Reversing Falsehood and Preserving Truth: All Gods and Gods Are in My Hands

The school bell, like a firecracker exploding, rang out on the ceiling of Class 14, Grade 12 at Zhongzhou No. 11 Middle School, instantly shattering the monotony of the entire lesson. Chalk dust frantically swirled in the slanting sunlight, and the campus was immediately filled with a cacophony of noise—

The boys' chatter, the girls' giggles, and the creaking of dragging desks and chairs intertwined, weaving a thick, sticky web of youth that enveloped the school building completely.

As Lu Yu closed the book, an ancient coin that had been used as a bookmark between the pages fell to the ground with a "clink." He bent down to pick it up, the cool texture brushing against his fingertips.

My grandmother dug this ancient coin out of the ground while she was working in the fields.

Two years ago, on the day Lu Yu was admitted to high school, his grandmother took his hand and handed it to him, saying in a muffled voice, "Keep it with you, so you can rest assured... Xiao Yu is in high school now, Xiao Yu is a big boy now, and soon he will be able to take care of your parents."

But the next morning, Grandma disappeared, as if she had vanished into thin air, and there has been no news of her since.

From then on, Lu Yu never let go of this ancient coin.

Lu Yu snapped out of his thoughts and had just slung his backpack over his shoulder when the commotion at the end of the corridor drew his attention.

A small circle of people had gathered there, whispering and making noise—Zhang Hao was confessing his feelings to Lin Xi.

Zhang Hao, the class's sports student, tall and strong, a force to be reckoned with on the basketball court, was now blushing furiously, his hand clutching the love letter trembling as if he had Parkinson's, his voice shaking so badly it almost cracked:

"Lin Xi, I... I've liked you for a long time, could you...?"

Immediately, someone nearby chimed in, "Brother Hao, straighten up! Don't shake!"

"Sister Xi, hurry up and say yes, or Brother Hao will cry!"

Lin Xi stood in the shadows of the corridor, her ear tips so red they looked like they were about to bleed, her fingers twisting the hem of her school uniform into deep wrinkles.

She was the quietest girl in the class, always drawing on the back of her draft paper during class. Lu Yu had seen her drawings of old alleyways and streets; her brushstrokes were so fine that you could see the moss in the corner of the wall, and even the sunlight spots on the leaves were lifelike. It was a kind of realism that warmed people's hearts inexplicably.

Lu Yu had no intention of joining in the fun. He held onto his backpack strap with one hand and put the other in his pocket, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the ancient coins. But he noticed a wisp of translucent mist rising quietly from Zhang Hao's neck—like the white mist rising from a popsicle in summer, so faint it was like an illusion.

"So nervous you're practically smoking?"

The moment that outrageous thought crossed his mind, his blood froze instantly...

Despite the sweltering heat of over 30 degrees Celsius, he felt so cold that his teeth chattered and goosebumps crawled from his elbows to the back of his neck.

Suddenly, Zhang Hao's arm swelled up, and the wisp of mist instantly condensed into a viscous texture, gleaming with a cold, eerie light. Countless slippery tentacles emerged from the texture, like worms dipped in ice water, and coiled straight toward Lin Xi!

The blush on Lin Xi's face hadn't faded yet, and the shyness in her eyes suddenly turned into terror. Her mouth opened into a circle, but she couldn't make a sound, as if an invisible hand was choking her.

Lu Yu's breathing suddenly stopped.

He watched helplessly as the tentacles wrapped around Lin Xi's wrist, the slippery sensation seemingly traveling through the air to his body.

Lin Xi's body was like watercolor that had been drained, gradually becoming a blurry image. The blue of her school uniform gradually became lighter and more transparent, as if all her substance had been removed and she had been forcibly sucked into Zhang Hao's "weirdness".

The whole process took less than three seconds.

Zhang Hao was still standing there, the mist around his neck completely dissipated, his face showing only the embarrassment of being rejected. He scratched his head and muttered to the empty shadows, "Sorry to bother you."

