For a boy in the midst of youthful confusion, his ideal woman should be gentle, intellectual, cheerful, and considerate—her every smile and frown carrying the scent of gardenias, as if she existed in the clouds and mist, appearing in his dreams night after night.
Listening to the buzzing of the printer, Shen Yao suddenly sighed, perhaps because his fantasies had been shattered.
He felt that his greatest wish was for an extraordinary girl to appear out of nowhere, like a savior, pulling him out of his dull daily life.
They would go on adventures together, travel together, then eventually settle down, raise children, and finally grow old in ordinary happiness.
Then, many years later, he could proudly tell his children the story of how he met her…
“Hey! Hey!”
Shen Yao’s wandering thoughts were interrupted by a rather blunt shout.
He looked up sharply and realized that Qiao Yunxue had entered the study without him noticing.
Her brows were furrowed, and her pretty face showed a hint of anger.
The vague girl from Shen Yao’s imagination faded like an illusion.
Qiao Yunxue pointed to where he was standing.
“Please move. I need to use the computer.”
Shen Yao nodded and stepped aside to make way.
Qiao Yunxue sat in the boss’s chair, adjusting the seat higher with a creak.
Before long, Shen Yao heard the whir of the computer starting up, followed by a string of beeping music.
He sneaked a glance, only to see a blue sky and white cloud desktop, with the words “Tomato Garden” in the corner.
So this is what a computer is like.
Humans are truly amazing to have created such a precise machine.
Shen Yao stopped looking at the computer and instead focused on the running printer.
In the large study, only the sound of the electronic devices remained, devoid of any warmth.
“Hey… what’s your name?”
Unexpectedly, Qiao Yunxue spoke to him.
Shen Yao pointed at himself.
“Are you talking to me?”
He was a little unsure.
Qiao Yunxue curled her lips.
“Who else?”
Shen Yao was surprised.
“My name is Shen Yao. Shen from Shen Congwu, Yao as in distant.”
Qiao Yunxue acknowledged with a sound, and the two fell into another awkward silence.
Shen Yao could only see the blue and white glow of the screen flicker across her delicate face.
“You’ve been secretly watching me at school.”
She said suddenly, without warning, like a knight who suddenly appeared and knocked him to the ground with a lance.
Shen Yao’s heart skipped a beat.
“I…”
He thought he’d been discreet, like a rat hiding in a gutter—quiet, sneaky, unknown to heaven or earth.
Qiao Yunxue didn’t look at him; her gaze remained on the screen.
“I’m good at sensing when people are looking at me. I always know if someone is watching. You always turn around to hand in homework or borrow a pen, just to look at me, right?”
Shen Yao nodded stiffly.
“Yes.”
He didn’t like to argue with the truth.
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t they all say I have a mental illness, that I do drugs, that my family is part of the underworld—what else? They treat me like a monster. Aren’t you afraid of me?”
Another handout finished printing.
Shen Yao looked away.
“Maybe because I didn’t want to believe those things.”
He wanted to see for himself what kind of person Qiao Yunxue was.
Qiao Yunxue pressed her lips together, her feelings unclear.
She said, “That’s how people are. They always have inexplicable expectations of others and then feel inexplicably disappointed. They talk to themselves.”
Shen Yao felt as if she was hinting at herself.
He looked up and found Qiao Yunxue’s eyes were empty, as if she’d fallen into some memory.
“So? What kind of person do you think I am?”
She asked.
The last handout printed out.
Shen Yao took a deep breath.
“Not as bad as they say, but not as good as I imagined, either.”
Qiao Yunxue smiled.
She seemed very happy, but Shen Yao didn’t know why.
He stuffed the handouts into his backpack.
“Thank you.”
He was about to leave.
Qiao Yunxue suddenly stopped him.
“I apologize for almost hitting you with the car earlier… My dad was driving. He’s reckless.”
Shen Yao nodded in surprise.
“It’s okay.”
He still tried to leave.
Qiao Yunxue called out again.
“Shen Yao.”
Shen Yao paused.
“Is there nothing you want to say to me?”
Her eyes were sharp, as if she already understood Shen Yao’s reason for coming.
Yes, it couldn’t be more obvious.
From the moment Shen Yao was drawn to that Maybach, to his shy attention, every sign showed that this boy liked her.
Unlike others, Shen Yao wasn’t scared off by rumors.
Maybe… he could be a suitable “helper”.
Shen Yao looked at her, his nervousness suddenly easing.
“I… originally wanted to confess.”
Was it okay to say such things directly?
He didn’t know, but he let the words flow naturally.
“But now, I think it’s not important anymore. Chengcheng was right—we’re people from two different worlds.”
Qiao Yunxue gave a smile he couldn’t decipher.
“How do you know if you don’t try?”
Shen Yao looked at her in confusion.
“Would you agree?”
Qiao Yunxue shook her head.
“No. But… maybe we could start as friends?”
Friends?
Based on their brief contact, Shen Yao didn’t think Qiao Yunxue was someone who liked making friends.
So what was her motivation? What was her goal?
