16 She was the Weeper

Lunch time had come again, and the horsemen ate at their usual spot in the cafeteria. Ruan Jin, who was feeling better than earlier, ate with heavy gestures. They could tell he was deep in thoughts, but it would be nicer if he stopped scaring them with every bite he took.

"Do you think it's weird?" Xu Disung started the conversation no one wanted to start. "I don't remember the ghost from that prank was named as Weeping Ling. And as much as I remember, she would be sitting at a corner, crying... not walking up to crying people."

"Yeah, that's a little weird, too." Wen Taio scrolled through his 'reports,' and found nothing new to him. He pocketed his phone and kept on eating. "Maybe something happened when she fled to the girls' dorm. Why did she go to the girls' dorm, though? I thought she vanished after the incident."

Amidst their conversation, Li Yunru casually walked up to the horsemen and sat next to Liu Xiaodan like the first time they all met. The four men turned to her grinning face... and then to the guy who followed her. Li Feng bothered not to look around for the child as he was wearing his remade choker. He just sat on the chair a seat apart from Xu Disung.

The girl then started to talk. "Sorry, I just really want to know why you guys ends up getting involved in more and more ghost issues in the dorms lately. Is there anything you guys are hoping to achieve?" She kept a grin as if trying to make them talk to a cute girl who was remotely cute to begin with. Li Yunru came off as a fox which could not hide her several tails.

"What does it have to do with you?" Liu Xiaodan tried not to be disrespectful with his tone even though his words failed the test. He knew she helped Ruan Jin back in the girls' dorm, but it did not mean she could casually walk out to them like they knew each other all that much. Same thing with Li Feng.

"Ah, I wonder... how would you react if your friend was being dragged by a ghost to death?" She huffed to the side. "If I wasn't there, he wouldn't have survived, you know." She slid her eyes towards Liu Xiaodan's direction. "Unless... there's a reason why you were so sure nothing... could have happened to them if you're around..."

"What are you doing?" Wen Taio frowned at the girl, and subsequently to the guy with her. "Yeah, we're grateful you came to help yesterday, but it doesn't mean you can step on us like this! What do you two want, huh!?" His grip on his juice carton tightened, causing some of it to spurt from the straw.

"Why do you two always show up when something like this happens in this school?" Xu Disung shook his head before massaging his forehead. "Are you tailing us?"

"Are we tailing you? Not at all! Are we keeping tabs on your movements? Why should we?" Li Yunru gasped, showing a sarcastic shock at their accusations. "Why would we be so interested in such bad performing students who ended up stirring the spirits into action!?"

"Gosh, this girl feels so multi-faced..." Liu Xiaodan lowered his head and gritted in annoyance. He wanted to ignore her, but he kept on thinking about the low-key threats on Li Feng's life. Since he was here now, then it should be fine to talk to him at least. Brushing off the girl next to him, the father looked at the honor student. "Li Feng, we have something we need to tell you..."

The rest of the table grew silent.

"Did you do something to a... well, a ghost that involved a ring?" He managed to not sound nervous. "If you've been snooping around, you know that was what we were investigating..."

"What ring?" Li Feng frowned.

"You mean this?" Li Yunru worked a ring off of her finger. She showed it Liu Xiaodan, but Xu Disung reached out for it instead. She gave it to the audio guy. "I found it lying around the dorm one night. It did feel like it belongs to a spirit, but none came looking for it so..." She then grinned again, leaning her shoulder against Liu Xiaodan's. "I thought your friends already found the missing ring of this... uhh, Kite girl?"

"Well, that ring was stolen by someone else who lost their ring..." Xu Disung showed the ring to Ruan Jin who almost choked as he saw it. "This one resembles that ring so much. No doubt they took Kite's ring and got Kite's friend killed..." He held onto it instead of giving it back to the girl. "We don't know much about it, but it seemed they will be going after Li Feng for this."

"What?" Li Feng sighed.

"Going after him because of me, huh..." Li Yunru raised a brow before reaching out her hand, collecting the ring. "Well, they can go and try. It's not like I should be worried about Ah Feng."

The audio guy placed the ring on the table and slid it towards the girl. Then again, Liu Xiaodan caught it before the girl could even reach it.

