Chapter 98: Death Class 7 (Part 22)

Liu Ya and Lin Xue lived on the third floor. Only the two of them shared the room.

Lin Xue’s words had Liu Ya tightening her lips. Reluctantly stepping aside, she gripped the door to the dorm and gave a cold half-smile. “Come in then.”

Her tone was filled with disdain and intimidation.

Xiao Muyu was about to enter when Shen Qingqiu suddenly grabbed her wrist. Positioning herself between Liu Ya and Xiao Muyu, she accompanied Xiao Muyu into the room.

As she passed, Shen Qingqiu similarly curled her lips, her eyes glinting like knives, staring directly at Liu Ya. It was a silent battle of wills and intimidation between the two.

The dorm had two beds. One had neat and uncreased bedding, the colors still new, as if it hadn’t been slept in much. The other was also clean yet showed signs of being lived in.

Lin Xue brought over chairs for the two of them. Xiao Muyu sat down and said, “Thank you.”

Liu Ya scoffed. “How rare. You’re probably the only one in Class 7 who says thank you. The others, heh.” She glanced at Shen Qingqiu.

“I’m with her,” Shen Qingqiu replied innocently. “If she says thank you, I’ll thank you, too.”

Xiao Muyu glanced at Shen Qingqiu, then turned her attention to Liu Ya and Lin Xue. She didn’t beat around the bush. “I know about the curse and have a general understanding of what you’ve been through.”

Lin Xue’s expression didn’t change, but Liu Ya stiffened. After a moment, she leaned toward Xiao Muyu and said darkly, “Do you really?”

Suddenly, the skin on Liu Ya’s face burst open, rapidly shriveling up.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Shen Qingqiu pulled Xiao Muyu by the shoulders into her chest, her right elbow striking Liu Ya without mercy. She glanced panickedly at Xiao Muyu.

The hard elbow strike sent Liu Ya tumbling backward onto the bed. Lin Xue’s expression changed before she rushed over to help her up. Her previously calm face showed signs of cracking when she turned her head.

Shen Qingqiu’s heart raced, but she quickly regained her composure. Eyes narrowed, she coldly said, “Talk properly. Don’t suddenly pull these tricks, or I might misunderstand your intentions and lose control of my strength.”

Liu Ya reluctantly turned her inhuman face back to normal, but that fierce expression had faded. She looked at Shen Qingqiu with lingering fear in her eyes.

Xiao Muyu hadn’t even gotten a good look at Liu Ya’s horrifying face when Shen Qingqiu’s arm pulled her away. The dull thud that followed made her feel sympathy for Liu Ya’s face.

Worried Shen Qingqiu would unleash her cruel strength again, Xiao Muyu patted her arm and raised her head, telling her softly, “I’m fine. I didn’t get a good look, so I wasn’t scared.”

Shen Qingqiu finally released her. Meanwhile, Lin Xue and Liu Ya had forgotten their temper and were staring at the two of them with complex expressions.

Liu Ya’s gaze seemed on the verge of shattering. She held Lin Xue’s hand, eyes brimming with tears when she glanced at her.

“Sorry, she was just too nervous.” Xiao Muyu apologized. “We didn’t mean any harm. We only want to understand what happened. As for what you’ve gone through, I completely understand. Anyone would find it unbearable. I don’t think it’s wrong to want revenge, but…”

“But what?” Liu Ya harshly interrupted, her violent aura resurging.

Her eyes suddenly turned red, not from sorrow or grievance but from hatred and resentment that seemed to have sunk into her very bones.

“You figured out what happened? You can understand us? How noble of you to say! You shouldn’t even be here. I don’t care what your intentions are. They don’t concern me.” Liu Ya raised her head and glanced outside, her teeth chattering like she was enduring excruciating pain. “But if you insist on meddling in my affairs, don’t blame me for being rude!”

Lin Xue’s expression shifted dramatically upon seeing this. She reached out to hug Liu Ya, choking on her words. “Xiao Ya, don’t do this, please. Let’s let it go. You’ve been through too much. What they said isn’t wrong. This isn’t just revenge on them. It’s also revenge on us.”

