After killing the ghost baby, all the illusions disappeared, leaving behind the broken glass in the corridor, proof that everything that had happened earlier was real. There was still some time until the next call, so Feng Bujue decided to continue his exploration. Based on his prediction, of the remaining three ghost stories, discounting the last one, the one with the water dripping could be anywhere with a faucet, but there a ninety percent chance that it was inside a toilet, and the one with the human meat soup should be at the canteen.
Technically speaking, this scenario’s map was not big, but there were many limitations. It was quite similar to the map for the House of Usher, perhaps a little bit more difficult.
Currently, Feng Bujue was on the first floor of the education block, which had five floors, it was smaller than the main building, and based on his prediction, it was worth considering whether to explore the four floors above him or not. If he did, he might trigger the ghost story related to the water dripping or some other hidden or side quest before Passing Rain; if he did not, then he should go to the canteen in the third building, where he should be able to trigger the event related to the meat soup.
Even though Passing Rain had answered the previous call quickly and proclaimed that she was ’fine’, Feng Bujue could not help but feel worried. After calming down, he thought that the girl was not someone who would purposely find fault for no reason, so was it his mistake for saying the wrong thing?
He thought about it for a minute before deciding to head to the canteen. After all, this was a cooperative scenario. Temporarily, Feng Bujue had no idea what kind of influence would happen on the surviving player if the teammate died. What if the system suddenly said, “Since the player couldn’t answer the phone due to her death, the other party will become the responsible party and be haunted by endless ghosts”? Then Feng Bujue would really be in a tough spot.
Feng Bujue’s goal for himself was to level up to level fifteen as soon as possible. To do that, he had to clear the quest, and only then would he be able to get the reward that promised him forty percent of his current level’s EXP. Therefore, he decided to focus on the main quest. He left the building, walked past an empty field between the three buildings, and passed a simple corridor before arriving at the other building.
The canteen was just behind the entrance, and the space was large. As per his habit, Feng Bujue used his flashlight to look around first. Many long tables and benches were placed inside the canteen, and there were lights hanging from the ceiling, but they could not be switched on; Feng Bujue had tried. The floor was tiled, and there was nothing special about the walls. To the left of the entrance was a row of sinks for the students to wash their hands. To the southeastern side of the room was the counter where food was placed, and behind it was the kitchen. The other side was a small snack counter, and not far away were several vending machines. Blue-colored trashcans were placed strategically around the canteen. Overall, this looked like a quintessential, well-kept school canteen.
So… where was the human meat soup?
So far, Feng Bujue did not notice anything weird. So, it looked like he would not be able to trigger the event just by arriving at the canteen. He contemplated for a while before deciding to head into the kitchen.
That thought had just entered his mind when his phone rang. Feng Bujue took out the phone and realized that it was already time for the call. Therefore, he answered it quickly. At the beginning, there was silence from both sides.
“I’m sorry… about what happened earlier.” It was Passing Rain’s apology that broke the silence.
“Oh… it’s fine, I said some wrong things as well,” Feng Bujue replied and changed the topic. “How are you doing? Have you triggered any new event?”
“I’m on the second floor of the main building, the furthest cubicle inside the female toilet,” Passing Rain replied.
Hearing that, Feng Bujue understood something was wrong because he caught a barely-discernible quiver in the girl’s voice, and he noticed that her breathing was quite uneven as well.
“Are you alright?” Feng Bujue asked solemnly.
“I…” Passing Rain hesitated before finally deciding against revealing her injury. “I heard the sound of water, so I entered the toilet, and I saw the faucet was leaking blood. As I got closer, the blood flowed faster. Then, there was a voice coming from inside the mirror, like something was trying to get out. I didn’t raise my head to look at it, and when I turned, I noticed that the entrance to the toilet had closed on itself, and I couldn’t get it to open.”
She ran through the events quickly, and that exposed the unnaturalness of her voice. “I kept my head lowered, to avoid looking at the mirror as I hid inside one of the cubicles. Now, there’s the shadow of a pair of legs just outside my cubicle, standing there unmoving. I… don’t think I’ll be able to fight. I’m trapped…”
Even though she was very brave, she was ultimately human, and in this condition, she was afraid. Helplessness seeped into her voice. “The sound of water dripping is getting louder, and the floor of the toilet is already covered with blood…”
This time, she did not hang up on Feng Bujue, but the phone call was cut off because time was up. When Feng Bujue listened to her description, he had already exited the canteen, running toward the main building.
