Chapter 228: 224 Teasing

When she realized that the figure was very likely Mano Daichi, not yet fully digested, her gaze happened to collide with those fearful, desperate eyes; Misaki Naomi felt as if she had fallen into an abyss and seen hell.

"Move quietly." He Jia'an knew well that one could not just barge about here. Although there was a Space Channel to escape through in the Principal's Office, it was clearly suicide to just walk in. Thus, he decided to look for another path; if the Space Channels in this school were all occupied by parts of the Thousand-Illusion Moon's body, then at the very least, they had to find a channel safer than this one.

"Uncle, I... I think I saw Teacher Mano." Misaki Naomi, her stiff body being dragged along by He Jia'an, whispered, desperately restraining her trembling voice for fear that if she were not careful, she would burst into tears or scream.

However, He Jia'an looked at her with a calm expression and said, "I know, I saw him just now too."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"I am, but it's useless, so one must convert emotions into motivation as much as possible, otherwise one cannot survive." He Jia'an shook his head, his tone earnest yet tinged with a hint of gentleness.

Hearing this, Misaki Naomi took a deep breath and nodded at He Jia'an, signaling that she would hold onto her reason and not be easily defeated by fear, then gritted her teeth and followed He Jia'an's footsteps, walking quietly past the Principal's Office.

However, fate always loves to tease people.

Ding-ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding-ding—

The mobile phone Misaki Naomi carried with her suddenly rang. The sudden ringtone screamed with a bizarre melody and timbre, piercing through the cold, deathly silent campus, and in an instant, it also pierced through the mental defenses of both Misaki Naomi and He Jia'an.

Intense fear was as deep and vast as this blood-colored night sky; behind the life-taking ringtone, it seemed as if Mimiko's mocking laughter at the two of them, who were cautiously clinging to life, could be heard.

"How... how can this be, I turned it off!?" Misaki Naomi's pretty face turned deathly pale. Facing He Jia'an's look of disbelief, she felt powerless to explain, falling into deep despair.

"Run!" He Jia'an no longer cared whether the phone had been turned off; he threw Misaki Naomi's troublesome phone away, then grabbed her and sprinted to escape.

"Boom—" A loud noise, and the whole world seemed to be trembling and shaking. The ground beneath the corridor they were running on was rolling and undulating, falling apart. Every step they took landed on rubble about to collapse. They knew that if either of them faltered for even a second, the two of them, holding hands and living or dying together, would fall into that abyss of no return, swallowed by the gargantuan monster they dared not look back at.

Sprinting, dashing, running without stopping...

Roaring, screaming, broken whistling...

How could human feet escape the frantic pursuit of that despair-inducing thing? It was nothing more than a playful romp between ants and a great existence at the pinnacle of the universe; there was never any possibility of winning.

Finally, a foot slipped, and the two fell from a great height along with the disintegrating rubble, plummeting toward that unknown thing like a swamp of molten lava. The body of that indescribable thing split into two, opening a massive mouth—an abyssal maw capable of swallowing two or three trucks. The inside of the mouth was filled with complex, fist-sized holes, each hole rhythmically expanding and contracting with the sound of the giant mouth, revealing foul-smelling white spikes. Deep within that abyssal maw was a massive orange glow, like a sun, yet it emitted no gentle light, only a cold temperature.

Seeing this scene, Misaki Naomi had completely lost her reason; she had already foreseen the outcome of her miserable death.

She had not expected that before meeting Mimiko's final Chousha judgment, she would first have to experience an unnatural death, being miserably digested in the swamp monster's digestive fluids.

But just as she squeezed her eyes shut, she felt herself being pulled into an embrace that was not broad, yet warm.

It was Uncle's embrace; he was holding me.

The desperate Misaki Naomi felt the last and greatest comfort in this world. She relaxed her body, letting this wretched world torture and destroy her as it pleased.

Thump, thump, thump!

With a series of flips, flutters, and impacts, accompanied by several muffled groans from He Jia'an, Misaki Naomi felt herself fall heavily to the ground.

Even with her head resting on He Jia'an, having a human cushion to absorb most of the impact of the fall, Misaki Naomi still felt the sharp pain and numbness from the high fall. The ringing in her ears was deafening, and the monster's shrill sound seemed to pierce through her ears and into her entire brain.

Vaguely, Misaki Naomi seemed to hear the angry and disgusted screech of something, followed by a sound like a tidal wave receding from her.

Opening her eyes, Misaki Naomi discovered that she and He Jia'an had fallen onto what was likely a second-floor corridor, lying in a pile of ruins. He Jia'an was cushioned beneath her, whimpering in pain, and blood was slowly flowing from the back of his head like a blooming flower.

"Uncle, Uncle, Uncle!" Misaki Naomi came to her senses and urgently patted He Jia'an's face.

He Jia'an slowly regained consciousness, but the world before his eyes had changed; it was broken and incomplete, like an obstructed camera lens. The world he saw was incomplete—half was visible, and half was black. That fall seemed to have caused problems with his brain.

Seeing He Jia'an wake up, Misaki Naomi wept with joy, "Uncle, don't die, I don't want you to die."

"Die... not yet." He Jia'an clutched his head and forced himself to sit up. Misaki Naomi moved behind him and was startled again by his horrific injuries. His back was not quite a bloody mess, but it was close. Most critically, the scalp on the back of his head had been torn open, flesh and blood exposed, and she could even see it pulsing vividly; blood was flowing out uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Misaki Naomi hurriedly felt around her body, wanting to find something to help clean or bandage the wound, but unexpectedly touched a familiar, brick-like hard object.

Misaki Naomi tremblingly took the object out of her pocket, only to find that the phone, which should have been thrown far away or even smashed, had returned to her side completely intact.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated again, emitting a loud ringtone—the same bizarre melody, soul-snatching and life-taking.

He Jia'an's consciousness was blurred, his reactions slow. He then heard the ringtone and realized the phone he had personally thrown away had returned to Misaki Naomi. He slowly turned his head, reaching out to take the phone.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" Misaki Naomi did not let He Jia'an take the phone, asking in confusion.

"... Answer it." He Jia'an's eyeballs rolled upward frequently, his body swaying.

Seeing He Jia'an in this state, Misaki Naomi sobbed and nodded, then opened the phone in despair and answered the call.

"Naomi... I've come to play with you." In the video, a girl was smiling brightly at the camera. As she smiled, the skin belonging to Kurosawa Kana peeled away from the facial wounds that could not perfectly adhere, revealing a bloody, mangled face and a pair of round, bulging eyes.