The Ghost Story Is Right Here Among Us

Tat-tat-tat...

The sound of footsteps echoed from outside the bathroom.

Baili Dao looked toward the entrance warily, quickly hiding the report card up his sleeve.

Fifty minutes had passed since Pending Death was taken to the Little Black Room by Teacher Yao.

Another class had already gone by. The subject was high school math, which made Baili Dao's head spin.

He had always been an average student, the kind who hovered right in the middle of the class rankings. He could barely follow the lessons, never quite grasping them completely. He was using the ten-minute break for a bit of exploration.

Fortunately, the person who entered was the familiar, short figure of Tuxing Sun.

Tuxing Sun couldn't help but curse the moment he came in.

"I was about to burst! Are those kids even students? They're like tireless newborns!"

Baili Dao sympathized deeply. Even after just a morning of self-study and one class, he could clearly sense the school's strange atmosphere.

When the bell rang, not a single student cared. They all remained buried in their work. Almost no one went to the bathroom during the break. The few who couldn't hold it ran there and back, terrified of wasting a single second.

Aside from the occasional murmur of students asking the teacher questions, the entire school was uncomfortably quiet. There was no time for fun or games.

The vitality of youth, the innocence of first love, and the blossoming of energy were nowhere to be found.

Every face was etched with tension and anxiety.

The dark circles under their eyes grew deeper. They swapped out pen after pen as the ink ran dry, completing test papers in a never-ending cycle.

Suppression, competition, and desperation were the main themes of this school.

Everyone had only one purpose.

To study.

Baili Dao cursed under his breath.

"No wonder the instance is called Fight Back to School. If I had to go to a place like this as a kid, I'd fucking run away too. Twice a day!"

Just as he finished speaking, another person walked in.

The tall, burly figure nodded at them.

"But right now, we don't know where to run from, let alone how to catch anyone," he said in a booming voice.

The newcomer was Shi Gandang.

At his words, the expressions of all three men dimmed. It was useless to feel sorry for the students. Their mission not only prevented them from helping but forced them to stop anyone from escaping.

They were accomplices to this ghostly school's oppressive system.

Baili Dao held up two fingers.

"I have a couple of ideas about the escapees."

"We can see from the side quest that there's some kind of shameful secret between the Principal and our class teacher. It's possible another teacher is secretly helping students escape. The ghost school wants us to catch that traitor."

"My second point is about the urban legend," he continued. "I think the story of the Art Building might be related to the escapes."

He gave a wry smile.

"In this oppressive academic atmosphere, a place like the Art Building shouldn't even need to exist!"

Baili Dao's analysis was clear and logical, and the other two didn't refute it. They weren't foolish enough to think "escapees" were simply students who climbed over the wall and ran away.

Leaving this ghost school was bound to be fraught with difficulties!

But Shi Gandang's next words stunned them.

"Let's investigate the people first," Shi Gandang said. "The Principal came to see my class teacher last period. I managed to overhear a little."

"The lead about a traitor should be correct."

"What!? The Principal came to your class!?" Tuxing Sun exclaimed, astonished.

He had assumed that a figure like the Principal, a suspected instance boss, would be difficult to meet. He didn't expect him to show up so early.

Shi Gandang nodded.

"Their conversation revealed a few things. Since Gao Shan High School was founded, no student has ever successfully escaped."

"But some things have happened recently that have the Principal worried a student might succeed. He also said, 'I only trust you and Teacher Yao from Class One.'"

This statement basically confirmed Baili Dao's earlier speculation. There was a problem among the class teachers!

But then, Shi Gandang paused. After a moment of thought, he cautioned them.

"But it's best not to investigate the Principal directly. He's very dangerous."

Shi Gandang didn't explain why. It was related to his ability, which he couldn't just reveal to the other two.

One of his skills allowed him to see a target's level of malice. The class teacher of Class Seven had about a dozen strands of black resentment Qi wrapped around him, proving he was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of about a dozen people in his class. The concentration of Qi was quite average.

He had seen figures of this level in other instances. They were the kind of targets that were troublesome but could be subdued with some effort.

When the Principal had come in, Shi Gandang had chanced a glance at him, wanting to get a psychological assessment of the instance's main boss.

The sight that met his eyes was one he would never forget.

The entire world had suddenly turned oppressively dark, making him tremble. Only by looking closely could he see that the darkness was a sky full of resentful spirits, blotting out the sun and clouds.

They shrieked, their cries heart-wrenching, as if they were trying to crawl out of hell itself to vent their resentment and destroy everything.

It was impossible to count the victims. Shi Gandang only knew that beneath that terrifying, apocalyptic scene, he didn't even have the desire to flee.

Without a doubt, if the Principal decided to target players like them...

A total party wipe would be instantaneous.

This made the scope of their mission very tricky. They needed to investigate the secrets of the teachers and the Principal to find the traitor, which meant helping the school's system. Yet, they couldn't let the Principal discover what they were doing.

Because the players were just students. No one in power would be happy to let a bunch of meddling students learn their secrets.

Shi Gandang had a suspicion that if they were exposed, even if the Principal didn't act on the spot, he would settle the score with them when the instance concluded.

The instance rewards would become a joke.

Baili Dao proposed a plan.

"Alright, let's meet in the bathroom every two class breaks to exchange information. Class is about to start, so let's head back."

After setting a time to meet, the three of them left the bathroom together. But unexpectedly, they ran into another acquaintance as soon as they stepped out.

Qinghe Yikan!

She was stumbling along the corridor, leaning against the wall for support. Her current state made the three men freeze.

The mask on her face was gone, replaced by a ghastly wound that tore from the corner of her mouth to her ear, dripping with blood.

Her trembling left hand had only three fingers. The cuts were jagged and uneven, looking less like they were made by a sharp weapon and more like the bite marks of a creature that had torn them off.

The most terrifying part was her left eye.

The socket was completely empty.

She looked like a wreck who had just survived a vicious battle.

"Sister Qing! Are you alright!?" Shi Gandang cried, rushing over to check on her.

In his panic, he didn't care that using her nickname would reveal to the others that they knew each other well.

The moment she saw them, an expression of relief washed over Qinghe Yikan's face, as if she was glad she had made it in time.

She forced herself to fight through the weakness, speaking in broken phrases.

"Shi... be careful of the students in your class... The Little Black Room's legend... it's related to the students who jumped..."

"They don't belong to any side..."

"The legend is right here among us!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Qinghe Yikan's body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Shi Gandang immediately picked her up and rushed toward the infirmary.

Baili Dao and Tuxing Sun were left standing there, staring at each other. A moment of silence passed.

Tuxing Sun asked doubtfully, "From what she said, the Little Black Room's legend can happen in the classroom? It's not confined to the room itself?"

"By the way, is that newbie still in class? You should hurry back and warn him."

This question made Baili Dao's expression turn even uglier. It wasn't just because his own class happened to have Li Yang, who had just jumped to his death and become a ghost.

More importantly...

"The newbie is in the Little Black Room right now!"

Tuxing Sun's heart shuddered.

Only one thought remained in his mind.

He's screwed.