Zhou Zheng

"The ghost seems to be gone."

When Yang Jian cautiously retraced his steps, he did not see the ghost that had been chasing him.

Perhaps this was what people meant by surviving a great disaster and being blessed afterward.

He opened the door and walked inside, only to freeze in shock.

It was a familiar corridor.

When he turned around, he saw the classroom he had escaped from earlier.

He had somehow returned to the entrance of the fifth-floor classroom.

"What's going on? Wasn't that door connected to the restroom?" Yang Jian found it increasingly unimaginable.

"Cough, cough cough!"

Suddenly, a weak and painful coughing fit rang out.

"It's you? How did you come out of the classroom?"

A pale, gaunt man in a trench coat sat slumped against the corridor wall, his bloodshot eyes watching Yang Jian with wary suspicion.

"Zhou Zheng?" Yang Jian froze for a moment before answering.

"I don't know what happened either. Earlier, when I was leaving with them, a ghost dragged me into the restroom. I finally found a way out, but when I pushed open the door, I found myself back here."

"Is that so? It's because of the Ghost Domain. It seems that thing doesn't want to let you leave."

Zhou Zheng's gaze flickered. "But there can only be one ghost in a Ghost Domain. That ghost is the old man in the black long gown. However, he already left earlier. The one you encountered was probably a Ghost Slave."

"What is a Ghost Slave?" Yang Jian walked over and asked.

Zhou Zheng said, "Something formed after people killed by malevolent ghosts die within a Ghost Domain. They are controlled by ghosts and obey the ghosts' commands unconditionally, like servants. That's why they are called Ghost Slaves. They aren't as terrifying as malevolent ghosts, but they are still a huge threat to ordinary people like you. Cough, cough. This Ghost Domain has only existed for such a short time, yet Ghost Slaves have already appeared. You were lucky to make it out alive."

"But this isn't the time to talk about that. It's good that you showed up here."

He took something resembling a walkie-talkie from his coat.

"This is a satellite positioning phone. Take it and leave quickly. If you can get out of this damned place, someone will contact you afterward. Just tell whoever meets with you everything that happened here."

Zhou Zheng spoke with pain written across his face.

"Big Brother, what about you?" Yang Jian asked.

Zhou Zheng said, "I've reached my limit. When I held back that old man earlier, I used too much of the ghost's power. That thing is about to revive. Those who can control the power of malevolent ghosts are called Ghost Tamers, but ghosts gradually erode people as well. For something neither human nor ghost like me, living in this world is torture to begin with. Ah!"

Before he could finish, he suddenly let out a pained scream and fell to the ground, struggling violently.

As he thrashed, his oversized trench coat fell open.

Yang Jian jumped in fright. Beneath the coat was a massively swollen belly, even larger than that of a pregnant woman. The skin was somewhat translucent, and curled up inside was an infant roughly the size of a three-year-old child.

The infant's entire body was bluish-black. Sharp nails grew from its hands, and its eyes were as black as ink, without pupils. It writhed and clawed within the belly, seemingly trying to tear through the skin and crawl out.

"W-what is that?"

"A g-ghost... a Ghost Infant. That's what it was named in the files."

Zhou Zheng endured the pain and said, "At first, it was only the size of a thumb inside my stomach. Every time I used the power of the malevolent ghost, it grew a little. Even when I didn't use it, it kept growing. It ate everything inside my abdomen. Every day, I had to endure the pain of it gnawing at my body. Every night, the pain kept me from sleeping."

"Now, this Ghost Infant has eaten almost all of my body. All that remains is an empty layer of skin around my stomach. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but I just can't die. To me, living is pain and torment. Death, instead, is liberation."

"Go. Take the phone and leave."

He reached out and threw the phone away, roaring, "If you don't leave now, the Ghost Infant will come out! Then there'll be two ghosts here, and it'll be even harder for you to get out!"

Yang Jian picked up the phone and looked at Zhou Zheng's agonized expression. He could not help touching the back of his hand. He had experienced that kind of pain before as well.

A Ghost Tamer?

Had he become the same as Zhou Zheng?

"I'm sorry. I let you down. That old man was too powerful. I wasn't his match, and I couldn't hold that old ghost back or get you students out. From here on, you can only rely on yourselves."

Seeing Yang Jian pick up the phone, Zhou Zheng revealed a bitter smile.

Yang Jian said, "Since you know so much, why did you stay in the first place? If you had wanted to leave earlier, you definitely could have gotten out safely. There was no need for you to stay and die with us."

"Because I am the Dachang City Manager. Only people like us can deal with ghosts. If we were afraid of death, this world would be finished. I took this job not for myself, but for the safety of this city."

Zhou Zheng's mouth twitched as the pain grew more intense. He felt that he could no longer hold on and suddenly roared, "What are you still standing there for? Go! Get out of here!"

Yang Jian's heart trembled. He did not dare linger, gripping the phone tightly as he turned and ran.

