Chapter 1: Seeing a Ghost!
Late at night.
After the dorm supervisor finished roll call and left the room, Li Mu finally looked up from his desk.
It was Friday. Students who wanted to leave campus had to fill out a form in advance, but as usual, Li Mu chose to stay in the dorm.
He glanced at his phone and checked his chat history.
Tonight, his online girlfriend was coming by train to visit him...
To be honest, he never believed in online dating. To him, chatting online was just a way to vent since he didn’t have anyone to talk to in real life. But as time went on, the girl on the other side of the screen took the initiative and suggested an online relationship.
At first, he didn’t take it seriously. After all, online dating didn’t cost anything, and as long as he wasn’t getting scammed, it was nice to have someone to talk to regularly. So, he just kept chatting with her longer and longer each day.
Before he realized it, he had actually started to like her.
She was a cute high school girl, but a bit rebellious. Her family clearly favored boys over girls, treating her harshly with constant scolding and even physical punishment. At one point, they had even locked her up at home...
Though Li Mu was usually quiet and reserved, he had a soft heart. Seeing that her situation was even worse than his, he couldn’t help but feel protective of her. Over time, his sympathy turned into real affection, and he started treating her like an actual girlfriend.
And today, she was coming to see him.
That only proved how much she trusted him. After all, for a girl to travel alone to another city just to meet an online friend. It was a huge show of faith.
Li Mu stood up from his chair, a rare warm smile appearing on his delicate face.
For the first time in a long while, he felt like he had found a purpose again, to give this girl a real home.
He didn’t know if she was as beautiful as she looked in the photos and videos…
His school was a vocational high school, and the rules weren’t too strict. It wasn’t uncommon for students to sneak out at night, though Li Mu had never done it himself.
While the dorm supervisor was still doing roll call for the students staying over the weekend, Li Mu seized the opportunity. He quickly slipped downstairs, climbed over the iron fence surrounding the dormitory, and headed straight for the school’s outer wall.
The school was on the edge of town, and outside the wall was a busy highway where large trucks passed by frequently.
Li Mu was in good shape. With a light jump, he grabbed the top of the wall, pulled himself up, and then hurriedly leapt down. But as he landed, he lost his balance. His body tilted forward uncontrollably, and in an attempt to steady himself, his legs instinctively moved forward.
Without realizing it, he stumbled off the narrow sidewalk—
"Honk!"
Just as he regained his balance, a deafening truck horn blasted through his ears. He looked up in shock, but it was too late. The speeding truck clipped him, sending his body flying to the side like a rag doll before he crashed hard onto the ground.
As his consciousness faded, his blurry vision caught sight of a girl standing across the road, staring at him in shock.
She really came?
She’s beautiful…
Why does it always end like this…?
………………………………………………
Saturday, twelve noon.
At the entrance of Fengcheng County Vocational School, a group of people stood blocking the gate, holding banners and crying hysterically.
"Give me back my daughter’s life!"
"This school is killing people!"
Banners, funeral wreaths, and even a small truck carrying an ice coffin had gathered outside the school gates, occupying the street.
On the truck was a framed photo of a young girl. Around it, curious onlookers gathered, their expressions filled with a mix of shock and gossip. Moments later, reporters arrived, carrying cameras as they rushed to capture the scene.
Li Mu stepped off the bus, looking confused, but was immediately drawn to the commotion.
The photo on the coffin looked oddly familiar. Wasn’t she a student from the class next door? She was quite pretty, especially with that great figure. The girls in that class often wore tight leggings, and Li Mu had definitely noticed the ones with long legs before.
A few days ago, he had heard rumors about someone jumping from the girls' dorm at night. He had thought it was just gossip, but seeing this now, he realized it actually happened.
Why would someone just end their own life like that?
Shaking his head, he walked past the grieving family and into the school.
Last night, after the accident, the truck driver had taken him to the hospital. But when he woke up the next day, the doctors told him it was just a few minor scratches. They didn’t find any serious injuries at all.
To be honest, he was still completely confused.
He clearly remembered the impact from the truck. It should have either killed him or at least left him crippled. But somehow, he was perfectly fine. No broken bones, no internal injuries. Not even a missing limb.
The only one who really suffered was the truck driver, who ended up paying his hospital bills for nothing.
After waking up, he had tried to contact his online girlfriend.
But no matter how many times he called, texted, or messaged her on QQ and WeChat, she never responded.
Did she see him in person and decide he wasn’t her type, so she just ghosted him?
That wouldn’t be too surprising for a rebellious teenage girl. But Li Mu considered himself at least a little handsome. Maybe not stunning, but definitely decent-looking. There was no way he scared her off that badly, right?
Or… maybe she saw the accident and freaked out?
As Li Mu walked past the parents that were trying to get justice for their dead child, Li Mu looked back before he left and noticed that there was a girl with a great figure talking with the parents that were causing trouble.
She was talking to the family, but no matter what she said, they completely ignored her.
As if they couldn’t even hear her.
Then, as if sensing his gaze, the girl turned her head and locked eyes with him.
Suddenly, Li Mu felt a wave of icy cold, right from the top of his head. He just stopped, his legs refusing to move, and his body began to tremble violently.
She looked exactly like the girl in the funeral photo.
A twin, maybe?
He tried to shake off the sudden fear, but before he could react, the girl’s eyes lit up. With a delighted expression, she suddenly took off running straight toward him.
She didn’t move like a normal person.
She wasn’t even touching the ground.
Instead, she passed right through the bystanders like a ghostly projection.
As she got closer, Li Mu’s heart pounded wildly. His breathing quickened, his scalp tingled, and every part of his brain screamed at him to run. But his legs refused to move, they just trembled uselessly beneath him.
The girl slowed down, her arms spreading wide as if she were about to hug an old friend.
Despite the intense summer heat, the closer the girl got, the more his skin felt an icy, piercing chill, and his body was covered in goosebumps, like he was standing in a freezer.
A ghost?!
Before he could react, she was right in front of him. Her arms wrapped around him in a tight embrace.
At that moment, Li Mu felt as if he couldn't breathe.
Then, her entire body melted into a mist and seeped into his skin, slipping through his pores like water.
Suddenly, he could move again. With a panicked step back, he lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground.
“What the hell?! What the hell?! What the hell?!”
Before he could even process the fact that ghosts were real, a loud scream was heard from within him.
The next second, the girl was forcibly ejected from his body and fell onto the ground, crawling backward in a panic.
For a moment, both the human and the ghost just sat there, staring at each other in horror.
Wait… why does she look more freaked out than I am?!