Chapter 76.2 Savage Expansion (9)
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Could it be that the school has fused with a certain video game? Lin Zhaohe speculated in his mind.
“How many monsters did you kill to obtain all these things?” Lin Zhaohe asked Huo Nanjing.
Huo Nanjing shook his head and said he didn’t kill any monsters. He had collected these items from different classrooms and had put in a lot of effort. He rarely used them himself, so Lin Zhaohe ended up benefiting from them.
“Shall we go and check the playground now?” Lin Zhaohe remembered his agreement with Zhuang Lao. The communication devices had no signal at all, and he had no idea if the situation would be better at the playground. They could only take a desperate chance.
“Sure,” Huo Nanjing said. “Coincidentally, I got separated from my friends…”
He explained that he and his friends had come to the school to participate in a daring challenge event during the Ghost Festival in July. There were five of them in total, three boys and two girls.
In this classic scenario and environment, the girl who pretended to be a ghost and scared people startled Huo Nanjing. When he saw her face clearly, he was almost scared to death. He lectured her for quite a while, but the girl didn’t respond. Huo Nanjing thought she was daydreaming and pushed her. The girl collapsed to the ground and died just like that.
Her body was only half intact, with the other half hollowed out by something. But when Huo Nanjing pushed her, he clearly saw her glare at him.
Thus, the haunting at the school began.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Huo Nanjing got separated from the others. Being cautious and clever, he miraculously survived and managed to gather a considerable amount of supplies. However, being a semi-grown child, he didn’t know what to do next. Fortunately, he encountered Lin Zhaohe.
The two things on Lin Zhaohe’s shoulder were extremely eye-catching, causing Huo Nanjing to silently regard this person with newfound respect, believing that there must be something remarkable about him.
If Lin Zhaohe knew what he was thinking, he would probably say that the something remarkable about him was the fat on his belly…
The campus was eerily quiet, with all the streetlights turned off and no moon in sight. Lin Zhaohe and Huo Nanjing walked one after the other, resembling characters in a silent movie.
The surroundings were pitch black, and what should have been a journey of a little over ten minutes turned into a fumbling advance. Lin Zhaohe asked in a hushed voice, “What kind of game did you guys play? What kind of ghosts did you summon?”
Huo Nanjing kept his head down and said, “We… played them all.”
Lin Zhaohe: “……” Youth doesn’t appreciate the value of life, only to shed tears for ghosts in old age.
“I didn’t want to play either,” Huo Nanjing said, “But Xiao Xiu insisted on dragging me into it…”
“Xiao Xiu, your girlfriend?”
Huo Nanjing nodded.
“Is she still alive?”
“She’s very clever,” Huo Nanjing said. “I feel like even if I died, she wouldn’t.”
Lin Zhaohe didn’t expect him to be so confident about his girlfriend. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Have you considered that a clever person wouldn’t come to the school at midnight on July 15th to play this kind of game?”
Huo Nanjing: “……” It seemed like there was some truth to that.
Although maintaining silence was the best choice at the moment, the quiet atmosphere in this environment felt like it could drive people insane. Lin Zhaohe could sense the tension emanating from Huo Nanjing. It was as if in the darkness surrounding them, terrifying creatures could jump out and attack them at any moment.
Initially, Lin Zhaohe was mindful that Huo Nanjing was a student and thought of walking ahead to clear the way. However, not long after they began walking, Huo Nanjing silently patted Lin Zhaohe’s shoulder and said, “Brother Lin, why don’t you let me go ahead?”
Touched by his words, Lin Zhaohe said, “It’s okay. I’m older, so it’s normal for me to take a bit more risk.”
“It’s not about danger,” Huo Nanjing said with difficulty. “Those two sisters on your shoulder are a bit scary…”
Lin Zhaohe had a kind and friendly appearance, but the two female ghosts on his shoulder didn’t give off a warm vibe. Clad in red garments with pale faces, their dark eyes peered coldly from behind their hair, causing one’s scalp to tingle.
What Huo Nanjing found most unbearable was that the two female ghosts on Lin Zhaohe’s shoulders kept twisting their bodies, as if every bone in their bodies had been broken… They contorted into horrifying positions.
To be honest, Huo Nanjing felt that he wasn’t as scared when he was alone before. It was after encountering Lin Zhaohe that he found it even more frightening.
Lin Zhaohe couldn’t help but laugh and cry at his words. He didn’t want to have two female ghosts on his shoulder either, but for now, he had no choice but to coexist with them in harmony.
