652’s quest was extremely important. Bai Yu wanted to see what changes would occur after she completed it, to understand why the Scumbag Game would arrange things this way.
She had never encountered this situation before, and of all things, it happened on the final quest.
What difference would there be between completing the quest and failing it for Number 652?
There were too many things she needed to figure out. So today, for Number 652’s quest, even if she had to hold a knife to her throat, she would make her complete it.
That said, she truly wasn’t worried about Zhao Mingyue. She had left a contingency on Zhao Mingyue; it was impossible she’d let her go on an adventure completely unprotected.
Also, she had basically confirmed that the Old Dean wasn’t at the Children’s Palace. The most likely location was the cafeteria.
That old monster liked to eat people. The source of the meaty aroma in the Midnight Canteen was self-evident. And coincidentally, the wraiths of those he had devoured were also inside—and these wraiths were generally weak. So, the Old Dean was very likely here, or perhaps in that classroom.
Of course, one thing could be certain: Lu Liangting.
If the person who arrived was truly Lu Liangting, then the Old Dean was absolutely in the cafeteria.
Lu Liangting was the protagonist; she believed in a protagonist’s magnetic pull towards a Boss.
Passing through the overgrown weeds, Bai Yu scanned her surroundings.
She was a ghost now, so her perspective differed from the living. In her vision, the entire school was shrouded in a thin layer of Blood Mist. Beneath this Blood Mist, black shadows occasionally flickered by. The exterior and interior walls of the school’s various buildings were more or less covered in tiny, creeping blood threads.
The building on which the Blood Mist was thickest was the one concealed in the darkness, with the word “Cafeteria” written in bloody letters above its door.
One could say, even if the Old Dean wasn’t inside the cafeteria, he definitely frequented this place often.
“Cafeteria…”
Bai Yu’s sense of smell wasn’t very sensitive, yet the meaty aroma emanating from the cafeteria was like a magical force, completely bypassing her senses to linger right at the tip of her nose.
“This is the place. Let’s go.”
Bai Yu’s figure blurred. Before Shen Shuyun’s eyes, Bai Yu flickered and reappeared inside the cafeteria. In the blink of an eye, she had teleported nearly ten meters.
“Tch, what a terrifying freak.” Despite her words, Shen Shuyun followed her inside.
Having such a teammate by her side truly made everything so much easier.
“Did Lu Liangting come with you?”
Entering the cafeteria’s first floor, Bai Yu looked out at the empty hall. The meaty aroma in the air was much thicker. Here, she could even hear a gurgling, bubbling sound, like soup simmering.
Beyond that, heavy “Bang! Bang! Bang!” sounds of muffled impact against a door came from the second floor.
Looking at the lingering Black Mist that hadn’t fully dissipated in the first-floor hall, there was no need to guess what had happened here.
When Zhao Mingyue was still in the dormitory building, she had seen three ghosts heading towards the cafeteria, drawn by the voice.
Those three ghosts must have clashed with the Old Dean. The result was a very gruesome death.
“Did Lu Liangting come with you?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go upstairs.”
The guy being hunted upstairs was undoubtedly Lu Liangting. Bai Yu could feel a headache coming on. Why did she run into him every single time, and every single time under these circumstances?
She was going to go up and finish off the Old Dean. When that kid saw it, he’d surely start getting all self-sentimental again.
At the same time, Lu Liangting was hiding in a room in the back kitchen on the cafeteria’s second floor, desperately pressing against the door to keep whatever was outside from getting in.
Talking about bad luck—he knew there was a quest here, and he was also trying to find Shen Shuyun. When he arrived at the cafeteria and found the main door unlocked, he simply pushed it open and entered.
When he entered, peering through the flashlight beam, the cafeteria had already been emptied. Dust and cobwebs covered the interior, looking like it had been abandoned for years.
Yet the meaty aroma still lingered, drifting from some unknown source.
He searched the entire first floor, finding neither Shen Shuyun nor the source of the smell, so he went up to the second floor.
After reaching the second floor, he followed the smell to the back kitchen. As if compelled, he opened that black wooden door.
The back kitchen indeed held something: a Black Shadow. After spotting him, the shadow seemed startled and vanished in a flash, leaving behind only a large iron pot bubbling and gurgling on the stove.
In this kind of environment, entering a cafeteria’s back kitchen and seeing a ghost simmering something in a large iron pot—there was no way Lu Liangting wouldn’t go take a look.
He approached the large pot, and when the flashlight beam shone into it, he saw clearly what was stewing inside.
He didn’t know what it was—just a thick, dark-brown, blood-tinged, viscous sludge.
Just as his hand reached for the ladle on the iron pot, a cold sensation hit him. Suddenly, the meaty aroma in the air vanished, replaced by a nauseating stench, like the smell of a highly decomposed corpse.
But it was also at that moment that something from downstairs came up, carrying a strong, scorched odor.
Through the cafeteria’s exterior window, he saw a burly old man in a blood-red coat striding up. At first glance, one might think he was a living person.
He saw this Blood-Robed, burly old man, and the other party saw him too.
This ghost could even speak—with fluent, logical language and a completely normal tone. Talking to him even felt quite comfortable; he controlled his tone and pace perfectly.
He didn’t say much, just asked him to open the door, saying several terrifying Fierce Ghosts had arrived outside.
At first, he didn’t open the door nor communicate with that ghost. The other’s behavior grew increasingly erratic, changing from knocking to violently pounding on the door.
Strangely enough, that ghost was actually right. Three horrifying Fierce Ghosts did come up from downstairs; the two sides were not on the same team.
Then he witnessed a battle of ghost versus ghost—a one-sided slaughter by one party over the other.
After those three ghosts were taken care of, the Blood-Robed Elder pounded on the door with even greater force.
If not for the talisman Chen Yun gave him, which reinforced the wooden door, he couldn’t have held out at all.
Unfortunately, the talisman was about to expire.
Back then, Chen Yun’s talisman could kill the ghost on Li Nan’s back in one strike. Yet such a powerful item couldn’t even last half an hour against that thing outside.
“My life is over.” Lu Liangting clutched a pen and a red hairpin in his hands.
These were his two helpers. The problem was, these two ghosts combined weren’t enough to take even one hit from that monster outside!
If there were another path, it’d be fine, but now he was trapped in the back kitchen. The only exit was the black wooden door behind him.
“I promised to help you two fulfill your wishes. I’m sorry; I’ve broken my word.”
“The world outside is far more terrifying than you or I imagined. In a moment, I’ll create an opportunity to send you out. Once you’re out, run fast.”
