Death Closes In

Yang Jian frantically searched for a solution.

He knew full well that the knocking sounds from those phone calls would inevitably draw the old man here.

And once that old man appeared, the outcome was obvious.

The forum, the story, the audio file about the knocking old man, and the phone calls.

All the clues collided chaotically in Yang Jian's mind. He had grasped one small pattern, but he could not deduce any further information.

This was his first time encountering a ghost. He had never dealt with one before, and getting this far was already impressive. He was not Fang Jing, who supposedly knew everything that would happen in the future.

"Wait, Fang Jing... the future." Yang Jian's expression suddenly shifted. "That Human-Skin Parchment."

He hurriedly pulled the stack of dark brown parchment from his pocket.

"Yang... Yang Jian, look... look over there." Zhang Wei suddenly pointed toward the school, his voice trembling.

Yang Jian looked up, and his limbs instantly went cold.

Several hundred meters ahead, an inky darkness gradually spread toward them, swallowing everything in its path. The ground around them began to decay, trees withered, crumbling concrete became mottled with mold, and streetlights rusted over, swaying as though they could collapse at any moment.

An old man in a black long robe, his body covered in livor mortis, walked stiffly toward them with an ashen face and vacant eyes.

Step by step, neither fast nor slow.

"Damn it, it's here already?" Yang Jian's heart pounded wildly.

"Yang Jian, wh-what do we do now? What do we do? Are we going to die?"

Tears nearly streamed down Zhang Wei's face. "I don't want to die! I'm still so young! I'm still a virgin! Yang Jian, think of something! Fang Jing said you'd become amazing in the future. You must have a way, right?"

"We can't get out, can we?"

Wang Shanshan clutched his arm with a pale hand, her face filled with terror.

At the sight of the approaching darkness, Zhao Lei trembled all over and kept backing away, trying to escape the school. But when he turned around, he found another dense darkness closing in behind him.

They were surrounded by darkness. There was nowhere to run.

Yang Jian ignored them. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he opened the Human-Skin Parchment in his hand, trying to find some crucial information on it.

A line of clear, large text appeared on the parchment before his eyes: At five in the morning on June 22, the Ghost Domain appeared before us again. Yes, that ghost had come back.

At five-thirty in the morning on June 22, all of us died. Not a single person survived.

I am Yang Jian. By the time you see these words, I am already dead.

"You wrote us all dead? Bullshit. There has to be a way out of here. When I was dragged into the restroom before, that old man didn't follow me in. I want to know why. If you don't tell me now, I'll find somewhere to bury you. You can forget about ever seeing daylight again."

Yang Jian gritted his teeth, his words carrying a hint of threat.

The Human-Skin Parchment seemed to hear him. The writing on it gradually blurred, then all the words vanished. A new line of text emerged:

"At nine o'clock on the night of June 21, I was dragged into the restroom by a ghost. I did not die because there was an even more terrifying ghost inside the restroom. That place was another Ghost Domain. I saw some horrifying things, but at the time, I had not realized it."

"At nine-thirty on the night of June 21, I got lost in the restroom, but that old man came to the restroom door. He was knocking. He had come looking for me, yet I did not hear him. Perhaps that was why I escaped certain death."

Yang Jian's heart shuddered when he saw those words.

Could it be that while he had been lost in the restroom earlier, the old man had been knocking outside the door?

Soon, more writing appeared on the parchment.

"...After that incident, I guessed that the Ghost Domain had been the key to surviving. If I could use a Ghost Domain, perhaps I would have a chance to live. After all, I am also a... ghost now. Zhou Zheng was right. Only ghosts can deal with ghosts, and only another Ghost Domain can leave a Ghost Domain."

"At five-fifteen in the morning on June 22, the old man appeared. I tried to use the Ghost Domain, but I failed. My power was still insufficient."

"At five-thirty in the morning on June 22, all of us died."

Yang Jian's pupils contracted at those words.

Though the ending was still death at five-thirty, he saw a glimmer of hope for survival.

Ghost Domain!

That old man's appearance had created a Ghost Domain. And now, he too was a Ghost Tamer.

Why could he not use a Ghost Domain?

If Zhou Zheng were here and knew what Yang Jian was thinking, he would surely find it ridiculous. Not every ghost possessed a Ghost Domain. Ghosts with Ghost Domains were extremely rare, but correspondingly, they were also terrifying.

"I have to try. There's no other way." Yang Jian clenched the Human-Skin Parchment in his hand. "Tell me how to use the Ghost Domain."

New writing quickly appeared on the parchment.

"Yang Jian, who are you talking to? Look, everything around us has become abnormal. What are we supposed to do now?"

Zhang Wei had been frightened to tears. He was counting on Yang Jian to save him, terrified of hearing bad news from his mouth.

"Stop talking. I'm thinking of a way. Give me some time." Yang Jian's tone was urgent as he glanced to the side.

That old man was still walking toward them. It was now less than a hundred meters away.

They were anxious. They were afraid. He was just as anxious, just as afraid.

After all, no one wanted to die.

More writing appeared on the parchment: At five-twenty in the morning on June 20, after my previous failure, I concluded that the ghost inside my body had not revived enough. Perhaps opening a few more eyes would help.

The number of eyes?

Yang Jian had no time to think. There were only ten minutes left until five-thirty. He did not want the Human-Skin Parchment's words to come true and die here for real.

At once, the flesh on his arm split open, and five blood-red eyes opened all at once.

Each eye emitted a faint red glow.

"At five-twenty-two, I decided to increase the number of eyes." The words appeared on the parchment.

"The method. I want the method."

Yang Jian roared at the Human-Skin Parchment, "If I die, you'll be left behind too. You didn't want me to throw you away before, so if I die, do you think someone else will pick you up?"

The writing on the parchment blurred again. At last, another line appeared: At five-twenty-four, after trying it, I swallowed one eye from my arm and successfully gained another eye. With six eyes, I successfully used my own Ghost Domain. I am becoming more and more like a ghost.

At five-thirty, I did not open my Ghost Domain. All of us died.

Swallow an eye?

Yang Jian stared at the five eerie blood-red eyes on his arm and froze.

But when he saw that final sentence—at five-thirty, all of us died—

he knew he had no choice.

At that moment, darkness descended, and the surroundings rapidly dimmed. The old man was now less than twenty meters away from them.

Creak.

The instant the darkness engulfed them, the door to the security booth in the distance slowly opened, and a pale hand reached out.

Beyond the railing behind them, a blurry figure slowly approached along the road swallowed by darkness.

Nearby, several phone lights shone faintly through the darkness, as though the classmates who had gotten separated earlier were approaching step by step with their phones in hand.

Yang Jian, Zhang Wei, Zhao Lei, Wang Shanshan, Miao Xiaoshan, and Qian Wanhao—everyone had been surrounded by ghosts.