**Chapter 126: The Thing Binding the Senior**
“Senior? Senior? Don’t faint yet! Can you just tell me what happened?”
Luxianbei called softly twice, but the Decapitated Senior did not respond.
After confirming that the connection with the Decapitated Senior had temporarily been cut off, Luxianbei’s mood became serious, and unease grew within her like thorns that had sprouted everywhere in her heart.
Logically speaking, that strange old man shouldn’t have been able to injure the senior like this; both he and Luxu were urban legends that had come out of the bamboo slips, and their fighting abilities shouldn’t be far apart.
Moreover, the Decapitated Senior had been secretly monitoring that strange old man for days. If he wanted to act against her, he would have done so long ago.
Could it be that the Decapitated Senior discovered something even more terrifying in the daytime?
Though the Decapitated Senior had managed to escape the watch of that existence, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t come back for revenge due to her prior intrusion.
Thinking of this, Luxianbei’s face paled slightly as she lifted her eyes to glance at Gate Four, which led deeper into the campus.
At this moment, on that desolate and dilapidated street, it was unclear whether it was due to the Decapitated Senior that the thick fog still lingered; the weeds and trees on either side whispered in the gentle breeze, and the air was thick with the heat before a heavy rain, making one feel restless.
In any case, the fact that the Decapitated Senior, despite being gravely injured, still managed to send me a signal meant that there truly was some extreme danger within the school.
Since it was that dangerous, there was nothing to do but run! The warning was clear; if she said it was dangerous and I stay put, what was I waiting for?
Haven’t they shown this in horror movies? Those who don’t heed warnings and don’t run away have such a tiny probability of survival, compared to those who nervously scream they need to go home!
With this in mind, Luxianbei hoisted the Decapitated Senior’s body onto her shoulder and began searching around, finding the bloody head that had rolled to the roadside. Suppressing her fear and discomfort, she picked it up and turned to run towards the school gate.
She didn’t even bother to take her guitar bag and the cedar chest containing the bamboo slips.
The Decapitated Senior’s body, suspended between reality and illusion, felt much heavier than it appeared. Even after Luxianbei’s transformation into an urban legend granted her strength far beyond that of ordinary people, moving her alone was still somewhat strenuous.
Moreover, this feeling of strain only increased as she continued onward, peaking just as she arrived at the gates of Gate Four.
Her legs trembled, feeling the horrifying weight on her shoulder. Glancing at the door just a step away, Luxianbei gritted her teeth and pushed forward with all her might. The next moment, something unexpected happened.
“Clang—!” A sound echoed in her ears like metallic chains tightening, carrying an unreal, ethereal sensation.
The pressure on Luxianbei’s shoulder suddenly eased, and she stumbled a couple of steps, stepping out of the school gate alone. She looked down at her empty hands in a daze for a few seconds before turning around abruptly, her pupils narrowing slightly.
Behind her, on the dilapidated and desolate street, several crimson chains had suddenly appeared, piercing through the Decapitated Senior’s chest, wrapping around her body, and dragging her towards the center of Gate Four.
In midair, the Decapitated Senior’s limbs swung lightly, as if she were a flower torn apart by the wind.
What is that? Is it the thing that injured the Decapitated Senior? Luxianbei thought, filled with suspicion.
The chains stretched straight in the air, presenting an unsettling, bl**d-red hue, their surface cloaked in ominous black mist, flickering as if alive.
They looked more like the veins or intestines of some creature rather than chains. Luxianbei stared at the crimson chains, her mind racing with such thoughts.
Where were these chains trying to drag the senior? To that terrifying existence?
d*mn, did it come so quickly? Maybe I should…
A thought of retreat flickered in Luxianbei’s mind, but she quickly shook her head, dismissing it.
No, no, the senior came to warn me about the danger at the school, even while heavily injured. I can’t just watch her meet a terrible fate!
With this thought, she gave her sleeve a light shake, and a small, intricately carved kn*fe slipped into her palm. Gripping the kn*fe tightly, she launched herself off the ground with a swift tap and, with a soft crack, she shot forward like an arrow, racing after the retreating form of the Decapitated Senior.
What the hell! Is it really this fast!?
Luxianbei hadn’t expected that when she unleashed her full strength, her speed would be so astonishing that she closed the gap of several meters to the Decapitated Senior in the blink of an eye. Once she regained her senses, without a moment’s hesitation, she picked up the intricately carved kn*fe and slashed at the chains behind the Decapitated Senior.
In an instant, the jarring sound of metal clashing pierced her ears, like a sharp blade scraping against her eardrum, with lingering echoes.
Her hand gripping the kn*fe jolted, causing the fingers around the hilt to tingle slightly. The sharp blade struck the chains and instantly sliced through a gap half a finger wide, sending the ominous black mist erupting forth, obscuring Luxianbei’s vision.
As the black mist engulfed her, Luxianbei’s eyes felt ignited, a strong burning pain surged through her, and bl**d rushed to her eyes as if boiling, with a flash of lava-like light in her deep red pupils.
