Behind Hengtan Elementary School.
The Abandoned Teaching Building.
Deep in the darkness where sunlight could not reach.
Lin Quan curled up in a corner, his body trembling from time to time.
Terrifying memories assailed him.
"How did we offend you?"
"You're not just going to tell the teacher again, are you?"
"How long have you been using that crappy schoolbag? Even my dog uses something better."
"Big Fatty, I heard you have a crush on the class monitor? Seriously? I'll go ask her!"
"We're just joking. You can't even take a joke? What a sore loser, so sensitive."
"Oh, your mom made you a chicken drumstick? Looks pretty good. Let me have a bite."
"You dare glare at me? Fine. Don't leave after school."
...The memories flickered faster and faster, until they finally twisted into a chaotic mess.
All that remained was a tidal wave of noise drowning out everything around him, rising and falling without end.
"No, don't..."
His body shook even harder.
At last, the chaotic memories stopped shifting and froze on a certain scene.
"How pitiful."
A man in red Leather Shoes walked toward his battered, wounded self.
With a pitying question, like the whispered temptation of a demon,
"Want to make a deal?"
"Will you be a coward for the rest of your life, or a hero for a single moment?"
"Ah—"
His body stopped trembling.
He remembered.
He was no longer "Lin Quan."
The thing curled up in the corner slowly emerged from the shadows.
As the light gradually illuminated it, a... gigantic "schoolbag" stood in the wrecked abandoned classroom.
It was a huge, filthy, severely worn Schoolbag Man. Faint human facial features could be seen on its surface, while the straps on both sides supported it against the ground like two legs.
The bulging schoolbag seemed stuffed with something heavy, as though it might burst at any moment. Its rusted zipper had split open a gap.
"How long have you been using that crappy schoolbag? Even my dog uses something better."
"Don't leave after school."
The words of bullying echoed faintly from within.
A schoolbag that should have carried knowledge was now filled with humiliating memories.
Lin Quan was already dead.
He was...
With the groan of fabric pushed beyond its limits, he slowly dragged his straps and walked out of the ruined empty classroom with his back to the light.
Because he had smelled more than one living person approaching.
There was no doubt that they had come to bully him too.
"Unforgivable..."
A deep, muddied roar came from the darkness deep within the schoolbag's zipper.
A dangerous aura naturally spread outward, turning the walls black inch by inch. In the blink of an eye, they seemed to have aged ten years.
Then he would kill them—
It was the urban Ghost Story haunting the Abandoned Teaching Building.
"Is this the place?" Section Chief Liu solemnly examined the Abandoned Teaching Building before him.
Moss covered the collapsed iron gate, and the faint smell of rot lingered in the air.
The walls were covered in dark green ivy, yet there was no vitality to it. Instead, beneath the shade of towering ancient trees blocking out the sunlight, the place felt gloomy and sinister.
"Yes. We've received more than one report from people who swore they saw something strange here."
Captain Wang followed beside Section Chief Liu. Behind them stood a group of Special Management Department Commissioners surveying the surroundings.
"Mm. Situations like this fall under urban Ghost Stories. If confirmed, they would generally be handled by a dedicated Field team."
Section Chief Liu shook his head and casually pulled out a cigar.
"But since it's right in our faces, there's no reason to stand by and do nothing."
As he spoke, he gave the Silver White Briefcase in his left hand a small shake.
"That would be wonderful. Thank you so much."
Captain Wang hurriedly took out a lighter and lit Section Chief Liu's cigar.
"With you stepping in, what problem could possibly remain unsolved?"
Section Chief Liu smiled without commenting on that.
"Still, I need to submit a report to request authorization from above. We can only act after they approve it."
"Don't worry. It shouldn't take long."
As he spoke, he habitually and cautiously observed the area around him.
He did not know whether it was merely an illusion.
But he felt that the atmosphere around them was undergoing some subtle change.
In a daze, the sunlight seemed to be shifting.
The shadows deepened.
It was as though, with the approach of living people, this Abandoned Teaching Building...
Had also been awakened.
—Section Chief Liu frowned slightly.
The infirmary.
Sky-blue curtains shut out the sunlight, leaving the cool room quiet and peaceful.
Liu Huahua, the beloved daughter of Section Chief Liu from the Black Box Special Management Department, slowly woke from her sleep and rubbed her bleary eyes with her small hands.
"Ah!"
When her vision cleared, she suddenly cried out in fright.
Because her homeroom teacher was silently sitting beside her bed, peeling an apple.
"You're awake?"
The teacher with glasses and a round face handed her the apple. "Want some?"
Sitting up from the hospital bed, Liu Huahua accepted the apple in a daze, looking as though she wanted to say something but could not bring herself to do so.
After tucking her hair behind her ear, the round-faced teacher blinked.
"Actually, you don't have a fever, do you?"
