CH 81

(Don’t disturb someone else’s relationship)

Edited by Silver Wind 

Shen Dongqing put down the Ghost Baby.

The Ghost Baby had a crafty personality; the moment it touched the ground, it went back on its word and tried to flee. However, just before it ran two steps out, it felt its stomach area stretch, and when it lowered its head, it noticed the umbilical cord was being stepped on.

Shen Dongqing: “Where are you going?”

The Ghost Baby shuddered, revealing a fawning smile, conveying that it did not have the courage to run anymore. 

Shen Dongqing picked up the umbilical cord and held it in his hand as if he was holding onto a dog leash. As he swung it, he urged: “Lead the way.”

Under the circumstances where it was hopeless to run away, the Ghost Baby could only lead the way obediently.

It brought the pair deeper into the classroom building, taking left and right turns, and it was unknown how long they had been walking before they came to a stop in front of a door.

Shen Dongqing opened the door.

This was an abandoned classroom. A few plastic bags were still hanging on the tables and they were releasing an odour.

Shen Dongqing raised his hand to wave away the dust before he looked at the Ghost Baby.

The Ghost Baby pointed with its thin finger, signalling for him to push open the window.

Zhou Wenyan took a step forward and pushed open the rusted window, which allowed fresh air to flow in and disperse the stench inside the classroom slightly. He glanced left and right before he uttered: “The music room is downstairs.” 

From his angle, he could see the piano being displayed in the classroom, and the music was also coming from the same place.

Zhou Wenyan: “I’ll go first.”

He stepped on the window ledge with one foot. There was a small balcony outside the classroom below. After he found a place to put his feet, he used the crevices to the scale down the outer wall slowly before he gave a final light jump to land on the balcony.

Shen Dongqing poked his head out while he was holding onto the Ghost Baby. 

Zhou Wenyan stretched his hands towards him. “Come here.”

Shen Dongqing released his hand. With its newfound freedom, the Ghost Baby was like a mouse as it latched onto the outer walls and leapt into the music room next door, and its figure disappeared in an instant.

The music room was on the third floor whereas Shen Dongqing was standing on the fourth floor. Since he was too lazy to scale the wall, Shen Dongqing shot Zhou Wenyan a grin before he loosened his grip and jumped down.

Zhou Wenyan caught him in his full embrace, but he had to take two steps back to prop his back against the wall and kill the momentum. “That’s too dangerous.” 

Shen Dongqing giggled, saying: “Don’t I have you? You’ll definitely catch me.”

Helpless, Zhou Wenyan stated, “You’re not allowed to do this again.”

Shen Dongqing promised readily: “Fine, fine.”

Zhou Wenyan brushed off the dust on his clothes before he looked towards the link between the balcony and the classroom. 

* * *

In all likelihood, no one had expected that someone would attempt to get in by scaling the wall. Hence, the school only built a wall in front of the main door, whereas the balcony door was only blocked off with wooden planks.

The wooden boards were nailed to the door and windows in a disorderly manner, thus leaking some seams, which revealed the fact that the music room was pitch-black inside, just like a horror movie.

Shen Dongqing extended his hand to tear at one of the wooden planks. 

After being weathered down by years of wind and rain, the wooden plank broke off with a single tug. The rusted red nails landed on the ground and bounced a few times, causing a distinctive sound with each collision.

The female school senior inside the music room seemed to receive a scare as she issued a string of doubtful noises which sounded extremely piercing to the ear.

As Shen Dongqing threw down the wooden plants, he tried to negotiate with the person inside, “Can you play something that sounds nicer?” He racked his brains to find a song name that he remembered, “Do you know how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars? How about Ode to Joy?”

The female school senior went silent. 

Shen Dongqing continued with his act of vandalism as he said: “If you don’t know anything, why did you run to the music room? This is too unprofessional! Tell me, how long have you been dead for? Couldn’t you have spent some time learning how to play the piano properly?”

After the last wooden plank fell, Shen Dongqing pushed open the door.

Most of the things inside the music room had been moved away, only leaving a piano in the otherwise empty room.

There was a person sitting in front of the piano and judging from her back figure, she should be female. Wearing a long white dress, she had her head lowered and there was a small Ghost Baby lying on her shoulder. 

Now that the Ghost Baby had a backing, it forgot the previous terror it experienced as it bared its teeth at the pair.

Shen Dongqing: “It’s smiling at me again, does it want to be my pet or something?”

Ghost Baby: ……Get lost!

It opened its mouth furiously, revealing its densely packed teeth as it issued strange and threatening noises. 

