The phone buzzed while the movie played. Qiu Mei, who was sorting through documents, turned and picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello, who is this?"
"We just chatted a bit. I checked the information on your profile page and saw you left a phone number, so I thought I'd give it a try." A male voice came from the other end. He didn't sound very old — probably in the middle of puberty.
"We just chatted?" Qiu Mei finally glanced at the phone screen. "Are you that nonexistent person?"
"That's my screen name."
"Why would you give yourself a name like that?"
"What I call myself doesn't matter. What matters is that I was able to get through to you." The boy deliberately lowered his voice, as though doing so made him sound more mature and mysterious.
"I listed a real phone number. Is it really that surprising that you got through? Have you called other girls before? Ended up getting tricked?" Wen Yu didn't take what the boy said seriously at all.
"I'm calling you from a dead person's phone. The fact that the call went through right now proves that at least part of what you said is true."
"That's a pretty strange way of verifying things." Wen Yu's tone turned considerably colder. She wasn't the least bit rattled by the boy's words. "So? What do you want?"
"I'm simply trying to save your life. I'm afraid you're going to get yourself killed." The boy was young, but he seemed to have seen a lot.
"Get myself killed?"
"You went through heaven and hell to escape from that place. Why would you want to go back? I know you've forgotten a lot of things, but have you ever considered that maybe the memories were the price you paid to escape?" The boy tried to persuade her. "You gave up even your memories just to get out. And now, to recover those lost memories, you're going to walk right back in? Is there anything more foolish in this world?"
"I'm not going back to find my memories. I'm going back to that school to find someone." Wen Yu unlocked a drawer and looked at the notebook inside. "Wen Yu is this body's name, but it isn't mine."
Her finger traced across the cover of the notebook, gliding over the two characters for Qiu Mei.
"No matter what reason you have for going back, I advise against it. Listen — do not go back!"
A dragging sound, as though something heavy was being pulled across the floor, came through the phone. Once that sound started, the boy hurriedly hung up.
"I know that place is dangerous, but some things simply can't be avoided." The young woman packed the documents neatly and placed them by the bedside, then lay down on the bed with her phone clutched in her hands.
She tried to contact the nonexistent person again, but there was no response this time.
"Information about this school can be found online. Although it's a private institution, founded by a private individual, from the photos posted online, its scale is no less impressive than any regular academy. The building area is actually much larger than most schools."
Wen Yu had made up her mind to go to this school. She took out paper and pen and carefully wrote down all the information she had found on her phone.
"Some of the pictures still have watermarks on them — they were probably stolen from somewhere else. And some of the photos... they just look really strange for some reason."
Whether it was due to the angle at which the photos were taken or something wrong with the buildings themselves, certain pictures showed rooms that looked eerie and unsettling, regardless of whether it was day or night outside.
The woman turned off the bedroom's main light and switched on only the bedside lamp, then lay on her stomach and began recording her notes with care.
Watching the woman on his phone screen, Chen Ge couldn't help but think of himself. Before starting a mission, he used to gather information just like Wen Yu did.
"This urban legend is fated to be mine."