Chapter 9

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“That ghost seems to have disappeared,” When Yang Jian carefully retraced his steps back, he did not encounter the ghost that had been chasing him.

Perhaps this was what people meant by saying “after surviving a great disaster, one is bound to have good fortune”.

Opening the door and walking in, Yang Jian was suddenly stunned.

He was in the familiar corridor.

He turned to look behind him only to find that it was the classroom that he had escaped from previously.

To think he had returned to the corridor outside the classroom door on the fifth floor.

“What’s going on? Isn’t that door connected to the washroom?” Yang Jian felt even more incredulous.

“Cough, cough cough!” Suddenly, a weak and painful cough sounded.

“It’s you. How can you be walking out of the classroom?” A pale-faced thin man in a windbreaker was leaning against the corridor. His pair of bloodshot eyes looked at Yang Jian with some vigilance.

“Zhou Zheng?” Yang Jian was stunned for a moment before saying, “I don’t know what’s going on either. When I left with them, I was caught by a ghost and pulled into a washroom. I went through a lot of troubles to find the way out, but when I opened the door, I found myself back here.”

“Is that so? This may be due to the ghost realm. It seems that thing doesn’t want to let you go,” Zhou Zheng’s eyes moved slightly as he said, “However, there will only be one ghost in a ghost realm. The ghost is the old man in the black robe, but he has already left. The one you met should be a ghost slave.”

“What is a ghost slave?” Yang Jian walked over and asked.

Zhou Zheng said, “They’re something formed by the people who have been killed in the ghost realms by malicious ghosts. They’re controlled by the ghosts that killed it and listen to the orders of the malicious ghosts that killed them unconditionally. Since they’re just like slaves, they’re called ghost slaves. However, they’re not as terrifying as malicious ghosts. That being said, they are still a great threat to you ordinary people… Cough, cough. This ghost realm has only just appeared for a short period, and even a ghost slave has appeared. You’re really lucky to be able to walk out alive. But now’s not the time to talk about this. It’s good that you’ve appeared here,” Saying this, he took out something similar to a walkie-talkie.

“This is a satellite positioning phone. Take it and leave quickly. If you can leave this godforsaken place, someone will contact you later. Just tell the person who contacted you the truth about the situation here,” Zhou Zhengdao had a pained expression on his face.

“Big brother, what about you?” Yang Jian asked.

Zhou Zhengdao said, “I’ve reached my limit. I used too much ghost power to hold that old man back just now. That thing is about to revive. Those who can control the ghost power are called ghost riders, but at the same time, the ghosts will gradually erode the people. For an existence like me who is neither human nor ghost, living in this world is a form of torture… … Ah!”

Before Zhou Zheng could finish, he suddenly screamed in pain and fell to the ground, writhing.

As he struggled, his large windbreaker flew open.

Yang Jian was shocked to see that under the windbreaker was a bulging belly that was bigger than a pregnant woman’s. The belly was somewhat translucent, and inside it was a baby the size of a three-year-old.

The baby’s body was greenish-black. Its hands had sharp fingernails while its eyes were as black as ink with no pupils. It wriggled and tore in the belly as if it wanted to rip the belly open and come out.

“What… What is this?”

“A ghost, ghost baby. That’s what it’s named in the files,” Zhou Zheng resisted the pain and explained, “At first, it was only the size of a thumb in my stomach. Every time I used the ghost power, it would grow. Even if I didn’t use the power, it would still grow. Everything in my stomach was eaten clean by it. Every day, I had to endure the pain of my body being eaten by it. Every night, I would be in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep… My body has almost been eaten clean by this ghost baby, and I’m only left with an empty stomach that’s merely skin. If it were any other ordinary person, they would have died long ago, but I just couldn’t die. To me, living is a kind of pain and torture, and death is a kind of relief.”

“Go, take this phone and leave,” Zhou Zheng threw the phone out and roared, “If you don’t leave Now, the ghost baby is coming out at any minute. At that time, there will be two ghosts here, and it will be even harder for you to leave.”

Yang Jian picked up the phone and looked at his pained expression. He could not help but touch the back of his hand. He had also experienced this kind of pain before.

Ghost rider?

Could it be that he had become like Zhou Zheng?

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. That old man’s level was too high. I’m not a match for that old ghost, so I wasn’t able to hold him off and bring you students out. You can only rely on yourselves from now on,” Seeing Yang Jian pick up his phone, a bitter smile appeared on Zhou Zheng’s face.

Yang Jian said, “Since you know so much, why did you stay in the beginning? If you were to leave this place earlier, you could definitely have left safely. There’s no need to stay and die with us.”

“It’s because I’m the person in charge of Dachang City. Only people like us can deal with ghosts. If we cower in fear of death, the world will be finished… I’m not doing this job for myself, but for the safety of this city,” The corner of Zhou Zheng’s mouth twitched. The pain was getting more and more intense. He could feel that he could no longer hold on.

Suddenly, he shouted, “What are you still standing here for? Go, go quickly.”

Yang Jian’s heart trembled. He did not dare to stay any longer. He gripped the phone in his hand tightly and turned around to run.

