Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 73: Madness

After the gunshot, there was no blood.

The gun turned into a plume of green smoke, and countless colorful shadows shot out of Ge Tingting’s temples and jumped into the sky.

Among the colorful shadows, they could barely distinguish the headphones package, the hotpot signboard, Feng Qi’s figure, and the smiling faces of strange men and women. They exploded in the dark like an unusually grand firework.

But they didn’t fall.

The brilliant shadows floated slower in the air, and in the next moment, they collapsed and froze midair, turning into a yellowed family portrait. A group of people was depicted in the portrait: a middle-aged man and woman, each holding a daughter and an old man sat in the middle with a flowery smile on his face.

This was her most cherished memory.

Ge Tingting staggered and fell to the ground. The photo frame seemed to have lost its support and fell straight down—

In just an instant, runes of spells exploded, and circles of dark light swirled rapidly around her. Her eyes suddenly lost their spirit and instantly closed. On Ge Tingting’s wrist, strands of jet-black hair surged.

The black hair proliferated explosively, as if it had life. Tens of thousands of strands of hair were spread out and wrapped tightly around Ge Tingting, forming a pitch-black cocoon.

The photo frame was also tightly wrapped in the hair and placed by her side.

Yin Ren graciously withdrew his hand that was casting the spell.

Under the sleep spell, Ge Tingting had fallen into a deep sleep. Before her brain could react, her consciousness had already fallen completely into darkness.

Unstable consciousness would be affected by the environment, provided that “she was still conscious”.

Now that both she and her memory item were isolated by the evil hair, even if Fu Xingchuan himself arrived, he couldn’t break through such a line of defense.

Yin Ren controlled the spindle-shaped cocoon of hair, gently descending it. It fell to the ground like a feather.

“Shian is lucky. With this strength of will, she’ll become a powerful corpse servant,” Yin Ren said softly.

Huang Jin’s eyes were a little more fearful.

Yin Ren’s actions had gone beyond the scope of “special abilities” and “strange spells”. They were truly evil things, and they all knew that Shian wouldn’t let a real evil being become a field employee.

In addition to King Yama, who was concealing his identity, this pair of partners…

Before he could finish his thought, he felt a particularly strong gaze.

Huang Jin raised his head subconsciously and met Zhong Chengshuo’s meaningful eyes. Huang Jin adjusted his breathing for a moment, raised his hand, and made a zipper movement across his mouth.

‘Alright. I probably can’t keep this memory,’ Huang Jin thought sadly.

Fwish.

The electronic screen in front of the main teaching building lit up again.

Broadcast Guo Wei was sitting around a table, looking closer to death than last time. The pupils of those eyes were completely cloudy, and there was a suspicious bulge on his temples. The gloomy aura around him had grown heavier.

Through the screen, he stared at the three of them, as if organizing his words.

“Let me give you some advice, boy.” Yin Ren patted his hair cocoon and made a preemptive strike. His face was smiling, but his tone was as if it had been soaked in ice water. “When you make an agreement, the first thing you look at is whether there are any loopholes—this is one of the basic rules of common sense in the metaphysical world.”

“Choose one to exclude from the quota, play their best memories, and stay here.”

Yin Ren repeated the words.

“We did all that. Is there a problem?”

Guo Wei on the screen didn’t answer. His expression was a little distorted. The cocoon shook a few times, and the position of the portrait, which was hidden, slightly protruded. Guo Wei seemed to want to take it away, but he couldn’t.

He clenched the black ballpoint pen and looked at Yin Ren with an ugly expression; there was a vaguely crazy color in his eyes.

“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School. Welcome to the last day of my life.”

A few minutes later, Guo Wei spoke again with a hoarse and sinister tone.

“Teachers, family members, and faculty, you have three chances left. Please work hard to leave the school.”

He didn’t say anything else. When the voice ended, the screen fell into darkness.

“What do we do now?” Huang Jin worriedly glanced at the cocoon.

“The direction of destroying memories is right. Let’s continue to destroy secondary memories and see how the environment responds.” Zhong Chengshuo cracked his neck and shoulders without any worry on his face.

“Even if I make all my luggage into spirit bombs, it may not be enough.” There was a faint trace of worry between Huang Jin’s brows.

“Small matter.” Yin Ren let the cocoon float slightly. “I can make up for it with some ordinary spells. Let’s try it. Zhong Chengshuo, what’s next?”

“There may be phantom students in the female dorm who won’t move for the time being.” Zhong Chengshuo thought solemnly. “First destroy the women’s bathrooms that are ‘inaccessible’ and then the men’s bathrooms with unclear details to see the effect.”

Yin Ren: “……” Oh, the public bathroom.

Yin Ren: “…Then it’s better to have Huang Jin do it. He hasn’t used his spirit weapon yet, right?”

Huang Jin sighed and suddenly felt tired. “Okay.”

He weighed the cloth bag, which caused the spirit weapon to rattle.

At 2 in the morning, a burst of fire exploded in the darkness. The public bathrooms in the corner of the campus disappeared. After that, several cracks appeared in the barrier with pale spider legs embedded in them.

Next to the ruins of the bathroom, Zhong Chengshuo was tapping on the headset in his ear, as if waiting for something.”

“Sss*… Sss… Sss… Hey… Sss.” The noise of the headset was cutting in and out.

*Clarity: This is supposed to be static SFX.

Zhong Chengshuo made a quick gesture at the two of them and motioned for them to put on their headset.

“Hey… Sss”

“Special Investigation Unit 9, Zhong Chengshuo.” Zhong Chengshuo spoke in a clear voice at a gentle pace. “Calling Shian. Calling Shian.”

“Sss… Xiao Zhong? Sss… Keep… Talking…”

Soon, the static gradually weakened and Lu Xiaohe’s tired voice came over.

“…Manual calculation and navigation complete… Sss… signal band… determined…”

“Hey, are you alright?” Lu Xiaohe’s voice was hoarse.

“We’re all still alive.” Zhong Chengshuo frankly summarized.

“Haha,” Lu Xiaohe laughed weakly. “I’ve stabilized the communication, but the signal is a bit weak.”

“The testing equipment can’t keep up, so you need to be more careful. If you have any abnormalities, you must report them in time.”

“Nn.” Zhong Chengshuo showed a relieved expression.

“Next, Minister Fu will communicate with you… I’m taking a nap… Wake up again…” Lu Xiaohe’s voice was cut off before she finished speaking.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Fu Xingchuan’s voice also carried some fatigue, but compared to Lu Xiaohe’s, his fatigue carried other implications. “Your Lu Jie hasn’t rested for 34 hours, so be considerate.”

“If the situation isn’t urgent, report everything to me immediately in full.”

….

The group abandoned the miserable public bathrooms and returned to the faculty dormitory.

Yin Ren carefully placed the hair cocoon containing Ge Tingting on the bed. The night outside the window was like ink, and the incandescent lights in the room would flicker from time to time. This dorm wasn’t big, but the ceiling was high, giving a sense of depression like a deep well.

Zhong Chengshuo pulled over a chair and sat down, then began to talk to Shian.

In the next half hour, Yin Ren and Huang Jin fully witnessed King Yama’s ability to talk bullshit.

Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t good at communicating with people cordially, but his skill at covering up traces was perfect. The vision of what Yin Ren did was completely omitted, and Ge Tingting’s coma was summarized as “she was knocked out by Yin Ren immediately after losing her memory, and Huang Jin kept her in a coma using a spirit weapon”.

Comrade Xiao Zhong’s tone was extremely solemn and sincere. If it weren’t for Yin Ren being part of the team, he would almost be taken in by this kid.

Fortunately, Fu Xingchuan didn’t focus on the details.

“Well handled.” There was no usual arrogance in his tone. “You guys saw Guo Wei? How strange.”

“There’s never been such a situation before?” Yin Ren held down his headset and curiously interjected. “I don’t know if he’s a ghost, but I can’t think of other possibilities for the time being…”

At least a thousand years ago, things like ghosts were like mushrooms after the rain. No one knew where they would come from or how many varieties there were.

Lord Ghost King didn’t have an inquisitive spirit like Zhong Chengshuo—at that time, Yin Ren didn’t even know why there was day and night or why there was a sun and moon. If their existence was reasonable, he didn’t delve deeper.

Besides, if he encountered someone looking to pick a fight, he would just beat them up.

“The cause of the ghost is still unknown, but Guo Wei does fit the characteristics of a ghost.”

Fu Xingchuan’s voice was a bit vague. It sounded like he was smoking. He paused for a moment before continuing on.

“Ghosts awaken when they have experienced the painful process of death soberly and carried strong negative feelings at the time of their death. This is one of them.”

Fu Xingchuan’s tone was rarely solemn. “Second, this one’s death is widely known, whether through rumors or the news, so it wasn’t some ghost that just died quietly.”

Guo Wei’s situation was too standard. After Guo Laifu’s murders were widely reported, the Shian division in Qingjiang monitored the vicinity of the crime scene. However, after investigating for a long time, they didn’t find any traces of Guo Wei turning into a ghost.

Half a year later, the teenager’s file was collecting dust in the depths of all the data.

“We have never found this phenomenon. In the present situation, it’s difficult to define Guo Wei as a ghost… Haa, let me think about it. According to the science post, Guo Wei’s consciousness has parasitized Guo Laifu’s brain.”

“A consciousness that parasites someone’s mind.” Yin Ren harped on these words repeatedly.

“I understand the general situation. Today, we’ll send Unit 7 in for support. Pay attention to your sleep and make sure you’re awake.”

Fu Xingchuan didn’t wait for them to answer and ended the call.

Unfortunately, with things having come to this point, Lord Ghost King naturally wouldn’t be getting any rest.

Zhong Chengshuo had put on his nightcap again and was sleeping quietly beside Yin Ren. His expression was relaxed as before, as if he were lying in his own bedroom. Huang Jin, on the other hand, was tossing and turning frantically on the single bed. It could be seen that he was quite restless.

“Parasitic consciousness,” Yin Ren murmured silently as he lay flat beside Zhong Chengshuo.

In the narrow faculty dorm, the old clock ticked away. Yin Ren was lying in the middle of the room, but his consciousness covered almost the entire school—while Shian’s monitoring failed to keep up, his hair flowed repeatedly throughout the campus.

However, Guo Wei’s consciousness was tightly hidden, and Yin Ren still couldn’t find anything.

This was Guo Wei’s consciousness. As long as Guo Wei wanted, he could have let them go directly, but he induced them to escape instead, knowing they would destroy his memory. This didn’t seem like he was just fooling around with them for fun.

What was this thin child thinking?

……

Lu Xiaohe also slept restlessly.

Her head appeared to be filled with molten iron after 34 hours of high-intensity brain use. The messy theory and data were on a rampage, and the tension of manipulating the AI still lingered. In her dream, she and the monitor that had hands and feet were fighting each other for 300 rounds.

When she opened her eyes, it was 7 in the morning. She had slept intermittently for more than 5 hours, but her body was covered in cold sweat.

Lu Xiaohe rubbed his aching temples and picked out a “Early to bed, early to rise” t-shirt. She barely washed her face with cold water and went to the cafeteria to pour a cup of espresso.

However, when she returned to the office of Unit 9, it had already changed.

There was another temporary console next to her console, and a boy who looked like he had just graduated high school was sitting in front of it.

“Xiaohe Jie!” The boy held a breakfast biscuit as he waved to her carefully. “Unit 7 has entered the Archive. I just came here to work so we can be together.”

“Xiao Zhao.” Lu Xiaohe pressed her forehead.

Zhao Shiyan was the rear commander of Unit 7, which was specially assigned. This child was extremely sensitive to data, was a good gamer, and had skipped a few grades to finish college early. Shian took fancy to his reflexes and decisiveness and poached him with a high salary so they could cultivate him.

Xiao Zhao, Bao Linlin, and Wang Zhou were collectively referred to as the Iron Triangle of Bad Luck. As strong as these three’s abilities were, their luck was just as bad.

“Wait a minute.” Lu Xiaohe came back to her senses, and her voice trembled a bit. “Minister Fu isn’t asking you to go in to rescue, right?”

Unit 7 had indeed entered the Archive many times and was experienced, but Unit 9 was already unlucky enough as it was now. They really didn’t need to make things worse.

This was the group that, because of them, had changed the rules of the Archive. Last time, when Unit 7 entered the human mind, the host broke free from Shian’s heavy shackles and successfully jumped off a building, creating chaos.

Facing Lu Xiaohe’s unabashedly horrified gaze, Xiao Zhao frowned. “This is discrimination! Here, connect your communicator, and tell Minister Fu yourself—he’s been listening just now.”

Sure enough, Fu Xingchuan’s voice came from Xiao Zhao’s headset. “Well, on some metaphysical issues, fighting poison with poison is very effective… Not to mention, it takes three people to enter the Archive. I personally took two of Unit 7 in, so don’t worry.”

Lu Xiaohe: “……”

Gee, thanks, but your group is still 66% made up of Unit 7. She had to pay the highest respect to Minister Fu’s courage.

Xiao Zhao snorted. “We did well this time. Wang Ge just told me that they locked on to the general position of Unit 9—they found the rescue target in 5 hours. This is a new record!”

“That’s pretty good.” Lu Xiaohe sat down with a blank face.

She performed a simple operation and shared Unit 7’s communication channel. As soon as the gentle and pleasant connection sound ended, there was a scream in her headset, which sounded like a male’s voice.

Lu Xiaohe’s scalp almost exploded. “What’s wrong?!”

“It’s okay, Wang Zhou was scared.” The voice of ghost master Bao Linlin came from the headset. “Don’t worry. Minister Fu is with us. What can happen?”

A trace of pain gradually appeared on Lu Xiaohe’s face. In an obviously weak mental mind, it was really dangerous to say this kind of thing.

Or rather, should it be said this was truly worthy of Unit 7?

Lu Xiaohe took a deep breath. “Wang Zhou was scared?”

