Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 176: Chapter 154: The Forgotten Classroom (Prosperous Year of the Dragon! Happy New Year!)_2

But according to the locals, the male teacher had committed suicide.

"Creak--"

"Creak--"

The sound of the school uniform straining under its burden filled the classroom, as if it would tear apart the next second.

Nie Hexiang’s neck had been stretched to the length of a head, her skin taut and turned terrifyingly translucent, with her bones and blood vessels clearly visible.

Yet even so, she was still not dead; her entire face twisted together, her mouth slightly open, but no sound could escape.

Yang Xiao suddenly realized that in this classroom, no one would die. Everyone was a prisoner, and they all had to atone for their past sins.

They would suffer day and night, enduring the same agony that the male teacher had experienced, over and over again.

This was a cruel and inhumane punishment.

Although they had been chosen for the task and sent into the Nightmare World, in a sense, their fates were unrelated to what had happened to the male teacher, but who could reason with a ghost?

And now, Yang Xiao had no more energy to be concerned with the tragedy unfolding in the classroom; he had to worry about himself since that twisted shadow had already crept to the classroom door.

Just a bit more time, and it would appear right before Yang Xiao.

What to do?

What exactly... what exactly should he do?

Yang Xiao had tried various methods, like biting his tongue, an old-fashioned trick to fend off Ghost Hitting the Wall or counter evil spirits.

But this time it was no use. Yang Xiao couldn’t even muster the action to move his mouth, let alone control his own thinking.

The ghostly shadow writhed closer to the classroom door, and Yang Xiao held his breath. He was about to despair, for he had already seen a scarred, bloody hand grasping the door frame, as if the ghost was about to appear the next second.

At that moment--

"Chu!"

"Chu, can you hear me?"

A calling voice traveled from far, at the corner of the corridor, accompanied by numerous footsteps.

It was Song Yan’s voice!

As soon as he heard those sounds, it was as if some restriction had been lifted, and Yang Xiao’s immobilized body suddenly relaxed. He stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.

Seizing the last chance he had, he looked towards the classroom door that appeared out of nowhere. Now it had mostly vanished, and Yang Xiao noticed a metal plate hanging on it, inscribed with "Class 3-1."

On the other side, Song Yan and the others huddled together, Song Yan leading with his phone’s flashlight for illumination, the group slowly making their way here.

"Song Yan, I’m here." Having narrowly escaped death, Yang Xiao collapsed on the ground, unable to stand as his legs gave out under him.

Upon hearing him and seeing Yang Xiao’s wretched state, no one dared approach, and Yang Xiao understood that they feared he might be an impostor.

"Don’t worry, I’m real. I just encountered that thing, no, to be precise I saw a lot of those things. Azhen, Xiang Xiaolin, Luo Zhaoqing, they were all taken away, locked in a classroom from ten years ago."

Yang Xiao took several breaths, trying to calm himself down, "I don’t know how to explain this to you, but although they’re dead, they are still being tortured endlessly by that Ghost Teacher, which is quite unjust."

Pei Qiuyu doubted Yang Xiao was real, not believing a punctuation mark of what he said, "Everyone, don’t get close to him just yet. Song Ziyi, I’m asking you, where did Nie Hexiang go, why are you left here alone?"

This was a test, Yang Xiao smiled and shook his head, "Pei Qiuyu, you don’t need to test me anymore. I’m not some Song Ziyi, I am Chu Xi. Your Nie Hexiang, she’s dead, taken away by a ghost. Just now, in the classroom I mentioned, she hung herself right before my eyes."

Upon hearing this, Yu Mi’s body shivered uncontrollably, and her eyes looked around in terror, "Classroom? What classroom?"

Yang Xiao lifted his chin towards the wall in front of him, "Right here, just now a door appeared on this wall, and behind the door was the classroom from ten years ago, I believe it was the one where the male teacher was murdered, not suicide, but made it look like one. This case must be very complicated."

