Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 82 Rule-Based Evil Spirits

At this critical moment, a crimson light instantly swept across the sky, engulfing the playground!

Li Hua was stunned. Before he could react, the grayish-white baby in front of him disappeared.

After Yang Jian's ghostly domain dissipated like a blood mist, Li Hua collapsed heavily onto the rubber track of the playground.

The red flashlight rolled several meters away, gleaming eerily in the moonlight. His pupils were unfocused, and his lips trembled, as if he had just woken from an unspeakable nightmare.

"Li Hua? Li Hua!" Song Yu shook his shoulders forcefully. "Are you alright?"

Li Hua raised her head blankly, her eyes empty as if she were a puppet: "How did I get here?"

Yang Jian stood to the side and suddenly looked towards the distance of the playground!

There stood a person there.

The man held a newspaper, covering his face, and then backed away.

He never put down the newspaper from beginning to end.

Yang Jian recognized it at a glance—it was the newspaper ghost! He had encountered this ghost before; it could alter people's memories, leading Yang Jian to mistakenly believe that the newspaper ghost was his father.

A Ghost Master actually controlled a newspaper ghost? It seems the "cleanup" mentioned by the Ghost Master headquarters is just using a newspaper ghost?

It seems that despite all the strange things happening at the school, the students are still going to school as usual, and no parents are causing trouble. This is the reason why.

At this moment, Song Yu walked over, squatted down, and picked up the red flashlight.

"Don't touch that!" Yang Jian shouted. When everyone turned around, they only saw a flash of scarlet blood disappear at the edge of the playground.

Then, the red flashlight disappeared, completely dragged into Yang Jian's ghost realm.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the playground, Jiang Jin walked up to Liu Yan and said, "As expected of the protagonist... I feel that he is recovering better and better, and he is becoming more and more adept at using the Ghost Domain."

“There are only a few ghost tamers who can use the Ghost Domain.” Liu Yan nodded. “Otherwise, why would I have to risk so much danger to save him?”

"Madam is wise!"

The next morning, when everyone arrived at the classroom, they immediately noticed that Ning Xuan's seat was empty.

"Ning Xuan".

Liu Yan paused for two seconds, then drew a bright red cross next to Ning Xuan's name on the attendance sheet.

She didn't know which class Ning Xuan would call out "Here!" in the afternoon, or at what time tomorrow, when she called out her name.

Li Hua vaguely remembered something terrible that happened last night, but the specific details were like pencil marks erased by an eraser, leaving only blurry traces.

“Strange…” Song Yu muttered to himself, biting his pen cap. “It’s only been two weeks since the start of the semester, and our class is already missing five people.”

"Hey, go work on the blackboard bulletin after class." Qi Lan gently nudged Li Hua with her sketchbook. "Have you finished your English composition yet?"

Li Hua then remembered that he still had this task.

"But Ningxuan..."

"We have to leave even if she doesn't come; we'll continue when she arrives."

Do you think she'll come back?

Li Hua opened the notebook and found that half a page of neatly written English had already been completed—it was the essay "Li Hua Invites Peter to Dinner" that Song Yu had asked for.

After the fourth period in the afternoon, Li Hua, Qi Lan, and Song Yu stayed in the classroom to decorate the blackboard bulletin. Qi Lan stood on a stool to outline the border, chalk dust falling onto the cuffs of her school uniform.

Song Yu was directing Li Hua to adjust the position of the English Corner: "A little more to the left is wrong, too far to the left!"

“We need red chalk,” Qi Lan suddenly said. She squatted down in front of the podium and searched through the chalk box. “Strange, I really can’t find any red chalk.”

Qi Lan jumped off the stool, dusted off her hands, and said, "Leave it to me."

A chill suddenly ran down Li Hua's neck. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but saw Qi Lan already walking towards the door.

"I'll be back soon."

Qi Lan planned to go to the abandoned classroom of Senior Three (7). Since it was abandoned anyway, there shouldn't be any problem taking a few pieces of chalk, right?

The corridor was unusually quiet.

The nameplate for Class 7 of Senior Three was hanging crookedly. Qi Lan pushed open the door, and a musty smell mixed with dust rushed out.

The sun was too bright outside, so she drew the curtains.

However, there was no red chalk to be found in the chalk box on the podium or in the chalk trays on both sides of the blackboard.

"They're not here either? Then I'll have to borrow from another class?"

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly noticed the corridor lights flickering. Qi Lan froze, the second rule of the Student Code flashing through her mind: "If the corridor lights in the teaching building suddenly flicker, immediately go to the nearest classroom and lock the door, and wait for the lights to return to normal."

She slammed the door shut and locked it, then turned around, her back pressed against the cold door panel.

"I'm going, what's going on?"

The classroom was somewhat dark because the curtains were drawn.

Suddenly, she heard the clear sound of chalk slicing across the blackboard!
Qi Lan's breathing froze.

The sound was coming from the back of the classroom, where there was clearly no one!
She walked over tremblingly and looked at the chalk tray below the blackboard—where more than twenty red chalks were neatly stacked, each one as bright as if soaked in blood, like a group of awakened red centipedes.

Qi Lan's scream caught in her throat; she remembered it clearly! There was absolutely no red chalk in that chalk trough just now!
The chalk dust on the blackboard suddenly surged violently, and then a grayish-white hand stretched out completely!

His five fingers were spread open, and a foul-smelling liquid dripped from his fingertips.

"Buzz!"

A dozen or so Spirit-Eating Bees suddenly flew out from the corner of the classroom, their tails flashing with a ghostly green light, and pounced straight at the ghostly hand!

