Wen Xirou quickly turned around and found that the entire bathroom had become dimly lit, including several cubicles that should have been illuminated by incandescent lights.
Logically, the bathroom wasn't that deep, and from her position, she should be able to see the bathroom door if she turned around. However, the door was nowhere to be seen. Instead, all she could see were rows of cubicles.
Even the faint sound of water that had been coming from behind her was now gone. The sound seemed to be coming from a cubicle to her right, ahead of her.
"Bang—" The door to the cubicle appeared to have been blown open by the wind, making a noise, but the sound of water continued uninterrupted.
Wen Xirou felt her legs growing weak. She used all her strength to suppress her desire to run away. Step by step, she moved toward the direction of the cubicle.
The door to the cubicle had already been blown open by the wind, but the thing inside didn't seem to notice. It continued to shower as if nothing were unusual.
The water kept flowing, and a small amount splashed out of the cubicle. A pale pink liquid, like diluted blood, spread across the floor.
Wen Xirou stood at a distance, Through the door that had been blown open by the wind, she could finally see what was inside the cubicle.
A humanoid creature, completely covered in fresh, blood-red flesh, its muscles intertwined with veins. Patches of pale yellow fat clung to the muscles, teetering on the verge of falling off.
Water streamed continuously from the showerhead above, cascading over its body, creating deep and shallow pinkish liquid stains. It looked just like a person who had been skinned alive.
Wen Xirou suddenly had a realization. She instinctively called out a name: "Molly?"
The creature under the shower suddenly lifted its head and looked at her.
Wen Xirou had never seen how Molly had died, but she had heard Tian Fang mention it.
On the first night, Molly had died in the cubicle because the door hadn't been secured, leaving nothing but a skin hanging from the showerhead. Her skinned body had disappeared without a trace.
So, Wen Xirou guessed that the creature before her—completely red and as if it had been skinned—was Molly. The other party's reaction also seemed to confirm this.
Wen Xirou stood frozen in place, her throat constricting. She was so nervous that her whole body was trembling, and her stomach reflexively churned. She had to swallow repeatedly to prevent herself from vomiting.
The water continued to pour from the showerhead. Molly remained under the shower, staring at Wen Xirou. Slowly, she raised a hand and pointed behind her.
What? Wen Xirou turned around and saw a locked door behind her. It appeared to be a storage room for cleaning tools.
Wen Xirou glanced at Molly again. Molly stood motionless in place, her skinned finger pointing steadily at that door. It seemed to be signaling that something was there.
Wen Xirou slowly walked over, reaching the side of the door. She turned back to glance at Molly. Molly remained the same, like a clay statue, completely still.
Wen Xirou tried to open the door and found, to her surprise, that it wasn't locked. She opened it and stepped inside.
Inside was indeed a storage room. The narrow, dimly lit space was filled with various miscellaneous items, with a thick layer of dust covering the floor.
On one side of the wall, there was a ventilation window that had been nailed shut with wooden boards.
Wen Xirou tried to find the light switch, but after groping along the wall for a while, she couldn't find it. Perhaps this room didn't have a light?
Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, something suddenly grabbed her wrist. Wen Xirou's body tensed up, her hair standing on end.
She froze, her lips trembling, her lips trembling uncontrollably, but no sound came out. She had been so scared that she had lost her voice.
Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke from beside her. "What are you doing?"
A bright white light flashed on, briefly blinding Wen Xirou before it illuminated the room.
"Hey? There's actually a storage room here." Wan Qian turned on the flashlight on her phone and began to look around the narrow space.
"W-Wan Qian?"
"It's me." Wan Qian looked around the storage room and then commented, "You're pretty good, finding such a hidden place."
Wen Xirou's eyes widened. Her originally soft and misty eyes were now wide open, like those of a startled deer.
A big shot, she praised me! She acknowledged my effort!
In an instant, Wen Xirou's legs steadied, her body stopped shaking, and her stomach, which had been convulsing with nausea, gradually calmed down.
"I found it too late, this place is just a little dark, but in reality, if you dare to overcome the fear in your heart, it's actually quite easy to notice," Wen Xirou said humbly, not daring to take credit.
While Wan Qian used the phone's light to illuminate the room, Wen Xirou quickly began searching for clues.
She soon noticed a wardrobe in the corner of the storage room, identical to the ones in every dormitory. The only difference was that the mirror on this one had been smashed.
Compared to the other wardrobes, this one seemed "dead." If the others were "alive," constantly watching everyone in the dorm, this wardrobe felt like an ancient corpse, lifeless and without any threat.'
"Wan Qian, that wardrobe—" Wen Xirou had just pointed towards the wardrobe when Wan Qian had already walked over to it first.
"Hey, there's even a wardrobe here." It turned out that the wardrobe from her own dorm had disappeared at some point—she didn't know when.
Wan Qian had originally been a bit worried, not knowing whether the missing wardrobe in the dorm, after she moved out, would affect the people moving in later.
Since there was an identical one here, she thought, why not just move it back?