Chapter 55 - Ghost School (9) (1/2)
Cheng Zhi Chu opened his eyes dizzily.
The light around him was a little dim. After a moment of surprise, he found himself once again standing in the haunted classroom. The female teacher stood at the podium and looked at him with white eyes seemingly waiting for his answer.
There appeared to be some issues with the projector on the ceiling. The image displayed on the screen would suddenly become a little blurry and the picture would flicker every now and then. Apart from that, everything else was the same as before. It was as if everything that had just happened to him was just an illusion.
Hs supported himself against the table and quietly gasped for air. He appeared to have consumed a lot of energy from that. The others looked at him and saw that his face was a little pale. Bai Yi covered his hand with his own hand and warm heat was transmitted through the place where their skin connected.
“………..”
The feeling of anger and heartache still remained in his heart. Cheng Zhi Chu calmed himself down first before looking around at the people sitting in the row behind them. His eyes lingered a little longer on Lu Jie whose tears had still not yet dried and was looking pure and innocent. Apart from Shen Qi Qi who had not done anything, Cheng Zhi Chu could no longer look at the other three the same.
There was also Liang Wen Bin. None of the four were innocent and they should all get their retribution.
Recalling Su Ling’s injuries and his pale, gloomy expression, Cheng Zhi Chu felt uncontrollable anger. At this moment, he even had an unthinkable thought. Even if these people died, they deserved it. They don’t deserve to live happily.
But he quickly controlled this dark thought of his and forced himself to turn his attention back to the task.
He saw that the expressions of the others had not changed and guessed that he was probably the only one that had seen the past, and it had only happened in a flash. Although it felt like it was just a dream, it was a cruel fact that had truly happened.
“Do you now know who took this photo?” The female teacher expressionlessly asked with a dull voice.
“……..I know.” Cheng Zhi Chu answered dryly. “It’s Su Ling.”
【You decide that the photographer was Su Ling.]
【The answer is correct.]
【Completed side task: Look for the Photographer.]
【Obtained reward: Survival Point x1000.]
The teacher nodded and continued to look at him for a few seconds. She then said: “You can sit down.”
Cheng Zhi Chu slowly sat down. He remained silent and didn’t speak. The question that he was asked was both short and simple, and it attracted complicated gazes from the people on the second row. They were both envious of him and fearful of being questioned next by the female ghost.
The female ghost’s eyeballs rolled around seemingly to look for the next target. Ou Yang and the others became extremely nervous. They buried their heads deeply and didn’t dare meet her eyes lest she calls out their name.
“Classmate Lu Jie, please answer my question.”
“Clatter——–”
Lu Jie stood up in a panic and even knocked the chair onto the ground. Even since she saw that photo, her face had become very pale and her entire body was trembling. She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands as she let out quiet sobs.
This performance of hers didn’t result in any changes in the female ghost’s expression. Even her eyes didn’t blink. She only manoeuvred the mouse to change the slide to the next one.
The scene that appeared on the screen was particularly disgusting. In a narrow alley, a body of a female cat laid on the ground.
Lying over a dark red blood stain, the female cat’s body was stained with blood and there was a large wound on its body. The body had already started to rot and several kittens were clawing at its stomach as if they couldn’t believe in the fact that it had died and refused to leave its side.
“Do you know how this cat died?” The female teacher asked.
Lu Jie looked up at the screen and appeared to be frightened. She didn’t dare look at it any longer and quickly looked back down again. She tremblingly answered: “I-I know.”
“Is its death related to you?”
“………Yes.”
“Did you kill it? How did you kill it?”
“I took my dog over and let the dog kill……kill it.”
The girl whimpered. Her face was covered in tears but the people in the room knew that she was crying because she was afraid of dying like Liang Wen Bin, not because she regretted her actions.
“Why did you do that?”
“Su Ling would often feed this cat. I killed it so that Su Ling could feel pain.” She closed her eyes and looked like she couldn’t stop crying. “Seeing his anguished expression made me happy…….”
“Do you hate Su Ling? Why?”
“……………….”
Lu Jie’s body trembled even more. Her pure looking face had lost all of its colour.
With her falling silent, the female ghost revealed the next photo. She asked: “Do you know who the person in the photo is?”
Hearing her ask this question, Lu Jie who was suffering from torment looked up and suddenly screamed in shock: “Why……….why do you have this photo?!”
Everyone in the classroom was a little surprised. They weren’t able to react quickly enough to understand why she had reacted so intensely.
Shown in the photo was a picture of a seven or eight-year-old girl being bullied by other children. The girl was very fat, and her body was like a balloon. All the features on her face was squeezed together by the flesh on her face and it was difficult to recognise her as tears poured out from her eyes.
Her ponytail was being pulled at by another girl and the new dress that she wore was torn and ripped. The other children surrounded her and laughed. Apart from her, all the other children appeared to be very happy.
“Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look!”
Lu Jie acted like she had gone crazy. She knocked over her desk and stumbled out in a hurry to try and tear off the screen. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that the image was projected by the projector on the ceiling and the image only instead appeared on her body. The features of the girl subtly overlapped with hers———–
“She is………you?” Zhao Xiao Pang was surprised, and he blurted out those words.