This was arranged by Liu Yan beforehand, specifically to monitor this classroom. However, with just a gentle wave of the ghost hand, all the Corrosive Bees exploded as if crushed by an invisible giant hand, their bodily fluids splattering onto the blackboard, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of gray worms emerged from the cracks in the floor, these hair-thin, supernatural creatures quickly coiling around the ghostly hand. But before they could tighten their grip, the corpse fluid on the ghostly hand spread along the gray worms, causing them to wither and fall off wherever they went.

"boom!"

Suddenly, crimson patterns lit up the classroom floor; Jiang Jin's Bloodstained Imprisonment Array had activated. Countless blood threads shot out from the cracks in the floor, binding the ghostly hand like living things. The ghostly hand's movements noticeably slowed, and wisps of smoke rose continuously from where the black liquid met the blood threads.

Qi Lan finally regained control of her body. She staggered backward, her back slamming against the classroom door. Just as the ghost hand was about to break free of the bloodline's restraints, she suddenly flung open the door and rushed out.

The lights in the corridor flickered on and off. Qi Lan stumbled and ran, the only sound the rapid pounding of her own heart.

She didn't realize that she had violated the second student rule by not escaping after the lights had stabilized.

At the corner, a figure stood quietly, his face covered with a yellowed old newspaper.

"Hey classmate, are you alright?" A muffled voice came from under the newspaper.

Qi Lan stopped and blinked blankly, "Where...where am I going?"

The newspaper man didn't answer, but simply reached out and gently placed his hand on Qi Lan's shoulder.

"Oh right, I need to go get the red chalk."

"Hurry up and get into the classroom. Remember to lock the door. Don't come out until the lights are stable."

Qi Lan muttered to herself as she turned and walked back, completely forgetting the terrifying experience she had just had. The newspaper man stood still, the edges of the newspaper fluttering even without wind.

The midday sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the luxurious living room of the riverside community.

Yang Jian watched as his former classmate, Wang Shanshan, huddled in the corner of the sofa, her pale skin almost translucent in the sunlight. The bluish-black mark of the ghost slave on her neck was still clearly visible.

"Heart rate 10 beats per minute."

Yang Jian withdrew his finger from Wang Shanshan's carotid artery, his ghostly eyes scanning her chest. "Her internal organ activity is close to stagnation, and her cell metabolism is much slower than that of an ordinary person."

However, Wang Shanshan is still alive; she's practically a living dead.

Yang Jian remained worried after Zhang Wei mentioned her condition.

Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin, brought over hot tea. This successful entrepreneur, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, said, "Thanks to you for saving her back then, otherwise..."

His voice choked.

Wang Shanshan's mother, Wang Haiyan, brought out a fruit platter from the kitchen and forced a smile, saying, "Yang Jian, have some fruit. Shanshan has been saying she keeps dreaming about school lately, is it... is that thing still affecting her?"

Yang Jian said, "As long as I'm alive, Wang Shanshan will be fine."

"That's fine, that's fine."

"Uncle, I'd like to ask you to help me look into someone." Yang Jian put down his teacup. "Back in the 1990s, there was a student from No. 7 Middle School who failed his college entrance exam and committed suicide after graduation. I'd like to ask you to help me look into it."

Wang Bin's expression changed slightly: "Seventh Middle School? Is it related to that ghost child from back then?"

"It's possible. But I don't know his name or which year he graduated. Uncle, you have many connections and influence, so please help me find out."

Although he had already reported to Zhao Jianguo, he didn't quite trust the efficiency of the Ghost Tamer headquarters, so he came to find Wang Shanshan's father. Since his daughter's life was at stake, he was absolutely determined to go all out.

"Okay, keep it on me."

At this moment, in the security monitoring room of No. 7 Middle School.

Jiang Jin was reviewing the surveillance footage. The images on the screen kept flickering, but nothing unusual appeared.

"It's too quiet." Liu Yan frowned as she flipped through the absence records. "The dark blue ghost baby seems to have really disappeared completely."

Jiang Jin tapped his fingers on the table: "Deathstroke patrolled the entire campus last night and didn't even find a single bluish-black ghost infant." He narrowed his eyes, "Even during the tides it was so calm, this... is definitely the calm before a huge storm."

Liu Yan suddenly closed the folder: "It must be a rule-based evil spirit. We've investigated this kind of phenomenon at the Reincarnation Camp. These ghosts are the manifestation of some kind of 'rule,' and are close to the meme itself. The fact that we can collect so many resentment crystals here is the result of a series of low-probability events. First, the witchcraft profession is more likely to produce resentment crystals. Second, the fusion skill of our marriage. Third, rule-based evil spirits are most likely to produce resentment crystals."

Jiang Jin asked, "You mean this school itself gave birth to a rule-based evil spirit?"

“Or rather, something is using the school as a ‘mold’ to reshape itself.” Liu Yan’s voice was very soft. “I’m increasingly less convinced of Wang Xiaoming’s hypothesis of a starving ghost. It’s very possible that Zhou Zheng was deliberately led to this school by the ghost infant, or even deliberately led to that classroom.”

Jiang Jin suddenly stood up and walked to the window. From here, one could see the old locust tree by the playground.

"The Bloodstained Imprisonment is all set up." He said with his back to Liu Yan, "Especially under that tree, the blood bait has been set up."

Liu Yan walked to his side and whispered, "Only by finding the true form of that 'rule-based evil spirit' can we survive this supernatural tide. The terror of a rule-based evil spirit lies in its rules, but its weakness also lies in its rules."

Outside the window, the branches and leaves of the old locust tree moved swiftly without wind, and the shadow of the tree on the ground seemed to twist into the shape of a hand, slowly stretching towards the teaching building.

　Second update! There will be a third update tonight!
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(End of this chapter)