Deep within everyone’s heart lies a memory buried in the deepest recesses. This memory shuns the light, often filled with despair and pain. Yet, because it is so profound, it often cannot be forgotten. There will always come a day when it finds you again.
The moment she saw the school gate and the general state of the interior, the most fragile and unwanted memories resurfaced in the girl’s heart.
She knew this place too well. She could never forget it for the rest of her life.
Every blade of grass, every tree, from the school gate and the surrounding walls to the dormitory building with its slightly smoke-stained exterior. Everything was so familiar, exactly like in her memories.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to forget this place; it was that she couldn’t. Given the choice, she would rather never remember anything about this school or the orphanage again.
But she didn’t understand why she had returned here.
Wasn’t this world just a mission world? A world of school romance manga, full of beauty and fantasy.
And what about her own world? That was a world full of bastards. Old bastards leading young bastards to bully another bastard, all for the sake of that bastard’s child.
She kept telling herself in her heart that the school before her was fake. It was just a coincidence. The same layout, a different story.
But this thought clearly couldn’t deceive her own heart.
“I’m back… I’ve actually come back…”
By this time, the girl had even forgotten about Lu Liangting beside her. She walked stiffly to the gate and grasped the black iron lock hanging on the iron bars. At this moment, the last illusion in her heart was ruthlessly shattered.
A coincidence couldn’t possibly extend to the bloodstains on the lock being the same as well, could it?
Click.
The black iron lock in her hand suddenly unlocked itself and fell to the ground. The rusted iron gate before her slowly creaked open, even though there wasn’t any significant wind blowing.
The girl gazed into the pitch-black, silent school grounds, her eyes somewhat vacant.
Ignoring Lu Liangting’s shouts from behind, she stepped inside alone.
Behind her, despite having just said he wanted to split up, seeing the girl walk inside as if possessed, Lu Liangting hurriedly moved to chase after her. However, the moment he reached the gate, the two open doors slammed shut with considerable force.
The iron lock was still on the ground, but no matter how hard Lu Liangting pushed, the doors wouldn’t budge.
Lu Liangting’s expression turned grim.
That girl’s name was Shen Shuyun. Honestly, he didn’t find her entirely annoying. It was just that Shen Shuyun did things in a very peculiar way, completely disregarding others’ feelings, and was extremely violent. Setting those two points aside, she was an okay person.
It would be even better if she didn’t use red paint to draw hearts on his desk and stab pig-slaughtering knives into it.
Also, when he found Shen Shuyun, explained things clearly, and directly rejected her, instead of leaving, she latched onto him even more. That was also not good.
Including this time, Lu Liangting didn’t know if Shen Shuyun had participated in missions before, but she somehow knew his purpose in coming to Dongcheng Thirteenth High School. Then, no matter what he said, she insisted on following, saying strange things like “someone wants to kill you” and “only with me here can you be safe.”
Helpless to dissuade her, after she said, “I’m doing a mission too,” he had no choice but to let her tag along. Who knew trouble would strike the moment they arrived at the mission location?
With the experience of what happened to Xia Han last time, Lu Liangting truly didn’t dare to let himself be separated from a companion again.
Nimbly vaulting over the gate into the school, Lu Liangting quickly gave chase. But before he had taken two steps, he discovered a problem.
Shen Shuyun had vanished…
Her figure had completely disappeared from his sight. Normally, she couldn’t have gotten this far in less than ten seconds.
Lu Liangting swept his flashlight around. He seemed to spot a figure near the cafeteria. Without time to think, he quickly walked that way.
He kept the mission requirements firmly in mind: he couldn’t make loud noises here, so running was out of the question.
“Sigh, might as well go take a look.”
Passing the dormitory, Lu Liangting shone his flashlight inside for a look but didn’t notice that Zhao Mingyue had arrived even earlier than him.
“It’s already midnight. I hope nothing goes wrong.”
A headache, truly. When doing missions from now on, no matter what anyone said, he absolutely couldn’t bring others along.
Coming to this kind of mission location was dangerous enough on his own. Bringing another teammate along might mean neither of them would survive.
This place was dangerous. The ghostly monsters here wouldn’t reason with you. They would kill you if they wanted to.
Not all mission locations were like Sunshine Apartment, with kind ghosts willing to help.
Lu Liangting didn’t dare advance too quickly. He constantly surveyed his surroundings.
Unlike Zhao Mingyue, Lu Liangting quickly realized what was wrong after entering the campus. It was too quiet, devoid of even the sounds of insects or birds.
He knew that in this school, making too much noise would attract the BOSS here—the Fierce Ghost responsible for the school’s tragedy.
He then noticed a detail. Along with the faint smells of charring and mildew in the air, there was now a stench.
But Lu Liangting paid it no mind. He pushed aside the wild grass onto a small path leading to the school cafeteria.
He walked for five minutes, or perhaps it felt like half an hour.
The unease in his heart never left him. He realized the stench in the air was growing stronger, even overpowering the smell of char and mildew from the Teaching Building. He also had a suspicion: this stench seemed to be following him from behind.
His pace unconsciously quickened. Then, very abruptly, the stench that had been clinging to him vanished, replaced by a rich, meaty aroma.
Yes, the smell of meat. Lu Liangting was certain his nose wasn’t playing tricks on him.
The smell of meat was common enough. The problem was, it was exactly midnight…
What kind of person would be stewing meat at this hour?
Dazedly, Lu Liangting looked up. He saw a two-story building surrounded by weeds. On its pitch-black doors were two large, blood-red characters.
“Cafeteria.”
The meaty aroma was wafting out from inside the cafeteria.
An abandoned school for years, and the cafeteria at midnight giving off the smell of cooking meat? This scene made even Lu Liangting’s heart crawl with dread.
“I’ll go in and check. I hope Shen Shuyun is in there.”
—
“There’s someone!”
At the exact moment Lu Liangting headed towards the cafeteria, Zhao Mingyue, still in Room 404, felt her nerves snap taut.
She hadn’t seen Lu Liangting’s figure, but she had seen the beam of his flashlight. That was something ghostly monsters couldn’t imitate.
“Sister Yu, someone has entered. Can you confirm their identity?”
“Too far away. I can’t sense them. In any case, no matter who it is, be careful.”
“Mm. Wait… Sister Yu, do you think it could be Lu Liangting?”
