Chapter 3 – Seventh Middle School (3)

Not knowing who was coming, it wasn’t a wise choice to carelessly bump into them.

Especially since Si Yu had previously said something strange like, “They are coming up,” which made Bai You even more cautious.

There was nowhere to hide in the classroom, it could be seen from one glance, so Bai You thought for a moment and decided to go into the “horror game zone”—the girls’ restroom.

After placing the “Under Maintenance” sign at the door, Bai You glanced outside. Si Yu had actually disappeared.

Hmm? Where did he go?

The flashlight beam suddenly flickered onto the wall in front of her, and she faintly heard hurried footsteps from a distance. Bai You quickly turned around, closing the door swiftly.

Just before she fully turned, as she twisted the doorknob to lock it, a small spark of anticipation rose in her heart.

At night, the school’s girls’ restroom was always a hotspot for supernatural events. No matter the campus ghost stories, this place always had its share. By this calculation, its “appearance rate” was probably as high as 98%.

Of course, there were countless versions of these ghost stories. The boring ones involved palace intrigue, like which girl was wronged and came back as a ghost for revenge.

The slightly more thrilling versions involved things like a headless woman scurrying across the ceiling, a sink bubbling with life as hair from a decaying head stretched out, or a water basin filled with a bloodthirsty, green-faced, blood-covered baby.

Bai You, with her heart full of expectation, let go of the doorknob, slowly turned around.

The large mirror against the wall had been marked with disorganized drawings by students, the mirror surface smudged with white powder, making it difficult to see clearly. The only sound in the space came from the rusty faucet over the sink, which either had broken or wasn’t screwed on tight, with a steady drip echoing in the silence.

Aside from that, nothing unusual.

Bai You: “?”

How boring.

I mean, at least give me something a little more exciting, right?

She turned on the faucet, and clear water began to flow over the sink. She sighed in relief, washing her hands to remove the chalk dust.

Alright, no water suddenly turning into blood or anything like that.

“Thump.”

Suddenly, there was movement in front of her, and Bai You instinctively looked up at the mirror.

Something strange happened.

!!

Is it happening? Is it happening?!

Bai You blinked excitedly.

Soon, her face in the mirror blurred for a moment, then suddenly transformed into a pale, ghostly face, with a grotesque expression, long hair hanging down, as if trying to crawl out of the mirror.

Bai You suddenly fell silent.

She expressionlessly turned off the faucet.

Then, unhurriedly, she pulled out a tissue to wipe her hands.

The two of them exchanged glances.

For a moment, the atmosphere was unexpectedly awkward.

The ghost: “…”

The grin on her face froze there, stuck in an awkward position.

Was she not scared?

No, no, that can’t be right. She must have been so scared she was left dumbstruck, unable to even react!

A sigh.

“You come here.”

The ghost: “?”

Although she didn’t understand why the person was waving at her like calling a pet, there was no denying that a spark of competitive desire ignited in the ghost’s heart.

The ghost crawled out of the mirror, and the air around them immediately turned cold, with an icy chill creeping in.

She wore a bizarre smile, and the eerie laughter echoed through the small restroom, creating an unsettling and chilling atmosphere.

I don’t believe I can’t scare you!

Bai You remained silent.

She raised her hand, pointed at the mirror, and gestured for the ghost to look behind her.

“?”

The ghost was puzzled, following the direction of her finger and looking into the mirror, where she saw a pale face, with blood dripping from the corners of the eyes and mouth, a truly disturbing sight.

If there was anything imperfect about it, it was the large square patch of white chalk dust right in the middle of the face, completely ruining the horror vibe, leaving only absurdity.

The ghost froze in place.

Neither the person nor the ghost said anything.

Silence ruled the girls’ restroom at Seventh Middle School that night.

After a while, it was Bai You who spoke first.

She rubbed her forehead; this was clearly the same ghost that had been hit by the chalkboard eraser in the classroom earlier.

