Dressed in red!

Lin Qi's gaze unconsciously began to drift away from the principal. Paying him back was out of the question. He had no money to give, and giving up his life was out of the question too.

He looked up into the sky. The dark clouds overhead were strange, flashing with lightning and rumbling with thunder, yet no rain had fallen.

And...

And the dark clouds only covered the school grounds. Beyond the school, the sky was still clear for miles! There was not a trace of dark cloud!

"What are you looking at?" The girl in the green dress stopped beside Lin Qi and looked up as well.

Earlier, she had been entirely focused on escaping and had not noticed the changes in the sky. Only now, following Lin Qi's gaze, did she realize something was wrong.

She quickly took out her walkie-talkie, and her first words made the corner of Lin Qi's eye twitch. "Captain Dickhead, have you seen the dark clouds over the village?"

Almost as soon as the girl in green asked, the captain's voice came through. "Of course I've seen them. Don't tell me you happen to be right underneath them?"

"Congratulations, correct answer. No prize. Hurry up and figure out how to get that big idiot Niu Wudi and our people out of here!" The girl in green showed no restraint with the convoy captain, and there was little tension in her voice.

"Get you out? How the hell am I supposed to do that?" The captain sounded utterly exasperated. After a pause, he added, "Tell me exactly what's happening. I'll see if I can think of something."

"Okay." The girl in green agreed and began describing the supernatural situation at the school.

Lin Qi quietly listened to their conversation. It seemed the superhumans in the convoy were much easier to get along with than he had imagined.

"That's pretty much the situation." The girl in green finished recounting what had happened and only ended the call after receiving the captain's somewhat grave reply.

Rather than heading toward Niu Wudi, who was confronting the principal, she approached Lin Qi with an inexplicable gleam in her eyes.

A sense of foreboding rose in Lin Qi's heart.

What was she up to?

The girl in green looked him up and down for a long time, as though appraising a piece of merchandise, occasionally making little sounds of amazement.

Lin Qi finally could not take it anymore. Frowning, he stepped back half a pace. "Look, beautiful, we're trapped here right now. Aren't you nervous at all?"

"Me? What do I have to be nervous about?" The girl in green waved dismissively. "Relax. Even if that big idiot Niu Wudi dies, I won't. You, on the other hand, look like you're hurt. Let me treat you..."

As she spoke that last sentence, the gleam in her eyes intensified, and she reached to grab Lin Qi.

Lin Qi did not know why she was being so kind, but there was clearly ill intent in her eyes. He took another step back. "You're mistaken. I'm not hurt."

"Well, you've got a good eye, kid. I figure you'll stay alive quite a while. If you ever get hurt, make sure you come to me first. I promise I won't charge you a penny!" Seeing how resistant Lin Qi was, the girl in green shrugged indifferently, straightened up, and headed toward Niu Wudi.

Only when she finally left did Lin Qi breathe a sigh of relief.

He did not know what was wrong with the girl in green, but something was definitely wrong. There was no such thing as a free lunch. He did not believe in anything free.

There had to be a price he would pay, not just an obvious one, but a hidden one as well. Otherwise, she would not be so eager.

The little goodwill he had originally felt toward the girl in green gradually turned into wariness.

Unless something came up, he would choose to keep his distance from her as much as possible.

The eerie operatic singing still echoed outside the school.

The principal had not moved at all from beginning to end. Even the students in the school remained quietly as they were, none of them attacking the survivors.

Seeing that Lin Qi and the girl in green had truly been right, the survivors finally began to lose the terror on their faces.

At last, amid the survivors' agonizing wait.

The opera performer's singing gradually drew to a close.

Sheets of paper bearing the character for "double happiness" began drifting around the stage.

The villagers below the stage also began to disperse.

As the song ended, the dark clouds overhead slowly dissipated. Warm sunlight spilled over the earth, completely dispelling the gloom in the survivors' hearts.

The opera performer vanished, and the villagers vanished. Only the spirit money blowing across the ground spoke of everything that had just happened.

The supernatural beings within the school also faded from the survivors' sight as the dark clouds disappeared.

"Phew. I didn't expect him to really be helping us." Wang Feng gazed at the spot where the principal had vanished, his feelings complicated.

Up ahead, the girl in green was already calling to the survivors. "Let's go, let's go! Stop spacing out. This damn village is seriously sinister. We need to leave right now!"

The survivors needed no reminder from the girl in green. They rushed impatiently toward their vehicles.

After the supernatural incident at the school, they probably would not want to scavenge for supplies again for a long time.

Of course, the supplies from the school would last them a long time.

Vroom, vroom, vroom.

With the girl in green's little truck leading the way, the survivors' vehicles roared out of the school grounds and headed toward the edge of the village.

Lin Qi followed behind Wang Feng's two cars.

The walkie-talkie was buzzing with chatter.

Wang Feng said, "Guys, why do I feel like the principal deliberately put those supplies out for us to take? Did you get that feeling too?"

Xiao Wu said, "I think so too. The principal was so kind when he was alive, and he's still protecting humans after becoming a supernatural being. It's not hard to understand him giving us supplies."

Someone agreed. "Yeah. Even if the principal is a supernatural being, I hope he lives to a hundred..."

Listening to Wang Feng's group discuss it, Lin Qi gradually pictured the principal's face.

The principal's appearance had indeed overturned his understanding of supernatural beings.

He knew some supernatural beings possessed a little intelligence, but this really was the first time he had seen one side with survivors.

"Holy shit! Look! What's that!"

Just as Lin Qi was thinking, a startled cry suddenly rang out beyond the car window.

Screech!

A piercing squeal of brakes followed!

Lin Qi hurriedly craned his head to look ahead. When he saw clearly what had appeared in front of the convoy, his relaxed expression instantly turned extremely grim.

An opera stage stood at the very front of the convoy.

An opera stage they had not encountered on their way into the village!

An opera stage that should have been outside the school gates!