"Oh, right. Be careful of that student in your class named Fang Jing. I ran into him earlier. There's something very strange about him. He isn't normal. He doesn't seem human, though I can't be certain. You'd better stay away from him. I've already recorded information about him, and someone will investigate him later. And don't believe any of his nonsense about the future. There's no way anyone could return to the present from the future. The institute has conducted experiments like that."

While struggling in pain, Zhou Zheng shouted one more sentence.

"What?"

Yang Jian turned back in surprise.

"Ah!"

The moment he turned around, a scream rang out. He saw Zhou Zheng's belly being forcibly torn open, a bluish-black infant arm reaching out from within. Then the tear grew wider and wider. The Ghost Infant's head poked out from inside, looking around curiously like a newborn child.

Yet within those pitch-black eyes was something eerie and malevolent.

Run!

Yang Jian's heart lurched, and he hurriedly turned around and fled.

"Waaah!"

As soon as he went down the stairs, the Ghost Infant's chilling, strange cries echoed through the corridor behind him, as if announcing its arrival to the world.

The Ghost Infant slowly crawled out of Zhou Zheng's body, while his greatly swollen belly rapidly deflated like a punctured balloon.

No blood flowed out. There were not even any visible organs, only some blackened flesh and skin.

Just as he had said, his internal organs had long been devoured by the Ghost Infant.

"Dad, Mom... I-I'm sorry..."

The light gradually faded from Zhou Zheng's eyes, leaving them dull and lifeless. His head tilted to one side, and his life vanished, but his eyes remained fixed on the Ghost Infant as it slowly crawled in the direction Yang Jian had gone.

Fourth floor, third floor.

"Great, I'm not lost."

Yang Jian hurried down the stairs, a trace of delight rising in his heart.

He realized that the stairs were no longer shrouded in darkness. Though dim, he could see everything clearly, and the Ghost Wall from before had not appeared again.

No darkness, no getting lost. If everything was normal, it would only take a few minutes to leave the school.

When he reached the second floor, he saw Zhang Wei, Miao Xiaoshan, and several other classmates pacing back and forth through the corridor with terrified expressions. They held up their phones for light, walking from one end of the hall to the other before turning around and walking back.

They had gone back and forth several times already.

It was as if something had confused them, leaving them unable to escape no matter what they did.

"No, that's not it. The Ghost Domain hasn't disappeared, and the darkness hasn't receded. It's that I can see through all of it now." Yang Jian's expression changed slightly as he looked at the red eye on the back of his hand.

Was this a Ghost Tamer's ability?

Then that meant this eye was a ghost too.

He recalled what Zhou Zheng had said. The Ghost Infant in his stomach had initially only been the size of a fingernail, before growing so large later.

If that was true, what would this Ghost Eye become in the future?

Would it become a malevolent ghost and devour him too?

Thinking of Zhou Zheng's condition, Yang Jian felt a chill run down his spine. When he looked at the eye on the back of his hand, all he felt was fear.

The joy of seeing through the Ghost Domain vanished completely.

"Even if this eye kills me someday, that's a problem for later. Right now, I need to get out of here."

Yang Jian gritted his teeth, refusing to let his thoughts run wild, then strode toward Zhang Wei and the others.

But in Zhang Wei's eyes, everything around them was nothing but darkness.

The lights from their phones could only illuminate a range of one meter. Anything farther away was impossible to see clearly.

"Zhang Wei, we've been walking for half an hour and still can't get out. Do you think we'll be trapped here for the rest of our lives?" Miao Xiaoshan asked nervously from beside him.

"That Zhou Zheng said this place is a Ghost Domain. Do you know what a Ghost Domain even is? Could there really be ghosts? Could what happened in the classroom earlier have been a supernatural incident? If there really are ghosts, we might not be able to get out," another student said cautiously.

Zhang Wei said with a serious expression, "Don't worry. How could we be trapped here for the rest of our lives? That's absolutely impossible. Believe me, in a few days, we'll starve to death here. We won't even need a lifetime."

"..."

At a time like this, and he was still making such cold jokes.

Suddenly.

"Tap tap, tap tap!"

A series of footsteps came from the darkness.

"Who... who's up ahead?"

Zhang Wei tensed up instantly. The others were on edge as well, trembling in fright.

"Don't panic. It's me, Yang Jian."

Yang Jian's voice came from the darkness.

"Stop! Don't... don't come any closer. You say you're Yang Jian, but can you prove it? What if you're a ghost pretending to be him?" Zhang Wei said.

Yang Jian said, "Zhang Wei, can you stop being so long-winded at a time like this? This place is dangerous. I can take you out. If you follow me, you won't get lost."

He had come here specifically to save Zhang Wei and the others. If he did not save them, they would surely die here. Although he had a grudge against Fang Jing, he had none against them.

Besides, two malevolent ghosts had appeared within the Ghost Domain. Their level of terror was likely beyond imagination.