“Yes, we suggest you contact your team members quickly.” Bao Linlin’s voice became serious. “Xiao Lu, how did Unit 9 describe the school to you?”

“It’s a high school with a small area. The gate is a metal sliding door, and there’s an old security guard with a melted face at the security booth. Blocks of color resembling students can be seen on campus, and the tone for the class bell is a bit distorted… Almost like this.”

Lu Xiaohe transferred the investigation reports of her team members.

At any rate, Unit 7 was a B-level Investigation Group, so it was impossible they would be frightened by something of this level.

“What’s wrong? Has the school’s appearance changed?”

“…You can say that.” Bao Linlin sighed.

In the Archive.

Fu Xingchuan guarded the two members of Unit 7 behind him and looked at the “high school” in front of him.

They could vaguely see some elements that resembled a school.

The security booth and the metal sliding door were still there, but they were twisted like liquid and melted into the edge of the huge hemisphere. Crumpled school uniforms, rotten internal organs, rusty bicycles, damaged textbooks, and test papers densely form this weird hemisphere.

The hemisphere was clinging to a block, incompatible with the surrounding vague buildings, like a tumor growing out of the street.

Its surface was covered with deformed veins, faintly pulsating. These things didn’t completely cover the campus, as there were many gaps between them, but there was only darkness inside.

As a science post, Wang Zhou took the lead in approaching this weird “school”.

He leaned close to the edge of the hemisphere, trying to investigate the part of what he suspected was the security booth. Who would have thought that the twisted window of the security booth was suddenly torn open and a deformed face was ejected out, almost making close contact with Wang Zhou?

The face was like wax melting, and the facial features were completely misplaced, resembling a post-modern figure painting. The old man’s face was nearly flat, and his elongated neck was as slender as a flower stem.

“What are you doing here?” His mouth on the left side of his face opened and closed.

Wang Zhou was caught off guard and almost choked. When he recovered, he let out a scream.

Fu Xingchuan knocked on the headset and directly contacted Unit 9. “We’re at the entrance of the school, and we can’t get in for the time being.”

He stared at the weird face that was the size of an old wash basin and let out a chuckle.

“Unit 9, report your situation.”

At the same time, the members of Unit 9 stood in silence at the door to the facility dormitory, and no one answered.

As soon as it was half past 7, everyone went downstairs. After the door opened, the world turned upside down.

The calm campus had turned into a nightmare. The scene outside was truly hard to describe with just words…

At this moment, the bombed-out senior teaching building and public bathrooms were completely black with a faint void remaining. It was as if someone completely cut these two public buildings from a picture of a “school”. The phantoms of the senior high school students were walking around the campus in… a very less-than-energetic way.

Some were crawling and squirming, with their heads retracted into their bodies, while others only had half their bodies as they walked around on the ground on four feet. There were even a few figures melting into a ball with their disordered hands and feet waving aimlessly around.

Accompanied by bouncing test papers, books, and rulers, the group of phantoms staggered across the campus. Their posture was raw and hideous, a bit like the pedestrians in Guo Laifu’s consciousness.

Scotch tape was woven into cobwebs between the buildings, and the green fence on the playground was covered with dark red blood stains and snow-white correction fluid.

The pomegranate flowers in full bloom were mixed with fragments of internal organs, and blood would drip down the petals from time to time. The flowerbeds were set up with utility knives and compasses, and the words on the sign became “The grass is red. Trample on it at will.”

There were even parts of Guo Laifu on campus.

Guo Laifu’s body was covered with minced meat and internal organs. His face had a twisted smile plastered on it. Wearing bloody clothes, he was squatting in a remote corner of the campus.

Above the chaos, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining brightly.

In the frenzied scene, there were many “normal” students.

The students in the main teaching building talked and laughed amidst the chaos of hell. They carried fragrant breakfasts as if the scene around them were just part of their daily lives.

Yin Ren let the cocoon of hair holding Ge Tingting float behind him and quickly swept his gaze around.

He then saw Guo Wei again.

Guo Wei was still carrying two steamed buns and was walking towards the main teaching building with his head down. The twisted student phantoms would rub on his trousers. As if he had noticed something, his body would tremble slightly.

“Minister Fu, the campus has become a bit weird, but everyone is fine for the time being.” Seeing that Zhong Chengshuo was unusually focused on observing the current scene, Yin Ren took the initiative to report. “We’re going to continue the investigation and keep in touch.”

His hair carefully swam across the ground. Despite this, he still didn’t find the slightest abnormal aura.

It was like…

Witnessing the gradual madness of another consciousness.

The author has something to say:

“It’s a bit weird” by the 1,000-year-old Ghost King

——————

Xiao Yin: Oh, if you only use magic, it’s easy to destroy buildings!

Xiao Zhong: I want to blow up the public bathroom.

Xiao Yin:

Xiao Zhong:

Xiao Yin: Let’s go, Huang Jin!

Kinky Thoughts:

For those who forgot who Unit 7 people are, they were the group that was initially assigned to find the corpse splitter in Arc 2, but due to their bad luck, Bao Linlin’s hang glider was shot down while Wang Zhou broke his legs trying to escape from the ghost master’s attack. Because both were hospitalized, Unit 6 took over the case in Ping’an Manor.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 72: The First Shot

Guo Wei’s appearance completely disrupted everyone’s plans.

Last night, Unit 9 searched the entire campus all night, keeping the locations of the buildings firmly in mind. Out of caution, they didn’t immediately attack the locked buildings.

As the sky lit up, the chains on the buildings disappeared one by one.

After a short break, everyone ate breakfast and walked around the campus again—they planned to investigate the interior of the building during the day and find the campus radio station where Guo Wei was located.

The campus wasn’t large, so a day was enough.

Who would have thought that Guo Wei was carrying two steam buns like that and throwing himself into the net?

Guo Wei wasn’t tall and was quite thin; he looked kind of malnourished. He was hunched over, making his already hypertrophic school uniform look even more baggy. There was a faint hint of a cheap toothpaste smell coming from him.

From time to time, the students would pass by him, and several would nod to him. However, Guo Wei firmly kept his head down and clutched the bag holding his steam buns, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Yin Ren rushed forward like an arrow and stepped in front of Guo Wei to stop him. “Classmate, wait!”

Guo Wei almost bumped into Yin Ren head-on. Finding someone was blocking him, he stopped in his tracks, and raised his eyes in confusion. “Are you looking for me?”

Seeing Yin Ren’s beautiful face was a bit off-putting that it made Guo Wei freeze for a moment.

Yin Ren took the opportunity to scan the other person from top to bottom.

Guo Wei had large scars on his forehead and chin, and there were typical burns and bruises that were hidden in inconspicuous places. He was used to hanging his head, which made it difficult to detect.

His complexion was dark, and his long hair was mixed with sporadic gray, making him look older than his actual age. With those sunken eyes always looking at the ground, it made Guo Wei look shrunken and sloppy.

However, his school uniform was extremely clean, and there were no traces of stains.

“I’m a family member of the new teacher, and I have something urgent, so I need to leave.” Yin Ren smiled gently. “I forgot where the gate is. Can you help show me the way?”

The remaining three people: “……”

Guo Wei’s expression finally moved. He looked around at the campus as if he heard bullshit, then looked at Yin Ren in shock.

“I have a problem, so I tend to forget things easily.” Yin Ren continued to cajole the young dead person. “Won’t you help me out?”

“No, we can’t leave here.” Guo Wei shook his head firmly. “This is the school’s rule.”

“Then forget it.” Yin Ren quickly pivoted. “Do you know where the campus radio station is? I’ll do a broadcast to find my lover.”

“Our school doesn’t have a campus radio station,” Guo Wei replied honestly as his eyes stared at his feet. “The broadcasts are all recorded and played directly. Usually, we use the loudspeakers to talk about things… If you want to find someone, it’s better to ask a teacher.”

“I see.”

“Is there anything else? If not, I’ll go first. My early self-study is about to begin.” Guo Wei continued staring at his feet, trying not to look at the snack bag Yin Ren was carrying.

“No, thank you.” Yin Ren took out a pack of fish chips and a pack of jerky. “Here, take them.”

“I don’t…”

“Thank you for telling me this. Just take it and share it with your friends.” Yin Ren’s smile remained motionless.

“Thank you.” Guo Wei’s voice was as tiny as a gnat. He cherishingly took the two bags of snacks and held them in his hand embarrassedly. “Then, uh, goodbye, teacher.”

He raised his head again and looked at Yin Ren carefully with a faint trace of gratitude on his face.

Among the students with blurred faces, this person’s characteristics stood out.

“He’s not a human.” Huang Jin had already developed a certain conditioned reflex. “He’s not the one from the radio station. This person is no different from the other students.”

It was just some kind of “set” that was extremely real and interactive.

“I think so too.” Yin Ren watched Guo Wei’s figure leave. “He has no impression of us and doesn’t look like he’s acting. How should I put this? This kid is too different from the one on the radio station.”

The student Guo Wei looked introverted and didn’t have any resentment or malice like the Guo Wei that was broadcasting.

Ge Tingting bit her lips as the electronic audio sounded. “What should we do now?”

She asked the common question that was in the hearts of the four of them.

The location of the broadcast Guo Wei needed to be found, and the interior buildings had to be checked. The “fresh Guo Wei” under their nose also couldn’t be discarded either. They had limited time, and no one knew what “four chances” meant.

But there was more evil on the other side, and being separated was tantamount to taking a big risk. Since they lost contact with Lu Xiaohe, all their remote communication methods had been invalidated, and they couldn’t even use WeChat to communicate.

Seeing Guo Wei walk further away, Yin Ren crumpled the empty snack bag into a ball and threw it into a trash can.

“Act separately.” He spread out his ponytail and neatly tore off a strand of long hair. “The three of you, put out your hands.”

Ge Tingting, Huang Jin: “?”

“Put this around your wrist. I can sense your location and basic situation from it.” Yin Ren quickly divided the hair into three bunches.

In a sense, this could be regarded as another kind of “traveling together”. He only had to deal with his companions’ memories after that, which wasn’t a big deal because he could just place the blame on Guo Wei’s head, Yin Ren thought deeply.

Huang Jin’s hesitant expression became even more obvious. He suspiciously accepted the hair and gently wrapped it around his wrist.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Huang Jing felt that the hair had adjusted its position on his wrist.

The strand of hair seemed truncated, but the broken surface was close to a thin silk that connected straight to Yin Ren’s head. It vividly interpreted the fibers that still hold a broken lotus root together*, and on it the mosaic thinking didn’t stop flowing.

*(藕断丝连) Idiom referring to a broken relationship that’s still connected. It refers to the unbreakable love between people from Tang Mengjiao’s poem “Going to Wife”. || In this context, it has a double meaning. The hair is like the strands of a lotus root’s fiber when broken off that are still clinging on, and it also metaphorically represents the connection the four of them still have because of Yin Ren’s hair (fibers of the lotus root).

Huang Jin averted his gaze and decided not to delve further. Ge Tingting didn’t show any doubt as she silently tied the hair around her wrist and nodded.

“Huang Jin and Ge Tingting, you two implement the original plan and try to find the broadcasting room while investigating the inside of the buildings. The authority of ‘faculty’ and ‘student’ isn’t small, so you won’t be stopped like Yin Ren.”

Zhong Chengshuo stuffed the hair into his pocket without tying it to his wrist.

“Yin Ren and I will follow Guo Wei. At four in the afternoon, we’ll meet in front of the classroom that Guo Wei was in before his death. It’s in the main teaching building.”

Huang Jin’s expression froze for a moment. “Isn’t this wrong?”

At a time like this, the two big monsters were still acting together. No matter how he looked at it, the distribution of strength was uneven.

Zhong Chengshuo glanced at him but didn’t lower his voice. “Based on the comprehensive evaluation of strength, occupation category, and campus familiarity, assuming that Miss Ge has metaphysical combat power, it may be more appropriate for me to pair with Miss Ge and you with Yin Ren.”

“But here, Miss Ge has no combat ability, and I don’t have a suitable weapon. Once she’s attacked by the metaphysics, it will be difficult for me to properly rescue her.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s expression was calm and direct. Ge Tingting was silent, and her face turned a little pale.

“Indeed, Huang Jin can see my thoughts, so it’s easier for us to communicate.” After a while, the synthetic voice sounded. “We have limited time. Let’s go, Huang Jin.”

She smiled a little reluctantly.

Yin Ren’s hair gradually lengthened as they left. It was as thin as spider silk, as if it were a thread attached to a hero after he entered a maze. However, Yin Ren looked at Ge Tingting’s back with some worry and held back his consolation.

In Bai Yongji’s case, Ge Tingting used her special ability to fully support them. In this case, her special abilities wouldn’t play much of a role.

She knew this better than anyone else.

……

At four in the afternoon, outside the sophomore classroom, Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren were pasted close to the door together, waiting to meet with their teammates.

The main teaching building was the tallest building on the entire campus. Through the windows of the corridor, the campus outside had already alternated between day and night at least four times. The “monster siege” rotated with the time, which made Yin Ren vigilant.

Yin Ren was responsible for guarding the surroundings, while Zhong Chengshuo was incarnated as a stone gate. He seemed to be stuck in the front of the back door window. Behind the thin lenses, his eyes stared straight into the classroom.

Even though Yin Ren had never studied, he couldn’t help but find this scene weird and creepy.

The good news was that, so far, the environment wasn’t as dangerous as they thought. Most of the day passed, and there was no strange warning that came from Yin Ren’s hair.

The bad news was that the daytime here was quite dull.

It was like an ordinary day on an ordinary campus. White clouds floated over the false blue sky, and the continuous chirping of cicadas was intertwined with sporadic birdsongs. The pomegranates in the flower bed were in full bloom, covering the branches with orange-red flowers.

The sun moved slowly across the small piece of sky, making the shadows of the building slowly rotate.

At 4:50, Unit 9 converged again. Except for the exhaustion in their eyes, everyone’s body was clean, without any traces of fighting.