Like it was saying, My mommy is here, don’t think about bullying me, Mommy—

As its mother stood up rigidly, her movements knocked into the piano and caused a series of clattering noises. The female turned around. Long black hair cascaded down, covering her ashen-pale face.

Creak—

It was unknown where that particular noise came from. 

Zhou Wenyan pulled Shen Dongqing into his embrace. Just as they left their original spot, they heard a loud crash as the suspended fan descended from the ceiling, directly smashing a faint crater on the ground.

Shen Donging: “… Again?”

A translucent figure appeared on the ceiling fan. He was holding a book in his hands, half of his head was gone, causing the brain matter and blood to flow down the contours of his face.

The main protagonists of the two ghost stories had appeared here. 

The male student who had been smashed to death by the ceiling fan and the female school senior who had committed suicide because of a lost love, they were both staring at the two living people darkly.

Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan exchanged glances.

The pair did not communicate much but their hearts were linked and they pulsed in unison; they would be responsible for dealing with one each.

Shen Dongqing rolled up his sleeves and rushed at the Ceiling Fan Boy. 

It was highly likely that Ceiling Fan Boy had never met someone who would charge at ghosts instead of running away, so he blanked out for a moment there.

Qtfc tf olcjiis mjwf ab tlr rfcrfr, la kjr jigfjvs abb ijaf. Lf kjr bcis mjqjyif bo erlcu jc fifmaglm ojc ab rwjrt qfbqif ab vfjat, yea atlr werlm gbbw bcis tjv bcf rerqfcvfv ojc jcv la tjv jigfjvs rffc lar erf. Lfcmf, tf vlv cba tjnf jcs jylilas ab gfajiljaf ja jii, jcv la kjr qgfrrfv ab atf ugbecv jcv atgjrtfv.

While Shen Dongqing struck a fist downwards, he mumbled: “I don’t want to eat soft bean curd ever again.”

Ceiling Fan Boy was thrashed to the point where he was seeing stars. 

Wait…

Was there something wrong with this situation?

On the other side, Zhou Wenyan just dealt with the female school senior as well.

The school female senior and her child – who had died violently before it was even born – trembled as they hugged each other. As an orphaned child and lone window, they looked incredibly miserable. 

Alas, Zhou Wenyan did not have any compassion in his heart at all; he hauled the Ghost Baby out of the female school senior’s arms and threw it to the side, before he reached towards the front of the female school senior’s chest.

The female school senior was seized with terror. Hugging her shoulders, she started backing away but the music room was not big, and she could not retreat any further after taking a few steps backwards. Hence, she could only shrink in the wall corner.

Zhou Wenyan’s movements did not stop. He pulled away her arms forcibly and tore off the sign in front of her chest.

“AH—” 

After losing her sign, the female school senior revealed a pained expression and she proceeded to disappear from where she stood with the Ghost Baby.

“A1?” Zhou Wenyan read out the letters on the sign as he held onto it.

Shen Dongqing also tugged off the sign on Ceiling Fan Boy’s body and raised it in his hand. “I have one here too!”

The sign in his hand wrote A2. 

The front of the sign was an alphabet and a number, whereas the back was an image but it did not look complete.

Zhou Wenyan took the paper from Shen Dongqing’s hands and pieced the two signs together.

Shen Dongqing pointed at the uneven edge, saying: “We’re still missing one.”

Zhou Wenyan kept the signs. “Let’s go to the basketball court.” 

* * *

The last ghost story happened in the basketball court.

It was already later in the afternoon when they left the abandoned classroom building and the basketball court was still very lively during this period of time.

The male students were playing basketball at the ball court, filling the air with the thudding of the ball. The female students sat at the side, spectating, and there would be intermittent cheers in between. 

Before Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan could properly observe the situation in the basketball court since they just stepped in, they saw a basketball hurtling towards them and it came at fierce velocity, making it impossible to dodge.

The people at the side released gasps and shouts of shock.

At this moment, Zhou Wenyan stretched his hand out to seize the basketball, directly monopolising the ball in his grip. Then, he glanced in the direction where the ball flew from.

A female student with a valiant and heroic bearing stood there and she shot Zhou Wenyan a smile. With a clear and sharp voice, she exclaimed: “Sorry about that!” 

Lowering his eyes, Zhou Wenyan looked at the ball in his hand before he raised his arm to throw it over.

That female student was about to catch it, but she did not expect that the ball would directly fly over her head and land inside the basketball hoop in a precise manner.

“Nice—”

Cheers, shouts and applause erupted from the side. 

Shen Dongqing clapped as well. “Awesome.”

Zhou Wenyan caressed his head. “It’s just that my physique is stronger than most people” He gave a pause, “We definitely forgot the things we experienced in the past.”

