Knock on the Door

Knock, knock knock.

The dull, eerie knocking continued at a fixed rhythm, like a wound-up alarm clock.

The classroom door was not locked, not even bolted. It had merely been shut casually; with the slightest force, it could easily be pushed open.

Yet what made their skin crawl was that the old man in the black changshan, his body covered in corpse spots, did not push open the door. He remained stiffly outside, knocking without the slightest intention of coming in.

Though the old man had not entered, the ink-black darkness in the corridor rapidly swept toward them.

The entire classroom began undergoing unimaginable changes.

The brand-new walls became mottled and moldy, their paint constantly peeling away and leaving uneven surfaces. Blackish-green mold grew across the pitted walls, giving off a cold, damp, musty smell. The books on the desks rapidly yellowed, then rotted. Even the concrete floor began weathering away, exposing rust-covered rebar. Some places even started to collapse.

It was as though this place had endured decades in an instant, ravaged by time.

Yet the classroom lights still struggled desperately against the darkness. Their pale glow was like the last flicker of a candle in the wind, giving off one final dim light as though it could go out at any moment.

Fear appeared on every student's face. Some screamed, some cried for help, and some trembled.

The only one who remained calm was Zhou Zheng at the podium.

He did not move, his eyes scanning the area and watching for every disturbance around him.

A dangerous-level ghost, and one that could possess a Ghost Domain. This was not something he could handle.

"Zhou Zheng, look."

At that moment, Fang Jing suddenly shouted. His face was especially grim as he pointed at several students seated at the desks.

They had not noticed before, but now they finally realized it.

Knock, knock knock. The knocking sounded again.

At that moment, a male student who had just been standing alive among the crowd suddenly shuddered, then fell stiffly to the floor.

"Li Ming, what's wrong?"

"How could this happen? How could this happen? Someone save us!"

A female student collapsed onto the floor in fright and began crying.

"He was fine just now. How did he suddenly...?" someone said, their voice shaking.

Fang Jing's face turned livid. "What are you screaming for? There's a ghost outside the door. We could die in any way imaginable. You'll soon find out just how terrifying a ghost capable of producing a Ghost Domain is."

The others stared at him in terror, like prey trapped in a cage, shaking uncontrollably with fear.

"Zhou Zheng, haven't you thought of a way yet? If you can't think of one, we'll all die here." Fang Jing snapped again.

His heart was trembling as well, because anyone could die within a Ghost Domain, including him.

"Shut up. If you can't wait, run away on your own. Don't count on me."

Zhou Zheng was equally anxious. He did not dare act rashly.

"Running around in a Ghost Domain will only get you killed faster. Do you think I don't know that?" Fang Jing said.

"Then since you know, stand there and behave. If we die, do you think you'll be the only one? Everyone dies the same. Don't think you're special just because you know a few things. Before a ghost, everyone is equal," Zhou Zheng said.

"Damn it."

Fang Jing could not stop himself from cursing.

Yang Jian's hands and feet had gone cold as well. He forced himself to calm down, because this was no time for jokes.

But when he inadvertently saw the blackboard that was nearly falling from the wall, he froze.

His gaze settled on the three sentences Zhou Zheng had written earlier, especially the last one: Understand the ghost's pattern.

Zhou Zheng doesn't dare act rashly because he's also observing the old man outside the door and searching for his pattern. Only once he finds it will he dare act. Think, think! What pattern does this old man have?

His mind began racing wildly.

He recalled everything recorded in that forum story and connected it with what was happening before his eyes.

There had to be something in common. There had to be some similarity.

The forum user called Lightning King had been at home. At the time, his front door was closed. The old man stood outside and knocked, then came in. Next, he reached the bedroom door, knocked again, and came in once more.

Now, this ghost had appeared in the corridor and was knocking as well. But it had not come in yet.

Why had the old man entered that forum user's home, but not come in here?

The same situation, the same event—what had caused the difference?

Was there not enough time?

Then what time was lacking?

Could it be that it had not knocked long enough?

Maybe that was the key.

To hell with it.

Suddenly, Yang Jian gathered his courage and shouted, "Zhou Zheng, it's the knocking."

"The knocking?"

Zhou Zheng's expression tightened as he fixed his blazing gaze on the student who had suddenly spoken. "Explain."

Suppressing his fear, Yang Jian said, "It's only a guess, but I think this thing kills through knocking. Maybe that old man is counting time, maybe it's something else, but it must be related to the knocking. If we can stop it from knocking, it might work."

Killing through knocking.

If that was true, then this ghost was far too terrifying.

This guy's potential is showing itself already.

Fang Jing looked at him with hostility, clenching his fists tightly. I absolutely can't let him leave this school alive.

"I'll trust you this once."

Zhou Zheng solemnly withdrew his gaze. He had no other choice.

If he did not act now, everyone here would die.

Zhou Zheng moved at once. He charged out like a frenzied beast, his strange body—thin above and fat below—possessing explosive strength far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Bang!

With a loud crash, he forcibly rammed open the classroom door—and sent flying the old man outside, dressed in a black changshan with an ash-gray face and corpse spots covering his body.

The old man was knocked down and fell to the ground, but no one dared help him up.

His body lay in an unnatural posture, like a rigid puppet with its limbs carelessly arranged, lacking the flexibility and softness a living person should have.

Ghosts could not be killed.

Of course Zhou Zheng had not forgotten what he himself had written.

Even if this old man were crushed into pulp or burned to ash, he would not die. He would still reappear in some unimaginable way.

Only a ghost could deal with a ghost.

Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth and turned back to roar, "Watch for your chance. The moment you have one, run! I'll hold this thing back."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bulging belly beneath his oversized trench coat twitched strangely.

A hand—more precisely, the outline of a hand—pushed out beneath a layer of skin. It was grayish-blue, with sharp nails, as though it were about to tear through his stomach and reach out from inside.

But the skin wrapping that hand was remarkably tough and did not rip. Worse still, the hand extended more than two meters.

Was that still a human hand?

Just like that, the grayish-blue monstrous hand grabbed the old man on the ground.

Buzz! The fluorescent lights flickered.

In an instant, the darkness shrouding the classroom vanished, and bright light returned. Though the walls remained mottled and the floor still looked ready to collapse, the disaster seemed to have been stopped.

It worked. Zhou Zheng felt a slight sense of relief.

But then his eyes suddenly widened, and terror engulfed his gaunt, almost skeletal face.

The old man lying on the ground slowly rose to his feet. His ash-gray eyes shifted slightly, seeming to turn toward Zhou Zheng.

"Impossible! He can still move after being restrained?" Zhou Zheng's expression changed drastically. He immediately turned back and roared, "Go! Run! Leave while the Ghost Domain hasn't appeared again! I'll stay and hold this thing back."

This ghost was definitely not merely dangerous-level.

Cold sweat poured down his back.