“We have traversed all the buildings and investigated the clinic and cafeteria,” Huang Jin said with some helplessness. “Some areas of the library, labs, and cafeteria are blurry. The senior teaching building, women’s bathroom, and girls’ dorms can’t be entered.”

Even if Ge Tingting, a “female student”, tried to enter, she would be stopped by the doorman under various excuses.

“How about your side?” After Huang Jin reported the situation, Ge Tingting took the initiative to ask. Her expression was serious, but they couldn’t sense any emotion in her synthetic voice.

Yin Ren covered his chest and sighed.

Guo Wei walked into the classroom at 7:30 and never came out again.

None of the imagined collisions, battles, or rescues with Zhong Chengshuo had happened. Looking from the back door window, Guo Wei was either listening attentively in class or reading during the breaks. At most, he would look out the window.

Guo Wei didn’t even go to lunch during the lunch break. He ate his two steamed buns with hot water; one was for breakfast and the other was his lunch. He didn’t touch any of the snacks Yin Ren had given him, but carefully put them in his backpack.

Ordinary student, ordinary behavior.

…But this was undoubtedly the center of the entire campus.

With Guo Wei as the center, the closer they got to him, the clearer the faces of the surrounding students became. It could be as big as the details of the backpack, or as small as the scratches on the desk and the dust on the windowsill; this place was no different from the real world.

The teacher behind the podium also looked like a living person.

At the moment, he was in math class. The math teacher looked to be in her early forties and had a shrill voice. They could even see the gray in her curly hair, the paleness of her cyan brows, and the black moles on the tip of her nose.

“Guo Wei, I have told you a hundred times.”

She knocked on Guo Wei’s table twice, grabbed his hand, and shook it.

“What the hell is with your writing? Can anyone understand this? It’s not uncommon for people to read papers for college entrance exams. This kind of work deserves a zero.”

There were a few chuckles in the classroom. The girl sitting next to Guo Wei turned her head to look at him. The latter just buried his head deeper; his ears and neck became a little red.

Yin Ren didn’t know how Guo Wei’s math scores were, but he remembered Guo Wei’s math teacher.

Lei Xiurong, 43 years old, taught math at No. 16 High School for 20 years.

“Copy it again. Tomorrow, I’ll check it separately. The next time you write like this, I’ll deduct ten points from your paper.” Lei Xiurong spoke loudly. “I don’t believe I can’t fix this stinky problem of yours.”

Guo Wei responded with an “Nn” in a low voice and quietly glanced at the girl at the next table. Unfortunately, the girl had already retracted her gaze and was seriously reading a wrong question. The male student behind him poked him in the back. “Looking at Li Xiaoya again? Be careful that the old witch doesn’t find out.”

Guo Wei shrank his shoulders and his whole face flushed. “I wasn’t looking.”

The boy smiled and covered his face with a textbook. “I have two copybooks that I’m too lazy to practice. Why don’t you take them? Just lend me your chemistry notes later.”

“…Ah, okay.” Guo Wei rubbed his ears and began to rewrite his homework one stroke at a time.

At this time, Lei Xiurong had just returned to the podium. She exhaled and fiddled with her curly hair. “There’s a small quiz for self-study tonight…”

The class continued as the two groups swapped. This time, Ge Tingting and Huang Jin monitored the class while Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren patrolled the campus, looking for any signs of the broadcast Guo Wei.

Soon it was dinner time.

Guo Wei didn’t eat dinner. He took out a washbasin from the dorm and went to the bathhouse alone to shower. Other than that, he didn’t do anything special.

His three clear-faced roommates hooked shoulders as they carried a bag of lo mein and returned to the dorms while talking and laughing.

At the same time, Yin Ren’s hair sneaked into the cracks of the bricks and quickly flowed throughout the campus. Unfortunately, they still didn’t return any suspicious fluctuations in power. Whether it was the “broadcast Guo Wei” or the “cause of Guo Laifu’s illness”, it seemed both had completely evaporated from this campus.

……

In the blink of an eye, it became dark.

At 9:30 p.m., the lights around the campus went out, and the iron chains appeared on all the buildings. A mediocre day had passed. Despite the peaceful atmosphere, it was enough to make them anxious.

Everyone ate a bit and then went back outdoors. There were less than three hours left until midnight.

Ge Tingting’s breathing was a little short. Huang Jin squeezed his spirit weapon until it clicked and would look at Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo from time to time.

“Didn’t that bastard tell us to leave the school?” Huang Jin kicked a trashcan nearby irritably. “At least have some weird things come out. Where can we find any clues if everything is so normal?”

“Don’t worry. We haven’t reached the end of the road yet.”

In order to prevent the “failure punishment” from suddenly falling from the sky, Yin Ren’s gaze swept across the playground from time to time. He began to calculate where protective spells would be best placed. There was no power without reason in this world. Even if the other party’s ability was strange, it wasn’t stronger than an Evil Spirit.

He already had some ideas, but unfortunately, if he could understand the nature of his opponent’s abilities…

“Actually, we got a good harvest today,” Zhong Chengshuo suddenly said. Despite holding a bag of spirit bombs, his tone was extremely calm. Huang Jin had to admit that though this person’s tone was sometimes irritating, when the situation was chaotic, it was inexplicably reassuring.

“Would you like to accompany me to do an experiment? I have an idea that needs to be verified,” Comrade Xiao Zhong asked seriously.

Three minutes later, everyone stopped in front of the senior teaching building.

It was an old independent building that was even older than the main teaching building. The gates were chained, and the glass doors were pitch black. It was one of the “inaccessible” areas on the campus.

Yin Ren hugged his arms. “Do you want to force your way in?”

“Not really.” Zhong Chengshuo tilted his head slightly. “I want to blow it up.”

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: “…What?!”

“It’s too slow for me to set up the bombs by myself. You guys help me put them in designated places.” Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses, not feeling any kind of emotion with what he just said. “It’s getting dark outside the campus. We must hurry. I’ll explain later.”

Although Lord Ghost King was confused, he obediently followed as instructed.

After arranging the spirit bombs, Zhong Chengshuo went straight to the gate of the campus. The scrapped sliding door was still there. Seeing them approach, the old doorman narrowed his eyes, which were full of vigilance.

The barrier was still there.

The night outside the school quickly fell, and the tide of monsters came in, sticking themselves to the barrier again.

“Five, four…”

With his back to the countless monsters outside the gate, Zhong Chengshuo looked down at his phone screen.

“Three, two, one.”

The moment Zhong Chengshuo said the last number, a corner of the campus lit up with skyrocketing flames…

In a series of loud noises, the outline of a two-story building disappeared. It completely collapsed, and thick black smoke rose around it. The rest of the campus remained treacherously calm, without any response, as if the explosion that had occurred was in another time and space.

The last few wisps of smoke merged into the night, and the earth seemed to tremble.

“Crack.”

Not far outside the gate, there was a very slight noise. Everyone immediately glanced around—somewhere near the sky, a tiny foot of a spider passed through the barrier. It moved around suspiciously. Like the last remaining hair on a bald man’s head, it was so conspicuous it was hard to ignore.

Perhaps they picked up on the aura within as the monsters surged in an instant.

“Actually, from the beginning, I was a little curious.”

Before the squirming monsters, Zhong Chengshuo’s voice was steady; there was no joy or anger in his black eyes.

“Ge Tingting was outside school, and there’s no accurate school name on her uniform, which meant Guo Laifu didn’t remember his son’s school name.”

“But here, ‘Guo Wei’ reported the name ‘Qingjiang No. 16 Middle School’ very accurately. This scene inside the campus is also too clear. If it weren’t for living here for a long time, there’s no way the memory would be so clear.”

“The closed senior teaching building, the girls’ dorms, and the women’s bathroom are all places that Guo Wei himself hasn’t touched. The blurred areas are places that students wouldn’t frequent—the closer they are to Guo Wei, whether it be people or scenery, the more realistic the details.”

Ge Tingting looked at the screen with difficulty, while Huang Jin still had a look of confusion.

Yin Ren reacted quickly. “These are all Guo Wei’s memories.”

“Yes,” Zhong Chengshuo responded, slightly raising the corner of his mouth. “That broadcast Guo Wei seems to be able to materialize his memory.”

“Suppose this school and these people are all materialized memories of ‘Guo Wei himself’. On a large scale, according to the law of their own development of the combination of memories, I think this can be considered a ‘consciousness’.”

The excitement in Zhong Chengshuo’s smile became more obvious.

“If the memory item is damaged by more than 50%, this memory will be ‘forgotten’ and memory loss can cause instability in the consciousness. It seems that this rule also applies to Guo Wei himself.”

Yin Ren hummed with interest.

Indeed, this theory could explain many problems.

For example, losing contact with Lu Xiaohe, or their inability to feel the existence of the broadcast Guo Wei, or the strange attack of unknown origin—if they were in Guo Wei’s consciousness, as the master of the consciousness, Guo Wei had a greater home-field advantage.

Huang Jin’s focus was elsewhere. He rubbed his face hard and said, “It’s not too late yet. Let’s make another big explosion here and escape quickly.”

“No,” Zhong Chengshuo withdrew his smile.

“Why? There are less than two hours left!”

“Because there are not enough clues.” This time, it was Yin Ren who answered. He looked at Zhong Chengshuo with a bit of solemnity in his eyes. “Zhong Chengshuo, you blew up the most irrelevant memory to test this point, right?”

Why did Guo Wei die with his consciousness still intact but there was no ghost?

Why did he trap them in his own consciousness and force them to play this ridiculous game?

…Could they really safely escape if they were still inside this consciousness, and it completely collapsed?

Huang Jin: “Or we can just blow things up one by one.”

“I can’t gamble on everyone’s life.” Zhong Chengshuo took out his headset from his pocket and put it back on his ears. “If our judgment is wrong, we’ll all be annihilated.”

Huang Jin was silent.

“Are we going to wait and see how the so-called ‘four chances’ are consumed?” A moment later, Huang Jin spoke again with difficulty.

“This is the optimal choice.” Zhong Chengshuo sat on the blasted iron gate. His back was facing the bloody morning sun outside the campus.

“It’s okay. We can also see through his tricks.” Yin Ren wrapped the tips of his hair around his fingertips and looked at the dark campus. “The other party is just a child. Even if it’s a child corrupted by Evil Force, we have dealt with one in the past.”

“Don’t be afraid.” Yin Ren directed this to Ge Tingting.

However, Ge Tingting didn’t respond to him. She was looking at the receding monster outside the campus, unknown of what she was thinking.

Soon, the class bell rang at midnight—

“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School.” Guo Wei’s voice was as cold as usual. “Welcome to the last day of my life.”

“All of you did not successfully leave the school. Teachers, family members, faculty, and students, please choose one to exclude from the quota.”

Snap.

The attack that everyone imagined didn’t come. A gun that was rough in shape fell from the void and quietly lay in front of the four of them.

“Play out your best memories and stay here.” The voice over the loudspeaker repeated. “Stay here.”

“Otherwise, all four of you will have to stay here.”

“Removing the best memories… It seems that it’s still the way to induce instability of the consciousness and cause a mental breakdown.”

Zhong Chengshuo picked up the gun and weighed it in his hand.

“I’ll do it.” Huang Jin sighed and stepped forward. “You said that our memories are just suppressed. As long as we can get out, Shian must have a way.”

“Yes.” A synthetic voice sounded.

Ge Tingting grabbed the gun. Her hands were slightly trembling, but her movements were firm.

“Huang Jin is a spirit smith and can continue to support you guys. If the three of you are still conscious, you’re most likely to escape.”

“Xiao Ge?!”

“In all aspects, this is the most optimal choice.” Ge Tingting didn’t let go of the gun.

“We may not be able to save you,” Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly.

“I’m not that weak.”

The soft synthetic voice echoed in the air. Ge Tingting turned her head sideways and glanced at Yin Ren.

“…I’m not that scared either.”

Before she finished her words, she acted.

Everything happened in an instant. Ge Tingting didn’t give them a chance to speak again. She grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s hand and put the muzzle to her temple, then directly pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The sound of a gunshot echoed, shattering the silence.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 71: Four Erasers

Shian Campus.

Lu Xiaohe quickly tapped the keyboard. The air conditioning in the room was turned on, but sweat dripped from the tip of her nose and fell on the keyboard.

The signals of Unit 9 special investigation team had all disappeared at the same time.

This situation was unprecedented. Shian’s communication was based on Guo Laifu’s FM brainwaves. As long as Guo Laifu was still alive, the communication couldn’t be lost. Even if the people in Unit 9 forcibly committed suicide there, she would receive a very clear signal of death.

Was there a traitor?

No, there would always be a time difference when the monitoring equipment was removed. There was no sequence of abnormalities just now. The four people seemed to have sunk into the depths of a swamp at the same time without any ripples.

Abnormal band? Unknown interference?

Her gaze instantly swept across Guo Laifu’s rows of physiological data. Except for the occasional nightmarish mood swings, Guo Laifu’s brain didn’t have any changes.

Lu Xiaohe immediately connected to Hao Wenzhe, her immediate boss and Unit 1 rear commander in Shian.

Hao Wenzhe was a master programmer, specializing in artificial intelligence, and was one of the strongest science posts in Shian. He was currently serving as the rear commander of the Emergency Management Department. Between him and Professor Li, it was difficult to say which one was more difficult to communicate with.

“A major anomaly. We lost all communication signals in the Archive.” She didn’t use the internal communication software and instead called directly. “The four-person signal disappeared at the same time. Requesting emergency support.”

The man on the other side said, “Evil qi index? Traces of Evil Force?”

“All indices are normal. Only communication-related data suddenly dropped. The four of them didn’t differ in order. It’s suspected there’s an environmental impact.” Lu Xiaohe held her phone between her shoulder and head. Her fingers were jumping furiously on the keyboard. “I’m looking for more physiological indicators, but I still haven’t found a problem…”

Hao Wenzhe was silent for two seconds.

“Try wide-area FM,” he said. “If you need the support of my AI calculation, I’ll give you temporary permission.”