On the contrary, Shen Dongqing did not think about it much. He grabbed Zhou Wenyan’s hand and said seriously: “It’s enough that I didn’t forget about you.”

Zhou Wenyan went still momentarily before he chuckled and said: “That’s true.” 

In view of the facts that the basketball court occupied a large piece of land, how there were a lot of people around, and how the pair was not in a rush, they slowly wandered the location.

After they passed through the most crowded and lively area, the number of people gradually lessened. However, they had essentially searched the entire basketball court and they did not manage to find a single hint of the ghost story’s existence.

Shen Dongqing yawned as he peered at the bathroom sign at the side. “I’m going to the toilet.”

Zhou Wenyan waited outside. After standing there for a while, he suddenly heard the sound of a basketball rolling over from the distance, and it happened to roll near his feet. 

Zhou Wenyan extended a leg to press it down, stopping the ball from rolling further. Following closely, a female student ran over.

The female student walked over: “I’m really sorry about that…” As she said that, she revealed an expression of surprise, “It’s you.”

Zhou Wenyan glanced at her, not uttering a word.

Nevertheless, his silence clearly did not deter the female student. She picked up the basketball and hugged it in her arms before she struck a conversation with natural ease, “How coincidental. Can I know which faculty you’re from?” 

Zhou Wenyan rejected her in a resolute and decisive manner: “I have a boyfriend.”

The female student had a first-rate appearance, and with the basketball uniform she was wearing, she was teeming with heroic spirit. Rather than become angry after she heard such a crude and ruthless rejection, she smiled and said: “It’s just making a friend, are you afraid of your boyfriend getting angry? It should be fine, right? Are most boys that petty?”

Zhou Wenyan: “Yes.”

The female student said with some surprise: “Boys are that petty too? That’s hard to come by. Don’t worry, we will just be friends, it’s not like he’s going to manage what kind of friends you’re making as well, right? Wouldn’t that be restricting your freedom too much?” 

Zhou Wenyan: “I like that he manages me.”

The female student could no longer pull her last resort, so she said unhappily: “But I really like you. I won’t snatch you from your boyfriend, both of us will have half each, how about it? I’ll be very equal in my distribution.”

When Zhou Wenyan heard her words, he finally looked over at her directly.

Since when was the thing in the female student’s arms a basketball? It was clearly a boy’s head. His eyes were wide open like he had died with an everlasting regret. 

The female student continued to act in coquettish manner: “Pretty please—”

Before Zhou Wenyan could reply, Shen Dongqing came out from the toilet. He flung the water droplets off his hands and looked at the female student who was blocking the toilet entrance curiously.

“Do you want to go to the toilet too?” As he said that, he moved aside to give her passage to the male’s toilet.

The female student found it hard to maintain her smile: …… 

Be more serious, I’m trying to steal your boyfriend, alright?

Shen Dongqing did not feel the slightest sense of crisis as he walked around the female student without any hesitation: “Let’s go, we…”

Abruptly, the female student opened her mouth to say: “I want your boyfriend.”

Shen Dongqing stood still. 

The female student continued, “We can have half each, if you want, I can give you a little more than that…”

Shen Dongqing turned around, a small smile still hanging on his lips.

Believing that she still had hope, the female student caressed the head in her arms as she asked: “Is that okay?”

Shen Dongqing was slightly impressed by this female student. 

She actually had the gall to ask the question “Is that okay?”. Among all the ghosts he had met, she was the most audacious one; other ghosts only demanded for lives, this one was even stronger, wherein she wanted to snatch people as well.

It goes without saying that the audacious female – oh no, female ghost – left in an extraordinarily wretched manner in the end.

The miserable shriek she released was enough to make ghosts shivers.

Shen Dongqing took down the sign in front of her chest and handed it to Zhou Wenyan. 

Consequently, Zhou Wenyan pieced the three signs together and it formed a design in the end.

The design only had monochrome colours: the border areas were wrapped around with complicated floral patterns and there was only a wide-open eye in the middle. The pupil in the centre of the eye was very black, as if it could siphon away a person’s consciousness and make them lose themselves.

Shen Dongqing shook his head, breaking out of the eye’s influence. “What is this?”

Zhou Wenyan grazed the edges of the signs and only saw a row of words emerge faintly— Life Science Research Company. 

“Life Science Research Company?”

Once the phrase slipped out, a smear of vacancy flickered past their eyes as if they were being released from something and everything became crystalline clear in an instant.

“I remember now!” Shen Dongqing said, “Are we inside a game copy right now?”

Zhou Wenyan nodded his head. 

