Chapter 37: The Ghost King and the Poor Student 02

“What kind of place is this? Let us out! Do you hear me?!”

Screams echoed one after another, but in the vast wilderness, they didn’t seem as ear-piercing—those helpless and desperate cries were swept away by the wild, howling wind the moment they escaped. All that could be heard was the eerie sound of the wind, with nothing else around.

No one knew how they had been pulled into this space.

Just a moments ago, a few people had been arguing and about to fight when suddenly the scenery before them shifted, and even the sounds of the campus had changed. In shock, everyone looked around again… The classroom, once filled with desks and chairs, had vanished. The surroundings had turned into an endless, barren plain.

The plain was truly flat, stretching endlessly in all directions, with only a rough patch of grass beneath their feet that seemed to extend far into the distance.

In the distance was a long river, appearing as though it split the earth in two.

The rest was leaden-gray skies, thick with dark clouds, and mountains veiled in mist far away. That was all—nothing else could be seen. This was the entirety of their surroundings.

“Where are we?!” someone in the group cried out, their voice filled with despair.

The group consisted of five boys from the third year, two girls from their class, Zhao Xiaoguang, Tang Bin, and the boy who had stayed behind in the classroom earlier because he was sleeping, a total of ten people. They had all been transported here.

Why say “transported”? At first, everyone thought someone was playing a prank, using some new high-tech trick to mess with them—though the scene was so realistic that everyone subconsciously felt it couldn’t be a prank—but this was so bizarre that they could only think of it that way.

It wasn’t until a few of them had been walking across this vast wilderness for what felt like an eternity, with no end in sight and no landmarks in any direction, that they began to reluctantly believe they had entered another place—or rather… another space.

“Why are we here? What’s going on…” The two girls in the group began to break down, their voices cracking with despair. They tried pulling out their phones, but since arriving in this strange place, every phone had been switched off, and even their watches were useless, as though affected by some powerful magnetic field. The hands of their mechanical watches had stopped the moment they entered this place.

“We’ve been walking for two hours,” one girl sobbed, her crying drowned out by the eerie silence of the land. Suddenly, a pleasant male voice spoke up.

The group turned to look, and Tang Bin followed their gaze. It was the same male classmate who had previously stopped them from fighting.

The male classmate’s name was ^[1]Cheng Hongyi could be interpreted as “a person who accomplishes great things with firm resolve” or “a person with vast ambitions and determination.”Cheng Hongyi, and true to his name, he had a striking, upright appearance. His features were handsome, and there was an aura of righteousness about him that made him unforgettable.

But strangely, in the memories of the original owner, there wasn’t much information about Cheng Hongyi.

The original owner recalled that Cheng Hongyi’s grades were average—neither particularly good nor bad. At least, he wasn’t the kind of student who would get called out by the teacher every day.

He also seemed “honest,” often sleeping in class, though skillfully enough that no one noticed. No one remembered him, and his presence was minimal.

“Neither the watch and phone aren’t working. How do you know we’ve been walking for two hours?” one of Lao Diao’s underlings sneered.

If Tang Bin couldn’t remember Cheng Hongyi, then the third-year boys certainly didn’t. To them, Cheng Hongyi was just an ordinary second-year student.

To their surprise, Cheng Hongyi casually shook his wrist, where he wore a light blue wristband with a watch, and calmly responded, not seeming to want to argue, “The electronic watch still works.”

The group: “…”

They all crowded around to look at the watch Cheng Hongyi had extended.

…It was a cheap, old-fashioned electronic watch, with a plastic band that looked more like a child’s toy.

But it still worked. When he pressed a button on the side, numbers appeared on the screen:

13:27.

Lao Diao glanced at the mechanical watch on his wrist, the five-digit model he had received as a birthday gift from his father last year—his coming-of-age present—and felt deeply insulted.

At this moment, Cheng Hongyi spoke up, “When we first arrived, I glanced at my watch—it was 11:38. The class was supposed to end at 11:20, so there doesn’t seem to have been any time distortion…”

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier that you knew the time?” Lao Diao, who had been holding his anger, interrupted. “Are you hiding something from us? Speak up! Is this all your doing?”

Tang Bin, seeing the situation was escalating, quickly rushed to Cheng Hongyi’s side, using his body to subtly separate him from Lao Diao.

Back in the classroom, his situation had been dangerous. If it weren’t for the constant bickering between the gang leader and his sidekicks, and how Cheng Hongyi’s intervention had diverted some of their anger, he might have already been beaten up.

So, Cheng Hongyi had indirectly saved him.

Since arriving in this strange world and realizing that no one’s communication devices worked, Tang Bin had been walking aimlessly with the others across the barren land, hoping to find the “edge of the classroom” and escape this prank.

Although everyone had been terrified earlier, and the petty squabbles had been forgotten, it was clear that Lao Diao and his four underlings, along with the two girls and Zhao Xiaoguang, were all part of the same group. Tang Bin automatically considered Cheng Hongyi, who had remained quiet since their arrival, as one of his allies.

