Chapter 102: Death Class 7 (Part 26)

Xiao Muyu covered her mouth and nose, struggling to roll off the bed. When she hit the ground, her entire body felt weak, completely drained of strength. She could only watch helplessly as the flames grew larger and larger.

Thick black smoke soon billowed upward, making the air increasingly suffocating while the room’s temperature steadily rose.

Xiao Muyu strained to crawl across the floor. Once at the corner, she stared at the wall, quietly watching the fire spread.

It moved fast, engulfing the blankets on the bunk beds within moments. In the flickering firelight, Xiao Muyu could make out the fabric of the lower bunk’s blanket: a gray-green plaid identical to the one on her dorm bed.

The flames melted the sheets, sending burning fibers onto the wall and igniting the paint before spreading toward her.

Firelight danced across her face, its scorching heat pressing in on her. The air she inhaled was thick with smoke, acrid and suffocating. Her already dizzy head became even more disoriented.

Xiao Muyu couldn’t hold on any longer. She curled up, collapsing onto the floor. The flames and smoke surged closer and closer, threatening to consume her.

“If you live, I live. So you must keep going. Make it out of there, Muyu. Do you hear me?”

Xiao Muyu, her eyes closed, suddenly heard a voice. It emerged from the depths of her memory, breaking through her fading consciousness to jolt her awake.

Her eyes flew open, and she took a deep breath, instantly regaining clarity.

She found herself surrounded by flames. Unbearable pain from the scorching heat wracked her body, and a violent coughing fit overtook her again.

Amid her dazed state, Xiao Muyu suddenly felt like her mind was swimming through molasses, sluggishly trying to process her thoughts.

The next second, she shut her eyes, emptied her mind, and let her thoughts drift into a blur.

After a long moment, Xiao Muyu did something unexpected. She reached out, placing her palm into the seemingly raging fire.

But the searing pain never came.

The acrid stench, the agony ripping through her chest, and even the overwhelming weakness in her limbs all vanished.

Xiao Muyu stood up and took a step forward, then another. When she finally opened her eyes, she realized she was never in a burning room.

She was still inside the eerie Room 409 she had been pulled into.

Looking down at her hands, she saw they were clean. A quiet laugh escaped her lips.

“There was once a psychological experiment,” she murmured. “A death row prisoner had his eyes blindfolded and was told he would be executed by bloodletting. They made a small cut on his skin and left him listening to the sound of water dripping. In the end, he barely lost any blood, yet still died with symptoms of blood loss.”

Liu Ya frowned. “How did you figure it out?”

She couldn’t understand it. Why were these two so strange and yet so terrifyingly sharp?

“I didn’t realize it at first,” Xiao Muyu admitted. “But everything felt too familiar. My only memory of Room 409 is the fire. I never saw the layout inside. Yet, the bed sheets I saw just now were identical to mine because they were reconstructed from my memory.

“Besides, when I first woke up from the trance, I took a deep breath and didn’t choke. But the moment I saw the fire around me, I nearly coughed to death.”

Liu Ya smirked. “You really are smart, as expected of the top student. But it’s a shame. You only have twenty minutes left. If you don’t get out by then, both of you will die here.”

She lunged forward, grabbed Xiao Muyu, and hurled her across the room.

Xiao Muyu slammed into a solid wall before crashing onto the floor. A sharp, metallic taste flooded her throat, pain exploding across her left arm and back. For a moment, she couldn’t muster the strength to move. She fell to the floor and curled up, groaning.

But she quickly clenched her jaw, waiting for the worst of the pain to pass.

She sighed inwardly.

It seemed impossible to reason with Liu Ya.

When Xiao Muyu lifted her head, her gaze dimmed involuntarily. Although she had already guessed that Shen Qingqiu might not be here, she still felt disappointed at not seeing her.

Her heart twinged with worry. How is she right now?

Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu kept pounding on the door. She repeatedly stabbed it with her dagger, completely mangling it. Yet, the door remained unmoved.

“Liu Ya! Get out here! Let her go!”

The fire alarm blared incessantly, thick smoke seeping through the cracks along the door. Every sign told Shen Qingqiu that the room was on fire.

Shen Qingqiu’s face was ashen. She banged on the door again and again, filling the whole space with violent, heavy thuds.

“Qingqiu.”

As Shen Qingqiu was on the verge of losing control, a faint voice came from inside the room, sounding worryingly weak. She immediately stopped what she was doing and pressed herself against the door.

