Chapter 45 Old Photographs

Chapter 45 Old Photographs

There were forest trails all around us, and the thick trees blocked my view.

"Why did you suddenly stop?" Darius asked me with concern.

I pulled myself together and smiled at Darius. "It's nothing. Let's head back."

Dorm Room 719.

Darius raised his hand to light the candles, and we both leaned over the desk to carefully examine the old photo.

It seemed to be a group photo from some kind of field trip. Several people stood side by side, smiling at the camera.

My eyes fell on the background, and I nudged Darius with my elbow. "Don't you think this place looks familiar?"

"Yeah, it looks a lot like the Northern Plains we just visited."

Darius reached out and pointed to various spots on the photo. "Look here, here, and here. Aren't they identical to what we saw earlier? The only difference is that the plants in the photo are much thicker, but now it's all bare."

I nodded, suddenly understanding.

"You're right. I didn't even realize that until you said it."

My eyes moved across the people in the photo one by one. "This one is Gareth, and this one is Royce. But who are these two? Have you seen them before?"

Darius shook his head. "No."

He hadn't seen them, and I was new to the school, so there was no way I would know them either.

Just as we were trying to figure it out, there was a sudden knock on the dorm door.

I immediately became alert. "Who is it?"

Luke's deliberately lowered voice came from outside. "It's us."

Darius went to open the door, looked left and right, then gently closed it.

Rena, always impatient, asked first. "So? Did you find anything? Is there really a man-eating ghost in there?"

I said helplessly, "If there really was one, wouldn't we have been eaten? So right now, standing in front of you..."

I stopped mid-sentence, slowly breaking into a meaningful smile as I stared straight at her.

Rena shuddered and clutched Chloe's arm tightly, looking at me with suspicion. "Are you—are you human or ghost?"

"Hmph, little girl, people who are too smart don't live long." I deliberately lowered my voice.

Rena's face turned pale. "You, you, you... don't kill me. I don't know anything."

Darius walked over to my side, his tone both affectionate and helpless. "All right, stop scaring her."

Rena blinked, finally catching on. "You were scaring me?"

Chloe rolled her eyes at her. "Of course. If something really happened to Vanessa, would Darius be this calm?"

"But what if they were both eaten by ghosts and these are ghosts pretending to be them? That's how it's written in novels."

Chloe and Luke exchanged glances, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.

They all knew Rena was obsessed with novels. But no one expected she would connect this joke with novel plots.

Seeing the joke had gone too far, I quickly explained. "Okay, okay, I was just joking with you."

Rena widened her eyes and pouted. "What the heck. Vanessa, you've gone bad—you know how to tease people now."

I smiled and brought the topic back. "Let's not waste time. You came to find us so late—is there something going on?"

Chloe nodded. "Since you went to the Spectral Library today, we wanted to ask if you found anything."

Rena also got interested and nodded repeatedly. "Yeah. That's the legendary library. Did you find any treasure inside?"

I answered seriously. "More than treasure. Rena, you should really read fewer novels."

As I spoke, I placed the photo on the coffee table.

"This is a photo we found in the Spectral Library. It has Gareth and Royce in it, but Darius and I don't recognize the other two."

Hearing this, the three of them focused their attention on the photo.

Chloe pointed at one of the people, somewhat surprised. "I know this person. He's a professor who was fired from the school. I think his name is Tristan Lowe."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I think I remember something. Why was he fired?" Rena asked.

Luke, sitting to the side, picked up the thread. "Tristan is a drunk. He was fired after causing a major accident doing experiments while drunk. After that incident, Tristan was let go. As far as I know, he's working at Mage's Row Tavern now."

"What about the person on the far right?" I pointed at the photo.

Chloe and Luke both shook their heads. But Rena rested her chin on one hand, staring thoughtfully at the person in the photo.

"This person..."