1TWITF[C Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Even in the dark night, and despite the building’s height, Lu Yanli could clearly see what was below.

A puddle of almost unidentifiable, soft, rotten flesh lay silently on the concrete ground, bloodstains barely visible in the night.

How could this be? Did he jump?

Was that really the principal? If not, who was it?

Lu Yanli was filled with doubts, but this wasn’t the time to calmly ponder. He retracted his gaze and re-examined the office.

Suddenly, he noticed something amiss.

A cabinet door was gently swaying, hiding something inside.

Lu Yanli slowly walked over and stopped in front of it. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out and pulling open the wooden door. The sight before him stunned him.

Inside, a statue of a twisted deity, painted a vivid red, sat quietly on a shrine.

The instant he saw the statue, he had an uncontrollable urge to prostrate himself and worship it.

Was it because he had chosen to become a believer?

Would this influence grow stronger over time? In the end, would he be able to remain lucid?

Lu Yanli loosened his collar and looked down at the mark below his collarbone, It was becoming increasingly red, almost dripping with blood. He re-buttoned his shirt, glanced back at the door, and walked down the hallway to the stairs at the end, standing in the shadows and waiting quietly.

Soon, he heard a commotion from downstairs, the voices indistinct.

“Principal!!”

“Why did the principal jump? What do we do?”

“The principal jumped, do we still need to…”

The head of the teaching staff also arrived, shocked and enraged upon seeing the corpse on the ground. He prostrated himself and began to cry loudly, prompting other teachers to follow suit. However, after only a few minutes of wailing, the head of the teaching staff abruptly stopped, his tears vanishing: “The principal couldn’t have jumped! It must be those two reporters! We must catch them!”

“Catch them!”

“Avenge the principal!”

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.

Lu Yanli quickly went to the bathroom at the other end of the hallway. The door was unlocked, and he barged straight in.

“There’s no one on this floor either, they must be upstairs!”

“Search carefully, don’t let them escape!”

Soon, the group finally reached the top floor.

Lu Yanli held his breath, listening to their footsteps getting closer and closer, as one door after another was pushed open. Finally, they reached the bathroom.

In the bathroom, one stall after another was checked.

“There’s no one on this floor either.”

“Impossible, where did he go?”

“Not in the office either.”

The chaotic noises and hurried footsteps gradually faded away, with the speakers’ voices tinged with anxiety.

Lu Yanli breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

He hadn’t hidden in the bathroom; instead, he had climbed out the window, clinging to the water pipes and air conditioning units on the outer wall. Just as he heard the footsteps receding and was about to climb back in, he felt a sharp gaze on his left.

The water pipe beside his arm began to crack.

The moment he entered, he froze, his breath catching in his throat.

The motion-sensor light wasn’t on, but he could still see a hunched, pitch-black figure standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

The moment Lu Yanli saw the figure, he lowered his eyes, avoiding eye contact. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the head floating in from outside the window.

What to do?

Lu Yanli had encountered similar situations before. He was used to finding a glimmer of hope in dire situations. He tightened his grip on the gun and wooden stick, slowly evened out his breathing, and took one step at a time toward the figure.

He vaguely sensed something was wrong.

It was standing in the doorway, waiting for its head!

Realizing this, Lu Yanli also noticed that the positioning of its toes was off, and immediately understood.

Without a head, it couldn’t “see” him. Glancing back at the head hopping towards him from afar, Lu Yanli turned and ran.

Hurry!

Faster!

If it found its head…

“He’s here!”

“Quick! Stop him!”

The second he stepped out of the building, all the lights in the entire building went out simultaneously.

Lu Yanli ran desperately.

That ghost, it had already seen him.

Next, it would come for him.

Lu Yanli didn’t know why, but that thought suddenly popped into his head. A primal fear response caused him to run like mad.

Inside the teaching building.

“Why is there a power outage? Everyone, take out your phones and chase after him.”