"!!" Xiao Liu jolted all over as if her fur had stood on end, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
"Teacher Yu-Yu-Yuan... h-how did you know?"
"Because you've been acting a little strange lately, and you haven't been talking much either."
"I've been observing you for a while."
Teacher Yuan looked into her eyes, her voice gentle.
"What happened? Can you tell your teacher about it?"
"But... all right."
After hesitating for a long time, Liu Huahua finally began haltingly recounting what she had gone through recently.
She had pretended to be sick because she did not want to go to school.
More precisely, she was being bullied by her classmates.
Everyone in class bullied her and said she was a child without parents, because they rarely saw her parents come to pick her up.
She did not know what her parents did either. Sometimes, she thought perhaps they were elite agents from some mysterious organization, busy traveling everywhere to save the world every day.
Otherwise, why would they be so busy? So busy that they had no time to care for her, leaving her alone at boarding school.
But more often than not, she did not want her parents to be superheroes.
She only wanted them to be like the Strawberry Bear they had given her on her last birthday, staying by her side every day.
There were only a few children who bullied her at first, but the more she was bullied, the less she wanted to talk to others. And the less she spoke, the more people bullied her, becoming increasingly brazen.
So gradually, she came to like pretending to be sick.
As long as she hid in the infirmary, everything became quiet.
The smell of disinfectant reassured her, while the wind outside rustled through the leaves.
Once the infirmary door was shut and the sky-blue curtains were drawn, all the unpleasant things at school seemed to have gone to another world.
But as a result, her studies had fallen behind.
This time, she had gone too far with her act and drawn her homeroom teacher's attention.
I'm done for, I'm done for... It really feels like I'm done for...
Liu Huahua muttered anxiously to herself, trembling under the covers as she carefully watched Teacher Yuan's unreadable expression.
What elementary school student was not afraid of teachers?
"..."
Teacher Xiao Yuan's brows were tightly furrowed.
After hearing Liu Huahua's hesitant account, she was angry, but also confused.
According to Liu Huahua, she was often bullied by several girls in the class.
Troubled and distressed, Liu Huahua had gradually begun wanting to avoid school and had even developed thoughts of dropping out.
That was extremely serious.
As the homeroom teacher, she had failed to notice such bullying in her class beforehand. That was a grave dereliction of duty!
She would never allow something so vile to happen right under her nose.
But...
"But."
Teacher Xiao Yuan looked sternly at Liu Huahua.
"There aren't any of the people you mentioned in the class at all."
"...Huh?" Liu Huahua opened her mouth wide, her face filled with confusion.
"—Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist."
At that moment, a man's voice came from outside.
A sunny-looking man in a white coat pushed the door open and entered.
"Doctor!" Liu Huahua called out instinctively, warmth in her voice.
Every time she came to the infirmary to pretend to be sick after being bullied, this Doctor also acted as her counselor.
He quietly listened to Liu Huahua's secrets and patiently guided her through them.
In Liu Huahua's eyes, this Doctor was an extremely reliable older brother.
The Doctor looked at Teacher Yuan and sighed.
"It's because of teachers like you who refuse to believe students that Xiao Liu has suffered so much and never dared to open up to you."
"You seem like the kind of terrible teacher who would ask a student who got beaten up, 'Why did they only hit you and not anyone else?'"
"That's not it..." Teacher Xiao Yuan's eyes widened.
As the homeroom teacher, how could she not know whether those students existed in her class?
"Forget it. I can't be bothered explaining reason to you. You don't deserve to hear it."
The Doctor gave a disdainful sneer. Then his gaze softened as it fell on Liu Huahua.
"Xiao Liu, come with me."
"Huh? Okay..."
Liu Huahua froze for a moment, then her eyes gradually turned unfocused and hazy.
She stiffly got out of bed and swayed toward the Doctor.
"Wait, where are you taking her?" Teacher Xiao Yuan began to sense that something was wrong.
"That's none of your business."
The Doctor casually waved a hand.
"How can I not care?!" Teacher Xiao Yuan anxiously stood up, trying to block the two of them.
"Bzzzt—"
The air trembled like the echo of cicadas.
A palm struck Teacher Xiao Yuan's thin shoulder.
Like a rag doll, Teacher Xiao Yuan was sent flying and dragged across the floor.
The Doctor coldly watched Teacher Xiao Yuan lying on the ground, her shoulder caved in as she groaned in pain.
He spoke in a cold voice, shielding the vacant-eyed Liu Huahua behind him.
"Stay away from my Art Piece."
All Teacher Xiao Yuan could see were the Doctor's glaringly vivid red Leather Shoes.
Teacher Xiao Yuan's mind went blank.
What was that?
Who was he? A monster?
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt...
What was happening before her had completely surpassed everything she had understood in over twenty years of life.
