173 The Surveillance Tape

 

‘Is that really Ma Manjiang?’ When Han Fei tried to focus harder on Room 204, the shadowy figure had disappeared. ‘Ma Manjiang has escaped from real life into the cryptic world? Does this mean that the man is dead?’ An indescribable malice followed that man. After Han Fei made sure he was not being followed, he slowly calmed down. ‘The enemy this time is very cunning. If I was a second slower, I’d be dead now.’ Han Fei could not leave the game yet so if he was captured, death would be inevitable. ‘He was waiting for me inside Room 201 but why would he choose that particular room? Why would he know that I’d go there?’

Ma Manjiang was different from any ghost Han Fei had encountered in the past. ‘He had his own children leave the note in Room 104 to lure me into a trap. This is not something a normal Lingering Spirit could plan. What has happened to Ma Manjiang? Or is he the Butterfly?’ Li Xue’s teacher once predicted that the Butterfly was related to doctors and teachers. Coincidentally Ma Manjiang was a teacher at Yi Ming Private Academy.

In any case, Han Fei did not have enough clues to come to any conclusion. Instead what he needed to do now was to get as far away from the hostel as possible. He turned to look at the school gate. Yi Ming Private Academy’s walls and gates were decorated with symbols drawn out in blood. Whenever Han Fei got closer, the landlord’s ring would chill as if something bad would happen if he ventured too close.

Since he was unable to leave, Han Fei could only face the trial as best as he could. ‘Ma Manjiang is the source of all the pain at Yi Ming Private Academy, in other words, he is the scariest presence here. Now that he is at the hostel, it means that the other buildings are temporarily safe.’ Han Fei planned to make use of this opportunity to get to the education block to find Jin Sheng. Normally, a person would lean towards escaping or hiding after experiencing great trauma but Han Fei was different because he knew such actions were futile in the cryptic world.

‘Jin Sheng should be Jing Sheng, he is the key to the missions at this school.’ Despite Yi Ming Private Academy’s reputation, its campus was quite large. Many parents were fooled by its appearance and sent their children here. Making his way through the bush, Han Fei kept his body as small as possible. However, he soon realized the bushes were not safe either. Han Fei did not need to go far when he noticed he had company. Not far away from him, there was something moving inside the bush. It was incredibly thin, it looked like a monkey or a disfigured gnome. The thing radiated misfortune and curse. Han Fei stayed a distance away to observe it. It was tearing at something for a long time before it slipped away.

Han Fei slowly approached the spot it vacated. When he arrived, there was only a tattered school uniform and a wrinkled student id left on the ground. ‘That thing earlier is a student here? But why does he look that way? What has happened at this school?’

The school appeared particularly uninviting in the night. The place was incredibly quiet. Han Fei eventually walked out from the bushes, crossed a cement path and reached the education block. Yi Ming Private Academy’s education block was in an L shape, it was attached to the office building. Perhaps due to the imperfect management at the school, the school security office was located at the deepest part of the education block’s 1st floor corridor. It made dealing with student bullies much easier. Normally the security guards would take their shifts at the gate but during breaks or when they needed to check the security tapes, they would visit the security office at the education block.

Han Fei entered the education block from the backdoor so the first room he encountered was the security office.

‘Su Mengting’s diary has once mentioned an uncle guard. He is one of the victims in the Case of Foretold Death. From the diary, he sounds like a nice person.’ Han Fei’s plan initially did not involve a trip to the security office, he wanted to get to the 4th floor as soon as possible but he only entered the education block when the chill came from the ring. He did not hear any strange voice nor see anything out of place but the ring would never lie to him. The chill intensified, something was approaching!

For the sake of security, Han Fei did not use the stairs, it would make himself too conspicuous. He took several steps back, opened the door to the security office and temporarily hid inside it.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’re in possession of the victim’s tape, you’ve successfully triggered Grade G Hidden Mission—Surveillance Tape.

“Mission Requirement: Stay inside the security office and watch the tape for a whole half an hour. This is a time-limited mission.”

The chill on the ring did not go away, if anything, it was increasing. Han Fei hid behind the door and his face was unholy white with the light casted from the screens. Surprisingly, the surveillance equipment inside the room was still working. An old computer and a small tv with a tape player were placed on a table. The television screen was cracked like someone had smashed into it. The computer though could still be used. Its monitor showed 10 segments of surveillance videos.

With the chill from his finger, Han Fei knew the unknown monster was still wandering outside the door. Han Fei locked the door and turned his attention to the surveillance videos on the computer screen. The 10 videos corresponded to the 10 cameras around the campus. ‘Are the cameras broken? How come the videos are all so blurry?’

Since the mission had been triggered, Han Fei would stay to try to complete it. After he did, he could leave the game after 3 hours, that would be a great lifeline to have while he explored the rest of the building. Taking out the surveillance tape, Han Fei slid it into the obsolete player. He tried to switch on the television and to his surprise, the cracked monitor came on. ‘It’s still usable?!’

Han Fei looked at the screen quietly. The tape played a night time surveillance of the campus. The black and white video was rather grainy but Han Fei got used to it after a while. The mission had already started, everything was normal during the first five minutes. No one made an appearance inside the tape. Regardless, Han Fei did not put his guard down and kept his eyes glued to the screen. At around the 7th minute mark, something was caught on the tape. But due to the quality of the video, Han Fei could not tell what it was. Han Fei wanted to rewind to take a closer look but the button on the player was not working.

At the 10th minute mark, something flashed across the screen again. This time Han Fei got a closer look. ‘Was that a woman’s hair?’ Han Fei focused closely afraid that he might miss something. At the 14th minute mark, Han Fei finally got a good look, it was a woman with her head lowered. Her body was covered in blood. She looked taller than Han Fei and walked past the camera with her head hung low.

Moving subconsciously back from the screen, Han Fei continued to watch. The woman reappeared at the 17th minute. As if sensing that someone was looking at her, the woman purposely stopped before the camera. Han Fei’s heart strung tight. The woman lifted her ruined face to reveal a horrible smile. Then the next second, she disappeared from the screen!

‘There’s a ghost inside the tape? No, wait, this tape belongs to a ghost.’ Han Fei’s face paled, ‘She wouldn’t come searching for this tape, would she?’

Han Fei’s eyes swept the computer screen which was placed adjacent to the television and his body chilled. By then, the video was at its 20th minute mark, the woman did not show up on the television screen but instead she appeared in the live surveillance videos on the computer monitor!