Pending Death, Are You Human or Ghost?

"Huff… huff…"

Tuxing Sun panted, completely out of breath from running.

"Brother Baili, how the hell is your stamina so good!"

Behind them, a horde of tentacled ghosts writhed and crawled on the ground in hot pursuit. Despite their bizarre movements, they were alarmingly fast.

The fundamental difference between a rogue player and a player from the Abnormal Affairs Bureau was immediately apparent. Baili Dao, having undergone long-term physical training, ran with a steady and rapid pace.

In contrast, the little shorty had nearly been caught several times.

"Quit your whining! We're almost at the office!" Baili Dao yelled from the front.

First floor, second floor, third floor…

Before long, they arrived on the sixth floor. Baili Dao had long since familiarized himself with the building's layout. The homeroom teachers' offices were on the same floor as their respective classrooms.

Seeing the sign that read 【Grade 12 Office】, joy lit up their faces.

They were saved! They were finally going to be safe!

Creaak…

Before they could even raise their hands, the iron door of the office creaked open on its own. A strange man walked out from inside.

He was pot-bellied with a beer gut, and the fat on his face jiggled as he walked. His ten fingers were adorned with rings of various colors, making him look like a fat, nouveau riche.

Only his eyes held a vicious glint that sent a chill down the spine.

Baili Dao and Tuxing Sun came face to face with the man. The moment their eyes met, they nearly fell to their knees.

Their blood ran cold when they heard Teacher Yao's voice from inside the office.

"Principal Wang, take care!"

Principal? This man was the fucking principal of Gao Shan Ghost School!

"Teacher Yao, which class are these students from?"

Principal Wang's voice was deep and full of authority.

"Don't they know that fooling around and making noise in the corridors is forbidden?"

Shi Gandang's previous warning about the dangerous principal instantly surfaced in their minds.

And now, there was no escape.

They were screwed.

"Reporting to the Principal!"

In a flash of inspiration, Baili Dao steeled himself and blurted out, "There are some strange things behind us chasing and killing students! It's interfering with our studies!"

Rules! The principal has to follow rules, too! We haven't done anything wrong, and our grades are good. He wouldn't punish us without reason… right?

Hearing this, Principal Wang frowned and looked toward the stairwell behind them.

Sure enough, he saw a group of tentacled ghosts of various shapes crawling over. Some were even hanging from the ceiling as they advanced. The sheer, dense number of them was a hair-raising sight.

"Silence!"

A hint of anger entered Principal Wang's tone.

"A school is a sacred place! How can I tolerate you disorderly things causing trouble?"

He slowly turned the sky-blue gemstone ring on his index finger.

Everything around them instantly fell silent. The group of tentacled ghosts froze in place as if a pause button had been pressed. Even a few that were leaping through the air were frozen in mid-motion.

The sound of the wind outside the window, the rustling of leaves, even the flow of air itself came to a standstill.

Only Principal Wang, Teacher Yao, Baili Dao, and Tuxing Sun could move.

Under their terrified gazes, Principal Wang strolled toward the motionless ghosts.

"Nothing but a few appetizers!"

In the next second, he was no longer human.

His already obese body swelled up like a small mountain, his frame nearly filling the entire corridor. A massive hand grabbed one of the tentacled ghosts. In comparison to his new form, the ghost was lifted up like a little chick.

"Crunch… crunch…"

Principal Wang shoved the tentacled ghost directly into his mouth and began to chew.

Then, as Baili Dao and Tuxing Sun watched with pale, trembling faces, the seemingly unstoppable horde of tentacled ghosts became nothing more than appetizers, devoured one by one by the principal's Fierce Ghost form.

A moment later, the corridor was clean.

Principal Wang's body returned to its original state. Only the faint traces of bright red at the corner of his mouth proved what had just happened.

He slowly walked over to them. Standing beside Baili Dao, he spoke to Teacher Yao.

"Go figure out the situation with the Little Black Room. The appearance of these things indicates that a fish has slipped through the net in there. They're here to find that fish."

As he spoke, his gaze turned vicious. His stare bore into Teacher Yao's panicked eyes and trembling legs as he added a threat.

"Do a good job, Old Yao. Someone has to take responsibility for this accident."

Gulp…

Teacher Yao swallowed hard. He was a smart man.

Principal Wang's meaning was obvious. If he couldn't find the real culprit, he would have to take the blame himself.

"D-Don't worry, Principal Wang," Teacher Yao stammered, his teeth chattering. "I'll handle the two things you've given me!"