“If we turn here, we’ll reach the library,” Huo Nanjing said, holding a dim flashlight that barely illuminated the path ahead. He continued, “Strange, where’s the bridge over the pond?”
There was a pond filled with many lotus flowers between the academic building and the library. The water in the pond wasn’t deep, and under normal circumstances, they could wade through it. However, the water was pitch black now, and they couldn’t see anything in it. Huo Nanjing didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.
Lin Zhaohe also remembered that there were several stone bridges over the pond. He wasn’t sure if it was because it was too dark or if something had changed in the surroundings, but all the bridges that were supposed to be there had disappeared without a trace. They searched for a while but found nothing.
If they didn’t cross the bridges, they would have to take a detour and go all the way around to the school gate to reach the library. The area near the school gate was illuminated by lights, and each light represented a monster.
“What should we do?” Huo Nanjing, being a student, was unsure of what to do. He trembled and said, “Should we go into the water?”
Lin Zhaohe said, “It seems like that’s our only option.” The pond wasn’t deep, with a width of about five to six meters. It would take at least five minutes to go from the water to the shore. He glanced at Huo Nanjing and gritted his teeth, “I’ll go first. Once I confirm there’s nothing in the water, you can come down.” He had exhausted his strength earlier and couldn’t transform for the time being, but he couldn’t let a student take the risk.
Huo Nanjing hesitated, his fear ultimately gaining the upper hand. The pitch-black water made it impossible to see anything, and it took tremendous courage to lower his foot into it.
Lin Zhaohe prepared himself mentally and rolled up his pants before stepping in.
The pond was filled with thick mud, sinking up to his ankles. The icy water was deeper than he had imagined. When it reached his knees, Lin Zhaohe took a deep breath and began walking slowly towards the opposite bank. Whether he stepped into a deeper part of the mud or not, a string of bubbles emerged from the water’s surface, startling Lin Zhaohe.
Fortunately, apart from the bubbles, nothing else attacked him. This relieved Lin Zhaohe.
Huo Nanjing carefully observed from behind, watching Lin Zhaohe’s movements as his heart raced in his chest. When he saw that Lin Zhaohe had safely taken a few steps forward, his heart settled back down. Swallowing hard, he asked, “Brother Lin, is there anything in the water?”
“No,” replied Lin Zhaohe. “It’s slippery in the water, so be careful when you come down.” He noticed that Huo Nanjing was wearing slippers, which wouldn’t be easy to walk in through the muddy sludge.
Huo Nanjing nodded and, using the support of the stones, entered the water. Despite being mentally prepared, when his toes touched the soft mud, the cold and slippery sensation sent shivers down his spine.
Reaching the bottom, Huo Nanjing cautiously tried to catch up with Lin Zhaohe step by step. However, the more he rushed, the more likely he was to make mistakes. After taking a few steps, his slipper got stuck in the mud and he couldn’t pull it out. There was nothing nearby to hold onto, and with a trembling voice, Huo Nanjing said, “Brother Lin… I can’t get my leg out!”
“What?” Lin Zhaohe turned to look at Huo Nanjing, his body twisting up and down in place, unable to move an inch. It was as if something had grabbed hold of his foot.
Upon seeing this scene, Lin Zhaohe didn’t continue forward but turned back to help Huo Nanjing. After all, if it weren’t for Huo Nanjing saving him earlier, he might have already started queuing up for reincarnation. Leaving the boy behind and walking away on his own was definitely not something he could do.
So, he made the difficult journey back to Huo Nanjing and stabilized himself, allowing Huo Nanjing to grasp his hand and exert force to free himself from the mud. If the slippers couldn’t be rescued, they would find another pair for him.
“No!” Huo Nanjing insisted. “This is the first gift Xiao Xiu gave me. If I leave it here, she’ll be mad!”
Lin Zhaohe thought to himself that there should be a strong recommendation to include “Love Brain,” this kind of ailment, in medical insurance coverage.
“Okay then, you stay put, and I’ll help you pull it out,” Lin Zhaohe suggested, not wanting to argue with Huo Nanjing. He decided to try a different approach. “Stand firm, don’t slip.”
He bent down and reached his hand into the water, intending to pry out Huo Nanjing’s slipper. However, as soon as his hand went in, he sensed something was off. He didn’t touch the slipper but rather something cold, soft, and squishy… It didn’t feel like mud; it felt more like human skin.
Lin Zhaohe’s expression froze on his face. He slowly turned his gaze towards the water’s surface, where a pale woman’s face faintly emerged from the dark water.
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