Chapter 19: The Lies They Live in

"Leave Chuan Nayi—what do you mean by that?" Liu Xiaodan reacted fast. He walked to the table and stood there. He saw the ghosts in the room look at him, but they did not dare disturb him. "Did Jiang Hou said anything about hurting her?"

"No, leave Jiang Hou out of this." Li Feng moved to lean against his seat, gazing at his red wrists. His eyes were a little red like he was crying just now. He started breathing with difficulty as if containing the pain in his tummy. He shrugged one of his shoulders to brush off that ghost behind him.

"The fourth years took it badly. Stupid Huang is like a leader to them. Some would gossip about how she dumped him for a certain guy you probably know who. I got so suspicious of you; I forgot to see how the others reacted to my actions.

"I started talking to Chuan Nayi, and they thought I was taking advantage of it. Also, they were confused when I ran to your group that night. Even Yunru got involved with your friends." He huffed through his teeth. "Gossips grew wilder, and there are those who still believed we—our group of friends—had forsaken Stupid Huang.

"He was dating Chuan Nayi after all. They all believed we all wanted Chuan Nayi."

Liu Xiaodan sat down on the chair allotted for the interrogator. "You said 'our group of friends' so Jiang Hou is included?"

"Yeah. He liked Chuan Nayi a lot. When he heard she was going out with a loser, he got really mad. He confronted me multiple times because he knew I knew you and your group."

Li Feng took a deep breath. "For some reason, I can't say anything to keep him calm. He ended up following you around to find any bad shit he can use to remove you from Chuan Nayi. When the others notice, they got offended with Jiang Hou's actions.

"How could he save the girl who killed one of his closest friends?

"Jiang Hou cared too little about Stupid Huang to be honest. When he died, Jiang Hou only felt bad. He knew Chuan Nayi wouldn't do anything disgusting so he was probably victimized by something else." Li Feng then shrugged. "He was too busy to investigate on his own so he just relied on the police.

"In fact, everyone else just did." He chuckled. "See? We're not really devoted to one another. We're just friends for fun."

"Yeah, but you did try to see what happen to Huang Kun, right? Else, you wouldn't have gone to Chuan Nayi." Liu Xiaodan hummed.

"Well, I found myself... capable of understanding what happened, though." Li Feng turned to the window, seeing the ghost who was trying to get out through it. "Whoever did that to Jiang Hou could be the same person who killed Huang Kun, you know."

He eyed at the father in a meaningful way. "That was just too bold for an ordinary human."

Liu Xiaodan glared at him. There was a lot to go about what he meant, but for now, he had to do what the detective asked him to do. He had to go back to the university after all. "So... it was not you who killed Jiang Hou?"

"Why would I kill my best friend? Over a woman that I don't even like that much?" The one in cuffs almost spat. "I woke up in the middle of the night. I just heard someone gurgling next to me. I found him on the floor, already gutted. I helped him hold the knife in place to prevent him from bleeding out."

Li Feng paused as he recalled what happened. "He suddenly started spitting blood and screaming in pain. It woke up everyone in the room, and they all saw me holding the knife. Before I could explain, Jiang Hou just... coughed up one last time."

"I'm... sorry about Jiang Hou,"—Liu Xiaodan took a deep breath—"but Li Feng, if it was this easy to say, why won't you talk to the police?"

"...I just realized they would ask someone else to talk to me if I don't." He lowered his head against the table again. "I was hoping they would send Yunru. Seeing you instead is fine, too, by the way."

Feeling uncomfortable to continue talking, the father looked at the window before speaking to Li Feng. "I'm pretty sure they would find evidence that won't make you the criminal. For now, just wait for your lawyer and don't talk to anyone else."

Liu Xiaodan got up, fulfilling his end of the deal with the detective. "I have to go back to Ting. I'll look for your cousin, too, if I have the time."

"Yeah, take care. I mean, tell her to take care." Li Feng assumed his position before Liu Xiaodan walked inside.

The detective greeted him as he got out of the room. "I don't understand some parts of your conversation. Then again, you're free to go now. Thank you for your cooperation, Liu Xiaodan."

After saying goodbye to the men in the interrogation booth, Liu Xiaodan got out and saw the kid from the reception. He was hiding behind the corner post while holding his mouth. He was peeking at the side from time to time.