Seeing this, Principal Wang didn't say much more.

He turned to Baili Dao and Tuxing Sun. Twirling the pale yellow ring on his middle finger, he reached out a chubby hand and patted Baili Dao's messy hair.

His voice was low.

"Chen Baili and Sun Jia, is it? Your grades are decent. I hope you'll keep it up in tomorrow's exam."

In the next second, his tone became stern.

"But I don't want to see you getting any crooked ideas. Students should focus on their studies, understand?"

The two of them immediately nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Baili Dao, in particular, was terrified that if the principal was the slightest bit displeased, he would twist his head off and use it as a chamber pot.

Who the hell would dare not to understand at a time like this!? Damn this Calamity of Spirits game! Is this thing really something we can fight?

At the same time, they also felt a trace of relief. Thankfully, their main quest was just to catch students skipping class, not to find a way to skip class themselves.

If it were the latter, they'd be completely finished.

"Alright, forget what just happened. Study hard," Principal Wang said, his tone gratified. "Only by getting into a prestigious university can you make a name for yourselves in the future."

His wide smile faintly revealed threads of tentacle meat and fragments of school uniform fabric stuck between his teeth.

He turned the white ring on his ring finger.

Swish…

In the blink of an eye, their surroundings became familiar.

Baili Dao and Tuxing Sun stared, stunned, at the door covered in sticky notes and the messy beds around them.

"Is this… are we back in the dorm?" Tuxing Sun gasped in confusion.

At the same time, Baili Dao glanced out the window. The sky was dotted with stars.

It was already night.

The two looked at each other in dismay.

Time control, Fierce Ghost form, spatial teleportation… This Principal Wang was simply an invincible existence in this ghost school.

Clang!

The dormitory door was violently thrown open. A tall figure rushed in, his expression unnatural.

"Hm? You're back?" the stunned pair asked Shi Gandang, puzzled.

Shi Gandang's voice trembled as he spoke.

"The sky went dark in an instant. The school doctor kicked me out and told me to go back to my dorm to rest. I couldn't stay in the Infirmary to take care of Sister Qing."

"Then why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Baili Dao raised an eyebrow.

Shi Gandang answered with a bitter smile.

"I really did. I ran into Pending Death. He came to the Infirmary to get a certificate excusing him from class."

At these words, the other two were shocked.

"What! He's still alive!"

"Fuck, he even has newbie protection?"

After all, the guy had been taken to the Little Black Room by Teacher Yao during morning self-study and hadn't been seen since. They had just assumed he had met with disaster.

But Shi Gandang shook his head.

"No, I'm not sure if he's still alive."

With that, he described the horrifying scene he had just witnessed.

In the infirmary, Wu Wang had walked in to get a certificate stating he couldn't attend class. The school doctor performed an examination on him according to procedure. The kid revealed his severed right wrist, saying he couldn't hold a pen to do problems now.

"That school doctor is a real stickler for the rules," Shi Gandang said, his voice tinged with helplessness. "He said that even if Wu Wang couldn't write, he could still see and read. He stubbornly refused to issue the certificate."

The other two sighed. Clearly, they had also considered trying to get a certificate from the Infirmary. They hadn't expected the school doctor to be so difficult.

We can't just gouge out our own eyes to get a certificate, can we?

Thinking of this, Baili Dao's expression suddenly became unnatural. He remembered that Shi Gandang had said the guy did get the certificate.

His voice trembled slightly as he asked, "Are you saying he…"

"Yeah. It's just as you think," Shi Gandang confirmed. "Right in front of me, Pending Death stuck his fingers into his own eye sockets. He told the doctor he was blind. The doctor had no choice but to issue the certificate."

Every time he recalled that scene, Shi Gandang felt a chill run through his body. It was as if those empty eye sockets were still staring at him.

"As expected, he's no longer human," Baili Dao sighed.

It seemed Pending Death had already been killed. The thing currently wearing his skin had to be something from the Little Black Room. It might even be related to the strange tale of the school.

The man himself had most likely been transported back to the real world.

Thank goodness this was a Non-lethal Type Instance.

"Right, I also think he's been killed," Shi Gandang said with a sigh of regret. "After all, he's just a newbie. It's normal for him to have no ability to protect himself."

Creaak…

The words had just left his mouth when the door opened again.

A familiar, strangely dressed figure walked in. It was Wu Wang.

The three of them were instantly on high alert, as if facing a great enemy.

Wu Wang tilted his head, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I heard that after we split up, you went around telling everyone I was fucking dead?"