Chapter 12

Outside the teaching building is the school playground.

The vast playground, with the lights turned off, was shrouded in darkness, but it was much better than inside the teaching building.

The darkness inside the teaching building was so thick it seemed to want to swallow people whole, but here, although it was dim, one could still see the surroundings clearly.

The fear in the hearts of the others gradually subsided a little when they ran here.

Almost completely exhausted, everyone sat on the ground, panting, almost unable to stand up.

It wasn't that they lacked physical strength; it was that they had been trapped in the teaching building for too long, and the extreme fear combined with their desperate sprint had instantly drained them.

"Scared, I was so scared. Just now was really terrifying. At such a close distance, almost right in front of me, that baby was crouched on Wang Shanshan's shoulder, looking at me... I didn't even know when that baby had crawled over." A male student's voice still trembled as he spoke.

"It must be a ghost, that baby must be a ghost. There are ghosts everywhere, everywhere. We are doomed, doomed..." A female student's face was pale, and she was already somewhat delirious.

"Wait, Wang Shanshan was taken by that ghost, so why is Yang Jian missing too?" Suddenly, Miao Xiaoshan spoke.

She was Yang Jian's seatmate, and they had known each other since junior high school, so she had always paid attention to him.

Zhang Wei glanced around and indeed did not see Yang Jian.

He couldn't help but touch the corner of his eye: "Yang Jian, he died honorably, sacrificing himself bravely to save us. He is a child of the people, and I will never forget him. I will burn paper for him during festivals, and if his family holds a funeral, I will donate more money to make his departure more dignified, after all, he was a decent person in life."

"Classmate Miao Xiaoshan, don't be sad. Death is irreversible. Rest here for a while, I'll go back and see if Yang Jian is really dead. If he is, we'll discuss how to escape."

As he spoke, Zhang Wei gritted his teeth, planning to go back and check the situation.

"Zhang Wei, just for those words, I can confirm that our friendship is plastic. If we encounter a ghost again, I definitely won't save you. I'll just let you fend for yourself." Suddenly, Yang Jian's voice sounded from behind.

They saw him supporting Wang Shanshan as he walked over.

"Yang Jian, you're okay, that's great," Miao Xiaoshan said with some joy.

The others also brightened up when they saw that Wang Shanshan and Yang Jian were fine. This was the only good news of the day.

Too many classmates had died since the beginning.

"Good luck, I managed to survive," Yang Jian nodded.

Zhang Wei, somewhat excited, said: "Yang Jian, I knew you would be fine. What I said just now was just a joke, don't take it to heart. You must save me in the future; I rely on you to survive."

"I have no interest in men. I only save beautiful girls. At least they can offer themselves in gratitude, or at the very least, help me with my homework in the future. What's the point of saving a man? Just a waste of effort," Yang Jian said.

Wang Shanshan, standing beside him, blushed slightly, a hint of shyness in her eyes.

"Don't be so heartless. I've given you all my resources, without keeping anything for myself. We've been through so much together, we should take care of each other," Zhang Wei said. "Wait, something's not right. How did you and Wang Shanshan escape in that situation?"

Suddenly, his face changed, and he looked at Yang Jian with a wary expression.

"Of course, I punched that kid away and pulled Wang Shanshan out. What did you think I did?" Yang Jian said.

Zhang Wei, with a serious expression, said: "Brother, that teaching building is haunted. I believe Wu Song could fight a tiger, but you fighting a ghost? No way. Now I'm really suspicious that you're not Yang Jian at all, but a ghost in disguise, planning to harm us all. That's how it always goes in horror movies."

As he said this, the others, who were already on edge, looked at Yang Jian with fear, as if he were really a ghost.

"Stop with this nonsense. Can't you think normally? You suspect everyone of being a ghost. If you really encountered a ghost, you'd be dead already, and you wouldn't even have the chance to stand here and talk," Yang Jian said.