Qiao Yunxue turned the bulky computer to face him.
The screen displayed a blue-and-white forum.
She said,
“Shen Yao, do you believe ghosts exist in this world?”
Shen Yao’s first reaction was disbelief, but he remembered the rumors of Qiao Yunxue’s delusional disorder.
He shook his head.
“There are no ghosts in this world.”
“Then how do you explain all those strange tales throughout history? What about the bizarre customs in rural villages? And the recent disappearance of that child?”
A wild light flickered in Qiao Yunxue’s eyes, out of place with her usual demeanor.
“Shen Yao, I can tell you clearly—ghosts do exist. I’ve seen one before. She appeared before me and invited me, but I was too weak then and disappointed her.”
Shen Yao frowned.
“You’re being irrational.”
“No, I’m very rational. More rational than anyone else.”
Qiao Yunxue retorted.
“Only those with ‘Spirit Sense’ can see ghosts—children and the elderly. They represent the beginning and end of life, so they possess Spirit Sense and can see things we can’t.”
She pointed at the computer screen.
“Shen Yao, have you ever wondered what ghosts really are?”
Her mental state seemed a bit off, overly intense.
To avoid provoking her, Shen Yao could only shake his head and didn’t argue.
“They are the human heart. Our consciousness. Legends passed down by word of mouth, the fears in people’s hearts—if everyone believes in ghosts, then ghosts exist.”
“In ancient times, terrifying rumors only spread from village to village, so ghosts were only active locally and were mostly harmless, easily exorcised by Monks or Daoist Priests.”
“But now, the world has the internet. Those frightening stories can spread at incredible speed. Do you know what that means?”
Shen Yao hesitated.
“That so-called ghosts are scarier than before?”
Qiao Yunxue nodded excitedly.
“Exactly. It means ghosts become more ‘real,’ existing through the power of belief. The internet can amplify that belief a hundred or a thousand times! This is the power of the web! Shen Yao, I’ve been searching for them for years, and now I’m very close!”
She must be crazy.
Shen Yao thought.
Those rumors weren’t unfounded.
Qiao Yunxue lived in her own world.
No wonder she was expelled—a girl who believed in ghosts and obsessively searched for them.
Qiao Yunxue reached out her hand.
“Shen Yao, you can join me. Let’s search for strange beings together.”
So this was her motive?
The reason she kept Shen Yao around, asked his name, and apologized—was all to find an accomplice?
Shen Yao laughed at himself.
What was this?
Did she think he was easy to deceive because he seemed honest?
He shook his head.
“I can’t convince myself to believe you.”
Qiao Yunxue wasn’t surprised.
She pointed at the computer screen.
“Maybe if you look at this post, you’ll change your mind.”
‘Post?’
Shen Yao hesitated for a long time.
Still, under Qiao Yunxue’s hopeful gaze, he walked over and looked at the words on the computer screen.
In the upper left corner of the screen was the “Berlin Forum” logo, an Eye Symbol reminiscent of Egyptian murals but with distorted and rough lines that made him uneasy.
A user named Carrier had posted a thread with a shocking title:
“Insider Expose! The Truth Behind the Yaoguang City Missing Girl Case!”
That case again…
Shen Yao kept reading.
Carrier:
“I was once a detective in Yaoguang City. Thanks to information from a former colleague, I know some inside details.
I believe everyone has been following this case that’s stirred up the whole nation—a girl who vanished after school, missing for more than half a month, no trace even after checking all the surveillance.
It was as if she disappeared from the world. But… the truth is even worse.”
“I can vouch with my own integrity that this girl wasn’t kidnapped by anyone but encountered the ‘Messenger of the Phone’ mentioned on the forum recently.
Forum Members of the Berlin Forum, if you’ve been surfing frequently, you may have noticed many of us have received strange calls lately.”
“For example, after answering a call, there’s no response, and when you call back, it’s a dead number. Or, someone on the line keeps speaking in an incomprehensible language, nonstop.”
“All of this is because of the Messenger of the Phone.”
“It is a being formed from humanity’s fear of the telephone. The poor girl in Yaoguang City met her tragic end because she dialed the wrong number.”
“On the afternoon of April 7th, before school ended, she used the school’s landline to call her parents’ Factory, intending to tell them she would stay after school for Voice Training.
However, by mistake, she pressed the number for the phone itself instead of the Factory. It’s worth noting that Changan Middle School was built over a Cemetery.”
“This erroneous number, which should never have connected, actually did. The poor girl didn’t realize her mistake and kept talking to the person on the other end.”
“That person kept asking her address, persistently. The girl finally realized something was wrong, but it was too late. After a fifteen-minute call, the person on the other end had already arrived by her side.”
“In the end, when the teachers arrived at the office, they found only a dangling receiver—no trace of the girl remained.”
“This is the truth behind the poor girl’s disappearance. I urge all Forum Members not to try dialing your own number in places or at times heavy with yin energy. It’s best if the call doesn’t connect.
If it does, hang up immediately and don’t answer any questions from the person on the other end…”
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