Chapter 14: The Door Has Been Welded Shut, No One Can Escape!
Upon learning that the school ahead might be an active site for urban legends, Lu Yibei sincerely said, “Uncle, you believe me, I don’t know why they come to date in such a place.”
“Hiss—hu!” The driver uncle took a deep puff of his cigarette, nodded slightly, and expressionlessly said, “Hmm, I believe you. Hurry up and get out of the car! I need to go home.”
As soon as his words fell, Lu Yibei felt that the unbearable hunger pangs were somewhat alleviated.
d*mn! Are you actually believing me?
You must not be thinking that I am some kind of urban legend, right? Heh! Men!
Lu Yibei silently scoffed, maintaining an expressionless face, “Then what about the fare…”
“Forget it!” The driver’s face darkened. You™ hinted at it on purpose, do I even dare to ask for it?
“Fine.” Lu Yibei responded helplessly, opening the car door.
In passing, she secretly stuffed a fifty-yuan note on the side of the seat near the door.
Even though it’s been nice to get a free ride all along, but…
It’s not easy for someone to be out driving a taxi at night, I can’t keep leeching off them, can I?
Just as she stood up, Lu Yibei seemed to suddenly remember something and sat back down, tilting her head to look at the driver uncle.
The driver uncle had just relaxed a bit, wiped the rearview mirror, and was preparing to leave when he suddenly noticed a head peeking in from behind, a pair of dark red eyes stealthily watching him, and he instantly jumped, almost leaping out of his seat.
“What do you want? I warn you, don’t mess around! I’m the champion of the amateur group in the 32nd Huacheng Inter-High School Mixed Martial Arts Competition!”
When did Huacheng hold a mixed martial arts competition?
Lu Yibei thought to herself as she spoke up, “Uncle, don’t be afraid! I just want a way to contact you for when I need a ride!”
After all, I might often come to places like this in the future, Lu Yibei added in her mind.
Wasn’t the uncle supposed to be collecting material for his article? Isn’t this perfect?
Even if she might be scared at first, she would get used to it, right?
While Lu Yibei pondered, she leaned towards the front seat, took a business card from a small box, and said, “Zhang Shan…” Taking a glance at the card, she then waved at the driver uncle, “Thanks, Uncle Zhang! I’ll definitely help you with your business in the future!”
The corner of the driver uncle’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.
A girl who might be an urban legend said she’d help his business long-term—does that move you or not?
Dare not move, dare not move.JPG
Lu Yibei got out of the car, and soon vanished from sight on the winding mountain road.
The driver uncle leaned back in his seat, lost in thought, until he realized that the cigarette in his hand had burned down to the end, the heat finally jolting him back to reality, and he hurriedly started the car and drove away.
That night, a legend about a white-haired girl who always appeared at night, scaring taxi drivers for fun and never paying fares, gradually began to take shape in the driver uncle’s mind…
……
Lu Yibei walked along the mountain road leading to Shihhekou Middle School, the ground covered with decaying fallen leaves, with a track of tire marks likely left by the taxi that carried that girl.
The waist-high withered yellow grass on both sides rustled lightly in the evening wind, as if there was…
No! There definitely was something hiding inside whispering.
However, as soon as Lu Yibei turned her attention towards it, those things fled at an incredible speed.
Because just moments ago the driver uncle “generously” provided Lu Yibei with some “food,” her hunger was temporarily alleviated, and she didn’t pursue it recklessly.
……
Continuing along the mountain road.
The yellowed branches filtered no light from the sky, and after walking a distance, the buildings on the hillside gradually came into view.
It was autumn, the trees’ leaves in the mountain were withered and yellowed, and through the tangled branches, a number of gray-white European style domed buildings could be vaguely seen.
Is that Shihhekou Middle School? Lu Yibei squinted her eyes.
What was that girl doing coming to such a place in the middle of the night?
Could it be that she was really here to hunt?
Lu Yibei continued down the mountain road, and soon saw some toppled signs and a wooden fence.
The signs and the fence had been moved aside, lying on the ground, with tire marks from a car and some disordered footprints.
Seeing that, Lu Yibei suddenly realized that the taxi that had carried that girl up the mountain had never returned.
That was very unusual!
The taxi drivers active in this city could be said to be among the most familiar with the city; they knew very well which places were safe and which places were not.
If they say a place is haunted, then that place probably really does harbor an urban legend.
Even if there’s not one…
With more taxi drivers believing in it, an urban legend might really just be born!
Since Uncle Zhang knew something was wrong with this school, how could the other driver not know?
Unless…
Oh no! That driver couldn’t have already…
No, no, how could I curse someone like that?
Thinking this, Lu Yibei quickened her pace.
After walking nearly a hundred meters along the road, Lu Yibei finally arrived at the front gate of this abandoned school, and there she saw the taxi parked in front of the school gate.
The taxi was turned off, both the driver and passenger doors, as well as the trunk, were wide open, but there was no one inside.
Lu Yibei paused, set down her guitar case, took the Ming King Statue into her hand, and cautiously approached.
