Chen Ge spoke in a calm tone, as though what he was saying was nothing more than a trivial matter.
"It's perfectly normal for you to be afraid of the Painter and Chang Wenyu, since you've been living in the Ghost School all this time. But from my perspective — and that of any outsider — they're just two rather ordinary Red-clothed."
Hearing Chen Ge's words of comfort, Ying Hong and the other Ghost School students felt even worse.
"There's no such thing as an ordinary Red-clothed," Ying Hong muttered under her breath. She looked at Chen Ge and suddenly recalled something Director Lei had said before. Her gaze drifted involuntarily to Chen Ge's shadow.
She could sense that something was hidden within Chen Ge's shadow, but the aura was faint, and she couldn't make it out clearly.
"Forget it. I'll trust you this once." With that, Ying Hong ran over to Ying Bai and firmly grasped her hand.
"You—"
"No matter what happens next, don't let go of my hand. You need to understand — the only person in this world who truly has your best interests at heart is me." Ying Hong spoke to Ying Bai in a tone one might use when giving last instructions, which frightened Ying Bai witless.
The sounds of fighting never stopped coming from outside the Ghost School. Chen Ge appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly he was deeply unsettled.
He had called out Zhang Ya's name in his heart countless times, but received no response.
Without Zhang Ya, the Red-clothed he had with him could still put up a fight — but that was all. They could resist, nothing more.
"The dry well at Muyang holds the Painter's deepest secrets. He definitely knows it's there, so that route isn't safe enough. Besides, even if we left the Ghost School through the dry well, getting into the Third Sick Building through the Blood-colored City would be incredibly difficult." A large crowd of students had gathered around Chen Ge, and he had no confidence in leading them all out together.
If they really tried to go through the Blood-colored City, most of the students would probably have their souls scattered, buried in that city forever.
"The safest option is to wait — and let us take control of the situation."
The Ghost School was a four-star scenario, independent of the Blood-colored City. Now that the door had appeared, fewer secrets remained here while more and more had come to light, and Chen Ge's confidence was growing.
"Chen Ge, if I may — do you really think we can become the new masters of this place? Do you think we can do better than the Painter?" The old principal was uneasy. He was the eldest among them and the most level-headed. "The Painter's power is close to that of something beyond the Red-clothed, and he possesses such terrifying special abilities. Yet even he couldn't fully control the Ghost School or earn that door's approval. Do you think we can?"
The old principal had harbored these doubts for a long time but had never voiced them.
Chen Ge wanted him to become the principal of the Ghost School, but he was only a half-body Red-clothed. Forget comparing himself to the Painter — any Red-clothed around them could easily destroy him.
"The students entered the world behind the door out of desperation. They wanted salvation, not deception and concealment. The Painter's intentions were good, but he became too obsessive. There is no paradise behind the door, and once a false paradise is exposed, the consequences are even worse." Chen Ge glanced back at the old principal. "What we need isn't deception — it's to genuinely help those homeless children and turn this place into a home they can rely on."
"We're not building a paradise. We're just building a harbor where they can dock — a place to rest when they're tired. If they want to leave, no one will stop them. Most of life is pain and struggle. No one gets to do only what they want all the time — that's what a complete life looks like. We won't force changes on their lives. We'll just be there to support them when they're weary."
It was the first time the Red-clothed and vengeful spirits behind the door had heard anyone say things like this. They felt Chen Ge's words made a certain amount of sense, but upon closer reflection, something seemed slightly off.
"Very well." The old principal said no more, though a trace of worry still lingered in his eyes.
While Chen Ge and the others were discussing matters, the situation outside the Ghost School shifted once again.
The man hiding at the center of the storm was besieged on all sides. He had originally struck a deal with Chang Wenyu, but who could have known that at the most critical moment, Chang Wenyu would decisively betray him.
Everyone was out for their own interests. The relationship between these top-tier Red-clothed was nothing more than mutual exploitation. Trust and friendship — those things were rarer and more precious than diamonds behind the door.
"Chang Wenyu!"
The door he had yearned for was right before his eyes, yet he couldn't touch it. The man inside the blood-colored storm let out a hysterical roar, wishing he could tear Chang Wenyu to shreds.
"We are only one step away from becoming something beyond the Red-clothed. Whoever pushes open this door and becomes the true master of the Ghost School's will could ascend to that level." Chang Wenyu understood this perfectly well. "Do you think I'd let you become that? If you got your hands on this movable door, you'd use it to lure more and more children into the world behind the door, feeding on their despair and suffering to strengthen yourself."
"Isn't that exactly what the door is for? That world abandoned you, left you behind the door, bullied you, tortured you — and now you finally have a way to get back at them, to make them feel exactly what you felt. How can you not be tempted?!" The man in the blood-colored storm kept screaming. He had given up so much, yet now he had nothing to show for it and was in constant danger of losing his life.
"I still haven't figured out why this door appeared. Something like this should be destroyed." The characters on Chang Wenyu's back were imprinted into the door, and the once-ordinary door slowly turned red. Blood seeped through the cracks in its surface. "Look — no matter how cleverly this door hides itself, it still flows with the blood of the living. It's a monster that exists by feeding on despair and pain."
The cracks on the door's surface kept expanding. Every student in the Ghost School heard the wailing, but each heard a different sound — as if it were coming from the depths of their own hearts.
The door was screaming, tugging at the minds and spirits of every student in the Ghost School. The Painter was also affected to some degree.
Ever since the blood-colored mirror had shattered, the power he could draw upon had grown less and less. His enormous, terrifying body kept shrinking, and the arms on his back that once connected heaven and earth were slowly withering, trailing behind him lifelessly.
Chang Wenyu, on the other hand, seemed — perhaps because she had once left the Ghost School — not to rely on the door too heavily. She was not greatly affected at the moment; in fact, her aura was growing stronger.
"This door took you in when you were at your most desperate, and yet you want to destroy it. Without it, where would the desperate go to hide? Must they face that world head-on?" Though the Painter's strength had diminished, a light still gleamed within his dark eyes. It seemed that everything happening now was within his expectations.
A corner of the skin wrapped in blood threads was exposed, and the Painter looked toward Chang Wenyu.