Free Web NovelUncle Zhang Shan harvested a lot of story material and left happily. After a dozen seconds, he disappeared, and the surroundings fell into a dead silence.
There were no stars or moon in the sky. A gust of wind blew, and fine, hair-like rain began to fall.
The rain, soaked by the cold air from the mountains on both sides, carried a chill that ordinary clothing could not withstand.
As if worried that Lu Yibei would freeze if she stayed in the cold wind and fine rain for too long, the Coat wriggled for a while. The cuffs and hem tightened, emitting a warmth inside, giving a momentary illusion of lying in a warm quilt.
As Lu Yibei's contracted being under the Nvba Power state, although the Coat did not show extreme affinity for fire-attribute Spells like Du Sixian, it was still capable of minor things like slightly heating up.
Coat, "..."
I'm really a thoughtful little Coat!
٩(๑>◡<๑)۶
Through the contracted being's mark, sensing that the Coat was as happy as a silly roe deer, Lu Yibei smiled wryly in her heart, lightly stroked her collar, and continued running forward along the silent, deserted path.
At this moment, a hazy mist had already begun to appear on the mountainside. The vaguely visible outline of Banshan Elementary School, shrouded in the swirling white mist, seemed as if it could vanish into the mountains at any moment.
"The fog seems to be getting thicker? It looks like I need to speed up, it wouldn't be good to get lost." Lu Yibei murmured to herself.
Although she hadn't detected any urban legend in the surroundings, this Banshan Elementary School was strange everywhere.
Things like the school suddenly disappearing in the thick fog might actually happen.
What's more, when this thought popped into her mind, Lu Yibei felt as if something hidden in the mountains had been awakened and was casting speculative glances at her.
As she moved forward, the closer she got to the mountainside, the more Lu Yibei felt that her earlier decision to let Uncle Zhang Shan leave was correct.
Due to the mountain deformation caused by the collapse of the mountaintop mine, the closer the road around the mountain got to the summit, the more severely damaged it was. The road surface was full of cracks, with the widest exceeding one meter. Coupled with years of erosion by wind and rain, some sections had almost turned into mud pits after a few rains.
The mountain fog grew thicker.
When the last bit of light from the streetlights at the foot of the mountain was also swallowed by the large mountain and thick fog, the scene before her immediately plunged into obscurity.
Seeing this, Lu Yibei inwardly exclaimed 'bad'. Just as she was about to take out an Alchemy Dirty Bomb for illumination, she turned a sharp corner underfoot. Immediately after, she froze in place after a moment of disorientation before her eyes.
The thick fog in the mountains seemed to vanish in an instant. When she came to her senses, she was already standing on the open ground in front of the main gate of Banshan Elementary School.
"This..."
Lu Yibei opened her mouth, hesitating to speak. She looked at the school gate a hundred meters away, then turned back to look at the path she had come from, her eyebrows furrowed tightly.
This isn't right! Just now, she could only see a faint outline of the school, estimated to be still one or two kilometers away.
How did she get to the school gate just by turning one corner?
It felt like... just like in the story I told Uncle Zhang Shan just now, the school itself ran towards me.
Thinking this, Lu Yibei silently took out an Alchemy Dirty Bomb and held it in her hand, using it for illumination while also keeping it for self-defense. Then, while overcoming the urge to turn back and leave with the Z Country traditional art of "since I'm already here," she slowed her pace and walked forward.
So, a moment later, Lu Yibei arrived in front of the main gate of Banshan Elementary School.
This school had been abandoned for many years. Half of the plaque on the gate was broken, the ground was covered with ruins and broken tiles, and even the surrounding walls were covered by overgrown vegetation, making it look exceptionally desolate.
It was midnight at this moment, and the mountains were silent. Occasionally, a few hurried bird calls sounded, chilling and eerie.
Could that be a crow?
Lu Yibei thought of the story she had just told Uncle Zhang Shan again, and her expression turned grim.
Why the ♦ did I have to talk so much and tell him that kind of story?
Isn't this just asking for trouble?
She grumbled inwardly, frowning as she looked towards the school.
Due to neglect, the green belt was full of weeds, and many trees had grown crookedly. Vaguely, she could also see a few isolated graves without headstones standing beneath those trees.
