Whoosh—
The giant, who had been curled up blocking the hallway, had been dragged across the floor by Firefly until he lay prone. Though he still took up considerable space, the gaps between his limbs were now wide enough to squeeze through without much trouble.
"Uh... Peace Dove, you..." Soup Dumpling stammered, her face a mask of bewilderment.
"Didn't I tell you? I took care of all the monsters in the classrooms, and this one too," Firefly replied, pointing at the giant before them.
Soup Dumpling's brain nearly short-circuited. The scene before her felt straight out of a fantasy novel, but at this point, disbelief was no longer an option. "So, Peace Dove, you're actually super strong?!"
"Are you an Evolver?"
"Tell me everything! How did you defeat those monsters? Magic? Or some kind of Super Ability?"
After the initial shock and mental overload wore off, excitement naturally bubbled up. In this terrifying environment, what could be more reassuring than having a teammate with such formidable combat prowess?
"Um..." Firefly had almost forgotten that Soup Dumpling was a Social Butterfly and chatterbox. While mentally scrambling for answers, she tugged Soup Dumpling's hand and started moving forward.
-
Meanwhile, the perspective shifts to Lü Heng, who is currently hiding in a stall in the women's restroom on the sixth floor of the teaching building. He's certainly not a pervert; he's here solely because he found himself being hunted down shortly after separating from the others.
His pursuer is a female ghost dressed in white, with long, seaweed-like black hair completely obscuring her face—a classic female ghost image straight out of a horror film.
But don't assume this "common" type of spirit is weak. On the contrary, this female ghost possesses a wide array of abilities, including but not limited to: phasing through walls, flying, creating illusions, inducing terror, generating solid ice, and draining life force.
Lü Heng knows this all too well because she's already used every one of these abilities on him.
Shortly after parting ways with the group, as Lü Heng was pondering what a janitor should do in this situation, the female ghost suddenly emerged from the wall beside him. If not for his lightning reflexes, he might have met his end right there.
Even so, a mere graze from the female ghost had left Lü Heng's right arm nearly paralyzed. His forearm pulsed with an eerie purple hue, as if a million needles were relentlessly stabbing him.
After the ambush, Lü Heng bolted, the female ghost pursuing him through the air. She attempted to block his path with ice, but Lü Heng's agility allowed him to evade each attempt. Frustrated, the ghost then tried to mentally assail him, amplifying his terror and conjuring vivid illusions to shatter his judgment.
Lü Heng's willpower was strong enough to withstand the fear, but the illusions proved far more perilous. Disorienting, ghost-wall-like landscapes materialized before him, leaving him utterly lost and unsure which way to flee. If the female ghost caught him now, death would be inevitable.
Desperate, Lü Heng had no choice but to use one of his "props": a feather radiating a soft glow.
Yes, it was a feather from Robin. The truth was, these feathers cost Robin almost nothing to produce. After the Martyr Incident, she had periodically brought bundles of them to the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations, storing them in the agency's underground warehouse.
Given their lightweight and practical nature, everyone at the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations carried a feather on them at all times. Now, it was finally proving its worth.
Harnessing the feather's amplifying effect, Lü Heng became completely immune to the fear and illusions the female ghost was inducing. Relying on his dramatically enhanced physical abilities, he shook off the ghost and hid.
The main problem was that who could have imagined meeting an online friend would lead to getting caught up in a Dimensional Rift Incident? As a result, Lü Heng had brought no weapons other than the feather, leaving him utterly helpless against the ghost.
In the toilet stall, he glanced at his purplish arm, enduring the excruciating pain as he racked his brain, trying to pinpoint when he might have violated the rules and become the target of this ghost's relentless pursuit.
But when he retraced his steps, the female ghost had appeared shortly after he separated from the others. He hadn't even had time to do anything wrong. Could it really be as simple as being hunted for being alone?
Lü Heng frowned deeply. If that were the case, he could simply try to regroup with the others. But if not, wouldn't leading the ghost to them be like inviting the enemy into the village?
Reality offered Lü Heng no time for contemplation. Suddenly, the temperature around him plummeted, and a bone-chilling cold seeped into his heart. In the next instant, a head completely obscured by hair emerged from the toilet stall. Lü Heng couldn't even tell if the creature was facing him or had its back turned.
Bang! Reacting swiftly, Lü Heng kicked open the stall door and sprinted out. "Sorry, I'm out of toilet paper! You'll have to use your hand!" he shouted.
Uttering this bizarre excuse, he leaped sideways to avoid an ice spike that suddenly materialized beneath his feet. Since the stairwell was right outside the bathroom, his leap carried him directly onto the stair railing. With a swift flip and spin, he slid down to the fifth floor.
Now, a grave dilemma confronted Lü Heng: should he seek out his teammates?
If he didn't, he was unlikely to survive this encounter alone. But if he did, two possibilities loomed: either the danger would be neutralized, or the female ghost would target them all, turning their escape into a collective nightmare.
In reality, Lü Heng felt the second possibility was far more likely than the first. The idea that simply being alone would violate the rules and trigger a pursuit seemed absurd. If that were the case, wouldn't his role as a cleaner be a guaranteed death sentence from the start?
He still believed he must have inadvertently done something else to trigger this pursuit.
The thought flashed through his mind as he slid down the stairs to the third floor. He stopped running and turned toward the third-floor corridor. After narrowly dodging a few more ice spikes, his vision began to blur.
"Damn it... another illusion?"
"Is this... the end?"
Just then, he suddenly spotted two figures—two girls strolling leisurely down the third-floor corridor as if out for a casual walk.