“Who got hurt just now?”

In the pitch-black hallway, it was noisy and chaotic. Several teachers took out their phones and turned on the flashlights, shining the beams around.

“Definitely an accomplice! Grab him!”

“Di, Director, it… it doesn’t seem to be…”

After a series of screams, only phones were left scattered on the ground. As a figure passed by, the light instantly vanished.

Lu Yanli was still running through the campus.

As long as he waited until after midnight, when Chu Xiu finished the game, whether he lived or died, he could survive.

Looking at his watch, there was still nearly half an hour until midnight. Lu Yanli took a breath, slowed his pace, and looked around warily, his mind beginning to recall.

It shouldn’t be an illusion. Before he discovered the All-Knowing God, this religion was just a symbol he had no impression of. But when he truly recognized the All-Knowing God as a detailed religion, the mention of this religion around him suddenly became so high that it couldn’t be ignored, and it even directly affected the outsiders’ mission.

The All-Knowing God, and ghosts, and missions, what is the relationship between them?

Could it be a product of the mission? But why does its influence still exist after a mission ends?

Time slowly turned toward midnight.

The few remaining teachers in the school were anxious. The school rules clearly stated that they were not allowed to wander around the campus after twelve o’clock, otherwise, they would bear the consequences. After discussing it together, they simply left the school.

Anyway, the principal was dead, it didn’t matter if they left.

Chu Xiu was standing on the second floor of the teaching building opposite the school’s main gate, and could clearly see their figures walking out.

Strange, why did they suddenly leave?

Chu Xiu was puzzled, but before he could think too much, he saw the lights in a teaching building on the side suddenly go out.

Not one by one, but all the lights in the entire building suddenly disappeared at the same time. It was as if someone had cut off the power to that building.

Could it be Lu Yanli’s doing? Did he cut off the power?

A figure was coming from the side teaching building.

Each time it passed a street lamp, that lamp would quickly go out.

Chu Xiu gasped.

This was definitely not a living person!

It was too late for him to escape now, running out of the stairs would inevitably lead to a head-on collision. Chu Xiu turned and rushed into the classroom, but without exception, all the windows in the classroom were fitted with burglar bars.

He forcefully pushed open the glass window, the electric saw in his hand roared to life, cutting into the finger-thick iron burglar bars, the sharp, ear-piercing sound echoing through the silent campus, sparks flying everywhere.

Chu Xiu couldn’t worry about so much. He quickly sawed open an opening in the burglar bars, jumped out of the second floor, broke through the branches and fell onto the grass, rolled twice, and then struggled to get up and walk in the other direction.

The injury on his leg had definitely worsened, blood seeping from the wound on his thigh. But Chu Xiu didn’t care.

In front of him, his shadow, illuminated by the lights, instantly disappeared, disappearing into the darkness?

Without looking back, he knew that all the lights in the building had gone out.

Chu Xiu limped into the shadows. He didn’t go too far, but stayed near the teaching building to observe.

Also, where was Lu Yanli? He should have escaped, right?

The ghost ran over there!

Midnight was almost here.

Inside the school, the last teaching building with lights on completely went out.

The entire campus fell into darkness.

Lu Yanli hid in the dark, breathing lightly.

Like Chu Xiu, he had immediately come to other buildings far away from that building after witnessing the lights going out, trying to stay as far away from that ghostly shadow as possible.

He didn’t know how long he would have to hide, but on the way he fled, he discovered that the school gate was already locked. The gate and walls of Fourth High School were quite high, and he couldn’t climb over them for a while. He couldn’t leave even if he wanted to.

What’s more, he vaguely knew in his heart that that thing wouldn’t let him leave the school so easily.

Therefore, the most urgent thing now was to have Chu Xiu complete the game as soon as possible. When he finished, all the strangeness might end.

Lu Yanli had already discarded the wooden stick, and his hand unconsciously rested on the mark below his collarbone, his gaze scanning around warily.