Lu Xiaohe’s fingers froze. “Wide-area FM? But…”

“Assuming there’s no problem with the communication equipment and there’s no abnormality in the brain itself, the most likely is the channel change.”

“But this is impossible,” Lu Xiaohe said in a daze.

Guo Laifu only had one brain. Even if he was schizophrenic or was possessed by a ghost, it stood to reason that it wouldn’t affect communication. Shian had never encountered such a precedent before, so “one brain, one channel” was described as the relevant iron rule.

“I don’t care if it’s impossible. I just gave the results.” Hao Wenzhe hummed perfunctorily. “Do you want my support or not?”

Without brainwave monitoring, finding an unknown channel was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was like asking a person to crack someone’s encrypted data, such as fingerprints or iris patterns, through the air, which was simply impossible with manpower.

But she didn’t have much choice.

Lu Xiaohe wiped the sweat from her face vigorously. “Yes!”

In less than half a minute, one of her screens went dark, and when it lit up again, there were countless rapidly flashing data points and waveforms on it.

Lu Xiaohe opened her handbag speechlessly and discharged two cans of energy drinks. After quickly downing a can, she exhaled fiercely and stared at the screen.

[Shian auxiliary computing system startup… loading…] An eye-catching dialogue box popped up on the screen.

[Permission has been confirmed. Hello, Lu Xiaohe. Cracking is about to begin. Please pay attention to the data changes and correct the calculation direction.]

[Cracking cannot be stopped after it’s initiated. Please make sure you are physically and mentally fit. Do you want to start now?]

Lu Xiaohe’s fingers paused for a moment on the enter key.

This thing was called a “brain juicer” by Shian internally. The operator had to concentrate throughout the process, monitoring every piece of feedback in the calculation and making decisions in real time. It was equivalent to a major operation with only one doctor. Once it began, there was no possibility of substitution.

She bit her lower lip and readjusted her breathing.

“Hello? Ah, mom.” After a while, Lu Xiaohe picked up her phone and dialed another number. “I’m going to be busy at work today, so I won’t go home for dinner.”

Lu Xiaohe’s tone was particularly brisk.

“Don’t wait up for me tonight… Mm, I’m spending the night at work. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m hanging up now.”

The phone touched the table with a soft clatter. The dialogue box waited quietly in front of her, and the word “start” was set with a blood red warning.

She tapped Enter.

……

“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School. Welcome to the last day of my life.”

Guo Wei’s voice floated in the dark.

“Teachers, family members, faculty, and students, you still have four chances left. Please work hard to leave the school.”

At the moment the broadcast sounded, the three people in the faculty dormitory were instantly awakened. Huang Jin grabbed the cloth bag next to the pillow, Ge Tingting listened with bated breath, and Zhong Chengshuo’s body was already in a fighting posture.

The next moment, a vision struck.

The noise from the loudspeaker disappeared, and the door of the faculty dorm shook, as if someone were unceremoniously slamming on it. However, Yin Ren didn’t feel any aura outside, and even a ghost in the normal sense didn’t exist there.

Amidst the banging on the door, Zhong Chengshuo’s voice was calm. “Who?”

The banging on the door suddenly stopped. For a while, the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.

Yin Ren shook his head slightly at Zhong Chengshuo and walked to the door. After the old-fashioned padlock was unlocked, Yin Ren cautiously cracked open the door.

Sure enough, there wasn’t anyone outside, but there was something on the ground…

Four erasers were neatly placed at the door. They were commonly used square erasers with “teacher”, “family member”, “faculty”, and “student” engraved on them. They were evenly spaced and stood at the door like four tombstones.

The moment he saw them, Yin Ren only felt a buzz in his head.

A bunch of fragmented pictures suddenly crashed into his mind.

It was past three in the afternoon. Finding that there was a communication problem with Lu Xiaohe, the four of them immediately tried to leave the campus. But just like the first time they tried to enter, they were firmly trapped in the school by an invisible barrier and were unable to move forward.

When it was four in the afternoon, after some discussion, the group decided to continue their search for the “cause”—if they found that they had lost each other, they would take action.

That weird Guo Wei wasn’t the target of their investigation.

After 5:00 p.m., the four of them decided to go to the faculty dorm to set up their stronghold when suddenly the world in front of Yin Ren was shattered.

As if pierced by an invisible bullet, something smashed into his temple and spewed out from the other side. A few erasers flew out and bounced on the slate floor a few times before rolling into the dirt.

Yin Ren looked at them in shock, intending to warn his companions. However, the moment he turned his gaze away, this thought instantly disappeared in his mind. He forgot everything about it and continued to stride leisurely towards the faculty dorm.

Seeing them again now, his memory instantly recovered.

Yin Ren reached for the four erasers. When he touched the one with “family member” written on it, it disappeared into thin air. The other three were in similar conditions.

The first time they saw these erasers, everyone immediately remembered the three hours they lost. When the erasers disappeared after being touched, their memories were restored.

All except for Zhong Chengshuo.

For the first time, this person resolutely refused to touch them. Zhong Chengshuo carefully put on gloves and only then proceeded to grab the eraser with “teacher” written on it.

This method of doing things was so weird that no one spoke. The atmosphere in the room was extremely gloomy, with only the sound of Zhong Chengshuo fiddling with the eraser left.

“This is… a warning?” Finally, Huang Jin spoke up with some difficulty.

Although he knew that Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were powerful, his tone was still filled with worry. “I have never heard of this kind of attack.”

Ge Tingting’s expression was darkened, and she simply used text-to-speech. “I didn’t hear any strange noises at that time.”

“I’m sorry, vigilance was my main job.” She buried her head as she added this.

“It’s not your fault.” Yin Ren patted her on the shoulder. “’Guo Wei is showing us he has the ability to interfere with us. If he doesn’t do this, we may not play his escape game.”

If Ge Tingting could prevent this kind of trick, they wouldn’t be trapped here.

The situation wasn’t optimistic.

It was fine to lose irrelevant memories, but if important ones were taken away, it was enough to cause a huge mental shock. In this weird environment, being alone could daze people, and no one knew what the consequences of mental confusion would be.

Using Evil Force to overturn the chessboard would only be a last resort. Now the matter of the “cause” had to be put aside so they could deal with Guo Wei first.

Zhong Chengshuo hadn’t spoken this entire time. Yin Ren looked at the flattened eraser and found it difficult to say which one was more worried and helpless.

Encountering such a strange thing, there was no panic or fear on Zhong Chengshuo’s face. It would be better to say that he was in high spirits at the moment.

“This is a good opportunity to understand the capabilities of the other party. You have provided enough examples. I need to test more.”

As if feeling everyone’s scrutiny, Zhong Chengshuo explained while observing the eraser.

“Guo Wei can materialize our memories by some means. When we look at an object, our memories will be restored. After we look away, the relevant memory will disappear.”

Comrade Xiao Zhong happily continued, “Huang Jin, can you see thoughts on this thing?”

“No, it’s no different from the other things in here.” Huang Jin hesitated to speak but considering the other party’s status as “King Yama”, he answered honestly.

“Very good.” Zhong Chengshuo took out a small knife and pointed the blade straight at the “teacher” eraser.

Before Yin Ren consciously moved, his body was grabbed by Zhong Chengshuo, and his movements were full of warning.

“It’s okay,” Zhong Chengshuo said firmly. “Someone has to try, and the science post is the least susceptible.”

Those dark eyes quietly turned to Yin Ren as Zhong Chengshuo gently mouthed:

[I believe in you.]

Yin Ren was anxious upon seeing Zhong Chengshuo’s face. However, he had to admit that this person’s attempt was indeed necessary. Facing Guo Wei, they were lacking too much information.

Lord Ghost King bitterly let go of Zhong Chengshuo’s hand. “Okay, you can cut it.”

Wasn’t it just protecting this guy? He was used to this kind of thing.

The scene a few hours ago was replayed. Yin Ren struggled to get rid of his impression of Zhong Chengshuo fighting monsters. He clenched his hand and decided that if something went wrong, he would blow away the eraser.

Zhong Chengshuo cut the eraser carefully. The slices he made were so thin they looked like cicadas’ wings. Every time he cut a bit, Zhong Chengshuo would stop and take a closer look at the eraser, while Yin Ren would take a closer look at his partner.

“The item is missing more than 50%, and observation will not evoke memory… but it can be put back together.”

Half an hour later, Zhong Chengshuo took off his gloves.

“This situation is more like ‘repressing memories’ than ‘physically taking away memories’. Well, it’s a bit close to hypnosis or subconscious suggestion, so it’s no wonder it can affect me.”

After confirming Zhong Chengshuo was fine, Yin Ren breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then there’s only one question left.”

Yin Ren withdrew his hand that was resting on Zhong Chengshuo’s forehead to check his temperature as he spoke in an unhappy tone. “What does ‘Guo Wei’ want to do?”

“We don’t have enough clues.” Zhong Chengshuo took off his nightcap, dipped a towel in cold water, and wiped his face vigorously. “Let’s go out and have a look first.”

Before he finished speaking, Ge Tingting grabbed his sleeves.

The girl shook her head slowly and pointed in the direction of the window while she quickly typed with one hand.

“There’s a sound.” The synthetic voice sounded. “There’s a loud sound outside the window.”

Zhong Chengshuo was slightly startled. When he opened the curtains…

Seeing the scene outside, the four of them fell into silence in unison.

The streetlights outside the school were on, and it no longer looked like ink. The streets were empty, and there were no phantoms of students. The sky was normal, maintaining the darkness of night.

However, this normalcy was limited to the campus.

The faculty dorm was diagonally facing the gate, and the scene outside the gate was like hell.

In the darkness, weird limbs squeezed one by one, squirming uncontrollably. Long, sharp legs covered in mucus. Gray, white, and black colors were twisted into a mass that was rising and falling. Among the densely packed little monsters, several huge hands squeezed into the gap and scratched silently inward.

In the remaining gaps, the eyes of huge monsters blinked from time to time. They twitched uncontrollably and peeped openly.

In this way, the monsters were stripping layer after layer outside the “protective barrier” of the campus, forming a new wall with their bodies and wrapping around the small campus into a narrow bowl. It was completely different from the scene when they were in the hotel. These monsters seemed to be trying to squeeze in, but they couldn’t.

On the edge of the normal night sky, a faint corner of a huge vortex appeared, looking like a game where the modeling had gone wrong.

Yin Ren: “……”

What was going on? Looking at such a scene made him feel even less motivated to leave the school.

Having said that, when the outside buildings lit up, the monsters retreated like the tide before rushing to the campus gate again. Unlike the other side, which was sometimes bright and dark, the day and night in the school seemed to be aligned with the real world, which was somewhat touching.

The doorman was still the same strange-faced old man. He opened his window and stared at the four people in front of him.

“What are you doing in the middle of the night?”

“The child is seriously ill and must be sent to the hospital immediately,” Yin Ren said earnestly. “Her life is at stake, so can’t you do something to help?”

He and Zhong Chengshuo supported Ge Tingting, who was pretending to be dizzy, while Huang Jin tightly clutched a spirit weapon as he followed them closely.

The guard snickered. “You can’t leave even after death. This is the rule.”

He didn’t even give the four of them a chance to continue performing as he shut the window angrily.

At the moment the guard booth was closed, Huang Jin suddenly threw out his spirit weapon—a square wooden plaque was affixed to the metal sliding door and it exploded in an instant. The smoke and dust were scattered, and more than a dozen fire dragons rose into the sky. The explosion range wasn’t large, but the power wasn’t inferior to a bomb.

Even though the metal sliding door was stronger than they thought, it still became twisted from the explosion. The door rolled miserably to the ground, and its metal surface was blackened.

The doorman quickly opened the window and poked his head out. His face was covered with repeated swearing. Unfortunately, those words went in one ear and out the other to the four people in front of him…

The school gate was wide open now.

Was it that simple?

Amidst the filthy swears of the old doorman, Yin Ren tentatively stretched out a foot. The foot crossed the sliding door and was about to step on the ground but was forced to stop in midair.

He had stepped on the invisible barrier again.

Huang Jin took a deep breath while covering his face. He picked up the wood chips on the ground with a sullen face, and his movements revealed a deep sense of heartache.

“It seems the gate is just for show,” Yin Ren retracted his feet and said listlessly. “I guess the courtyard wall is similar—”

He raised his hand, and the twisted metal sliding door suddenly took off. A loud bang sounded as the sliding door slammed into the nearest courtyard wall like a missile, creating a huge hole in the wall.

The cursing of the old doorman suddenly increased by a few octaves.

Yin Ren grabbed the edge of the hole with both hands and tried to crawl out. Unfortunately, before Lord Ghost King’s shoulders crossed the wall, his forehead slammed into the transparent barrier.

“Heh, it really doesn’t work.”

Yin Ren rubbed his head, but there was no surprise in his tone.

“It seems that other conditions are required to leave,” Zhong Chengshuo said thoughtfully.

While the three of them were busy, Ge Tingting scratched the window sill of the guard booth, and a synthetic sound rang from her phone. “Grandpa, what’s the current time here?”

Doorman: “Aren’t you seriously ill?”

“Yes, a sudden illness with dizziness.” Ge Tingting’s synthetic voice was monotonous.

“Early self-study starts at 7:30 in the morning.” They weren’t sure if it was because he was talking to a child, but the old doorman stopped cursing, and his tone softened a little. “Tell me, what are you doing in the middle of the night? Aren’t you afraid of disturbing others?”

Ge Tingting read the words on her phone and then asked, “No one comes out at night?”

“How can anyone come out!” The old man screeched. “Go, go, go. Even if you have nothing to do, go back.”

……

It turned out the grandfather would always act like so.

What the old doorman said was true. The four of them wandered all night without finding a single breakthrough. Except for the faculty dormitory and the public bathrooms, the doors of all the buildings were chained. All the windows were like black holes, and there wasn’t a single figure on the campus.

