Street

Dachang City pedestrian street.

Around 5:30 AM, the sky was dimly lit.

It was still too early. The usually bustling and prosperous commercial street was deserted. All the shops had long been closed, and it wasn't time to open for business yet.

The streetlights had not yet been extinguished and still emitted light.

However, at this moment.

The rows of streetlights on the pedestrian street, which were originally emitting white light, suddenly turned scarlet. They emitted a strange red glow. The circular lights inside the lampshades reflected the shapes of red eyes, as if they were printed patterns. The only unusual thing was that the eyes seemed to have come alive, moving slightly.

However, this bizarre scene appeared abruptly and disappeared just as quickly.

As the streetlights flickered with a zzzt sound.

Everything returned to normal.

The red light disappeared, and the eye pattern on the lightbulbs vanished.

But strangely, seven people suddenly appeared on the previously empty pedestrian street. These seven people, both male and female, were very young, appearing to be students. However, they all seemed abnormal, with pale faces, trembling bodies, and eyes filled with fear, as if they had been terrified by something.

"This isn't the school. Where is this?"

The splitting pain in Yang Jian's body gradually subsided. He slumped to the ground, leaning against the glass door of a shop by the roadside, panting heavily.

It was too dangerous just now. Any later, and everyone would have died in that ghost domain.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, he had opened his own ghost domain.

The others were still in shock, looking at each other. Their eyes, still filled with terror, frantically scanned their surroundings, afraid of seeing the darkness enveloping them again. But when they saw the bright streetlights and the rising sun in the distance, a sense of joy at having escaped death surged in their hearts.

This joy gradually replaced the fear in their hearts, allowing them to calm down quickly.

"Okay, it looks like the pedestrian street."

Miao Xiaoshan squatted on the ground, cautiously raising her head to look around, saying with some uncertainty.

"It is the pedestrian street. I've played here since I was a child, I wouldn't mistake it. My home is nearby."

Zhang Wei quickly said, "We survived. We left that school. Look, the streetlights are on, and the sky is bright. There are vehicles passing by over there, and I can even hear car horns..."

He seemed a little excited. He had never felt that these things he was tired of seeing every day were so wonderful.

"It really is the pedestrian street. We've left the school."

Zhao Lei's hands were still trembling. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

One second he was in that dark school, and the next, with a flash of light, he was here on the pedestrian street?

Yang Jian was still looking around with a degree of vigilance. After confirming, he could be sure that he had indeed left the school and the ghost domain. As for why he wasn't outside the school but on this pedestrian street, there was no need to think about it anymore.

In any case, surviving was already a great fortune.

The group sat on the street for a full two hours before they accepted everything, and the fear in their hearts finally subsided.

However, judging from their complexions, the haunted school incident had left a deep shadow in their hearts.

"The others are probably all dead, right?"

After a long silence, Zhang Wei, who was resting on a chair, spoke slowly.

The others chose to remain silent; they couldn't accept it yet.

No one answered Zhang Wei. Wang Shanshan, looking at Yang Jian, asked nervously, "Yang Jian, what should we do now?"

At this moment, Yang Jian was the backbone of the group. The few who had survived almost unconditionally followed his lead.

After all, it was Yang Jian who led them to survive.

Yang Jian touched the wound on his arm, which had already healed and disappeared. He felt something like an eye outline hidden beneath his skin, ready to emerge at any moment.

This strange feeling told him that everything that happened last night was not a dream but very real.

"What else can we do? Since everyone survived and left the school, and no one is injured, we should naturally go home and rest to avoid worrying our parents."

"Yang Jian, we're just going home to sleep?" Zhao Lei stood up excitedly and asked.

Yang Jian glanced at him, "Otherwise, what do you plan to do?"

Sensing Yang Jian's gaze, Zhao Lei felt a little intimidated and subconsciously lowered his head, not saying anything more.

"Yang Jian is right. This is not something we can handle. It's already difficult enough to survive," Miao Xiaoshan said.

"So, we're really just going back to sleep?" Zhang Wei looked a bit stunned.

Such a big thing happened, and they were just going back to sleep? Wasn't that a bit too nonchalant?