"Since that's the case, I'll ask you a question. What's my English name? Wait, wait, change the question. That one was asked in the teaching building, and the ghost might have heard it. I'll ask another question. What's Zhao Lei's English name?" Zhang Wei said, looking very wise.

As if he was proud of his caution.

"I don't know," Yang Jian said.

"You definitely have a problem. Zhao Lei's English name is Woshi Shibibi. Everyone, stay away from him," Zhang Wei quickly took several steps back, ready to run at any moment.

Yang Jian asked: "Wait, what did you say just now? Could you repeat Zhao Lei's English name?"

"Hehe, you don't know, Zhao Lei's English name is Woshi Shibibi," Zhang Wei sneered.

"What am I?" Yang Jian asked.

"Woshi Shibibi."

Yang Jian nodded: "You even know you're an idiot. It seems you're not completely hopeless."

"..." Zhang Wei.

Wang Shanshan, Miao Xiaoshan, and the others looked at him with a caring but pitying gaze.

Just now, Zhang Wei was arguing with the air, no different from a fool. Compared to Yang Jian, he was like a bronze player facing a king. After all, they had survived thanks to Yang Jian's leadership and rear guard.

"Damn, I'm not an idiot," Zhang Wei vehemently denied.

"He actually understood my gaze," a classmate widened his eyes, very surprised.

"I..." Zhang Wei felt like crying.

But now was not the time to rest.

Yang Jian said: "My phone is dead. Does anyone know what time it is?"

"My watch seems to be broken. It's only 4 a.m.," Miao Xiaoshan looked at her cartoon watch, surprised.

"Huh, my phone also shows 4:05 a.m. It was clearly 8:30 just now."

"When did so much time pass?"

The group realized something was wrong with the time.

Yang Jian looked back at the teaching building, shrouded in darkness, and said: "The time doesn't matter. I'm just thinking, with such a big event happening here, and so much time passing, why is there no reaction outside?"

"That's right, I called the police earlier."

"I even called my mom."

"It's so quiet around here. There should be car sounds at this time, but now I can't even see a single car's lights."

Yang Jian looked up at the sky.

It was dark and gloomy, as if covered by a layer of haze, with no moonlight or starlight, which was not normal.

"What's going on, Yang Jian?" Zhang Wei also felt something was wrong, and fear rose in his heart again.

"What else could it be... We have been in a ghost domain all along."

Yang Jian's face turned serious, and he said in a deep voice: "And we have never left. The ghost domain not only includes the teaching building but also the playground. The range might be even larger. The teaching building was probably at the center, and now we are slightly on the edge, or... the ghost is moving, and the ghost domain is changing with the old man's position. However, we haven't seen the old man, so the impact is not significant."

"But I think the ghost domain is a special enclosed space. Whether it's the center or the edge, the difficulty of leaving is the same. The distance doesn't seem to be the key to escaping the ghost domain."

"In other words, we are trapped, like birds in a cage. The cage is moving, and the birds inside are forced to move with it, but we can't detect this movement."

"Then, what do we do now?"

Wang Shanshan, trembling, said, her hand tightly gripping Yang Jian's arm, her body involuntarily leaning on him, as if she had already regarded him as her savior.

She never wanted to experience what happened at the stairwell again.

The others also looked at Yang Jian with fear and hope, hoping he could come up with a good plan to leave this ghostly place.

Yang Jian was silent, touching the closed eyes on the back of his hand.

To leave here, there might only be one way: to continue using the power of the ghost.

But Zhou Zheng had also said that using the power of the ghost once would revive the ghost in his body a little, and he would be closer to death, even more so than taking poison.

"No wonder Zhou Zheng said that becoming a ghost tamer is not just for others but also for oneself, because sometimes it's not just about saving others, but also about saving oneself from the ghost," Yang Jian thought to himself.

"But before that, I have something to figure out and settle a score. Otherwise, I won't die in peace."

After making up his mind, Yang Jian said: "Who has Fang Jing's phone number? Lend it to me. If I'm not mistaken, he should still be trapped here like us."