Chen Ge had his own way of thinking. Using violence to counter violence was the simplest approach, but to truly earn the school's will and be accepted by all those despairing children, brute force alone wouldn't be enough.
"It might not work, but it's worth a try."
Leaving the classroom, Chen Ge walked down the long corridor carrying two backpacks. Students on either side were hurrying to their classes, while he alone strolled at a leisurely pace, unhurried and carefree.
"Excuse me, do you know where the infirmary is?" The students at this school were far from friendly. Chen Ge had to ask several of them before someone finally agreed to lead the way.
"You're the new transfer from Class Four, right? I passed by the guidance office earlier and heard the teachers and the dean talking about you. It sounded like they were planning to punish you." The girl guiding Chen Ge looked like she was in middle school, with a ponytail and plainly dressed.
"They're going to punish me?"
"Something about you ignoring school rules and hitting someone in class." As the girl spoke, she sneaked a curious glance at Chen Ge. "Is what they said true?"
"If I told you it was true, would you be scared?" Chen Ge kept a smile on his face. The school's teachers had their own way of handling things — he understood that, even if he didn't agree with it.
"Not at all. I actually think you did the right thing. Those guys hang out with the delinquents from outside the school, turning everything to mess. They should've been dealt with a long time ago!" The girl seemed to have been bullied herself. After talking for a while, she quietly moved closer to Chen Ge. "I hope you'll be okay this time."
"Hey, we've never met before, have we?" Chen Ge felt something off about the girl's behavior — it was almost as if she were deliberately trying to win him over. "Is there something else you want to tell me?"
A flicker of panic crossed the girl's eyes, but she quickly composed herself. "The truth is, I don't really have any friends. In my class, everyone laughs at me and torments me for all sorts of reasons. So I thought maybe we could become friends — that way, if they pick on me again, at least I'd have someone to talk to."
The girl wasn't a good liar. When she said those last few lines, her gaze drifted involuntarily elsewhere, and deep in her eyes lurked a vicious resentment.
That hatred had nothing to do with Chen Ge. She probably wanted to get back at everyone who had bullied her.
"Sorry, I'm used to being alone." Chen Ge knew the girl didn't genuinely want to befriend him — she was just looking for someone who could protect her.
"It's okay." Disappointment the girl couldn't quite hide flickered in her eyes, but she still led Chen Ge to the infirmary door.
"This is it. I need to get back to class." The girl retraced her steps, and after a few paces, she suddenly turned her head back toward Chen Ge. "Oh, I forgot — my name is Ying Hong. Maybe we can talk again sometime."
She forced out a smile, then jogged away.
"Even a fake smile when she's unhappy is that sweet. This girl would make a perfect front-desk host for a haunted house. What a waste."
Chen Ge pushed open the infirmary door. The curtains swayed. Blood-red mist curled around his body, and everything in the room was hazy, obscured from view.
"Is anyone here?"
The infirmary in this haunted school was enormous, made up of four connected rooms.
The outermost one was the consultation room, the smallest in area, furnished with two desks and two shelving units stocked with all manner of supplies.
"This school infirmary feels more like a private hospital. How many students does it see every day?"
The walls were blood-red, with fine threads of crimson crawling through them like worms. A white coat hung in the corner, but no doctor could be seen.
Chen Ge walked to the desk. Spread open on the wooden surface was a bound set of patient records, documenting the conditions of certain students and the doctors' treatment plans.