As soon as Li Xiu arrived at school, he realized that the atmosphere in the class was a little off.
It's too quiet.
It was so quiet that even the whispering and flipping sounds that should occur during morning self-study were muted.
He frowned and as soon as he entered the classroom, he saw someone lying on the table next to his seat.
Fang Qianan's figure was so recognizable that even though the boy had his face buried in his arms and didn't even raise his head, Li Xiu still recognized him at a glance.
Well, only this prince can be so unscrupulous and catch up on sleep during morning self-study without any psychological pressure.
Perhaps it was because of this reason that the other students in the class were worried about disturbing Fang Qianan, so they were so quiet?
Li Xiu casually glanced around the classroom and found that everyone's faces looked a little strange. Everyone stared blankly at the textbooks in their hands and didn't dare to say a word.
"…"
He withdrew his gaze, glanced at the top of Fang Qianan's head, and pursed his lips.
Why is this guy still here?
Li Xiu complained reluctantly in his heart.
When the boy thought about how Fang Qianan had interrupted his class yesterday, his mood fell into gloom.
Thanks to Fang Qianan's special phone call last night, Li Xiu hadn't slept well all night. His head felt heavy as if it were filled with lead, and he couldn't muster any extra energy. So, even if he disliked Fang Qianan, Li Xiu could only lower his eyes and feign indifference as he crossed the narrow aisle between Fang Qianan and his own seat and took his own seat.
There was no movement from Fang Qianan, he still looked like he was sleeping soundly.
Li Xiu glanced in his direction and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was still awake.
Well, at least now he doesn't have to deal with this young master.
Li Xiu found the unfinished test paper from yesterday in his schoolbag and did two pages. However, as he was doing it, he found that he could not concentrate.
The students in Class A1 seem a little too quiet today. This thought, like the dark clouds in the sky, swept through his mind.
Is Fang Qianan really that terrifying? How could he scare them so much that he wouldn't even gossip about last night's explosive news? Li Xiu pondered this while habitually glancing at the class schedule in the corner of the blackboard.
It says:
First lesson: English
Lesson 2: English
Lesson 3: English
Lesson 4: English
…
Li Xiu's pupils shrank slightly and he sat there for a moment.
He remembered clearly that today's class was not supposed to be a full day of English. Moreover, wasn't it said yesterday that Ouyang, who was in charge of English, had disappeared and might even have committed suicide?
Has the school found a substitute teacher?
However, even if there is a substitute teacher, why is today's class all day long in English?
Just as Li Xiu was thinking hard, the class bell suddenly rang.
In the silence of the classroom, the bell sounded particularly harsh. Then, a slender shadow walked in from outside the classroom directly at the sound of the bell.
It was Ouyang.
Ouyang, who confessed to molesting minors in a phone call last night and eventually committed suicide out of fear of punishment.
The man still looked familiar, with regular features and humorous and witty conversation.
Except that his face was a little too pale today, Ouyang looked no different from usual.
"Oh, today is all English classes. It looks like the students have a heavy workload today..."
Ouyang said with a smile.
There is a slight slur in speech.
His lips were a little purple, and Li Xiu didn't know if she was seeing things. In a quick glance, she seemed to see that Ouyang's teeth were all covered with black and red blood.
Li Xiu swallowed.
He couldn't help but look around him again and found that his classmates all looked calm.
They stared intently at the handsome, witty, and humorous internet-famous male teacher on the podium, without a trace of abnormality. If there was anything wrong, it was that they seemed to be taking the class more seriously than usual.
What the hell is going on...
Li Xiu felt dizzy and had a headache.
He hesitated for a long time before realizing that he might have been fooled by Fang Qianan.
That vague phone call yesterday was fake news, right?
What kind of boring and stupid joke is this?
No, that's not right. I'm afraid only a fool like me would believe what a bully says, right?
Li Xiu looked sharply at Fang Qianan beside him. The latter was still lying on the table motionless, without any movement.
He was sleeping soundly.
Just when Li Xiu was distracted by Fang Qianan, the pale-faced English teacher on the podium had already grinned and started teaching as usual.
"...Well, let's talk about the third reading question on yesterday's test today."
Hearing this, Li Xiu was stunned.
Normally, the exam would start with the basics, but why did Ouyang suddenly start talking about the reading questions today? Following Ouyang's request, Li Xiu looked at the test paper at hand.
The title of the English reading material used for the third reading question is "The Death Car".
The reading material wasn't difficult, and the English section, with its touch of pulp horror, was even quite entertaining. The story revolved around a couple who were driving at night when their car broke down in the heavy rain. The husband left the car to get help, but his wife, waiting inside, didn't see him return. Instead, she heard a steady drumming noise from above.
The wife hid in the car trembling until the police arrived and finally learned what was going on with the knocking noise that had been lingering on the roof of her car last night.
The killer hanged her husband from a tree branch directly above the car.
The deceased's toes kept hitting the roof of the car...
…
Although she felt that Ouyang's lecture order was wrong, years of habit made Li Xiu instinctively pick up a pen to take notes.
"…Being hanged is really painful."
However, the male voice that fell into my ears was not talking about English questions.
"It really hurts. The wire is so thin, and it's stuck in my throat. It hurts more than a knife... No matter how hard I try to dig it out with my hands, I can't muster any strength..."
