Below is an audio file. When you click on it, a dull, oppressive knocking sound comes through.

　　One knock after another, the sound seems to strike directly at your heart, making it almost impossible to breathe.

　　The post breaks off here.

　　Brian Cooper scrolled to the end and saw only the last line: The old man came in......

Chapter Two: Temporary Lecture

　　School at eight o'clock, evening self-study.

　　Because he had stayed up too late reading that story on the forum last night, Brian Cooper spent the whole next day at school yawning, listless, and every time he wanted to doze off in class, that photo of the old man would pop up in his mind. In his daze, he seemed to feel those hollow, deathly eyes staring at him from somewhere.

　　A shiver ran through him, and he snapped back to attention.

　　"Can't sleep again. That photo is really cursed."

　　"Hey, hey, Brian Cooper, let me borrow your phone for a sec." A head leaned over from the side—it was a tall, skinny student.

　　His name was Michael Bolton, Brian Cooper's deskmate.

　　Brian Cooper asked in confusion, "Borrow my phone for what?"

　　"Hey, don't play dumb. I saw you yawning all day. You must've been up late last night doing something naughty."

　　Michael Bolton patted him on the shoulder and lowered his voice: "If you've got any good stuff lately, hurry up and share it, let your bro have some fun too."

　　Brian Cooper said, "Fun, my ass. I just read a ghost story on my phone last night, so I went to bed late."

　　"Ghost story? Speaking of ghost stories, Brian Cooper, did you guys hear about that supernatural incident in a neighborhood in the city a while back?" Another classmate leaned over and said.

　　"What supernatural incident?" Brian Cooper asked. "How come I never heard about it?"

　　Michael Bolton said, "I know about this too. They say a few people in a neighborhood all hanged themselves together in one night. Their bodies were hanging from the security bars on the windows, like cured meat drying in the sun. Really creepy. I even have a photo from there, but I don't know if it's real or not."

　　With that, he took out his phone, opened the photo album, and pulled up a picture.

　　The photo was taken at dusk, and the lighting in the neighborhood was bad, so it looked a bit blurry. But you could still make out the outlines of human figures hanging from the security bars on the balconies, lined up densely in a row. You could vaguely see the corpses' faces, twisted and terrifying, especially their eyes—wide open in fear, as if no one knew what they had experienced before they died.

　　From a distance, the corpses really did look like cured meat hanging out to dry. What was even stranger was that the heads were inside the security bars, but the bodies were hanging below. With the size of the gaps in the bars, there was no way an adult could fit through.

　　And their heads were thrown back, twisted into a bizarre, broken position.

　　The more you looked, the more uneasy and afraid you felt. This photo had the same unsettling effect as the one of the old man in Brian Cooper's phone—it could really stir up your emotions.

　　"Holy crap, where did you get this photo? I couldn't find it anywhere," the classmate next to him said.

　　Michael Bolton said smugly, "A friend of mine took it while passing by. The place is sealed off now, you can't take pictures anymore. If you want it, just call me daddy and I'll send it to you. And stop calling me 'impotent,' I've got a new English name now."

　　"Well, in that case, I've got an English name too: Woshishabi. Remember, from now on, shout my English name loudly if you see me on the street."

　　Brian Cooper said, "We all had nine years of compulsory education, so why are you guys so outstanding?"

　　"Brian Cooper, we all went to extra classes. You can't learn this stuff," Michael Bolton said proudly.

　　"Speaking of supernatural incidents, I've seen a lot of people talking about them online lately. It sounds so real, it actually scared me a bit. Do you guys think any of this is true? Could there really be haunted places out there?"

　　A girl named Grace Parker leaned over and asked.

　　Brian Cooper said, "Most of the stories online are fake. Unless I see it with my own eyes, I don't believe in ghosts. But still, better safe than sorry. If you really run into something like that, it's best to stay far away."

　　"That's true," Grace Parker nodded.

　　"Everyone be quiet now."

　　At that moment, Mr. Miller strode into the classroom and barked, "The school has just notified us that tonight's evening self-study will be changed to a safety awareness class, mainly to promote student safety and prevention knowledge. While the lecture is going on, I don't want to hear anyone talking or disrupting the class. Now, let's welcome Eric ClarkMr. Clark to give us a lecture. Everyone, please applaud."

　　Huh?

　　Brian Cooper clapped along, feeling puzzled. A safety lecture this late?

　　But when the lecturer, Eric Clark, walked into the classroom, his eyelid twitched.