Yes, before they entered the game, they already conceived of the possibility that they would lose their memories so they had used a small prop and designed a safe word. As long as the safe word was mentioned, they would remember everything.

For the sake of designing a convenient reminder, Zhou Wenyan had chosen the safe word from the copy token, which was “Life Science.”. When they entered the copy, the phrase was bound to appear.

However, they did not expect that after they entered the copy, they would be thrown into an environment that was completely unrelated from “Life Science Research”.

If it were not for Zhou Wenyan realising that something was amiss, they would have been assimilated into this seemingly safe world and then forget everything, thus becoming a character inside the copy. 

Zhou Wenyan murmured his conjecture in a low voice: “A1, A2, A3, these serial numbers, could it be that these ghosts are being cultivated?”

Shen Dongqing pinched the sign: “Cultivated? They’re a little too weak.”

Ever since they arrived here, it had been too safe; the ghosts that had appeared thus far were cannon fodders that neither hurt nor tickled, it did not feel like a S-level copy at all.

Shen Dongqing was a little disappointed: “Is this it?” 

Zhou Wenyan stated, “It shouldn’t be this simple. Let’s awaken the other players before we do anything else.”

Most of the copies from different levels would usually occur in a small setting, and the players’ parameters to move would be restricted so that it was easier for players to gain clues and also make it easier for the ghosts and monsters to conduct their massacre.

Shen Dongqing tilted his head. “But this game premise is so big, we don’t know where the other players are.”

Presently, they only managed to meet Wu Jia. 

The other players had to hear the safe word they designed before they could remember their past and it was not feasible to search for them in each and every area.

At this moment, the broadcast rang out in the basketball court.

“The basketball court has been allotted for the basketball team’s use at 7 o’ clock in the evening, may all the students…” 

Shen Dongqing’s eyes brightened, “We can go to the broadcasting room!”

They could do a school-wide broadcast and find all the players in the school first!

* * *

Being a man of his word, Shen Dongqing acted without delay; he pulled Zhou Wenyan as he ran towards the broadcasting room. 

The broadcasting room was not a place that every person could enter, once the broadcasting time had passed, the door would be locked up.

Shen Dongqing might not have the key but he could still use his old method.

The method was extremely useful, it was just that with every opened door, there would be an innocent door sacrificed which would become worthless.

Shen Dongqing held onto the door handle that had been twisted off and threw it to the side discreetly, pretending that nothing had occurred as he pushed open the door. 

There was no one inside the broadcasting room.

Shen Dongqing sat down to inspect the equipment, and it was only with Zhou Wenyan’s advice that he finally knew how to use it.

Hence, in the late afternoon, everyone in the school heard a voice.

“Hello, hello… can you hear this?” 

After saying those words, he lowered his voice and mumbled to himself: “Even if you said you can hear it, I can’t hear it!”

In spite of him lowering his voice, his words were still audible to everyone due to the microphone transmission and the broadcast.

A slightly deeper voice sounded from the side: “Allow me.”

“Oh oh.” The bright and clear voice at the start moved aside in a flurry. It was unknown what he knocked into in the middle of his actions but it issued a series of noises. 

The person at the side could not help but laugh. Then, he took the mic and tested it.

“All the students listening to this broadcast.” He paused briefly before he delivered a speech. While the contents of his announcement seemed unrelated to the copy, the reality was that the phrase “Life Science” was mixed into it, and the players would immediately come to their senses once they heard it.

Concurrently, Wu Jia suddenly stopped moving as he was discussing where they should go with his dorm mates in a free and easy manner.

Dormmate: “What’s the matter? Are we going to the KTV tonight?” 

Wu Jia’s gaze changed. “Never mind. I have something I need to attend to, let’s do it next time.”

Dormmate: “What do you even need to attend to?”

Wu Jia: “Something incredibly important.”

On the other side, a short-haired woman stood up abruptly in the middle of a lecture, which attracted the teacher’s attention. 

Displeased, the teacher rebuked: “We’re having a lecture right now, if you have anything to say, you can do it after class.”

Short-haired Woman did not acknowledge the teacher in the slightest as she walked out directly.

……

Inside the campus, player after player rushed towards the broadcasting room. 

Wu Jia arrived the earliest and he gave a greeting to the Short-haired Woman who was a step behind him. “Hi—”

The Short-haired Woman nodded before she started to do a headcount.

Being the “Night Devils” who were most fond of bringing new players who had only been through a few copies to be cannon fodders, their behaviour in the S-level copy was no different, since she brought a total of six players which meant that their proportion was more than half among the players.