Time soon became seven in the morning.

The deformed gate was still there, but phantoms of students had appeared again on the playground.

The members of Unit 9 wandered around the campus with compressed food in their mouths.

Several groups of students ran in circles around the playground, shouting vague slogans like “one, two, three, four”. More students came from the cafeteria door carrying buns and fritters with tea eggs. The aroma of breakfast made Yin Ren’s nose sour.

The cold beef jerky in his mouth instantly lost its taste. No matter how good the snacks were, they couldn’t compare to a steamed meat bun.

Wasn’t this an escape scenario? Why was the food so tempting?

Yin Ren tried to enter the cafeteria to have a look, but as soon as he arrived at the door, he was stopped by a vague-looking auntie.

“Are you the family member of the new teacher? Don’t you know the rules?” She spoke at the top of her lungs, and her illusory spit almost sprayed on Yin Ren’s face. “Teachers and their family members eat at the faculty cafeteria. This is the student cafeteria. You can’t enter.”

Yin Ren: “……” The experience in this unlucky game was extremely poor.

He returned to the team with a wilted head and sighed.

“It seems that not only is the time here the same as in the real world, but the activities of ‘people’ are also similar.” Zhong Chengshuo ignored the freshly smelling food. “Compared to blindly testing, we need to figure it out…”

“Wait, isn’t that Guo Wei?” Yin Ren suddenly interrupted his partner.

He looked at the door to the cafeteria—Guo Wei had two steamed buns in his hand and was walking with his head down.

This Guo Wei was very much alive, and his facial features were exceptionally clear. Although he didn’t really look “handsome”, he still had the unique youth of a young man.

He walked by the four of them without even looking at them.

The author has something to say:

Snack suitcase vs student cafeteria, snack suitcase failed miserably.

No spoilers! I still remember Kong Wanqing by Daming Lake*, don’t worry (……

*It refers to remembering something from the past. This became a popular catchphrase online, spawning from what Ziwei said to the emperor in “Huan Zhu Ge Ge” (“Your Majesty, do you still remember Xia Yuhe by Daming Lake?”). This is referencing how the emperor played around with Xia Yuhe during his southern tour and promised to take her back to the palace, but never did. Xia Yuhe then gave birth to the emperor’s daughter, Xia Ziwei, who then confronted the emperor later by saying this. || In this context, the author is saying she hasn’t forgotten about Kong Wangqing and reminding readers to not either.

But I feel that everyone may have forgotten the eldest cousin by Daming Lake!

————————

[Mysterious character announces weird rules of the game]

Standard infinite flow*: Analyze the rules for the first time.

*Also known as unlimited flow. Genre in novels characterized by seemingly never-ending flow of survival games, puzzles, or entire worlds, in which the characters have to survive and can return to the real world or retrieve a reward that they desire.

Special Investigation Unit 9: I have come here, and work is urgent. I will continue to look for the cause of the disease.

Guo Wei: ? I’ll turn your brain into erasers so I can play with them.

From this, it can be concluded that this is not an infinite flow (???

Kinky Thoughts:

I do love infinite flow, and perhaps one day I will pick up a project of that genre.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 70: Four Opportunities

“You can’t leave even after death, so pay attention.”

The old doorman’s declaration was imposing, but unfortunately it wasn’t targeting the right people.

Ge Tingting was so nervous that she didn’t even take out her phone, so she couldn’t understand what he was saying, while Huang Jin had killed someone before and traversed the shadows for many years. This kind of intimidation was like calluses in his ears.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo heard what he said, but it was a pity that one had a rich experience in death while the other was so courageous that his emotions didn’t fluctuate at all. Yin Ren smiled at the old man and waved his hand, indicating he heard it.

The old doorman slowly retracted his head, and there was a trace of loneliness when he closed the window. The rusted sliding door started again and slowly closed.

The moment it was completely closed, the scene on the campus suddenly changed…

The black vortex in the sky was gone, and only a gloomy normal sky was left above them. A more complex and realistic mixture of smells suddenly appeared in the breeze, and the colors were much richer than on the street.

It was like pulling back a layer on a veil; the scenery inside the campus was so detailed that it was almost as if they were in the real world.

Yin Ren stopped under a pomegranate tree by a flower bed and looked around curiously.

The campus wasn’t big. The main teaching building was facing the gate, and there were labs and libraries on either side. A corner of the playground was faintly exposed behind the teaching building, and the playground was next to several old, small buildings. However, Mr. Ghost King wasn’t really familiar with school so he couldn’t tell whether it was a teaching building or a student dorm.

The main teaching building was closest to them, with five floors. It had neatly arranged windows, and there wasn’t any deformation. The exterior wall of the teaching building was also painted with cement stones, and the white gravel was embedded with dark red and light gray embellishments.

On the nearby lawn, there was a warning sign displaying “Keep off the grass” with a cartoon pattern that was particularly clear.

The faces of the students who moved about were slightly blurred, but the school uniforms they were wearing were vivid. As long as they didn’t look closely, everything could be considered normal.

“Xiao Zhong’s judgment is correct. This is indeed a special place, and there are strong signs of autonomous closure. Pay attention. Guo Laifu’s ‘cause’ is definitely nearby.”

Lu Xiaohe’s voice rang in everyone’s ears. Her words were intermittent and broken.

“Wait, it’s a bit weird… evil… value… here…”

“This is Qingjiang No. 16 High School. Hey, can you hear me? …Can you hear me?”

There was a sharp noise on the audio, and a young voice rang through the campus. Lu Xiaohe’s voice was completely suppressed and turned into static noises.

Guo Wei, Guo Laifu’s son, had been studying at No. 16 High School in Qingjiang before he was killed.

The school was divided between a junior high school and a high school. It was an average school and wasn’t well known in the local area. These materials were clearly written in Guo Laifu’s file, and Lu Xiaohe had looked over them before they left.

However, Guo Wei had been dead for more than half a year.

A ghost couldn’t be summoned into a human brain, so it wasn’t some trick by any ghost master. Assuming that Guo Laifu was possessed by his own son’s ghost, there should be obvious evil qi on him, which Shian couldn’t possibly miss.

Yin Ren closed his eyes. The vague hostility was still around him. At this distance, even he couldn’t feel the traces of any ghosts or evil spirits. He seemed to smell a bit of Evil Force, but after sniffing carefully, that smell had disappeared, which made it quite confusing.

This environment was too different from the real world, which made Yin Ren a bit confused about the situation.

…What exactly was the thing that was talking now?

“Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”

Seeing that everyone didn’t answer, the voice kept asking. The distorted voice was mixed with an unbearable howling whine.

“I can hear you,” Zhong Chengshuo straightforwardly answered. “May I ask what you want?”

In the face of the strange campus and the voice that shouldn’t exist, Comrade Zhong Chengshuo was as steady as Mount Tai. Huang Jin glanced at him with a trace of admiration.

After receiving an unexpected response, the radio went silent for a moment.

The next moment, an electronic screen outside the main teaching building lit up, and a young figure appeared on it.

The young man was sitting in an office chair with a mess of debris piled up on the desk. Behind him was a wall, and on the wall hung a string of words saying: “Qingjiang No. 16 High School Campus Radio Station”. The environment was the same as outside.

The young man had a square face and thick lips; his appearance was ordinary to below average. Unlike Huang Jin’s upright gloom, this child gave off an uncomfortably dreadful feeling. His face was unusually clear, and his eyes were similar to Guo Laifu’s—single eyelids with slightly protruding eyes that were large and dull.

Unlike Guo Laifu, those eyes were dull and bloodshot. There didn’t seem to be any life in them, just like the eyes of a corpse.

The young man was wearing the same blue and white school uniform as Ge Tingting, and there was a school badge labeled “Guo Wei” pinned on his chest. His eyes were fixed on the screen, and he was fiddling with a black ballpoint pen in his hand.

“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School,” he said slowly. “Welcome to the last day of my life.”

After saying this, the electronic screen snapped off, leaving only the rustling sound of the loudspeakers.

……

When Yin Ren recovered, a group of people were standing in front of the staff dormitory.

This dormitory only had two floors and was close to the main teaching building. The decorations were unassuming, and the stairwell had a strange smell of moldy wallpaper.

The headache was that there was only one room in the dorm on the second floor that was vacant. They confirmed it as they moved along the corridor; the other rooms were either locked or there were people moving around. Not to mention checking in, when they knocked on the door, there was no response.

The door of the only vacant room was left wide open, as if it were waiting for them.

The room was empty and less than twenty square meters in size. There were only two single wooden beds in the room and a set of desks and chairs that were full of scratches. The wooden floor underneath them was severely worn. Huang Jin found two blankets in the closet and barely scraped together two floor beds.

An old clock on the wall ticked, making a particularly annoying sound.

Everyone’s luggage was stacked against the wall, making the already small space even more cramped. However, as a temporary stronghold, this barely qualified. After finishing their arrangements, it was already past 6:00 p.m.

When Zhong Chengshuo finished unpacking, he cautiously checked the window.

It was still a gloomy day outside, and the laughter of students floated in from time to time through the cracks of the window. Luckily, the window was sealed enough and the view wasn’t bad—from this dorm room, he could see the vestibule of the main teaching building and also half of the campus gate.

“Guo Wei has a lot of thoughts flowing in his body. I can’t understand them, but he’s definitely not human.” Huang Jin sat on the ground and wiped his face wearily. “But his thinking is too heavy for a ghost… Yin Ren, you’re a ghost master. Did you notice anything?”

Yin Ren shook his head subconsciously. “No, I’ve never seen that type.”

He wasn’t prevaricating. Since Lord Ghost King had never visited the inside of someone’s head before, he was truly inexperienced this time.

Ge Tingting didn’t express any opinions; most likely, she didn’t notice anything. After being frightened in an unfamiliar environment, her face was faintly tired. She had barely finished eating her compressed food before she leaned against a chair and fell asleep.

The four’s headsets were still staticky. It seemed they couldn’t connect with Lu Xiaohe.

Since they had lost contact, they didn’t know if a senior investigation team would come. Yin Ren put away the headset and pondered casually. Having said that, if neither he nor Zhong Chengshuo could cope with the situation, the senior investigation team would do something about it.

This scavenger hunt was more exciting than he had imagined.

Time passed slowly. After a short discussion, everyone decided to divide into two groups—Ge Tingting and Huang Jin slept from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., while Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo slept from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Such vigils were taken in turns, so each group was guaranteed to get at least six hours of sleep.

In this weird situation, even without Lu Xiaohe’s instructions in their ears, everyone knew they needed to recharge their batteries. Fortunately, the day and night here were completely chaotic, and the lighting was irregular, so there wasn’t a bad time to rest.

Ge Tingting and Huang Jin lay on the single beds. As soon as their tense nerves relaxed, they quickly fell asleep.

Yin Ren consciously laid down on the floor and skillfully took out some snacks and his tablet. He was just about to greet Zhong Chengshuo but found that the other party had already gone into the bathroom and that his pajamas were gone.

Yin Ren was speechless.

Even a bizarre workplace like the “human mind” couldn’t distort Comrade Xiao Zhong’s sleeping habits or prevent him from changing into his pajamas. Unfortunately, the world had obviously distorted other things—when Zhong Chengshuo walked out again, the relaxation on his face disappeared without a trace.

He was still wearing his formal suit, which didn’t match the pompom nightcap on his head. Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze was straight, showing a bit of loss.

“I just changed into my pajamas.” Zhong Chengshuo tried hard to unbutton his suit as he spoke. “Then it changed by itself.”

Yin Ren stared at the nightcap in silence. At least the world retained some tenderness, leaving Zhong Chengshuo his nightcap—perhaps it didn’t quite understand the existence of the nightcap itself and couldn’t convert it into other impressions.

After five minutes of fighting, Zhong Chengshuo lost his battle to the suit and accepted his fate. He lay down on the floor in his formal suit; the nightcap on his head looked a bit sluggish.

Yin Ren sniffed. There was a refreshing, moist smell on Zhong Chengshuo’s body. He must have scrubbed himself carefully in the bathroom just now.

It seemed that his cleaning wipes were temporarily useless, which made Lord Ghost King quite regretful.

“You can go to bed first and get more sleep.” Yin Ren made room for his partner. “I’ll keep watch. It’s enough for me alone.”

Zhong Chengshuo took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s better not to do it alone.”

Yin Ren’s long hair was coiled like a dark spring on his pillow. Zhong Chengshuo moved his arm, seemingly unintentionally putting the back of his hand on it. This evil thing’s hair was cold and slippery, and he didn’t find any hidden teeth.

“Don’t worry. I know my heart.” Yin Ren acquiesced to his small gesture.

“Huang Jin said that he and Ge Tingting had no communication for a long time and developed a cognitive abnormality.” Zhong Chengshuo regretfully withdrew his hand. “If you’re alone, it’s not possible to stay—”

Yin Ren put down the tablet. He fixed his gaze on a point in the void; his expression suspiciously restrained. “I have good hearing.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “?”

“Go to sleep. It’s rare you have a chance to get some good rest,” Yin Ren whispered. “Trust me.”

“Okay.” Zhong Chengshuo closed his eyes. His voice was a little muffled, but he was still trying to speak. “I feel like this task… isn’t C Level anymore…”

“Indeed.” Yin Ren couldn’t help but lower his face bitterly. “Human calculations aren’t as good as those of the heavens, but we can’t do anything about it.”

As an Evil Spirit, Lord Ghost King’s luck was still in tatters.

Fang Yuanyuan said that this job “doesn’t require business trips in the early stage”. Objectively speaking, they indeed had never been out of Haigu. This time, they were even working on Shian’s campus, but they were brought into someone else’s mind.

Yin Ren’s goal of being lazy was also seriously hindered—he finally turned into a regular employee and encountered a task that wasn’t dangerous, but it took place in a weird place where there was no food or drink. Being over on this side in less than a day, he had already begun missing the night market next to the community.