The surrounding commotion gradually subsided, and someone patted Zhang Hao on the shoulder with a smile: "Brother Hao, it's normal to be rejected. Lin Xi is introverted."

Someone else peeked out and asked, "Where's Lin Xi? She was just here."

"He's probably just shy and hiding!"

Someone shouted something, and everyone burst into laughter, crowding around Zhang Hao as they walked towards the stairwell. No one noticed that someone was missing from the shadows, and no one noticed the faint, water-like stain left on the collar of Zhang Hao's school uniform.

Lu Yu stood frozen in place, the cold sweat on his back chilling him to the bone, soaking his shirt until it clung to his body, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to shatter his ribs.

He saw clearly.

That's not an illusion!

The thing that crawled out of Zhang Hao's body was exactly the same as "Venom" in the movie, and Lin Xi—the girl who was voted the class beauty at the beginning of the school year and was going to take the art exam—was "eaten" without leaving a trace!

The noise in the corridor continued. Someone ran past Lu Yu, carrying the heat unique to teenagers. No one noticed Lu Yu's abnormality, and it seemed that no one realized how terrifying the scene had just happened.

Lu Yu subconsciously clenched the ancient coin in his pocket; it had become scalding hot, as if it were about to burn through his skin.

"Why doesn't anyone notice anything wrong?!"

"Lin Xi was just here!"

"Am I seeing things? Or have they all gone mad?"

These thoughts pierced his mind like ice picks, making him tremble all over.

As the sunlight gradually slanted westward at the end of the corridor, it cast long shadows. The shadows of the students twisted and overlapped on the ground, as if the same "venom" would emerge from them at any moment.

Lu Yu trembled violently, staggered backward, and slammed his back against the classroom door frame with a thud, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Lu Yu, what's wrong?"

A gentle voice rang in his ears. Lu Yu looked up abruptly and saw his homeroom teacher, Liu Jing, standing in front of him, holding a lesson plan in her hand and looking at him calmly.

Sunlight fell on Liu Jing's face, and her smile remained gentle, but Lu Yu inexplicably recalled Zhang Hao's appearance just now, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say "Lin Xi was eaten by a monster," and wanted to shout "Zhang Hao is not right," but the words were blocked by fear in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.

He watched as Liu Jing's gaze swept across his pocket, her pupils contracting slightly, as quickly as lightning, before returning to their usual calm, as if that glance had been an illusion.

"If there's nothing else, go home early."

Class teacher Liu Jing patted his shoulder, "Senior year is stressful, don't overthink things."

Liu Jing turned and left, her skirt sweeping across the ground, leaving behind a very faint scent of sandalwood.

Liu Jing's reaction was too calm!

She's the homeroom teacher. How can she be so calm when one student is missing from her class? She was clearly just a short distance away. Did she really not see anything?

Countless questions churned in Lu Yu's mind, but he couldn't find the answers.

Lin Xi disappeared, and no one remembers her.

Zhang Hao is a monster, but no one has noticed.

Only he saw that bone-chilling shadow.

The ancient coins in his pocket were still warm, as if reminding him that what had just happened was not a nightmare.

Lu Yu raised his head and looked at the sky outside the teaching building. The setting sun was slowly sinking into the distant buildings, dyeing the clouds an eerie orange-red, just like Lin Xi's ears that had turned bright red just now.

He suddenly felt that the world he had known for seventeen years had, starting from those three seconds, cracked open with a bottomless fissure.

The darkness hidden in the crevice was silently creeping towards him, following the shadow on the ground.

Just as Lu Yu was about to turn and walk towards the stairwell, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. It wasn't a call, but a text message from an unknown number, containing only three words that seemed to freeze solid:

Don't look back.

He dared not turn around, nor even breathe deeply; he could only grip his phone tightly and move stiffly toward the stairwell.

On the corridor floor, the setting sun cast long shadows. Zhang Hao and his group had long since disappeared around the corner of the stairs, but Lu Yu felt as if a gaze was fixed on his back.