Si Ren paused for a moment, gathered his thoughts, and asked, "I remember you're an honors student, so you should still be in school. Is there something important that brought you back to Lianhua City this time?"
Li Wenjing lowered her head in silence, a flash of panic darting through her eyes.
"I think you know who is behind the scenes, making your family end up like this. If you don't tell me the truth, how can I help you? Our time is running out. He might come for you today, or maybe tomorrow."
Seeing that she was still unwilling to speak, Si Ren felt a surge of irritation. "Well, if you don't want to talk, forget it. I saved your life anyway, and I've fulfilled my duty to your grandfather. Get some rest, I'm leaving."
He had made up his mind. If Li Wenjing still refused to cooperate, he was not going to wade into this muddy water. Facing unknown risks and risking his own life in the process simply wasn't worth it.
Li Wenjing grabbed Si Ren's hand and pleaded, "Please, don't go. You're the only person I have left to trust. If you leave, what will I do?"
Si Ren stood in place, his back to her, and spoke in a flat voice. "If you don't tell me the truth, I won't help you. I can't risk my own life. Besides, you clearly know the truth and are deliberately hiding it. How can I possibly feel safe helping you?"
"I'll talk! I'll talk, okay? Why do you have to push me like this?!" Li Wenjing cried out hysterically.
The nurse on duty hurried over at the sound. "What are you two doing? This is a hospital ward, not your home. Go home if you want to argue. As a man, don't you know how to give way to your girlfriend? Do you have any idea how weak her body is?"
Si Ren was momentarily at a loss for words, but he could only force a smile. "It's a misunderstanding, a total misunderstanding. I promise to keep my voice down so I won't disturb anyone. I'm really sorry."
The nurse glared at him fiercely before walking away.
"Don't get too excited, take your time and tell me everything. As long as you're telling the truth, I'll definitely help you," Si Ren placated Li Wenjing. The pressure of losing her family members one after another was already immense, and pushing her like this was indeed going a bit too far.
"It all started like this," Li Wenjing began. "My three roommates and I had nothing to do over the weekend break, so we watched the movie *Dish Fairy* in our dorm room. Seeing how thrilling it was in the movie, one of my roommates, Hu Wenwen, suggested that the four of us play it together to see if ghosts really exist in this world. The other three immediately jumped at the idea; only I was too cowardly and didn't want to join. But they kept persuading me, and with no other choice, I braced myself and joined in.
"The first time we played it in the dorm. Since we were familiar with the room, it didn't feel like much, and we weren't really scared. The three of them thought playing in the dorm was boring, so they suggested finding a gloomy, terrifying place to try it again.
"There's an abandoned teaching building on our campus. Upperclassmen said a girl was murdered in there. Ever since then, strange noises always seem to come from that building. The school administration declared the whole building sealed off, claiming structural safety issues."
Si Ren shook his head inwardly. Have students today lost their minds? Life is peaceful enough, yet they constantly go looking for thrills.
"So, you went to the abandoned teaching building to play *Dish Fairy*?"
With a pale expression, Li Wenjing nodded and continued with a trembling voice. "Yes, we went to that abandoned teaching building and played *Dish Fairy*. The four of us sat in a circle, and each of us lit a red candle in front of us. Then we placed a small dish in the center, and each person rested their index finger on top of it.
"Once everything was ready, Hu Wenwen started summoning the Dish Fairy. The moment she finished the chant, I felt as if something behind me was staring right at me. Then the candle flames turned an eerie green. The green light reflected on everyone's faces, looking utterly bizarre.
"This sudden change terrified all of us. Before we could even react, a gust of strange wind blew out all the candles. Screaming, we bolted out of the teaching building. Because I don't exercise often, I fell behind at the very end. I was genuinely terrified, feeling like something was chasing me from behind, so I just ran for my life. By the moonlight, I saw four people running frantically ahead of me. There were only four of us in our dorm, including me. Who was that extra person? But I was too terrified at the time to think about it; I only cared about escaping."
Si Ren pressed on, "What happened after that?"
As if recalling something truly terrifying, Li Wenjing's pupils dilated continuously, making it clear how deeply traumatized she was by the event.
"Not long after, Hu Wenwen jumped from the roof and killed herself, dying right below that abandoned teaching building. We went to the scene, and there was blood everywhere. The creepiest part was that Hu Wenwen's corpse had her bloodshot eyes wide open, staring fixedly in the direction of the three of us.
"We were terrified out of our minds back then, and we all agreed that the Dish Fairy did it. I didn't want to stay at that school for even another minute, so I asked my mom to come pick me up and take me home.
"On the very day I was getting ready to leave, another roommate of mine, Qixin, had an accident. But at that time, the other roommate and I didn't know yet. While my mom was packing my things, Qixin came back. Aside from her complexion looking a bit poor and her tone somewhat stiff, we didn't notice anything wrong. After all, we'd all been terrified these past few days, and everyone looked a bit unwell.
"Qixin called my last roommate outside, saying she had some private matters to discuss with her. But once they left, neither of them ever came back. Later, I heard that my last roommate died in a restroom inside the abandoned teaching building, scared to death—she literally died of extreme fright.
"My mom drove to pick me up. Halfway through the drive, she started talking to herself, and then suddenly lost control of the steering wheel and swerved violently. The car flipped, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, my dad told me that my mom was missing."
Si Ren pieced the whole story together. It was now certain that the trouble stemmed entirely from playing that so-called *Dish Fairy*. No wonder she didn't want to bring it up; her entire family's deaths were directly linked to her.
What on earth was the method this Dish Fairy used to kill? Did the causes of these people's deaths trigger some kind of fatal rule? And what was that rule? Could it be fear?
Yet Li Wenjing's mother didn't know what had happened, nor was she a participant; she hadn't witnessed the entire process firsthand, so it was utterly impossible for her to feel that fear.
Si Ren lowered his head, turning the problem over and over in his mind, but found not a single clue.
"By the way, what happened to you yesterday?"
Li Wenjing shook her head, looking equally puzzled. "I don't know. I just wanted to take a bath. So many things had happened recently, so I just lay in the bathtub for a while. The water temperature was fine at first, but the moment I submerged my entire body, the water in the tub suddenly turned ice-cold. I tried to get out, but I found that my hands and feet had all cramped up and wouldn't obey me. After that, I lost consciousness."