On Thursday night, Yu Zhenzhen posted a message in the class group, and then regretfully discovered that after ten minutes, no one had responded to her!

Could it be that everyone was studying, and only I was forwarding silly posts?

Yu Zhenzhen suddenly became scared, and hurriedly opened her papers to do practice questions. Just as she was immersed in the long exam, her phone vibrated.

She clicked it open to take a look, and was shocked - it was actually Kong Xuan! Kong Xuan had replied, and @'ed her.

Kong Xuan: 【@Yu Zhenzhen Why can't I log in? Is the password wrong?】

Kong Xuan: 【@Yu Zhenzhen Isn't it Baidu Netdisk? Which disk is it?】

Kong Xuan: 【@Yu Zhenzhen Class rep, hurry up.】

Yu Zhenzhen: ...

Shocked for a hundred years!

The phone kept vibrating, and Yu Zhenzhen didn't know what to say, there were too many points to facepalm at!

Kong Xuan had joined the class group late to begin with, and after joining he never spoke, and never posted any Moments either. This was the first time he had spoken in the group. Moreover, as everyone knew, this was Kong Xuan who was usually pressed by Tan Xiao to explain questions.

Classmate A: 【...rare to see this.】

Classmate B: 【!!!!】

Classmate C: 【@Xiaoxiao is it you logging into Kong Xuan's account, trying to scare us?】

Classmate D: 【Lin Yang shocked emoticon.jpg】

Lin Yang: 【????】

A series of replies quickly pushed Kong Xuan's words out of sight. Yu Zhenzhen was furious, well, so you were all online after all!

Tan Xiao: 【@Kong Xuan The class rep posted a joke, the password is a homophone for "crazy Thursday", transfer her fifty.】

Kong Xuan: 【Need to transfer fifty to post questions? @Lin Yang lend me fifty.】

Lin Yang: 【...】

Classmates ABCDE: 【......】

Now it could be confirmed that Kong Xuan was probably also joking. It's just that everyone didn't know why his mood was so good, to be joking in the group and not maintaining his aloof persona.

Yu Zhenzhen scratched her head wildly, because she sat quite close to Kong Xuan, so unlike the others, she felt that Kong Xuan didn't seem to be entirely joking.

It seemed to be ever since Teacher Ji had a talk with everyone after the Dragon Boat Festival, Kong Xuan's studying became especially focused and proactive. Before, although he also studied, there was always a feeling of just completing tasks, and even needed Tan Xiao to urge him.

But these past few days, Yu Zhenzhen saw that Kong Xuan was very proactive, and not only that, he would even listen in when others talked about schools and methods they were applying for.

Wow, so there really are things like sudden enlightenment. Kong Xuan must have found some kind of spiritual pillar for himself.

For Yu Zhenzhen, she felt that her spiritual pillar was that after getting into university, she would have her own camera, and freedom, and could do whatever she wanted to do then.

Who knows what it was for Kong Xuan, he always gave everyone a feeling of being aloof and unconcerned with worldly matters, it really made one curious.

Just as she was pondering this, an incoming voice call popped up, blocking the chat window. Yu Zhenzhen saw that the caller was a friend of hers from another school, Chen Yinghe.

Yu Zhenzhen had first met Chen Yinghe online, because they were both from Nanchu, around the same age, and would both play with tarot cards sometimes.

Also, Yu Zhenzhen liked photography, while Chen Yinghe was an art student. The two arts were inseparable, and they would often discuss these common interests together. Chen Yinghe would draw avatars for Yu Zhenzhen, and Yu Zhenzhen would take portraits for her.

It's just that Chen Yinghe rarely called, and it was a bit late now. Yu Zhenzhen curiously picked up: "Little He?"

......

It was already past ten, and Chen Yinghe still hadn't left the studio, she wanted to finish painting the last bit. This painting was a still life color study, and annoyingly, someone had eaten one of the still life objects again.

Still life, still life, how come it always moves!

Like the other high school third-years, the pressure on art students may come earlier, because they have to face the joint exam at the end of the year first. These past few days everyone was also discussing where to go paint during the summer vacation.

Chen Yinghe was a bit tired from painting, and raised her head to look at her own painting on the wall, her eyes showing appreciation: Damn, I paint so well!

This painting was from last time's figure painting assignment in the studio. Her work had won first place, and was hung on the wall by the teacher as an outstanding work.

"Screech--"

Chen Yinghe heard the grating sound of an easel being moved behind her, and couldn't help frowning. It really ruined the mood.

But she didn't think to look back, and just lowered her eyes dejectedly to continue painting.

"Screech--"

Another sound.

This time Chen Yinghe was a bit impatient. "Dazhuang can't you carry it? You have to drag it?"

She was referring to another student in the studio. Usually the two of them stayed in the studio the latest. Today everyone else had left one after another, so she thought the only one left besides her was Dazhuang.

Dazhuang didn't respond.

Sigh, was I too irritable? Chen Yinghe felt guilty and turned her head. "Was I too harsh on you..."

There was no one behind her. Chen Yinghe paused. Was it blocked by the easel? She looked from below, between the irregular easel legs, but didn't see any legs or shoes either. It was empty. In the studio, only she was left.

"No way?" Chen Yinghe first thought it was funny. The broken studio has big rats huh? Oh no, she remembered what the elders at home said, you can't call them rats. Rats are such spiritual animals, in the north you have to respectfully call them "Ash Immortals", and in Nanchu you also have to call them "esteemed guests".

