CH 32

“When did you find out?” It took Hideki more than ten seconds before he awkwardly replied, “I began to suspect from the first moment I saw the four of you.”

Backing away towards the door, I created distance between myself and Hideki, “The area surrounding the New Shanghai School is all wasteland, and no matter which direction you come from, you will definitely have dirt on your shoes. However, in the hallway where we met, it was clean, and only my shoe prints were visible.”

“Therefore, I deduced that you all didn’t come from outside, but rather you were already on campus.”

“So, I didn’t trust any of you, including you three and Sakurako.”

Hideki’s face turned dark as he gradually lowered his head. The dim lighting made him look even scarier, “If you already knew we weren’t human, why did you willingly participate in our game? And why did you help us search for Shen Meng?”

“Life is like a drama, it all depends on acting skills. As an ordinary person with no special talents, the only way for me to survive here is to use my brain. By not exposing your identities and playing the game with you, I was able to gain the upper hand and make you feel at ease, so you wouldn’t want to kill me.” I smiled

“What does it matter if I play a few games with ghosts as long as I can survive?” Hideki’s face became increasingly ugly, with varying sizes of livor mortis appearing on his pale skin, “So you’ve been deceiving us all along?”

“What’s wrong? Feeling angry and embarrassed?” I waved my hand, “It’s not deception, I was just playing with you little ghosts.”

Who knows how arrogant I must have seemed with my attitude at this moment. I looked like a piece of pork waiting to be slaughtered.

Upon hearing my words, Hideki approached me step by step, his clothes becoming tattered and blood seeming to flow from his feet.

“Hideki, you’re the smartest ghost among all of them. Don’t do anything stupid. Since I’ve made everything clear, I’ve left myself an escape route.”

“Do you remember when I asked you for your father’s name? Your name is Wang Hideki, and the second bed in the infirmary has your school uniform. And Xue Fei and Shen Meng, your traces can all be found in this school. You were the victims from five years ago, cursed to death by Guo Junjie and unable to pass on as spirits.”

“Poor guys, forever wandering in this gloomy haunted school, living in the fear of Guo Junjie for generations to come.”

“To be honest, I feel sorry for you. Your past mistakes have long been redeemed, yet your souls cannot find peace. Compared to the errors you have committed, this punishment seems a bit too harsh.”

Perhaps I hit a nerve, as Hideki stopped in his tracks. “We don’t need your sympathy. Shortly enough, you’ll become just like us!” His voice was hoarse, as if he were chewing on something.

“When two parties cooperate, they both benefit. When they fight, both suffer. You can kill me and imprison my soul here, but before that, I have a proposition.”

“Go on.”

“Allow me to guide you towards the path of solace and liberation from this restless existence, so that you may finally find the tranquility that eluded you in life.”

“Just you?”

“How will you know if you don’t try?”

Seeing Hideki lost in thought, and the signs of death on his body fading away, my heart slowly relaxed.

I had won this high-stakes negotiation.

Ever since I received the notification for the optional task in the underworld show app, I was curious. Why would a task require playing games on a campus?

What kind of game? With whom? And how do you play?

A place so full of ominous energy could not possibly have any other living people around. The answer was simple—I had to play games with ghosts, and the more, the better.

At first, I followed the instructions as required, but as the mysterious veil of the campus slowly lifted, I discovered that there were not just one or two ghosts on campus, but they also had irreconcilable conflicts amongst themselves.

One party was the culprit who created the entire tragedy, while the other was only a victim trapped here.

If my guess is correct, then Guo Junjie is the one behind the scenes manipulating everything, while Hideki and Shen Meng are like clowns whose only purpose is to perform for Guo Junjie. They constantly repeat fear and despair to wash away their own guilt.

This unequal relationship gave me a whiff of opportunity, so I decided to take the initiative and confront the ghost.

“The torment you have suffered day and night for the past five years is enough to pay for the mistakes you have made. If you don’t resist now, are you prepared to be enslaved for generations and be his plaything forever?”

I have participated in civil litigation cases and worked as a mediation lawyer. Although it was just to make a living at the time, my experience taught me how to persuade others.

“You don’t need to hesitate. You can kill me at any time, but if you miss this opportunity, you will never be able to change your fate of being imprisoned.”

In the end, I managed to convince Hideki, and he returned to his normal self. “I believe you, but if you haven’t broken the curse before dawn, then stay here with us forever.”

“Deal,” I said when I offered to help Hideki, but I was just talking without any assurance, thinking that delaying the inevitable was better than nothing.

After all, death was certain, so why not take a gamble?

“To show your sincerity, can you make the red-skirted ghost at the door leave? These tricks don’t scare me.” I picked up my phone and monitored the outside movements, but the camera no longer captured the red skirt. However, there was no guarantee that she wasn’t hiding in a place where the camera couldn’t see, waiting to “touch me to death” the moment I opened the door.

