Chapter 37: Terrifying Nursery Rhyme

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Meanwhile, the ten-person livestreaming group had entered the south wing of the T4 dormitory.

The south wing had long since been abandoned by the school and was now being used as a warehouse for discarded desks, chairs, and assorted junk.

Few people came there during the day.

At night, no one came at all.

Ji Yun had already realized that the earlier “masked senior” segment had been staged purely for entertainment.

Still, Senior Sister Xia Li undeniably possessed impressive command of the situation.

She had skillfully tossed the deliberately manufactured spectacle to her fans, stirring up controversy and drawing attention to the livestream.

The room’s popularity surged, and gifts began flooding the screen.

While livestreaming, she also explained various matters related to folk mysticism.

“You’ve probably heard the old saying that nine out of ten schools are built over graves, right?”

“You may also have noticed that many schools and hospitals are built on places where yin energy gathers—mass graves, burial hills, ancient battlefields, cremation grounds, and the like. Do you know why?”

That question immediately enlivened the livestream.

Everyone thought about it and realized she was right.

Whether middle schools, high schools, or universities, many of them did indeed seem to have been built in places like that.

Behind the group, Zhao Kai’s eyes were already shining. He wanted to answer, but had no idea what to say, so he nudged Ji Yun and asked, “Brother Yun, why is that?”

Ji Yun happened to know the explanation.

But he had no intention of showing off.

He knew this was the moment when Senior Sister Xia Li was establishing her persona.

Before the viewers could search for an answer and send their comments, Xia Li began explaining.

“It’s not merely because the land is cheap.”

“From the perspective of feng shui, a hospital is a place where illness is treated and injuries healed. It is a site of great merit. Hospitals have large crowds and plenty of equipment, both of which can suppress foul yin energy. Schools, meanwhile, are filled with vigorous young people whose abundant yang energy can also disperse yin energy. When Jianghua University was founded a hundred years ago, this very place was a mass graveyard left behind by war and chaos.”

Her explanation prompted a flood of amazed comments.

Even the guests behind Xia Li were astonished by her knowledge.

At that moment, the persona of Xia Li—the beautiful campus mystic well versed in the occult—shone brighter than ever.

But new questions soon appeared in the comments.

Hearing that their school had been built on a mass graveyard, many viewers grew indignant.

“Is the school treating us like lab rats?”

“Why are they making us come here to disperse yin energy?”

“Exactly! Just to get cheap land, they’re treating us students like test subjects!”

“Damn it. Next time I choose a school, I’m picking one that wasn’t built on a mass graveyard.”

And so on.

Zhao Kai felt the same way. He glanced at the comments, casually sent a virtual airplane gift, and complained to Ji Yun, “So we’ve been sleeping on a mass graveyard this whole time… Brother Yun, this school is seriously immoral.”

Ji Yun did not answer.

He had originally thought Senior Sister Xia Li would explain that point.

But after waiting a moment, he saw her simply skip over the subject and continue livestreaming about other matters.

He, too, wondered why she had only explained half the truth.

Seeing that the fat man was still fuming, Ji Yun finally lowered his voice and said, “A school being built in a place full of yin energy isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can create a very sophisticated balance between yin and yang. Young people have overly vigorous yang energy and hot tempers. Put too many of them together, and conflicts are bound to arise. Using yin energy to bring things into balance can actually help them grow in a healthier way.”

Zhao Kai’s expression instantly brightened.

“That’s why you’re Brother Yun!”

The shameless fellow had barely finished flattering him before turning around and typing those words into the public chat.

The words of the livestream’s top donor naturally attracted plenty of attention.

Walking ahead, Senior Sister Xia Li saw them as well.

A flicker of genuine surprise appeared in her bright eyes, but she quickly concealed it. Then she turned around and smiled sweetly at Zhao Kai.

“Junior Kai is very knowledgeable~ I was just about to give everyone some time to think. I didn’t expect someone to actually know the answer.”

Her form of address had changed since their last meeting.

Hearing the goddess call him “Junior Kai,” Zhao Kai seemed to attain unprecedented satisfaction. Like a proud little rooster, he straightened his neck as he walked.

Ji Yun rolled his eyes at the show-off.

He deliberately kept his distance, afraid that the livestream would capture him and make him look foolish too.

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Of course, he knew that was exactly why the fat man had insisted on dragging him along.

But they were friends, after all. It hardly mattered.

From the corner of his eye, Ji Yun kept glancing at another person who was livestreaming—Liao Feifei.

Compared with Senior Sister Xia Li, her livestream was far quieter.

Liao Feifei did not show her face, nor could she casually pour out folk-mysticism knowledge the way Xia Li did.

With both streams covering the same content, viewers naturally chose the more attractive one.

…

The T4 dormitory had only four floors. If they continued walking like this, they would soon reach the roof.

If all they did was climb the stairs, the livestream would have no effect at all.

An outdoor ghost hunt, after all…

Obviously needed a few frightening elements.

The dormitory building was old, and someone coming alone might indeed feel uneasy.

But with so many people together, where was the slightest trace of a terrifying atmosphere?

If there was none, they would simply create one.

Senior Sister Xia Li had clearly planned everything long ago.

As they walked, the props soon appeared.

