Maoshan Academy of Dark Secret Techniques - Chapter 3 - A Bizarre Campus Tale

Chen Yu arrived at a small inn and booked a room to ensure he’d have a place to rest later that evening.

After tidying up briefly, he left the room, ready to gather clues for the upcoming exam.

Descending the polished wooden staircase, Chen Yu reached the ground floor and noticed a woman at the bar. Her hair was adorned with countless clips, and her outfit was a riot of colors. She was the quintessential non-mainstream type.

Such lively and talkative girls were likely easy to approach for information.

After straightening his clothes and fixing his hair in the mirror-everything looking just fine-he confidently walked up to the bar and said, “Hey there, beautiful! Working tonight?”

The non-mainstream girl shot him a sideways glance, clearly unimpressed. “Boring.”

Looks like she gets hit on quite a lot here and is utterly tired of it. Fair enough.

“Sorry about that. I’m new in town and thought about going out for some fun. Could you recommend a good spot? I’d really appreciate it.”

Seeing that Chen Yu didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, the girl opened up. “If I had some free time, I’d take you myself. But I’m stuck here. This place belongs to my uncle, and he asked me to watch over it while he’s away. If you want to explore, you’ll have to wait until I’m off work.”

“When do you get off? Why don’t you come hang out in my room for a bit?” Chen Yu immediately felt like a creep after saying that. He realized it sounded off and regretted it right away.

“Ugh, you men are all the same.” That one line visibly annoyed her.

Embarrassed, Chen Yu scratched his head. What he meant to be a polite invitation was clearly misunderstood. The girl was sharp-time to try a different approach.

“Actually, I’m a reporter,” Chen Yu explained. “I’ve heard there’s something… strange going on around here, and I’m here to investigate. If you can fill me in, I’ll make sure you’re well compensated.”

The mention of money piqued the girl’s interest. “You’re a reporter? Are you here because of the disappearance cases?”

Disappearance cases? Jackpot. Chen Yu had stumbled upon a clue already. He decided to dig deeper-perhaps he could flush out both of the ghosts that lingered here.

“That’s right,” Chen Yu nodded. “I’m here precisely because of that. How much do you know? Can you tell me? I’m happy to pay for good information.”

The girl thought for a moment. “Okay, but I have one condition. If you agree, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Sure, name it,” Chen Yu replied without hesitation.

“You have to take me along on your investigation. I’m really interested in this kind of stuff too.”

“Huh?” Chen Yu was caught off guard. That was a bit of a tricky request. But after thinking it over, he decided he could just agree for now and figure it out later. It would ultimately be his call whether or not she actually came along.

“Alright, but first, you have to tell me what’s really going on with this whole situation.”

“Deal, but you better not lie to me.”

“I won’t. Trust me, I’ll take you there.”

“Fine, I’ll trust you for now. Okay, let me tell you the full story.”

The girl coughed twice, cleared her throat, and leaned in as if this was going to be a long tale. “Here’s how it is. Let me tell you another story first. Everyone at our school thinks this latest incident is connected to something from before. But the adults always call it nonsense and warn us not to talk about it. Well, I’m gonna talk about it anyway-let’s see what they can do about it!” She wore a rebellious expression, clearly defying the warning.

“So, here’s what happened. I’m a student at a vocational nursing school. As you can imagine, most of the students here are girls, and the few boys in school are treated like rare treasures.”

“It was my very first semester when I met a classmate named Mo Ran. She looked very graceful and ladylike, but her personality was totally the opposite. She was actually very wild. She would often stay out all night singing karaoke or playing games with guys from outside the school. Every morning she’d come back to the dormitory reeking of alcohol. Fortunately, though, she never seemed to get physically hurt.”

“Because of her partying ways, her grades started slipping, and she had constant clashes with the teachers. Most of them were disappointed in her, but there was one teacher who was always patient with her. That teacher was our PE teacher, who also happened to be a high-ranking official in the political and education department. He was quite well-respected at our school.”

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow and let out an “Oh?” Clearly, from the way the story was going, this teacher wasn’t going to turn out to be a good guy.

“Mo Ran’s family was poor, but oddly enough, she always seemed to have a lot of money on hand. She even switched to having the latest model phone.”

