It was very late, right before the dormitory building was about to lock up, when Ren Yifei returned.
He wandered around the dormitory entrance for a while, listening intently to the sounds inside. He could faintly hear the sound of typing coming from inside, but he didn't know if it was real or not, or if his ears were deceiving him once again.
A classmate passing by asked him if he had lost his keys.
"No," Ren Yifei replied, avoiding their gazes, as if trying to ask if they had heard him. But he hesitated, which puzzled the others, who did not linger but quickly left.
Ren Yifei had no other choice, so he gritted his teeth and opened the door.
The dormitory room was pitch black, except for the light from the bed opposite, which illuminated my roommate's expressionless face.
His face showed a hint of disbelief, and he once again doubted himself, wondering if this was all a figment of his imagination. If it was a figment of his imagination, why couldn't he find a single flaw in it?
If this is just a fantasy, then the protection he was supposed to receive never actually existed?
This was a huge blow to him and caused him great pain.
"You're back?" My roommate was engrossed in his game and didn't even turn around.
Ren Yifei was about to turn on the light when he heard this and hesitated again. He couldn't tell whether his roommate was imagining things or it was real, and he had to pretend that nothing had happened and then maintain his normal routine. He just couldn't do it, no matter what.
But where could he go if he left here? The school was even under lockdown, so he couldn't spend the night in a love hotel.
"Don't look, don't listen, don't think, it's as if everything is still the same." He mentally prepared himself and turned on the lights, making the dormitory bright.
"It might rain tonight, so it's best to clip your clothes to the hangers," my roommate said.
Even under the light, his roommate didn't show anything unusual. His concern made Ren Yifei's nose tingle, but Ren Yifei didn't dare to look at him closely no matter what.
He hurriedly washed up, hurriedly washed his clothes on the balcony, and hurriedly turned off the lights and went back to bed. He didn't even look at his phone. He turned to face the wall, closed his eyes, and forced himself to fall asleep.
"Are you going to sleep? So early?"
"Hmm," Ren Yifei mumbled in response, curling up into a ball.
The sound of keyboard typing behind him went on for a long time, then suddenly stopped. Ren Yifei was sweating profusely as he stared at the wall, not daring to turn around to see what was going on.
And so, he spent half the night in a state of anxiety, finally falling asleep at three in the morning.
I slept until nine in the morning.
He was awakened by a noisy incoming phone call.
"Hello?" Ren Yifei hadn't even opened his eyes yet when he reached for his phone from under his pillow. He tapped the call button as if he remembered it, but he had no idea who was on the other end.
Could it be 10086?
"Zhang Zhengyuan, do you have time?"
Ren Yifei couldn't immediately place the voice, only feeling that he'd heard it somewhere before. Then he realized, wasn't that the voice of the homeroom teacher when those two kind classmates had asked him for leave?
He sat up abruptly, his voice rising an octave: "Teacher?"
"Is that so? I heard you're a member of the Mysterious Life Research Society?"
"Yes." Ren Yifei felt his throat go dry and involuntarily swallowed. "T-Teacher, what happened?"
The homeroom teacher on the other end smiled and reassured him, "Don't be nervous. It's just that this epidemic suddenly broke out in this club, so I'm asking about your current situation."
"I'm fine, what epidemic?" Ren Yifei asked, 'completely confused'.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Like dizziness or something?"
Ren Yifei thought for a moment, then shook his head: "No."
"Did you feel anything was off yesterday?"
"No," Ren Yifei said, then asked cautiously and nervously, "Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. Are you free right now? A doctor from the city hospital is here to give you a check-up." As he spoke, the homeroom teacher gave an address.
Ren Yifei knew that his chaotic punches yesterday had worked, but he didn't know if there were any 'ghosts' among the people going for physical examinations today.
Come to think of it, he hasn't even checked yesterday's updates yet.
Ren Yifei threw back the covers and prepared to get out of bed, thinking he would quickly wash up and go there. But as soon as he climbed down the stairs, he turned around and saw the messy blankets. His obsessive-compulsive disorder kicked in, so he climbed back up and tidied the blankets before coming down again.
After that, he washed his face, brushed his teeth, changed his clothes, and packed his schoolbag.
There was no movement from the bed opposite during this time. Ren Yifei didn't dare to look either; he kept his head down and did his own thing, adopting a resistant and evasive attitude.
He didn't even look up when he closed the door after leaving the dormitory. It wasn't until he left the dormitory building that he inexplicably looked towards the floor where his dormitory was located.
His roommate was standing on the balcony where his clothes were drying, looking at him and waving his hand.
Ren Yifei stood there stunned for a few seconds, then walked away without looking back.
The place the homeroom teacher reported was originally the exchange student teaching building, with the two lower floors being connected lecture halls; this was the place he wanted to come to.
I thought there wouldn't be many people here, but when I arrived I found out that a lot of students had been called in this time, and there were dozens of people in line at a glance.
He gave his name and class, and the old man at the door checked his number, nodded, and handed him a plastic-sealed disposable mask and a freshly printed form. The form contained information such as 'Zhang Zhengyuan's' class and student ID.
Ren Yifei walked in wearing a mask and started queuing with a form in hand.
"Hey, isn't this Zhang Zhengyuan? You're here too?"
Ren Yifei didn't recognize him and just smiled politely. This man, however, was a chatterbox and couldn't hold back his words. He asked all the students in front of and behind him in the line, and then they started chatting.