Less than a minute until midnight.

Fifty seconds.

Thirty seconds…

The moment the time arrived, Chu Xiu and Lu Yanli were instantly shocked in place.

If it weren’t for the pitch-black scene in the teaching building just a minute ago, this scene would really look like what an ordinary high school should be like, busy and harmonious.

No one paid attention to them, those students were as if they couldn’t see them. Lu Yanli stood there, his heart trembling fiercely at this bizarre scene.

What is this again?

A ghost’s illusion?

Lu Yanli reached out and pinched himself.

There was pain, it was real.

He tentatively touched a student next to him, but it was as if he had poked into the air. Lu Yanli withdrew his hand, and after confirming that they couldn’t see him, he relaxed slightly, took out his phone and contacted Chu Xiu, asked where the other party was, and then went downstairs to the building where he was.

He wanted to see what this illusion was planning to do.

“Ding ling ling… Students, class is starting…” The bell rang.

The students still wandering outside the corridor quickly returned to the classroom, took out their textbooks and test papers, and soon, individual classrooms heard the sound of Lang Lang.

Lu Yanli didn’t know why, but he suddenly remembered Teacher Li’s introduction before entering, claiming that the school’s evening self-study was also a major feature.

Indeed… quite unique.

“Okay, gunshots as a signal.”

Hearing him say this, Lu Yanli reached out his hand: “I’m out of bullets.”

Chu Xiu: “I didn’t consider that.” After saying that, he took out two bullets from his magazine and handed them to the other party.

Then, he limped into the building.

Lu Yanli stood not far away, watching everything.

“Chu Xiu.”

“Chu Xiu.”

Calling his own name was really a bit strange. When Chu Xiu finished walking the first floor, he didn’t notice anything wrong, only vaguely feeling a little awkward when he called his own name.

He began to walk down the next floor.

Take a step. “Chu Xiu.”

Second level. “Chu Xiu.”

At the third level, Chu Xiu’s voice paused almost imperceptibly.

The scene in the mirror… changed.

A layer of hazy water mist began to cover the mirror, hazy and unclear. Chu Xiu had to reach out to wipe it, but when he wiped it clean, he was stunned to find that the face reflected in the mirror was a dead man’s face with a bluish-purple complexion and white eyes!

This face was clearly himself!

His heart trembled fiercely, but he dared not stop, and continued to walk up.

Calm down, don’t panic.

Chu Xiu took a deep breath, changed direction, and continued to walk up to the third floor.

The scene in the mirror changed again.

And this time, with just one glance, Chu Xiu stood there blankly, the hand holding the mirror trembling, almost unable to hold it steady.

In the mirror, a woman’s face that he was extremely familiar with appeared.

It was Chu Xian.

It was his… sister.

“Sleeve? Is that you? Where are you?”

Chu Xian used to especially like to call him Sleeve, it was a nickname she had specially given him.

“Chu Xiu.” Chu Xiu called out again, stepping up one level, but there was no response.

Chu Xiu gasped suddenly.

He suddenly remembered.

Before he and Chu Xian were involved in the mission world, there was one day when Chu Xian suddenly told him seriously that when she was alone at home, she heard Chu Xiu call his own name.

The then him didn’t believe it, thinking it was a hallucination, but at her request, he listened to the recording once, which made the siblings a little flustered. Chu Xiu specially stayed with her at home for a whole day, but later this strange thing never happened again, and Chu Xian gradually didn’t take it to heart.

“Chu Xiu.” He called again.

In the mirror, a few traces of fear had already appeared on Chu Xian’s face, and she began to look around for someone.

“Chu Xiu.” Chu Xiu’s heart was bleeding, his mind was in a mess.

What is going on?

Why! Why does his current mission have an impact on his past world?

Chu Xian in the mirror took out her phone, opened the recording settings, recorded a few sentences of Chu Xiu’s voice, and hurriedly ran out of the house.