"Right, what I just witnessed was probably a reenactment of the tragedy," Yang Xiao recalled.

"Come over here and talk, Chu Xi," Lu Ji called out to him, after all, the spot where Yang Xiao was standing was quite awkward.

Yang Xiao wanted someone to come over and help him, but no one was willing to take the risk. In the end, he had to muster his strength and, with numb and stiff legs, used the wall for support and walked over step by step. Song Yan, after confirming it was safe, was the first to step forward and support him, "Congratulations Chu, you’ve survived a great disaster, and that must mean you’re destined for future happiness!"

"Thank you, everyone, thanks to your help," Yang Xiao looked at each person, his gaze lingering on Pei Qiuyu’s face for a moment.

Seeing that Yang Xiao was alright, Pei Qiuyu’s face showed a surprising gentleness, expressing her concern: "Mr. Chu, I’m so relieved to see you’re okay. I was worried since you had been out of touch for such a long time."

"Unfortunately, I couldn’t save Nie Hexiang; she was also an important clue." Yang Xiao looked at Pei Qiuyu with a smile, "Sorry to disappoint you, Miss Pei."

At his words, Pei Qiuyu was taken aback; then her stiff smile became lively again, "What are you saying? She was just a dispensable clue, how could that compare to our mutual difficulties and suffering."

With a smirk, Lu Ji said, "Miss Pei is consistent inside and out, I admire that!"

Pei Qiuyu’s face turned green with annoyance, but because Yang Xiao was present, she couldn’t make a scene.

Through their conversation, Yang Xiao had roughly understood what had happened after he and Nie Hexiang left; it turned out this wasn’t the first time Song Yan and the others had come looking for him.

Including this time, Song Yan and the others had gone back and forth looking for him and Nie Hexiang three times.

"What?" Yu Mi frowned upon hearing what Yang Xiao had said, "Mr. Chu, you’re saying you and that Nie Hexiang were always in the building?"

"That’s right, we only went out once and then came back very quickly."

Song Yan pondered for a moment, then nodded, "Then it seems to be the case, Chu and his friend were trapped in a Ghost Hitting the Wall phenomenon; it’s a special world that doesn’t exist here."

"For example, assume we were all in a certain part of this building not long ago, yet we were invisible to each other."

"Then how did you find me?" Yang Xiao was curious about this.

Lu Ji was the first to explain, "Well, we were about to give up because, as you know, in such a world, once someone goes missing, they’re pretty much gone for good. But as soon as we walked back upstairs, suddenly, we heard an explosion downstairs."

"The sound wasn’t very loud, sounded like a fluorescent light bursting. So Song Yan suggested we go down again to check it out and see what was going on."

"But as soon as we got halfway down, we realized something was wrong. The lights downstairs were out, which wasn’t the case when we left."

"After a few more steps, there you were," Lu Ji said with emotion, knowing as a seasoned player just how difficult it was for Yang Xiao to have survived.

"Did you notice any other anomalies as you approached?" This was what Yang Xiao truly cared about, "Did you run into anyone else? Like those teachers, or..."

Before he could finish, Song Yan shook his head, "No, we didn’t see anyone but you. Just a short while ago, the student formations outside were dismissed. We saw from upstairs that the teachers were organizing the students to head toward the school gates, probably to send them home."

"From the principal to the teachers, they all have a very poor impression of us. It’s late at night, everyone’s gone, and they didn’t even notify us," Lu Ji complained. freewёbnoνel.com

To Lu Ji, it was just a casual complaint, but to Yang Xiao, it sounded different. He suddenly thought of the broken emergency light; Nie Hexiang’s death had a lot to do with that light.

"Could it be that light was left there on purpose?" A thought suddenly popped into Yang Xiao’s mind.

A moment later, Yang Xiao startled himself with this thought—if it was indeed the case, then the situation was far more troubling.