“Muyu, I’m here!” She called out urgently. “Are you okay!? Don’t be scared—I’ll get this door open! Hang on!”

“*Cough, cough…* Help… help me, Qingqiu, I can’t hold on…”

Shen Qingqiu swallowed the words about to spill from her lips. Seeing red, she threw herself against the door.

“Open the door! Liu Ya, open the damn door! If you dare lay a hand on her, I swear—you’ll never get to be a ghost again!”

She was almost losing her mind despite telling herself that Xiao Muyu wouldn’t plead like this. But that was her voice. She had watched Xiao Muyu get dragged inside with her own eyes. There was no way to convince herself otherwise.

Her fists slammed against the door over and over until the skin split open, smearing blood on the wood. But Shen Qingqiu didn’t seem to feel the pain. Gripping her dagger, she started prying at the door again.

“Oh, how touching.”

Liu Ya appeared before Shen Qingqiu—not in her mummy form, but as her former self.

Her voice was laced with mockery, yet her face showed sorrow and anguish as she looked at the door.

“You gave it your all yet still couldn’t open the door. How does it feel, watching helplessly as the person inside is swallowed by the flames, screaming in agony, begging for help?

“Do you know how painful it was, hearing her cry my name from inside while I could do nothing but pound on the door in vain? Do you have any idea how much it hurts to get burned?”

She raised both hands, showing the hideous scars marring her skin.

“Even this was too much for me, but she…” Liu Ya covered her face and cried. “She burned to death.”

At the same time, a twisted grin stretched across her lips, and she waved her hand.

The door before Shen Qingqiu seemed to turn into glass, giving her a clear view of Xiao Muyu.

Inside, the fire had already spread. Xiao Muyu had fallen to the floor, struggling to move, but she seemed to have no strength left. The flames flickered across her face, about to reach her.

This sight struck Shen Qingqiu harder than Xiao Muyu’s weak cries for help ever could. Her eyes went bloodshot, and she looked at Liu Ya.

Her gray eyes radiated fury and murder. She looked even more like a ghost than Liu Ya.

“So? Don’t you understand the saying ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’? You claim we could never understand, but you don’t know what kind of lives we lead. People like me and Muyu face might die at any moment. We’ve survived countless near-death experiences to make it this far.”

Dagger in hand, Shen Qingqiu took slow, deliberate steps forward. With neck veins bulging and her face flushed, she forced out every word as if through clenched teeth.

“You tried with everything you had and couldn’t save Lin Xue. But me? I racked my brains trying to keep her alive, over and over. I put my life on the line and saved her each time. So…”

A psychotic grin tugged at Shen Qingqiu’s lips. “Do you understand how important she is to me? I refuse to fail here. I won’t!”

Liu Ya froze. Something felt off about Shen Qingqiu. Liu Ya couldn’t quite process the things she said. But she didn’t even have time to think before Shen Qingqiu got right up in her face.

As a being that could no longer be considered human, Liu Ya had long forgotten what fear felt like.

But in that instant, her heart began to palpitate.

How could a human move this fast?

Liu Ya’s eyes widened. She instinctively tried to escape, but Shen Qingqiu’s fingers clamped around her throat in a vice grip. She couldn’t even shift into her true form.

Shen Qingqiu brutally slammed her against the wall. The dagger in her hand, tainted with the malevolent energy of countless vanquished spirits, plunged mercilessly into Liu Ya’s shoulder and straight through the wall.

“For the last time! Open the door!”

*Ugh, gasp.* Liu Ya groaned, fear flickering in her eyes.

But Shen Qingqiu had no patience left. She yanked the dagger free, raising it to strike again—

Suddenly, a crimson shape shot through the air like lightning, as sharp as a blade, aiming straight for Shen Qingqiu’s throat.

She had no choice but to let go and retreat. Her dagger met the incoming red figure.

The force of the clash sent Shen Qingqiu stumbling backward, her hand throbbing in pain. Once she steadied herself, she realized the intervening party was Lin Xue.

Dressed in red, with long hair cascading down her back, she was the exact image of the ghost girl from before.

Nervously standing before Liu Ya, Lin Xue glanced at Shen Qingqiu and spoke in a rush.

“Don’t worry. She’s fine. It’s just an illusion. She’s already out of it.”

She then turned to Liu Ya. “Xiao Ya, please, let’s move on. We’ve suffered enough. The people who hurt us should pay for their crimes, but there’s no need to drag uninvolved people into this. And… and you’re hurt, I— I can’t bear to see you like this.”

