Chapter 23: Am I Crazy? No, the World is Crazy

"Buddy, usually I'm the one telling horror stories to scare others; now you've turned the tables on me?"

Wu Wang helplessly turned his head back.

As a madman who could pierce his own temple with a dagger without flinching, he had no such boring emotion as fear.

Yet when he looked back, he saw nothing.

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and retort to Liu Yang: "Are you always this humorous?"

But the next second, he noticed Liu Yang's expression become extremely unnatural; his mouth opened as if wanting to speak but stopping, and his fingers lifted and lowered several times.

【What did he see】

Those words appeared floating on Liu Yang's forehead.

The red vertical pupils exerted force; now Wu Wang believed it.

"You... really can't see that person? He's walking toward us; he's almost at your side now." Liu Yang watched the figure slowly approach and couldn't help but say again.

But no matter how wide Wu Wang opened his eyes, he couldn't see anyone on the dim corridor.

After pondering for a moment, he rolled up his sleeves.

The red vertical pupils were exposed; those eerie eyes darted around, as if a curious child filled with interest in this world.

As time passed, gradually...

Wu Wang saw it too.

A blurry human silhouette appeared about two or three meters in front of him.

As his vision gradually cleared.

A boy, about one meter seventy tall, with a somewhat round figure, wearing a Gaoshan Middle School uniform, was curiously eyeing the two of them.

His face looked round, the kind of chubby kid almost every class had during high school, with a slightly timid look in his eyes.

He asked cautiously: "You... are you a new student in the building? Which class are you in?"

"!"

Wu Wang immediately sensed something was wrong.

The instant that guy spoke, everything around became even brighter and clearer.

The corridor, originally dim to the extreme, now showed even the stains on the floor tiles; the crookedly piled-up clutter vanished, replaced by items neatly stacked against both sides.

Most bizarrely, quite a few students were standing on the corridor tables, smearing some paint on the walls, seemingly creating some kind of print.

Everyone was in high spirits.

Occasionally, sounds of play and teasing arose; many picked up paint to draw on their school uniforms as a keepsake, sketching childish yet youthful pictures on them.

Some girls quietly wrote the names of their crushes on the left chest of their uniforms and drew hearts; some mischievous boys painted clown faces on their own faces to scare others.

"Damn! Where the hell did you send me?"

"Is this even still China?"

Wu Wang couldn't help but curse.

The situation inside this art building was far more complicated than he had imagined!

Abnormal places, yet normal people appearing.

This damn thing is the most abnormal situation of all!

The chubby kid beside them finally gathered the courage to step forward and comfort them: "You also can't remember which class you're in, right? It's okay; we were like that too."

Having said that, he walked toward a girl standing on a table on tiptoes, outlining a Totoro pattern on the wall, and whispered: "Head Monitor, new students have arrived; please assign them."

The girl turned around.

Even without makeup, it was clear she was a beauty in the making; her delicate melon-shaped face and cherry lips, moist and glistening without any lipstick, radiated youth.

A smudge of blue paint on her cheek gave her image a touch of playfulness.

She jumped down from the table with ease.

She extended her hand toward Wu Wang and smiled brightly: "Hello, I'm Chen Nan, the Head Monitor for all classes in this art building. Follow me; I'll explain the situation here."

Wu Wang also extended his hand and shook hers.

"Chu Yuxuan. Please take care of me."

The warm sensation transmitted through his palm made him slightly dazed.

Body temperature? Are these guys real people?

Aren't they ghosts?

No, that's too hasty; I need to observe more.

Everyone walked forward side by side.

After only a few steps, while two boys were shoving each other, they accidentally knocked over a basin of water used for washing paint palettes; a large amount of black-red dirty water splashed directly onto Wu Wang.

Even with his quick reaction, he still got splashed with quite a bit of dirty water on his abdomen.

"Li Hua! Wang Ming! Didn't you see there's a new student? You two behave!" Chen Nan grabbed the two boys' ears and scolded.

"My bad, my bad! Sister Chen, let go quickly; you're going to pull my ears off..."

The boys begged for mercy with grins.

Seeing Wu Wang standing stunned in place, the chubby kid stepped forward to comfort him: "Got dirty? I still have an old uniform over there; I'll go get it for you to change into."

Wu Wang didn't reply.

He merely frowned and gently wiped the paint stains from his clothes with his hand; the familiar pain stimulated his brain nerves, keeping him extremely alert at that moment.

He spread out his palm.

There was no paint stain at all; only his hand was covered in thick, black-red liquid.

His vision blurred momentarily.

The surrounding environment turned dim once again.

Before him lay a steel pipe as thick as a finger; its front end was broken, revealing a cross-section that was razor-sharp despite being covered in rust.

Because he had rammed straight into it, the pipe had pierced clean through his abdomen from front to back.

The bulletproof vest had failed to serve any purpose at all; clearly, this was not mere physical damage.

The so-called paint and grime were all his own blood! The black-red hue was because his internal organs had been pierced as well!

"Cough, cough, cough... This is more like it..."

A crazed smile spread across Wu Wang's face.

"A warm, big classroom in this ghost school? What a bunch of nonsense in this inner world!"

He then grabbed the steel pipe with his hand and pulled it out bit by bit; every millimeter of movement tore at his internal organ wounds, and the feedback from his pain nerves made Wu Wang's forehead veins bulge uncontrollably.

Pfft—

The steel pipe was pulled out completely.

The finger-thick wound on his abdomen caused fresh blood to flow endlessly as if a floodgate had opened.

Yet he paid it no mind, merely panting heavily while clutching the steel pipe tightly, slowly aiming its sharp front end at his own temple.

"Second playthrough... Activate!"

Swish—

There was not the slightest surprise; Wu Wang had pierced his own brain, after all, letting the abdominal injury progress to death was simply too slow, and it would also hinder his movements.

Better to cut through the tangle with a swift blade!

Die a step ahead!

"Hah... Hah! Hah-hah!"

The instant he revived and opened his eyes, Wu Wang saw the people around him looking at him with strange expressions.

Looking down, he discovered he was holding a basin of dirty water and scrubbing his face vigorously.

His entire face was smeared beyond recognition.

He had even scrubbed some wounds into his skin, enough to show a force so great it was jaw-dropping.

"Uh, Student Chu? Do you perhaps have just a tiny, um... mental issue?" Chen Nan spoke somewhat cautiously, then immediately explained: "Of course, I'm not discriminating against the mentally ill, I just wanted to ask to consider the safety of other students."

Anyone who saw someone walking along, suddenly freeze in place, then suddenly grab a nearby basin of dirty water and scrub their face would think something was wrong!

That force was almost scrubbing the skin off his face!

What normal person would do this to themselves!

"I'm probably sick," Wu Wang explained with a grimace on his smeared face: "But I believe more that—"

"It is your world that has gone mad."