Hmm, so the disappearance of the still life fruits may not have been eaten by a classmate, but possibly by rats. No wonder no one admitted to it.

Chen Yinghe lowered her head to pick up her phone, and opened the studio group. She happened to see Dazhuang's previous message, saying he was lured by barbecue on the way home, so he had indeed already left.

It was just this lowering of her head, "screech", another sound. Chen Yinghe quickly raised her head, still nothing there.

A belated realization, as if cold air was rising from behind, her whole body chilled.

This time she immediately turned around. Even if it was a rat, it couldn't possibly run this fast, not even a shadow to be seen. Moreover this time, Chen Yinghe could even distinguish which easel had moved.

Chen Yinghe was sitting in the frontmost position. The easels behind her were placed in a staggered arrangement. At this moment, there was a very obvious gap, caused by several easels being moved aside.

From Chen Yinghe's perspective, that gap looked like... looked like...

How to describe it?

She suddenly thought of it, as if something was pushing open the easels in the middle, trying to get close to her!

Chen Yinghe wanted to stand up, but her heart was beating too fast, blood rushing, and her legs felt like they were stuck in mud, unable to move. She maintained her turned posture, not even daring to turn back, fearing that if she turned her head or moved, that "thing" would push away all the easels in an instant.

Not to mention moving, she didn't even dare to blink, eyes wide open staring at everything in front of her, to see if any changes would occur anywhere.

The studio was brightly lit, yet Chen Yinghe felt the light hurt her eyes, or perhaps it was because she hadn't blinked for so long.

There were no sounds outside. Other students had left by this time. Usually she would complain about the noise of the traffic and night market stalls outside being too loud, but now she was calling out in her heart, where have you all gone?

If only there was some sound, it would make her less afraid.

Chen Yinghe felt her heart still pounding in her throat, throbbing uncomfortably, but her courage was slowly recovering a bit, feeling like she was in a standoff with some invisible thing. She gripped the utility knife in one hand, and swiped WeChat with the other, clicking on a recent contact to make a call.

"Little He?"

Her friend's voice made Chen Yinghe feel a bit better. "Zhenzhen, let me tell you, I'm in the studio right now, and I suspect..."

She paused here, a bit afraid to say it directly, and hinted instead, "I may have encountered the thing you ran into during the New Year."

Yu Zhenzhen quickly understood, "Oh my god, are you alone? Don't hang up then, turn on the video and get out of there quickly."

Chen Yinghe turned on the camera and panned it around the studio. "Do you sense anything wrong?"

"How would I sense it." Yu Zhenzhen was dizzy. "Hey, take the knife with you. Don't they say knives and such are fierce and can ward off evil."

"Really? Any other methods?" Chen Yinghe's bag was still at the very back of the studio, but she didn't dare go get it now. With her girlfriend accompanying her on the other end of the video, she took the utility knife and headed out of the classroom.

As soon as she turned around, the easel behind her made a "creak" sound again. Chen Yinghe's face turned white and she didn't dare look back again, quickening her pace to almost run out.

"You..." Yu Zhenzhen herself had no experience in exorcism, but she thought of the talisman Tan Xiao had drawn for Lin Yang before and said, "Try chanting 'the peacock arrives'!"

At this moment, Chen Yinghe didn't care about the details, like why a peacock, how peacocks ward off evil. She rushed out while chanting, "The peacock arrives, the peacock arrives, the peacock arrives!"

An easel seemed to fall behind her, but Chen Yinghe had already rushed out of the studio, down two floors, and could see the lights of the night market stalls not far away, even smelling some cooking fumes.

"Phew!" Chen Yinghe looked back at the studio. The lights were still on and she hadn't taken her bag, but she really didn't dare go back.

"Little He, how is it?" Yu Zhenzhen asked.

"It's fine, much better after coming out." Chen Yinghe felt the cold sweat on her back. "Your chant was strange, but it seemed to work a bit. At least it didn't follow me out."

"My classmate taught me this. He said the peacock is the son of the primordial phoenix, so chanting this can ward off evil." Now that she saw Chen Yinghe looking much more relaxed, Yu Zhenzhen dared to ask, "Did you see some spirit entity just now?"

"I didn't see any physical form, but the easels in our studio kept moving on their own. It can't be someone playing a prank on me, right? Dammit, I never ate those fruits, why mess with me." Chen Yinghe thought, even if it was a prank, it should be revealed by now.

Yu Zhenzhen had a somewhat similar experience - although some people said she was just having a nightmare, she could empathize with what Chen Yinghe went through. "You should go back and rest well then. I'll ask my classmate later to see if there's any explanation."

"Okay. The classmate you mentioned, it wouldn't happen to be your shaman classmate, right? The physics class rep?" Chen Yinghe belatedly recalled that whenever Yu Zhenzhen brought up her shaman classmate before, it was always jokingly. "Oh right, do you have tarot cards on hand? Mine are in my bag that I didn't bring out. Otherwise, can you draw one for me now to see what I encountered just now?"

"I'm not good at reading them..." Yu Zhenzhen said, but couldn't resist. She shuffled the deck of tarot cards beside her, and one card fell out during the shuffling. Yu Zhenzhen picked it up.

"It's the Chariot. Feels like it's saying the spirit entity is a rather oppressive male presence." Yu Zhenzhen wasn't sure if her interpretation was correct, having had the previous experience of helping Tan Xiao look at a ghost.