To be honest, I wanted to talk to Lulu face to face, but she still hadn’t returned by the time I got off work. I went home to sleep but was woken up by a call from Xiaoru around 8.00 a.m. leaving me no choice but to groggily drag myself back out of bed.

 

This time, we met at Chen Qianqian’s home. I wondered why they called me over so early, but I soon understood once I arrived. Xiaoru, her brother, and Huang Lei were already here, sitting on the couch with Chen Qianqian. There was a dead rat on the tea table in front of the couch, with no head, and no tail.

 

I gulped loudly. “When did you find it?”

 

Chen Qianqian was too petrified to speak. Huang Lei glanced at her and said, “She called me this morning but didn’t mention the rat, she was just crying. So I called Xiaoyong, and when we got here, the rat was already dead but Qianqian didn’t tell us anything. She was just crying.”

 

I nodded thoughtfully. Following the previous example, whatever killed Zhang Xue was coming after Qianqian next. No wonder she looked so lost; nobody can accept that they are going to die. Moreover, Qianqian was just a young girl with her whole life ahead of her.

 

I said, “We should go to the abandoned toilet where you played Die Xian.”

 

Huang Lei blinked, “What for?”

 

“If something is really after you, I don’t think it has anything to do with the ghost house,” I answered.

 

Everyone stopped and stared at me. He Xiaoyong frowned and looked like he was about to say something.

 

“I went there last night.” I spoke first.

 

“What?! You went there alone?” Xiaoru exclaimed in surprise.

 

It occurred to me that only Wu Jian knew that I was working in the ghost building. No wonder Xiaoru was so surprised. At any rate, I had no time to explain it to them. I continued, “Yes, I went there last night. I’ll tell you guys the specifics later, but I’m certain none of the ghosts there did this. They have no reason to deceive me.”

 

Their expressions slowly turned quizzical. Chen Qianqian looked like she gained a new lease on life. She stood up and cried out, “Help me, I want to live!”

 

I continued to analyze the situation while Xiaoru helped her calm down. “I think this may have something to do with that toilet, and I need you to tell me everything you’ve heard about it.”

 

Huang Lei and He Xiaoyong looked at each other apprehensively. Eventually, He Xiaoyong scratched his head and said, “I dunno, man. I just heard that a junior got pregnant once and she gave birth in that toilet, but she left the baby and ran away.”

 

Huang Lei agreed, “Right, that’s what I heard too.”

 

“When did that happen,” I asked, “and how did that girl die?”

 

He Xiaoyong shook his head. “I don’t know. I heard about this when I was in high school. It was years ago and we really don’t know how she died.”

 

I looked at Huang Lei but he shook his head too. We didn’t have nearly enough information, but the outline was becoming clear.

 

If the rumor was true, there had to be something supernatural in that toilet. But I just couldn’t understand why they would choose to play Die Xian in a restroom of all places. It smelled bad!

 

Something occurred to me. “Where’s your friend?”

 

He Xiaoyong gave me a blank look.

 

“The girl who played Die Xian with you that night.”

 

Huang Lei and He Xiaoyong exchanged confused glances. I thought hard, “Her name was Qi Lin…? Am I right? I don’t know her.”

 

“He hasn’t been in touch with us, and he is a boy, not a girl.”

 

A boy? Now I was surprised. I clearly remembered the long hair hanging down almost to the small of the back, but to be fair, I didn’t pay him much attention at the time. I couldn’t really say if it was a boy or a girl.

 

“Wow, he has really long hair. I thought he was a girl!” I thought out loud.

 

He Xiaoyong raised an eyebrow, “Qi Lin has short hair; we got a haircut together. He has the same haircut as me. See?” He pointed at his head.

 

I looked at his glossy crew cut. That wasn’t right. I was pretty sure Qi Lin’s hair was very long that night. He couldn’t have had a crew out, but there was no reason for He Xiaoyong to lie to me, so what was that all about?

 

I glanced at Huang Lei, and he immediately agreed with He Xiaoyong.

 

Was I mistaken? My brow wrinkled in concentration. “Have you told him what’s going on? You’re friends, right?” I asked him.

 

He Xiaoyong threw up his hands, “We called him and he said he already knows. We asked him to meet up but there was no reply, so we just forgot about it.”

 

He Xiaoyong and Qi Lin went together to get identical haircuts! They had to be good friends, so why did I feel like He Xiaoyong wasn’t telling me something?

 

I asked him if there was anything else, but he just shook his head stiffly and looked away. Huang Lei whispered, “He Xiaoyong and Qi Lin are eyeing the same girl. They don’t get along so well anymore.”

 

I understood. Young people are always like this. However, there had to be something weird about Qi Lin. I trusted my intuition and memory. “Have you noticed anything strange about Qi Lin recently?”

 

Huang Lei thought carefully and said, “I don’t think so. Well, he always made fun of us for talking about ghost stories, but when Qianqian suggested we play Die Xian he volunteered to join us and even seemed very interested in it. I don’t think it matters, though. You know, he hasn’t seen us in ages and suddenly he gets a phone call to meet up, maybe he just didn’t want to disappoint us.”

 

‘Nothing else?’

 

“That’s all I can think of. By thy way, he’s good friends with He Xiaoyong.”

 

I repeated my question to He Xiaoyong. He said, “It’s nothing, he just sounded like he had a cold last time I spoke to him. Kind of strange. Maybe he is still mad at me. I’m over it, though; I’m not mad at all.”

 

I stopped He Xiaoyong at that point. This was not the best time to solve their relationship problems. “Why don’t you give him a call now.”

 

He Xiaoyong shrugged and pulled out his phone. He put the call on speaker mode so we could all hear.