He couldn’t be blamed for protecting Cheng Hongyi like a mother hen—this boy always seemed half-asleep, speaking in an unusually blunt way without any tact. Right now, Lao Diao and his crew numbered eight people, and the opposing force was clearly overwhelming. And they still didn’t know where they were, with no teachers or police around, in a lawless area…

Tang Bin was about to intervene when, to his surprise, Cheng Hongyi remained calm despite facing Lao Diao’s fury. He simply spoke in a flat tone, “When we first arrived, I wasn’t sure if my watch would work either. I only dared to make a conclusion after observing it for a while. If it could only display numbers but couldn’t function properly, then telling you would have been pointless.”

“…”

His reasoning was sound, and Lao Diao seemed to accept it, falling silent.

However, even though they now had a working watch in their group, it was still of no use.

And now that they knew they had been walking for so long, fatigue started to set in.

It was easier to keep going when they didn’t know how long they had been walking. Now, knowing that after two hours of walking, they had barely moved… exhaustion and despair hit them all at once.

No one could move anymore, so they found a relatively dry patch of grass and sat down.

It seemed like there had been a heavy rain recently, with overgrown weeds, bumpy ground, and numerous puddles. Some areas even had gaps beneath the surface, and people could easily twist their ankles if they weren’t careful, making movement difficult.

Now that they could finally rest, even Huang Xiaomeng, who had been grumbling after walking just a few steps earlier, wasn’t fussy. She sat down on the half-dry grass, massaging her sore calves.

Once they stopped, everyone gazed at the gloomy sky, once again at a loss.

“We can’t keep going like this,” Cheng Hongyi said after about ten minutes, standing up. “If we assume the worst-case scenario, we have only about three hours before it gets dark, maybe even less. Before then, we need to either find shelter or gather firewood to make a fire, otherwise…”

“Otherwise?” Zhao Xiaoguang, also exhausted, asked instinctively.

Cheng Hongyi continued, “The temperature is already dropping. After dark, I estimate it will fall to around freezing. And if this is truly a wilderness, once night falls, we could be attacked by snakes or wild animals.”

“…”

Cheng Hongyi’s voice was calm, but perhaps because it was so calm, it gave off an unsettling, eerie feeling.

None of the people present had any wilderness survival knowledge or skills, and they didn’t even realize the dangers of venomous snakes or wild animals, but the thought of temperatures dropping to freezing…

Before they arrived here, they were still in the midst of spring and summer. Those who were well-prepared, like Tang Bin and Cheng Hongyi, wore their spring long-sleeve school uniforms. Meanwhile, those with poor equipment, like Lao Diao’s underlings, wore casual T-shirts instead of school uniforms, as they thought it was “cooler” to not wear their school uniform during lunch.

How could such clothes possibly withstand temperatures of 0°C, especially in a cold, damp environment?

Some had already started shivering.

“But what can we do?” Huang Xiaomeng and another girl cried out in despair, while Lao Diao added, “The grass is so wet here, it’s hard to start a fire, and there are clearly no houses around…”

Cheng Hongyi spoke up, “We can go to the mountains.”

He pointed towards the distant mountain. “We don’t have to go into the mountains, just stay on the outskirts of the forest. That way, we can see if we can find dry twigs for fire. If that doesn’t work, we can even sleep in the trees. Most importantly, the elevated terrain will help us observe the surroundings and figure out where we are.”

“I think that makes sense…”

“I agree!”

When Cheng Hongyi said that, everyone felt it was a reasonable plan.

At least it was better than sitting here waiting for nightfall.

They decided to set off again, with Huang Xiaomeng and the other girl wiping their tears and following behind. After two hours of aimless wandering, having a goal felt especially important.

At least it was a source of hope.

Cheng Hongyi led the way, and Lao Diao and his group naturally followed behind.

Tang Bin, not fitting in with them, had no choice but to walk beside Cheng Hongyi. He stared at him for a long while, wanting to say something but hesitating.

Cheng Hongyi seemed to notice his odd behavior and said, “What do you want to say? If you have something to say, just say it.”

Tang Bin quietly asked, “If we go toward the mountain… can we make it to the foot of the mountain before dark?”

Cheng Hongyi turned his head to look at him. His gaze lingered for a bit too long, making Tang Bin almost think he had said something wrong.

After what seemed like a long moment, Cheng Hongyi spoke, “Even if we can’t make it, we still have to go. It’s our only chance to survive.”

With that, he quickened his pace.

Tang Bin: “…”

Reluctantly, Tang Bin joined the others and continued to hurry, trying to keep up with Cheng Hongyi’s fast pace.

For a moment, Cheng Hongyi’s gaze reminded Tang Bin of an eagle soaring through the sky, commanding the winds. The kind of dominance and majesty that made it impossible to meet its eyes.

But that sharp gaze and calm tone made him feel something strange, too—something familiar, very familiar.