Su Rang was practically frantic.
He had no idea what had happened to Yuan Ci and Ji Xun. As far as they could see, the two had gone up the stairs and then stood motionless. No matter how loudly they called, neither seemed to hear them.
Su Rang gritted his teeth and told Hao Wei, "I'll go check on them."
"Su Rang, don't-"
Hao Wei grabbed at empty air, watching helplessly as Su Rang bounded toward the stairs.
Meanwhile, Yuan Ci and Ji Xun had escaped the illusion on the staircase. When Ji Xun heard Su Rang calling, he decided to head down first.
But the moment he turned to go downstairs, the little cannonball charging up slammed straight into him.
Caught completely off guard, Ji Xun was knocked off balance by Su Rang's momentum. Between falling backward and sitting down backward, he chose the latter.
But he had forgotten there was another living, breathing person behind him.
And so, forced to stop charging forward by the collision, Su Rang found himself looking at Yuan Ci-the man he considered as omnipotent as a god-sitting casually on a stair, with a beautiful, utterly bewildered young man in his lap.
More importantly, Yuan Ci's hand was resting on the other man's waist.
"Y-Yuan Ci, you two doing this here... isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Su Rang stammered, his gaze darting between Yuan Ci and Ji Xun as his own face flushed bright red.
Ji Xun shot to his feet and glared at the culprit.
Yuan Ci stood, brushed the dust off his trousers, and told Hao Wei and Si Qi, who were still waiting anxiously below, "Come on up."
They had heard the notification for their mission progress just as they escaped the illusion.
Su Rang, Hao Wei, and Si Qi copied what the two had done earlier, counting upward from the first step to the twelfth. Nothing happened.
[Main mission: Collect and verify four Campus Ghost Stories (1/4)]
"Nothing happened? Then why were you two standing there without moving?" Su Rang asked, puzzled.
Yuan Ci lifted his chin toward the long blade embedded in the landing. Almost a third of its length had sunk into the marble.
Su Rang didn't see the ghostly face on the landing. Instead, he was astonished that anyone could drive a blade that deep.
"Looks like our pretty boy doesn't need quite so much protecting after all." Yuan Ci's gaze was unfathomable as he reached out to stroke Ji Xun's cheek. "Don't let it leave a scar. Don't ruin such a lovely face any further."
Ji Xun felt a touch on the spot the string had cut earlier, then tilted his head slightly to evade Yuan Ci's hand.
He raised a hand to his cheek. A bandage had been stuck over the cut.
Ji Xun was thoroughly unimpressed. He had suffered hundreds, if not thousands, of injuries. Why would such a tiny cut need something like this?
With the situation on the first floor cleared up, they continued toward the second.
The task of searching the classrooms one by one fell to Su Rang and the other two. Yuan Ci strolled leisurely behind them like a boss inspecting his employees' work.
"You said you'd explain once we got out. Go on, then."
Ji Xun paused, then remembered that Yuan Ci wanted to know how he had known it was a string attacking them.
"Where did you go when the game first started?" Ji Xun asked in return.
Yuan Ci said, "Su Rang and I walked around the teaching building."
Ji Xun said, "I went to the teachers' office."
Yuan Ci raised an eyebrow and continued, "The stairs, the corridors, the Small Auditorium, the School Infirmary, the Principal’s Office, the classrooms."
Those were the places he had identified as likely sites for ghost stories.
"There was a major incident at this school."
Yuan Ci said nothing. Ji Xun looked at him, equally silent.
They remained at an impasse for a moment before Yuan Ci sighed and conceded. "There's no Class Twelve in Grade Three."
The fourteen Grade Three classes were spread across the fifth and sixth floors. In order, the west side of the sixth floor should have housed Classes Eleven, Class Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen.
But when Yuan Ci went up to the sixth floor, he found only Classes Eleven, Thirteen, and Fourteen.
What should have been the Grade Three Class Twelve classroom was now a storage room, cluttered with desks, chairs, and miscellaneous items. Through the window in the door, he could see dust everywhere.
Ji Xun gave a faint smile, seemingly pleased by his concession. "Every student in Class Twelve went missing."
Yuan Ci's pupils contracted, and he looked at him in confusion. "Missing?"
Ji Xun didn't keep him in suspense. "Two years ago, there was an enormous fire at the school. It started when the students who were then in first-year Class Twelve drank and smoked in the Small Auditorium during summer break and accidentally set the curtains alight. The fire quickly spread to the neighboring teaching building. Although the firefighters arrived in time, the interior of the teaching building still suffered severe damage. That's why the entire building was renovated afterward. Those students disappeared after the fire. Rumor has it they hid because they were afraid the school would hold them responsible."
"Absurd." Yuan Ci frowned. An entire class of students had stayed out of sight for two years because they were afraid of taking responsibility? How was that possible?
Su Rang, who had heard everything clearly up ahead, cut in. "Then why did they keep Class Twelve's classroom on the sixth floor?"
Ji Xun said, "It was the principal's decision. He didn't blame the teenagers for their momentary lapse in judgment, and he hoped they would return soon to finish their studies, so he kept their class."
Su Rang pursed his lips. "That principal's surprisingly nice."
Yuan Ci asked, "Then how did you know it was a string attacking us on the stairs?"
Ji Xun's expression turned serious. "There was a student in Class Twelve named Peng Di. She was very good at vocal music, and especially skilled at playing stringed instruments."
Yuan Ci asked, "You suspect the students from Class Twelve are already dead? And Peng Di is the stairway ghost?"
Ji Xun spread his hands. "The chances of them still being alive are pretty slim, aren't they?"
In an infinite-flow world, the odds of teenagers surviving after being missing for over two years were probably lower than the odds of his bastard boss growing a conscience and giving him a raise.
Yuan Ci nodded in agreement. "True. But that also reminds us not to go to the Small Auditorium unless we have absolutely no choice."
Up ahead, Si Qi suddenly began waving frantically at Yuan Ci. Thinking they had found something, Yuan Ci and Ji Xun hurried over.
Every classroom had its doors and windows tightly shut. All along the way, they could only peer through the windows in the doors to see inside.
But when they reached one particular classroom on the second floor, they noticed something unusual.
Ji Xun glanced at the sign by the door. It was Grade One Class Seven, the very class he, Yuan Ci, and Su Rang had been assigned to during the day.
Si Qi's flashlight beam fell directly on one of the seats. A person had suddenly appeared in what should have been an empty classroom.
He sat at a desk in an Experimental Middle School uniform, its fabric spattered with ominous flecks of blood.
He seemed unable to feel the harsh light. His head remained lowered as he clawed at his hair in frustration and agitation.
He had torn out almost all his hair, and large patches of his scalp had peeled away as well, exposing his bloody skull. The sight was ghastly and revolting.
It wasn't just his hair. The student's face was also covered in densely packed scratch marks.
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