C11 Chapter 11

Ever since Shidian hurt his arm, Chen Rui had taken over the job of picking up meals. That day, right after he set Shidian’s food down, he leaned in and told him something strange.

“Did you know something weird’s been happening in the dining hall lately?” Chen Rui deliberately lowered his voice, trying to make it sound more intense.

But Shidian couldn’t help laughing. “The weirdest thing here is you doing that. Seriously.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll say it normally,” Chen Rui said, giving up. “Lately, people have been losing stuff in the dining hall.”

“Losing stuff? Like there’s a thief?” Shidian listened while eating. “That doesn’t sound weird.”

“Sure, but if it’s really a thief, they’re way too good,” Chen Rui said, looking almost impressed. “It’s like magic—blink and it’s gone!”

“Alright, alright. Just tell me what’s been disappearing,” Shidian urged, exasperated.

“A lot,” Chen Rui said, counting on his fingers. “Phones, meal cards, textbooks—even a fast-food tray someone just set on the table. Blink, and it’s gone. The strangest part is it happens in a packed room, and nobody sees a thing.”

“So what’s everyone saying?” Shidian asked.

“Easy,” Chen Rui replied calmly. “It’s haunted.”

“Pfft!” Shidian almost spit out his food. Haunted again? And these are college students.

“Obviously, I’m not as simple-minded as them,” Chen Rui said seriously. “I think it’s some kind of monster.”

“Yeah, sure. Makes sense. Now let me finish eating,” Shidian said helplessly. Lately, this guy blamed everything on monsters.

“Shidian, my phone got stolen!” The dorm door suddenly flew open, and a bright voice rang out.

“Chen Xin?” Shidian turned around, still with a mouthful of food he hadn’t even swallowed yet.

“What?! Which asshole would steal your phone? Do they have any idea who your brother is?” Chen Rui exploded, yanking up his sleeves and charging out the door.

“Ugh—seriously, I wasn’t even finished talking!” Chen Xin huffed, then quickly grabbed Shi Dian and hurried after him.

Before long, the three of them reached the classroom where Chen Xin usually had class. On the way, she’d already told them what happened.

Turns out, right after lunch, Chen Xin came back to the room to read. Suddenly, a classmate behind her asked her a question, so she turned around for a moment. But in just those few seconds, the phone that had been sitting on her desk was gone!

“Hey! Which one of you assholes stole my sister’s phone? Hand it over—now. Otherwise, don’t blame me if I stop playing nice!” Chen Rui shouted the second he walked in, waking up everyone who’d been resting.

“Bro! Don’t do this,” Chen Xin blurted out, panicked. Who looks for a thief like that?

“What are you even talking about? Who’d steal your phone? It’s not worth much. And besides, if someone stole it, do you really think they’d still be sitting here? Use your head,” a classmate replied lazily.

“You little—what did you just say? So it was you, huh? You stole it!” Chen Rui snapped, instantly furious, raising his fist like he was about to charge over—until Shi Dian and Chen Xin grabbed him and held him back.

“Actually, I had something stolen too,” another student spoke up. “Yesterday, in this same classroom. The ring my girlfriend gave me disappeared.”

“Yeah, for real—people have been getting stuff taken a lot lately. I heard even Class One’s exam papers got stolen. Those were locked in the teacher’s office safe. Whoever’s doing this has to be seriously good,” someone else added.

“Something about this feels off,” Chen Xin said, resting her chin in her hand.

“In that case, we should check the security footage first,” Shi Dian said, glancing at the camera mounted at the back of the classroom.

Not long after, the three of them arrived together at the building’s security office, run by the school’s security staff. The moment they stepped inside, they couldn’t help but gasp—one entire wall was covered in monitors, their flickering screens dizzying to look at.

After explaining why they were there, the head of the security office readily agreed and pulled up the footage from the classroom where Chen Xin had been about thirty minutes earlier.

The three of them leaned in shoulder to shoulder to watch the screen. In the video, Chen Xin returned to the classroom, and just like she’d described, after she answered a question, her phone was gone.

