Chapter 24: Classmates, It’s Time for Class
“Zhi la——!”
The soft sound of a zipper being pulled caught Lu Yibei’s attention, and she turned around abruptly to see that the boxes had been opened wide.
Inside the boxes, disordered limbs were positioned, looking like puppets that had been disassembled at the joints, with dark red bloodstains on each part.
A faint light shone from an unknown source, scattering over those strange black suitcases. An arm wrapped in a bl**d-soaked jersey hung helplessly off the edge of the box, dangling to the floor.
Even though Lu Yibei was just a seasoned pseudo-football fan, she recognized that the jersey belonged to the Brazil national team.
Less than an hour ago, she had seen that jersey worn by the boy known as the Brazilian Warrior God.
“Bang dong——!”
The boxes in the classroom shook together, the black leather shells colliding with the ground with a dull sound.
“……”
After a brief silence, the boxes suddenly began to shake violently, as if fierce beasts imprisoned inside were struggling, the dull sounds incessantly echoing.
“Bang dong——bang dong——!”
Inside the boxes, the disordered limbs were stuck together with disturbing dark red viscous substance, writhing, struggling, growing, desperately poking out from the boxes.
In just a few breaths, seventeen or eighteen arms stretched out from the boxes, and a distorted, deformed face slowly emerged from among the arms, stiffly turning its neck toward the window, its hollow eye sockets seemingly gazing at the two figures outside the classroom.
Following that, those arms supported the body that was carried by the boxes, crawling slowly like a spider, looking somewhat ludicrous while emanating an unsettling aura.
The sound of nails scraping against the ground grew louder in her ears as the urban legends crawling out of the boxes approached at an increasingly faster rate, and the burning sensation in Lu Yibei’s eyes intensified.
She endured the pain in her eyes and the anxiety in her heart, looking at Du Sixian beside her, and asked in a low voice, “Are you going or not?”
If you don’t go, then I can!
I can’t risk my life just to freeload off you! Lu Yibei thought.
“Ah?” Suddenly hearing Lu Yibei’s question, Du Sixian froze for a moment, turning to look at her classmates in the classroom, her brow furrowed.
They smiled and waved at her, whispering something she couldn’t quite hear, but she could feel their kindness and welcoming, as if greeting an old friend returning from afar.
Am I really that familiar with them?
Du Sixian thought, looking seriously at Lu Yibei and saying, “High person, they really have already…”
Lu Yibei cast a glance at those strange figures that were almost at the classroom door, a bit impatiently saying, “They’ve kicked the bucket; even Jesus can’t save that.”
“Then… can you deal with them?” Du Sixian pressed on.
“I…”
Lu Yibei opened her mouth, giving a half-truthful answer, “It’s difficult. With you here, I can’t fully let go. If I have to protect you, I’m afraid I won’t be able to retreat unscathed.”
That said, I’m not lying, but even if I let go and ignore your safety, I might not be able to retreat unscathed either. Lu Yibei thought.
Half-truths always make it easy for people to believe.
Upon hearing Lu Yibei’s answer, a warmth suddenly rose in Du Sixian’s heart, and there was a hint of unusual brilliance in her gaze as she looked at her.
I didn’t expect her to still care about my safety at a time like this?
Motivated by that warmth, she nodded and said earnestly, “Okay, High person, I trust you, let’s go!”
As she spoke, she turned to glance in the direction of the classroom, only to see Pharaoh and the others already at the door, smiling and softly calling her.
“Where are you going?”
“Weren’t we supposed to come together and leave together?”
“Stay here? You all stay here?”
……
Du Sixian stared at her companions, her eyes gradually losing focus, her consciousness settling down as she numbly took a step toward them.
Lu Yibei noticed Du Sixian’s anomaly and frowned tightly.
She didn’t know what scene Du Sixian was seeing, but the scene she saw definitely gave no feeling of warmth whatsoever.
Thick black liquid was slowly oozing out from the boxes, emitting a foul smell, rolling and bubbling as if boiling, making a viscous sound.
In the darkness, pairs of bl**d-red eyes slowly lit up, with bodies composed of deformed bones writhing, mimicking human voices, their speech filled with an inexplicable allure, making one uncontrollably want to get closer.
But…
Lu Yibei wasn’t human, so she could keep it within control.
She stood in place, frowning as she looked at Du Sixian.
She supposed that these things could be disguised as humans, right?
Just imagine, a group of urban legends disguising themselves as her friends, tempting her to stay in a strange abandoned school—how does that sound just a bit chilling?
Lu Yibei glanced at Du Sixian again; she was already very close to those urban legends, so close that they could take her life at any moment.
Yet those urban legends did not attack her; instead, they opened countless arms, excitedly shouting as if welcoming her return.
“Hey! Du Sixian! Du Sixian!” Lu Yibei called out anxiously, but Du Sixian showed no reaction.
d*mn, what should I do now? If I go up and forcibly drag her away, I might provoke those urban legends and draw an intense attack.
Should I just leave her and run? I can’t risk my life just to freeload off her!
But isn’t it a bit inhumane to leave someone to d*e?
As Lu Yibei was thinking, the school bell rang, interrupting her thoughts.
“Ding——!”