As another example… He had misjudged his partner, thinking Zhong Chengshuo was just some foolish kid.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to make amends. He could still work hard and try his best to turn Zhong Chengshuo into an “accomplice”. Who would have thought that not only did they develop a relationship that restrained each other, but the restraint was actually a bit too much.

Yin Ren got rid of his distraction, relaxed his body, and continued to chat in a low voice. “Zhong Chengshuo, do you think this counts as a business trip?”

No answer.

Zhong Chengshuo had already fallen asleep. His heartbeat was low, and his breathing was steady.

Zhong Chengshuo’s sleeping posture was quite good. He breathed lightly, and his lips were slightly open. He looked extremely harmless—completely different from “King Yama” who rushed in and killed that group of monsters. It was just this person’s brows were slightly furrowed. Yin Ren wondered if he was worried about “communication” or something of that nature.

Yin Ren hesitated for a few seconds and put away the tablet. He lay back beside Zhong Chengshuo and stared at his sleeping face. A strand of long hair quietly climbed onto the pillow and slipped onto Zhong Chengshuo’s cheek. The warm breath stroked the tips of his hair, shaking it like the waves in a sea.

Yin Ren stretched out his hand and gently pressed Zhong Chengshuo’s frowning brows.

“I can hear your heartbeat like my own.”

Yin Ren could hear the steady, powerful heartbeat with vigorous vitality. The other person’s presence was so obvious that it constantly drew his attention.

They were far from a “long period of no communication”.

“…As long as you’re here, I’m not alone.” Yin Ren stared at the man’s sleeping face and moved his lips silently.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Amidst the harsh sound of the clock, the other party’s heartbeat was velvety and soft to his ears. Yin Ren closed his eyes and listened carefully…

Wait, something’s not right.

Like a pot of ice water being poured over his head, Yin Ren suddenly woke up.

Why did they come to the faculty dormitory?

They obviously entered the school at 3:00 p.m., so how could it be 6:00 p.m. after only unpacking?

They saw Guo Wei, but they didn’t investigate further, and they didn’t try to leave but went straight to the staff dormitory. Even the matter of losing contact with Lu Xiaohe was gently discarded. Even if the “cause” was nearby, such a judgment would be too hasty and reckless.

The behavior of the four of them was quite strange. Even Zhong Chengshuo, who was a science post, didn’t notice these issues.

Yin Ren was good at memory spells. He was pretty clear that this definitely wasn’t the effect of some memory technique. To be able to handle Zhong Chengshuo and himself, this had to be a more complex and broader environmental influence. Although it didn’t cause direct harm to them, it couldn’t be considered less dangerous.

Yin Ren patted his face and got up. He tiptoed out of the bunk and looked around.

Huang Jin and Ge Tingting were sleeping soundly, and there wasn’t anything abnormal around their bodies. Zhong Chengshuo was curled up, and his chest was rising and falling with his breath.

Unlike a few hours ago, the air was filled with a peculiar smell of mud before the heavy rain. Yin Ren opened the curtains and looked out. The night outside the window was like ink—it was better to say that the window seemed to be painted with ink; nothing could be seen.

There were no vortex, no monsters, no sounds. In this extraordinarily realistic dormitory, the boundary between reality and fantasy blurred for a moment.

Yin Ren completely lost his sleepiness.

As a C-Level investigation team, they had endured too much work that they shouldn’t have to bear.

It seemed it wasn’t just a simple mental illness that surrounded Guo Laifu but there was also another mystery in this person’s mind. Not to mention Shian, even he didn’t notice the abnormality himself, which meant the situation wasn’t something easy to deal with.

Waking up the three humans at once would only waste their energy. If there was a chance, the attacker would use him as a test case first.

Lord Ghost King kept his standing posture. He pinched his fingers with his hands and vigilantly guarded the center of the room.

At the same time, his hair stretched out into the shadows. They quietly drilled under the floor, extended out of the faculty dormitory, and gently touched the boundary of the campus. However, just like when they first tried to come in, the tips of Yin Ren’s hair were blocked by an invisible barrier and couldn’t move even an inch forward.

Sure enough.

Yin Ren’s test was over as soon as he touched it. He let out a sigh of relief and took Dog Thing from his pocket.

Currently, Yin Ren’s phone typing speed was just as good as any modern person’s: [Do you know what’s going on here?]

[Siren: No impression.]

[Siren: Nothing to eat.]

[Siren: It’s boring.] Dog Thing came at him with a three-response combo without giving Yin Ren any face.

[Cooperate well, and I’ll take you out to eat the weak.] Yin Ren responded patiently. [Are there any so-called strong or weak people nearby?]

Dog Thing’s screen flashed for a while. It was obvious it was weighing the costs and benefits.

[Siren: I don’t know. Smells like home here, but it’s not home.]

[Siren: Be careful.]

Yin Ren: [Be careful of what?]

[Siren: Be careful of yourself.]

[Siren: It’s different here. Don’t use your powers casually.]

After displaying this ambiguous text, Dog Thing’s screen went out. It was still the same familiar way of explaining things. Yin Ren felt bitterness in his heart. He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and continued to guard the door and windows.

After the shimmer of the screen disappeared, the room returned to darkness. The hour hand moved a bit from “7” to “12”.

The second hand of the old clock toggled for the last time. The three hands completely overlapped, and the distorted class bell sounded outside the window.

What followed immediately was the voice they had just heard not long ago.

“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School.” Accompanied by the harsh noise of the speakers, Guo Wei’s voice resounded across the campus in the same tone as in the afternoon. “Welcome to the last day of my life.”

But this time, he paused and slowly added another sentence.

“Teachers, family members, faculty, and students, you still have four chances left. Please work hard to leave the school.”

The author has something to say:

Xiao Yin: It’s really good to enter Shian. C-Level tasks won’t be troublesome. I can fish, and there’s even a cafeteria! The field service is also reimbursed.

Xiao Yin: (Gao Mengyu’s case)… Wait, this seems a bit dangerous.

Xiao Yin: (Feng Qi’s case) Why does it seem that I’m really going to die?

Xiao Yin: (Bai Yongji’s case) I’m going to die!!!

Xiao Yin: (Guo Laifu’s case) Fuck, it’s a dead person I’ve never seen before.

Xiao Zhong had already seen through it, but Xiao Zhong kept silent (.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 69: Combat Data

The sky gradually darkened, sweeping the warm light of dusk through the streets and alleys. Ge Tingting quickly checked the doors and window as Huang Jin sat up on the bed, propped up his body, and looked out the window vigilantly.

Night was coming. It was less than an hour before the last nightfall.

The first nightfall occurred around 11 a.m., and the “night” lasted for about half an hour. This time, the night was coming at noon. Their partners had just left for twenty minutes, so they had to hide for at least half an hour.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t get separated.

According to Shian’s request that “you must not act separately for over an hour”, Yin Ren’s and Zhong Chengshuo’s situation was a bit bad… They didn’t know what would happen if they were separated for too long.

Huang Jin casually glanced at Ge Tingting, then abruptly stopped.

“Hey!” He took out two wooden peace and tranquility talismans from his pocket and threw one towards Ge Tingting.

The latter was leaning against the window, motionless, as she stared intently outside. It seemed that she didn’t hear Huang Jin as the wooden talisman fell at her feet, and she didn’t respond.

Click.

Hearing the crisp sound of wood, the girl seemed to have woken up from a dream and rubbed her eyes vigorously.

[Ten Thousand Taels: Your thinking was a little stagnant just now. What are you looking at?]

[Ear Person: I’m looking at pedestrians. They are smiling at me.]

[Ten Thousand Taels: They have no face.]

[Ear Person: I know. I was confused for a short while. It’s just… I think the world should be like this—it’s normal.]

[Ear Person: Strange, last time I thought it was very scary.]

[Ten Thousand Taels: Wear the wooden talismans and keep it close to you and stay away from the window.]

[Milky Way: Huang Jin’s suggestion is good, but there’s no need to be so close to the enemy.] Lu Xiaohe suddenly joined the conversation. Strangely, the text of her reply was beating slightly.

[Milky Way: Look at %. There is no @ or anything %#…] Incomprehensible characters began to mix between her words.

Huang Jin pressed his temples hard and then looked intently at the two replies from “Milky Way” that had disappeared.

Compared to Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, they encountered trouble first.

Ge Tingting was extremely cautious around adult men. After the pair of partners left, she shrank to the corner farthest from Huang Jin and just stared out the window without making any eye contact. In a sense, it was as if both were alone.

It wasn’t until Ge Tingting’s thoughts on the surface began to stagnate on the surface of her body and became mottled that Huang Jin noticed the strangeness.

It was no wonder why Shian emphasized “don’t act separately for more than an hour”. Inside the Archive, “being alone” was dangerous. Even if they weren’t injured as a result, their mobility and efficiency would become lower.

For example, like now. In Huang Jin’s eyes, this hotel was familiar. He only stayed here for a few hours, but he felt a subconscious intimacy as if he had lived here for many years.

Huang Jin also hung a peace and tranquility talisman around himself and took a deep breath. “Since there’s only us now, you’d better not stay by the window. It’s not safe there.”

“Okay.” After Ge Tingting put on the talisman, she finally recovered. Her body was trembling slightly. “But I have to take another look at the situation.”

As night fell, the orange-red outside the window had faded to gray-black.

Ge Tingting took a deep breath and bravely glanced out the window. Sure enough, the monsters reappeared.

This time, the ranks of the small monsters were sparse; much fewer than last time. Their posture had also changed subtly. Last time, they seemed to be wandering aimlessly, while this time, they all swarmed in a certain direction, looking as if they were in a hurry.

[Ear Person: I can hear their squeaking sound. They may be communicating.]

[Ear Person: It’s different from last time. They were very quiet last time.]

After typing, she closed the curtains with a swish and ran to Huang Jin’s bed to sit down. Huang Jin nodded at her, indicating he had seen it.

After Ge Tingting communicated with him, Huang Jin’s inexplicable “environment intimacy” quickly faded—as if immersed in a game with crude modeling, suddenly a figure outside his field of vision began to talk. That impact was enough to make people realize the dividing line between “reality” and “illusory”.

The Archive was truly a wicked place.

“Hello, Lu Xiaohe?” Making sure that there weren’t any little monsters that were breaking into the room, Huang Jin tapped on his headset. “It’s nightfall. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo haven’t come back yet.”

“It’s not a problem,” Lu Xiaohe said. “I’m looking at their physical condition, and the two of them are fine for the time being.”

It was better to say that those two guys were more than capable. Lu Xiaohe took a sip of her orange soda as her eyes swept across the emotional scale.

Zhong Chengshuo’s emotions were still stable at “Curious”, “Excited” and “Like”. Yin Ren didn’t have any emotions, such as fear. At most, he was a little “Surprised”, and the rest were only “Happy” and “Like” which kept floating higher.

Why was the “Like” index of these two guys getting higher?

Lu Xiaohe scratched her head, perplexed.

The emotions inside the “Archive” would be more prominent, but Shian could only analyze emotions, but couldn’t distinguish the source.

As far as Lu Xiaohe knew, the interior of the Archive wasn’t a good place.

This time, Guo Laifu’s “street Archive” was even considered normal compared to the Archive that Unit 7 had entered last time. In the mind of that mad man was a huge harem, which forced the people in Unit 7 to wear concubine clothing. Wang Ge of the science post had to run around wearing a dress and suffered greatly.

But no matter how innocuous the background of these files was, they always had a distorted and treacherous side. Coupled with the monsters crawling all over the ground at night, the Archive itself was by no means inviting.

Besides affection towards one’s companions, Lu Xiaohe couldn’t think of anything else these two guys would like—the problem was that the indicators of these two people were already beyond the scope of affection towards one’s teammate. As soon as night fell, their “Like” index gratifyingly rose.

It shouldn’t be some new type of monster that confused them, but it was a pity she couldn’t see the surveillance screen. Lu Xiaohe sighed.

“Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, report your situation.”

She tried to contact the two of them.

“I’m running for my life right now. Let’s talk later.” After a gap of more than ten seconds, Yin Ren’s vague voice came.

Lu Xiaohe: “……”

She glanced suspiciously at the emotional indices of the two people and for the first time began to doubt the accuracy of Shian’s machinery.

……

To be precise, Yin Ren was indeed fleeing.

The surrounding buildings looked like residential areas, but who knew what the hell kind of messy things were inside. The moment those monsters appeared, Yin Ren grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s waist, and the two flew into the sky again.

Not long ago, it seemed that not many of these monsters could fly. They just need to remember this place and quickly fly back to the hotel—

“Yin Ren!” Zhong Chengshuo warned.

Yin Ren looked down and almost choked.

For some unknown reason, all the small monsters in the vicinity gathered around them. They squirmed into groups, folded into thin and long “arms”, and grabbed at the two of them.

In the dark night, they seemed to have dived into a deep sea of malicious intent. The arms looked like seaweed floating with the waves.

“Not possible!” Lord Ghost King hugged his partner tightly and flew higher. “Weren’t they quite peaceful before?”

Did they commit any taboos? Such as an electric shock, sealing the toilet, cutting off a sample with scissors, or something like that…

Perhaps all that was too much. Yin Ren silently dodged an inverted arm. He couldn’t go back to the hotel now. If these things followed, the scene would be enough to leave brand-new psychological scars for Huang Jin and Ge Tingting.

…But why was Zhong Chengshuo so calm?

Yin Ren looked at the scholar’s face—Zhong Chengshuo was looking curiously at the little monsters stacked on top of each other with no emotion on his handsome face.

“How about this. I’ll find a roof nearby and use that trick again.” Yin Ren removed the headset and whispered to Zhong Chengshuo.

If he wrapped a wing ball around them, it should be regarded as “tightly closed door and windows”. When the night was over, they would fly back immediately.

“No,” Zhong Chengshuo responded simply. “Once you’re affected, the consequences are unimaginable.”

“How can I…” Yin Ren suddenly realized something before he finished speaking.

