Su Rang had nearly thrown up all his bile.
Yuan Ci propped his chin on his hand and asked casually, "You'd already guessed?"
Ji Xun said, "When we went back to the dormitory last night, we saw the bodies in the Storage Room. But when I checked again this morning, they were all gone."
Disposing of so many bodies quickly and cleanly was no easy task.
Su Rang's almost possessed reaction upon seeing that bowl of meatball noodles had confirmed his suspicions.
Chen He was still shaken. Although Wei Lin and the others hadn't eaten any, they had dug tongues, fingers, and other human body parts out from beneath their noodles. Everyone wore the same grim expression.
But they couldn't go without food, either. Su Rang asked Ji Xun tentatively, "Ji... Ji Xun, words can't express my gratitude. How about I treat you to chicken drumstick rice?"
Ji Xun said, "Permission granted."
Su Rang said, "You got it!"
Chen He bought chicken drumstick rice along with Su Rang. He had only just shakily sat down, before he could even take a bite, when he screamed again. "Ah!"
Su Rang's chopstick hand jerked. He hurriedly asked, "What? What happened? More eyeballs?"
This time, Chen He wasn't looking at the chicken drumstick rice in his bowl. Instead, he pointed toward the cafeteria entrance as though he'd seen a ghost. "H-he... A ghost!"
Ji Xun looked back. Plenty of students were coming through the entrance, all rushing eagerly toward the meatball noodle counter. Only one person had his hands in his pockets and kept looking around.
When he spotted the players, his eyes curved into a smile. It made his usually rather ingratiating face much more pleasant to look at, even lending it a little liveliness.
Wang Kaile.
Yuan Ci frowned slightly.
"Hello, everyone." Wang Kaile sat in the empty seat beside Ji Xun and greeted them all with easy familiarity.
The players tensed, except for Ji Xun and Yuan Ci, who were still eating at their leisure.
"Why are you ignoring me?" Wang Kaile poked Ji Xun's arm and asked in a wheedling tone, "Is the chicken drumstick rice still as good as it used to be?"
Still?
Wei Lin's expression hardened. "Who exactly are you? Did you kill Qian Fang?"
He didn't seem particularly interested in Wei Lin and the others. He kept gazing hopefully at Ji Xun. "It wasn't me. I even wanted to save him. Who knew he'd insist on taking that little brat head-on? He got dragged down."
"Little brat?" Wei Lin clearly didn't believe him.
Wang Kaile gestured with his hands. "A kid about this big. His umbilical cord was still attached, and he was covered in blood. The girls' bathroom on the third floor is his territory."
Chen He's voice trembled. "Y-you must be lying! Wang Kaile is dead. You're a ghost! You must have killed Qian Fang, too!"
Wang Kaile spread his hands, his expression saying they could believe whatever they liked.
Yuan Ci had remained silent. Seeing Wang Kaile practically press his puppy-dog eyes against Ji Xun, he frowned slightly.
Ji Xun cut straight to the point. "You want us to get you out?"
Wang Kaile smiled instead and asked, "Do I need you to rescue me? Aren't I already out?"
Ji Xun raised his half-eaten chicken drumstick rice as though showing it off. "Such delicious food. Too bad some people can't eat it."
Su Rang joined in immediately. "Exactly, exactly. How pitiful."
Wang Kaile's smile faded, and his expression darkened slightly.
Yuan Ci was pleased. He chuckled. "Was it your friend who tried to kill Hao Wei?"
Hearing her name out of nowhere, Hao Wei looked at Wang Kaile in bewilderment.
Wang Kaile nodded reluctantly. "She wasn't trying to kill anyone. We're just too bored. We all want to come out for a walk."
Yuan Ci's voice cooled, carrying a hint of warning. "We can help you, but you have to guarantee that your friends won't hurt my teammates again."
Wang Kaile's expression changed. Through gritted teeth, he said, "I can calm them down, but you'll have to hurry. They got restless after seeing me get out. I don't know how much longer they can wait."
Yuan Ci nodded. "All right."
Wang Kaile cast a wistful look at the chicken drumstick rice, then looked at Ji Xun before leaving the cafeteria.
Chen He and the other two players stared blankly. Wei Lin asked, "Who exactly is he?"
Seeing that Ji Xun was busy eating, Yuan Ci took it upon himself to explain. "My guess is he's the person behind the Mirror."
He paused, then added, "Anyone who met their reflection's eyes during 'Straighten Your Clothes' at yesterday's assembly needs to be careful not to come into contact with mirrors from now on."
Hao Wei had behaved strangely after looking in the Mirror. If Ji Xun hadn't called out to her in time, something unpredictable might have happened.
As for Wang Kaile, Yuan Ci suspected he must have discovered the Mirror's secret and sneaked down to the first-floor lobby after dark to try collecting an urban legend.
Ji Xun said, "When I came down the stairs yesterday, I saw Wang Kaile's reflection. His back was clearly turned to the Mirror, but the reflection showed a teenage boy's face."
Wei Lin's head ached. "Apart from Boss Yuan, Su Rang, and Ji Xun, did everyone look in the Mirror yesterday?"
Chen He said despairingly, "With a mirror that big, it was almost impossible not to."
"What's done is done. There's nothing we can do about it." Wei Lin looked at Yuan Ci. "Boss Yuan, do you have any ideas?"
Yuan Ci said, "We'll check the lobby again tonight. Until then, be careful to avoid anything that could kill you."
There were many things that could kill: natural disasters, human malice, accidents.
Like what was happening now.
Ji Xun sat in the classroom, nodding off, when he suddenly heard screams coming from some other class.
His groggy brain hadn't woken up yet, and he looked around sleepily.
The students in Class Seven all looked frightened. He had no idea what they were afraid of, but he vaguely heard them saying, "It's happening again."
"Which class is it this time?"
Su Rang no longer dared look directly at the bespectacled boy who swallowed eyeballs whole, much less casually strike up conversations with anyone else.
The teacher giving the lesson was trembling all over, wearing the same terrified expression as the students.
Screams rose one after another, like a string of firecrackers tossed into a herd of horses. Unable to bear the ear-piercing din any longer, Ji Xun raised his hand. "Sir, I need to use the bathroom."
The teacher was too caught up in his own fear to attend to Ji Xun's request.
Ji Xun simply stood up and headed outside.
Yuan Ci and Su Rang followed him. As though some terrifying beast lurked outside, the bespectacled student said to Su Rang, "Su Rang, don't go out. Outside-"
Su Rang ignored him. However scary it is out there, it can't be scarier than you eating human eyeballs.
The screams were coming from Grade Two Class Three. Ji Xun remembered that a female ghost in a red dress appeared there at night.
Sure enough, when they reached Class Three's doorway, they found the teachers and students inside screaming helplessly in terror, as though that could vent their fear.
The ghost in the red dress was finally no longer hanging from the ceiling fan. Instead, she stood quietly on the floor.
Seeing them arrive, the ghost tilted her head at them and smiled delightedly. Her long, slender neck let her head almost touch the outside of her own arm.
In front of her, the ceiling fan had fallen. Its blades were still spinning at high speed, like steel knives, shredding the bodies of the students beneath it.
Flesh and blood splattered everywhere. The students closest to the bodies were almost entirely drenched in blood, with scraps of flesh from unidentifiable body parts clinging to their faces.
Ji Xun recalled the students mentioned in the background introduction who had suffered inexplicable accidents. Had they all died in such bizarre ways?
Before you continue