In the distance, in front of the teaching building with broken doors and windows and pitch blackness, stood a banyan tree with unusually lush roots. Its thick trunk and tangled aerial roots would require several people to encircle.
On the branches of the banyan tree, a few old school uniforms that hadn't been collected yet hung, swaying in the wind, as if waiting for someone to return.
In the wind and rain, the leaves of the old banyan tree rustled, and the decayed swing hanging from the trunk swayed gently, as if an invisible Miss was sitting on it.
"Hiss—!"
Seeing the eerie scene inside Banshan Elementary School, Lu Yibei couldn't help but take a deep breath.
In a spooky place like this, like a urban legend resort villa, it would be ♦ outrageous and wrong if there were no urban legend lurking about!
If those urban legend under Leader Du Sixian were given a vacation and organized to come here for team building and recuperation, they would definitely be very happy.
That guy would definitely feel right at home!
While thinking, Lu Yibei sharply tapped the ground with her toes, leaped up, flipped over the main gate, and officially entered Banshan Elementary School.
The area here, at a glance, allowed the entire school to be seen.
Directly opposite the main gate was a patch of not-too-large, not-too-small muddy ground, likely a playground or similar area, already overgrown with weeds.
At the end of the playground, the two-story building next to the old banyan tree was the teaching building.
It seemed that the mountain deformation caused by the mine collapse had caused significant damage to the buildings here. Cracks were clearly visible on the walls, and they looked like they could collapse at any moment.
Next to the teaching building was a row of low, single-story houses. She didn't know what they were used for, but Lu Yibei speculated they might be Teacher offices or dormitories.
After examining the environment inside the school, Lu Yibei was not in a hurry to enter the teaching building or the low-rise houses to check.
She took out Alchemy Dirty Bombs one by one from the metal box on her shoulder, buried them about a meter apart under the school gate and the surrounding walls, and then carefully set up trigger-type detonation Spells.
Although she hadn't detected any Spiritual Energy fluctuations in Banshan Elementary School so far, this didn't prevent her from acting cautiously.
If she didn't prepare beforehand, and then encountered some danger after going deep into the school, while also having enemies of unknown origin ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) breaking in from outside the school, wouldn't she be in a dilemma then?
Regardless of whether there are enemies or not, let's assume there are enemies!
Anyway, burying Alchemy Dirty Bombs doesn't take long and isn't a bother. At worst, if they're not needed later, she can just dig them up and take them away.
Thinking this, after burying the last Alchemy Dirty Bomb, Lu Yibei clapped the dirt off her hands, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to walk towards the teaching building.
The light rain pattered down, washing the soil, and quickly covered the traces of the soil being turned over.
————
After getting closer to the teaching building, Lu Yibei first carefully avoided the surrounding weeds and circled this dilapidated and dangerous building.
After confirming there were no ambushes around the teaching building and planning two excellent evacuation routes, she walked into the doorway of the teaching building's side entrance.
The pitch-black corridor had all the room doors on both sides open. There was nothing of value inside; the tables, chairs, and benches had all been moved out.
The empty classrooms were covered in dust, and yellowed papers were scattered on the floor. Lu Yibei even saw a test paper with an altered score.
"Good heavens, 18 points changed to ninety-8 points?" Lu Yibei frowned.
"You damn well are a talent! That summer, this test paper must have left you with painful memories, right?"
Continuing forward for a distance, near the main entrance hall of the teaching building, Lu Yibei found something interesting.
On the wall next to the main entrance, there was a wall painted black with paint, used as a notice board. It was densely covered with various chalk writings, but they weren't notices; instead, they were messages, seemingly left by the students before they left that year.
Most of the chalk writings had become blurred over the long passage of time, but a few could still be faintly deciphered.
With a hint of curiosity, Lu Yibei approached the wall, rubbed a Red Flame Flash to illuminate it, and began to read the messages one by one.
【Li Guoqing, I love you!】
Lu Yibei, "..."
Uh, were elementary school students decades ago already this bold? Senior is awesome!
Compared to that, when I was in elementary school, I was like an idiot, only thinking about whether to use my five yuan daily allowance to buy snacks or save it to buy skins. Lu Yibei thought.
【Wang Xiaobao, I rí your ancestors!】
This is much more normal, but children shouldn't say swear words!