She held a peachwood sword in one hand. A Mountain Ghost coin hung from her chest, while her other hand held a selfie stick, leaving her no choice but to wear the Eight Trigrams mirror against her chest.

Hmm…

That was probably deliberate.

It made her already impressive bosom look even more imposing.

The outfit triggered another small surge of excitement in the livestream.

Ji Yun glanced at Zhao Kai’s stream as well. A link for the same Mountain Ghost coins had already been pinned in the shopping cart, and within moments, several hundred orders had been placed.

The items cost only a few coins each to make, yet were being sold at twenty or thirty times the cost.

Even Ji Yun, a country bumpkin who almost never watched livestreams, felt his eyelids twitch when he mentally calculated the sales.

Just as they were about to go upstairs, Jiang Tian, the captain of the soccer team, appropriately produced a hemp rope wrapped in red cloth.

Senior Sister Xia Li explained to both the livestream audience and the guests, “There is another terrifying legend about the 426 Hospital. It is said that if someone climbs the hospital stairs while holding onto a rope, sooner or later, they will encounter the ghost nurse…”

She deliberately drew out the final words, leaving plenty of room for the listeners’ imaginations.

Only then did she continue, “Today, Chestnut will take everyone along to see what the legend is really like…”

Livestream platforms could not openly promote folk superstition. Xia Li’s ghost-hunting broadcast was therefore presented under the banner of dispelling superstitious fears and exposing rumors.

Behind her, Zhao Kai and the other guests were all eager to give it a try.

Ji Yun noticed the copper coin woven into the knot of the rope, and his expression tightened slightly.

Where had Senior Sister Xia learned this method? It actually showed some genuine skill…

He had once heard the elders say: When red cloth is wrapped around a hemp rope, one may walk the road between yin and yang.

The corpse drivers of western Hunan were especially skilled with this “yin-yang rope.”

When transporting corpses across the boundary between life and death, they tied a red-cloth hemp rope around their own waists and those of their clients to prevent the corpses from wandering away.

In truth, they were simply afraid of losing their “cargo.”

Ji Yun did not understand why this rope had been chosen for the scene.

But once the red rope connected everyone, leaving them confused and uncertain, the atmosphere instantly became chilling.

It felt like some kind of ritual.

Professional, terrifying, and overflowing with theatrical flair.

It was the sort of method that ordinary outsiders would never even think of.

Ji Yun became even more certain that Senior Sister Xia truly understood something about ritual arts.

…

After finishing her explanation, Xia Li took the lead and pulled the red-cloth rope up the stairs.

One person followed after another.

All of them climbed while holding the red rope.

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The ten people were packed closely together, yet still took up the entire staircase.

Ji Yun was at the very back.

After Xia Li, at the head of the group, turned the corner and disappeared from sight, he continued upward.

For the sake of the livestream, they were moving very slowly.

Without the extra lighting used for the broadcast, only the glow of the phones at the back of the line illuminated the faces emerging from the darkness.

Ji Yun had not even turned on his phone.

The weather was pleasant that night.

Through the hollow gaps in the corridor’s brickwork, he looked outside the dormitory.

The view was blocked by dense treetops, and only a scant amount of moonlight filtered through the leaves.

The livestreaming group paused and moved in fits and starts on the stairs.

Gradually, a chilly sensation began to creep over them.

Ji Yun felt a coolness along his back.

Yet perhaps because his recent breathing exercises had finally yielded some results, a warm current rose from his dantian. Instead of making him uncomfortable, the chill felt strangely refreshing.

Zhao Kai sensed it too.

Though the fat man looked robust, his body was actually rather weak. He muttered, “Brother Yun, don’t you feel something cold behind us?”

Ji Yun had of course noticed it.

But before he could reply, a clear child’s voice suddenly rang out through the stairwell:

“Two little children, hand in hand,
The moon cuts at their ears as they climb the stairs.
The surgical lamp waits on the third floor—don’t, don’t look back.
Four little red shoes stand still in the morgue…”

It was a children’s nursery rhyme.

The rhythm was light, and the melody beautiful.

But when one listened closely to the words, they inspired a bone-chilling sense of dread.

Like a telephone ringtone, the clear voice echoed through the corridor.

It rang here, then reappeared in both livestreams, the layered sound making everyone inexplicably uneasy.

Ji Yun also felt that something was wrong.

Why was the content so similar to the ghost story about the 426 Hospital that had appeared in the newspaper earlier?

It was probably another staged effect.

The viewers in the livestream noticed it too, and began speculating wildly.

At the front of the group, Senior Sister Xia Li was completely bewildered.

Although the nursery rhyme had appeared at precisely the right moment, the audio mixing was interfering with her broadcast.

She still turned around and called out, “Whose phone is ringing? Please turn it off.”

The moment she said that, the nursery rhyme stopped abruptly.

Ji Yun and the other guests were physically present, so they clearly heard that it sounded exactly like a ringtone.

Moreover, it had come from one of the ten people among them.

It had stopped the instant she called out.

It was obviously part of the show.

No one took it seriously, and they continued upward.

Ji Yun did not know whether it was merely his imagination.

He only felt that his body seemed to find this pervasive, yin-laden atmosphere more and more comfortable.

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