His emotions in the “Archive” weren’t right. There was always a feeling of lightness deep in his mind. His mood swings were greater than those of the outside world, so it was difficult to say whether they had anything to do with these things.

“After entering here, you’ve been very excited and often distracted.”

Seeing that Yin Ren didn’t respond, Zhong Chengshuo sincerely added. At this moment, he was tightly hugged by Yin Ren around his waist and abdomen, so his voice was a bit low.

“You and Huang Jin aren’t the same. We can’t take risks.”

Yin Ren held his partner’s hand tightly.

If he went out of control like Huang Jin, then Zhong Chengshuo would be one unlucky man—a single blow would not solve the Evil Force in his human form. Even if it was only a one-in-a-billion chance, Yin Ren didn’t want to be cocky.

“I understand,” Yin Ren replied solemnly. “Let’s continue to stall for time.”

“No, find another roof.” Zhong Chengshuo turned his head and took off his headset. “You can’t try, but I can.”

His face was full of eagerness. “Even if I can’t take a sample, I have to get some data.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Yin Ren protested.

“You can control me, and you’ll protect me,” Zhong Chengshuo said without much thought.

Yin Ren: “……”

Lord Ghost King’s breathing was short for a few seconds. He looked away, and his voice became muffled again. “Indeed.”

Not only did his evil identity fail to deter Zhong Chengshuo, but it became a pigtail in the hands of the other party. However, what Zhong Chengshuo said was still accurate—looking at those eyes, he couldn’t say anything harsh in response.

Yin Ren painfully decided that when they returned he would read <The Art of Communication>. It most assuredly contained some mysterious knowledge he wasn’t aware of.

Not long after, Yin Ren found a spacious roof and put Zhong Chengshuo down.

“…You try. I’m nearby. We’ll withdraw if the situation isn’t right.” As the small monsters slowly approached, Yin Ren looked more nervous than Zhong Chengshuo. “Don’t force it.”

Zhong Chengshuo moved and put black gloves on his hands. Yin Ren floated above him, posing in a protective posture as his long hair fluttered in the air.

The small monsters climbed along the side of the building, and the first batch was about to arrive.

Whoosh. A fleshy xanthium rushed towards Zhong Chengshuo. Yin Ren saw Great King Yama grab it then—

Placed it on top of his head.

Yin Ren and the fleshy xanthium: “?”

Zhong Chengshuo held his breath for a few seconds, then tore it off suspiciously. “Why are you so useless?”

Fleshy xanthium: “……”

Oh, this was the Zhong Chengshuo that Yin Ren was familiar with. For a moment, Yin Ren felt that the thing wanted to curse.

Zhong Chengshuo flicked it off with his hand. The xanthium was thrown off the roof as Zhong Chengshuo tried the same thing with two more. Except for making him feel slimy, they didn’t do any harm to him.

The second group of monsters that climbed up were spider-legged. They were white all over, and their four spider feet were spliced from the root. Those things were about half a person tall and moved awkwardly and stiffly, making people’s stomachs churn as they watched them.

The one in the lead ran quickly and wrapped itself around Zhong Chengshuo in a menacing manner. Seeing that Zhong Chengshuo successfully confronted the monster, Yin Ren rolled up his sleeves and created a series of winds that carpet bombed the area. All the spiders that were rushing over were all blown away by the gale.

Comrade Xiao Zhong and a spider’s feet were passionately embraced for a few seconds in the middle of the gale…

“You’re useless too,” he commented with disappointment.

Zhong Chengshuo made a beautiful spin, and the spider-footed monster was thrown to the ground. Great King Yama stepped on the thing’s long foot connection with one foot and pressed his hands hard. A dull sound resonated; the spider-footed monster’s foot was actually ripped off by him.

This time, before Zhong Chengshuo could say anything, the white monster rolled back and ran away.

Yin Ren raised his hand to stop the wind. The offensive of the rest of the little monsters suddenly slowed down significantly. They surged around the roof, watching these two bold humans.

Zhong Chengshuo split the overly long spider foot on his knee and removed a long, sword-like hooked claw, spinning it around his hand with satisfaction. “Yin Ren, take a break.”

Having said that, he took the initiative to rush towards the small group of monsters.

Yin Ren floated faintly in the air. He thought for a while, then tore open the dried mango bag he was carrying.

Unlike when he fought against Bai Yongji, this was the first time he had witnessed “King Yama” fighting head-on.

Like a sharp knife, Zhong Chengshuo pierced the place where the monsters were most dense. It was confirmed that the “useless” ones were knocked into the air by the first wave, while Zhong Chengshuo would deliberately let those with “faces” get close.

However, they didn’t satisfy him—the encirclement of the little monsters was torn apart again and again, and they quickly joined the category of “useless” and were ruthlessly swept off the rooftop by Zhong Chengshuo.

Zhong Chengshuo’s physical strength seemed inexhaustible. The severed limb was like a piercing, sharp sword. The long legs that were wrapped around his suit were chopped and swept away. He moved freely in the sea of monsters without a single superfluous action.

The suit jacket that was unbuttoned flew up and down like a black dead leaf.

When he hit the target, Zhong Chengshuo jumped off the edge of the low building, using the little monsters as a pedestal as he leapt freely in the air. His body was like a fish swimming in the deep sea.

For a while, fleshy xanthium and spider legs were scattered about, while sticky fern-like monsters were trampled on the ground.

The emotional influence they prided themselves on having had no effect, and their bodies couldn’t trap this evil spirit. The small monsters in the dark night all folded and crawled around Zhong Chengshuo, trying to avoid him.

Finally, the sky gradually lit up, and those distorted figures silently disappeared.

The first beam of light appeared. Zhong Chengshuo jumped off the edge of the rooftop and landed on the back of a spherical monster. The monster turned into a phantom in the light. Zhong Chengshuo’s feet didn’t touch anything solid, and he fell straight downward—

“Snap.”

The next moment, Yin Ren grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s hand and pulled him back onto the rooftop.

Zhong Chengshuo raised the corner of his mouth.

Despite such a thrilling moment, Zhong Chengshuo’s breathing wasn’t chaotic; only his clothes were slightly damaged. When he returned to the rooftop, he sat on the edge and straightened his sweaty hair as he took a long breath.

Yin Ren sat down beside him. “They can’t affect you. Is this also an ability of a science post?”

Unlike Huang Jin, Zhong Chengshuo had no emotional abnormality, but when Lu Xiaohe was briefing them, she didn’t say anything along the lines of “science posts aren’t affected”.

“Perhaps,” Zhong Chengshuo said hesitantly. “The combat ability of these things isn’t strong, but they’re difficult to kill. It’s best not to entangle with them too much… If we must face them, I’ll need a spirit weapon.”

Before dawn, there were quite a few severed limbs and unknown liquids on the ground, but not a single body in sight. If the emotional influence of these things was still there, they probably weren’t easy to deal with.

Yin Ren was silent. His gaze stopped on Zhong Chengshuo’s messy hair—they had rushed out in such a hurry that he had only remembered to take the dried mangoes, and he hadn’t brought the cleansing wipes.

What a miscalculation.

Fortunately, he still had a way to redeem himself. Yin Ren picked up a piece of dried mango and wrapped it in a napkin, then handed it over to Zhong Chengshuo. “Here, replenish your strength.”

“My hands aren’t…” Zhong Chengshuo opened his mouth, but a piece of dried mango was instantly stuffed into it.

“It’s not bad to watch the sunrise and then go back.” Yin Ren also took a bite and sighed vaguely. “It’s dawn.”

Zhong Chengshuo chewed on the dried mango as he tore open a pack of alcohol wipes and wiped his hands repeatedly five times before he grabbed a piece of the preserved fruit through the napkin.

The bloody dawn swept by, and the street gradually lit up. In the orange-red light, there was a thin mist floating under the building, giving the lush trees a hazy feel, revealing a strange beauty.

“There’s no sun,” Zhong Chengshuo said after he finished chewing on the dried mango.

“Mm, there’s no sun,” Yin Ren repeated. “Next time we play outside, we can take a look at a version with the sun.”

Zhong Chengshuo turned his head and looked at Yin Ren solemnly. He opened his mouth and was just about to say something—

“Yin Ren! Zhong Chengshuo!” Lu Xiaohe’s scream came out of both their pockets. “Put on your headset! I know you’re there!”

Through Comrade Huang Jin’s punctual broadcast, she knew it was dawn and a certain two people’s vital signs were stable, with “Excited” and “Like” readings at a new high.

“Xiaohe Jie?”

“What the hell are you two doing?” Lu Xiaohe felt suffocated as she couldn’t reveal that they were being monitored emotionally. “Why aren’t you wearing your headset?!”

“I was fleeing too messy just now and was afraid of losing it, so I stuffed it in my pocket.” Lord Ghost King lied on the spot. “There was a small crisis, but nothing happened. Zhong Ge and I are fine.”

“…” Lu Xiaohe’s silence was full of suspicion.

“We also found new clues,” Zhong Chengshuo added in time. “We can start the investigation in the afternoon.”

“I see,” Lu Xiaohe reluctantly replied. “Next time, don’t run too far away from the stronghold.”

“Understood.”

……

At 3:00 p.m. outside time, four people stopped at the entrance of the school.

The old doorman opened the window and looked at them blankly. Although he had just seen them a few hours earlier, he didn’t seem to recognize Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo.

“Not a person.” Huang Jin lowered the brim of his cap. “He has no thoughts on him. He’s just a dead thing.”

“What are you doing here?” the old guard asked indifferently.

“Sending a child to school.” Yin Ren put his hand on Ge Tingting’s shoulders. “This is my cousin, whom my family is currently taking care of for the time being. You see, she’s wearing the school’s uniform.”

Ge Tingting gulped. She straightened out her school uniform and put on a stiff smile.

This was Guo Laifu’s brain, so the school uniforms were naturally the style he was most familiar with subconsciously—that was, the style of this school.

“What about him?” The doorman examined Ge Tingting for a moment and then pointed to Zhong Chengshuo.

“He is my…” Yin Ren coughed dryly. “He’s my lover and just transferred to be a trainee teacher. We’ll be living in the faculty dorm, so we’ll often trouble you in the future.”

Zhong Chengshuo said with a stern face, “Mm, I teach biology.”

The strange face of the old doorman twitched twice, but he didn’t say anything. He then turned to Huang Jin. “Maintenance worker? Janitor…”

“Yes, I’m a janitor.” Huang Jin stared at the ground and recited his lines dryly. “Things in the school are breaking fast, and I can fix anything.”

This time the guard thought on the janitor the longest.

“I see.” A few minutes later, he muttered to himself. “Alright, you guys can come in.”

The rusted metal door slowly slid open, and the four of them cautiously stepped into the campus.

“Our school implements fully enclosed management,” the old doorman said slowly as everyone passed through the gate. “You can’t leave even after death, so pay attention.”

The author has something to say:

Thinking about it carefully, two of the four people have not gone to high school (…)

Xiao Zhong is having fun (×

Xiao Yin: We were really fleeing. We only used wind control and physical strikes!

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Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 68: Scavenger Hunt

King Yama’s movements were smooth, flicking the xanthium into the air.

With a turn of his body, he picked up his leather shoe and kicked the xanthium into the toilet with precision. The next moment, the dirty toilet seat was stepped on by Zhong Chengshuo.

The xanthium didn’t have time to react, only being able to leave a few soft thorns outside—they were pressed into the gap between the toilet and the toilet seat and feebly stretched.

Zhong Chengshuo had cruelly stepped on the lid, tore off a piece of adhesive tape with a scoff, and taped up the toilet lid tightly.

After confirming the xanthium couldn’t escape, Comrade Xiao Zhong wiped his hands with satisfaction and looked at the hole that was poked open.

In the coin-sized hole, a human eye slowly moved. The whites of those eyes were bloodshot, and the pupils were cloudy and lax, without any luster. It turned slowly, looking at Zhong Chengshuo without emotion.

It seemed that the “person” on the other side didn’t have that many xanthiums in stock.

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t hesitate at all. He quickly walked forward and stopped opposite the hole.

King Yama kept a step away. He raised his dark eyes and looked at the thing without fear. The muscles in his body were tense, and he clenched the scissors used to cut the tape tightly in his right hand, ready to attack the hole at any moment.

The distance between the eye hole was less than half a meter.

They looked at each other for an extremely long time. Zhong Chengshuo’s heartbeat was smooth, and there wasn’t any disturbance in his breathing.

The intimidation of the monster’s eye gradually deteriorated, turning into faint doubt, which then turned into slight fear. Under Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze, the “person” on the opposite side slowly retreated and disappeared without a trace.

It seemed that the “person” on the opposite side wasn’t part of the set but also wasn’t a “living person” like them. Zhong Chengshuo turned his dark eyes. He only had time to see the figure of that thing.

It was a humanoid. Wasn’t tall, thin, and looked like a teenager.

Unfortunately, it was still night, so it wasn’t convenient for him to open the door and chase. Zhong Chengshuo shook his head regretfully and took out a sample box. He looked at the clinking toilet seat with satisfaction as he twirled the small scissors in his hand.

The sharp scissors touched the soft thorns, and a moment later there was a click.

Xanthium: “—!!!”

Ge Tingting, who was outside the door, instantly covered her ears: [Something screamed in the bathroom just now. It sounded worse than being electrocuted!]

“Zhong Chengshuo is there, so there shouldn’t be any problems.” Yin Ren firmly guarded his corner with a serene expression. “He’s probably taking samples.”

Besides, he didn’t hear the sound, so it wasn’t Zhong Chengshuo who was screaming. Since the xanthium was a physical entity, he could only take a few seconds to mourn for it.

Not long after, the bathroom door creaked open. Zhong Chengshuo stepped out contentedly, carrying a small tool bag.

……

“I believe you have discovered that day and night here alternate much faster than outside. The ‘dark night’ symbolizes the unstable mental state of the file’s owner.”

The short night was coming to an end. The parade outside the window was nearing its end. Huang Jin had almost calmed down as Lu Xiaohe’s distant voice came from the headset.

