Story Two: School

Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

As time passed, new blank pages were turned, and lines of blood-red text appeared on them.

Unlike the First Story [Monster], the style of this second story has changed significantly, transforming from a suspenseful horror genre into a dark Fairy Tale.

[The Second Story ▪ School]

[Light and darkness coexist; the brighter the light, the denser the darkness hidden beneath. It is our deafness, blindness, and silence that have given them the power to abuse their authority and obscure the truth.]

[This is a dark Fairy Tale that makes no sense...]

"A dark Fairy Tale... Is this Fairy Tale this time?"

Xia Wen looked thoughtful as he read the contents of the book.

"But dark Fairy Tales..."

His eyes darted around slightly, and he nudged Bai Zhi with his elbow. Then, as Bai Zhi looked at him with some curiosity, Xia Wen leaned closer and, mimicking Anna's usual way of addressing him, whispered something to Bai Zhi in a rather cunning tone.

"Fairy Tale tales usually feature Princess. Are you really not going to get involved, Your Highness?"

"If you want to get beaten up, just say so, and I'll grant your wish."

Bai Zhi glanced at the other person, his expression calm.

"Cut..."

Xia Wen pursed his lips and shrugged, looking dejected.

"As for [School]... this story should be about school bullying. When you're developing the story, you can consider starting from that point."

Turning to look at everyone, Bai Zhi began to speak.

"Also, the stories here are Complete Role-playing Mode, so to make it easier to distinguish yourselves from your own people, you'd better agree on a hand signal beforehand, like this..."

As he spoke, taking advantage of everyone's attention being focused on his hand, Bai Zhi extended his middle finger amidst the indescribable gazes of the crowd.

"So, have you all learned it?"

"..."

Compared to the four people required in the previous story, this story has one less person involved, and there is no distinction between male and Heroine; there are only the Protagonist and two supporting characters.

After some discussion, Instant, the Chronicler, and the Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part chose to participate in this story.

After the three figures disappeared, Bai Zhi turned his gaze to the blank page in the center of the table.

On the newly turned page, lines of text are rapidly appearing.

[A long, long time ago, there was a person named Xiao Ming. Xiao Ming had many friends, namely Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, Xiao Xin, and Xiao Bai.]

The five of them are very good friends and go to and from school together every day.

One day, they happily went to school together as usual, but when they arrived at the school gate, they found that the entire school had completely changed, shrouded in a dark fog.

[Xiao Ming suggested that since the situation seemed very strange, and we were just elementary school students, we should go and call the adults to handle it.]

[However, Xiao Hong disagreed because she had wanted to experience an adventure for a long time. So she persuaded Xiao Gang and Xiao Xin, who were originally on Xiao Ming's side, to switch sides. In the end, Xiao Ming had no choice but to accompany his friends into the school.]

[The school is really eerie. Xiao Bai disappeared less than five minutes after we went in. Xiao Ming remembers Xiao Bai, but all his friends say they've never heard of Xiao Bai. Xiao Xin even says Xiao Bai was just a dog he owned.]

When everyone objected, Xiao Ming began to doubt himself. Was Xiao Bai really just a figment of his imagination?

[Amidst Xiao Hong and the others' mockery, Xiao Ming silently lagged behind, following Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, and Xiao Xin to the third-grade area.]

[Xiao Hong and her friends discovered that the school was deserted; they searched most of the school but didn't see any Teacher or students, but Xiao Ming was different.]

Along the way, Xiao Ming actually saw many other classmates and Teacher who stayed at school and didn't go anywhere else, but he didn't see Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, and Xiao Xin at all.

[Xiao Ming even saw Xiao Gang laughing and talking with Xiao Hong while stepping over their Teacher. The Teacher was clearly still conscious, looking at Xiao Ming with a pained and desperate expression, wanting Xiao Ming to save him.]

But Xiao Ming can't do anything.

[--Because in Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, and Xiao Xin's eyes, they had simply walked through an empty corridor.]

[Xiao Ming bypassed the Teacher and caught up with Xiao Hong and the others.]

[In the school's Sports Field, which wasn't shrouded in black fog, the soccer balls, volleyballs, and basketballs that the Teacher had put away to prevent them from playing were all scattered on the ground.]

Seeing this, Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, and Xiao Xin happily ran over, grabbed the ball, and started playing with it. They also invited Xiao Ming to join them.

[But seeing this scene before him, Xiao Ming took two steps back in fear.]

[In his eyes, the ball that Xiao Hong, Xiao Gang, and Xiao Xin were bouncing wasn't a soccer ball, but rather his missing classmates. However, in the hands of his good friends, these classmates truly seemed to have turned into balls, bouncing back and forth on the ground.]

His classmates were crying and begging Xiao Ming to save them, because only Xiao Ming could notice their abnormality and only Xiao Ming could hear their voices. But Xiao Ming couldn't do anything, because he had no idea how to turn his classmates back to normal.

[The Unique thing he could do was stop his good friends from continuing to bounce the ball, or rather, stop bouncing his classmates.]

Xiao Hong was very unhappy because Xiao Ming stopped them. So Xiao Hong questioned Xiao Ming, asking why he wouldn't play with them and why he stopped them from continuing to play.

Faced with Xiao Hong's questioning and seeing the disapproving looks from Xiao Gang and Xiao Xin, Xiao Ming fell into a long silence.

He wants to leave this school.

[Because he didn't know when he would become like those Teacher and students who turned into balls or desks and chairs.]

[Xiao Bai Xiaobai has become like that, which is why he disappeared? So what exactly has Xiao Bai become?]

[Xiao Ming turned his head and looked outside the stadium; a balloon was floating in the air.]

[Oh, so Xiao Bai turned into a balloon and followed them the whole time!]

--The story ends here.