Chapter 2
"Wait!" The man in glasses wanted to stop him but the bearded uncle didn’t turn back as he ran into the distance. He hadn’t run 10 metres when the book he threw to the ground suddenly ignited with blue flames. At the same time, the escaping uncle also ignited with the same fire. He didn’t have time to shout before turning to ashes. A gust of wind blew up the ashes on the ground, leaving only a black circle.
The young man with glasses sighed with relief. He was extremely glad that the person in danger wasn’t himself. He had a cautious person and relatively more experience, so he could stay calm in this crisis.
As for Xiao Li and the others, they were young but they knew the Marvel comics and movies or read all types of fantasy novels. They had a strong ability to accept this situation. They might be worried and hoped that the scene in front of them was fake but the remaining sense of reason in their minds told them to follow the task. Otherwise... they would die! The transmission to a different place was already a demonstration of power.
"Well, we still have..." The glasses man took the lead to break the silence. He looked at the time written in the small notebook. "Seven minutes of safe time. It is better to use this time to analyze the situation. My name is Qian Yiwei.”
"I’m an office worker. My name is Huang Nina." The girl murmured.
Xiao Li glanced at Qian Yiwei and then turned to his own yellow notebook. He didn’t raise his head as he spoke, "My last name is Xia. I am called Sherlock."
The AJ teenager, "......"
—Looking at Xiao Li’s uniform, he was 100% sure that this was Xiao Li, his classmate. He wasn’t familiar with Xiao Li and barely said a few words to Xiao Li. Today, he asked for leave from school to play games in the Internet cafe and hadn’t worn his school uniform. Didn’t Xiao Li recognize him? Why didn’t Xiao Li say his real name?
Qian Yiwei stared at Xiao Li in a speechless manner. Xiao Li’s expression was very indifferent like his name really was Xia Sherlock. He didn’t seem to be joking at all. Qian Yiwei wondered if perhaps this was true. There were parents who were Sherlock Holmes fans and called their son Sherlock?
Qian Yiwei thought for a moment and didn’t ask Xiao Li to confirm it. Instead, he took to look at the remaining teenager in AJs.
The AJ teenager hesitated as he wondered if he should also give a pseudonym such as ’Peanut’. However, he was too afraid. The corners of his eyes couldn’t look away from the circle on the ground. He gulped and recovered his voice. "Zheng Yi, I’m a student."
The glasses man i.e. Qian Yiwei was the first to enter the right state. He looked at his book and pondered for a moment before speaking. "It is obvious that there is a ghost in this girls’ school as well as hidden secrets. This is a novice task and the difficulty shouldn’t be too big."
As he spoke, he took a pen from his pocket and drew a circle in his small book. He continued to analyze it. "There are two missions. The survival task means we can avoid ghosts while finding the truth is taking the initiative to find ghosts. The difficulty of the former should be less than the latter, but the latter should reward us with higher scores."
"Life is more important than rewards..." Huang Nina spoke weakly.
"I-I also think that life is more important." Zheng Yi praised Huang Nina. It was 2V1 and they united in looking at the remaining Xiao Li. The black-haired teenager was buried in his book and didn’t express his position.
Qian Yiwei was immersed in thought. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his clothes. He glanced at everyone’s expression and then his mission book. Huang Nina took the initiative to open her mouth. "It must be that saving our lives is more important, right?"
She still had fear lingering in his heart.
"That’s right, have you heard the famous sayings?" Zheng Yi added. "The body is a means of revolution, where there’s life there’s hope, we should be stable, don’t start things in a confused state of mind, this is the beginning of mass destruction..."
Xiao Li took advantage of the time when they were arguing with each other to grab a black pen and write under his hidden tasks: 【 ...Hidden tasks? 】
The line of ink he had just written seemed to be sucked in and new words appeared in the small yellow book: 【 Hidden task. 】
He habitually bit his pen and wasn’t surprised to see such a bizarre scene thanks to the diary of Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Xiao Li continued to ask: 【 Why did I trigger the hidden tasks? 】
This time, the little yellow book wrote a lot and the other person seemed shy. 【 It is because you are cute. 】
Xiao Li, "........."
’No, I’m not, I’m not!’
