Chapter 7: Dark Secret
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
Could it be that from that time, Shu Yushuang had already fallen into this so-called game?
Had she already been chosen by the game since then?
But if she was "chosen" at that time, why didn’t she see the icon on Shu Ya's phone back then?
Shu Yushuang had too many questions in her heart, but now, she could only put them aside for the time being.
The most important thing right now was to complete the quest.
Right after Shu Yushuang finished reading the message sent by the game, the temperature around her suddenly rose, quickly reaching a level she could hardly bear.
Shu Yushuang was currently in a dilapidated classroom, and recalling the name of this quest, she instinctively started looking around to see if there was a fire source in the room.
But she found nothing. The temperature in the classroom had risen for no reason.
Shu Yushuang tried to open the window, but it didn’t budge.
She simply picked up a chair and smashed the glass of the window.
But even so, it was no use, as the room temperature kept rising.
As the temperature soared, Shu Yushuang finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
She kicked the classroom door open and ran out.
The hallway was empty, with no one or anything else around.
A thick layer of dust covered the floor, making it seem like no one had walked through in a long time.
Opposite her was a row of windows, many of which had already shattered, making the place look abandoned for quite some time.
Outside the windows, it seemed like a layer of fog covered everything, and no matter how hard Shu Yushuang tried, she couldn’t see what was beyond it.
The temperature outside the classroom dropped suddenly, and the stark contrast made Shu Yushuang shiver uncontrollably.
Why... is it so much colder outside than in the classroom?
Even though the window was broken, it's still summer, so why is it this cold?
Shu Yushuang pressed her back against the wall by the window. The classroom she had just escaped from lit up with a red glow, as if it were on fire, but the flames didn’t spread to the hallway.
Keeping her back against the wall, Shu Yushuang slowly moved toward the other classrooms.
There were ten classrooms on this floor, and the stairways at both ends of the hallway were eerily dark, as if something could emerge from there at any moment.
At this moment, Shu Yushuang noticed that aside from the classroom she had just left, another classroom had also started glowing red, while the remaining eight classrooms remained calm.
She hesitated for a moment, then randomly chose one of the classrooms that hadn’t yet started glowing red and slipped inside.
As soon as she entered, she heard crackling sounds in the hallway, like something was popping from the heat of flames.
Shu Yushuang locked the classroom door from the inside, held her breath, and pressed her ear against the door's crack, listening carefully to the noises outside.
Besides the crackling sounds from earlier, there was also a noise that resembled something being dragged across the floor.
She pressed her eye to the keyhole, trying to see what was happening outside.
However, the result left her very disappointed.
Apart from a large patch of red light, she saw nothing.
The dragging sound outside gradually faded, but soon it came back, approaching from a distance.
Shu Yushuang sat by the door, listening quietly, not daring to make a sound.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the noise outside suddenly stopped, but she didn’t dare relax for a moment, because the place where the sound had stopped was right outside her classroom door.
She knew that something was now outside the door.
Shu Yushuang didn’t dare take a deep breath, but at that moment, the temperature inside the classroom began to rise again.
Soon, she started sweating. Her clothes clung tightly to her body, making her extremely uncomfortable.
"If this keeps up, I’ll die from the heat..."
Shu Yushuang’s breathing began to quicken.
She removed a table leg from one of the tables, holding it tightly in her hand. She gently opened the classroom door and looked into the hallway.
The hallway was still as dilapidated as before.
Only the dust on the floor showed signs of something being dragged, along with some charred fragments.
Apart from that, there was nothing outside.
Shu Yushuang breathed a sigh of relief and escaped from the classroom.
After she ran into the hallway, not long after, three more classrooms lit up with red light.
This time, she didn’t rush into any of the classrooms. Instead, she first looked toward the ends of the hallway.
Should she go upstairs or downstairs to check?
Although the darkness at the stairs gave Shu Yushuang an instinctive sense of unease, hiding alone would not complete the second task.
What was the truth behind these people's deaths?
As Shu Yushuang hesitated, the same kind of sound from before suddenly came again from the end of the hallway.
This time, she didn’t rush to hide in a classroom. Instead, she tightened her grip on the "weapon" in her hand and slowly walked toward the source of the sound.
The sound grew clearer, and suddenly, an extremely terrifying thing emerged from the darkness.
It was a human-shaped charred object, lying on the ground.
This thing was different from the completely charred woman Shu Yushuang had seen in her childhood—apart from a vague human shape, she could not tell that it had once been a person.
The creature also saw Shu Yushuang. With a "keke" creepy laugh, it remained lying on the ground but changed its posture to be on all fours, lifting its torso.
It crawled on all fours toward Shu Yushuang at an extremely fast speed.
Shu Yushuang stood frozen in place, as if she were petrified.
However, just as the charred creature was about to reach her, she suddenly swung the table leg in her hand and struck the monster hard.
With a "crack," the table leg broke into two pieces, and countless black fragments splattered from the creature.
Taking advantage of the monster's momentary daze, Shu Yushuang quickly ran to a classroom at the other end of the hallway and hid inside.
