Volume 2, Chapter 38 (Chapter 76): Torn In Half (2)

Zhuo Huang is the name of [Brazil] in real life.

Not long after Pharoah yelled outside his villa, Brazil moved away.

His family would laugh and say that he requires a better environment for more conducive growth. They would even joke and praise the fact that their little Brazil wasn’t like the wretched Zhao family.

‘Didn’t they say that both Zhao Ke and Zhao Ming were excellent children and that I should be more like them?’ Brazil scoffed.

‘Why did everything change in a year or two?’

Brazil knew why. He knew that Zhao Ke was getting bullied at school, but he never spoke up.

He was afraid that he would become just like him.

The evening before going to school.

Brazil just returned to his dorm, turning on his computer and getting ready to play computer games.

At this moment, his mobile phone vibrated. He glanced at his phone and frowned immediately.

[Huang, My girlfriend suggested that I go to Shihekou High for a trial of guts. Do you think I should agree?]

[idk how she heard of the place]

Although Brazil’s family forbade him from talking to Pharoah, it never stopped him.

They rarely meet in real life but often communicate online.

In the beginning, they analysed the reason for Zhao Ke’s disappearance and went to Shihekou High School several times to search for evidence, but to no avail.

Gradually, they would stop talking about these topics and move on to regular teenage boy topics. Sometimes, they would talk about urban legends, perhaps due to Zhao Ke’s lasting imprint.

After staring at the phone screen for a while, Brazil tapped on the phone screen.

[You’re overthinking it. xddd]

[Maybe she heard of it online.]

[I don’t think it’s that simple.]

[What if she knows my brother disappeared there?]

[You’re worrying too much, I think.]

[If you’re that scared, I can go with you.]

[Then maybe you can be at peace about Zhao Ke after the trial of guts, idk.]

[Please]

[Pharoah has invited you to the group “Trial of Guts.”]

Brazil and Pharoah thought it would just be like the times they would sneak into Shihekou High School—they would find nothing, and they would return home safe and sound.

But this time, they were wrong.

Lu Yibei regretted swallowing two cores at once. She felt that her memory was all over the place.

One second, she would take on Pharoah’s role; another second, she would take on Brazil’s role. She shook her head and focused harder.

Then…

The fog in her brain cleared away, and she saw the last things Brazil and Pharoah saw before they died.

In the dimly lit stairwell, a tall and thin entity wrapped its arms around Brazil.

From afar, Lu Yibei could feel his pain as if it were her own, and every single one of Brazil’s cells was crying out in pain.

Under that malicious embrace, Brazil struggled helplessly; his eyes gradually became hollow, his muscles tensed up, and his limbs drooped limply.

Just as Brazil was about to fade into darkness, he saw Zhao Ke looking at him and doing nothing, just as Brazil did when he saw Zhao Ke getting bullied.

“I’m… sorry,” Brazil choked out.

Pharoah hurriedly walked into the room with a bloodied Brazil on his back.

In the room that was padded with several sandbags scattered around, Pharoah hurriedly, yet gently, set Brazil down upon the softer puppets.

“W-we’ll rest here. We can talk about it when we leave later.”

After a pause, he continued, “I-I’m sorry for dragging you here. I wanted to know how my brother disappeared.”

Hearing this, Brazil’s face contorted as he let out a sinister smile. Brazil leaned into Pharoah’s ear and whispered in a voice that wasn’t his.

“He’s in my body,” Brazil said. “Want to see him?”

Pharoah’s eyes widened in shock, and he hurriedly got up and ran towards the door.

However, a white, slender hand was conjured in the darkness, shutting the door and locking it.

A rancid smell emerged from behind Pharoah.

Before Pharoah could turn around, the sandbag puppets opened their maws and shredded Pharoah into pieces.

His blood stained the sandbags red, and in his trance, he heard his brother’s voice.

“You shouldn’t have come here, brother.”

“Argh…”

Lu Yibei found herself in her living room, but she felt as if she were still in that horrid school.

She felt something was amiss.

Bursts of pain would explode in her head, and she would keel over in pain. The memories of the four teens would cross with her own, and she would feel disoriented.

It was as if someone had cracked her head open and injected the memories of four teenagers into her brain.

She knew she was Lu Yibei, but she felt like she was a once cheerful girl plagued by nightmares, an introverted girl haunted by guilt, a brother sentenced to loneliness, an unmoving witness…

As if she were being cursed by their souls.

The manly urge to play soccer or to meet her girlfriend.

Or to meet her boyfriend or to chase deadlines for homework.

‘This must be the side effect,’ Yibei groaned internally.

She couldn’t help looking at the other uneaten halves and moaned in frustration.

‘I can’t eat anymore; if I eat anymore, I might develop a split personality disorder.’