He continued to write: 【 Who are you? 】
The yellow book: 【 I can’t say. 】
Xiao Li made a strange expression and vaguely felt that something was wrong. Still, now wasn’t the time to think and he directly asked about the task. 【 If you don’t tell me who are you, how can I kiss you? 】
When writing the last two words, Xiao Li vaguely felt like he was selling his body and his heart was a bit complicated. Then thinking about it, if he could get an exemption from this instance by kissing the small book, it wasn’t so unacceptable...
Xiao Li was very unconventional.
【 This is the difficulty of a hidden task, Baby. 】 The little yellow book’s words were brisk and the other side was clearly in a very good mood. 【 At present, you don’t have to care too much about the hidden task. The novice instance isn’t difficult for you and you can seize the opportunity to complete some. 】
Xiao Li slammed shut the little yellow book. He was called ’Baby’ and almost jumped up, half dead. The black-haired teenager regarded the other party as a strange female ghost who seemed familiar with him, or she wouldn’t say the last word. He let out a long breath, left the conversation behind and returned his mind to the original tasks.
There were five minutes left.
The glasses man’s eyes flashed. In the face of more interest or more security, he was more inclined to ’take risks and seek wealth!’ On the other hand, Huang Nina clearly preferred to increase her chances of survival, putting the temporary team at jeopardy.
Xiao Li folded the little yellow book and placed it in his pocket. He looked at the school gate in front of him and stated, "It is meaningless to argue now. We don’t know what it will be like after entering.”
Zheng Yi was playing with his phone in various ways, constantly turning it on and off to find a signal. In the end, nothing happened. As time passed, his hands trembled more and more, fear like a hand grasping his heart.
He finally put down his phone and glanced at the side profile of his classmate, not finding any traces of fear in the other party. He couldn’t help asking, "Aren’t you afraid? There are ghosts inside..."
"Why be afraid of ghosts?" Xiao Li spoke casually. "A talented person is scarier."
Zheng Yi took a breath as he glanced at Xiao Li’s exquisite side profile. He vaguely felt that this classmate gave off an ’I am a killer, I don’t have feelings’ temperament. Since Zheng Yi’s gaze stayed on him, Xiao Li thought about it and took the initiative to ask, "Did you find anything when you encountered the ghost at the Internet cafe?"
For example, a letter asking for help.
Zheng Yi scratched his head and carefully thought about it. "I don’t know. I was concentrating on eating chicken when the screen became black. A female ghost pounced at me and I appeared here. Why?"
Then he was the only one to find a distress letter? Xiao Li shook his head and didn’t say anything about the distress letter. He just downplayed it. "I wondered if there was an event that triggered this but it doesn’t seem to be the case."
"How can I be so miserable? I was just eating a chicken and encountered this type of thing." Zheng Yi complained bitterly.
"What is done can’t be undone." Qian Yiwei interjected. He was a clean-cut person. No matter what he thought, he still maintained the pace of the team on the surface. The young man pointed to the campus road behind him. "I have left school for a long time. Do you know anything about the school, such as school taboos or legends?"
Zheng Yi scratched his head. "Our school is a mixed type and has both men and women. It seems that there are no school legends. Ah, I have read a lot of horror novels, such as the Oujia board and pen spirit but they are all plot characters who took the initiative to play the games."
"I can tell you about the taboos for one day and night." Xiao Li stared through the iron gate into the quiet campus and snorted. "However, there is only one thing that is more important. Don’t die."
Huang Nina shook again, her voice obviously bothered. "The mission asked us to go in and die..."
"It isn’t to die. It is to face the ghost and listen to the ghost’s broken thoughts."
Zheng Yi exclaimed, "Who has the guts to listen to the ghosts? It is too late to run!"
"..."
After some discussion, five minutes passed quickly. The safety time ended and the candles in the candlesticks were extinguished instantly.
"Ah!" The darkness caused Huang Nina to let out a low scream.
It suddenly became dark. Even the different Xiao Li and Qian Yiwei felt a bit of palpitation but they hadn’t managed to speak when a ’squeaky’ sound occurred in front of them. The closed iron gate started to slowly open, like a crouching beast opening his mouth to welcome everyone.
Nandu Girls’ High School appeared unobstructed in front of their eyes.
In this near-horrible atmosphere, Xiao Li’s consciousness became clearer. He felt like he had emerged from some shackles and his heart was beating excitedly. He had to stretch out a hand to press it against his chest to suppress the deafening heartbeat. He couldn’t hold back as he heard a clear noise from his bones and he was the first to enter the Nandu Girls’ High School.