Zhou Xiaolong reached his hand into the blanket and fumbled around, only to pull out a pair of shoes from it!

Zhou Xiaolong lifted the shoes and slowly scanned each of our faces.

As we focused our gaze, we all felt very puzzled. What Zhou Xiaolong held in his hand was not an ordinary pair of shoes, but a pair of embroidered women's shoes.

The embroidered shoes had a vintage feel to them, the kind that would be worn by the daughters of wealthy households in ancient times.

The shoes had a predominantly deep red color, with exquisite craftsmanship. Embroidered on each shoe were mandarin ducks, and when put together, they formed a mandarin duck pair.

We exchanged glances, none of us knowing where these embroidered shoes came from.

Looking at the embroidered shoes in Zhou Xiaolong's hand, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. So, I warned Zhou Xiaolong that it would be best to get rid of this dubious and unclean item as soon as possible.

Zhou Xiaolong held up the embroidered shoes, sniffed them in front of his nose, and said with a smile, "Hmm, they smell so good. They must have been worn by a beautiful woman!"

Huang Kun said, "That's called wishful thinking!"

Zhou Xiaolong asked Huang Kun, "Do you want these shoes?"

Huang Kun didn't understand and asked, "I'm not a woman. What would I do with embroidered shoes?"

Zhou Xiaolong said, "To satisfy your desires, after all, you're still a **, right?"

The entire dorm burst into laughter. Huang Kun blushed and said, "Pervert! I won't do such things!"

Zhou Xiaolong casually threw the embroidered shoes under the bed and asked, "Whose shoes are these?"

Chen Feiyu said, "This is a boys' dormitory. No one would wear embroidered shoes like these, right?"

Zhou Xiaolong's eyes shifted, and he turned to look at Zhang Meng with a smirk. "No, we have a woman in our dormitory!"

Zhang Meng, of course, knew that Zhou Xiaolong was referring to him. He applied some baby cream to his face while retorting in a shrill voice, "These embroidered shoes probably wouldn't fit my feet, right? Besides, even if they were mine, why would I put them in your blanket? Am I sick? Do you think I'm hinting at something? Impossible! Let me tell you, I don't like frivolous men like you who resort to violence!"

Zhang Meng's reasoning made sense. If the embroidered shoes were his, why would he put them in Zhou Xiaolong's bed?

Zhou Xiaolong said, "Well, this is strange. None of you admit that these embroidered shoes belong to you, so whose are they? Could it be someone from another dormitory who placed them here? But the people from other dorms don't have our keys, so how could they come in? Damn it, if you guys keep going on like this, I think it must be a ghost's doing!"

By accidentally mentioning the word "ghost," Zhou Xiaolong changed the facial expressions of everyone else. The room fell silent.

The nightmares from last night were still fresh in our minds, and now, a pair of embroidered shoes inexplicably appeared in the dormitory, making the whole situation extremely eerie, making it hard not to associate it with something terrifying.

"Maybe the Ouija spirit has come knocking!" Zhou Wei said.

As soon as Zhou Wei's words fell, the screeching of a stray cat suddenly came from outside the window, piercing through our hearts, startling all of us.

Zhou Xiaolong stuck his head out from the top bunk and pointed at Zhou Wei on the bottom bunk, scolding, "I warn you, from now on, don't you dare mention the words 'Ouija board' in front of me, or I'll beat you up!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Seeing that another argument was about to break out between the two of them, I quickly intervened and said, "Alright, alright, stop arguing. It's getting late, let's go to sleep! If the instructors hear you fighting, they'll make us do additional training in the middle of the night!"

Upon hearing my words, Zhou Wei and Zhou Xiaolong immediately closed their mouths. After all, no one wanted to go for additional training in the middle of the night.

We had already suffered enough during the day's extra training. We were exhausted, our feet were sore, and we were completely drained. Now, we just wanted to lie in bed and get a good night's sleep.

I could understand Zhou Xiaolong's mood. He had asked the Ouija spirit about his lifespan last night and received the answer "one" on the paper. Anyone who saw such an answer would feel terrible, so this incident had become a thorn in Zhou Xiaolong's heart. Whenever Zhou Wei mentioned the Ouija board game, Zhou Xiaolong would think of this incident, naturally feeling very upset.

The dormitory quickly fell silent as the lights went off. No one spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.

The first one to start snoring was Liu Jie, who hadn't participated in the Ouija board game last night. So, he was the only one who didn't have a nightmare and slept peacefully, snoring loudly.

To be honest, we were all envious of Liu Jie being able to sleep peacefully. If we had known, we wouldn't have played the Ouija board game last night. Now, we all wished we could be cowards like Liu Jie.

In a daze, overcome by drowsiness, I couldn't resist it any longer and fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, a gust of cold wind blew in through the window, waking me up instantly.

I shivered and opened my eyes, thinking that I wasn't dreaming again, right?

I pinched my cheeks hard with my hand, feeling pain, so I figured I wasn't dreaming.

I stuck my head out again to look at the bottom bunk, where Zhou Xiaolong was sleeping like a flipped turtle, peacefully.

I let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like I wouldn't have another nightmare tonight, as there were no large red coffins on the bed.

Feeling a bit chilly, I sat up and tried to pull the blanket that was placed at the foot of the bed.

Just as I sat up, I suddenly saw someone standing in front of the sink in the dormitory!

I was startled and almost screamed.

After a brief fright, I calmed down and quietly observed the person.

The dormitory's power was cut off at night, so we couldn't turn on the lights.

But the moonlight outside was still bright, shining through the window and casting a hazy glow over the balcony.

The structure of the dormitory was roughly like this: there was a small bathroom as you entered, followed by a wall cabinet against the wall. Each of us had our own cabinet to store our belongings, such as clothes and food. Then, there were four beds in the dormitory, two on each side. The beds were bunk beds, and four beds could accommodate eight people. Through the dormitory, there was a small balcony where clothes could be hung to dry. Next to it was a sink, and on the wall of the sink was a mirror for brushing teeth, washing faces, and shaving.

At this moment, that figure stood in front of the sink.

The dim moonlight shrouded the figure. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be... Zhou Xiaolong!