Yang Jian said, "If not home, do you plan to go back to school for early reading?"

Dare to go back to school?

A chill ran down everyone's spines. They had already made up their minds never to return to school again, not even to go near the school.

Some even planned to transfer schools and leave Dachang City.

What college entrance exams, what university, all could go to hell.

At worst, they could just be couch potatoes for the rest of their lives.

"I'm really tired, I'm going home to sleep. If anything comes up, just call me."

Yang Jian yawned, feeling exhausted both physically and mentally. He felt like he could fall asleep right on the ground.

"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you guys about that old man at the school. You should probably stay off the internet for a while, especially this forum and its ghost stories." He pulled out his phone and showed the post to the others.

"See this audio file here? Remember, absolutely, positively do not click on it. This audio file is a knocking sound, just like the one Qian Wanhao heard on his phone before. Whoever hears it, that old man will find them."

After speaking, he scrolled up another page, revealing a photo of the old man.

"Take it, get it away!"

Zhang Wei and the others recoiled in terror when they saw the old man's photo.

Yang Jian said, "The photo is fine, I tested it. The audio file is the scary part. As of now, this post hasn't been taken down. Tens of thousands of people across the country have seen this story and clicked on the audio file. If I'm not mistaken, the old man will soon be appearing in major cities, knocking on doors one by one."

"In other words, what happened yesterday will be replayed all over the country, but we won't be the main characters anymore."

"Can you not say such terrifying things? I'm still a child," Zhang Wei said, looking at him in fear.

Yang Jian replied, "Fine, I won't say it then. Here's your phone back."

Zhang Wei quickly shook his head and took several steps back. "I don't want the phone. Just throw it away quickly. What if that 138 number calls again?"

"This is a newly released Apple X. Didn't you say you bought it for over nine thousand?" Yang Jian asked.

"My good brother, at this point, I can't hide it anymore. My true identity is that of a hidden rich second-generation heir. See that row of shops on the pedestrian street? They all belong to my family. I, Zhang Wei, don't lack this little bit of money. I'll have my dad buy me a Nokia, no, a pager is safer. That way, the phone won't be able to reach me."

Zhang Wei said earnestly.

"If your family is so rich, why don't you carry a walkie-talkie with you?" Yang Jian quipped.

"That's a good idea, I'll consider it."

Hearing Zhang Wei mention that terrifying phone number starting with 138, the others were so scared they didn't dare to keep their phones either, discarding them as if they were plague-ridden.

"Don't give me the phones, it's such a waste to throw them away," Yang Jian said.

"You, you still dare to take these phones? Ghosts have already called them. What if they come looking for us again?" Miao Xiaoshan stared at him with wide eyes.

"Poverty makes me fearless. Besides, can't we sell the phones if we don't use them?" As he spoke, Yang Jian picked up the phones they had thrown away and asked again, "You really don't want them?"

"No," everyone said in unison.

Yang Jian said, "You're all rich people, then I'll just sell them all as second-hand phones later. You can rest assured about the money I get. I won't give you a single cent. Even the next dinner gathering will be on you."

"..."

"I'm leaving."

He took seven or eight phones and turned to leave.

"Hey, take me with you," Wang Shanshan said, still looking frightened, wanting to follow Yang Jian.

"I'm going back to sleep. Do you want to come home and sleep?" Yang Jian asked.

Wang Shanshan whispered, "I don't mind staying at your place for a few days."

"Hmm?"

Everyone, including Yang Jian, widened their eyes.

Wang Shanshan, while not the most beautiful girl in class, was certainly not bad-looking. Especially since she had practiced dancing before, her figure was amazing – slender waist, long legs, and a full chest. However, this had nothing to do with Yang Jian, a mere nobody. They were usually not close, so how did Wang Shanshan become so attached to Yang Jian in just one night?

Others didn't know, but Yang Jian understood.

Wang Shanshan hadn't fallen in love with him for that reason. It was because of the ghost infant incident. She was still very scared and didn't dare to be alone.

Some typos in the text will be corrected irregularly. Today I'm taking half a day off and will only update one chapter.