Chapter 20: Who Should We Trust?
On the empty rooftop of the teaching building, the desks that were casually discarded twisted and deformed under the erosion of wind and rain, resembling a group of indifferent bystanders huddled together, whispering secrets in the cold wind, coldly observing the girl standing on the edge of the rooftop.
The tiles at the edge of the rooftop had long since fallen off, exposing the bare cement walls stained and mottled. The cold moonlight seeped through the gaps in the dark clouds, outlining the girl’s slender figure, her side profile marked by exhaustion, her eyes hollow.
“Liang, Liangyue… If there’s something you want to say, come down first, don’t think too much!”
In a flurry, Yun Meng racked her brain for a long time but could only come up with such words to persuade her.
“It’s useless, he won’t let us go. The moment we set foot in this school, we were already under his watch… We… we… hehehe…”
The girl softly murmured, then suddenly emitted a chilling laugh from her mouth, a sharp, piercing sound that made one feel as if she was no longer human.
In the next moment, she suddenly took a step forward, her figure seeming to evaporate into thin air, disappearing from Yun Meng’s sight.
“Bang—!”
The sound of a heavy object falling from a height echoed in her ears. Yun Meng rushed forward in panic, but halfway there, she suddenly seemed to be oblivious to what had just happened, freezing in place, staring blankly at the empty rooftop.
Seconds later, her pupils violently constricted, her hands gripping her hair, she collapsed to the ground and burst into a scream.
She felt like she was about to collapse, as if she had fallen into a pitch-black nightmare from which she could never wake.
…
Half an hour earlier, shortly after Du Sixian chased Luxianbei out of the classroom.
The dusty classroom was illuminated by the dim candlelight, and four people sat in silence at the center of the room.
After a long while.
The Brazilian Warrior God could finally no longer bear the oppressive atmosphere and broke the silence, “I say, are we just going to sit here? Shouldn’t we go look for the Witch?”
Liangyue glanced at the Brazilian Warrior God, then lowered her head, quietly saying, “She… she left on her own. We… in short, I feel like we’re just wandering aimlessly in this school, it’s like courting d*ath.”
Seeing Liangyue’s hesitant expression, Yun Meng furrowed her brows.
She seemed to know something.
Why not just say it?
Thinking this, she shot a glance at Liangyue and raised her chin slightly, “That’s too heartless. Although this is our first meeting, we came together after all. We should all go back together, right?”
“Isn’t that right, dear?”
The Pharaoh slightly furrowed his brow, subtly scanning the Brazilian Warrior God with his peripheral vision, and then nodded slightly, “I also agree with Yun Meng’s opinion; we should go search for the Witch, but…”
After a pause, he took a deep breath and continued, “But we came together, so it’s not right for me to make a decision alone. How about we take a vote?”
As soon as the Pharaoh finished speaking, Yun Meng eagerly raised her hand, “I vote for going to find the Witch!”
“I…” the Pharaoh said faintly, “abstain.”
“Of course we should go look for her! A true man never abandons his teammates!” the Brazilian Warrior God declared loudly, his words full of fervor.
“Whew—!” Liangyue took a deep breath; two votes for, one abstaining, the matter had been settled, but she still insisted on her opinion.
“I oppose.”
While speaking, she shot a glare at Yun Meng, her eyes filled with unspoken hostility, silently expressing, “Those with big chests surely lack brains.”
In response to Liangyue’s unfriendly stare, Yun Meng merely smiled; she had seen that kind of gaze too many times, so she took it as jealousy from those envious of her natural beauty.
With the vote concluded, the Pharaoh looked around at the group, “Then it’s settled; we’ll go look for the Witch. If we can’t find her in an hour, we’ll leave this place.”
As the big brother and the initiator of the event, the Pharaoh made a decision, and everyone quickly sprang into action.
They packed their things, tossed the white porcelain plate used for the Ouija board game into the corner of the classroom, extinguished the candle, and the entire classroom abruptly sank into darkness.
Then, a flashlight was turned on, and the Brazilian Warrior God was the first to lead the way out of the classroom, with the Pharaoh closely following.
Yun Meng switched on her flashlight, preparing to get up, but she felt someone tug on her clothing hem. Turning her head, she saw Liangyue’s pale face illuminated by the flashlight, her heart skipped a beat, almost causing her to cry out.
She calmed her emotions and said unhappily, “What are you doing? If you want to play tricks like this…”
“Be careful; one of them is an urban legend.” Before Yun Meng could finish her sentence, she heard Liangyue’s words, and froze slightly.
“What do you mean?” Yun Meng frowned.
“Literally.” Liangyue replied flatly.
“…” Yun Meng opened her mouth to say something, but just then, the Brazilian Warrior God’s call came from ahead.
“Yun Meng, Liangyue, you two stay close! Don’t get lost!”
Hearing this, Yun Meng glanced in the direction of the hallway, then withdrew her gaze, glaring at Liangyue, and threw out, “Boring! I think you’re the urban legend!” After saying that, she quickly caught up with the two ahead.
The Pharaoh looked down at Yun Meng and gently asked, “What did she just say to you?”
“She said…” Yun Meng hesitated for a moment, “She said there really is an urban legend in this school.”
The Pharaoh frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, “You’d best keep your distance from her; she… she seems a bit off today.”
Yun Meng was slightly taken aback, covertly observing her boyfriend’s profile, and felt an illusion that his familiar face gave off a strange feeling.
Who should I trust?
No, how could I doubt my boyfriend based on the words of a stranger? Yun Meng shook her head gently as if to shake off the doubts in her heart.
…
Liangyue, Yun Meng, and the others departed, and the classroom swallowed by darkness quickly fell into dead silence.
