Blood mist poured into the boys' dormitory. The forbidden zone, once isolated by the ghost school's will alone, suffered severe damage.
Forgotten memories were reclaimed by their owners. Blood threads crawled across the crumbling walls, making this place no different from the rest of the haunted school.
"The girls' dormitory is just around the corner. That place was sealed off by the ghost school's will too — no one's ever set foot inside." Ying Hong kept more than a meter of distance between herself and
"It's fine. I know what I'm doing." Chen Ge's voice was so calm it was almost frightening.
"You're an outsider — how could you possibly know this school better than we do? You got lucky with the boys' dormitory, but some things go beyond luck. Breaking open the boys' dormitory has already triggered certain changes — the school's will is being affected. If you go opening forbidden grounds inside the girls' dormitory too, you might provoke the school's will and end up with every teacher and student in this place targeting you." Ying Hong tried to dissuade him in a low voice. She was normally the type to watch the show and wish for more drama, but around Chen Ge she didn't dare let her guard down for a second. This man didn't need anyone egging him on — he charged straight toward the most dangerous, most terrifying "bottomless abyss" all on his own. If she didn't try to hold him back, she herself would probably get dragged down with him.
"You all think you understand the ghost school's will, but so many years have passed and no new Door Opener has appeared. That means you've all been wrong about what the ghost school's will actually wants." Chen Ge spoke with absolute certainty.
"We don't understand the ghost school's will?" Ying Hong curled her lip. "The ghost school's will is made up of the individual wills of every student in this school. We are part of the ghost school's will — the ghost school's will is us. How could we not understand ourselves?"
"Sometimes the person who knows you best isn't necessarily you." Chen Ge's gaze shifted between Ying Hong and Ying Bai.
"Chen Ge, we're making way too much noise — it's bound to draw the ghost school's will's attention. If you keep going like this, getting out of here is going to be extremely difficult." The old principal was worried too. He felt that the more low-key they were, the better, but Chen Ge clearly had a different approach.
"The ghost school's will is about to have its hands full soon enough. Besides, everything we're doing is for its benefit. Before long, it will understand." Chen Ge said things that stunned everyone, then walked off toward the other side without looking back.
More than the boys' dormitory, the place he wanted to visit was the girls' dormitory. The reason was simple — it might hold something that
They reached the corridor corner, and before Chen Ge even entered the girls' dormitory, footsteps echoed from the far end of the hallway and from upstairs simultaneously. Many people were heading their way.
The impact of breaking open the boys' dormitory's forbidden zone was far greater than Chen Ge had anticipated.
Blood mist spread, and figure after figure materialized within it.
"
Chen Ge stepped back and stood alongside Xu Yin and the headless female ghost.
"So many people trying to stop me? Is the girls' dormitory really that important?" The stronger the ghost school's will reacted, the more it proved there was something wrong with the girls' dormitory — it might hide secrets connected to Zhang Ya.
This top-tier Red Dress who defied all reason seemed to share some kind of special connection with the four-star scenario — the Spiritual Medium's Ghost School.
Standing at the intersection of two corridors, Chen Ge looked up. On the left, ghost school teachers were rushing over in a hurry. On the right, senior students in dark school uniforms were advancing. Straight ahead, ordinary students poured down from the classrooms upstairs.
"Are you the one who tore down those wooden boards in the boys' dormitory?" a teacher demanded loudly.
"Yes." Chen Ge didn't deny it.
"Do you know that's a restricted area of the school? Students are forbidden from entering — even teachers can't just go in there freely."
"I know." Chen Ge's utterly indifferent attitude thoroughly enraged the teacher.
"You knowingly broke the rules! You—"
"I was only retrieving something my friend lost long ago. You say I knowingly broke the rules, but who decided the restricted area was off-limits? And who decided it was a restricted area in the first place?" From the very beginning, Chen Ge never felt he was doing anything wrong. He intended to upend this ghost school from its very foundations. Compared to that, the Painter and Chang Wenyu's antics were child's play — though no one had figured out Chen Ge's true intentions yet. Even if someone had, they probably wouldn't dare believe it.
"Are you questioning the school's will?" The second person to speak was someone Chen Ge had met before — Director Lei, the man he'd crossed paths with once.
"If it's wrong, why can't I question it? The school's will is made up of the wills of all the students in this ghost school, but what the majority clings to isn't always right. None of you dare resist — you follow blindly. Fine, then let me be the one to stand up." Chen Ge was like a traveler holding a torch high in the dead of night. The path he walked became the road for those who followed.
"Do you even know what you're saying?" Director Lei and the other teachers closed in on Chen Ge, and the atmosphere in the corridor turned oppressive in an instant.
"I know exactly what I'm saying, and I know exactly what I'm doing. I just want to leave you all a path toward change before I'm torn to pieces." Chen Ge turned his gaze toward the students who had gathered. "Are you really happy? In this ghost school built from children consumed by despair, you haven't found the slightest warmth from being among your own kind — instead, you yourselves are sliding toward the abyss! I've seen some of you transform from victims into bullies. You've started taking pleasure in other people's suffering. You're slowly becoming the very people you once despised most. And the truly terrifying part? If anyone dares to stand up and say no, they're defying the will of the entire school. That person brave enough to say no gets crushed until their soul is scattered to nothing."
"You're exaggerating," Director Lei said, frowning. He sensed that Chen Ge was different from every other ghost school student — difficult to deal with in a way he hadn't expected.
"That you, as a teacher here, still haven't noticed how serious things are — that alone shows just how dire the situation is." Protected by two Red Dresses, Chen Ge spoke with absolute confidence. He ignored Director Lei entirely and addressed the students instead: "Whether you still remember or not, every single one of you once lived through a dark past. Only people consumed by despair can enter this world behind the door. I don't know the purpose of the door's existence, but the Door Opener opens it — and the most likely reason is that what lies beyond holds the means to redeem them."
Chen Ge's voice wasn't loud, yet it reached every person's ears with perfect clarity: "This school was never meant to become what it is now. It was supposed to be a home that took you in, a place to help you escape despair. But look around — does this place look like a harbor where anyone can find peace?"
The students hadn't expected Chen Ge to say something like this. Many among them had fragmented memories, drifting through the ghost school in a daze.
"You can take your time thinking about what I've said. I know changing everyone's will is nearly impossible, but I won't give up." Chen Ge seemed utterly unfamiliar with the concept of fear. From the very start, his goal was never simply to gain the school's will's approval — it was to change the school's will itself.