CH 3

“The first to die are the children and the elderly, because they simply can’t run fast enough, and even if they don’t become scapegoats, they will eventually die in the world of horror.” In the dark corridor, Bai Gu slowed his pace, for he did not know what would appear ahead.

“Then there are the cowardly people with poor physical strength, who will eventually become a liability over time. Even if an evil person like Zhang Biao can’t scare ghosts, he at least has some physical strength, so he’s still a somewhat useful scapegoat, so maybe we can escape from this world together.”

“Oh, all this is what the person I met in the last world told me.” A crazed expression had appeared on Bai Gu’s demure face, “So the moment we escaped from the village, I slit his throat with my knife and used him to block the last of the evil spirits in the village. Green is born of blue but it still beats blue1 . You guys, do you think I am green?”

“You’re a lunatic.” Even Zhang Biao, who had been licking the edge of the knife2 to get by, couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of such a man, “If you say that now, I can put you down here in the next second and take this young master away with me!”

“Where can you escape to? Either stay here and wait for death or follow me to find an escape, you don’t have a choice at all, he he he he he he……”

“It’s the mirror.” Su Qingxing stopped in his tracks and the otherwise dark corridor lit up. The dim light and the thick fan of his eyelashes made it hard to see his eyes, and a large, ordinary and outdated mirror appeared at the end of the corridor.

“Here it is.”

Watching Bai Gu and Zhang Biao walk forward, Su Qingxing followed them, somewhat curious about what the scene reflected in the mirror actually looked like.

Bai Gu dragged the two men over to the mirror, but the reflection in the mirror was not just of three people.

“Mr. Bai.” Su Qingxing’s voice came from behind Bai Gu, and his already cold voice felt even more ethereal in this corridor, “You just let go of my hand, so ….. who is the person holding your right hand?”

“What?!”

Bai Gu subconsciously looked at the mirror in front of him at this moment.

In the mirror, Bai Gu and Zhang Biao were standing side by side, and behind them was Su Qingxing, who was standing against the wall, as well as countless other dead souls!

Each of the dead souls was wearing the same white school uniform as the half-mutilated female ghost, but some of the uniforms had been stained red with dripping blood, and many of the ghosts had the same body mutilations as the female ghost, some with arms missing, some with a leg missing, some with a large chunk of their body mutilated …… and all of the lost body parts were scattered randomly in the corridor, blood flowing all over the floor ……

Bai Gu and the others, it was by stepping on the countless wreckage in this corridor that they had made it all the way here!

What made Bai Gu and Zhang Biao unable to move was that the one Bai Gu was holding in his right hand was not that beautiful and delicate teenager at all, but an evil ghost lacking a head!

Zhang Biao grit his teeth to death and held back his screams, but he was scared enough to piss his pants at the sight of it!

“Run to the top of the stairs!” Remembering his previous experience of going downstairs, Bai Gu panicked and flung his hands away, running upstairs with his eyes closed.

Because both Bai Gu and Zhang Biao were too flustered, they didn’t even notice that the Su Qingxing in the mirror was a little different.

Although Su Qingxing was standing right next to the wall, the ghosts all over the corridor were standing half a meter away from him, not touching his clothes at all.

Footnotes:

1. 青出于蓝 qīng chū yú lán lit. green is born of blue, but beats blue (idiom); fig. the student becomes superior to the master; same as couplet 青出於藍,而勝於藍|青出于蓝,而胜于蓝

2. licking the edge of the knife: doing violent deeds

3. 公报私仇: gōng bào sī chóu: to use public office to avenge private wrongs. Basically, ZB is telling him that the most probable way SQX can exact his revenge is by complaining to a person of authority.

4. 声音灌着风 Shēngyīn guànzhe fēng: the literal meaning. Zhang Biao’s voice was touched by the wind from the storm outside. I couldn’t think of a better way to rephrase it. Suggestions are welcome.

5. Tomb sweeping day. This day, people visit their ancestors, sweep their tombs and make ritual offerings.