Chapter 66: Terror in the Old Restroom

After investing some money in that place, the boss built a few rooms. Just as he was preparing to invest more to build a factory shed, someone suddenly showed up.

"He was a destitute student, in a very wretched state, having gone hungry for several days. Feeling sorry for him, I had someone give him a meal. Later, he even wanted to stay and work for me, and I agreed."

I found it strange: "A student?"

The boss said, "Yes, just a student. When we asked him where he came from, he said he came from school. Moreover, he said he had escaped. At the time, we thought he meant he was skipping class, but who would have thought he meant he was running for his life."

After this student arrived, he worked very diligently. However, he remained silent every day and did not speak to anyone. Yet one night, the workers noticed that the student's behavior was extremely strange. When sleeping, he would place a knife on his bed, shut all doors and windows tightly, and light a candle by his bedside. Furthermore, he would sleep completely covered by his quilt.

One of the workers, who liked to joke around and saw the student wrapped up like a rice dumpling, walked over and lifted his quilt to tease him. As a result, the student leaped out from under the quilt and almost butchered the worker alive right then and there. Afterwards, the workers saw that the student was drenched in sweat, to the point where even the quilt was soaked through.

News of this student quickly spread among the workers. Everyone speculated that the kid must have gotten into trouble at school and fled here to hide.

As the leader, the boss naturally paid closer attention to the workers' wellbeing. Hearing the rumors circulating among them, he took the initiative to go and question the student. The student's answer, however, broke him out in a cold sweat.

When first questioned, the student stubbornly refused to say anything. Maintaining his patience, the boss repeatedly asked him until he finally got an answer.

At this point, the boss stopped talking. I couldn't help asking, "What was the result?"

The boss took a sip of tea, swallowed it, and said, "He said he was afraid of a woman—a woman covered in blood. He also said..."

"What else did he say?" Pei Chengjun asked this question.

The boss raised his teacup again and took another sip. "He also said this woman would come looking for him sooner or later, and he didn't know which day he would die."

Pei Chengjun and I looked at the boss and couldn't help raising our own teacups to take a sip of tea as well.

After finishing the tea, the boss continued his story.

***

As it turned out, on the very night the boss had that talk with the student, someone reported hearing a door being pushed open in the middle of the night. Then, they heard a woman's laughter. Some workers even saw a woman with flowing long hair standing inside the dormitory.

And the next day, that student really was dead, found dead in the restroom.

That morning, the workers got up early to go to work. When one of them went to the restroom and walked inside, he saw the student squatting in the third stall.

The recent events surrounding the student had been the talk of the town among the workers, so this worker still felt a bit fearful of him and dared not get too close. When using the restroom, he chose to squat in the first stall.

Yet after squatting down, the worker felt strange. Because it was early, the entire world was dead silent. Inside the restroom, the worker could only hear his own breathing. Yet the student squatting in the third stall made not a single sound.

Giving it no further thought, the worker finished his business in a daze. Pulling up his pants and preparing to leave, he couldn't help glancing over at the third stall. That made him even more puzzled: why was the student's face so pale today? And why were those eyes bloodshot?

The worker shuddered and slowly walked toward the third stall, just about to reach out and touch the student. Suddenly, the student collapsed forward right in front of him, still maintaining a squatting posture.

Terrified, the worker let out a loud scream and ran out to call the other workers. Scrambling into the restroom together, they found that the student had been dead for a long time, his body already rigid.

The student's death spread among the workers, instantly instilling a trace of panic throughout the construction site. Finding it unlucky, the workers hastily buried the student.

Yet no one could have imagined that on that very same night, someone would see the student in the restroom once more. He was still squatting in the third stall, his eyes bloodshot and his face ghastly pale.

That night, a worker woke up with a stomachache in the middle of the night and got up to use the restroom. Because the student had died in the restroom just that day, it gave the worker the creeps. However, with his stomach aching unbearably, he still walked over.

Upon reaching the doorway, he noticed someone seemed to be squatting in the third stall. The worker's hair stood on end, but thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him, he decided to walk closer to take a look.

Getting closer, he saw that the figure squatting in the third stall was none other than the student.

What was even more terrifying was that the student's head actually moved, turning around to stare fixedly at the worker.

Paralyzed by fright, the worker let out a miserable scream and instantly passed out cold.

***

That miserable scream instantly echoed across the construction site. Moments later, many doors flew open, and people stepped out of their rooms, peering toward the restroom. Within a short while, more people walked closer to the restroom.

Then, another miserable scream rang out from inside the restroom. Across the construction site, doors continued to open successively, and people kept walking into the restroom one after another.

The next morning, a few workers who had been too exhausted the previous night and hadn't gotten up woke up.

As soon as they got up, they noticed something strange: the doors to most of the rooms in the construction site were wide open, with the lights still on. They walked over to the restroom, only to let out a shriek of terror and flee in panic.

In the third stall of that restroom, a massive pile of corpses was slumped over, densely packed together.

By the time the boss reached this part of the story, my scalp was already beginning to tingle. The boss himself was covered in cold sweat and dared not continue. Flustered, he hurriedly took a sip of tea and said to us, "That's all I can say. I have matters to attend to, farewell."

With that, he bolted out of the teahouse in a panic, leaving Pei Chengjun and me frozen in place.

Watching the boss's retreating figure, that horrifying scene kept spinning in my mind. Pei Chengjun and I didn't say anything; we simply stood up and left. Yet deep inside, I had silently memorized that old restroom and that student. By the way, when the boss was telling the story earlier, did he inadvertently mention the student's name was Li Sang?

The haunting in that old restroom was fierce beyond measure. I made up my mind not to provoke it for the time being. Fortunately, I had no need to provoke that old restroom right now anyway.

After the boss left, Pei Chengjun and I also left the teahouse. Pei Chengjun then kindly gave me a ride back to school.

Yet, as if destined by some unseen force, I would ultimately end up inside that old restroom after all.

PS: To the book friends who gave tips and cast recommendation votes, I have silently recorded your names in my roster. Thank you o(n_n)o~