Erase it, erase it!
Lu Yibei raised her hand and wiped away the vulgar language left by a former elementary school student on the notice board. Just as she was about to continue reading, a rustling sound suddenly echoed in her ears. freewebnovёl.ƈom
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She saw that in the place where she had just wiped away that line of crooked small characters, chalk letters were appearing stroke by stroke.
That feeling was like someone was holding an invisible piece of chalk and writing on a blackboard, with the faint sound of chalk rubbing against the board in the dim darkness.
But that "person" was invisible, had no Spiritual Energy fluctuations, no smell, no temperature, as if existing in another dimension that couldn't be seen or touched.
Thus, after a few breaths, the words 【Wang Xiaobao, I f*ck your ancestors!】 reappeared on the blackboard.
A few seconds later, Lu Yibei snapped back to her senses and immediately expanded her spiritual perception to its maximum range, trying to capture even the slightest trace of Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
However, she found nothing.
Without Spiritual Energy fluctuations, this phenomenon shouldn't be explained by urban legend.
But...
If I don't explain this phenomenon with urban legend, am I supposed to explain it with science? Lu Yibei thought.
She wasn't afraid of most urban legend, nor did she feel fear towards phenomena that could be explained scientifically. However, this unknown phenomenon, which she didn't know whether to explain with science or metaphysics, momentarily gave her the same nervous feeling as when she first encountered a urban legend incident.
She composed herself slightly, focused her attention, and leaned closer to examine the writing on the announcement blackboard more carefully.
This time, after inadvertently seeing another line of small text, she suddenly tightened her grip on the Lingtai Pure Karma, took two steps back, and froze on the spot.
【Lu Yibei, don't you recognize me?】
This line of small text was written in the corner of the blackboard. The handwriting was delicate with a hint of clumsiness, making it feel like it was left by some adorable girl.
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. Outside the teaching building, in the empty school, a cold wind blew, causing the overgrown weeds and the branches and leaves of the banyan tree to sway in unison, emitting eerie, fragmented "whispers".
In a trance, she felt as if someone was secretly watching her from the shadows. She nervously looked around but saw nothing.
In the dead silence, Lu Yibei looked at that line of small text again, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.
That sentence was like thorny brambles growing wildly, firmly rooted in her mind, making her unable to stop guessing.
When was this sentence left here?
Was it left when I was just distracted, or when Qinan Bamboo last met Old Dad nineteen years ago, or perhaps when this school was first abandoned over forty years ago?
Could the person who left this sentence be Qinan Bamboo?
If so, what did she want to express?
Was she trying to confirm if I still remembered her, or was it some kind of silent threat?
...
"Thump thump thump—!"
Suddenly, footsteps came from above, as if someone was walking quickly in the hallway on the second floor.
The muffled footsteps and the faintly transmitted Spiritual Energy fluctuations pulled Lu Yibei's mind out of her chaotic thoughts.
There are other people in this school!
Lu Yibei's eyelid twitched. After a brief moment of tension, her emotions calmed down instead.
Sensing that the other party had Spiritual Energy fluctuations, she was no longer afraid.
Only the unknown makes people feel scared, not the known.
Having Spiritual Energy fluctuations means the other party is either a Psychic or a urban legend.
What's there to be afraid of with Psychic and urban legend? Who isn't one? Within Hua City, they should be the ones afraid of me!
Lu Yibei thought to herself in a self-comforting manner. She looked up at the ceiling, took a few deep breaths, and then, holding her sword, walked upstairs.
As soon as she reached the second floor, the dark corridor was illuminated by the light of the Red Flame Flash. In the corridor, a series of footprints left in the accumulated dust came into view, extending from the staircase to the darkness at the end of the hallway.
Lu Yibei followed the direction of the footprints, and the classrooms on both sides of the path were still open, empty inside, with nowhere to hide people.
The guy who caused the footsteps just now seemed to have suddenly disappeared into thin air like this.
Walking through the dusty corridor, she arrived in front of the last classroom at the end of the hallway. Looking at the only locked classroom in the entire teaching building, Lu Yibei frowned.
The door of this classroom was wrapped with rusty iron chains. On the chains, a locked padlock seemed to have rusted together with the chains.
