Lost

Zhou Zheng's roar jolted everyone in the classroom awake.

Although they had all been stunned senseless by this sudden turn of events, survival was every living creature's instinct.

"Those who want to live, follow me."

Fang Jing was the first to roar. Then, taking the lead, he charged out at incredible speed, heading straight for the classroom's back door.

They were on the fifth floor. To leave the school, they first had to go downstairs. If they had been on the second or first floor, he would undoubtedly have jumped straight out the window without hesitation.

But jumping from the fifth floor was no different from suicide.

Fang Jing's attempt to escape was highly contagious. Once the others reacted, they almost instinctively followed him out of the classroom.

Yang Jian did not hesitate either and immediately left.

He had a feeling that Zhou Zheng would not be able to hold off that old man for long.

Boom.

The weathered floor collapsed beneath the stampede of so many people, and several students fell straight through.

"Zhang Wei, Miao Xiaoshan!"

Yang Jian was startled and hurriedly went around the collapsed section.

"Pah, I'm fine. Damn it, which bastard shoved me just now? I'm suing him for attempted murder." Zhang Wei rubbed his backside, hissing in pain.

Luckily, they had only fallen into the classroom one floor below. A drop of around three meters was not enough to kill anyone.

But when Zhang Wei turned his head to look at the others who had fallen, his eyelids twitched.

A girl lay on the floor with her eyes wide open. Blood gushed from her neck, and a gurgling sound came from her mouth. She seemed not to be dead yet. Yang Jian saw a bloodstained steel bar piercing through her neck.

She was one of the girls in their class with excellent grades and a pretty face. He had not expected her to suffer an accident too.

With wounds that severe, there was not even time for emergency treatment, let alone under the current circumstances.

"Get up and leave! Don't waste time!"

Yang Jian shouted, but he could not spare any concern for the others. He immediately left.

"Yang Jian, even if you hadn't said anything, I'd still be leaving this damned place. Hell, you're already running? Don't think you'll be asking me for resources again." Zhang Wei cursed.

At this moment, the students were like lunatics, rushing out of the classroom and charging down the stairs.

Could we really get out of here safely?

Yang Jian felt deeply unsettled. The image of that old man in a black long gown, his body covered in corpse spots, lingered in his mind and would not fade.

If that old man truly was a ghost, could Zhou Zheng deal with him?

He had said it himself: ghosts could not be killed.

Only ghosts could deal with ghosts.

Wait, could Zhou Zheng be a ghost too?

In an instant, Yang Jian's scalp went numb, and a chill ran through his entire body.

Had I just been listening to a ghost teach a class?

What had happened to this world?

Outside in the classroom corridor, however, Zhou Zheng was still doing his utmost to hold the old man back and prevent him from using the Ghost Domain again.

Once the Ghost Domain reappeared, as long as those students remained within it, even if they left the classroom, they would never make it out alive.

But the terror of the old man in black had already exceeded his expectations. He had no idea how long he could hold on.

Everyone raced madly down the stairs like frightened wild rabbits scattering in all directions.

One floor, two floors, three floors.

It was as though the hope of escape lay right before them.

But just as Fang Jing reached the landing halfway down the stairs, a faint buzzing sound suddenly rang out. The stairwell lights went out in an instant, plunging the entire staircase into darkness.

The darkness was incredibly dense. One could not see one's fingers even with a hand held before one's face, and not even a trace of light could be seen through the windows outside.

"Ah!"

The moment the lights went out, some female students screamed in fright.

"Damn it, has Zhou Zheng reached his limit? Don't tell me the Ghost Domain has appeared again? What level of ghost is that old man? He's terrifying."

Cold sweat appeared on Fang Jing's face. He did not dare linger in the darkness and instead turned back and roared, "Keep moving! Don't stop!"

He did not actually want to save these people, but he could not let them die within the Ghost Domain.

Otherwise, the Ghost Domain would become even more terrifying.

Continuing down the stairs in the dark was not difficult for people familiar with the building.

But after walking farther down for a while, Fang Jing suddenly stopped. He realized something was wrong.

It was not just him. Yang Jian behind him had also noticed the anomaly. His entire body tensed as he realized that the stairs they had descended seemed to have already exceeded the height of five floors, yet there were still stairs ahead.

"Everyone stop. Don't go any farther."

Once Fang Jing stopped, the others behind him instinctively stopped as well.

Under these mysterious circumstances, he, who was comparatively calm, seemed to have become the backbone of the group.

"Fang Jing, what's wrong? Why aren't we going?" a girl asked tremblingly.

"If you're not going, I'm going. I don't want to stay here and wait to die."

One boy, overwhelmed by fear, continued forward and quickly vanished into the darkness.

"Fang Jing, don't lead everyone astray. People will die."

Others stopped too, their voices thick with tears.

"Walk my ass. From the fifth floor to here, haven't any of you counted how many flights of stairs you've gone down?" Fang Jing cursed.

"We were running for our lives. Who would count that?"

In a panic, people indeed would not pay attention to such things. Not everyone had a calm mind.

