Once he'd made up his mind, Chen Ge stopped dwelling on it and led the Red-clothed ghosts in a mad dash northward through the Ghost School.
The blood-red city was extremely dangerous, but danger and opportunity coexisted—within that city lay many things of great help to Red-clothed ghosts and vengeful spirits. That monster from just now, for instance.
But monsters like the one they'd just encountered weren't exactly common.
Outside the teaching building, the Painter and the man wreathed in blood mist were still locked in combat. Chen Ge seized the opportunity to cross the Ghost School and reach the northern side of the campus.
Zhang Ju and the others had made quite a commotion fighting those monsters, so tracking them down was easy.
"Zhang Ju! Zhu Long!"
Blood threads crept along the corridor, and a pungent stench flooded his nostrils. Accompanied by the steady drip of flowing blood, Chen Ge arrived at a certain study room door flanked by several Red-clothed ghosts.
"Teacher Bai?!"
Seeing Chen Ge in his current state, Zhang Ju and Zhu Long felt tears prick their eyes. This was what they meant by hardship revealing true loyalty.
"Don't be afraid—I'm here to rescue you!" Chen Ge didn't bother with any elaborate speech. He simply stated the facts: "This place isn't safe. Grab all the children inside and we'll leave together!"
"Got it!"
Zhang Ju, Zhu Long, and Zhou Tu were all Red-clothed ghosts. Wang Yicheng was a half-body Red-clothed ghost. Unfortunately, Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng had both lost the ability to fight, leaving the entire northern section to be held up by Zhang Ju and Zhu Long alone.
The two groups successfully regrouped, and the number of Red-clothed ghosts around Chen Ge once again increased—to a truly terrifying extent.
"After you left the library, why didn't you wait for me? How did you end up on the north side of the Ghost School?" Chen Ge had been curious about this the whole time. He didn't believe Zhang Ju and the others would have abandoned him.
"We were ambushed. The moment we left the east-west campus divide, someone was lying in wait—it seemed to be someone arranged by the Painter. They were also a Red-clothed ghost," Zhang Ju said in a low voice. "I couldn't handle them alone. Fortunately, Zhu Long came out of the mirror again. The one who attacked us wasn't expecting us to have two Red-clothed ghosts. He froze for a moment, then started to flee. We gave chase and ended up all the way at the north side of the Ghost School."
"And then? Where did he go now?" There were hidden Red-clothed ghosts still inside the Ghost School, and this caught Chen Ge's attention. If Zhang Ju and Zhu Long hadn't emerged from the mirror first—if Chen Ge had come out alone—the consequences would have been unthinkable.
The opponent had been prepared in advance. Very likely, before Chen Ge could even summon Xu Yin, he would have been killed in a single blow.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.
"Don't worry about that—the guy is now…" Zhang Ju and Zhu Long both pointed at their own stomachs. "In here."
"That's not what I'm worried about. There's another Red-clothed ghost lying in ambush on the escape route Chang Wenyu arranged for me. That means someone leaked the secret." Chen Ge waved his hand, dropping the subject. "The Painter is an incredibly difficult opponent. We're lucky that the one who has to face him right now isn't us."
Chen Ge glanced out the window. His personal list of enemies he least wanted to face had just grown by one—besides Doctor Gao, the Painter's name now needed to be added.
"People like that would make great friends. But becoming friends with them won't be easy."
Doctor Gao wanted to resurrect the dead; the Painter wanted to build a paradise behind the gates. Their ambitions were stranger than one another.
Having successfully rescued the trapped students, when Chen Ge returned to the center of the Ghost School with Zhang Ju and Zhu Long, Director Lei finally shut his mouth.
"I won't force any of you to make a choice, but I'll do everything I can to help. That said, my ability is limited—I can't do much. I can only save those close to me." Chen Ge had rescued the students in the northern part of the school, earning him the recognition of many. Quite a few more wanted to follow him.