Most of the university’s administrative offices were housed in this central administration building, including the president’s office, the Party Committee Office, the Armed Forces Office, and others. According to the university’s official website, Cao Cenrong worked in the Office of Student Affairs on the third floor.
Perhaps because it was still early in the morning, only two teachers were present in the huge office. Jiang approached the nearer one and asked politely:
“Good morning. Is Ms. Cao here?”
The woman looked up and nodded politely in return.
“She hasn’t arrived yet, but she should be here soon. If you’re not in a hurry, you can wait on one of the chairs outside.”
About fifteen minutes later, Jiang was called into the office. A somewhat plump woman in her forties was there to speak with her.
“Hello. I’m Ms. Cao. I hear you wanted to talk to me?”
“Hello, Ms. Cao. I wanted to ask you something. You used to be a student counselor at the School of Environmental Science, right?”
Jiang did her best to sound respectful and polite.
Cao nodded.
“That’s right, but I’ve been working here for several years now. Go ahead and tell me what you need.”
“There’s something I wanted to ask about. Fifteen years ago, did a female student hang herself in a dorm room in Southwest Residence Hall 3?”
The amiable expression on Cao’s face vanished. Her small eyes fixed coldly on the girl.
“What are you talking about? There was never any suicide by hanging!”
“Are you sure? Room 414 in Southwest Residence Hall 3. It’s very important—”
“Enough!”
Cao cut her off impatiently.
“You students… Don’t believe every rumor you hear. You take things you read online for fact. This is the Office of Student Affairs, a place for serious business, not somewhere to indulge your gossip!”
“But—but this really is important. Please…”
Jiang tried to ask more, but Cao had already turned her attention to the computer screen on her desk and refused to acknowledge her again.
What could Jiang do? Cao was a teacher; she couldn’t exactly force the woman to answer.
At her wits’ end, Jiang left the administration building, her mind in turmoil. What now? No one believed her, and she had no way to learn the truth. Call the police? What reason could she give? That the place was haunted? She might just end up getting a lecture from the police instead.
Lost in a tangle of thoughts, Jiang found herself standing once again at the entrance to Southwest Residence Hall 3. Girls streamed in and out through the doorway. On the nearby sports field, a group of boys were playing soccer in a sectioned-off area, while others sat on the grass nearby, clutching vocabulary books and struggling to memorize words. Everything looked so ordinary and familiar.
Still at a loss, Jiang looked up at the window of her own room on the fourth floor, but it was still hidden behind thick curtains, leaving her unable to see inside. Just as she was about to turn away in disappointment, an oval black shadow suddenly crawled upward behind the curtains. Where its mouth seemed to be, it slowly stretched into an exaggerated, unnerving clown’s grin, as if mocking the girl for her helplessness.
Fear wasn’t the only thing in Jiang’s heart; a flicker of anger rose as well. She gritted her teeth, summoned her courage, and went inside. Right. The building was full of students, people were everywhere outside, and it was broad daylight under a brilliant sun. Even if that thing was a ghost, what could it do? Kill her in front of all those people?
The door to Room 414 looked as ordinary as ever, indistinguishable from any other dorm-room door. Jiang took a deep breath and tried her key again, but the door was still bolted from the inside. Unlocking it from outside was useless. She pounded on the door three times and shouted into the room:
“Yingying? Xiaomeng? Xiaofei? Are you in there? If you are, open the door!”
There was still no response.
Heart sinking, Jiang turned to leave. Suddenly, four dull knocks sounded behind her.
Jiang whirled around, her pupils constricting.
There was no mistaking it. The knocking had come from inside the room. Someone had just knocked from the other side of the door.
Hope flared again. She pounded on the door once more.
“Is anyone there? Open up!”
A few seconds later, four identical knocks sounded from inside. Even their force matched hers exactly.
It was as if two children were playing a game through the door: one side knocked a few times, and the other immediately knocked back.
A prank? No. Her three roommates weren’t that malicious, and she still hadn’t been able to reach them by phone.
Who was knocking inside? Or rather, what was it?
Almost as if bewitched, Jiang pressed her ear tightly against the door and tried to listen for movement inside.
“Sss…”
Something seemed to be writhing and crawling on the other side of the door.
Just as Jiang was listening with all her concentration, someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.
“Xiaoxin, how come your roommates are still asleep? It’s already nine. They’re really sleeping in, aren’t they?”
The speaker was Qu Shuiping, a tall, thin girl with a slightly dark complexion and a distinctive ponytail that fell to her waist.
The sudden tap startled Jiang badly. She patted her chest, unsure how to explain herself, but Qu continued without waiting for an answer.
“If they’ve bolted the door, that’s a real problem. We can’t exactly break down the door, can we? It’s university property, and we’d have to pay for the damage. Come sit in my room for a while.”
Jiang Chenxin and Qu Shuiping were both first-year students in Class 3 of the Finance Department at the School of Economics and Management. The class had forty students, twenty-two of them girls, and the girls all lived on this floor. After a semester together, they more or less knew one another. Jiang recognized Qu’s roommates, of course, though she wasn’t close to them. After exchanging greetings, she settled at the windowsill by herself and began checking her phone, trying to find some clue online.
She first searched for reports of a hanging fifteen years earlier. To her surprise, she found absolutely nothing, only a pile of horror stories. She then logged onto the campus forum and posted a question, but no one replied for the time being.
After all, dorm rooms got a new batch of residents every four years. Most students didn’t even know who had occupied their own room before them, let alone someone who had lived there five batches earlier.
As noon approached, Qu went out to check on them and soon returned, complaining:
“What on earth are Xu Fei and the others doing? It’s this late and they’re still not up. I knocked and called out, but there was no response.”
One of her roommates spoke up.
“Could they still not have returned to campus?”
Qu shook her head repeatedly.
“No way. The three of them came back yesterday afternoon. I even ran into them in the washroom last night.”
An idea suddenly occurred to Jiang.
“Wouldn’t this count as them being missing? Can we call the police?”
“Call the police? Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“But what if there’s still no sign of movement inside?”
“Um… I don’t know either… Forget it. Let’s go get lunch. How could three living, breathing people just vanish into thin air? Maybe they went out together early this morning?”
“That’s true… It’s already this late. Let’s go to the cafeteria for lunch!”