A few seconds later, a deafening roar came from outside the door. Shu Yushuang ignored it and began rapidly dismantling the table legs in the classroom.
The door was being pounded so hard by the monster outside that it was shaking violently. Shu Yushuang stood behind the door, took a deep breath, and kicked the classroom door open again.
The monster clearly did not expect her to come out again. After a moment of surprise, it screamed and charged at her.
Shu Yushuang kicked it several meters away and then ran upstairs in the other direction.
She vaguely remembered that there were a few offices on the top floor. If there were any clues, they could only be there.
The building had six floors, and Shu Yushuang was on the third floor when she first entered the dungeon.
She stood at the stairwell and looked up, but could see nothing.
The dragging sound behind her was getting closer, and Shu Yushuang knew the monster was pursuing her.
She didn’t dare linger at the stairwell and, with gritted teeth, plunged into the endless darkness.
The fourth and fifth floors...
There were no unusual conditions on these two floors, as if the monster only existed on the third floor. Shu Yushuang also noticed that both the fourth and fifth floors were completely dark, and she couldn’t see anything.
She quickly realized this must be a hint from the dungeon—there were no clues on these two floors.
Understanding this, Shu Yushuang didn’t waste time on these two floors and ran directly to the sixth floor.
Compared to the lower two floors, the sixth floor was much brighter.
But there was something sinister about this brightness.
The entire sixth floor was shrouded in a strange red light, as if the whole floor was on fire, identical to the classrooms on the third floor.
Shu Yushuang stood at the stairwell, hesitating to go forward.
The monster from the third floor had not followed her. It was unclear whether its range was limited to the third floor or if it was too afraid to come up.
Shu Yushuang tentatively extended a finger into the sixth-floor hallway but did not feel the high temperature she had expected.
It seemed different from the third floor.
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
The sixth-floor hallway was still empty, but it appeared even more dilapidated than the third floor.
The walls were marked with scorch marks, and nearly half of the offices were burned down to mere shells.
Shu Yushuang finally noticed something was wrong.
The fire was supposed to have killed the cafeteria staff, so why was the teaching building also on fire?
She knew there must be something she had overlooked.
Refocusing on the almost completely burned offices, Shu Yushuang saw a striking black notebook on the dusty floor of one office.
She ran over and picked up the notebook.
The moment the notebook left the ground, Shu Yushuang suddenly felt a cold wind blowing from behind her, sending shivers down her spine.
At the same time, a hollow, eerie voice came from behind her: "You’ve come back, you’ve come back, I knew you would come back..."
Hearing the voice made Shu Yushuang's scalp tingle.
Holding the notebook, before she had time to get up, she threw herself forward, then she heard a loud crash behind her.
Shu Yushuang smashed the desk leg she was holding towards the sound, not daring to look back to see if she had hit anything, and desperately ran forward.
She managed to run back to the third floor, where the repulsive monster was no longer in the hallway.
Shu Yushuang quickly found a classroom and hid inside.
Finally, she had time to examine the notebook she had brought down from the sixth floor.
It appeared to be a diary, with the first few pages consisting of daily records.
Shu Yushuang guessed that the diary likely belonged to a young teacher who had just started working.
From the words between the lines, it was clear that the diary belonged to a female teacher.
Shu Yushuang immediately thought of the charred woman.
She continued to read the content of the diary.
Besides some daily life records, the diary also detailed teaching experiences, reflections, and the teacher's hopes for the future.
However, after flipping through a dozen pages, she noticed that the entries started to become strange.
“What should I do? This is so serious... Should I call the police? But if they know what I saw, will I be retaliated against?”
“I can’t say anything. But I can’t forget. I have nightmares every day, I dream about…”
“I can’t keep writing this diary. If they see it, I’m done for.”
“The evil ones accused me first, and I got fired. I should have reported it directly from the start. I need to think of a way, think of a way…”
The diary entries abruptly ended at this point. Shu Yushuang did not know whether the teacher eventually reported the matter or what the reason for the report was.
Shu Yushuang flipped through the diary multiple times and confirmed that there was indeed no further content.
She was not disheartened but instead began to think seriously.
Clearly, this diary was just a prelude, intended to indicate that some dark events had occurred at this school. As for what exactly had happened, she needed to continue investigating.
Shu Yushuang checked the time; half an hour had already passed.
She looked out the window again. There was still a layer of fog outside, preventing her from seeing anything.
Suddenly, a dark figure flew past the window. Shu Yushuang was startled and hurried to the window, squinting her eyes and looking down.
But the fog outside seemed to be getting denser, and Shu Yushuang still couldn’t see anything.
To make matters worse, the temperature in the classroom began to rise again.
Shu Yushuang withdrew her gaze and walked to the door.
Sure enough, the earlier sound came from outside the door again, and it was no surprise that it had stopped at the classroom door.
Did it come again?
Shu Yushuang checked the time; thirty-five minutes had passed.
When the heat in the classroom became unbearable, she grabbed a newly detached table leg and opened the door.
There was nothing else in the classroom, only countless desks. Shu Yushuang had plenty of weapons to choose from.
