Chapter 2: Ghosts in the School
Hello, hello, don't joke around, how could he possibly write something like "the school is haunted, everyone's dead"?
For a brief moment, Chu Jiang doubted that this was a prank. He even instinctively looked around, was it a classmate or a friend deliberately imitating his handwriting to scare him?
Or maybe it was the library administrator, Xiao Cheng… that shouldn't be possible, Mr. Chen didn't have that kind of personality.
In any case, after calming down for a moment, Chu Jiang began to reexamine the diary in his hand.
Firstly, the handwriting was indeed his, although it was a bit messy, as if he wrote it in a hurry.
Secondly, Chu Jiang reached out and touched the glaring blood-red words; they were actually wet, and up close he could smell a strong scent of blood…
This suddenly amplified the unease in Chu Jiang's heart. The possibility of a prank dropped significantly because these few sentences seemed to have just been written; he could even feel that this blood was warm, as if it had just flowed out of someone's body.
Abruptly, Chu Jiang closed the diary once more and glanced at the Blood Handprint on the cover, this thing seemed to come to life at this moment.
When Chu Jiang touched it earlier, the blood seemed like a crystalline substance, but now, the color of the blood was vibrant and dripping.
And if you tried to stand the book up, you could clearly see blood flowing down, even though it was slow, as if some strange power hadn't fully awakened yet.
Chu Jiang furrowed his brow…wait, where was the note?
He suddenly noticed that the note was gone, and immediately started searching for it on the desk.
But those two small notes seemed to have disappeared into thin air, not on the desk, and not dropped on the floor. Things were spiraling out of control…
Chu Jiang looked gloomy, he gave up searching and opened the diary again, closely examining every word on it.
To be honest, he was starting to get scared. Could the school really be haunted? Could he really die here today?
Also, if the contents written in the diary were true, then the clues on the two notes were also likely to be true.
This made the situation worse. Today was September 17th, and there was only a little over nine hours left until it ended.
Even now, Chu Jiang hadn't noticed anything strange about the school. The classroom and the view outside were all normal…no, the sky outside seemed darker, as if nightfall was coming faster. This wasn't quite normal…
"Teacher, I feel a little ill. May I go to the medical room?" Chu Jiang suddenly stood up and raised his hand with a pale face.
Yu Fengmei, who was petite in stature, took a glance at the boy and noticed a slight sweat on his forehead. It didn't seem like he was pretending.
So she waved her hand and said, "Go ahead, do you need someone to assist you?"
Chu Jiang paused, then turned to look at his classmate Li Yan. Startled by Chu Jiang's sudden movement, Li Yan was staring intently at his English book.
"Li Yan, could you support me for a moment?"
Unexpectedly, Li Yan shook his head and whispered, "You go ahead, I need to focus on my studies."
Obviously, this guy thought Chu Jiang was trying to make an excuse to skip class. We're in our final year of high school, who would skip class??
Seeing this, Chu Jiang didn't say anything. He casually tidied up his belongings, stuffed his diary into his backpack, and then walked out of the classroom with a blank expression.
Some of the other students were surprised to witness this scene. Was it that serious? Skipping all the afternoon classes? Only a few observant ones noticed that when Chu Jiang stood up, it seemed like a drop of blood fell on the ground. Hey, where did he get injured?
Teacher Yu couldn't see any details from where she was, so she asked Chu Jiang to be careful and not to fall. Chu Jiang agreed without thinking.
In fact, he really wanted to tell his classmates loudly and tell the teacher, "Run quickly! The school is going to be haunted!"
But deep down, he knew that everyone would think he was crazy and foolish. It was impossible for anyone to believe him so easily.
Chu Jiang didn't have any more time to waste now, and he had a suspicion deep inside, wondering if the ghost was right beside him. All his classmates, even Teacher Yu, could potentially be ghosts.
If he shouted it out here, he would most likely be the first one to die.
……
Leaving the classroom, Chu Jiang started by walking but immediately started running when he reached the stairs.
He didn't know where the ghost was or when it would strike. The only thing he could do now was to escape from the school.
On his way, a passing teacher shouted, "Don't run on the stairs," but Chu Jiang completely ignored it.
The third teaching building was not far from the school gate, maybe less than a hundred meters. When Chu Jiang came out of this building, he could still see the security guard, who was napping on a table in the security room.
20 seconds? No! Give me 15 seconds, and I can run to the fence and flip over it.
Determined, Chu Jiang started running frantically towards the school gate to escape for his life!
The distance was getting closer and closer, ninety meters, sixty meters, thirty meters…
During this process, Chu Jiang's expression kept changing, gradually shifting from gritting his teeth, to seeing victory in sight, to disbelief, and finally to despair.
He stopped, hands on his knees, gasping for air with his mouth wide open, his mind completely blank.
"Why… why can't I run… to the school gate?"
……
In the last thirty meters, Chu Jiang was only a tiny distance away from escaping with his life.
However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't run away, as if the school gate was running along with him, or maybe Chu Jiang was just standing still.
This situation reminded Chu Jiang of a word called "getting lost in a maze."
According to a scientific explanation: it's because people's two feet are different lengths. In the pitch-black night, when they lose their frame of reference, they unconsciously end up walking in circles.
But it was daytime! Although the light was starting to dim, Chu Jiang could still see clearly, and the school gate was right there.
Just when Chu Jiang was getting more anxious, he suddenly heard a creepy ringing sound.
Chu Jiang looked up and saw the security guard, who had already stood up without him noticing.
The sky grew even darker, and the guard stood at the entrance of the security room. He was almost fifty years old but still fit, and he was well-liked by people on campus.
For instance, at this moment, the guard smiled and looked at Chu Jiang, saying, "Aren't you supposed to be in class? Hurry back, or your teacher will get mad at you."
Even though his tone and expression were normal, combined with the guard's face, you would feel an overwhelming sense of horror!
At this moment, the uncle's face had a big missing part, as if something had taken a bite out of it, leaving only a glaring sunken and bloody hole, making it difficult for him to speak without leaking air.
Blood and brain matter gushed out from the sunken area, staining his uniform red. Faint hints of the stench of blood and decaying bodies could be smelled, but the security guard not only could speak, but also move.
With each step the security guard took, his body underwent certain changes; at first, his physique still seemed to be within the range of a human.
However, as he kept walking, he gradually transformed into a kind of opaque entity resembling a black shadow. This transformation started from his feet and went all the way to his head.
Chu Jiang stepped back in terror. He saw the security guard, with his upper body like that of a person and his lower body like that of a ghost, convulsing and limping towards him, as if a newborn child that had just learned how to walk…
The most eerie thing was that the security guard had a smile on his face, a very friendly one, as if he wanted to lead Chu Jiang back to his own classroom.