“The ‘things’ you just saw will only act in the dark and are only present in the minds of those who are mentally disturbed.”

“Their specific causes are unknown. They can affect people’s emotions to a certain extent. Everyone should have seen Huang Jin’s situation.”

The three of them surrounded Huang Jin’s bedside while Huang Jin lay on the bed like a corpse. The entire scene resembled some kind of funeral for the body.

On Lu Xiaohe’s screen, Huang Jin’s emotion readings of “Regret” and “Doubt” remained high.

“That thing is very powerful,” he explained to the ceiling in melancholy. He looked a lot better than he did just now. “I didn’t notice it at all. I felt… I suddenly felt anxious, and it was difficult for me to think, as if all the troubles in my life were stuffed into my mind.”

Huang Jin considered himself to be the calm type, but in just those dozen seconds, he had absolutely no way to control his thinking. Before Lu Xiaohe unleashed the electric shock, he even had a vague impulse to self-harm.

The electric shock was like a pot of ice water, which completely woke him up and made him numb.

“This is what I want to say.”

Lu Xiaohe’s voice became solemn.

“Don’t touch those things. They can cause extremely strong emotional disturbances. Judging from current research, long-term exposure may cause psychological collapse and even induce serious mental illness. In the minds of the mentally ill, they are the greatest danger.”

“The way to hide is simple. Find the nearest building, close the doors and windows, and wait for the ‘night’ to pass. Don’t deliberately provoke, let alone think about taking samples for research—those samples will dissipate as soon as ‘day’ comes.”

Given that there was only one science post present, Yin Ren instantly looked at Zhong Chengshuo, noticing the dewy look of satisfaction on his face had disappeared.

Comrade Xiao Zhong slowly looked at the sample in the glass tube, which was now empty. Zhong Chengshuo shook it in silence with an expression like he had lost his wallet.

His “excitement” index took a big dive, reaching a freezing point.

“I see. No wonder the basin is so quiet. It turns out that this thing will disappear automatically.” Seeing Zhong Chengshuo frozen, Yin Ren hurriedly changed the subject. “Xiaohe Jie, we most likely understand the situation. It’s a mess outside now. How can we get Guo Laifu back to normal?”

The buildings on the entire street had changed shape, so they didn’t have any masonry work. At night, there were messy monsters running around, and they couldn’t be touched.

How could they save him? By standing in the middle of the street and expressing their feelings to Guo Laifu loudly?

The problem was that Guo Laifu wasn’t a sleeping beauty waiting to be rescued, but a vicious murderer. They were only helping him regain his sanity, not only to investigate the cause but also to allow the police to put him on trial and sentence him to death.

With this in mind, it was difficult to say whether Guo Laifu himself was willing to become sane again.

“You have to look at the source of the distortion.” Lu Xiaohe seemed to have anticipated this problem some time ago. “Guo Laifu murdered five people, then fled under police pursuit for nearly half a year. This person is cruel and vicious by nature, so it stands to reason that he won’t be so easily collapsed.”

“People’s consciousness is very complicated. In order to protect themselves, the brain will hide huge stimuli. There must be some abnormal phenomena on this street. If you find the source of the distortion, you can determine the cause.”

So it turned out to be a scavenger hunt! Lord Ghost King was instantly energetic.

Finding “the cause of Guo Laifu’s madness” was much more interesting than “exploring the past of this scumbag”.

Guo Laifu, 47 years old, killed and mutilated five people in an extremely cruel manner. One of the victims was even his own son.

The case was clear, and the evidence was sufficient. Yin Ren wasn’t interested in this guy’s experience. If it weren’t for Shian and the police watching him, he wouldn’t mind directly smashing Guo Laifu’s skull right away.

“So that’s how it is. As long as you can avoid those monsters, this task isn’t dangerous by nature.” After listening to the explanation, Zhong Chengshuo’s attention was successfully distracted from the “lost sample”. “…What happens after the cause is found?”

“Record, and then destroy.” Lu Xiaohe lowered her voice. “Guo Laifu will wake up soon after that irritating memory is erased.”

Zhong Chengshuo stared at the empty test tube without blinking. “I understand.”

“Everyone, take a break. I’ll have lunch too.” Lu Xiaohe’s voice became lighter again. “The time inside is chaotic, but it’s always good to have three meals regularly!”

Hearing this, Huang Jin took out the compressed biscuit and broke off a small piece, then gnawed on it expressionlessly. Ge Tingting also followed suit and quickly swallowed her noon quota.

“Zhong Ge and I will go out again and take a look.” Yin Ren casually grabbed a packet of dried mangoes. “I can fly, so I have a larger field of vision. Maybe I can find something suspicious.”

Ge Tingting nodded while Huang Jin turned away and waved his hand weakly.

Outside the hotel, there was still plenty of light on the street. Except for the street being more distorted, they couldn’t see any slight traces of monsters.

Colored pedestrians and vehicles passed by from time to time, and the green trees in the flower beds looked hazy like cobwebs. Incomprehensible words floated on the signboards of shops, and the desserts in the window kept twisting non-stop, their edges were quivering.

They exuded a thin and sweet fragrance intermittently, which didn’t make them look attractive at all.

Yin Ren stretched his waist and cracked his joints. He opened Nail Coffins, and as expected, all the messages sent out had small exclamation marks.

It seemed that he couldn’t summon ghosts in this place.

A ghost master was useless here, a spirit smith couldn’t bring too much material, while it would be difficult for a corpse servant to dig up remains in the minds of others. The restrictions on all metaphysical occupations in this world were quite large. Even if there was an enemy invasion, most likely people could only fight purely through physical combat.

It was no wonder why Lu Xiaohe said it was safer here.

Since he couldn’t recruit his ghosts, he would need to hug Zhong Chengshuo as they fly to do their science post and non-science post double inspection.

Yin Ren looked at Zhong Chengshuo’s clothes and suddenly felt that the material was too tight and he didn’t have much room to grab on to. Now that Shian was watching them, Yin Ren couldn’t arbitrarily transform, but he couldn’t naturally pick up his partner.

Should he just hug him from behind? Zhong Chengshuo was about his height, so his vision would be obstructed, and his posture would be uncomfortable.

It was a bit silly to carry him on his shoulders, though, and while princess carrying was possible, Zhong Chengshuo might not like such a constrained posture.

…Or would he prefer to be carried on his back?

Lord Ghost King fell into deep contemplation. Has this problem ever been so difficult before?

“Yin Ren, I’m ready,” Zhong Chengshuo said.

At some point, Zhong Chengshuo had taken out a parachute strap-like equipment that was firmly fixed to his body. At the end of the strap was a handle for Yin Ren.

Yin Ren: “…..”

Yin Ren picked up his partner in silence and rose into the air.

Like two unaware flying insects, they rushed toward the huge vortex overhead. Twisted buildings came crashing in, and countless wrecks swept across their sides. The deformed street became smaller under their feet, curving around like a brain trench. The buildings looked like they were copied and pasted, as each block looked the same, forming a certain irregular pattern.

The only thing left in the sky were the ever-expanding, twisted skyscrapers that looked like hair. Yin Ren nimbly passed through the gaps in the floor, ignoring the deformed faces and crimson handprints pressed against the glass.

The sky and earth rotated, and the colors blended into a mass.

Yin Ren flew faster. It was probably because they were in the world of someone’s consciousness that there was no wind resounding in their ear and their breathing was unusually smooth.

It had been too long since Yin Ren had felt this way—soaring between the heavens and the earth, as if he had turned into wind. Unlike before, there was a heavy weight in his hand, and another person’s heartbeat was close by.

Even if the scenery was weird, Yin Ren couldn’t help flipping in the air a few more times. His long hair drifted away, and his figure broke through the cloudless sky like an exceptionally happy bird.

An inexplicable sense of relief embraced him.

…As if he were born to belong here.

“How’s it going, Zhong Chengshuo?” Under the huge vortex, Yin Ren smiled happily. “Is it enjoyable?”

At this moment, Zhong Chengshuo took advantage of his strength and grabbed onto Yin Ren’s arm. He hooked Yin Ren’s ankles and put his arms around Lord Ghost King’s waist. The two of them were entangled in the air for a few seconds before Zhong Chengshuo’s entire body fell on Yin Ren’s back.

Yin Ren’s laughter got stuck in his throat. A large area of body heat clung to his back, causing him to nearly hit the glass wall in front of him.

The tips of Zhong Chengshuo’s ears were slightly red, but his movements were firm—

“Over there.”

He put his chin on Yin Ren’s shoulders, trying to ensure that his eyes were level. After holding Yin Ren firmly, Zhong Chengshuo stretched out a hand and pointed to the building the size of a grain of rice under his feet.

“There’s a building over there that’s not repeated anywhere else.”

Yin Ren: “…Oh.” He tightened his body, not daring to move. The flexible bird had instantly turned into a humanoid kite.

As always, Zhong Chengshuo was fully focused on the task. For some reason, the sense of enjoyment Yin Ren just felt had disappeared without a trace, leaving him a little lost.

He stopped speaking and landed sideways at a uniform speed near where Zhong Chengshuo was pointing.

As a result, within a few steps after landing, Yin Ren’s subtle anger became heavier. He turned around and shook Zhong Chengshuo off his back, then grabbed him.

“Hug my waist and step on the top of my feet when we’re up there.” Yin Ren avoided Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze. “It’s too conspicuous if you’re on my back.”

Zhong Chengshuo spat out a long hair and let out a muffled “Nn”.

A few minutes later, the two hovered in the air and looked at a building under their feet.

This was a school.

Unlike the rigid and repetitive buildings around, the outline of the school’s building was particularly clear and out of place.

There were many students on the playground. Though they were blurred color blocks, they were much clearer than the pedestrians on the street. At least they could see the blurred and crooked eyebrows. The color block students ran and played on the playground to the tune of the class bell that interspersed with the dismissal bell, which made an unpleasant melody that swept through the playground from time to time.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were actually not that far from the ground, but the students were unresponsive to them, going on as if they were just two invisible people.

“The reason for Guo Laifu’s madness is related to the school?”

Yin Ren pondered for a bit, unable to imagine how a serial murderer could be driven crazy by an ordinary school.

“Guo Wei, 17 years old. The last victim was Guo Laifu’s own son.” Zhong Chengshuo frowned as he looked down. “When he was killed by Guo Laifu, Guo Wei had just started his sophomore year in high-school.”

Guo Laifu himself only had a junior high school education, and he had never set foot in a proper high school before. The impression of the high school in front of him was clear, which meant it couldn’t have originated from Guo Laifu’s own schooling experience.

“Guilt? Seems unlikely.” Yin Ren hissed.

If Guo Laifu had such a conscience, he wouldn’t have chopped up his own son’s body into minced meat and then calmly hid for six months.

“I don’t think so. There must be other reasons.”

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t look at Yin Ren. As if looking for something, his gaze moved back and forth across the playground and the windows of the teaching building.

“…It may also be that, for some reason, his ‘cause of illness’ is hidden nearby.”

Yin Ren nodded and cooperated by lowering his altitude.

The two of them descended to a height of about 10 meters before the bottom of Yin Ren’s foot gave a “thud”. He had unexpectedly bumped into a barrier, and nearly broke his ankle in the void. Luckily, Lord Ghost King reacted quickly, and he urgently regained his balance to prevent the tragic case of “tumbling in mid-air with Zhong Chengshuo”.

“Idle people are not allowed to enter the school,” a hoarse voice said.

Yin Ren lowered his head and saw a severely deformed face.

It was an elderly security guard, but his face was distorted like melted wax. His neck was twisted at an incredible angle, as his face was directly staring at them. The old man’s facial features were terrible, but his tone was extremely stern.

“Idle people are not allowed to enter the school,” he repeated. In his pair of deformed eyes, there was only a deep and dull black.

Yin Ren stomped hard on the barrier under his feet. It had no traces of evil qi or spiritual energy. The school just simply “rejected” them.

It seemed impossible to break through.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo looked at each other and flew to the entrance of the school. Zhong Chengshuo buttoned up his suit, while Yin Ren straightened the hem of his shirt. After fixing their appearance, the two politely walked towards the gatekeeper.

The half-human-high metal folding door was closed. The guard booth window opened, and the distorted old face poked out.

“What are you doing here?” he asked bluntly.

“Visiting the campus,” Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly.

The chubby face that looked like melting wax trembled. “The school is not open!”

“…Hey, wait a minute. We are writing an interview with the senior management of your school, and we have to greet your leaders.” Yin Ren quickly rubbed the window. The glass felt real and made a sound under his hands. “Today, we’re just taking in the scene first and we’ll quickly leave.”

“I haven’t heard of this.” The old man glanced at the two of them, then mercilessly closed the window.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo: “…..”

The old man really didn’t give any maneuvering room.

Through the sliding door, the students wore big blue and white school uniforms and were laughing and jumping around in the playground. In the hoarse tone of the changing bell, the sky gradually darkened.

“Well, at least we have a target. Let’s go back first.” Zhong Chengshuo stared at the group of students. “It doesn’t seem impossible to get in here… We just need to have a ‘reasonable enough’ reason.”

Yin Ren let out a sigh.

He turned his head and looked at the weird campus behind him.

There was no problem with Zhong Chengshuo’s judgment. To figure out the specific situation on campus, it was better to bring Ge Tingting and Huang Jin as well.

It was just…

The atmosphere here was indescribably strange. He could feel a kind of hostility, but he couldn’t tell where it came from.

Inside the teaching building, behind a certain window.

In the shadows, a pair of eyes quietly stared at the two of them. The whites of those eyes were congested, and the pupils were muddy and lax without any luster. After a while, the owner of those eyes picked up a ballpoint pen and pressed his thumb to the end of the pen.

Click.

It was like turning off the lights of the entire world. All of a sudden, the surroundings were completely dark.

The author has something to say:

Xiao Zhong: _(:з”∠)_

Xiao Yin: _(:з”∠)_

Probably they flew like this (×

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