Is it really this low-key, not even on the food delivery app?
But I guess I missed it today, right? Even if I can find it, I've wasted so much time, they probably have already closed.
Sighing, Gu Mo searched for his residence's location, looked at the route back, and couldn't help but frown slightly. Did he unknowingly walk this far? It seemed like just walking back would take nearly half an hour.
But there's no helping it; he carefully chose the most optimal route, turned on navigation, spun around a few times to calibrate the direction, and started walking again.
Returning with full resentment and disappointment...
A terrible day.
......
About ten minutes later.
"It seems like I'm walking into more and more remote areas..."
Gu Mo walked along the long slope, muttering in confusion. He looked down at his phone's map navigation and then looked around. The winding, spacious road extended like a snake, bathed in the soft glow of streetlights. The granite wall on the right appeared solid and thick, and the sprawling forest outside the slope was silent in the late night.
The greenery is quite nice. I really didn't know there was a place like this here.
But at this time, it genuinely feels like a horror movie setting, especially since I'm the only one on this road.
I don't know if it's an illusion, but Gu Mo couldn't shake the feeling that the air around him was steadily getting colder, not just the physical temperature, but also an eerie chill that crept into his mind.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, he gazed at the group of buildings standing ahead on the winding slope, then turned his eyes to the heavy granite wall beside him. There was a bronze plaque embedded there, which seemed to be a roadside marker indicating what lay ahead.
— "Miyagi Prefecture Shizawa Third High School."
Huh? I initially thought it was a park or a tourist attraction up ahead, but it's a school?
And I haven't heard of this school's name before.
Gu Mo searched his memory carefully and confirmed there was no impression of it at all. Moreover, the style of the name seemed off, given that names like "City High School," "No. 1 High School," or "No. 2 High School" were the familiar, comforting formats he knew well.
This "Miyagi Prefecture Shizawa Third High School" seemed quite incongruous, completely different in style, like a flamboyant demon.
What is Miyagi? And what's Shizawa County?
A village in a city? Or a brand name sponsored by some company?
A series of questions surfaced in his mind. Gu Mo reaffirmed his route; it indeed was the shortest distance, basically a straight line, though it required passing through the campus to take a shortcut... well, since the map showed it this way, it couldn't be wrong.
Relieved, he continued walking forward.
The eerie chill in the air lingered. There seemed to be a pressure emanating from all directions, as if something were lurking within the twilight of the intermingled streetlight and shadows... Gu Mo didn't quite like this feeling, but he wasn't a child anymore, so he naturally knew it was just his imagination.
However.
A few more minutes passed, and as he approached very close to the main buildings of the school, passing by the road in front of the school gate, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him tremble, as if the source of the tremor was the nearby school.
Gu Mo curiously turned his head toward the school, noticing that the entire school building was in complete darkness. What was that noise just now?
Could it be some recent major repair or construction project at the high school? But at this time, there's no reason for construction work to be going on so late at night, right?
......
"Is the talisman paper so easy to peel off?"
"No... A human without Curse Power can't do that! That's usually the case!"
Under the night sky, two people who appeared to be high school students were running wildly down the long winding slope. The one in front, dressed in black, was starting to pant slightly, while the one behind seemed to be doing fine, even having extra energy to ask questions that puzzled him.
"Take the right side, shortcut!" The boy at the back glanced at the road ahead, estimated the time it would take to reach the school, and familiar with the terrain, decisively made a choice.
The black-clad high schooler in front had no objections and quickly followed.
"The content this time is too powerful, and the seal is as weak as paper due to age..."
"But hearing you talk about 'curses' and such, I still find it hard to imagine..."
Both of them had remarkable physical strength, rapidly approaching their destination while exchanging information and opinions swiftly.
......
On the other side.
"It's all fake, it's all fake..."
Gu Mo murmured, forcing himself to stay calm and face the scenes unfolding before him.
In front of him, the once solid ground seemed to melt, transforming from a solid state to something liquid-like. So, in his eyes, the entire world started to warp, absurd and ridiculous; roads became rivers with black vapor, and the ground turned into an expanse covered in swirling purple-black whirlpools...
In this nightmare-like "sea," several strange "things" swam around, hard to see clearly, yet their displayed "ID" and "health bar" asserted their existence distinctly.
"??? (100%)"
"??? (100%)"
"??? (100%)"
And behind the health bars, they were mostly followed by a skull icon, the bright red color carrying a sense of foreboding.
In this disordered hallucinatory vision, they were indeed embodiments of nightmares, just as if in a suffocating abyssal sea, a dark, lightless world, he alone floated on the surface, with enormous shadows gliding underneath...
Well then, faced with such a sudden scene change and the entire world being overturned without warning, Gu Mo's response was fairly calm. He wasn't pale-faced or trembling with fear. Although he couldn't maintain an impassive gaze as if Mt. Tai were collapsing before him, he was pretty close.
He just watched like that.
"There's nothing left to fear..."
After all, knowing that it's all fake, just hallucinations caused by his spirit, what's left to fear? Besides, he's already determined to return to the world of normal people no matter what, absolutely refusing to easily give in...
Boom!!
A strong oppressive feeling brought about a tangible wind pressure. A huge shadow leapt from the "water" like a whale, shrouded in black vapor, its massive form resembling a small mountain, and it looked grotesquely grotesque, as if it walked out of a nightmare.
Then, like a signal, other huge shadows surfaced from the ground one after another!
Gigantic, protruding exposed eyeballs...
Chaotic, waving black tentacles...
Dense insect legs...
And even human body parts like severed limbs, all manner of biological tissue haphazardly stitched to a bloated, stinking corpse, creating an image so revolting it defies description.
Moreover, blood and flesh were mangled, drenched in blood—
Especially various sticky green and black mucus, ceaselessly writhing and dripping, forming threads at the ruptured torn edges. This mucus mingled with unknown tissue fragments, along with some sort of yellow, green paste-like substance, churning within those open flower-like mouths—
Ultimately, along with the black vapor, they gushed forth like a fountain.
Perhaps due to psychological effect, there seemed to be a phantom stench rushing toward him...
"Damn!!"
Previously calm, Gu Mo's face changed drastically, and he turned to flee.
He could tolerate fake terror, but he couldn't stomach such vivid disgust—fighting was one thing, but what did a broom with shit even mean?