Class 0804

District 1, Teaching Building 13, Floor 3, Classroom 0804.

Even after Yin Kuang sat at a desk with his name scorched into it by flames, his mind was still a muddle. He didn't even know how he had gotten from that enormous "playground" to this classroom.

"Horror High School... Horror High School..."

Vague, jumbled thoughts seemed to swirl in his mind, all related to the "Horror High School" he now found himself in. They tangled together, impossible to sort out, while the four blazing characters for "Horror High School" kept drifting through the hollow of his mind.

"Hey!"

A sudden smack and shout snapped Yin Kuang back to his senses. He came around and said, "You?"

The person who had slapped him awake was the handsome young man who had been the first to speak to Yin Kuang on the "playground."

"What a coincidence. I didn't expect us to end up in the same class. Let's introduce ourselves. My surname is Li, Li Shuangmu. Shuang as in frost and snow, and Mu as in braving wind and bathing in rain."

"Hello." Yin Kuang shook his hand. "My name is Yin Kuang. Kuang as in carefree and content." After introducing themselves, Yin Kuang asked curiously, "You don't seem nervous or scared at all."

Yin Kuang looked around the classroom. Everyone seemed uneasy; some were so pale they were sobbing. A few had good composure, of course, but someone as cheerful and sunny as Li Shuangmu was truly unusual.

"Why should I be nervous or scared?" Li Shuangmu asked with a smile.

"Well..." Yin Kuang couldn't answer. "Shouldn't we be terrified? We've suddenly ended up in this strange place."

Li Shuangmu gave a wry smile and shook his head. "But what good would fear or nervousness do? No matter what, we're already here, aren't we? What do you think?" As if recalling something from the past, he said quietly, "Keeping a clear, calm head at all times has always been part of my training."

Li Shuangmu seemed to have a hidden past beneath his sunny, cheerful exterior. The maturity and wisdom he showed, along with a faint air of melancholy, made Yin Kuang reflect, He's a man with a story...

Yin Kuang nodded. "You're right. Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it."

As they talked, Li Shuangmu's attitude began to rub off on Yin Kuang, and his unease gradually faded.

Before long, a few others joined their conversation, using different languages to distract themselves and drive away the negative feelings inside.

"My surname's Wang. Wang Ning. Sigh, I was happily heading off to register at university, but when I went downstairs, I somehow tripped and fell... Then everything went black, and I ended up here..." The person sitting in front of Yin Kuang turned around and spoke.

Just like his name, Wang Ning looked refined and wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. But not even his lenses could hide the fear in his eyes.

"Tell me about it. I must've had the worst luck in the world. Do you know how hard it was for me to get into a second-tier university? And now I've ended up in this damned place for no reason..." He sighed. "I wonder what my parents will do when they find out I'm missing. They'll be worried sick. Oh, right, I'm Wei Min. Min as in 'the people.'"

Wei Ming was tall and sturdy, with a crew cut, a hard-edged face, and a faint scar on his left cheek. He looked like he'd once been a tough guy.

"Do you think... this is some kind of... kidnapping?"

A timid, soft voice chimed in. Everyone looked over, and their eyes lit up. The speaker was a petite young woman with big eyes, an oval face, snow-white skin, bright eyes, and lovely teeth. She looked pure and charming. Especially now, her frightened, timid demeanor was so endearing that people couldn't help wanting to take her in their arms and comfort her with sweet words.

The girl was clearly growing even more frightened under everyone's gaze. She shrank back a little, like a startled rabbit.

Li Shuangmu wasn't much affected by her innocent charm, though he did find her pretty. He analyzed the situation. "I don't think it's kidnapping. From the very beginning, what's happened has gone far beyond anything we could imagine or understand. Like suddenly ending up here, the strange writing on the admission notices, and the jumbled thoughts appearing in our minds. Everything feels like something out of a ghost story. If kidnappers had methods this powerful, they wouldn't need to kidnap people to make money."

Yin Kuang agreed. "Besides, I'm broke. If this really were a kidnapping, they definitely wouldn't have taken me. Only an idiot would do that."

Li Shuangmu and Yin Kuang's exchange seemed to reassure the timid girl. "But... what exactly happened?"

Yin Kuang was just about to say, "We don't know either," when a sudden roar rang out in the empty classroom. A moment later came the crash of desks and chairs colliding.

"Damn it! Say that again, I dare you!"

A huge, bare-chested young man stood there, glaring ferociously as he raised a chair and pointed it at a pale but handsome young man on the floor. It looked as if he really would smash the chair down and crack the other boy's skull if he didn't get an explanation.

The pale young man, his gaze cold, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spat. "I'll say it again. You, Du Fang, are trash! You've got no money and no power. Hmph, Norman's with you, but you can't give her anything. You can't even support yourself, yet you want her to suffer and struggle alongside you. Sooner or later, some fat-bellied nouveau riche will drag her off to be his mistress, and she'll live a miserable life. But I'm different..."

"Zhang Yaozong, I... I'll kill you! Aah!" Du Fang, the huge young man, was consumed with rage and brought the chair down. If it hit, it would kill him. The pale young man cowered backward in fear.

But the chair never landed.

A white blur suddenly darted in from the side, wrapped around Du Fang's waist, and knocked him away, saving Zhang Yaozong's life.

The white blur was none other than Li Shuangmu.

"What are you doing? Get lost! Mind your own damn business, or I'll kill you too!" Clearly, rage had robbed him of his senses. He was like a mad dog, snapping at anyone who came near.

Li Shuangmu stood between the two, his face icy. "I don't want to get involved in your business. But we're all in the same class now. Until we understand what's going on, I don't want to make things worse. This isn't just between the two of you anymore. It concerns all thirty students in our class."

That was right: there were thirty young men and women, all around twenty years old, in this spacious classroom.

Everyone agreed with Li Shuangmu.

"Exactly! No matter how deep your grudge is, now's not the time to settle it."

"Yeah... Who knows what other supernatural stuff might happen next? Don't drag us into this."

"Hey, this is about a woman, right? You're threatening to kill each other over that? Is it really worth it?"

As everyone spoke up, Du Fang, who had been fuming, regained some of his composure. He angrily flung the chair aside and returned to his seat.

Yin Kuang went over to help, righting the overturned desks and chairs. But Zhang Yaozong snatched a desk from him and said without gratitude, "Don't pretend to be nice. I can clean this up myself."

Yin Kuang shrugged, gave an awkward smile, and went back to his seat.

Just then, the classroom door, which had been tightly shut, suddenly flew open—or rather, was kicked open! It was kicked open with brutal force, crashing with a loud "bang" that made everyone's eardrums throb.