Chapter 29 - Third Game (2)

Strange Tales of the Abandoned School

Chapter 29 — Third Game (2)

“What are you thinking about?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Jiang Xiaoli reached out to take the steaming bowl of noodles, but Li Hongying bypassed her. She carried the bowl of noodles and chopsticks to the small table, placing them on the table.

“Come here.”

Jiang Xiaoli sat down on the sofa and hesitated to pick up the chopsticks. She looked at Li Hongying, only to see her sitting obediently beside her, with her elbow resting on her leg and her wrist supporting her chin. Her waist was slightly bent and she was just watching her from the side.

Her long hair slid down and she was irresistibly beautiful.

Jiang Xiaoli looked away, picked up some noodles and slurped them up. They were hot but tasted fine. The dish consisted only of simple seasonings and scrambled eggs were added to the dish, resulting in a rather bland meal as there weren’t many extra ingredients at home.

A very ordinary bowl of noodles. It was too normal and didn’t seem like something a vengeful ghost would make.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Li Hongying seemed to have been staring at her for a while now, as if she had flowers on her face. Jiang Xiaoli withdrew her gaze and focused on eating the noodles. She was starving and genuinely feeling weak from being drained of blood by Li Hongying.

“In the next game, I’ll pretend to be a player to be with you.”

“Cough, cough!” Jiang Xiaoli immediately choked on her food. She covered her mouth to prevent the noodles from spraying out, but it made her very uncomfortable. Li Hongying moved closer to her, bringing a faint chill. She patted Jiang Xiaoli on the back and chided, “How can you even choke on a bowl of noodles?”

“Why? Why do you want to pretend to be a player?”

“This way, you can openly be with me.” Li Hongying locked eyes with Jiang Xiaoli and her expression was dead earnest. “Isn’t that perfect? Those who notice won’t spread it around. They will even believe that you can control a vengeful lady in red and that you’re a master who wants to remain hidden. Those who can’t see it won’t know a thing, and they won’t stop me from killing ghosts.”

“But…”

“I feel very peaceful when I’m with you.” Li Hongying continued, “I won’t just go around showing my real form.”

Jiang Xiaoli gripped her chopsticks and just lowered her head to stare at the bowl of noodles. If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have asked Li Hongying to make her a bowl of noodles. Could she refuse? There seemed to be no reason to refuse. Everything had been covered by Li Hongying.

She sighed. “I really can’t understand you.” Jiang Xiaoli was helpless as she lowered her head and continued eating her noodles.

“We have plenty of time.” Li Hongying smiled, knowing she had achieved her goal.

Li Hongying sat demurely on the sofa, in the appearance she had when she was alive, and stared intently at Jiang Xiaoli. This inexplicably gave her the illusion of deep affection.

——When Jiang Xiaoli first met Li Hongying, before encountering their ghost classmates, Li Hongying was also this obedient and harmless. Back then, however, she would show her vulnerability, whether intentionally or not. It was the kind of vulnerability seen in someone clearly being bullied but pretending to be strong, suppressing their tears with unyielding stubbornness.

Just that the genuine Li Hongying, when she was alive, was a stiff and introverted child who hid under the bedsheets when she cried. It wasn’t about being strong but enduring the torment.

This ghost is really incomprehensible.

What exactly does she want? Affection? Flesh? A body?

Jiang Xiaoli lowered her gaze, picked up the bowl, and drank a bit of the soup. Then, she got up and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

——Anyways, it didn’t matter anymore now that…she and Li Hongying were in the same boat.

A rope personally tied by Li Hongying.

…

Jiang Xiaoli went to the nearest temple to light incense the next day and there were many people there. She saw that there were all kinds of people: those who prayed for safety, those who prayed for a son, those who prayed for marriage, and those who prayed for wealth.

There were also stalls selling jade outside the temple, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan, and the pieces looked like ordinary yellow jade. Jiang Xiaoli asked Li Hongying and found out it was nothing more than ordinary jade.

As for talismans… She browsed Taobao for a while and showed them to Li Hongying but didn’t find anything that seemed useful either.

Moreover, the symbols on the exorcism talismans there looked nothing like her own. All these Safety Talismans, Ghost-Slaying and House-Guarding Talismans, Five Thunders Ghost-Slaying and Evil-Expelling Talismans…seemed rather ordinary. However, the talismans on Taobao weren’t expensive, with prices ranging from three to four yuan to as much as three to four hundred yuan. Jiang Xiaoli thought for a moment, then ordered a Ghost-Slaying and House-Guarding Talisman and an Evil-Expelling and Disaster-Averting Talisman for a total of thirty-nine yuan. While browsing the shop, Jiang Xiaoli even found Same-Sex Harmony Talismans…?

The escape game started a few days after the talismans arrived. That night, Jiang Xiaoli went to bed early but woke up freezing for no apparent reason. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the glowing red door of the escape game opening for her.

Jiang Xiaoli carefully put away the Ghost-Expelling Talisman from the escape game and took the two thirty-nine yuan talismans and attempted to approach the red door to stick them on.

——Then she was directly sucked in by the impatient red door.

[Welcome back to the escape game~]

[Loading game instance…]

[Beep! Welcome to Strange Tales of the Abandoned School!]

An abandoned school? Strange tales? Another school-themed game?