Suddenly, a chilling gust of wind blew in, slapping against the windows and seeping through the cracks into the classroom.
In the stillness, the white porcelain plate abandoned in the corner seemed to be pushed by something, sliding a small distance and scraping against the floor, emitting a sound that could make one’s teeth ache.
“Creak—creak—!”
The movement of the white porcelain plate grew larger, ultimately appearing as if it had come to life, bouncing and colliding with the floor, producing a metallic sound.
The brief silence was soon followed by the sound of collisions again.
Outside the window, a barely perceptible glimmer of moonlight broke through the clouds and fell into the classroom, a trail of thick red footprints extending from the jumping path of the white porcelain plate and stretching out into the corridor…
…
“Clang—!”
The light sound of the white porcelain plate colliding with the ground reached Yun Meng’s ears, causing her to pause slightly, cautiously scanning her surroundings.
Did I mishear? Is it my imagination?
“Clang—!”
The sound rang out again, and she suddenly stopped, her face turning pale, turning to look down the pitch-black corridor behind her.
“Gulp—!” She swallowed hard, grasping the Pharaoh’s arm, whispering, “Did you hear that? That sound.”
“Hmm…” the Pharaoh replied, his expression serious, raising the flashlight and shining it towards the source of the sound.
“Clang—!”
The beam of the flashlight illuminated the dim corridor, and upon seeing the white porcelain plate motionless in the center of the corridor, everyone’s hair stood on end.
Although it lay quietly in the corridor, the sense of pressure was overwhelming.
The pale beam of the flashlight seemed to be cut off by a strange force, the corridor behind the white porcelain plate abruptly plunged into darkness, and within that darkness, it felt as if a pair of malicious eyes were watching them.
The eyes were infinitely deep, filled with malice; they could not see its form but could feel the nightmarish tremor brought by its gaze.
“Run!”
Suddenly, someone shouted, followed by everyone panicking and running downstairs. As they turned, the sound of the white porcelain plate colliding with the floor echoed once more.
“Clang—clang—!”
The group rushed down hastily, just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, a strange noise came from below.
“Thud—thud—!”
That sound was like wooden blocks striking hard ground, something was making its way up the stairs, gradually getting closer, its arrival accompanied by filthy shadows, like a vile and malicious specter, following them closely.
Standing on the staircase, stiff as a statue, the Brazilian Warrior God faintly heard an oddly pitched whisper, “Stay… stay with me?”
Upon hearing it, he felt as if he had been electrified and dropped the flashlight from his hand; it bounced down the steps, illuminating a pale figure.
It had a dazed and twisted face, its limbs gaunt and disproportionately long, its body as thin as paper twisted and danced in the cold wind.
The eerie figure flickered in his sight, and then the flashlight seemed to malfunction, flickering twice before dimming.
Suddenly, darkness enveloped him, and the Brazilian Warrior God shivered, feeling as if his limbs were being bitten by a swarm of malevolently charged insects, leaving him numb.
In the pitch blackness, something was moving, making faint sneaky sounds; he could feel that the thing he had just seen had approached him but did not attack immediately.
Like a gaunt old cat toying with its prey, it gazed at him from the shadows, emitting a barely perceptible whisper that drove one mad, savoring the fear emanating from his body.
“Clang—clang—!”
At the same time, the sound of the white porcelain plate colliding with the floor came again, and he couldn’t help but shudder.
Looking around.
For some unknown reason, the companions that had been by his side had vanished, leaving him alone in the darkness.
Despair and terror seemed to absorb the dark negativity, growing wildly within his heart, and he finally couldn’t help but burst into a desperate scream.
“Where are you all! Where are you bastards! Why did you leave me behind? We promised…”
The Brazilian Warrior God’s screams suddenly stopped as a pale hand reached out from the darkness, lightly resting on his shoulder like a piece of paper.
“Stay with me?” Something whispered in his ear; he suddenly turned around but saw only darkness.
In shock, he slowly turned back, and a pale, twisted face screamed as it abruptly emerged from the shadows, his gaze locking with those murky, vacant eyes, and then…
He saw himself in the moment of d*ath.
He was bound and thrown into a pitch-black, narrow, bottomless pool, surrounded by loneliness, fear, and the stench of rotting sewage.
Faced with d*ath, he instinctively struggled and cried for help, but no one responded until all his organs ceased to function, his body grew cold, and became rigid.
…
At the moment the Brazilian Warrior God was engulfed by darkness, the Pharaoh hurriedly shone the flashlight on, and upon seeing the empty staircase, he paused slightly.
Gone? He vanished just like that, defenseless?
Could he have already…
The Pharaoh squinted in thought, and just then, the sound of the white porcelain plate clanging and the muffled sound from below echoed together, as if delivering a heavy blow to his nerves.
“Zhao! Think of something! What do we do now!?”
“Shut up!”
The Pharaoh growled, a wicked expression appearing on his face, one that Yun Meng had never seen before, instantly silencing her.
The eerie sounds continued, drawing closer, fear and despair pressing in.
“We…” After a moment of contemplation, the Pharaoh looked up the staircase and gritted his teeth, “We go upstairs.”
“Okay, okay, let’s hurry!” Yun Meng nodded repeatedly at the words, turning and running upstairs.
Just as she brushed past Liangyue, Liangyue whispered in a tone audible only to them, “Don’t go to the fourth floor.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Meng froze, glancing at Liangyue, who stood quietly against the wall, like a corpse unable to stand on its own.
At the same time, she heard the Pharaoh urging, “Hurry! It’ll be too late if you take any longer.”
Recalling the terrifying expression on the Pharaoh’s face just earlier, Yun Meng fell into silence, “…”
Who should I trust?
