Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“Student, you can’t just wander in here.”

A security guard in his forties spoke behind Xiao Huai.

When Xiao Huai turned, the guard froze. “It’s you?”

Xiao Huai arched the end of one eyebrow. “You know me?”

The guard shook his head, then nodded. “Are you the tycoon who purchased Ivy Girls’ School? The newspaper said it was a red-eyed young man.”

Very few people in Huaxia were born with red irises.

Xiao Huai frowned. “The newspaper… may I see it?”

The guard did not dare delay. He led Xiao Huai to the archive room.

The newspaper was dated 1988.

Its front-page headline read: [Young Tycoon Purchases Ivy Girls’ School for Enormous Sum, Plans to Develop Shopping Center! Public Debate Erupts…]

The article did not identify the young businessman, but it mentioned his age and several basic physical characteristics.

It also described the Ivy Girls’ School fire from the previous year. The details matched the newspaper Xiao Huai had seen inside the game.

He could not help wondering who he had been in the past and what this place truly was.

He had never expected Ivy Girls’ School to look so normal.

“Where is this?” Xiao Huai asked abruptly.

The guard looked puzzled by the question. “Ivy Girls’ School.”

“I mean which city, which country, and the current year, month, and date.”

Seeing the gravity in Xiao Huai’s expression, the guard immediately sobered and prepared to answer.

Just then, a piercing system notification shrieked beside Xiao Huai’s ears.

[Bug fixed. Returning to contaminated world…]

The guard’s face began to distort as colors surged across it. It looked as though countless hands dragged him beneath the earth. When Xiao Huai opened his eyes again, the scene before him had changed completely.

More precisely, he had returned to that familiar place.

Ivy Girls’ School beneath a black night sky.

Gloom shadowed Xiao Huai’s features. His brows drew together, and when he raised his eyes, they were cold.

“Tch.”

Several small monsters happened to pass by. They froze when they saw him.

Why was it this guy again?

Xiao Huai swept a frigid gaze over them. With a cold smile, he tossed a box of matches into the air and caught it.

Never before had the little monsters imagined a human could be so terrifying. They immediately fled.

There had been no announcement of a hide-and-seek game over the campus loudspeakers this time, so naturally, few monsters had emerged.

Xiao Huai leaned against a tree, his brow furrowed.

What had just happened? Had that place been reality? Why had he appeared in 1988?

Who was he?

The gods’ horror game drew upon Earth’s urban legends and games. It could draw upon true stories as well.

Although he did not know what had just happened, he now had every reason to keep participating in the horror game.

The eighteenth floor, was it? As long as he could return to reality…

Perhaps he would learn who he had once been.

[Ding! Hidden Mission: Fulfill Miss Hanako’s wish and find her mother. Time remaining: twelve hours.]

[Penalty for failure: Death.]

Xiao Huai went to the restroom on the third floor of the west classroom building and knocked on Hanako’s door as usual.

“Big Brother! It’s you again!” Hanako’s eyes shone with excitement. She desperately wanted to hug him.

“Mm.”

“What game are we playing today?” Hanako asked eagerly.

Xiao Huai crouched in front of her and gestured for her to climb onto his back.
He said softly, “Today, we’re going to find your mother.”

“Mother?” Hanako could not help repeating the word. “But Hanako was abandoned.”

Xiao Huai said nothing as he lifted her onto his back.

Only after a while did he speak. “She didn’t abandon you.”

Hanako stiffened slightly. “Big Brother, how do you know Hanako wasn’t abandoned?”

Xiao Huai continued walking as he answered slowly, “She was only ill. She never abandoned you.”

If she truly had not wanted you, she would never have made an entire school follow you into death.

And die the same way you did.

She was a mother, a mother who lost her daughter and went berserk with vengeance.

Hanako’s death had not been an accident. It was a tragedy born of school abuse, and the irresponsible school administration was to blame.

Xiao Huai now understood everything recorded in the diary.

Unfortunately, the kind were easy prey for the cruel.

When someone who had always been too kind was pushed beyond the breaking point, their rage snapped back like a steel cable under too much tension, lashing out at everything without restraint.

The moment Xiao Huai began speaking to Hanako, their game had already started.

Within the Ivy Girls’ School instance, Hanako was effectively a boss.

While he played with her, the lesser monsters kept well away.

In the false world created by He Lecheng, Ivy Girls’ School stood on a mountain.

Here, however, it was located in the city.

The city in the contaminated world was utterly desolate, with hardly anyone along the streets.

Or rather, hardly any “people.”

The “people” walking by the roadside looked no different from paper effigies. Some had faces painted on; others had no faces at all.

Fortunately, Xiao Huai could carry Hanako out of the school. She said expectantly, “Big Brother, Hanako has never been outside before.”

Because no player had ever been willing to play this kind of game with you.

“Then your big brother will show you around today.”

The contaminated world resembled a boundary between the realms of the living and the dead.

Hanako’s death was an immutable fact, but here, she could continue to “live.”

Even if living meant becoming part of a game instance.

A small city map had been posted on the noticeboard by the school gates. It was so blurry that none of the writing remained legible.

Xiao Huai stood before it, narrowing his eyes as he tried to study the map. Suddenly, Hanako cried out.

“Aunt Shanshan!”

At the sound of Hanako’s voice, Xiao Huai frowned and instinctively turned toward her.

Hanako raised her hand and pointed excitedly at the crosswalk.

Xiao Huai followed her finger.

His pupils contracted slightly.

He saw an enormous, charred monster weighing well over two hundred pounds. Her skin had been burned beyond any human resemblance, and her lower jaw was completely gone.

Yet somehow, Xiao Huai knew who she was.

The dormitory matron.

The woman Hanako called Aunt Shanshan.

When the dormitory matron discovered what had happened to Hanako, she had been the first to rush in and try to save her. Unfortunately, she failed and lost her own life in the attempt.

“Aunt Shanshan!” Hanako called again.

The traffic light turned green. The dormitory matron approached with labored steps. She could not speak, but she walked directly to Xiao Huai.

Then she took out a clear map and handed it to him.

Xiao Huai hesitated for only a second before accepting it. “Thank you.”