The archive room reeked of mildew. Chen Ge covered his mouth and nose, the first to enter.
The wooden bookshelves looked ancient, and placed alongside the rusty filing cabinets, they created an inexplicable sense of disharmony.
"These shelves and the metal cabinets seem to be from different schools."
Chen Ge casually pulled a file from one of the wooden shelves, but perhaps because of the poor storage conditions, the moment he applied the slightest force, the folder tore.
"Worm-eaten, water-damaged… These files don't seem to have been cared for at all by the school." Chen Ge carefully opened the folder, and the contents left him puzzled. "A donor thank-you list? Why does this paper look so familiar?"
Chen Ge examined it over and over. A scene suddenly flashed through his mind, and he stared in surprise at the worm-eaten folder in his hands. "I think I've seen a list just like this in the principal's office at Muyang High School!"
He studied it carefully, racking his brain, comparing the donor names — and something even more startling happened.
"They match perfectly! I saw this list in the principal's office at Muyang High School!"
Back when he'd been searching for Muyang High School's old principal, he had entered the school multiple times. That two-star horror scenario had been thoroughly searched — but even digging three feet deep hadn't revealed the old principal.
"The world behind the door is woven from the door opener's memories. This school is special. It seems to be formed from the combined memories of everyone inside." Chen Ge lightly rested his chin in his hand. "Everyone from Muyang High School except the old principal is in my haunted house. If a Muyang High School donor list appears here, does that mean the old principal is also somewhere in this school?"
Chen Ge's eyes went wide. He stared at the mildew-scented bookshelves before him, and the more he looked, the more familiar they seemed. "Could these things have been moved here from Muyang High School too? Could part of that two-star scenario be hidden here?"
"It seems the old principal and I are truly fated to cross paths." He placed the file back, his expression contemplative. "Before the Spirit Calling Ghost School trial mission unlocks, there are nine prerequisite missions. Is it possible that all nine have some special connection to the Spirit Calling Ghost School?"
"Teacher Bai, have you found something?"
"I've made a few discoveries, but I can't be sure yet." Chen Ge pulled out another water-damaged file, its surface covered in mold. "Campus surrounding environment survey?"
"Teacher Bai!" Zhu Long had found several crumpled newspapers in a corner. He held one up in front of Chen Ge. "Look at the article with the big photo in the middle."
"Teaching building catches fire due to unknown cause — multiple students trapped in bathroom — firefighters bravely enter the blaze to rescue them." The report sat right in the center of the newspaper, very eye-catching.
"Judging from the layout and content, the person who wrote this was probably quite young." Chen Ge took the newspaper. It was covered in mold, with large stains remaining — many parts were blurry and illegible. "This looks like the school newspaper."
Muyang High School was just a private welfare institution — it had no capacity to publish a school paper. After Chen Ge had gone through every issue, he found a familiar place name: Xicheng Private Academy.
The name appeared multiple times. Many reports centered around Xicheng Private Academy.
"Isn't Xicheng Private Academy the school Zhang Ya was from?"
In that abandoned school, Chen Ge had gone on his first date with the red-robed spirit.
It was also in that school that he had entered Zhang Ya's heart.
"The teaching building at Xicheng Private Academy had a fire?" Looking back now, he remembered seeing charred stair railings in that building. "That's strange. Not just Xicheng Private Academy — including Muyang High School, every abandoned school I've visited shows traces of fire."
He looked over the newspaper Zhu Long had given him once more. Back then, the firefighters had rescued six people from the top-floor bathroom. The newspaper had treated the firefighters as heroes, the entire article filled with praise.
But he also spotted a small piece on the edge of the newspaper, calling on everyone to learn summer fire safety knowledge. It vaguely mentioned that one student had perished in the fire.
"The fire started spreading from the bathroom. But how could a fire start in a bathroom? The fire happened after the evening self-study session ended — school had already let out. Why were those kids still in the top-floor bathroom?"
Combining several reports, Chen Ge keenly spotted the crux of the matter. "The fire burned on the fourth floor. At the time, only the bathroom on the fourth floor had students. The firefighters rescued six — but one student died in the fire. That means there should have been seven people in the bathroom!"
What had caused the fire could no longer be determined. The files and archives contained no record of it. That child who died in the fire had apparently become a taboo subject.
"Something like this happened at Xicheng Private Academy? But when I went there, I didn't notice anything unusual." Chen Ge was deeply puzzled. "If the door in the bathroom was opened by the child who died in the fire, then he should be the 'door opener' of Xicheng Private Academy. But Xicheng Private Academy becoming a three-star scenario was entirely because of Zhang Ya!"
Xicheng Private Academy was now part of his haunted house. Chen Ge was absolutely certain — Zhang Ya was the most terrifying existence in that school.
"All three-star scenarios have a door. But Xicheng Private Academy, despite being three-star, has no door." Chen Ge looked at his own shadow, silently reciting that name in his mind. He repeated it over and over, but still received no response.
"Xicheng Private Academy was rated as a three-star scenario by the black phone entirely because of Zhang Ya. As far as I know, Zhang Ya never opened any door. And when I visited Xicheng Private Academy, I never saw a door either…"
Chen Ge's hand holding the newspaper slowly lowered. That red dress surfaced in his mind.
"Zhang Ya… the door that should exist but has vanished… the door opener…" These three concepts connected into a line in his mind. A possibility suddenly struck him.
His eyes went wide. Chen Ge drew in a sharp breath. "Don't tell me the door opener of Xicheng Private Academy was eaten by Zhang Ya?"
Only this explanation could account for why Zhang Ya was so different — why she was absurdly powerful.
"After a door opener is eaten, what happens to the door?"
Chen Ge speculated on various possibilities. "Because of her obsession, Zhang Ya didn't become the 'door opener.' That door without a 'door opener' should have gradually lost control, like the door in Liwan Town. But in fact, that never happened. This door only appears beside the beds of those despairing children… Wait! Could it be searching for a new 'door opener'?"