“One day, I was, just like I am now, helping my uncle watch his store, when I saw her and the PE teacher go into a room together. I was completely shocked. I had heard the rumors about her relationship with the PE teacher, but never believed them until that moment. Seeing it with my own eyes, I finally realized the rumors were true.”

“But I’m not the kind of person who likes to gossip, so I minded my own business and didn’t interfere. Then, about a month later, the teacher suddenly requested a transfer to another school. Nobody knew the reason. Around that same time, Mo Ran was in the dormitory crying nonstop. No matter how much anyone tried to comfort her, it didn’t work.

“After that incident, she stopped staying out all night. Instead, she stayed in the dormitory every day, silent and gloomy, rarely speaking to anyone.”

“And then?” Chen Yu couldn’t help but feel a bit nosy. Still, the drastic change in Mo Ran’s behavior was suspicious enough to make him lean in closer, fully engrossed in the story. If nothing else, it was good gossip.

“But what’s strange is that she completely changed her usual revealing style of dressing-no more low-cut tops or short skirts. Instead, she started wearing loose clothing. This sudden transformation left many people who knew her feeling puzzled. But, as the saying goes, the truth always comes out.

About five or six months later, we noticed her belly growing day by day. She was pregnant. Anyone could easily guess that the child was fathered by that scumbag teacher. The school clearly didn’t want this scandal to blow up, so they attempted to contact the teacher. But he had completely disappeared, unreachable.

The teachers tried talking to her about the situation and even advised her to take a break from school, but she refused. She pleaded with them to let her stay and asked for a private dormitory so she could continue her studies.

Sympathizing with her, the teachers agreed to her request. Days passed, and before we knew it, her belly was gone. Everyone presumed she had given birth and arranged for someone else to take the baby, so over time, no one thought much about it anymore.”

The girl rubbed her elbow and continued, “But things weren’t as simple as they seemed. Just recently, the cleaning lady at the school was tidying up the restroom when she accidentally came across a schoolbag. Coincidentally, I was in the restroom at the same time and saw everything. I watched as the cleaning lady unzipped the bag to take a look inside. The next thing I knew, she screamed, tossed the bag far away, and collapsed to the floor in shock.

Curious, I stepped closer to look. Oh my god, the bag was drenched in blood. Inside was a newborn baby. Its eyes were wide open, bulging unnaturally, and its tiny face was completely covered in blood. It was horrifying.

The baby was clearly dead. The image was so gruesome that I couldn’t hold it in-I vomited everything in my stomach right there.

The cleaning lady quickly got up, pulled me out of the restroom, and locked the door behind us. She warned me not to say a word about what we’d seen, saying we should leave it to the principal to handle.

Standing outside the restroom, I saw the cleaning lady fetch the principal and a school security guard. The cleaning lady posted a sign on the restroom door that read, ‘Restroom Out of Order. Please use the dormitory bathrooms temporarily.’

The security guard entered the restroom and placed the schoolbag into a plastic bag before taking it away. Then, the principal pulled me aside and said, ‘What you saw today, don’t mention it to anyone. Do you understand? We don’t want any unnecessary trouble.’

“And did you tell anyone?” Chen Yu asked.

“I was too scared at the time and didn’t dare say a word. But later, the police must have wanted more information because they took me in for questioning at the station. Even there, I said I didn’t know anything-I acted like I was completely clueless.

Not long after, I was sent back to school, accompanied by the police. They wanted to speak with Mo Ran’s homeroom teacher to gather more information. But the teacher only told them that Mo Ran had already transferred to another school. Where she transferred to, nobody seemed to know.

Oddly enough, many students started hearing about the incident, though I have no idea how they found out. After this, the case seemed to simmer down for a while, and the campus returned to a semblance of normalcy. But then, strange things started happening.”

Chen Yu leaned on the bar, listening intently as she spoke. Suddenly, he felt a strange unease. “On that day, a classmate from the neighboring class and her boyfriend were secretly hanging out in the classroom until midnight. The school’s surveillance footage caught them leaving the classroom at 12:15 AM and heading to the restroom. The girl went in and never came out. The boy found it odd-was it really that slow to use the restroom? So, he went into the Women’s Restroom as well.

Until 1 AM, the surveillance footage remained blank. Around 1:30 AM, the two appeared together on camera, but their movements were stiff, and the item they were holding was exactly the same schoolbag, the one that looked just like the bag that contained the lifeless baby.”