Chapter 15: The Urban Legend Is Right Beside You

Tap-tap-tap—

Footsteps came from outside the restroom.

Chen Baili glanced warily toward the door, quickly tucking the report card in his hand into his sleeve.

It had now been fifty minutes since Wei Wang Ren was led into the small dark room by Teacher Yao.

Another class had also been attended.

The content was high school math, which made Chen Baili's head spin.

He'd always been mediocre at liberal arts courses since childhood, the kind of student who sat squarely in the middle of the class—barely able to follow the lessons, but not the type to pick them up easily either.

He had slipped out during the ten-minute break to scout the school's surroundings.

Fortunately, the one who entered the restroom was a familiar little shorty—Tu Tu Xing Sun.

"I was about to burst! What kind of students are those brats in our class? They're tireless little newborns, every last one of them!" Tu Tu Xing Sun started cursing the moment he came in.

Chen Baili could deeply relate.

Even having only attended morning self-study and the first period, he could clearly sense the eerie atmosphere of this school.

When the bell rang to end class, no student paid it any mind; everyone kept their heads down, grinding away. During breaks, almost no one went to the restroom—and when they truly couldn't hold it, they ran there and back, afraid of wasting even a single second of study time. Apart from the occasional murmur of students going up to ask the teacher questions, the entire school was uncomfortably silent; no one had time to fool around or horse about.

Nothing of youthful vigor, puppy love, or blooming energy could be seen at all.

Every face wore tension and anxiety.

Dark circles ringed their eyes layer upon layer; pens ran out of ink and were swapped again and again; test papers were completed set after set—an endless loop.

Oppression, competition, desperate struggle—those were the main melody of this school.

Everyone had only one thing to do.

And that was—study.

"No wonder they call it 'Truancy Dragon.' If I'd had to attend school in a place like this as a kid, I'd have run too—twice a day!" Chen Baili grumbled.

The moment his words fell, another person walked in.

That tall, burly figure nodded at them, then said in a muffled voice: "But right now we still don't know where we could run to, let alone talk about catching anyone."

The newcomer was none other than Shi Gandang.

At this, the light in all three of their eyes dimmed at once.

No matter how indignant they felt on these students' behalf, it was useless—because the mission dictated that their role not only wouldn't help, it actually required them to stop students from escaping.

They were accomplices to this ghost school's system.

"Regarding the runaway, I do have some thoughts." Chen Baili held up two fingers and said: "From the side quest we can tell that since the principal and the homeroom teacher share some unspeakable secret, it's also possible that some homeroom teacher is secretly helping students escape. The ghost school wants us to help catch the traitor."

"The second point is about the urban legend. I think the one in the arts building might be related to the escape."

At this, he gave a wry smile and explained: "Because under this oppressive study atmosphere, the arts building shouldn't even need to exist!"

Chen Baili's analysis was spot-on, and the other two didn't argue.

They weren't foolish enough to think a truant simply climbed over the wall and ran off.

Leaving this ghost school would surely be fraught with difficulties!

But then Shi Gandang's words made everyone freeze.

"Let's investigate the people first. The principal came to find my homeroom teacher last class. I managed to eavesdrop on a bit of the conversation—the direction about the traitor should be correct."

"What! The principal came to your class!?"

Tu Tu Xing Sun was somewhat astonished.

He'd assumed a figure like the principal—suspected to be the instance's BOSS—would be hard to meet, yet here one had shown up right at the start.

Shi Gandang nodded and said: "Their conversation revealed that since Gaoshan Middle School was founded, no student has ever successfully escaped. But recently some things have happened that made the principal worry a student might actually succeed. He also said, 'I only trust you and Teacher Yao of Class One.'"

That sentence basically confirmed Chen Baili's earlier speculation.

There was a problem within the homeroom teachers!

But at this point, he paused.

After a moment's thought, he cautioned: "But it's best not to investigate the principal directly. He's very dangerous."

Shi Gandang didn't explain why.

Because it involved his ability, and he couldn't reveal it directly to the other two.

One of his skills could see the level of malevolence in a target.

The Class Seven homeroom teacher had about ten tendrils of black resentment coiling behind him, proving he had directly or indirectly caused the deaths of about ten people in his class.

The density of the resentment was also fairly ordinary.

He'd seen targets of this caliber in other instances too—troublesome, but with some effort, still subduable.

When the principal came in, Shi Gandang had also tried to take a look at him.

Hoping to get a psychological read on the instance's BOSS.

However, the sight in his eyes was something he'd never forget for the rest of his life.

The entire sky suddenly turned a crushing, trembling black. Only upon closer inspection could one make out that it was a sky-full of vengeful spirits blotting out the sun, shrieking as if trying to claw their way out of hell to vent their resentment and destroy everything.

He couldn't even begin to count how many victims there were. Shi Gandang only knew that beneath that apocalyptic, terrifying scene, he didn't even have the will to flee.

Without a doubt, if the principal set his sights on players like them.

A team wipe would happen in an instant.

But this made the scale of the players' mission very delicate.

They had to investigate the homeroom teachers' and the principal's secret to find the traitor—clearly helping the school's system—yet they couldn't let the principal discover what they were doing.

Because the players were only students.

No one would be pleased to let a bunch of self-righteous students get a hold of their secrets.

Shi Gandang suspected that if they were exposed, even if the principal didn't act on the spot, he'd settle the score with them when the instance was tallied up.

If that happens, the instance rewards would become a complete joke.

"Alright, then let's meet up at the washroom every other break between classes to exchange information. Class is about to start, let's head back first." Bai Li Dao suggested.

After confirming the rendezvous time, the three of them left the washroom shoulder to shoulder.

But no sooner had they stepped out than they ran into another familiar face.

He Yikan!

The other party was staggering from the end of the corridor, bracing against the wall as she walked over.

Yet her current state made the eyelids of the three of them twitch uncontrollably.

The mask that had originally been on her face was gone, replaced by a gruesome wound tearing from the corner of her mouth to the base of her ear, with fresh blood still flowing; her trembling left hand had only three fingers left, the cut edges uneven and jagged — compared to a sharp blade, it looked more like the bite marks left by some creature forcibly biting them off.

The most terrifying thing was her left eye.

The eye socket was completely empty!

The whole person looked as though she had just been through a vicious battle.

"Sister Qing! What happened to you!" Shi Gandang anxiously ran over to check on her condition.

At this moment he could no longer be bothered about the familiarity of the address, letting the others discover that the two of them had actually known each other for a long time.

The instant she saw the three of them, an expression of having barely made it in time surfaced on He Yikan's face.

Bracing against the weakness of her body, she said in broken fragments: "Shitou, you have to be careful of the students in the class… the urban legend of the Black Room is related to the student who jumped off the building… they don't belong to any side…"

"The urban legend is right beside us!"

The moment the words fell, He Yikan's body went limp and she collapsed straight onto the ground, unconscious.

Shi Gandang hurriedly picked her up and rushed toward the infirmary.

Leaving Bai Li Dao and Tu Tu Xing Sun standing where they were, exchanging glances.

A moment of silence.

Tu Tu Xing Sun said in confusion: "From what she means, the urban legend of the Black Room can happen in the class, not just confined to the inside of the Black Room? Oh right, is that newbie still in the class? You'd better hurry back and warn him."

That sentence made Bai Li Dao's expression even uglier.

Not only because his own class happened to have a Liu Yang who had just jumped off a building and become a ghost.

Even more critically—

"The newbie is inside the Black Room right now!"

Tu Tu Xing Sun's heart gave a sudden lurch.

Only one thought in his mind — we're done for!