Chapter 5

How did I end up here again, in the last row?

Was it a hallucination, or had someone moved me?

Ning Buwen pinched himself hard enough to bare his teeth at the pain, but he was still in the classroom.

Zhao Shudong had already started packing up to leave.

She knew perfectly well that as long as this annoying student sat in the last row today, he was bound to die here.

Ning Buwen tried to rise from his seat, but his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead. He could not even lift them. Worse, an urge welled up in his mind: It wouldn't be so bad to just keep sitting here.

The urge to escape and the urge to remain seated tore at each other in his head. Just holding on to his own will nearly drained him of half his strength.

He could not waste any more time.

If he delayed any longer, never mind running away—he might not even be able to muster the will to resist.

Zhao Shudong had finished packing and was about to leave the classroom. Soon, this annoying student would disappear.

"I have the diary written by School Doctor Cheng," Ning Buwen forced himself to call out. "You've known each other a long time, haven't you?"

Ning Buwen was gambling.

He refused to believe he had no way out at all.

This was only a newbie game instance. Even if it was a paranormal one, it should not be this difficult.

Zhao Shudong had been perfectly normal before. She had even agreed to change his seat, but now she was trying to kill him, all because he had gotten close to School Doctor Cheng.

Seriously.

Ning Buwen practically felt cursed by the God of Misfortune.

The beauty might have thorns, but the venomous snake guarding him was far too poisonous.

He had barely done anything and was already facing near-certain death. If he had actually taken advantage of the man, would he not have died without even a corpse left behind?

Sure enough, the instant Ning Buwen said that, Zhao Shudong stopped.

"Are you looking to die?" Zhao Shudong walked over to Ning Buwen and looked down at him.

Ning Buwen's entire upper body was already slumped across his desk.

Lying like this, it seemed as though a nap would be wonderfully comfortable.

He would not have to think about anything...

Wait. No!

How could I be thinking that?

"Get me out of this classroom, and I'll tell you... what the diary... says," Ning Buwen said in fits and starts. "Otherwise... killing me won't do you any good..."

"It has to feed every day. I can't save you from its jaws." Zhao Shudong pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and spoke slowly.

"You definitely have a way." Ning Buwen managed a difficult smile.

Zhao Shudong stared at him for several seconds, perhaps more than ten. Seeing the sleepy look already forming on Ning Buwen's face, she turned and left.

...Had I failed?

Ning Buwen's eyelids felt incredibly heavy.

He was so tired.

He wanted to sleep.

His back felt cool and comfortable.

It was as though he were lying on a ball of cotton, with silence all around him. He did not have to think about anything, did not have to worry about anything. He only had to close his eyes, and every trouble would vanish...

Suddenly, Ning Buwen's entire body was hoisted into the air, then slammed heavily to the floor.

"That hurts! What the— Huh? I can move?" Ning Buwen was about to curse furiously when he realized he seemed to have escaped with his life.

Beside his head were those familiar red high heels.

Thank God. I won that bet.

My gambling luck really hasn't changed.

Zhao Shudong had changed back into the outfit she had worn when she met School Doctor Cheng before.

Ning Buwen immediately scrambled to his feet.

"So you really did have a way to save me. What exactly was that thing in the classroom—" The corner of Ning Buwen's eye caught sight of the seat where he had been sitting. Another student was now in it.

His entire chest had been torn open into a gaping hole, blood streaming out, yet he was still alive.

"So comfortable..."

A beatific smile spread across the face of the student whose life was steadily ebbing away, as if he were having the most exquisite dream of his life and had not noticed the pain at all. Quietly, he closed his eyes.

The other students in the last row wore much the same expressions.

They were shrouded in a cloud of black mist.

In an instant, the black mist dispersed.

The students in those seats had all vanished.

It had happened in only an instant, yet Ning Buwen already found himself having trouble recalling the names and faces of those students.

"Wh-what is that thing?" Ning Buwen's voice trembled. He had known there was something strange in the classroom, something that killed people according to the seating order, but for safety's sake, he had hardly lingered in the classroom at all.