Her tone was tinged with a bit of frustration.

“Couldn’t you have washed your face before coming?”

“…I forgot.”

“Fine.”

“Then what’s with that stiff fake smile? Do you think it looks scary? Can’t you practice a bit more, make it more emotional?”

“And, besides crawling out of the mirror, can’t you do something with the environment? It’s so calm here, do you think they’re on a spring outing?”

“Please, you’re a ghost! Do I have to teach you how to scare people?”

The ghost looked aggrieved.

The seemingly fragile girl had such a fierce tone, and the ghost lowered her head, enduring the scolding, speaking up weakly during the pause.

“But this is my first time being a ghost…”

Bai You: “…”

Fine.

Seeing it was the ghost’s first time, she decided not to say too much.

“Look up.”

Hearing this, the ghost, confused, lifted her head, just in time to meet those beautiful, pale blue eyes—cold, yet faintly filled with some helplessness.

In the next second, she felt a warm hand on her chin, and a moist tissue gently wiped across her face.

Her expression was indifferent, but her movements were soft and gentle.

“Close your eyes.”

Perhaps it was the girl’s powerful aura, but the ghost couldn’t help but follow her command. Nervously, she closed her eyes, shutting off her sight.

Not being able to see made the sensations clearer. The hand lifting her chin, the moist tissue gently wiping her face—the warmth transferred to her skin, a conflicting mix of cold and heat, invading uncomfortably.

Thump. Thump.

It felt like there was a small hammer inside her chest, pounding restlessly, impossible to calm down.

Such an annoying feeling.

“Alright.” Bai You finished wiping and let go of her hand, walking over to the sink to turn on the faucet. While washing her hands, she asked, “What’s your name?”

The ghost hung her head, stepping through the puddles on the floor.

Why wasn’t this girl at all afraid of her?

Not even fear—at least she should’ve shown some surprise, right? There was no change in expression at all, and it made the ghost feel utterly defeated.

But wait, there was some change in her expression.

She had a look of complete disdain for the ghost’s inability to scare her, her eyes filled with contempt almost overflowing.

Ugh, thinking about it made her feel even more defeated.

The ghost stared at her back, hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly stood there, stepping on the small splashes of water on the floor.

In the end, she reluctantly replied.

“…Xiaoxue.”

Bai You took a tissue to dry her hands. “Okay, Xiaoxue.”

The restroom was not far from the senior class A. The door wasn’t very soundproof, and she had already heard footsteps entering the class, as if they were searching for something. She could tell that there were probably only three people.

Were these people NPCs or players?

Suddenly thinking of something interesting, she narrowed her eyes slightly, smiled, and gave Xiaoxue a shallow smile.

Xiaoxue, who had been drawing circles in the corner: “?”

Why did she feel like that smile was unexpectedly creepy?

Ghost feeling scared.jpg

10:05 PM.

It was quiet inside and outside the teaching building. The school had a rule that all students must leave within 20 minutes after evening study, or the gates would be locked. Because of this rule, students usually didn’t stay long at school.

Moreover, tonight was Christmas Eve, December 24th. The school had banned “Western holidays,” but the students, full of youthful rebellion, defied the rule by going out in groups after school to celebrate.

Thus, tonight, the students left school unusually quickly.

The gatekeeper yawned and shouted into the school, “Are there any students left?! Hurry up and come out, we’re locking the gate!”

As soon as they entered the game, Xiao Lin heard the gatekeeper’s shout from afar. He blinked, still a bit confused, and when he opened his eyes, he saw seven or eight people standing in front of him, all with youthful faces and blank, confused expressions just like his.

It was obvious that these people, like him, were players.

He picked up a white card from his hand and looked at the information displayed on it.

[Identity Card]

[Name: Zhao Xiangwen]

[Age: 18]

[Occupation: Senior Class A Student of Seventh High School]

[Related Storyline: To be unlocked]

Having participated in a dungeon once before and knowing the task flow, Xiao Lin held the identity card, flipped it to the back, and checked his tasks.