“Oh right, be careful of that student called Fang Jing in your class. I met him earlier. He’s very strange and abnormal… He doesn’t seem human, but I’m can’t say for sure. You’d better stay away from him. I’ve already recorded everything about him. Someone will investigate him in the future. Also, don’t believe his nonsense about the future. No one can return from the future to the present. The research institute has done such experiments,” Amidst the writhing in pain, Zhou Zheng shouted.

“What?” Yang Jian looked back in surprise.

“Ah!”

As soon as he turned back, he heard a scream. He saw Zhou Zheng’s belly being torn open, and a greenish-black baby’s arm stretched out. Then, the tear grew bigger and bigger… … The ghost baby’s head poked out of the tear and it looked around curiously like a newborn child.

However, its pitch-black eyes revealed an eerieness and its evil nature.

Run!

Yang Jian was shocked and quickly turned around to run.

“Waah…”

As soon as he walked down the stairs, the creepy wails of the ghost baby echoed in the corridor behind him, as if it was announcing its arrival and appearance to the world.

The ghost baby slowly climbed out of Zhou Zheng’s body, and Zhou Zheng’s high and bulging belly quickly withered like a deflated balloon.

No blood flowed out, and no internal organs could be seen. What was left were only some blackened skin and flesh.

It was just as he had said before. His internal organs had long been eaten up by the ghost baby.

“Dad, Mom, I… I’m sorry…” Zhou Zheng’s eyes gradually lost their luster and became dim. His head turned to the side and his life force disappeared, but his eyes were staring straight at the ghost baby that was slowly climbing in the direction Yang Jian had left.

The fourth floor, the third floor…

“This is great. I’m not lost,” At this moment, Yang Jian was rapidly walking down the stairs. He was pleasantly surprised.

That was because he found that the stairs were no longer shrouded in darkness. Although it was dark, everything could be seen clearly. The ghost-like situation where they couldn’t find the way out from before also didn’t happen.

There was no darkness, and he didn’t get lost. If everything remained normal, it would only take a few minutes to leave the school.

However, when he reached the second floor, he saw Zhang Wei, Miao Xiaoshan, and a few other students walking back and forth in the corridor with terrified expressions. They were holding their cell phones in their hands, and the lights were turned on. They walked from one end of the corridor to the other end, then, they turned around and walked back again.

They had gone back and forth several times as if they were being trapped by something and could never leave.

“No, that’s not right. It’s not that the ghost realm has disappeared, nor is it that the darkness has receded. It’s that I can see through all of this…” Yang Jian’s expression changed slightly as he looked at the red eyeball on the back of his hand.

Could this be the ability of a ghost rider?

In that case, this eyeball was also… a ghost.

He recalled what Zhou Zheng had said earlier. The ghost baby in his stomach had only been the size of a fingernail at the beginning, but it had grown to that size later on.

If that was really the case, what would the ghost eyeball turn into in the end?

Would it also turn into a malicious ghost that would devour him?

Thinking of Zhou Zheng’s previous situation, Yang Jian felt a chill run down his spine. He could not help but shudder as he looked at the eyeball on the back of his hand. There was only fear in his eyes.

The joy of seeing through the ghost realm instantly vanished completely.

“Even if I will be killed by this eyeball, that will be in the future. The most important thing now is to leave this place,” Yang Jian gritted his teeth to prevent his thoughts from running wild. Then, he strode toward Zhang Wei and the others.

However, in the eyes of Zhang Wei and the others, there was only darkness around them.

The lights on the phone could only light a one-meter radius. Anything further was a blur.

“Zhang Wei, we have already walked for half an hour. If we still can’t get out, will we be trapped here for the rest of our lives?” Miao Xiaoshan, one of the classmates, said nervously.

“Zhou Zheng had said this is a ghost realm. Do you guys know what a ghost realm is? Could there really be a ghost? Could what happened in the classroom be a supernatural incident? If there really is a ghost, we might not be able to leave,” Another student said carefully.

Zhang Wei said seriously, “Don’t worry. How can we be trapped here forever? That’s impossible. Believe me, we’ll be starving to death here in a few days. We won’t need to spend our whole lives here.”

“…”

How can you still be saying such sarcastic words at such a time?

Suddenly.

“Ta ta, ta ta!” A series of footsteps came from the darkness.

“Who, who’s in front?” Zhang Wei instantly became nervous. The others were also jittery and trembling in fear.

“Don’t be nervous. It’s me, Yang Jian,” Yang Jian’s voice came from the darkness.

“Stop, don’t, don’t come over. You say you’re Yang Jian, but can you prove it? What if you’re a ghost?” Zhang Wei said.

Yang Jian said, “Zhang Wei, look at the time and place and stop being so long-winded, can you? It’s very dangerous here. I can bring you guys out. If you follow me, you won’t get lost.”

He was here to save Zhang Wei and the others. If he didn’t save them, these people would definitely die here. Although he had a grudge against Fang Jing, it had nothing to do with them.

In addition, two malicious ghosts had appeared in the ghost realm. The degree of terror would be unimaginable..