Now that he had witnessed such a bizarre scene, even though he had braced himself for it, he could hardly believe it.

Th-this-this was worse than Zhao Shudong.

At least Zhao Shudong looked human, and the way she killed people was something he could understand.

"Why do you care what it is?" Zhao Shudong sneered. "If you can't satisfy me, you'll be sitting here again tomorrow. I can't snatch food from its mouth, but I can substitute someone else. Didn't you try taking the person in the seat away a few days ago? It didn't work, did it? Because you didn't find the right method. Actually, the thing in this classroom is easy to satisfy. It just needs a little food every day."

Having said that, Zhao Shudong glanced at Ning Buwen again. "You don't want to become its food, do you?"

Ning Buwen thought he must be remarkably unflappable to still manage a smile at Zhao Shudong at a time like this.

"I was clearly in School Doctor Cheng's office just now. Why did I suddenly end up here?" Ning Buwen changed the subject. "Earlier, I heard a voice outside the door calling my name over and over. I didn't dare answer, and then I was here in the blink of an eye."

"Some voices can't be ignored just because you pretend not to hear them." Zhao Shudong had no interest in any of that. She merely held out her hand toward Ning Buwen. "The diary."

"The diary is in the office, of course." Ning Buwen tried not to provoke Zhao Shudong. "I was suddenly transferred here. I didn't have time to bring it. But I secretly read a little of it. School Doctor Cheng wrote that he thinks there's something wrong with this school and wants to leave."

"He absolutely cannot leave!"

Ning Buwen had only mentioned it casually, deliberately probing Zhao Shudong's reaction.

Wasn't that reaction a little too intense?

"Take me there!" Zhao Shudong ordered. "Bring out the diary and give it to me."

"Okay, okay. I'll lead the way. Come with me." Ning Buwen immediately headed out, wisely going along with her.

But as they walked, he could not help trying to pry out a little more information.

"Ms. Zhao, with skills as formidable as yours, what's one little diary? If you like School Doctor Cheng, why not just snatch him and be done with it? This school is so strange; there must be something here that can beguile people's minds. Just now, I almost fell asleep myself." That was what Ning Buwen found strangest at the moment.

It was only a diary. Getting it should have been laughably easy for Zhao Shudong.

Yet not only could she not take it herself, she had to rely on him to get it. That was odd.

And it was strange that Zhao Shudong had gone to such lengths to move him from School Doctor Cheng's office to the classroom and have the classroom monster kill him.

Take the unknown student Zhao Shudong had caught to replace him. Killing someone should have been effortless for her.

She had not used the simpler method available to her, instead making such a production of it. There had to be something fishy going on. The only question was whether she could not kill him or did not dare to kill him for some reason.

The difference between those two possibilities was enormous.

Ning Buwen's restless heart began stirring again.

He was trying hard to suppress his urge to court death, but another voice kept echoing in his mind: if he wanted to learn more, he had to court a little more death. This was not a children's game. He could not clear it and survive simply by behaving himself and keeping his head down.

"Why are you babbling so much? As long as you bring me the diary, I can guarantee you'll live safely in this school." Zhao Shudong did not directly answer Ning Buwen's question, but her attitude itself revealed something.

"How can you guarantee I'll live safely?" Ning Buwen did not press the issue. Instead, he followed Zhao Shudong's lead. "The classmates who performed the ritual with me are all dead, and everyone has forgotten them. There's that unknown thing in our classroom too. It might start killing indiscriminately at any moment..."

"Keep babbling, and you'll die right now." Zhao Shudong was visibly impatient. "If you don't shut up, I'll make you shut up my way."

Ning Buwen immediately fell silent.

This woman could definitely make good on that threat.

No, she probably did not count as a woman. Or even a human being.

Sigh.

Why did School Doctor Cheng always attract such strange people?

The way to the infirmary was not that long. Just before they reached it, Zhao Shudong stopped.

"Go in and bring out the diary for me."

"Okay." Ning Buwen answered cautiously and pushed the door open.

