As the bell rang, the front door of the classroom suddenly opened, and the inescapable flashlight ghost slowly walked in, stepped up to the lectern, then turned around to face the entire class. This scene looked like a teacher preparing to give a lesson to the students, yet at this moment, what faced them was that inescapable flashlight ghost. Although he wasn't holding a flashlight now, the terrifying pressure hadn't diminished at all.
A ghost teacher stood expressionless, looking down at dozens of ghost students below, while those ghost students stared straight back at the ghost teacher in front. The scene was horrifying and bizarre, but one thing was certain: if they hadn't entered the seats of those four ghost students earlier and disguised themselves as ghost students, they would likely have been caught outright by the flashlight ghost entering the classroom and killed. In team missions, danger lurked everywhere.
At that moment, the teacher ghost, without a flashlight in hand and with no black mist shrouding his face, instead held lesson plans and textbooks. After scanning the students, he seemed not to notice the participants hidden among them and spoke in a gentle voice: "Students, please turn your textbooks to page thirty-five. Let's begin class now..."
As the ghost teacher spoke, black and white began to alternate outside the classroom window. Bright light streamed in, and the ghost students bathed in it gradually lost their bloodstains, their ferocious faces softening. The sound of textbooks being flipped open in unison echoed through the classroom.
Chen Mo reached into the desk, felt for Jiang Xiaohui's textbook, opened it to page thirty-five, and saw the doodles, unable to suppress a smile. This Jiang Xiaohui, though not good at his studies, was a very interesting classmate—he had turned all the illustrations in the textbook into comics. It was because he didn't pay attention in class and fooled around with these little antics that his grades ended up at the bottom. And he dared to claim he'd done his best—what a shameless boast.
Chen Mo chuckled, flipped another page, and saw another doodle, finding it amusing. He wondered which historical figure had been turned into a Dragon Ball comic. He'd done similar things himself as a child. He could also tell that Jiang Xiaohui had a real talent for drawing. Though the lines were hastily sketched with a ballpoint pen, they were vividly imitated. If his interests were nurtured properly and his artistic talent cultivated, it could be a great path for him.
Unfortunately, no one had discovered his true passion. Here, all students seemed to be instilled with the belief that only studying could lead to success. Jiang Xiaohui's frustration was easy to imagine. Someone who could have excelled on another path was trapped in a cage-like space, unable to spread his wings and fly.
On the stage, the ghost teacher—or perhaps now he should be called Chen Mingyuan—continued to speak eloquently, occasionally picking up chalk to write vigorously on the blackboard in neat, tidy characters. It was clear his teaching attitude was very rigorous. Though a bit dull, he was absolutely a conscientious and responsible teacher. Bright sunlight shone on him, gilding his face with a faint golden edge. He would read the text aloud, write furiously, or call on a couple of students to stand and answer questions. Meanwhile, the sound of other classes reading aloud drifted in from outside the window. Lin Tianheng listened, almost mesmerized.
This was something he had never experienced before—it turned out to be so beautiful.
But they all knew this was just an illusion, part of the story, and what the radio station was showing them of what had once happened to Chen Mingyuan. The place they truly occupied was still that pitch-black, eerie classroom, still facing that group of ghost teachers and ghost students.
Time passed, and Chen Mo suddenly noticed several swaying figures outside the classroom. Soon, other students also spotted the situation outside. Faces hidden behind books craned their necks curiously, peering out at those "uninvited guests."
Knock, knock, knock. A soft tapping came at the classroom door. Chen Mingyuan stopped teaching, walked to the door, and seemed to say something to the people outside. Chen Mo guessed he was telling them to wait until he finished this lesson. The people outside nodded and withdrew. This showed that Chen Mingyuan was indeed a very responsible teacher, always putting students first.
But after returning to the classroom, though he continued teaching, his demeanor was noticeably less focused than before. The "uninvited guests" who had come to the classroom seemed to have unsettled him.
A few minutes later, the bell rang again from outside the window, signaling the end of class. Chen Mingyuan hastily wrapped up the lesson and left the classroom. The surrounding students also put down their textbooks, showing curious expressions as they craned their necks to look out the window. A few bold ones even ran to the classroom door to peer out.
In the hallway, Chen Mingyuan seemed to suffer a heavy blow, his whole body trembling violently. Through the crack in the door, Chen Mo vaguely heard phrases like "Please go to the hospital to confirm" and "Please accept my condolences." He suddenly understood that this scene was a reenactment of the moment Chen Mingyuan learned of Chen Jingyue's death. For him, it must have been a devastating blow.
At this point, Chen Mingyuan probably didn't yet know that Chen Jingyue's death stemmed from his own selfishness. He had been wholeheartedly trying to make amends to his daughter and ex-wife, but it led to irreversible consequences. He had worked diligently, wanting to cultivate a batch of outstanding students, yet in this third-year class three, a series of tragedies had unfolded, destroying his life. Who should be blamed for such a tragedy?
In the hallway, the figures of the uninvited guests gradually faded, the light dimmed, and the entire classroom turned eerie and terrifying again, leaving only the ghost teacher on the stage and the ghost students below. Eventually, even the ghost students' forms grew transparent. After casting a glance at the four "ghost students," Chen Mingyuan's ghost packed up his things, slowly walked to the classroom door, opened it, and moved forward, disappearing into the hallway.
But this hallway was not the same one as before. The corridor facing the classroom door had walls on both sides, with no other classrooms around. Only a black door stood straight ahead, its nameplate reading "Principal's Office."
--- Thanks to Weilai Ji for the ten-thousand-coin reward, performing a kneeling slide, and also thanks to Pu Tianheng and fellow readers for their support~ PS: "Strange Tales Radio" reader group number: [omitted], welcome friends who love this book to join~