inflection in his tone, only saying, "That’s good. Wait for me to get back, and absolutely do not go back to the small building by yourself, understood?"

Kuang Feifan forced out a few strained laughs. "I know, I’ll wait for you. You... be careful too."

After hanging up, he noticed Xu Hui staring at him with a peculiar look. He simply shrugged. "Nothing."

Xu Hui pondered for a moment before asking, "Are you sure you want to go in with me?"

Kuang Feifan frowned and waved his hand dismissively. "Enough with the nonsense. Let’s just divide up the gear before we go in."

Naturally, the gun wasn't for Kuang Feifan. He clipped the collapsible baton he was assigned to his waist, picked up a flashlight, and slung the bag containing the ghost-dispelling tools over his shoulder.

The two of them stepped toward the gate of the small building's courtyard...

Bai Ru, leaning against the wall, hung up the phone and immediately flipped open the casing, removing the battery and SIM card, putting them back into her pocket.

Beside her, Gu Yi sat on the ground, the rough concrete wall serving as his backrest.

The place they were currently occupying was likely a sewer, though they couldn't be certain. They had been trapped down here since last night, right beneath Fuxing Middle School.

"What's the situation?" Bai Ru whispered to Gu Yi, lowering her voice.

"Death energy. It's everywhere around us," Gu Yi said with a frown, sounding somewhat troubled. His dark glasses were gone; his eyes looked normal at first glance, but a closer look would reveal that his pupils weren't as dark as those of an average person, and his eyeballs couldn't move.

Bai Ru let out a soft sigh. "In twenty years, how many lives have perished down here?"

Gu Yi slowly raised his index finger to his lips and closed his eyes.

Bai Ru shook her head helplessly. She never imagined she'd be trapped in the sewers of ghost stories with Gu Yi, hunted by an unknown entity. Even stranger was the fact that the thing pursuing them could track them using mobile phone electromagnetic waves.

The reason it was an "unknown entity" was that it had no definite name, but according to Gu Yi’s description, it was formed from a convergence of countless strands of death energy. The moment Bai Ru considered the source of this death energy, her heart couldn't help but sink slightly.

The events stretched back to the previous day. Bai Ru had spent the entire morning researching materials, only to find nothing—in fact, every piece of information she sought, such as the file on the school's first fatality, was untraceable.

When she inquired, she was told that due to an accident—reportedly a malfunction in the school's drainage system—the entire basement was flooded. Although rescue measures and data reconstruction had taken place, a portion of the records was still completely lost.

Bai Ru found this strange and asked why not all the data had been digitized. The answer she received was that the computer had suffered a virus intrusion, so...

Bai Ru found this suspicious. After probing further, she discovered a strange coincidence: these incidents occurred around the transition period between the old and new principals, meaning the flooding of the basement and the computer virus attack happened around the same time.

"Why would that be?"

"Just accidents. No one wanted them."

Bai Ru didn't accept the explanation, but it seemed she couldn't dig any further here. She shifted her focus to searching for cases of accidental student deaths during Principal Hao's tenure.

This investigation yielded a startling discovery: the first two incidents Principal Hao had mentioned occurring during his term had no archived records, as if the school had completely sealed off any mention of these events externally.

Recalling the Level One password Principal Hao had given her, Bai Ru began contemplating how to shake off the sticky, tenacious Dean of Students.

Just then, the phone in Bai Ru's possession rang. It was Gu Yi calling.

"Hey, I'm at the principal's house. No one's here," Gu Yi's communication was extremely brief.

"Find any leads?" Bai Ru asked quietly.

"I'm looking now, but there don't seem to be any valuable clues." Gu Yi sounded like he was flipping through things as he spoke.

Bai Ru frowned and hung up, sneaking a glance at the Dean of Students. She noticed he had just finished a call and was looking toward her, a hesitant expression on his face. She quickly turned her head toward him.

"Reporter Bai, I just received a call. Something at the school needs me," the Dean said as he approached when he saw her looking.

Bai Ru couldn't help feeling a surge of secret delight, nodding repeatedly. "Please, go attend to your business. I can manage the documents myself."

"I'll be right back," the Dean said before hurrying away.

Seeing him finally gone, Bai Ru quickly scurried to the computer and logged directly into the school's internal network using the principal's access code.

The moment the page loaded, she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs outside the basement door. Since the main door was open, the stairs leading up were immediately accessible; there was no doubt someone was walking down into the basement area.

Had the Dean of Students returned so quickly?

Bai Ru instinctively minimized the window and turned to look toward the basement entrance.

Since the computer was tucked away in the corner by the wall beside the main door, her seating position only allowed her a view of the entrance. The footsteps seemed to stop not far from the doorway.

Bai Ru slowly stood up and crept cautiously toward the door, taking one step at a time.

Unexpectedly, after just two steps, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded at the doorway. However, this time, the sound faded as the person ran back up the stairs, clearly fleeing.

Bai Ru started, instantly feeling a pang of regret, and rushed to the doorway in a few strides.

The entrance was empty. Whoever had approached moments ago had clearly fled. Bai Ru scanned her surroundings, and her gaze settled on the ground, where, just a few feet from the door, lay a manila envelope.