The picture in the mirror went dark.

Fourth floor, almost there.

Chu Xiu took a deep breath, wiped away a little water stain from the corner of his eye, and continued to walk up.

He continued to look at the mirror.

This look made him jump again. In the corner of the mirror, Lu Yanli’s figure was standing.

Because the game command prohibited it, Chu Xiu didn’t dare to look back. He turned the corner and stood at the entrance of the fourth floor stairs.

Lu Yanli did indeed follow.

What he didn’t say was that ten minutes had long passed. He quickly checked the opposite building in the short period of time just now.

The teaching building was quiet, and there were still teachers teaching. However, when he tentatively used the mirror to shine on this group of people, there was nothing in the mirror.

And that black shadow had disappeared.

Lu Yanli thought about it, but couldn’t figure out the reason, so he followed. He saw Chu Xiu almost stopping every step, not knowing what he saw in the mirror, looking dazed.

He carefully avoided the angle, not letting the mirror shine on himself, while watching the time on his watch.

What Lu Yanli didn’t know was that this was originally an ordinary mission.

If it weren’t for the intervention of “God,” Chu Xiu and the others would not have encountered Wen Qing and Yun Qian. They would have randomly pulled two ordinary students to play the game before reaching Yin Ming Road, and they might have survived, or they might have died.

The horror game on the second and third days would only be a simple horror game. They would not be involved in the reincarnation loop.

And the mirror game on the last day was actually on the fourth day. They would encounter that black shadow, and they would also encounter the bizarre scene of students attending class in the campus. They needed to uncover the mysteries of the school through the games and the students they encountered in the next three days, and then the game would be over.

But now, the mission has been completely destroyed, and time and space have completely exceeded the control of the mission. However, the only remaining Chu Xiu and Lu Yanli would not know, and could not know the truth.

Now, Chu Xiu once again encountered a situation that the mission could not control.

In the mirror, what appeared was the scene of him and Chu Xian doing missions in the past.

Chu Xian taught him this truth, Chu Xian was very smart and very bold, but she was more like an unrealistic idealist.

In one mission that was about to end, Chu Xiu watched as a mission taker he had saved, in order to survive, attacked Chu Xian, causing her to slow down when running away.

Then, she was devoured by the ghost.

The moment he returned to the real world, Chu Xiu strangled that person to death with his own hands, and took Chu Xian’s body away.

From then on, he no longer saved anyone, everyone was just a pawn that could be used.

Now, the mirror once again showed the scene at that time.

Chu Xiu wanted to shout loudly, wanting to let Chu Xian avoid it.

Dodge! Don’t!

No, this is a mission, she is already dead… she is already dead!

Chu Xiu gasped heavily, clutching the mirror tightly, his eyes about to split open.

A knife appeared behind Chu Xian, about to stab into her.

Don’t… don’t!

“Dodge! Chu Xian! Dodge!”

Chu Xiu shouted without regard, reached out his hand, and pushed away the knife that was about to stab in the mirror.

He succeeded.

In the mirror, Chu Xian suddenly showed a strange smile, she grabbed the hand that Chu Xiu stretched into the mirror, and with a strong pull, Chu Xiu was pulled into that small mirror.

In the corridor, the mirror fell down and was caught by another hand.

Lu Yanli held the back of the mirror to himself, not daring to touch the mirror surface. He stood there, still a little confused.

What exactly did Chu Xiu see just now?

Who is Chu Xian?

Lu Yanli stared at the back of the mirror, not daring to turn it to the front.

What will be on the front of the mirror?

Will Chu Xiu die?

“Ding ling ling… Students, class is over…”

The class bell rang.

Lu Yanli habitually thought that the group of students couldn’t see him, so he didn’t move.

Unexpectedly, groups of students walked out of the classroom. They soon discovered the stranger on the stairs and stood at the entrance of the stairs, a pair of eyes staring at him in unison.