"Look, what's that!"
As the beam of the spirit-driving flashlight swayed, Lin Tianheng suddenly shouted, pointing ahead...
The blackboard facing them had its previous chalk marks erased by someone, and from the top, dark red blood began to flow downward, forming one bloody character after another...
Why... Why... Why... Why betray the teacher's hard work? Why can't you understand the teacher's efforts? Why trample on my hopes for you? Wasn't the teacher's sacrifice for you enough? Was hoping you'd rise above a mistake? Why did these things happen? Why is this... My life, my future, my hopes—all destroyed. But I won't give in like this. I'll drag everything that destroyed my hopes into hell!
Swish!
Just as the last bloody character appeared, the classroom's fluorescent lights suddenly flickered on, but not with the usual white glow—instead, a dim, eerie red.
Chen Mo spun around sharply. Under the dark red light, behind the desks that had been empty moments ago, rows of student faces now appeared, but without exception, blood slowly trickled from their ears, noses, mouths, and eyes...
"Teacher, it hurts so much..." "It really hurts..." "Teacher, why did you do this..." "Why did you... have to kill everyone..."
Countless voices seemed to echo above the classroom—fear, pain, sorrow, anger—pressing down on them, almost suffocating.
"Th-this is..." Lin Tianheng gasped sharply. Fearless as he was, even he felt a headache coming on. Dai Minghan and Chen Mo involuntarily stepped back two paces, nearly tripping over the podium's steps.
Even Su Mu's expression shifted violently!
Because what they faced now wasn't just one or two ghosts—it was an entire classroom of them!
An entire classroom of student ghosts!
"Oh my god..." Dai Minghan screamed inwardly. So Class 3 of Senior Year 3 didn't just have four ghosts—the whole class had died! What the hell happened here?
Stared down by dozens of ghostly, dead-white eyes, the crushing terror nearly made Dai Minghan recklessly ghostify his right hand and charge into a fight, but Chen Mo held him back, even as his own right hand trembled uncontrollably.
With so many ghosts, even if they could use道具, what good would it do? They might drive off a few, but the rest would tear them apart in an instant.
Was this the difficulty of a team-level mission? Had this classroom been a trap set by the flashlight ghost from the start? Step inside, and you trigger a dead end.
Death—he wasn't overly afraid. After surviving countless horror stories, he'd often imagined facing death. But there was still so much left unfinished. To die so suddenly like this—it was infuriating!
The supernatural force grew almost tangible, as if cold, viscous matter condensed in the air. Dozens of ghosts kept bleeding from their orifices, their pale faces twisting into even more distorted and grotesque shapes.
Su Mu bit her lip, reaching to touch her right wrist. A faint red light flickered—clearly preparing to summon the red-dressed female ghost.
Seeing Su Mu ready to call forth a ghost, Lin Tianheng's eyes sharpened, fearless, as his fingers brushed the cold hilt at his lower back.
At the same time, he heard Dai Minghan mutter behind him.
"When the time comes, let's see who kills more ghosts." "That'll be me, obviously."
Lin Tianheng didn't look back. Everyone knew ghosts couldn't be killed—even if道具 dispersed them, they'd eventually reform. But he refused to show weakness in front of Dai Minghan.
"Brother Mo, how about it? Want to join the contest?"
Just as Lin Tianheng turned his head, a glimpse from the corner of his eye made him freeze in shock.
Beside him, Chen Mo was gone. In his place stood a completely unfamiliar man—pale, gaunt, ghostlike himself. If not for the man's eyes moving, Lin Tianheng would've taken him for a ghost and slashed at him.
"You're not Chen Mo... Who... who are you?"
At that moment, Chen Mo seemed oblivious to Lin Tianheng's reaction. A flash of insight struck his mind, as if he'd grasped a thread of hope in a desperate situation.
The classroom full of ghosts was terrifying, but why hadn't they attacked immediately? Why give them a buffer? Were they deliberately trying to intimidate them, to make them savor the horror of death as long as possible?
No, it couldn't be just that. Ghosts in these stories were mostly indescribable, incomprehensible entities, devoid of human emotions or thoughts. If they hadn't killed them yet, there was only one possibility: some restriction held them back. Though not yet lifted, it was about to be undone by the story.
A chance for survival—in that instant.
Facing this utterly horrifying scene, Chen Mo forced himself to stare straight at the ghosts. Then... he noticed that behind every desk sat a student ghost—except for four empty desks!
Those four desks belonged to Xu Meiqian, Chen Jingyue, Sun Jingyan, and Jiang Xiaohui!
"I get it!" Chen Mo suddenly realized.
"The ghosts gave us four student cards not just as签到道具, but to let us disguise ourselves as ghost students and take their seats!"
Hearing Chen Mo's voice, Lin Tianheng and Dai Minghan were stunned—why was this stranger suddenly speaking in Chen Mo's voice?
Only Su Mu's eyes narrowed, her expression instantly calm.
"Human skin ghost mask?"
"Hurry, get into the ghost students' seats!" Chen Mo didn't bother explaining, seemingly unaware of his own transformation. He strode quickly down the aisle between desks, relying on his memory of the student numbers, and soon found the desk corresponding to Jiang Xiaohui. He sat down behind it!
Throughout the process, the surrounding ghost students watched him but didn't attack.
"So that's it." Lin Tianheng, too, dropped the question about the "stranger" and hastily found Chen Jingyue's seat. Glancing awkwardly at the seat number, he braced himself and sat down.
Dai Minghan and Su Mu found Sun Jingyan's and Xu Meiqian's seats respectively and sat down.
Each desk's student number matched the names on the roster—no room for error in the chaos.
The moment everyone sat down, a strange ringing suddenly echoed: Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling—the sound of a class bell!