I’m Crazy About Clearing Levels in the Horror Game

Chapter 28

Chu Yue didn’t know if that thing had followed him here, but from dinner until he went to bed, nothing else unusual happened.

Early the next morning, after eating breakfast and greeting Grandpa Shen, Chu Yue headed out with his easel on his back.

This small county town wasn’t large, but it still took some time to get around on foot.

He stopped next to a primary school.

Today wasn’t the weekend. When he arrived, students were just showing up for class.

The children at the gate were in groups of three or five, chatting and laughing. Around ten years old, they were at a lively age.

They lacked the fragility of early childhood and the melancholy of adolescence; for them, the world was mostly made of joy.

Finding a suitable spot, he sat down where he could see the school’s main entrance.

Taking everything out of his bag, Chu Yue flipped open his sketchbook.

He turned the pages one by one. If anyone could see the contents, they would be shocked into silence.

From the first page to the last, almost every single page featured the same person. The terrifying part was that, aside from a rough outline, these faces had no features.

He turned to one specific page. The background of this drawing was the very primary school before him.

The drawing depicted two young boys walking out of the school gates side-by-side.

The child wearing ethnic minority clothing held an ice cream in his hand, reaching out to hand it to the boy beside him.

Chu Yue brushed his fingertips over the paper. So many years had passed that he couldn’t even remember when he had drawn this.

It was nothing more than a fragment of his imagination.

He took out a pencil and began to shade the paper with practiced ease. He didn’t add anything extra; he simply filled in the features on that blank face.

He thought that the person in his memory should look like this.

“Shen Yubi…”

After finishing the drawing, Chu Yue murmured the name while looking at the face.

Back then, he hadn’t even known the other child’s full name.

Looking at the completed drawing, Chu Yue reached out, tore it out, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into his bag.

Turning to a blank page at the back, he began to sketch again based on the scene before him.

Only this time, there was only one protagonist.

Next, he visited many places: the small convenience store in front of the alley, the stream on the back mountain, and the large locust tree at the entrance of the lane.

The figure under his pencil gradually grew from an eight or nine-year-old boy.

Thirteen years old, eighteen, twenty, twenty-four.

From a boy to a young man, from morning until dusk.

Looking at the final completed drawing, Chu Yue remained silent for a long time.

If it were Shen Yubi, he should look like this as an adult.

“You’re back? Go wash your hands, it’s time to eat.”

The moment he stepped into the small courtyard, Grandpa Shen called out to him.

“When I woke up this morning, I only saw breakfast on the table but no sign of you. I figured you must have gone off to paint again. What did you draw this time? Still won’t let me see?”

Speaking of which, it was quite a rare connection.

He had met this boy because of an old friend who lived next door.

He heard that the man was wealthy; he had gone to Jingcheng in his youth to build a life, and after making his fortune, he came back to his hometown to buy a courtyard, returning every year for a short stay.

That man’s grandson-Chu Yue-was truly clever. Grandpa Shen’s own son and daughter-in-law had passed away early without leaving any children, leaving him as a lonely old man in this world.

He had liked the little grandson from the first moment he saw him. He was a bright, sharp kid who seemed a bit aloof but was polite and humble. However, he later heard the boy had been kidnapped once, after which he became withdrawn.

During that period, the old man’s heart truly ached for him.

Such a small child, for some unknown reason, would sit under that large locust tree every single day, staring blankly at the entrance of the lane.

Others said his mind had gone wrong because of the kidnapping.

They said he kept insisting there was another child kidnapped with him. In reality, there was no other child; the kidnapper swore there was only one, and the surveillance footage only showed him.

Not only that, but he also kept making a fuss, saying the two of them had been playing together before.

Poor thing; the old man couldn’t bear to watch it.

Those so-called experts said it was schizophrenia-that he had hallucinated another personality to keep him company.

They said such a personality only emerges after severe psychological trauma.

Such a small child, yet he was as stubborn as a mule. No matter how his family tried to persuade him, he wouldn’t listen. Later, his father came and took him away by force.

At that time, the old man didn’t see the boy for two years. When he saw him again, his personality seemed to have undergone another massive change.

Afterward, his visits here became more frequent. Every time he came, he brought a large easel but never let anyone see what he was painting.

He had visited quite a few times in recent years, though he hadn’t brought his easel along. This time, the old man only asked in passing and didn’t expect much.

Unexpectedly, this time was different from all the previous ones.

Chu Yue actually opened his precious sketchbook for him to see.

The old man looked at it for a few moments before looking away. Every person drawn in it looked exactly the same.

“Is this a friend of yours?” Grandpa Shen chuckled. “He looks quite kind. Almost like someone I’ve met before.”