In that moment, she suddenly heard a series of fragmented whispers in her ears, which gradually became clearer. After listening intently, she became momentarily dazed, forgetting to continue rescuing the Decapitated Senior and stood there dazed.
“Will what we did be discovered? That person you hired… where did they come from?”
The first voice Luxianbei heard was that of a girl, her voice a bit hoarse as if she had been crying, tinged with some panic and trembling.
Gradually, the girl’s voice faded, replaced by a series of other voices, both male and female, engaged in what seemed to be a large gathering.
In front of Luxianbei, shadowy figures began to appear, merging together, as disordered black lines flickered and danced around them, resembling eerie shadows standing erect.
However, their voices were all very faint, as if they were trying to suppress their voices, unwilling for others to hear the content of their conversation.
“It won’t be discovered. Ever since that day, I haven’t seen him again. I just wanted to give Jiang Yuzhen a little lesson, just to scare her a bit—who knew that person would do something so terrible?”
“But I heard someone saw Jiang Yuzhen around here on a rainy day. Do you think she might… retaliate against us?”
“Why would she retaliate? Things turned out this way, and it’s not our fault! Besides, weren’t we just here to offer her flowers in remembrance? What could she possibly be unhappy about?”
“You’re right, we…”
Jiang Yuzhen? Luxianbei thought, “……” Is that the Decapitated Senior’s name? From the sounds of those people, it seems the senior was unfortunately met with a tragic fate because they intended to give her a “lesson.”
While Luxianbei was pondering, a familiar voice suddenly rang from behind her. Though it sounded slightly different, she immediately recognized it as Professor Ma’s voice.
“What are you students doing here?”
“W-We’re here to commemorate our unfortunate classmate. She… weep…”
Luxianbei, “???”
d*mn! You’re the one who hired someone to “teach” the senior a lesson, and you’re the first to cry out! With such theatrics, why not try for an Oscar instead?
“Oh…” Professor Ma responded thoughtfully, and suddenly the surroundings fell completely silent.
After a moment, followed by the heavy sound of a car door closing, a shadow vaguely resembling Professor Ma emerged, holding a bouquet of flowers, coming from an unseen place.
“Students, though we are strangers, I still hope you can find peace… may there be no suffering in the afterlife…”
Indeed, this is Professor Ma’s style! Luxianbei thought.
Based on her recent interactions with Professor Ma, though he usually appeared fierce and very strict, he was truly good to his students.
Was this the reason the Decapitated Senior helped me rescue Professor Ma?
The senior wasn’t thanking him for the flowers, but perhaps among all those offering flowers, he was the only one being sincere.
As Luxianbei was contemplating this, she intended to listen further to the whispers of those shadowy figures, but in an instant, the black mist and murmurs all dissipated, and the dilapidated path of Gate Four reappeared in her view.
She stood in the middle of the road, dazed for a few seconds, before suddenly regaining focus, scanning for the Decapitated Senior’s figure.
A few minutes later, when she found the Decapitated Senior, she was surprised to discover her lying in the center of the path at Gate Four, in the bushes near the bulletin board, the very spot where it was rumored she had met with her demise.
In the bushes, the Decapitated Senior lay on the ground, the chains that had entangled her body now vanished, while her head appeared to have been intentionally tossed, hanging from a nearby treetop.
Luxianbei stared thoughtfully at the Decapitated Senior for a few seconds, then picked her up again, trying to move her further outside the school. But to her surprise, she soon saw the chains wrapped in black mist reappear, one end connected to the Decapitated Senior’s chest and the other buried deep in the ground at her place of d*ath.
What’s going on? Luxianbei frowned. Could it be that those chains were not the attack of a powerful urban legend but rather a “special effect” belonging to the Decapitated Senior herself?
As Luxianbei pondered this, a wet sensation suddenly filled her palm where she was holding the Decapitated Senior. She pulled her hand out to look and found it covered with a dark red, sticky liquid resembling asphalt.
The liquid moved as if it were alive, crawling closer to the Decapitated Senior’s body but then, in an instant, it floated up, transforming into tiny particles that dissipated into nothingness in midair.
“d*mn! What is this? So disgusting!”
Luxianbei whispered, flipping the Decapitated Senior over, and then she noticed a wound that had appeared on her back without her realizing it, continuously oozing out dark red, viscous liquid.
Seeing this, Luxianbei hesitated for a moment, then a realization flashed in her eyes, quickly banishing the thought that had secretly risen in her mind to cut all the chains and help the Decapitated Senior escape.
These chains should be part of the Decapitated Senior; attempting to cut them violently would likely also injure her.
But…
The injuries the Decapitated Senior suffered earlier were not caused by these chains. So who or what urban legend attacked her?
Luxianbei’s gaze inadvertently drifted toward the campus under the night sky, where towering buildings loomed like the remains of giant beasts, hidden in the darkness, and behind those black, hollow windows, countless pairs of eyes seemed to lurk, watching in the shadows…
There’s hidden danger in the school, and the senior can’t be moved. I… it’s so hard! Luxianbei thought.