After a moment of silence, Yang Jian said, "Before the lights went out, we had already reached the third floor and were heading toward the landing between the second and third floors. The lights went out when we got there. We should have only needed to descend one more floor to get outside, but since the lights went out, we've gone down at least three floors, maybe even four. In other words, we've already reached underground."

"But this teaching building doesn't have a basement."

"Damn it, Yang Jian, could you not say something so terrifying right now? Look at the situation we're in," someone replied from the darkness.

"What do we do now? Keep going or not?"

"How about we go down a few more floors? Maybe Yang Jian miscounted."

Just as everyone discussed it, a faint light suddenly appeared in the darkness. A female student was trembling as she took out her phone and turned on its flashlight.

The phones still worked?

Everyone was immediately delighted and hurriedly took out their phones and turned on their lights.

More than a dozen beams lit up at once, but compared to the number of students in the class, it was far too few. Had everyone else gotten separated?

And strangely, the lights were not as bright as usual. It was as though the surrounding darkness suppressed them, allowing them to illuminate less than a meter ahead.

Beyond that was darkness as thick as ink.

This oppressive darkness made people feel as though they could barely breathe, as if they might become lost within it at any moment.

"Keep moving."

Fang Jing gritted his teeth. He had no other option now.

This was not something human strength could contend against. They could only pray that Zhou Zheng was not dead yet and could hold that ghost back a little longer, destroying the Ghost Domain.

Otherwise, they would likely remain lost in this Ghost Domain forever, unable to leave for the rest of their lives.

They continued down the steps.

This time, it was not only Fang Jing. Many students began counting the floors as well.

One floor, two floors, three floors.

The more they counted, the more panic filled their hearts. When they reached five floors and saw that the stairs ahead still had not ended, everyone stopped. Their hands and feet turned icy cold, and terrified expressions appeared on every face. Some female students had already broken down, collapsing onto the ground and crying.

"W-we've already gone down five floors."

"I counted five too. Th-this is it. We can't get out of here."

For a moment, everyone was at a loss.

Fang Jing's expression was especially grim. He did not dare continue forward. He was unwilling to accept this. Was he really going to die here without even knowing why?

"Yang Jian, you're not dead, are you?"

Suddenly, he shouted with violent hostility in his voice.

"Fang Jing, I haven't offended you, have I? Don't curse me to death like that." Yang Jian's face darkened.

Fang Jing turned around, pushed through the crowd, grabbed Yang Jian by the collar, and said viciously, "Since you're not dead, lead the way. If it's you, you'll definitely be able to leave here alive. With your potential, you absolutely won't die in this damned place."

"You know more than I do. If even you can't get out, what can I do?" Yang Jian said.

"You must know something. Are you going to tell me or not?" Fang Jing's expression became somewhat ferocious.

He had reached a dead end and could only place his hopes on Yang Jian. If this Yang Jian could truly grow to that future height, then he absolutely could not die here.

From earlier until now, he had already begun paying attention to Yang Jian.

In only a short time, Yang Jian had figured out the Door-Knocking Ghost's pattern, and even while escaping, he had clearly kept track of the number of floors.

Without a doubt, this was someone with an incredibly terrifying ability to adapt.

Ordinary people would be so frightened out of their wits upon encountering a Ghost Domain and vicious ghosts that they could not possibly remain as calm as he was.

It was a kind of talent.

Under normal circumstances, this talent was quite useless. Even if one possessed it, one might never use it in an entire lifetime. But with the world undergoing such drastic changes, it could increase one's chances of survival. If he could become a Ghost Tamer, this talent would give him a tremendous advantage when dealing with ghosts.

"Fang Jing, there's no use asking me. This is my first time encountering something like this too. If I knew a way out, I wouldn't still be here. In a place like this, even staying one extra second could mean running into that thing. Do you think I want to die?" Yang Jian said.

Fang Jing's heart trembled. Only then did he realize that Yang Jian was still a newcomer who knew nothing at this point.

He found himself somewhat ridiculous. He had actually asked Yang Jian for help at a time like this.

Was future Yang Jian's influence on him really that great?

"F-Fang Jing, this is bad. Look..." Suddenly, a student pointed shakily toward the restroom door.

There was a restroom between the corridors of the third and second floors of the teaching building.

"Damn it, after going around in circles, we're still on the landing between the second and third floors. We're really finished now."

"N-no, not that. Look behind the door. There seems to be a figure there." The student trembled as he raised his phone and shone the light over.

Everyone immediately recoiled in fear.

Behind the glass window in the restroom door, the blurry outline of a tall humanoid figure appeared in the light.

"W-who's in there?" someone called out bravely.

They hoped it was a classmate in the restroom.

Creak!

A long, drawn-out sound of a door opening rang out. From within the pitch-black restroom, a deathly pale arm stretched out. The arm rested on the door and slowly pushed it open.

"It's not human. This is another ghost."

Fang Jing's pupils suddenly contracted, but then a fierce expression appeared on his face.

"Yang Jian, since you don't know anything, then go in for me."

As he spoke, he grabbed Yang Jian and, catching him off guard, shoved him into the restroom.