But right now, in the broadcasting room entrance where few would tread, the Short-haired Woman was the sole commanding officer. 

At this moment, two ladies rushed over in a hurry, with one of them being heavily injured and on their last breaths .

“What happened?” The Short-haired Woman’s complexion sank.

The eyes of the bespectacled female was red as she let out a panicked stutter, “They, all of them went insane.”

The lady she was supporting by the arm had a pale complexion due her excessive blood loss, and she leaned against her body powerlessly, unable to utter a single word. 

The Short-haired Woman said strictly: “Speak clearly.”

The Bespectacled Lady tried to compose herself. With much difficulty, she eventually managed to explain the sequence of events clearly.

When they heard the words “Life Science”, all of the players woke up and they were about to make their way to the broadcasting room as soon as possible.

But some of the players were unwilling to wake up; they would rather remain as normal people inside the copy than go and confront the ghost and monsters. A player tried to persuade them but they were killed instead. 

Perhaps because they had already acted, these people harboured the notion that they could return to their normal lives once they killed all the players. Hence, they began to assault the other players.

Meanwhile, the normal students and teachers did not stop them at all. It was like they could not see the attempted homicide in front of them and they continued with the class at their own pace.

And the two ladies only managed to escape because they ran fast.

The Bespectacled Lady sobbed, “They’ve all gone insane.” 

Useless things!

The Short-haired Woman cursed in her heart. She originally wanted to bring these new players so they could explore their paths, but she did not expect that these players would have such weak wills, and they were directly assimilated into the game.

Right now, there were only two… no, there was only one left.

Short-haired Woman: “Put her down.” 

Bespectacled Lady: “Ah?”

The Short-haired Woman said impatiently, “She’s already dead.”

That lady had completely stopped breathing.

Inside this S-level copy, she did not lose her life because of the ghosts and monsters; rather, she died in the hands of her companions. 

Beyond the three people who had gathered again in a short moment’s work, namely Wu Jia, the Short-haired Woman, and the only surviving novice player among the group she had brought, there was no one else. It was unknown if other players had entered the copy besides their two groups, but no one came over in the moments that followed after.

Shen Dongqing peeked his head out of the broadcasting room. “There’s only so few of us?”

Wu Jia pushed his heads: “Yeah, we’ll have to make do with what we have.”

The approximate figure of players who had entered the S-level copy was in the two digits, but there were only so few left standing right now. In a short span of time, the majority of the players had been taken off, and it was under the circumstances where there was not much danger yet. 

Shen Dongqing walked out: “Let’s find the Life Science Research Company first.”

The Short-haired Woman’s first reaction was to pull out her mobile phone to search.

However, inputting the words into the search bar only yielded a few pieces of useless information, and she did not find anything related to the company despite flipping through a few pages.

“There’s nothing. It should be blocked.” The Short-haired Woman raised her phone display and showed it to everyone in a circle. 

Zhou Wenyan crossed his arms. “The game’s boundaries can only be within this city, let’s split up to look for it.”

The Short-haired Woman stared at Zhou Wenyan: “How are we going to split into groups?”

Originally, she held the dominant position in terms of the number of players she brought, but now those people had all died, which meant that Zhou Wenyan held the upper hand, and she was worried that he would not share the clues once they found it.

Zhou Wenyan placed his hand on Shen Dongqing’s shoulder. “We’re in one group.” 

Wu Jia pointed at himself: “What about me then?”

Raising his eyelids, Zhou Wenyan said faintly, “Be more perceptive.”

Wu Jia grasped his meaning. If he, Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing stuck together, it would definitely arouse the Short-haired Woman’s suspicion. It was better if he stayed together with the Short-haired Woman to ensure that both sides could cooperate with one another.

He shifted his feet and sidled up to the Short-haired Woman before he extended his hand. “Happy cooperation.” 

The Short-haired Woman accepted this arrangement as well.

Wu Jia gave Zhou Wenyan a look, expressing that it was still his Boss’ considerations which was mature and reflective.

Unfortunately, both of their thoughts were not on the same frequency, Zhou Wenyan did not comprehend the meaning behind Wu Jia’s gaze at all.

If he actually understood it, Zhou Wenyan would only say that he was thinking too much, his only consideration was that he did not want a lightbulb disturbing their love affair, it was that simple. 

When the group of players left the school, the void in the sky darkened as the black clouds gathered densely, taking the shape of a vortex which looked like an eye.

【 Warning, Warning, Test Subject 0431, 0432, 0441, 0443, 0447 are showing abnormalities, fluctuation levels 69% 】

【 Triggering A Level Alert 】

【 Please eliminate the unstable stable factors immediately 】