[Normal Task: Retrieve Lin Songyue’s data sheet from the office]

[Hard Task: Unlock at 50% exploration progress]

[Elite Task: Unlock at 90% exploration progress]

Below were two lines of continuously updating information.

[Remaining Dungeon Time: 5 hours 59 minutes]

[Current Exploration Progress: 0%]

After understanding his tasks, Xiao Lin put the card away and began observing his surroundings.

He was outside a teaching building. Judging by the movements of the other players, it seemed like a group had just come down the stairs and walked a few steps.

Connecting it with the gatekeeper’s earlier remarks about students and locking the door, Xiao Lin thought they must have just finished school but, for some reason, hadn’t made it out of the school gate yet.

And as he suspected, a player had found a body near the building, prompting several players to go over and investigate.

Xiao Lin naturally joined them.

A girl in a school uniform lay in a pool of blood, her silver-gray long hair matted with blood, spread out on the ground in layers.

Her expression wasn’t one of pain; her eyes were gently closed, and she appeared as if she were simply sleeping. Only the pale, lifeless face and the beautiful, deathly pale rose-like markings on her skin reminded everyone that she was already dead.

“This NPC girl is so pretty…”

“Such a pity. If she were alive, she’d be a nice eye-catcher.”

“Tsk, judging by the way she died, she must have jumped off the building.”

A player looked up at the upper floors and sighed lightly. “Only the window on the sixth floor is open. She definitely jumped from there. Let’s go up and have a look.”

“Let’s go, seems like this is the main storyline. Let’s check it out.”

“I want to see how this pretty girl died too. Damn, it’s so rare to see such a delicate and beautiful NPC in a horror game, it’s all creepy monsters and strange ghosts these days. I’m almost getting PTSD. Finally, one shows up, and she dies right at the start. Damn it.”

“…Actually, I’ll pass. My task isn’t upstairs. You guys go ahead.”

“I’ll pass too…”

The players couldn’t agree, and after some discussion, they decided to split up to do their tasks. In the end, only three of them, who wanted to go to the teaching building, teamed up.

Three guys—Xiao Lin, one who wanted to see the pretty girl, and another who was too scared to go alone and decided to stick with them.

Xiao Lin smiled and spoke first.

“Since we have identity cards, let’s call each other by the names on our cards. This way, it’ll be harder to reveal ourselves if we run into any NPCs. I’m Zhao Xiangwen.”

“Okay! I’m Luo Feipeng.”

“I’m fine with that too. I’m Xiong Haoyu.”

After exchanging game identities, the three of them discussed briefly and decided to climb the stairs to the classroom on the sixth floor where the window had been opened. They hoped to find some information about the pretty girl’s death there.

The most timid of the group, Xiong Haoyu, walked in the middle, Xiao Lin took the lead, and Luo Feipeng brought up the rear.

The three of them, holding flashlights, quietly climbed the stairs. They were careful not to draw any unnecessary attention and kept their breaths steady, staying silent.

“Luo Ge, stop tapping me! I’m already walking faster,”

Xiong Haoyu suddenly spoke in a small voice, sounding a bit resentful, “Stop pretending to be a ghost and scaring me, I’ll really get scared!”

He was the youngest of the three, so even when complaining, he unconsciously added a respectful tone.

Luo Feipeng looked confused and instinctively raised his hand to protest, “I didn’t tap you.”

Xiong Haoyu didn’t believe him, “You’re the only one behind me. Who else could it be? A ghost?”

As soon as he said that, the three of them immediately realized something was wrong.

However, before any of them could say anything or take any action, a cold, hoarse voice suddenly echoed in the darkness.

It dragged on, sounding quite amused.

“It was me who tapped you~~”

Xiao Lin: “…”

Xiong Haoyu: “…”

Luo Feipeng: “…”