Shadow Detective

The night was as thick as spilled ink, the university campus shrouded in deathly silence.

Ghastly moonlight barely outlined the sinister silhouette of the old dormitory building. The red brick structure stood like a silent behemoth, its dark windows like mouths devouring everything, whispering of death.

The cold night wind brushed across the lawn, dewdrops congealing on the tips of the blades of grass, shimmering with an eerie, cold light.

Beside the path, an ancient locust tree twisted its trunk, its gnarled branches reaching into the night sky like ghostly claws, rustling with uneasy whispers.

Shadows of the trees crawled like black snakes, converging towards the darkness in the center of the lawn.

A distant streetlight swayed forlornly, its light weak, casting distorted and grotesque shadows beneath it.

Close to two in the morning, the campus was eerily silent, punctuated only by the occasional drip of a distant tap, like the countdown to death.

Inside the dormitory building, most students had already sunk into a dreamless abyss.

Suddenly, a sharp tearing sound ripped through the night, followed by a dull thud, its echo spreading through the silent campus.

The ghastly moonlight cruelly outlined a scene from hell.

The corpse of a young woman lay face-up on the grass, her body twisted into a grotesque angle, as if she were a porcelain doll crushed by an invisible force.

Her limbs were splayed out unnaturally, her arms broken, bones piercing through the skin, revealing stark white fractures.

Fresh blood gurgled from her head, snaking along the depressions in the lawn, staining patches of green grass crimson, like blooming scarlet flowers, exuding a thick, metallic scent.

Her white nightgown was soaked with bloodstains, its hem lifted by the night wind, revealing pale calves covered in bruises and scratches.

Most horrifyingly, her chest was impaled by the sharp point of the lawn fence. The spike protruded from her body, carrying viscous flesh and blood, reflecting a greasy, scarlet sheen in the moonlight.

Drops of blood slid slowly down the spike, falling onto the grass with soft “tap-tap” sounds.

Her face was covered in bloodstains, her lips slightly parted as if she still wanted to say something, but her wide-open eyes were frozen in endless terror, her pupils dilated like two bottomless black holes.

Fragments of flesh and blood clung to the spikes of the fence, quivering slightly in the wind, like some evil offering.

The distant streetlight flickered, briefly illuminating the corpse before dimming again, as if even the light refused to look directly at this brutal scene.

A pungent, suffocating smell of blood filled the air.

A shrill scream, piercing the eardrums, came from the edge of the lawn.

It was the dormitory administrator, an old one-eyed man nearing sixty, his face etched with wrinkles.

Usually, he would squint with his cloudy single eye, hobbling through the hallways with his cane, muttering complaints about students staying up late.

But at this moment, he was stiffly slumped on the cold grass, his buttocks hitting the dirt heavily, scattering dust.

His cane had rolled to one side, his hands trembling as he pointed at the corpse, a garbled whimper escaping his lips: “Oh God... oh God... this... how is this possible...”

His single eye bulged as if about to pop out of its socket, the wrinkles on his face contorted, as if torn apart by fear.

Cold sweat slid down his wrinkled forehead, tracing his trembling cheeks to his chin, finally dripping onto his trousers stained with damp grass clippings.

The dormitory administrator’s heart-wrenching scream was like a flare in the darkness, instantly igniting the commotion in the entire dormitory building.

One window after another was pushed open in fright, countless sleepy young faces pressed against the cold glass like ghosts.

They were initially just curious, but were immediately overwhelmed by the sickening horror of the scene on the lawn.

Successive screams, like a lit keg of gunpowder, instantly tore through the deathly silence that had enveloped the campus.

A girl stood on a precarious fourth-floor balcony, her hands pressed tightly over her mouth, yet a high-pitched and desperate scream still escaped. Before the sound faded, her body went limp as if all strength had been drained from her, her forehead hitting the cold railing heavily with a dull thud.

Her roommate rushed over in panic, trying to help her up, but her hands and feet were ice-cold with extreme fear, and she eventually collapsed weakly onto the balcony, letting out low, suppressed sobs.

A pale-faced boy pushed open a third-floor window, his trembling body leaning out, wanting to see clearly what had happened on the lawn. But after seeing the gruesome state of the twisted corpse, he suddenly bent over, retching violently. His stomach churned, and foul liquid dribbled weakly from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the cold windowsill.

His roommate, his face ashen, grabbed his arm, his voice trembling like a leaf in the wind: “Don’t look! Oh God... it’s too horrible...”

More voices mingled together like countless startled crows, some emitting terrified screams, some sobbing softly, and others cursing this sudden horror in trembling voices, echoing and swirling in the silent night sky.

Someone turned on a mobile phone flashlight, trying to illuminate the lawn, only making the corpse’s gruesome state even more shocking – the bloodstains glistened with a greasy sheen under the light, the flesh and blood on the spikes were illuminated in stark detail, like a demonic painting.

The entire dormitory building seemed to be completely enveloped by the shadow of death, the air filled with a suffocating sense of oppression, as if something cold and evil was secretly watching everything, waiting for an opportunity to devour more young and fragile lives.

The dormitory administrator finally struggled to his feet from the cold grass like a dying patient.

His hands trembled as he supported himself on his knees, breathing heavily, like a broken bellows.

His cloudy single eye remained fixed, as if nailed to the spot by some invisible force, staring intently at the mangled corpse on the lawn, unable to look away even for a moment.

He stumbled to get his phone, his fingers trembling so much he could barely press the numbers, muttering to himself: “Call the police... have to call the police... this isn’t an accident... it’s not...” His voice was broken, as if fear had choked him.

The dormitory administrator finally dialed the police number, his voice hoarse and fractured: “Hello... police? Here... someone’s dead here... jumped... no, not jumped... oh God, it’s terrible... you need to come quickly...”

He hung up the phone, hugged his head with both hands, and squatted by the lawn, sobbing softly.

His remaining eye was still fixed on the shocking pool of blood on the ground, as if through that scarlet liquid, he saw some unspeakable horror.

The night grew even deeper, like a bottomless abyss, swallowing all hope.

The clamor of the dormitory building gradually subsided, replaced by a heavier silence, as if the entire campus was mourning this tragedy.

And that broken window loomed indistinctly, like an open black pupil, gazing at the tragedy on the lawn.

Behind it, the unknown truth was hidden, like a thick fog, waiting for someone to come and uncover it.