Chapter 7: The Ghost in the Library
Shaking his head to get rid of those bad thoughts, Chu Jiang didn't put the diary back in his backpack. Instead, he held it carefully in his hand and called a few people to continue running.
Although they were delayed by Liu Shenglong and the others earlier, Chu Jiang had to thank him for one thing - he discovered the danger of the diary.
Now Chu Jiang urgently needed something to resist ghosts and monsters.
The diary's time reset ability seemed to have been debunked, and with the diary only having one hint, it could not have a direct effect.
But now, Chu Jiang could confirm that the blood flowing from the blood handprint could kill a person, even with just a drop.
This was clearly not the effect of any physical force. Even poison didn't work that quickly. It should be the influence of supernatural powers.
Since it was a supernatural power, it should also be able to affect those ghosts. Chu Jiang didn't intend to deal with the supposed source of the haunted incident, Slender Man.
As long as he could handle those ordinary ghostly entities, he would be content.
Chu Jiang now just wanted to survive, live until dawn, at least make it through tonight until midnight, and see if there were any new changes in the black diary.
During the rest of the journey, Li Yan and the others didn't ask any more questions.
Although they had many doubts in their hearts, seeing Chu Jiang act more unusually now made them more likely to survive. So nobody wanted to disrupt the current situation.
On the way to the library, the group of four brushed shoulders with several batches of students, and they even saw corpses, bloodstains, and various horrifying things. The air carried a foul smell.
As darkness shrouded the campus, the previously noisy school began to turn quiet. Even those who survived didn't dare to make much noise, fearing that they might be the next target of the ghosts.
The corpses they encountered on the road were mostly mutilated, as if they had been eaten by something.
Chu Jiang and his group were lucky. They managed to reach the entrance of the library without being attacked by any corpses or ghostly figures.
But as soon as they arrived at the entrance, they heard loud screams coming from inside the library. It seemed that someone had already taken shelter there, but it was definitely not a safe place.
The group stopped urgently, and Gao Yifei's face turned pale. He turned to Chu Jiang and asked, "What should we do? Should we still go in?"
Gao Yifei couldn't quite understand the logic of hiding in the library.
Chu Jiang frowned. The secret room shouldn't have been discovered yet. If there were only one or two low-level ghosts, it seemed like they could get through with the help of the diary.
However, Chu Jiang hadn't tested the effect of sprinkling the blood from the diary cover on those ghosts.
Lost in thought, they heard the shouts from inside getting closer and closer to the library entrance. It seemed like the person who had escaped inside was now being chased and was running out without any regard for their life.
And the number of people was not small, at least twenty or thirty.
"Let's step aside," Chu Jiang told his teammates. At this moment, the people inside were completely terrified, and it was dangerous to block their escape route.
Even though they had the light from their cell phones, the visibility was still low in this pitch-black darkness.
When the first few male students escaped, Chu Jiang and the others finally realized that these were actually their classmates.
Even more people who escaped afterwards were also familiar faces, and they could all call out their names.
These people had twisted expressions and bloodshot eyes, clearly terrified to the extreme. Some female classmates were even partially paralyzed, being carried or dragged out. Some were physically weak, while others had suffered a psychological breakdown and were too scared to move.
When these people saw a few figures outside the library, they were startled at first, but sighed with relief once they recognized them.
Chu Jiang also noticed that instead of running away individually, their classmates gathered together and waited for the others to escape.
This indicated that there must be someone with great influence and cohesiveness among them. Otherwise, when being chased by ghosts, most people would flee in small groups rather than display such discipline.
When their English teacher, Yu Fengmei, stumbled out with the rest, Chu Jiang finally confirmed his suspicion, although there were still some unanswered questions.
Just then, four or five classmates who had interactions with Chu Jiang on a regular basis encircled him. They had fearful expressions and were all talking at once.
"Chu Jiang, save us, there are ghosts!"
"Do you know how to escape?"
"I apologize to you, I shouldn't have mocked you before, I am not human!"
In the end, this Liu Mingming, even started slapping himself, he was the one who previously said Chu Jiang stayed up all night at the internet cafe having hallucinations.
Before Chu Jiang could speak, Teacher Yu also saw them, she was sweating profusely, supporting herself with her hand on her waist, and said in a very hoarse voice, "I'm glad you're all okay, I was really worried about you."
Chu Jiang glanced at the number of people, there were fifty students in the whole class, but now only twenty-three were gathered here, the others were either lost or maybe dead...
Suddenly, a sound of footsteps came from the pitch-black library.
Everyone immediately became alarmed and anxious, Chu Jiang and the other three instinctively stepped back because they didn't know if it was a person or a ghost coming.
Soon, under the gaze of everyone, a young student with large bloodstains on his body ran out from the shadows.
He was wearing glasses, the left lens was broken, his face was pale, and he was trembling as he held a fruit knife in his hands when he came out.
Chu Jiang was somewhat surprised, it was actually Zhang Haoran.
This guy was one of the ones who ran out of the classroom earlier, trying to persuade Chu Jiang. He had a good relationship with Chu Jiang and their interests were similar, but he was a typical atheist and materialist.
So Chu Jiang didn't even think about convincing him before, he could only use facts to change his mind.
At this moment, Zhang Haoran seemed to be greatly shocked, his eyes wide open.
As soon as they saw him come out, someone immediately went forward to support him.
And after Zhang Haoran came out, everyone gathered momentum and continued to run out.
Teacher Yu also squeezed in front of Chu Jiang and the others, her face with blood stains, and said painfully, "Many people died, and Zhou Cheng died protecting us."
Chu Jiang opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word. Although the deputy class leader was a bit rigid, he had truly devoted so much to this class as a group.
Teacher Yu held Chu Jiang's hand that didn't have the diary, and Chu Jiang could feel this petite teacher trembling.
She was very young and had only graduated from university a few years ago. In terms of age, she was just a child who had just entered society.
"I don't know why you knew about the ghost early, but the teacher asked you to take everyone out."
"I can't help much. Maybe I will die soon. You and Zhang Haoran, take everyone..."
"Pff~!" In the middle of the conversation, a dry branch suddenly stabbed fiercely out of Yu Fengmei's chest. It came from the shadows inside the library, piercing through the bodies of three people along the way, with Teacher Yu being the last one.
Seeing the teacher vomiting blood heavily, with blood splattering on himself, Chu Jiang was frozen in shock.
"Run! Don't stand there!" Zhang Haoran shouted ahead, he seemed a bit nervous, as he was now leading the chaotic crowd to escape while holding a knife and charging back.
Chu Jiang's eyes were filled with fury, he grabbed the diary and viciously slapped it on the black branch.
This indeed worked, the section of the root that was stained with blood withered greatly, and the part that extended from the shadow completely soaked in the color of blood, crumbling into powder.