Everyone in front of the monitor—including the security guard—was stunned. From the footage, the phone really did vanish out of nowhere, like it had evaporated.

“How is that even possible—like a magic trick?” Chen Rui said, still not quite believing it.

“Could you do me a favor and play it back again?” Shi Dian asked. But even if he hadn’t, the guard would’ve replayed it anyway—he didn’t believe what he’d just seen, either.

The video started again. This time, the moment Chen Xin turned her head, Shi Dian suddenly shouted, “Stop!”

The guard’s finger hit the button instantly, freezing the frame right as Chen Xin looked back.

“Look closely at the desk,” Shi Dian said, like he’d spotted something.

The guard zoomed in. Now everyone could see it clearly: a shadow had appeared on the desktop—one that hadn’t been there in the earlier frames!

With that clue in hand, Shi Dian said goodbye to the guard, leaving him staring at the screen in a daze.

“Did you figure something out?” Chen Xin asked, looking at Shi Dian and Chen Rui’s serious faces.

“I think the culprit is that shadow demon we ran into earlier,” Shi Dian said, stating his conclusion.

“Yeah. It’s definitely that creep!” Chen Rui nodded hard. He had no love for the thing that had tried to go after Ziyuan.

“Then where do we find him now?” Chen Xin asked.

That question made Shi Dian and Chen Rui pause to think. Both of them frowned, pacing back and forth.

Suddenly, Shi Dian’s mouth curled into a grin. “I’ve got it!”

“What? Spit it out—come on,” Chen Rui asked right away.

“Do you remember what someone said in the classroom earlier—that even Class One’s exam papers got stolen? Why would anyone steal exam papers? They’re basically just a pile of useless paper,” Shi Dian said, starting to reason it out.

“Because… because they did badly on the test!” Chen Rui thought for a second, then answered.

“Exactly. They did badly, so they wanted to destroy the papers. That means the person has to be a student from Class One!” Shi Dian nodded.

“Heh. See? I’m pretty smart, aren’t I?” Chen Rui said smugly.

“Bro, don’t tell me that’s how you think all the time,” Chen Xin asked slyly.

“Uh… okay, okay. Let’s go find that guy in Class One!” Chen Rui said quickly, changing the subject.

“The only group that’s had exams lately is our department’s Class One. Follow me!” Chen Xin immediately got serious.

That was how Chen Rui narrowly dodged trouble. The three of them followed her all the way to the classroom where Class One usually met. It was still lunch break, so there weren’t many people inside.

Shi Dian pulled out his phone and called Chen Xin’s number. Almost immediately, a buzzing vibration came from inside a desk in the classroom.

“It’s right there—my phone’s usually on vibrate!” Chen Xin said happily, pointing at the desk.

Chen Rui was about to go grab it, but Shi Dian stopped him. “Not so fast. Now that we know where the phone is, why don’t we figure out who that mysterious shadow actually is first?”

“Yeah, good point. I almost forgot. We’ve gotta drag him out and teach him a lesson!” The moment he said it, Chen Rui got fired up.

So the three of them decided to back off for now and come back after class started.

Sure enough, once class was underway, the three of them made up an excuse to slip out. They went to the back door of Class One’s classroom and peeked in. Sitting at the desk where Chen Xin’s phone was was a guy with glasses, wearing a white button-down shirt and jeans.

“No way—he looks like such a nice, studious type,” Chen Xin muttered, lips pursed, unable to believe he could be the thief.

“Hmph. That’s why I’m always telling you not to judge by looks. Those pretty-boy types—who knows how rotten they are on the inside,” Chen Rui said, seizing the chance to lecture his sister.

“Shh, stop. In a second I’ll count to three, and we’ll rush in and pin that guy down. If we find the phone in his desk drawer, that’s a slam dunk,” Shi Dian whispered.

Chen Rui and Chen Xin both nodded, but what they didn’t expect was that just as Shi Dian reached three, a sharp shout suddenly came from behind them: “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”