Carelessness had nearly brought Luo Ge to ruin.
The Haunted Academy truly was extraordinary. Even something lurking in the darkness could kill without a trace.
Luo Ge stood still and took several deep breaths before finally suppressing his agitation. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.
He no longer dared stare into the darkness. He put the exhausted sparkler back into his backpack, turned, and ran.
This time, he did not take any chances. As he fled toward the exit, he shouted into his communicator:
"Director! Director, where are you?"
But his cry for help vanished without a trace, drawing no response.
Luo Ge's expression turned grim. An ominous feeling grew stronger in his heart, and fear began to take hold as he looked at the Rolling Shutter Door just ahead.
Duan Yanyan had disappeared.
Throughout his escape, she had never appeared. Luo Ge had reached the exit completely unimpeded.
The ghost in the darkness was probably the terrifying presence hidden deepest within the cafeteria. It was still there.
After a moment's hesitation, Luo Ge reversed the belt, pierced his palm with its barbed side, and used it to lift the Rolling Shutter Door.
The instant the pain struck, the sight behind the Rolling Shutter Door made his vision darken.
Opening this door should have revealed the way out of the cafeteria, but now there was a wall instead.
The wall was built of red bricks and cement. The bricks were so vividly red that they looked soaked through with blood, while thick, uncanny black sludge seeped from the gaps between them.
The belt's cost brought Luo Ge to the verge of passing out again. As he fought to endure it, he saw the red of the bricks and the black of the cement.
The world spun, and another hallucination arose.