The experimental building of the night school wasn't tall — only four stories. Rather than a genuine facility for student experiments, it was more of a showpiece.
The building wasn't far from the dormitories. If too much noise was made on this side, the students in the boys' dorms would hear it clearly.
Chen Ge crept up to the main entrance of the experimental building and peered through the glass doors for a long while from outside.
A pitch-black corridor, row after row of closed doors. Seen from outside, there was nothing remarkable about this building.
"Everything seems normal." Chen Ge had his own standards for judging horror scenarios. The lowest tier was when the scenario itself was frightening. A slightly higher tier was when the scenario itself wasn't scary, but the stories within it and every "person" in it were deeply terrifying. The highest tier was when both the people and the environment posed enormous danger — one misstep and you wouldn't even know how you died.
Clearly, this school belonged to the highest tier, which meant Chen Ge absolutely could not be fooled by its appearance.
"The more normal it looks on the surface, the deeper the water underneath." Standing at the entrance of the experimental building, Chen Ge steadied his breathing and only tried pushing the door open once he had fully calmed down.
The glass doors of the experimental building weren't locked. Chen Ge gave them a gentle push, and they swung open without a sound.
A rush of cold air surged out from within. Staring into the pitch-black corridor, the fine hairs on the back of Chen Ge's neck slowly stood on end.
"Something feels off."
Having completed so many trial missions, Chen Ge knew that ordinary scenarios couldn't produce this kind of feeling in him.
His pupils narrowed as he carefully studied his surroundings. "It's identical to the real thing — not a single abnormality. So why do I feel so uneasy?"
The corridor floor was covered in smooth tiles, the walls painted white and spotless. No students had scrawled anything on them. The building was clean, yet it gave off an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
"What's wrong?"
An almost instinctive unease clung to Chen Ge's heart. He cautiously stepped inside the experimental building, and the instant he let go, the glass door swung shut on its own.
"Not good!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Ge spun around and grabbed the door handle.
He pulled hard, and the glass door opened again. He wasn't locked inside.
"Not quite what I expected."
When the door had closed, Chen Ge had assumed his escape route would be cut off. But that didn't happen.
"If they didn't block my retreat, does that mean they know that even with a way out, I can't leave alive?"
Chen Ge released the handle and let the glass door close on its own. Everything inside the building looked perfectly normal. Anyone else might have started doubting their own judgment, but Chen Ge wouldn't.
"I need to find whatever's making me uncomfortable as quickly as possible. Whether it's a ghost, a person, or something else entirely."
With his bag in hand, Chen Ge pressed his back against the wall and ventured down the corridor.
The experimental building didn't occupy a large footprint, but it contained a great many laboratories.
They came in all varieties — each classroom bore a different name on its door.
"All of the night school's labs must be in here. The art activity room is very likely in this building as well."
Walking alone through the experimental building in the dead of night, the corridor filled with nothing but the sound of his own footsteps — it was a feeling hard to describe. Every second was torture.
Chen Ge pushed open classroom after classroom door — he'd lost count of how many he'd tried. Most were locked. A few weren't locked, but the doors simply wouldn't budge, as though something on the other side was bracing against them.
Chen Ge didn't find the art room on the first floor. He made his way deeper into the corridor.
What surprised him was that this four-story building actually had an elevator installed.
"No stairs? Only an elevator?"
Everything else inside the experimental building was perfectly normal. Only this elevator seemed out of place. Chen Ge didn't dare approach it recklessly. He stood three or four meters away, watching.