"That sound seems to be coming from outside the window. Something's clinging to the outer wall?"
An image formed in Chen Ge's mind—a grotesque figure with long fingernails stuck to the window like a gecko, ready to burst inside the moment he opened it.
He had already seen far too many strange and twisted creatures in this school, so no matter what kind of ghost showed up, he wouldn't be particularly shocked.
"The stains on the window are dark red, arranged in streaks, as if bloody hands had been scratching at it for a long time."
The piercing sound of nails scraping against glass continued to ring in his ears. Chen Ge forced down his discomfort and placed his hand on the windowpane.
His fingers met a wet, sticky sensation. Chen Ge froze for a moment.
The stains were on the inside of the window! The monster scratching at the glass was inside the room!
His brain reacted in a fraction of a second. Chen Ge shoved the window open without the slightest hesitation.
Fresh air rushed in. Chen Ge vaulted onto the windowsill, and as he turned to adjust his position, he spotted a patch of red-black water stain spreading across the ceiling inside.
He pulled the window shut behind him and balanced on the palm-wide edge of the windowsill. The sound of glass being scratched grew clearer and clearer.
He pulled out Lin Sisi's phone and opened the camera, pointing it at the interior of the room. The image on the screen made his blood run cold and his scalp tingle.
A person was crawling on the ceiling!
The figure wore the uniform of the waste processing center. Human hands sprouted from its chest and abdomen—men's hands, women's hands, of varying lengths and thicknesses. The only thing they had in common was that every last fingernail had been worn down to nothing, and they were dripping dark-red blood, tap, tap, tap.
The spreading water stain Chen Ge had just seen on the ceiling was left by those arms flailing about.
"That thing was just hanging right above my head?"
The window shuddered nonstop. The monster had already made its way to the edge. It hung upside down from the ceiling, the hands on its chest and abdomen clawing wildly at the glass as though trying to drag Chen Ge back inside.
Cracks began to appear across the grimy windowpane. Chen Ge didn't dare linger. He stepped along the windowsill and climbed up onto the top of the wall.
"No wonder the lunatic in compartment seven never came out to find me. Turns out this waste sorting center still has a staff member on duty."
The staff member that had been clinging to the ceiling just now was terrifying in appearance—the kind of thing you'd wake up screaming from after dreaming about.
"It's responsible for sorting and recycling waste. Does that mean the human hands on its chest and stomach were all recycled too?"
The thought of having spent that long alongside such a monster sent a chill racing down Chen Ge's spine. "You really can't let your guard down in this school. Any random room can turn into a nightmare."
Sitting on top of the wall, Chen Ge held up his phone and aimed it at the only window of the small building. The window frame trembled for a while before gradually returning to normal.
The monster hadn't left the waste sorting center. Like the Red Clothed ghost in the laboratory building, it seemed to have its own range of activity and its own duties.
"The Red Clothed ghost in the laboratory building is responsible for maintaining order there. This monster covered in hands is probably in charge of sorting the campus's 'waste'."