Liu Ya’s speech was becoming incoherent. She stared at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, blood-red tears sliding down her face, carrying silent despair and anger.

The situation caught Xiao Muyu off guard, and Liu Ya’s condition seemed off. “Liu Ya, calm down. Some things are not as you imagined.”

A cracking sound continuously echoed from Liu Ya’s body. Shen Qingqiu pulled Xiao Muyu back a few steps.

Blood immediately flowed from Liu Ya’s eyes. Cracks began to appear across her face, arms, and body, leaking blood in steady streams.

Seeing the situation going wrong, Xiao Muyu grabbed Shen Qingqiu and pulled her running toward the door.

Liu Ya’s voice sounded like a broken organ as she cried out to Shen Qingqiu. “I was just trying to scare her, and you’re this sensitive. Consider what I’ve been through. If you were me, seeing the person you care about the most, the one you cherish, being brutally killed in front of you—what would you feel? What would you feel when no one answers your cries, and nothing works? You said you understand. Well, then experience it for yourselves! AHHH!!”

As Liu Ya screamed, the entire scene in the room shifted.

Xiao Muyu hadn’t expected Liu Ya to be this sensitive. She also realized they were no longer in the dorm. “She activated the hunting ground early.”

Liu Ya’s body had transformed bizarrely. Her legs suddenly elongated, the shin bones ripping through her skin as they grew outward, exposing white bones.

It wasn’t just her shins. Her arms, spine, neck, and every inch of her bones grew uncontrollably, tearing through her skin with horrifying cracks and creaks. The pain was unbearable to witness, and Liu Ya wasn’t numb to it. She trembled incessantly, screaming in agony.

Her body was forced to stretch, her hands and legs terribly long. When crouching, she was taller than an adult man.

Unable to support her own weight, she crawled, her elongated arms propped up against the floor, resembling a spider or someone walking on stilts.

Xiao Muyu didn’t look too shocked. She murmured, “As I suspected, that thing is Liu Ya.”

As if to prove her words, Liu Ya’s flesh withered and turned black, no longer recognizable. She looked exactly like the tall mummy from that night.

There was nothing human left about her. Two eyeballs glared at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, radiating hostility.

Shen Qingqiu was getting angry. “She’s completely lost her mind. I thought Lin Xue was the leader, but it’s clear now that Liu Ya’s the main culprit. She just had Lin Xue do the killing to avenge herself.”

Xiao Muyu looked a little nervous, even reaching out to grab Shen Qingqiu’s hand. She had a vague feeling they were the targets for this round as well.

Liu Ya’s words before losing control were stuck in her mind.

“Don’t get separated,” she said.

Her words and sudden shift in demeanor had Shen Qingqiu freezing briefly before quickly squeezing her hand. “Got it. Stay close to me. I’m afraid she might go after you.”

She had also considered that angle. Gritting her teeth, she coldly said, “If she dares to hurt you, I won’t play her game anymore. I’ll make her partner so useless she can’t even be a ghost.”

Despite the dire situation, Xiao Muyu had the urge to smile, almost wanting to tease Shen Qingqiu. “Why her partner?”

Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow. “If she dares to hurt my partner, I’ll dare to hurt hers.”

She said those words with such confidence that Xiao Muyu almost forgot she hadn’t agreed to be her partner.

“Who’s your partner?” Xiao Muyu gave her a pointed look.

Shen Qingqiu led her backward. “The person I’m pursuing is still a partner.”

Liu Ya had now completely turned into the mummy. Xiao Muyu remembered it had injured Shen Qingqiu before, so she quickly reminded her, “Stop talking nonsense. Be careful.”

Right after she finished speaking, Liu Ya leaped forward and crashed into the spot where they stood. Fast and powerful, she created a large crater in the ground.

Shen Qingqiu rolled and dodged with Xiao Muyu in tow. The dust flying around them made it impossible to see anything. It wasn’t until the dust settled that they realized they had somehow ended up back in the dorm, and the nighttime hunt had begun again.