Soon, the system warned, “Warning, you are not allowed to get close to your teammates while knowing her location. If you insist on this behavior, both parties will be haunted by the ghosts.”
“Tsk… Now is not the time to be concerned about things like that,” Feng Bujue grumbled with annoyance. In his Jazz Shoes, he raced past the signs that read “Do not run in the hall”. He burst through the front door, and after checking the map of the building on the first floor, he climbed up the stairs to head to the female toilet on the second floor.
The school was only so big, and with the map in mind, it took him less than three minutes to arrive at the toilet.
The door was closed, and from the outside, everything looked fine; there was no blood leaking out from underneath the door. However, Feng Bujue was unable to open the door because he could not turn the doorknob. He could not even yell to announce his presence to Passing Rain because their power of speech was limited by the system. The only choice that Feng Bujue had was to try to crack the lock. He squeezed the phone under his armpit, held the flashlight in his mouth, and stuck the kitchen knife into the gap of the door while his other hand tried to twist the doorknob at the top of his might, but in the end, it was to no avail.
Obviously, this door was not just ’locked’; it was bound by some kind of mysterious force, and cracking the lock would be pointless.
I guess… the only way is to directly break the door down. Pain shot through Feng Bujue’s shoulders, and only then did he feel envious of Long Aomin’s large body. If Brother Long was there, he could easily slam down this wooden door. After all, the man’s arm was already larger than Feng Bujue’s calf. With two or three whacks of the shield, the door would be wooden chips already. However, that was merely a fanciful thought, as he used his slightly thin arm to slam against the door again and again.
Passing Rain, who was trapped inside the cubicle, heard the knocking. Even though it was weak, she soon understood what was happening, and she tried but could not make a sound. The only explanation was that Feng Bujue was in close proximity. Knowing that he had come to her rescue, she regained her courage, and in fact, it could be said that she was touched. But soon she realized the consequence of his action; they would both be haunted by ghosts.
Initially, Passing Rain would be the only one who died, but now that Feng Bujue had come to save her, they would both die.
Feng Bujue’s attempt to knock down the door caused him to lose some Life Points, but at least it amounted to an actual result. One minute later, he successfully broke the door down. When wooden door that was technically a doorway into a different dimension was broken down, the smell of blood hit Feng Bujue like a wave.
The man felt heady from the stench. After the door opened, the sight that he saw instantly turned weird like he was looking through the lens of an old movie. All the colors became less vibrant than before, and they looked very unnatural.
The toilet was soaked with blood, and he needed to be careful not to slip. When he lifted his shoes, there was a stickiness that made him uncomfortable. Red liquid was flowing out of the faucet above the sink. The sink was already overflowing, and the red liquid splashed onto the ground.
Keep your head lowered, and don’t look into the mirror glass. That was a directive that could not have been clearer. On the phone, Passing Rain had also mentioned that she had not looked at the mirror.
Feng Bujue believed that she was merely trapped because she had not looked at the mirror, or her condition would be worse. He took several steps into the toilet and shone the flashlight toward the deepest wall inside the toilet. A blurry blood shadow was standing there. The ghost was a human shape, wearing a female school uniform covered in dried blood. The light of Passing Rain’s Lamp with Permanent Weak Light filtered out from inside the cubicle.
Feng Bujue wanted to charge forward to attack the shadow, but he suddenly realized that his feet were frozen to the ground. The blood on the ground had started moving to twine around his ankle. They were like two liquid claws, immobilizing Feng Bujue. He scoffed and then did a wildly courageous action…
Feng Bujue turned around to look at the mirror above the sink.
The Feng Bujue in the mirror had no eyes, and blood was leaking out from the two dark holes where the eyes should be. When he saw his bloody reflection, the next second, the blood shadow changed its target and actively moved toward Feng Bujue. In an instant, it appeared before Feng Bujue, practically sticking its equivalent of a face against his.
At that point, Feng Bujue had a clear look. Underneath the fuzzy curtain of black hair, a human face was missing. Instead, the head was made from countless human eyeballs. The coagulation of eyeballs pulsed, and blood leaked out constantly.
The shadow moved its claws toward Feng Bujue’s eyes. It was probably planning to add Feng Bujue’s eyeballs to its sick collection. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that it was not the ghost’s skin that was covered with blood. Rather, other than the head, its whole body was made from the coagulation of blood.
Only Feng Bujue’s legs were immobilized; he had full control over the rest of his body, and his Terror Points were zero, so naturally, he would not just sit there to wait for death. He reacted faster than the ghost and raised the wrench to attack the ’head of eyes’.