Jiang Xiaoli cautiously glanced at Li Hongying, who was standing quietly by her side. Oh dear, she was a bit scared of bringing another ‘Li Hongying’ home.

They seemed to be at the gate of this abandoned school. The rusty iron gate was ajar, as if it could be pushed open with a little force. Apart from them, there were surprisingly many people this time, with more than ten standing outside the gate. Some of them were bewildered for a moment before they began to examine their surroundings vigilantly, while others behaved quite normally.

[Team instance, protection period: 1 hour. No harm in any form can be inflicted on “teammates” during this period~]

[Please collect strange tales together with the players or NPCs within the campus~ The minimum requirement for clearance: 5]

Collect strange tales? A minimum of 5? And…doesn’t “players or NPCs” mean that among these ten or so people, some are players and some are NPCs…?

“Why did you stop talking all of a sudden? Is it because you’re scared?I!” A voice interrupted Jiang Xiaoli’s thoughts. She looked over and saw a man in a white short-sleeve shirt standing at the gate. He spoke while tapping on the rusty gate, which caused it to make a creaking sound. “You were all so interested in the strange tales of this abandoned school at first on the forum! You can’t drop out halfway! I won’t give you any money if you do.”

“Tch, we are paranormal enthusiasts from X University Paranormal Society. Who would be here for your money?” Five people standing in a cluster close by became rather disgruntled, and the leading bespectacled man pushed up his glasses in a show of disdain.

…This was a group of people who had voluntarily came to explore the abandoned school.

Some were intrigued by various ghost stories about this campus on the forum and came to join in the fun. Some were paranormal enthusiasts, possibly seeking inspiration or trying to attract viewers for a live broadcast, and came over when someone on the forum organised a group. Some were attracted by the money offered by the man who spoke first, having received a deposit. Then there were the five students from a certain university’s paranormal society, driven purely by interest to come here.

Jiang Xiaoli: Trouble comes to those who seek it.

The NPCs here seemed easy to identify, but it also couldn’t be ruled out that some players were acting as NPCs. In any case, no player had identified themselves and requested to team up.

“Alright, alright, let’s go in and take a look. This place has been abandoned for so long, I wonder if those old ghost stories are true…” As his words trailed off, the man in the short sleeves shoved the gate open.

——It was as if an ancient, dust-covered object had been suddenly opened. In that instant, Jiang Xiaoli felt a rush of negative energy blow across her face, sweeping over her entire body. It was so cold that it made her shiver. However, this feeling quickly disappeared, as if it had just been an illusion.

“It’s still a bit cold here. It would be nice to come here in the summer to escape the heat~” One of the students laughed and rubbing their arms happily.

Li Hongying held Jiang Xiaoli’s hand and pulled her along at the back of the group as they entered the abandoned school.

“It’s so eerie here…”

“It’s, it’s a bit cold.”

…

This abandoned school seemed to have been neglected for years, with hardly anyone setting foot here. Jiang Xiaoli and Li Hongying walked quietly at the back of the group, not wanting to draw attention by separating from them right away…That would be too conspicuous.

“Screeech——”

The harsh sound of metal scraping heavily across the ground echoed through the place. Several people turned their heads and exclaimed, “The door, the door…how did the door…”

It closed on its own?

This large iron gate wasn’t just a solid sheet of metal, even the strongest wind shouldn’t have been able to blow it shut! Moreover, none of them felt the movement of the wind!

“This, this could be a coincidence…haha, hehe…” Someone in the group laughed dryly, comforting themselves.

Jiang Xiaoli noticed that some people behaved very calmly, as if they had expected this to happen. She guessed these people must be the players. Given that this was…”Strange Tales of an Abandoned School,” if the game didn’t trap them inside this abandoned school, they would all pretty much go home after a day.

“What haunted stories are there again? The ghost in the female restroom?”

“I remember! The one about the person who committed suicide by jumping off the roof!”

“Isn’t there also one about the sound of footsteps in the corridor of the female dormitory in the middle of the night?”

“Right, right, right, and the body that mysteriously disappeared, only to be found dismembered in a suitcase…”

“After midnight, if you look in a mirror, the person in the mirror will come out and lie on top of you after you sleep (either under the top bunk or the ceiling)and sleep facing you.”

…

The people in front got excited discussing various stories and seemed to forget about the door that had closed on its own. Jiang Xiaoli conscientiously noted down the different stories, as this was a collection of strange tales, and not knowing any of them could be dangerous.

Li Hongying watched the excited group in front of her, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth, as if she were enjoying a good show.

Paranormal enthusiasts…She wondered how many people were truly passionate about ghosts and willing to sacrifice their lives for them.

“Some NPCs are no different from living people in the real world,” Li Hongying whispered, “Or rather, some game instances do exist in the real world, but the escape game isolates them from the real world instead of creating a separate little world and putting them in it.”

Some people who get lost deep in the mountains might stumble upon a certain village but after leaving, they couldn’t find it again. When they asked the locals, they learned that the village had disappeared a hundred years ago…Content like this wasn’t uncommon in ghost stories and it wasn’t entirely made up either.

Outsiders could stumble in if there were a minor accident or a small gap in the isolation. The lucky ones could get out, but the unlucky ones would disappear without a trace.