Xiao Muyu stood up and glanced around. The dorm now looked entirely different. Each floor used to have a long corridor with rooms on either side. But as they looked around, the layout was no longer a single corridor. Interconnected passages curved around every room, resembling a grid maze.

Xiao Muyu noticed every room had the number 409.

The scarlet numbers were extremely eye-catching, like curses surrounding them.

Xiao Muyu’s heart couldn’t help but tighten. She quickly took out the “Loving Family” card and said the activation words without caring about embarrassment. Luckily, it still worked.

“Su Jin, Xiao Zuo, Chen Kaijie, where are you?”

There was a burst of harsh static, like a radio not tuned to the right frequency. Faintly, Xiao Muyu heard a scream.

Her expression immediately changed. She urgently called again, “Su Jin, how are you guys? Reply if you hear me!”

*Buzz, crackle.* More noise. Finally, a faint voice full of pain came through. Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu held their breaths, listening.

“Muyu… Muyu… don’t… don’t… bastard…”

They both looked at each other, their faces paling, their eyes filled with tension and hesitation.

*Crack.* The voice faded with a burst of static.

Xiao Muyu looked at Shen Qingqiu and let out a long breath. “That was…”

“My voice,” Shen Qingqiu spat out, almost like she was chewing on ice chips, sounding angry and perturbed. What did this mean? Why did she hear her own voice through the call? And the few words they picked up pointed to one thing: something had happened to Xiao Muyu.

Suddenly, Su Jin’s voice came through. She was breathing rapidly, her words anxious. “Leader Xiao, Leader Xiao. What happened? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”

Her urgency was expected, yet somehow not quite right. Shen Qingqiu immediately spoke up. “Why are you so anxious? Did something happen to Muyu?”

On the other end, Su Jin’s voice grew more frantic. “Isn’t Leader Xiao with you? We just heard her screaming for help. It sounded like she was seriously injured. What happened to you two?”

Shen Qingqiu felt dread. Her right hand instinctively tightened around Xiao Muyu.

Xiao Muyu glanced at her reassuringly and quickly said, “We’re fine, I’m okay. Did you hear distorted static earlier?”

“Yes, yes!” Su Jin promptly replied, surprised and relieved. “Wasn’t that you?”

“Impossible. Muyu would never scream for help like that!” Shen Qingqiu’s tone was impatient and cold, adamantly denying it, as though she feared it might become a reality. Then, she added, “That wasn’t me just now, either. I would never be that useless!”

“Mm, it wasn’t.” Xiao Muyu glanced at Shen Qingqiu. She squeezed her hand to assuage her, then continued, “Where are you guys now? Still outside?”

“We… we encountered that mummy again.” It was Zuo Tiantian speaking this time, which temporarily reassured Xiao Muyu. “It threw us into a place full of connecting corridors. We’re surrounded by rooms labeled “409”, and we still can’t figure out what it’s trying to do. Leader Xiao, weren’t you two talking to Liu Ya and Lin Xue? What happened?”

“We’re in the same place but can’t see you,” answered Xiao Muyu. “Liu Ya didn’t want to talk. So, she activated the hunt early. Be on your guard. Is Chen Kaijie with you?”

“Yes, Leader Xiao.”

Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu exchanged a glance, settling down for now. However, before they could continue talking, an ear-piercing cry that sounded like a baby’s wail suddenly erupted behind them.

Xiao Muyu was so startled that she involuntarily flinched. She felt her scalp tingling.

Shen Qingqiu, on the other hand, was extremely tense. She immediately turned to shield Xiao Muyu, cautiously scanning where the sound had come from.

They finally realized it was the fire alarm outside the dorm. The red square box with a flashing red warning light emitted a shrill sound.

Xiao Muyu could see the time displayed on it: 16-01-08, 20:05.

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Author had something to say:

What happened to Xiao Xiao and Xiao Shen teach us to not do PDA.