Lin Xue’s expression was filled with pain yet strangely stiff. It was a stark contrast to the lively person she used to be.

Shen Qingqiu had lost all rationality there for a moment. However, the emotions that had clouded her mind slowly began to settle. She stared blankly at her hand, recalled what she’d just done, and couldn’t help but frown. What was she saying earlier?

It was true that she had been protecting Xiao Muyu during every instance. But honestly, she hadn’t intended to do so at first. It just happened. She wouldn’t call that “racking her brains” or going through every possible means.

Yet, those emotions had come so intensely, so genuinely.

She turned her head and glanced at the room. She couldn’t see inside anymore. She slowly exhaled before asking again, “Are you telling the truth?”

Lin Xue glanced anxiously at Liu Ya. Liu Ya furrowed her brows. After a long pause and with clenched teeth, she said, “It’s true. She’s impossibly clever. I couldn’t fool her.”

Shen Qingqiu let out a laugh at that. But then, some other parts still nagged at her. “Muyu’s cry for help and the voice we heard that sounded like mine, was it all fake?”

“We don’t know about that. This place is full of magnetic fields. Some things might unintentionally be recorded or left behind. We’re not sure whether those are from the future or the past.”

“You girls didn’t set this place up?” Shen Qingqiu realized something but quickly reached a conclusion. “Right, how could you have thought of such elaborate ways to kill them? You’re students, not psychos.”

“……”

“I don’t care if you want revenge. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If it were me, I’d be much harsher. But I’ll say it one more time—don’t touch her.

“Besides, haven’t you noticed that your hatred has blinded you? It’s understandable to be ruthless toward your enemies. Yet, you put all that hatred into seeking justice for the person closest to you, willingly enduring the pain of having your bones broken and remade, and you forget one thing.

“You didn’t just force yourself to stay in the mortal realm. You also dragged Lin Xue with you, making her face even more severe punishment. She has to repeatedly endure the excruciating pain of being burned alive. It’s not just once or twice. You can check the school’s system and see how many times she’s been burned to death.”

Liu Ya’s expression suddenly changed. She turned to look at Lin Xue, utterly shocked, her lips trembling. “You… Is… is what she said true?”

Lin Xue avoided looking at her, not saying anything. Liu Ya immediately felt herself crumbling inside.

“You two can figure out what to do later. Just tell me where Muyu went.” Shen Qingqiu was anxious. What if something happened while Xiao Muyu was alone?

“I… I don’t know.” Liu Ya clutched Lin Xue’s hand, her face tear-streaked and her body quivering uncontrollably. “People get dragged into the rooms whenever they encounter a dead loop. Where she could have gone is beyond my ability to answer.”

Shen Qingqiu snorted coldly. “You better wish she’s fine when I find her. If you’ve harmed her, I’ll carve up your ghost wife.”

“She… she’s in that direction.” Liu Ya pointed left. “I can’t say more.”

Shen Qingqiu’s brows wrinkled. Instead of continuing to turn right, she went left, sprinting down the direction Liu Ya had pointed. After reaching the spot, she used the left wall to push off and made a high leap.

A door opened, and the creature inside immediately lunged out. With a shout, Shen Qingqiu used the momentum of her descent to drive the dagger down to the creature’s head. When she dropped to the floor in a three-point landing, the headless monster fell nearby with a thud.

The other door remained still. Behind Shen Qingqiu, Lin Xue and Liu Ya couldn’t help but shudder.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t even look back as she quietly warned, “Lie to me, and you’ll end up worse than this thing.”

She kept walking after that, ignoring the magnetic field’s rules, cutting down any creature that dared to emerge before it even had a chance to retreat. Gods, Buddha, it didn’t matter what they were. Like a demon king, she would destroy them.

Liu Ya stared blankly as Shen Qingqiu walked away. After a while, she started sobbing.

“Ah Xue, if only I were as strong as her, you wouldn’t have died. I didn’t just want revenge… I couldn’t bear to lose you. Once I give up, I’ll never see you again. But I don’t want you to suffer like this. Because I was so selfish, I hurt you.”

Lin Xue held her, crying silently. A moment later, she laughed through her tears.

“I feel the same,” she said softly. “That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to persuade you despite knowing you were in so much pain. I’m not afraid of pain, but I don’t want you hurting. We’ve been together for so long, and that’s enough. Please, Xiao Ya. Let’s go. I don’t want you to end up like that.”

Liu Ya looked at her, then broke down in loud, heartbreaking sobs.