It was only after chatting that I learned that most of the students present were from their club, and some were people who had come to watch the performance that day.
A school is a school, and it only took one day. They directly pulled up the surveillance footage of that area on that day, checking how many people came and who they were. They found every single one of them.
Of course, the school wouldn't say it was "supernatural or supernatural." Their reason was that one of the performers was a virus carrier, so the performers and onlookers were considered high-risk and had to be tested.
Actually, there's nothing wrong with the diagnosis. As long as treatment is timely, this disease is perfectly fine.
But if someone drags it out... well, that's hard to say.
These 'little secrets' made Ren Yifei eager to get his hands on them. He wished he could pull out two high-performance computers, sneak into the school's back office, and copy down that list.
Anyway, there's no doubt that the 'ghost' is in there.
Following the line forward, you'll see a small, makeshift room where students go in and come out one after another. To ensure privacy, the room is soundproofed, so you can't hear what's being said inside.
However, students came and went very quickly, each taking no more than two minutes. So it wasn't long before it was Ren Yifei's turn.
He waited for the previous students to come out before going in.
The small, square room had a rectangular table with two gentle-looking doctors sitting in front of it.
Ren Yifei sat down and handed over the form.
"Don't be nervous," the female doctor said with a smile. "Have you been feeling unwell in the past couple of days?"
Ren Yifei shook his head.
"Have you seen any unusual images? Like the ocean, an underwater city, or monsters? Hallucinations?" The doctor also explained, "If so, don't hide it. We can't avoid seeking medical help and delay the best time for treatment."
Her expression was serious and earnest, as if there really was such a hallucinogenic virus. Ren Yifei then appropriately expressed his fear, anxiety, and hesitation.
Zhang Zhengyuan had mentioned this in the group chat; it was impossible to hide it, and he didn't want to.
"I did see it…" he took a deep breath, "I saw an underwater altar."
The two doctors exchanged a glance, wrote a string of incomprehensible characters on the form, and then said to Ren Yifei, "That's right, there's no need to hide this kind of thing. Concealing it will only delay your treatment. Young man, please go to room XXX, and we have a specialist doctor who will give you another thorough examination."
"Okay." Ren Yifei took back the form and left the small room.
There were far fewer people in room XXX than before, so he could go in immediately without waiting.
The doctor inside was a young man in his thirties. He had Ren Yifei lie down on a special recliner and told him to relax: "Just ask some details about the fantasy."
He also brought him a glass of water.
Ren Yifei grasped the water glass the doctor handed him. He was a little nervous and drank the whole glass of water in one gulp. After drinking it, he felt all his tense nerves relax.
At this point, the doctor asked him, "When did your fantasies begin? What are they like?"
"It was… four days ago, no, five days ago…" Ren Yifei's eyes were unfocused; he seemed to be recalling something.
"I dreamt of a strange place, deep in the ocean, I'm sure of it. But I didn't see any fish or other sea creatures, only seaweed, brown, black and green, climbing on very tall rocks."
Ren Yifei described to the doctor everything he saw in the hallucination. Although it was a dream, he described it as vividly as if it were happening right before his eyes.
His voice was relaxed, and he involuntarily talked about more things, such as how he once saw a monster as tall as a mountain in a dream. He woke up in fright after only seeing the shadow of the monster and could never forget the heart palpitation he felt when he saw it.
Even if you put his greatest fear in front of him, he wouldn't be this terrified. It was an indescribable, chilling fear that made his very soul tremble.
"So I immediately questioned our president after I woke up."
Ren Yifei wiped the sweat from his forehead, as if he were reliving that moment, his breath catching in his throat for a few seconds: "At first I thought it was just a nightmare, but after that experience I was sure it wasn't."
"Why are you so sure?" the doctor asked.
"Because you can't remember the details of a dream that clearly. I know what a dream is, and that was definitely not a dream." Ren Yifei's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his lips were dry. Recalling that scene terrified him.
"So, after you dreamed about these things, how did your life change?"
"I don't know if these count." Ren Yifei looked troubled. "Several times, I don't know what's wrong with me. I sometimes have amnesia. Once I was on the balcony, and my roommate said to come down when I'd had enough of the breeze, but I completely forgot how I climbed onto the balcony railing."
"Your roommate?" The doctor looked down at the data on the computer, which showed that Zhang Zhengyuan lived alone in the dormitory. He originally had three roommates, but two moved out early, and one had an accident last year, so he had no roommates.
If he hadn't been certain that Zhang Zhengyuan, after taking the medication, was in a relaxed and open state, he would have thought the student was joking with him.
"Can you tell me about your roommate?" the doctor asked softly.
"Well, he... although he likes to play games on speakerphone, and the volume is very loud, and he always appears and disappears unexpectedly, he's a good person. I haven't been sleeping well lately, and I'm often dazed during the day. Several times, he reminded me that I almost tripped."
As Ren Yifei spoke, his voice lowered slightly. The doctor sensed something was wrong and asked, "What happened between you and your roommate recently?"
Ren Yifei was about to speak, but then hesitated and shook his head: "They're all baseless guesses. He's probably just confused because he didn't get enough rest."
Ren Yifei spoke for a while longer, and when it was almost time, he left the room. The doctor looked at his files while drinking water.
A moment later, he typed a few words on the document: suspected schizophrenia.