"Woof, woof—"

Xiaoxin was racing all over the office. The moment he saw his owner return, he calmed down considerably. Ning Buwen had suddenly vanished without warning, and Xiaoxin had been at a loss too.

Seeing the little silly dog like this softened Ning Buwen's heart a little.

Perhaps the more strange things one encountered, the more adorable such innocent little animals seemed.

At least it really cared about me.

"Not done yet?" Zhao Shudong's voice sounded from outside the door.

"Almost." Ning Buwen opened the drawer and picked up the diary.

Of course, he could not simply hand this diary over to Zhao Shudong.

Setting aside whether she would honor her promise and let him go after receiving it, even if she did, he could not trust her.

Entrusting his life to someone else's conscience was absolutely not Ning Buwen's style.

But right now, he had no decent abilities at all. How could he possibly keep hold of the diary so easily?

He had to think of something.

Wait.

"Ms. Zhao, the diary is in the drawer, but my dog shut the drawer again. I can't pull it open. Could you come in and open it for me?" Ning Buwen called loudly.

"Open it yourself. Hurry up and bring me the diary." Zhao Shudong's voice was cold, and in the stillness of the night, it sounded all the more ghostly.

She had not sounded like this just moments ago.

Why?

A person's manner of speaking did not change that easily, much less in the space of only two or three minutes.

An idea flashed through Ning Buwen's mind. He thought it was worth testing.

"Ms. Zhao, I really can't open it. Come in and help me." Ning Buwen pressed again. "The door's open. Come in."

After saying that, Ning Buwen's heart thudded.

He really did love hopping around recklessly on the line between life and death.

One wrong move, and Zhao Shudong might truly come in and kill him.

"...Come out first and find a tool to pry the drawer open," Zhao Shudong said from outside.

Still unwilling to come in?

Unwilling, or unable?

Once might have been coincidence, but Ning Buwen had put it that plainly. If Zhao Shudong still would not enter, there was definitely a problem.

She had clearly come in during the day, yet at night she could not enter.

Interesting.

"Ms. Zhao, I won't be able to get this diary out anytime soon," Ning Buwen said. "But I'm tired now too. Could I look for it tomorrow? I want to sleep."

"Come out."

"Ms. Zhao, why won't you come in?" Ning Buwen asked with a smile. "I may not be able to get the diary, but there are plenty of School Doctor Cheng's personal belongings here. You like him so much. Don't you want them?"

The door was open.

Ning Buwen could clearly see the change in Zhao Shudong's face.

If the Zhao Shudong who had walked with him to the infirmary had still looked seventy percent human, now she basically had only a human shape left.

At some point, all kinds of scratches had crawled across her face. He could even make out blackened bits of flesh in the wounds. It was like Hollywood special-effects makeup, except at this close range it was terrifying enough to give someone a heart attack.

"...Come out," Zhao Shudong said in a hollow voice.

"Ms. Zhao, would you like me to find you a mirror right now?" Ning Buwen was already certain of his guess. "Looking like that, it doesn't matter who you call over—no one will come near you. Too bad I don't have my phone on me. Otherwise, if I took a picture of what you look like now and showed it to School Doctor Cheng, I wonder what he would think?"

Ning Buwen's words were undoubtedly driving himself toward a dead end.

But otherwise, Zhao Shudong would not change.

The instant the words left his mouth, Zhao Shudong's nails began to grow, as though they were alive.

In only a few minutes, the nails had grown to nearly a meter long. The sight alone was enough to make one's heart pound. Ning Buwen was certain that a light scratch from those nails would send him straight to meet the King of Hell.

But when the nails were about to touch the infirmary door, their tips seemed to catch fire, and they did not dare touch it again.

"At night, you no longer look human at all." Ning Buwen looked at Zhao Shudong as the train of thought in his mind took shape. "Why did you kill your sister in the first place? You were the one who gave that spirit-summoning spell to me and the other students, weren't you? Is this appearance of yours the backlash from that spell, or revenge from your sister?"