“Red skirted?” Hideki’s expression was eerie. “That’s the first time I’ve seen that thing in the school.”

“Isn’t that Shen Meng?!” The situation was different from what I had imagined.

“Shen Meng is already dead, or rather, she died tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, Hideki wore a bitter expression on his face. “We are just weak-minded spirits who are released by Guo Junjie every night to experience unbearable fears, like repeating nightmares. If our spirits are tortured and can’t bear it anymore, they will dissipate, which means death.”

“You are right. We are just clowns dancing in Guo Junjie’s palm, with no freedom and no way to escape.”

“If Shen Meng and Xue Fei don’t show up tonight, is it possible that the girl in the red dress is one of your other classmates?” I wasn’t sure if Hideki was lying, so I dug deeper for more information.

Shaking his head, Hideki revealed a crucial point: “The cursed students wear school uniforms, while outsiders are different, like Sakurako. I’ve never figured out where she came from.”

Quiet and reserved, it was surprising to hear that even Sakurako, who seemed to live in her own world, was an outsider?

“When did she appear?”

“About a year ago, she said she came here to wait for someone. But don’t let her appearance fool you. That person may seem gentle and harmless, but she’s actually full of resentment. Even we avoid her.”

As an adult, Hideki and I had different ways of thinking; my way of thinking and behavior were driven by purpose. There were various restless spirits hidden in the New Shanghai High School, and I wondered what their purpose was.

“There must be some treasures in this school that are spirit-attracting, which is why trouble keeps finding its way here.”

“I’ve never heard of any treasures in our school. There was just one crazy person who, when the school was first built, pointed at the main gate and cursed for three days and three nights, claiming that the school was built on his family’s ancestral grave. The security guards had to take him away.” Hideki shrugged. “I’ve noticed that you’re curious about everything. You should just be a host and dub voiceovers for ‘One Hundred Thousand Whys’.”

I coughed a few times to hide my embarrassment, feeling a bit uncomfortable being lectured by a little brat. “Anyway, since you and the others are all cursed by Guo Junjie, finding him could solve many problems.”

“We’ve been wandering around this school for five years and haven’t found any trace of him. We only know that he’s secretly watching us from the shadows, but we don’t know where he’s hiding,” Hideki expressed his despair, and I could understand how he felt.

“Don’t worry, when it comes to searching for missing people or bodies, I’m an expert,” I reassured him.

The collective death incident at New Shanghai High School was not made public, and to handle so many bodies, they couldn’t transport them out in plain sight. Incineration on-site was the most secure method.

“We’ll first go to the water purification tank where Guo Junjie drowned and then to the incineration pit where the school disposes of garbage.” After reaching an agreement with Hideki, I put the dorm key in my pocket and said, “The girl in the red dress may have left, so we need to hurry and get out!”

I grabbed the handle, turned the lock, and opened the door, picking up the camera and running towards the stairs. “Hurry! She seems to be following us!”

I didn’t need to turn around to know who “she” referred to in Hideki’s words. I ran desperately, taking three or four steps at a time, and managed to escape from the girls’ dormitory with some close calls.

“Let’s go! Let’s head to the water purification tank right away and don’t let her catch up!” I habitually picked up Sakurako, who was sitting on the roadside, and ran towards the distance.

“Don’t panic; she doesn’t seem to be chasing after us,” Hideki said.

Looking back, I saw the red figure standing at the window on the second floor of the girls’ dormitory, seeming to wave at me.

I shuddered, realizing that the woman was not wearing a long dress, but a bright red wedding dress, as if it were stained with blood.

“Why do I find her familiar?” I shook off the strange thought and followed Hideki’s guidance to the water treatment center.

Pushing the door open, I saw a small room with water pipes arranged inside. The boiler for heating water was located at the back, connected to several large water tanks.

“He drowned in here.” I climbed onto a certain water tank and opened the one-foot-wide inlet. A foul smell wafted out.

Using my phone as a flashlight, I peered into the enormous tank, but it was completely dry. It was a dark hole with nothing visible.

“Wait outside, both of you. I’m going in to take a look.” With great difficulty, I squeezed through the narrow opening and crawled inside. The space was dim, enclosed, and suffocating, making me feel oppressed and fearful.

Perhaps due to a lack of ventilation, the air in the water tank was thin, and I had to endure the painful sensation of suffocation. I quickly grabbed my phone and searched for anything useful before it was too late.

As I cautiously treaded through the slippery ground, I noticed a torn school uniform lying in a corner of the tank.

Just as I was about to reach for it, I heard a boy’s voice in my ear, “Why did you kill me?”

“Who?!” I turned around, but there was nothing around me. Suddenly, I heard a loud bang from above. The only exit, the one-foot-wide inlet, had been shut from the outside!