"Liu Yuan? Liu Yuan?"
Standing at the entrance of the restroom, Tan Shuyue's face was full of confusion. Just moments ago, she had clearly seen Liu Yuan walk into the men's restroom. Moreover, this restroom on the third floor had no other exits. Yet so much time had passed—why hadn't he come out?
Could something have happened in those few short minutes? Or had he encountered a ghostly attack inside?
She didn't sense that eerie feeling, which meant Liu Yuan was still alive. But the men's restroom was empty. Where could he have gone?
---
"Alright, tell me. What happened just now?"
After leading Liu Yuan to the roadside, Pan Long didn't waste time and cut straight to the point.
"Well..."
Liu Yuan hesitated. Deep down, he didn't want to share the valuable clues his team had gathered with another production group. But judging by the aggressive stance of these people, if he didn't speak up, he'd have a hard time shaking them off.
So, after shooting them a resentful glare, Liu Yuan finally recounted everything that had happened to the Ninth Group just moments ago, holding nothing back.
"So that's it. Completing the sign-in grants access to the principal's office, but it also marks you for the flashlight ghost, triggering a guaranteed death chase."
"Brother Long, what do we do?" Song Ze looked at Pan龙 with a hint of bewilderment, while Zheng Zihao beside him wore a grim expression.
His student card had been stolen by a ghost, making it impossible for him to complete this task.
"Using a student card to sign in gets you hunted by the ghost... heh heh..."
Staring at Liu Yuan's plain, unremarkable face, a sinister grin curled at the corner of Pan Long's mouth.
"Who says there's no way?"
"Liu Yuan, hand over your student card."
"What?"
Liu Yuan froze.
"Hand over the student card, and you can leave. Or we can take it ourselves, but then you'll have to suffer a bit."
Liu Yuan's face twisted in shock. "You... you..."
"Sorry, Liu Yuan. This is a team mission." Zhou Chuhan sneered coldly, blocking his path from the side. "Every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost. We have no choice."
Though Liu Yuan's gaze burned with hatred, Pan Long paid it no mind.
If hatred could kill, he'd have died countless times by now. In team missions, production groups turning on each other was nothing new.
From the very start of this task, a plan had been brewing in his mind, and Liu Yuan, walking right into his trap, had given him the perfect chance to test it.
"Brother Long, will this really work?"
"Will it? We'll find out by trying."
Knowing that "the location of the sign-in machine becomes the comprehensive building," Pan Long didn't bother returning to the previous hall. Instead, he casually walked into a middle teaching building. Sure enough, the red sign-in machine appeared again in the lobby.
"So this is also the 'comprehensive building.'" Pan Long pulled out the student card bearing Liu Yuan's name. "Zheng Zihao, you give it a try."
"Me?" Zheng Zihao jumped, a flicker of fear crossing his face. He remembered the girl from the Ninth Group who had triggered a death trap right after signing in.
"Your student card was stolen by a ghost. Don't forget—this is a school with strict rules. Without a card to prove your student identity, you can guess what might happen to you. So this is your last chance."
Zhou Chuhan added coldly.
"But don't worry. The ghost only marks the name on the student card."
Damn it. In the end, it's just your theory, and you're making me risk my neck for you. Zheng Zihao cursed bitterly in his mind. But Zhou Chuhan wasn't wrong—without his student card, he couldn't prove his identity, and in this ghost-infested school, danger could strike at any moment.
If I die, I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you all. Zheng Zihao thought darkly as he took the sign-in card with Liu Yuan's name and placed it on the red machine's card reader. The screen displayed the class, name, and a "signed in" confirmation.
At the same time, a crucial prompt appeared in Zheng Zihao's mind: his sign-in sequence number was 4, and the password digit was 6.
"That's right, I got the prompt! It's a numeric password!" Zheng Zihao was about to speak when Zhou Chuhan waved him off.
"Keep that password to yourself. No need to tell us."
Damn it, still afraid of triggering the death trap. Zheng Zihao was both furious and speechless. Zhou Chuhan kept saying the ghost only marks the name on the card, yet he was so cautious—what a hypocrite. And here I thought he was a decent guy.
But right now, he couldn't dwell on that. Would the ghost mark him as its target?
---
Compared to Zheng Zihao, Liu Yuan, slowly trudging through the cold wind, felt his fear deepening by the second.
Along with the fear came a strange unease and a pounding heart, as if a malicious eye in the darkness was watching him from the void!
Hurry... I have to hurry...
Find the others...
Or it'll be too late!
Liu Yuan began to regret handing over his student card so easily. But if he had refused, thinking about those people's methods sent a chill down his spine.
In the end, they would have taken it anyway.
After consoling himself with the thought that a wise man adapts to circumstances, Liu Yuan continued wandering blindly through the school, searching for his teammates. He didn't dare shout, afraid of alerting the ghosts lurking in the campus.
Just then, a blinding beam of light pierced the darkness, shining straight at him.
In the pitch-black night, the sudden light brought a flicker of hope to Liu Yuan's heart. But then, as if remembering something, his body went cold and rigid, and a wave of terror surged through him.
Not far ahead, a figure was walking toward him, holding a flashlight...
It was that flashlight ghost!
The ghost had finally found him!
Without a second thought, he reached for his chest, only to remember that the camera with sealing powers had been lost underwater. Before he could react, the dim yellow light had already reached his feet.
An invisible force enveloped him, freezing him in place.
Now he understood what Xing Yina had felt before her death.
Back then, he had wondered why she hadn't struggled at all as the ghost killed her. Now he realized—it wasn't that she lacked the will to survive, but that she simply couldn't move!
The dim yellow light crept up from his feet, revealing the ghost's true form.
Shrouded in black mist was a half-smashed head, a face with only one eye, flesh and blood blurred together.
That single eye brimmed with bone-deep malice and hatred.
You... all of you, die!
Every last one... must die!
The flashlight ghost pulled out a long ruler from somewhere and slammed it hard against Liu Yuan's head.
With a sickening thud, blood splattered. Liu Yuan's head shattered like a watermelon dropped on the ground.
His body crumpled onto the dark playground. Beside it, a puff of black mist rose, and the flashlight ghost slowly faded into the darkness.
At the same time, a strange sensation washed over Zheng Zihao.
"Liu Yuan is dead."
That meant the method had been confirmed.
If you sign in using someone else's student card, the ghost only marks and kills based on the name on the card!
---
PS: With only one update on odd-numbered days, I'm shamelessly asking for your support~