“No! Not me! I don’t know who she is!”
Lu Jie fell to the ground with her hair a mess. Her eyes had become swollen from crying and she pulled at her hair as she desperately denied it.
However, the moment she said that she suddenly remembered something. Her face quickly changed, and he mouth was slightly open. Her eyes shook terribly as she looked up at the female ghost standing in front of her. She then saw the latter hook up the corner of her lips and say:
“This child is clearly you classmate Lu Jie.”
“Because you were bullied by your classmates in the past due to your body, it had affected you psychologically. Instead of fighting against bullying, after successfully losing weight you had changed from being the victim to becoming the bully. Together with the others, you abused Su Ling.”
“This is the irrefutable fact and also the last thing that you wanted to reveal to others.”
“You answered my question with a lie. You have broken the rules of the classroom and you will be punished accordingly.”
“No——-! That’s not me. It’s really not me. I’m not lying. You can’t punish me!”
Lu Jie shook her head. While sitting on the ground, she slowly backed away with a terrified expression.
At this moment, the children in the photo suddenly moved. They revealed strange, empty smiles and then extended their hands forward. Their hands emerged out of the screen, followed by their arms, head and eventually their whole body came out. One by one, the children jumped out.
They surrounded Lu Jie who was on the verge of fainting and laughed and joked loudly: “The fat pig Lu Jie is back!”
“I’m not a fat pig, I am pretty now. I’m not the same as before!” Lu Jie screamed out, “Not anymore……..”
“You are indeed not the same as before.”
One of the children tilted his head and rubbed the top of her head: “Because you have truly become a real fat pig.”
“I—–oink, oink oink………….”
“Fuck!”
Ou Yang and Zhao Xiao Pang quickly stood up. They were scared to the point that their face was void of colour and their heard was about to stop. Shen Qi Qi covered her mouth and gasped. She so scared that she could no longer scream. Cheng Zhi Chu and Yang Qian Fan also had a look of horror. Gu Zhen frowned slightly. Bai Yi only wordlessly crossed his arms.
“Oink………oink……..”
The original girl was gone, and instead a pink fat pig appeared among her clothes. It sniffed the ground with its nose and appeared to have completely lost its human consciousness.
“I already said that you’re a fat pig. No matter now many years pass, you will only be bullied by us.”
The children happily leapt in and grabbed onto the pig. They grabbed the fat pig’s ears like they were grabbing a girl’s pigtails, picked the pig up and went back into the picture on the screen.
The screen suddenly turned back and with a “swoosh”, a large amount of fresh blood spurted out.
After a few seconds, a strong alluring aroma could be smelt in the room.
The screen flickered for a moment and it lit up again. The photo inside had changed to another photo.
The children had set up a bonfire and were excitedly standing around it in a circle. A slaughtered pig hung above it and it had already been completely roasted. Golden oil dripped from its crispy skin and its beautiful colour couldn’t help but make it appear especially appetising.
The female teacher pulled out a piece of meat and asked: “Have you eaten?”
As she said this, she placed a piece into her mouth and chewed it together with maggots in her mouth.
“Urgh———-”
The people on the second row again started to retch. Zhao Xiao Pang could only vomit out some stomach acid. Cheng Zhi Chu’s face was also covered in cold sweat. He closed his eyes and didn’t dare to continue looking at this cruel scene.
Bai Yi gently pulled him into his arms. He patted his back and gently comforted him. The pale faced Yang Qian Fan also had his head rubbed by Gu Zhen.
After a while, the aroma in the room faded. The teacher wiped her oily fingers and lips and said: “Next question, classmate Ou Yang.”
“…………..”
Ou Yang was shocked. He tremblingly stood up from his seat but because he was so frightened, it took a few attempts before he could succeed.
“Ple-please ask.” His mouth continued to chatter nonsensically, “As long as you don’t kill me, I will definitely answer you. I promise I won’t lie…….”
“The first question.”
The teacher spoke. This time, the question she asked was not related to Ou Yang.
“Does Bai Yi hate Su Ling?”
“Yes.” Ou Yang fervently nodded his head and didn’t dare hesitate. He answered, “He hates Su Ling. It could be said that he abhors him.”
After answering, the female teacher’s eyes moved quietly over to Bai Yi. Seeing that he didn’t have any special reaction, she paused and continued to ask: “Why would he hate Su Ling?”
“Because of family circumstances.” Ou Yang also glanced at Bai Yi. He swallowed and said, “He and Su Ling are actually half brothers with the same mother.”
Half-brothers with the same mother?
Cheng Zhi Chu’s eyes widened, and he looked at Bai Yi with surprise,
He understood that this was just a fictitious setting created by the instance and in fact Bai Yi doesn’t have a brother like Su Ling, but now that the “secret” was revealed he could now faintly guess what had happened.
As if he was afraid that he hadn’t revealed enough and would be punished by the female ghost, Ou Yang revealed everything that he knew.