...
Could it be...
Staring at the padlock, Lu Yibei pondered for two seconds, then silently reached into her Coat pocket and grasped the twisted copper key.
Although she could easily break open such an ordinary iron door with just one sword strike, in order to verify her guess, after taking out the key, she still carefully straightened it with force and then tried to insert it into the keyhole of the padlock.
It seemed that because too much time had passed and the padlock was severely rusted, Lu Yibei got stuck after only inserting half of it. She pushed forward with force, and the rust on the lock, moistened by dew, stained her hands a rusty red. Then, with a "click!", the key completely entered the keyhole.
Next, it's time to witness a miracle!
Gazing at the padlock, Lu Yibei took a silent deep breath, and twisted the key left and right with force. Accompanied by a slight, teeth-grating sound, the padlock opened.
!!!
It actually opened!
Old Dad carefully preserved this key, so does that mean the person or thing I'm looking for is hidden behind this door? Lu Yibei thought with some excitement.
And then...
She suddenly took two steps back, circulated the Spiritual Energy within her body, performed the sword technique from the Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration, and unleashed a brilliant sword light towards the iron door with lightning speed. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
In an instant, the harsh sound of tearing metal erupted, and the iron door shattered into more than ten pieces, flying into the classroom.
Although opening the lock with a key and then slashing open the door with a sword seemed a bit crazy.
But...
Firstly, Lu Yibei used the key to unlock it not to go inside, but merely to verify if the key Lu Ming kept matched this padlock.
Secondly, what if the Psychic and urban legend who were walking upstairs earlier were hiding behind the door in ambush? Wouldn't directly pushing the door open give them a chance to attack?
Therefore, Lu Yibei wanted to unlock it first, making them think she would push the door open, and then violently break the door, cutting down both the door and the guys hiding behind it with her sword.
However...
This time, she overthought things. There were no Psychic or urban legend present in the classroom behind the door.
As the iron door was broken open by the Lingtai Pure Karma, the dust that had accumulated on the door for a long time flew everywhere, hitting Lu Yibei in the face, as if reprimanding her for her rough act of violently breaking the door.
Cough cough—!
Coughing softly, she waved her hand in front of her to clear the dust, then Lu Yibei composed herself and looked into the classroom.
Unlike the empty classrooms before, it was unknown what had happened in this classroom back then. The floor was full of broken pieces of desks, chairs, and benches.
The broken desks and chairs were piled together, their shapes somewhat distorted. It was faintly discernible that someone had deliberately arranged them that way.
However, amidst the cluster of broken desks and chairs, a completely intact chair was placed right in the center of the classroom. On the chair was a dusty booklet with the words "Memorial Album" written on the cover.
Lu Yibei looked up at the ceiling above the chair, confirmed that there was no place for someone to hang themselves and that the chair wasn't a tool for hanging, before stepping closer. From a distance of one meter, she used the Lingtai Pure Karma to flip open the Memorial Album on the chair.
However...
"Huh? Empty? How could it be empty?" Looking at the blank Memorial Album, Lu Yibei made a surprised sound.
Honestly, in this kind of ghost place, if a Memorial Album appeared and it contained scriptures directly pointing to an evil god, she wouldn't find it strange.
But if nothing was written, it would make people suspicious instead.
With doubt, she used the Lingtai Pure Karma to turn the pages. Just then, a faint, almost imperceptible shimmer suddenly flashed, and a photo clipped inside the Memorial Album drifted down onto the floor.
To be precise, it was only half a photo. The photo showed a woman with an exceptionally beautiful face, and the other half...
Lu Yibei frowned, took out the half-photo she found among her Old Dad's belongings. Just by comparing them from a distance, she could see that the torn edges of the two photos almost perfectly matched.
Was the woman in that half-photo Qinan Bamboo?
Could this photo be a picture of her and Old Dad together?
Lu Yibei thought, holding the half-photo in her hand and moving closer little by little, wanting to compare the torn edges of the two photos more carefully. Just then, a loud bang suddenly came from outside the window, followed by several heartbreaking screams.
The loud bang startled Lu Yibei. Her body trembled, and in a moment of carelessness, the photo in her hand drifted down. Then, as if attracted by the photo on the ground, it flew over and merged together...
