Volume 2, Chapter 24 (Chapter 62): Time for Class!

The zipper being pulled open was like nails on a chalkboard in Lu Yibei’s ears.

Looking back, she saw the sandbag puppets being opened erratically and messy limbs sprawled out of the bag, like puppets that had been dismantled and put back together countless times; each limb was stained with dark, red blood.

A faint light was cast upon the sandbags, and an arm wrapped in a blood-soaked jersey could be seen hanging lifelessly along the zipper of the sandbag.

‘A Brazilian soccer jersey…’

The sandbags shook violently under the light as if the ferocious beasts imprisoned within were struggling to break free.

Inside the sandbag, messy limbs glued together by strange substances wriggled and twisted, scrambling to get out of their prison.

Seventeen or eighteen arms forced themselves out of the box, and a deformed face revealed itself beyond the mangled arms, facing out the window with black eye sockets.

The arms forced themselves out of the sandbag and crawled slowly like a spider, creeping towards them.

Yibei hurriedly tugged at Sixian’s arms. “Are we leaving or not?”

‘If you don’t leave, I’m leaving you behind!’

Sixian froze and looked back.

She saw her friends smiling and waving at her. They whispered something at her, but she couldn’t hear them clearly. Their smiles were warm and welcoming, but…

Am I that familiar with them? She thought.

“Are they actually…” Sixian trembled.

“They’re gone.”

“Can’t you deal with them?”

“I…” Yibei paused. “It’s hard with you here. You’ll be in danger.”

Driven by the strange warmth that Yibei gave her, she hurriedly nodded, “Let’s go!”

However, the whispers of her friends beckoned her, and she couldn’t help but turn back.

“Where are you going?”

“Didn’t we agree to come and go together?”

“Stay with us.”

Du Sixian’s eyes glossed over, and she numbly stepped towards her friends.

Lu Yibei could sense her abnormality, but she didn’t know what Sixian saw.

What Yibei saw was a viscous, black liquid gushing out of the sandbags and creeping towards the two of them.

Beyond the darkness of the sandbags, pairs of blood-red eyes lit up one after another, and garbled voices that imitated a human voice tempted the human brain.

But Yibei is not human.

Yibei guessed that they were able to conceal their appearances from normal humans.

Yibei didn’t realise that Sixian was getting closer and closer to the sandbags, so close that they could just devour her at any moment.

But they didn’t—instead, the countless arms stretched towards her as if they were welcoming her back.

“Sixian! Sixian!” Yibei called out.

‘Damn it. What should I do? If I forcibly pull her away, I might anger them.’

‘But if I leave her behind and run away, it’s…’

“Ring! Ring!”

The old, rusty electric bell roared, the slumbering school was awakened in an instant, and the corridor became lively in a blink of an eye.

A group of shadowy figures staggered upstairs and downstairs, whispering, chasing, laughing, and surrounding Yibei with their shadowy limbs.

Recess.

Yibei has never hated the bell as much as he does now.

Surrounded by so many urban legends, her hands and feet became uncontrollably hot and numb.

‘There are too many figures crowding the corridor; I can’t get to her!’

‘What should I do?’

‘What the hell do I do?’

Thoughts flooded her mind, and soon Yibei discovered something strange.

The figures that crowded her in the corridor… They didn’t mind her presence.

In fact, they seemed to regard her as one of them.

‘I… I don’t exist for them. Does that mean I can pretend nothing is happening and leave?’

Just as Yibei was deep in thought, Sixian’s weak cry for help rang in her ear.

“H-help!”

The moment the bell rang, Sixian snapped out of her enthrallment.

When she saw that she was already standing before her friends, she couldn’t help but gasp.

Before she was bewitched, she had already planned to leave with Yibei.

Pharoah and the others were just people she met online. Yibei saved her life. Naturally, she trusts Yibei more.

But why was she in front of her friends?

Sixian’s gaze darted towards Yibei, but her pupils contracted violently.

Looking past YIbei’s petite figure, Sixian could see that the dimly lit corridor was crowded with boys and girls who laughed endlessly.

But this high school was abandoned long ago.

These students aren’t humans.

Sixian’s body trembled violently, and fine beads of sweat were dotted on her forehead.

“H-help…”

“Ring!”

The bell rang again.

What the hell? Yibei thought. ‘It was one, no, just two minutes!’

Suddenly, a shadow was cast in front of her, and a muffled voice rang in her ears.

“Time for class!”

A strong stench came from behind, and a drop of cold sweat dripped down Lu Yibei’s temples.

Glancing backwards, she saw puppets with strange faces that stood behind her.

‘If I tell them I’m not going to class, will they attack me?’

She silently thanked herself for not immediately leaving. Otherwise, these puppets would certainly pounce on her.

Her throat twitched slightly as she forced out, “Y-yeah! Time for class! I love studying! Studying makes me happy!”

Sixian’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe that Yibei was falling for their trick.

Yibei hurriedly rushed towards Sixian and dragged her towards a classroom at the end of the corridor.

Seeing Yibei and Sixian walk into the classroom, the puppets dispersed and went into their own classrooms, and soon the chanting of textbooks echoed in the empty corridor.

The doors shut behind Yibei and Sixian. Sixian’s former friends were in the classroom with them, alongside countless shadowy figures.

Yibei held Sixian’s hand and found an empty spot on the floor for them to sit in, quietly observing the situation in the classroom.

Accompanied by the eerie sound of flesh squirming in a bag, the spider-like sandbags moved the desks and chairs around the classroom, forming a circle. Then they lit the extinguished candles one by one.

Sixian gulped and leaned closer to Yibei. “They… they’re playing the Plate Deity game.”

“Don’t be afraid. I have a plan.”

Sixian nodded. Of course, somebody as amazing as Yibei would have a plan at the ready.

In reality, Yibei’s plan was just to observe and react.

A few minutes later, “Pharoah” produced a white porcelain plate and placed it in the centre of the room. The sandbag puppet stood upright, imitating a human being.

“Students, we’re going to be playing the Plate Deity game!”