The man in the long coat appeared again walked around the hallway. It turned to Liu Xiaodan and stared at him. Liu Xiaodan lowered his gaze and continued walking, only to see feet before him. He lifted his face and saw the man in the long coat blocking his path.

His eyes were undeniably from a dead person, and there was this small bullet hole on his forehead. It was obscured by his fringe earlier that morning.

Liu Xiaodan stared at him in fear, even stepping back a few steps. He got next to the pillar where the other ghost was hiding and move aside to the kid's direction.

The kid reached out to push him away, but that revealed his location. The man in the coat breezed through the space to get near him. The kid yelled and ran off.

"Ah! I got found! I'll hide again!"

Before Liu Xiaodan knew it, the man in a long coat was gone as well.

He only sighed as he realized they were playing hide-and-seek. The tall ghost must be asking where the kid was or if he had seen the kid. It was really dangerous to make these ghosts realize one could see them.

Liu Xiaodan then held on his forehead, closing his eyes as he calmed down.

Like what he thought of doing, he went back to Ting University. Instead of attending his classes, he just went back to the dorms to see the murder place one last time.

The investigation had been wrapped up by then, and the wing was free to see. The dorm room was closed, but it was not the most interesting spot. Liu Xiaodan walked to the window and slid up the glass. He looked out to see anything... or anyone.

"Hey, what are you doing there?!"

The father pulled himself back upon hearing a voice. He turned behind him and saw a person on the floor.

Sunlight was the only source of light in the hallways, and it was obscured by the trees next to the dorm. It made the hallway a bit dim, and finding a body on the floor triggered fear in Liu Xiaodan. It did not help that he could hear someone breathing loudly as if the person was just next to his ear.

He took steps closer, testing if the body would get up from his proximity. The body started bleeding... along with the walls. Liu Xiaodan had just walked into another haunting.

He took back the steps he made and noticed how the body moved its arms to lift the upper torso. Before he knew it, a knife was in Liu Xiaodan's hand.

He then saw a bloodied image of him as the reflection on the blade. He took a deep breath and brought the knife down. He stared at the body which started crawling with only the use of the arms. A trail of blood was on the floor… like the ghost had been bleeding underneath.

"Should have been you. Should have been you." These words echoed in Liu Xiaodan's ear. They were spoken by the same voice as earlier, only more of a mumble.

"What should have been me, Jiang Hou?" Liu Xiaodan took a deep breath. He was set to act tough in the face of someone who belittled him after all.

As if it was a spell, the haunting just stopped as abruptly as it started. The father was not surprised as an image of a child stood at the other end of the hallway. He was confident it was Guangru, but the way he approached the man was suspicious.

The boy continued to walk towards the horseman, skipping a meter every time his image wobbled from Liu Xiaodan's view. The knife in his hand was not there anymore so he was defenseless.

Before the child could get near, the father felt a strong tug on his collar. It pulled him back and to the floor. His back hit the floor with a loud thud, making him shut his eyes in pain.

Normally, he would have opened them that very second; but he could feel cold air building right in front of his face. He had no idea how many faces would he see when he did. However, he could not just wait it out for long.

Liu Xiaodan opened his eyes and saw nothing—but his mind spoke too soon. Before he could move again, almost a dozen faces loomed before him...

An ear-splitting scream echoed throughout the hallway, but it did not come from Liu Xiaodan. It came with the faces and the words 'it should have been you' that flashed before his eyes. The father slowly got up and saw no one else on the floor.

For the first time in a long while, he felt his cheeks wet and cold. He used the back of his hand to wipe off the source of the temperature. Liu Xiaodan stayed on the floor for a long while... crying off his paralyzing fear.

"Baba?"

Liu Xiaodan's heart hopped at the sound of a familiar voice. He turned behind him to see Guangru staring at his poor state. He pulled his body to spin on the floor and face the child.

The father then reached out a little as if asking for an embrace from the child. "Guangru... can you... come near Baba for a moment?"

The child only touched his father's head and patted a part of it. A sting followed Liu Guangru's cold touch. The father only closed his eyes as he felt more grounded by the pain of a physical wound. Wait, a physical wound?

Liu Xiaodan opened his eyes and saw red as blood had dripped to his face. With the red tainting his vision, he saw a glimpse of an angrily distorted face of his ghost child…

Followed by Guangru's ghastly voice.

"How dare you..."