The old rusty bell was struck by a hammer, emitting a hoarse roar, awakening the slumbering abandoned school. After the bell rang, the hallway suddenly became lively.
Figures staggered down from upstairs and downstairs, crowding the corridor, whispering, playing, and laughing, resembling a busy break time.
If only…
If those “students” in the corridor weren’t wrapped in gray-white soft skin, with strange laughing faces, or thin, pale paper dolls…
After over a decade of schooling, Lu Yibei had never hated the class bell as much as she did now.
Amidst so many urban legends, her hands and feet went numb, her whole body heated up, as feelings of fear and impulses to hunt clashed in her mind.
What does it mean? A group of urban legends attending class here? Are these urban legends so eager to learn this year?
Should I rush in and slay mercilessly? With so many urban legends, they must be free for the taking!
What now? In such a ghostly place, the miraculous conch probably isn’t within service range, right?
Thoughts flashed through her mind, and soon Lu Yibei realized something strange.
Those urban legends crowding in the corridor seemed to take her as one of their own, showing no signs of aggression.
“……”
Lu Yibei pondered for two seconds, suddenly giving birth to a bold idea.
If they don’t acknowledge my existence, does that mean I can pretend nothing happened and sneak out?
I wonder, would bringing Du Sixian disturb them?
While Lu Yibei was lost in thought, a weak cry for help suddenly reached her ears.
“High person, save me…”
……
At the moment the class bell rang, Du Sixian suddenly awakened from the state influenced by the urban legends.
When she saw that she was already standing before Pharaoh and the other three, she was taken aback.
Before being controlled by the words containing mysterious power, she had planned to follow Lu Yibei to leave.
Pharaoh and his group were merely online friends, while Lu Yibei had saved her life, so she trusted Lu Yibei and didn’t want to hold her back.
But…
How did it suddenly turn into this?
With a guilty expression, Du Sixian turned to look at Lu Yibei, but her pupils suddenly constricted sharply.
Through Lu Yibei’s petite figure, she saw that the dimly lit corridor was filled with boys and girls of various appearances and silhouettes, filled with laughter, shattering the beautiful memories of break time.
Shihhekou Middle School had been closed for a long time, so it was impossible for any students to remain in the school, especially at midnight.
Undoubtedly, those students were not human at all!
Looking at those students, Du Sixian’s body jolted as if electrocuted, cold sweat appearing on her forehead, she couldn’t help but cry out to Lu Yibei.
“High person, save me…”
Before Du Sixian could finish her sentence, the bell rang again.
“Ding——!”
Listening to the grating sound of the bell, Lu Yibei expressionlessly spread her hands.
Recalling the past, break time always seemed to pass quickly; this was a theorem akin to urban legends… utter nonsense!
That just took such a short while, definitely not ten minutes, or even one minute… at most two minutes!
Whose break lasts only this short?
Isn’t this obviously messing with people’s minds?
Lu Yibei complained in her heart, just then, a shadow fell over her, and a deep voice echoed in her ears.
“Classmates, it’s time for class.”
“……”
Feeling a strong stench approaching from behind, a drop of cold sweat trickled down Lu Yibei’s temple, evaporating instantaneously as she turned around to see a crowd of strangely-faced figures standing behind her.
If I say I “don’t want to attend class” right now, will this group of “eager-to-learn” urban legends besiege me?
Luckily, I didn’t run away earlier; otherwise, with just one or two minutes, I wouldn’t have had time to leave this teaching building before the class bell rang, and I would definitely have been stopped.
Her throat moved slightly as she calmed her emotions and expressionlessly said, “That’s right, it’s time for class; I love learning, learning makes me happy! Oh yeah!”
Du Sixian, “？？？” Did the high person fall for something? Why do I feel like she’s acting a bit strange?
Lu Yibei shot a look at the perplexed Du Sixian and walked forward, pulling her into the classroom at the end of the corridor.
Seeing Lu Yibei and Du Sixian obediently enter the classroom, the figures behind them dispersed, heading into different classrooms, and soon the empty corridor echoed with eerie reading sounds.
“Bang!” The classroom door slammed shut, leaving only the urban legends embodied by Pharaoh and his trio inside.
Lu Yibei led Du Sixian, searching for a gap among the densely packed limbs to sit down, quietly observing the situation in the classroom.
“Guji——guji——!”
With the sound of flesh writhing, the severed arms suddenly tumbled to the ground, moving about, rearranging desks and chairs into a circle, and then lighting four candles extinguished in the corners.
As the classroom’s arrangement gradually returned to how it was during the paper spirit game prior, Du Sixian grew increasingly uneasy and asked quietly, “High person, it seems they are about to hold the paper spirit game.”
“Mm, don’t be afraid, I have a plan,” Lu Yibei replied expressionlessly, her plan being not to act rashly, to watch how things changed, and to find an opportunity.
Du Sixian gazed at Lu Yibei, “…… Why is the high person so calm? Has she already come up with a way to resolve the current situation?”
A few minutes later, the severed arms drifting in the classroom restored the setting for the paper spirit game and hurriedly placed them back in the boxes.
Following that, the urban legend with the Pharaoh’s head retrieved a white porcelain plate from somewhere, placing it at the center of the room, then stood upright, mimicking human speech.
“Classmates, today’s lesson is the paper spirit game!”