"Why are you stopping your student from pursuing a better future?"
"You really are selfish."
Doctor spoke softly, as though dusting off his hands, his face full of disgust.
"My mood was already terrible."
"Then a bunch of disgusting people showed up out of nowhere, forcing me to abandon the first art piece I painstakingly raised."
"Are you really going to stop me from taking away the second... unfinished product whose ritual has yet to be completed?"
As he spoke, he unconsciously began stomping the heel of his red leather shoes, making sharp slapping sounds against the floor.
He bit at his nails, speaking faster and faster as he chattered on neurotically.
"—Do you know how long I lurked in this tiny infirmary for the art piece to take shape? How much effort I put in, how many illusion-guidance sessions I conducted?"
"You don't know. You know nothing!"
"If teachers truly set an example for others, how could I have become what I am now?"
"If someone had noticed the abnormality sooner, neither Lin Quan nor Liu Huahua would have reached this point!"
"You're no different from those damned Special Management Department cockroaches. That pitiful, pathetic thing you call responsibility makes me want to vomit just from smelling it!"
By now, Doctor's expression had become incomparably savage.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Heavy footsteps struck the floor.
He strode over restlessly, his shadow stretching across the ground and covering Teacher Xiao Yuan's helpless, bewildered expression.
Intense fear surged through her heart. She tried to cry out for help, but it was clearly useless.
"—How can people like you possibly change?"
"Go to hell!"
Doctor's cold, furious words fell to the ground.
He raised his hand—
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A cheerful knocking shattered the tense atmosphere.
—Who was it?
At a time like this?
Doctor turned back with a savage expression, his gaze predatory and murderous.
Then the door opened.
"Is anyone here?"
A teenage boy wearing a gold chain suddenly poked his head around the door.
Two blank, confused gazes fell upon him.
After looking around the unspeakable scene, Bai Zhou blinked and gave an awkward smile.
"Sorry, wrong door."
Then, with a smack,
Bai Zhou shut the door without hesitation and vanished.
"..." Doctor turned back to Teacher Xiao Yuan, his expression becoming savage again.
No matter what, he should deal with the problem in front of him first.
Things had to be handled one at a time. That was his philosophy in life.
Boom—
This time, it was a sudden, thunderous crash.
"Oi—"
A sharp cry rang out beside his ear.
Again?
Doctor turned around.
Just in time to see that person burst through the window before his eyes.
Glass shattered, scattering everywhere with a crash.
Brilliant sunlight poured inside.
The boy descended from the sky.
In his hand, he waved an iron bench leg he had no idea where he had picked up.
"What the hell..."
Doctor only thought the kid was insane.
And ridiculous.
After watching two third-rate spy movies, he was trying to play the hero saving the damsel in distress.
—But could he at least replace that ridiculous bench leg with a knife?
But in the next instant, he realized something was wrong.
Because the instant the iron bench leg drew near, an inexplicably scorching sensation swept through his entire body.
The blazing heat that felt as though it would set him alight, along with that bone-piercing sharpness, set every warning bell in his body ringing.
—An extraordinary!!
Not good!
He looked up to see the huge iron bench leg chopping down at his head with an unexpected yet grand and majestic bearing.
It filled his vision!
[Three Year Cicada]!
His seasoned extraordinary experience made Doctor use his secret technique without hesitation.
The cicadas began chirping again.
The spirituality of a Level 1 "Envoy" was desperately mobilized.
But in the next instant,
his opponent's left hand swung over,
There was another secret technique?!
Doctor's eyes widened as he instinctively looked over in alarm.
A cloud of dust rushed straight at him.
It all flew into Doctor's eyes.
Scorching pain instantly swept through Doctor's entire body.
"Ah—!!!"
Fuck, lime?!
Why was it lime?!
His vision went black, and the motion of activating [Three Year Cicada] was forcibly interrupted. He had only just let out a miserable howl of pain when
an extremely muffled echo reached his ears:
[...Slash]
Boom!
Gorgeous flames streaked across the sky.
Behind the crescent-shaped blade light, the boy swept through the air like a bird, his silhouette branding itself into Teacher Xiao Yuan's stunned eyes—
The wind howled, his clothes fluttered, and the boy swung his blade.
It was impossible to comprehend, yet unforgettable for a lifetime.
Standing before Teacher Xiao Yuan, Bai Zhou rested the iron bench leg on his shoulder while remaining alert and on guard, ready to give Doctor another strike at any moment.
"Damn, I should've asked before attacking."
He suddenly slapped his forehead, looking somewhat annoyed.
"You're the terrifying Mastermind who planned everything, right?"
...Looking at the Blood Worship Cultist rolling around on the ground, weeping and wailing, Bai Zhou added uncertainly.
"Or, uh, the vicious and evil... Blood Worship Cultist?"