Chen Ge's gaze swept across every student's face. He raised his student ID high above his head. "I'm a member of this school too. My power alone is limited—I can't change every single one of you. But I'll keep trying. Even if just one more person agrees with me, that's enough."
Everything he said was something the ghost school's teachers had never taught. In this school, the children were gradually growing numb, unable to see what they truly needed. The school's will was made up of every single one of them, yet at the same time, each of them was nothing more than an insignificant fraction of that will.
Unable to change anything, powerless to struggle—they could only become the same kind, surviving beneath the shadow of the school's will.
Chen Ge said a great deal, but expecting to win everyone over with just a few words was practically impossible. Still, it wasn't entirely without effect. Some students were thinking it over, while the expressions on others' faces slowly froze, as though they had recalled something painful.
"People often tell me to be content with the way things are—to hide inside a carefully woven shell so I can enjoy the warmth. Nobody cares what's outside the shell, because no matter what it is, the shell provides protection. No one inside can be hurt. But is that really true?" Chen Ge pointed at the blood mist drifting through the corridor. "While you've been hiding in your shells in silence, the poison outside has already seeped in—bit by bit, crawling into your bodies. By the time you truly realize it, it will be too late. You'll never be able to find salvation. Hope will become a luxury, and all you can do is watch as your bodies are slowly devoured. The shell you refused to leave behind will become the grave that buries you."
Stepping forward, Chen Ge began walking toward the girls' dormitory. Behind him stretched a long line of those who supported him—a crowd so large that even the teachers led by Director Lei didn't dare underestimate.
If it came to a head-on confrontation, their odds of winning were slim. After all, the true owners of this ghost school were those despairing children.
"This school still hides many secrets, but I no longer have the time to explore them one by one. Before Chang Wenyu and the Painter settle their score, I need to gather as much strength as I can."
Chen Ge didn't care about any restricted zones. All he knew was that a place like that concealed Zhang Ya's past. Perhaps Zhang Ya had existed from the very moment the door to Xicheng Private Academy was first opened, and that girls' dormitory was the place she had once stayed.
"Turning souls into candy, crafting obsessions into dolls, sealing vengeful ghosts inside chairs—these descriptions do sound a lot like Zhang Ya. But I believe she had her own reasons." Chen Ge stopped with Xu Yin and the Headless Female Ghost before the students blocking his path. "I'm not asking you to support me. If you think what I'm saying makes sense—if you've been unhappy in this school, if you've been bullied too—then please, don't stand in my way."
What Chen Ge had said before was something they had never heard anyone say before.
And why would they have? In this blood-red ghost school behind the door, someone was actually foolish enough to cling to hope—to try to bring happiness to souls burdened by obsession? To find salvation?
In their eyes, that was nothing short of a fairy tale. The students wearing the darker uniforms of the upper grades had long since abandoned such thoughts. The longer they stayed in the ghost school, the more clearly they understood: this place held no hope whatsoever. It was nothing more than a nightmare filled with despair—one they could never escape.
Among the crowd, someone was the first to step aside. Then more and more people moved out of the way. Whether they feared the red-clothed ghosts behind Chen Ge, believed what he had said, or perhaps both—they parted the road.
As the students in dark uniforms stepped aside, a deep rumbling sound came from outside the ghost school, as though thunder echoed from within the blood mist.
The surrounding blood mist surged toward Chen Ge, clinging to the surface of his body as though trying to burrow inside—only to discover that Chen Ge was not a vengeful spirit, and could not enter his body.
"The school's will has changed again. Is it because more and more students are agreeing with me?"
Chen Ge understood perfectly well. The ghost school's will was composed of the will of each individual student. To change the students' will was to change the school's will.
The students didn't block him. This was somewhat beyond Director Lei's expectations. Watching Chen Ge about to leave, he shouted, "The girls' dormitory is a restricted zone! You claim you're doing this for the children of this school—opening the restricted zone is your way of saving them? Opening the restricted zone will bring salvation?"
Chen Ge ignored Director Lei entirely. Seeing this attitude, Director Lei grew even angrier. "The most terrifying monsters and the most vicious curses are hidden in the restricted zone! If you open it, you'll get yourself killed, and you'll drag everyone else down with you! They trust you so much, and yet you're leading them to their deaths?"
The school teachers were enforcers of the ghost school's rules. They would try to stop Chen Ge—this was something Chen Ge had already anticipated.
"Then do you dare make a bet with me? If I walk out of the restricted zone unharmed, you stop getting in my way from now on—and drop that nonsense about me getting people killed." Chen Ge stopped and glanced back at Director Lei.
"And if you lose?" Director Lei had a volatile temper, though he had restrained himself considerably in dealing with Chen Ge.
"If I lose, it means I died inside the restricted zone. Whether I bet or not won't matter anymore." Chen Ge's words had a certain logic to them. Before Director Lei could answer, he had already walked off into the distance.
Passing through the corridor blocked by the upperclassmen, Chen Ge entered the girls' dormitory. On the fourth floor, the path ahead was sealed off by a pile of junk, and a wooden board stood nearby with "NO ENTRY" written on it.
Peering through the gaps in the clutter, in the middle of the pitch-dark corridor sat a light-red chair.
The chair was positioned right in the center of the hallway, as though an invisible person sat upon it.
"Come on. Let's go in and take a look." The scene before him bore a striking resemblance to what Chen Ge had seen the first time he visited Xicheng Private Academy.
"Looks like I've come to the right place." Everyone had their secrets, and Zhang Ya was no exception. She was shrouded in countless mysteries, and the more he learned, the more curious Chen Ge became.
"Devastatingly beautiful, terrifyingly powerful, and with a mysterious past—and a girl like this sought me out specifically…" Chen Ge had Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin clear away the junk, and the group stepped onto the fourth floor of the girls' dormitory.
They had only walked a few steps when someone gently tapped Chen Ge on the shoulder. He turned to find Xu Yin looking at him.
"What's wrong?"
Having recovered his heart, Xu Yin's expressions had gradually returned. He quickened his pace and moved to the front of the group.
He didn't say a word, but Chen Ge understood what Xu Yin meant—this place felt dangerous to him, so he had taken the initiative to lead the way.