The last classroom was one that even
Something strange seemed to have seeped into the air. Walking through the classroom felt like being thrown into deep water — there was a constant, indescribable pressure bearing down from all sides, making even breathing difficult.
"Youliang, how about I wait for you outside?" The classroom was even creepier than the hallway. Zhu Jianing stood behind Fei Youliang, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead.
"What did we say before coming to this haunted house? We stick together, in and out — and you're already chickening out at the very start?" Fei Youliang's mood was growing increasingly irritable. Those dark school uniforms hanging around were clearly just ordinary clothes, nothing like the costume props on a horror movie set, yet their complete lack of anything abnormal was precisely what made him unwilling to get close.
Zhu Jianing, oblivious to the fact that his partner was already rattled, asked cautiously in a low voice, "Where do you think the haunted house actors might be hiding? Could they suddenly burst out from under the uniforms?"
"Hard to say. That's usually how normal haunted houses work." Fei Youliang shuffled off the podium, clenching his fists. He walked between the rows of desks, and nothing terrifying happened. "Doesn't seem like anyone's in here."
"If there are no hidden actors, why go to all this trouble setting up the scene? Carving all those bloody words on the desks, and deliberately placing old school uniforms everywhere." Zhu Jianing finished speaking and glanced at the door beside him. "Also, the classroom door just opened on its own earlier, like someone was luring us in."
"Probably just the wind." Fei Youliang turned and glared at Zhu Jianing. "You've got time to run your mouth — you'd be better off coming in here and looking for passages and mechanisms."
"Don't be angry, I was just trying to help you analyze things!" Zhu Jianing walked toward the other side of the classroom. He was a burly guy, and as he passed a seat in the middle of the room, he accidentally knocked a school uniform off the back of the chair.
He didn't pay it any mind, didn't bother picking it up — he just stepped right on top of the uniform and walked to the back door of the classroom. "Honestly, there's nothing to be scared of. I thought something might suddenly jump out when I walked past the desks…"
Halfway through his sentence, Zhu Jianing's voice trailed off. When he turned around, he realized the classroom looked exactly the same as before — nothing had changed at all.
"When I walked past, I think a school uniform fell on the floor. Youliang, did you pick it up?"
"A uniform fell on the floor? How come I didn't see it?" Fei Youliang was on the other side of the classroom, several desks' worth of distance between them.
"An illusion?" Zhu Jianing retraced his steps and stopped beside the desk in the middle of the room. "I'm sure this is the uniform that fell."
He picked it up and shook it a few times. A strange smell wafted out — something resembling the stench of fish.
"Weird." Zhu Jianing tossed the uniform onto the desk, crouched down, and began checking the surroundings for any hidden mechanisms.
He shook the desks and chairs — everything seemed normal. Just as he was about to give up, the sound of marbles clinking together came from inside a desk drawer.
"There's something in there?" Zhu Jianing bent over, bracing one hand on the floor as he pressed his face close to the drawer opening.
The pitch-black drawer was stuffed with exam papers and textbooks.
"Why would it make a marble-clinking sound? Does this drawer have a false bottom?" He peered into the dark drawer and reached in to pull out the waste paper inside. The moment he moved one sheet aside, he suddenly saw two round, glassy eyes staring dead at him from behind the paper!
"Shit!"
The sudden scare sent the half-crouched Zhu Jianing toppling backward. His scalp went numb with terror, and he crashed into two desks in succession.