As she reached the side of the car, she caught a faint smell of bl**d wafting from inside, and Lu Yibei frowned slightly, but after searching carefully, she found no trace of bl**d.
d*mn it! She cursed in her heart. Though she didn’t see any bloodstains, she still felt that the other taxi driver was probably in grave danger now.
Walking around the taxi, Lu Yibei pushed open the slightly ajar gate and stepped into the campus that was sealed away on the edge of the city.
As she stepped through the gate, the moment her foot touched the ground, she heard a soft “creak” behind her.
The gate closed by itself, and Lu Yibei trembled slightly, abruptly turning around, pushing against it and knocking on the lock a few times, only to find that the gate seemed to be rusted shut, unable to open again.
A hint of fear began to rise in her heart, and then her body temperature uncontrollably rose, the long hair hanging behind her head turned a shade of red, and the wooden clogs underfoot suddenly caught fire.
Holding onto the gate, she frantically took off her clogs, and when she lifted her head, she froze in place.
The metal around the door that wasn’t locked had turned bright red from the heat and was already…
Totally welded shut!
Lu Yibei, “…… Wouldn’t other urban legends lurking in the dark think that I’m provoking them!?
Just like “The door has been welded shut, no one can escape!” kind of provocation.
Forget it, if it’s a provocation, then it’s a provocation! After all, I’m here to hunt too!
Thinking of this to comfort herself, she turned around and walked into the campus.
……
Shihhekou Middle School, as a private elite school, was once the school with the best hardware facilities in Huacheng. The entire campus was vast, stretching as far as the eye could see. After being abandoned for several years, the once magnificent buildings had long lost their former luster and were now shrouded in a gloomy presence.
Gazing at the campus under the night sky, Lu Yibei frowned, feeling somewhat troubled.
In such a large place, it would be extremely easy to hide a person! Where would I go to find that girl and the missing driver?
Who knows what the layout of Shihhekou Middle School is like? Otherwise, I could have first gone to the restroom, the biology lab, or the girls’ dormitory, places where urban legends are likely to appear.
After weighing it for a moment, she took a deep breath and walked towards the nearest teaching building.
In any case, she would check it out first.
In front of the main entrance of this teaching building stood Roman pillars, which still looked somewhat grand even now. The teaching building had only four floors, with four classrooms on each floor.
Each classroom had a sign indicating the class.
“Class One, Class Two…”
Walking through the corridor, Lu Yibei noticed that the first floor seemed to be all first-grade classrooms, the second floor should be second-grade, and the third floor was third-grade.
What about the fourth floor? The teachers’ offices?
Or is there another purpose?
Pondering, Lu Yibei ascended the stairs, noticing that the handrails of the stairs were severely rusted for some reason, twisted and deformed; in some places, they had even fallen off.
Upon reaching the second floor, walking along the corridor, Lu Yibei looked through the dirty windows into the deserted classrooms under the dim night light.
The classrooms were empty with dust, and there seemed to be something scribbled on the blackboard, but the light was too dim to see the content.
Rows of desks and chairs sat quietly there, as if the moment attention was diverted, a figure might suddenly appear at one of the desks.
Lu Yibei turned around the entire second floor, unexpectedly finding nothing, so she continued up to the third floor.
Walking in the dark corridor, Lu Yibei suddenly felt that something up above seemed to be calling her, her eyes slightly heating up.
Was there something problematic hidden on the third floor?
With that thought, she quickened her pace.
As soon as she reached the third floor, she heard a whisper coming from the other end of the corridor.
Lu Yibei furrowed her brows tightly, her temperature rising slightly, gripping the Ming King Statue tightly as she cautiously approached the classroom from which the sound was coming.
Standing in the corridor, pressing against the wall, looking through a window, she saw four indistinct young people squatting on the empty ground in the classroom, with desks and chairs forming a circle around them, each extending a hand onto a white porcelain plate, whispering something.
“Spirit plate, spirit plate, please come out… spirit plate, spirit plate, please come out…”
As they chanted, Lu Yibei suddenly felt something drawing near.
It was a very surreal feeling; she didn’t hear footsteps or any other sounds, but she could oddly sense something was approaching.
It came up from downstairs, slow and unhurried, like a vast expanse of lifeless shadow.
The darkness in the corridor thickened, with a cold wind swirling around, a sense of foreboding weighing down so heavily that it was hard to breathe.
Lu Yibei’s expression turned grave as she gripped the Ming King Statue, boldly walking towards that thing, then stopping at the stairway on the third floor to take cover.
Then…
As she sensed that thing was about to appear at the top of the stairs, its forward movement came to a halt for a moment before it turned and fled, a scarlet shadow flashing past the stairwell corner.
d*mn! Lu Yibei jumped in fright, momentarily forgetting that thing could also become her prey. By the time she regained her senses and wanted to chase after it, she found that she could no longer feel its presence.
What was that just now? The spirit plate? Why did it come and go?
It couldn’t possibly be that it remembered to turn off the gas at home before heading out, right?
