"Wait for me!"
At the front of the group, Old
"Let's be friends! Be my friend!"
The piercing male voice hadn't faded—that student in the bizarre school uniform had burst out of the classroom right behind them!
"Wait up!" Liu Guangming, the oldest of the security guards, was carrying the camera. Hauling that heavy equipment, there was no way he could keep pace.
Slowly, a gap widened between Liu Guangming and the group ahead.
He was panicking inside, dying to toss the camera aside, but considering it cost tens of thousands and he'd have to pay for any damage, he clenched his teeth and ran over twenty meters with the thing clutched to his chest.
Not a single person ahead slowed down to wait for him. As they approached a fork in the corridor and his teammates were about to vanish from sight, Liu Guangming finally made up his mind.
"Money's not worth dying for!"
To minimize his losses, he slowed down, bent over, and set the camera on the ground.
But when he looked up again, that strangely uniformed student was almost on top of him.
"Let's be friends!"
The piercing voice echoed through his skull. Liu Guangming had never been this terrified in his entire life. Right now he was like a helpless child who didn't even dare to open his eyes.
His lips trembled. He wanted to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, all that came out was the sound of his teeth chattering.
"I—I—I'm sorry!"
Liu Guangming didn't even know why he was apologizing. He screamed at the top of his lungs and bolted alone into the corridor on the left.
"Don't come after me! There are six good friends on the right—just me on the left! Don't come after me!"
The male student paused at the fork when he saw the group split up, then decisively gave chase toward the larger cluster of people.
The piercing voice gradually faded, and Liu Guangming finally let out a breath of relief. "Thank god I've always been lucky. I can't stay here—I'll go hide outside instead. Kang-ge said if I can last the full sixty minutes, he'll send me a two-thousand-yuan bonus. Let me think… I just need to find somewhere inconspicuous and lay low a bit longer, and I should be fine."
He wiped the cold sweat off his face with his sleeve. Not daring to run aimlessly, he kept his back against the wall and prepared to retrace his steps.
"Carrying the camera around while hiding would be a hassle, and if it interfered with Kang-ge's livestream, that'd be even worse." Better not to court trouble—Liu Guangming didn't bother with the camera and jogged away.
When he returned to the original corridor, both the front and back doors of that eerie classroom were wide open, and faint, strange sounds still drifted from inside.
"This is my first time visiting a haunted house. You've all been very magnanimous, so please don't hold it against me. I'm a cowardly guy—just don't come out, I'm begging you!" He crept toward the classroom, trembling. Just as he was about to pass by, the TV screen inside suddenly flickered.
Liu Guangming's heart lurched. He threw both hands above his head. "I don't know anything! I'm just a security guard! Every grievance has its debtor—it was all Liu Kang's doing! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
He babbled incoherently and dashed past the classroom door.
Not daring to linger, Liu Guangming kept yelling "I'm sorry" all the way out of the school building.
He gasped for air, drenched in sweat—whether from the heat or from fear, he couldn't tell.
"I need to find somewhere to hide." Security guard Liu Guangming looked at the surrounding buildings. Each one was more sinister than the last; every corridor seemed to conceal vengeful ghosts. "How am I supposed to hide? It feels like they're everywhere."
He scanned the area, and his gaze finally settled on the green belt at the heart of the haunted school.
Called a "green belt"—a wild tangle of weeds would have been more accurate. All sorts of shrubs grew unchecked and unruly, and half-dead crooked trees jutted out at odd angles among them.
"The trees are practically dead and nobody's maintaining it—this green belt seems like a blind spot!" Liu Guangming's eyes lit up. He glanced left and right, confirmed no one was passing by, and darted into the thicket.
"Now this is the perfect hiding place! The haunted house staff would probably never think to look here even if they racked their brains." Liu Guangming felt a small swell of pride. He lay flat on the ground, about to gather some leaves to cover his conspicuously bald head, when he noticed a tree hollow ahead—and inside it, something seemed to be placed.
"What's that?" Liu Guangming crawled forward on his belly, inching toward the hollow. He reached his hand inside and pulled out a wooden box.
Lying on the ground, he opened the box—and to his surprise, inside was a blood-soaked oil painting, folded up neatly!