Li Xiu stopped writing.
He still maintained the posture of listening to the class attentively, but his fingers began to tremble slightly involuntarily.
In class, Ouyang's voice became increasingly slurred, as if his vocal cords had suffered serious damage, or perhaps something was stuck in his mouth.
"Hu…Hu…"
Ouyang's breathing also became unusually heavy.
"My body feels incredibly heavy, like it's pulling down, pulling down, pulling down my neck... Then I hear a strange crackling sound, and I realize, ah, my cervical vertebrae are broken..."
As the narration became more and more eerie, Li Xiuman's fingers, covered with cold sweat, became extremely smooth. In his trembling, he accidentally dropped the pen to the ground.
Ouyang's whispering stopped abruptly.
The sound of the gel pen falling to the ground became extremely clear.
Li Xiu's mouth felt dry.
"Li Xiu, your pen fell."
It seemed that a classmate beside him reminded him.
"oh."
Li Xiu lowered his head, not daring to look up at Ouyang. He bent down tremblingly, preparing to pick up the pen from the ground.
…
The moment he picked up the pen and was about to stand up, Li Xiu glanced around.
It was this one glance that made Li Xiu's back instantly soaked with cold sweat.
He saw the feet of his "classmates".
Their feet are backwards.
Everyone was sitting upright on their stools facing the blackboard.
However, from under the seat, Li Xiu could see clearly that their toes were all pointing towards the back of the classroom.
[Ah Xiu...what are you looking at here again?]
[Grandma, wuwuwuwu… I'm so scared… ghosts, ghosts' heels are raised… wuwuwuwu… That auntie, that auntie is also standing on tiptoe…]
[Silly child, all that's on TV is nonsense. Grandma is telling you, this is a real ghost...]
…
Their legs grow in reverse.
Inexplicably, a vague conversation suddenly flashed out from the distant and chaotic sea of memory.
"Bang--"
Li Xiu suddenly stood up and hit the table heavily, making a loud noise.
He clenched his teeth tightly, his heart beating wildly with fear.
My mind is blank.
And just at this moment, he heard a trembling, thin voice coming from his side.
"Don't scream."
["Don't let them find out…"]
Li Xiu turned her eyes with difficulty and met the eye of the boy beside her that was exposed from the gap between his arms.
"Ah... My neck hurts... Ouch... It hurts so much..."
Ouyang's teaching voice had completely turned into extremely painful gasps and wails.
Amidst the bone-chilling cold, Li Xiu stared stiffly at the pale-faced former school bully.
"What did you find?"
Li Xiu asked in a voice that was almost whispered, while trembling.
"I see you've discovered them."
"What the hell is going on?"
This time, Fang Qianan did not directly answer Li Xiu, but buried his face in his arms.
A hand suddenly grabbed Li Xiu.
It's Fang Qianan.
His hands were just like Li Xiu's, so cold that they felt like ice.
It was a dream.
He wrote carefully on Li Xiu's palm.
yes...
Everything he went through must have been a nightmare.
Fang Qianan kept saying this to himself in his mind, because only in this way could he not be completely scared crazy.
He no longer remembered how many dreams within dreams he had had.
This time, he even thought he was truly awake. After all, he'd already experienced everything from getting up that morning to Aunt Su preparing breakfast for him. But as he sat down in the classroom, he suddenly realized something was amiss. Unlike the diligent, undivided Li Xiu, the slacker school bully quickly noticed what was happening under the stool.
Everyone in the classroom has a similar face.
them...
Not a human being at all.
[Yes, this is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream——]
[Just wait until you wake up from the dream. ]
[As long as they are not discovered.]
…
In the shadow created by his arm, Fang Qianan kept muttering silently with his lips.
Beside the eldest young master who was about to have a mental breakdown, Li Xiu was also shaking uncontrollably.
Because he had just glanced at the podium with fear, and Ouyang's figure had disappeared at some point.
Only the "students" with dull and lifeless faces were left in the classroom, sitting there blankly, motionless.
Good, at least...
At least Ouyang is gone.
If this was a nightmare, the worst was over.
Li Xiu tried hard to remain calm, but at this moment, a shadow suddenly flashed across the corner of his eyes.
The boy's movements suddenly stiffened.
After a long time, Li Xiucai gasped for breath and glanced to his side.
He saw a pair of feet.
The body had been dead for a long time, its toes a maroon color, almost rotting. Some dried excrement clung to the insides of his calves and ankles, a black hue.
The nails on the toes had fallen off due to the violent struggle, and now, the feet were hanging in front of Fang Qianan's desk.
Swaying.
Swaying.
…
Physiological tears welled up in Li Xiu's eyes.
He stared blankly at the test paper on his desk, his eyes fixed on the last sentence of the reading material.
[…his feet were bumping gently on the roof of the car—bump, bump, bump, bump.
(His toes are tapping softly on the roof—bang, bang, bang.)
*
Fang Qianan obviously also felt the presence of those feet.
His shoulders began to shake violently.
Li Xiu's lips trembled and she let out a cry.
["Fang Qianan…don't look up."]
He said.
The author has something to say:
Well, the English reading material does exist in reality. It is called "The Death Car", and the English excerpt in the article also comes from it.