"The last thing I want to see is a dead body in my dorm. Can I hold onto this ring? I'll give it back to the spirit. Prevention is better than cure, no?" His voice trailed, knowing his bargain would be ignored. However, he still went for it. "In return, tell us what you know about Weeping Ling..."

"That is the most stupid bargain I have ever heard of!" Li Yunru laughed out. She then moved her body around to get a chance to see Ruan Jin who was next to the father. "Why? Is she going after you, big brother?" She felt Li Feng's foot hitting her shin, making her stop her movements and dust her leg.

"Well, yeah, maybe..." Ruan Jin answered. He wanted to stop being haunted by a ghost, and these people knew how to do it. He just did not want to miss the chance to ask, even though he hated interacting with them at all. "Li Feng made these bracelets against-"

"I doubt it's going to work at all." Li Feng finally joined their conversation. He had been eating and listening after all, staying silent even though his name was being mentioned. "It's too weak against entities like Ye Ling. She needs a bloodier method to be taken away from the dorms." He sipped his juice from its carton through the straw. He then spoke while the straw was still in his mouth. "The only reason why she left the boys dorm was out of guilt. I don't know what made her come back for you."

"Out of guilt?" Liu Xiaodan twitched.

The honor student looked at the father before continuing. "Ye Ling was a student who snuck into the boys' dorm because of a boyfriend. She ended up falling to her death from the sixth floor. Broken-hearted, she roamed the floor, crying. That was what she was used to be known. The Weeper as she was called." He sipped from his juice, taking a discreet deep breath. "On the night of the prank, she allegedly pushed seven students to their deaths. She then left the dorm to stay somewhere else. Most rumors said she jumped with one of them to peace, but that was wrong.

"The spirits of the dorm said she witnessed a similar traumatizing event that triggered her rage. Those seven students started beating a crying male while scaring him to death, they said. It resembled her previous experience. She killed all of the seven, and the crying male ran away from her. She ended up scaring him the most." Li Feng almost choked at his juice, and his grip on the carton tightened. "She then ran to the girls' dorm, and started a new routine. She was giving her name to the girls, earning the name Weeping Ling in return- what the shit-?"

He started curling up in pain. Li Yunru stood from her seat slowly before looking around. The three males exchanged gazes, while Liu Xiaodan kept his eyes at Li Feng's direction. He had been feeling the bracelet raging under his sleeve. He stared at Kite who was standing nearby, hands against the barrier of the bracelet. Instead of a clear face under her white-red mask, blood had been trailing from her eyes. She was mumbling Wing's name under her breath.

Li Yunru pulled on her collar around her chest and reached inside. She pulled out a yellow talisman and smashed it against the table. A wave was felt through the air, but it was too weak to move the men around her. However, it was enough to throw Kite away from them, and make her go away. The pain Li Feng was experiencing vanished, and he turned behind him as if searching for the ghost just by feeling their signature.

The father looked up to the furious face Li Yunru made. He then caught her turn to her, changing her expression to a cunning fox. The girl then left her finished meal and walked to Li Feng who was huffing to recover. She lowered her head and looked like whispering something to the male. The male then shook his head and got up as well. They both left the table without another word.

Xu Disung got up and stared at the yellow paper on the table. He managed to snap a photo before it dissolved into the wood. He reviewed the photo and frowned at it. "Who are these people? Exorcists in the twenty-first century?"

"Well, at least we know why they are snooping behind us." Liu Xiaodan sighed and shook his head. He barely finished his meal, and did not want to continue anymore. He turned to Ruan Jin who was deep in thought again. "Jin, do you want to have a word with Ling instead? We'll be there so she won't be able to hurt you."

"What!? Are you stupid!?" Ruan Jin retorted as soon as he processed what his best friend just said. He turned to the other two who answered with serious looks. He turned to Liu Xiaodan again. "She... already killed people. What makes you so sure she won't kill you guys?"

"She seemed to have an intellect. We might be able to reason with her." Never did he imagine that he would ever say these words. He, who had been avoiding ghosts all his life. He only started doing this because of Liu Guangru, who could easily rip his bros apart. In fact, in the back of his mind, he was only willing to do this because he had Liu Guangru with him. "We're seeing her tonight."

The plan was not amiss- as the ghost child cheered from the next table.