Chapter 13 | The Crazy Persona Must Not Collapse

With the crisis averted, Ye Li’s taut nerves finally relaxed. As if drained of all strength in an instant, she lay flat and motionless atop the pile of scrap metal.

Wondering if the impact had given her a concussion, she felt her head swimming, unable to think straight, her mind an utter blank.

Absolute silence enveloped her, broken only by the occasional drip-drop of water falling onto the surface of the pool.

She couldn't tell how much time had passed—it felt like an eternity, yet also just a fleeting moment—when a soft rustling sound suddenly whispered in her ears. Rustle... rustle...

The sound was faint and sluggish, like something soft and squishy rubbing gently against a surface.

Ye Li slowly came to her senses, instinctively searching for the source of the noise.

Soon enough, she cast her gaze toward the ceiling.

Up above, on one side of the skylight, something had covered it without her noticing.

Because of the height and dim lighting, Ye Li couldn't make out what it was, but she could see that the substance was creeping forward slowly. It had already covered half the skylight and would soon engulf the rest.

Ye Li’s intuition warned her that something was wrong, and she wanted to get out of there.

But the moment she moved, her bones felt as though they had come completely undone. Every inch of her body throbbed with pain, weighed down by utter exhaustion and weakness.

After catching her breath for a moment, Ye Li gritted her teeth, braced herself on both hands, and struggled into a sitting position. Just as she gathered her resolve to stand up, putting weight on her foot sent a piercing pang of agony shooting through her leg.

Her right ankle was sprained, and the instep of her foot was already badly swollen—undoubtedly injured earlier when she had jammed her foot against the crossbar for leverage.

Ye Li frowned, thinking that she truly couldn't catch a break!

After an agonizing struggle, she finally managed to get to her feet and painstakingly clambered over the wreckage of the steel framework on the floor.

As she reached the exit, she glanced up once more.

By now, that bizarre substance on the ceiling had completely blotted out the skylight.

In the dim light, Ye Li braced a hand against the wall and limped her way out of the gymnasium.

The surrounding area was dead silent, save for the echo of her footsteps reverberating through the hollow facility—tap, tap—sounding eerie and lonesome.

Along the way, the doors had either shattered or collapsed, leaving her path completely unobstructed.

Ye Li stepped outside the gymnasium. The grounds outside were still desolate and empty; aside from the littered debris, there was nothing to be seen. Those grotesque, terrifying rotting corpses had truly vanished into thin air.

But soon enough, she noticed something amiss.

Everything around her was a hazy gray. The thick fog that had previously lingered at the school's perimeter had now seeped inward, swallowing more than half of the gymnasium.

Worse, the dense mist was continually expanding, closing in toward the center of the campus from all directions.

Listening closely, she could hear faint, rustling sounds coming from within the fog.

This bizarre turn of events instantly piqued Ye Li’s curiosity.

Gathering her nerve, she kept one hand on the gymnasium's outer wall and stepped into the thick fog to investigate.

Inside, it was a chaotic haze with visibility under a meter.

As she ventured deeper, the rustling grew louder, and Ye Li soon laid eyes on the source of the uncanny noise.

It was something impossible to describe!

Dark red and sludge-like, it appeared thick and viscous, giving off a sickening, foul stench akin to minced meat left out long enough to spoil.

Right now, this stuff was everywhere—on the ground, along the walls... Wherever her eyes fell, it was coated in a thick layer.

Ye Li casually picked up a twig from the ground and poked at the “minced meat.”

It felt soft and sticky with a certain rubbery elasticity, its texture much like liquid asphalt.

As if alive, it squirmed and crept relentlessly forward; the rustling noise had come from its movement.

Clearly, the substance she had seen earlier covering the natatorium's skylight was this very thing.

Ye Li raised an eyebrow.

Judging by its pace, it wouldn't be long before the monstrosity blanketed the entire school.

Moreover, considering it could scale walls and rooftops that high, what would happen if it crawled onto a person...?

Imagining the outcome, Ye Li immediately felt a bad premonition.

While she was lost in thought, a flurry of scuffling footsteps came from just outside the fog, sounding like someone was approaching.

Snapping back to reality, Ye Li turned, braced herself on the wall, and staggered back out.

As the mist thinned, the rustling footsteps grew clearer, and Ye Li finally caught sight of a figure.

It was a boy wearing the same blue-and-white school uniform as hers, a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He was clearly a student from this school as well.

Seeing him, Ye Li was genuinely surprised, and even a little thrilled.

Aside from Le Jun, this was the second living person she had encountered in the ghost domain.

A living person meant clues!

Ye Li perked up with excitement and was just about to step forward to greet him.

But the moment the boy saw her, he froze in his tracks, pure horror written across his face.

The next instant, he turned on his heel and bolted.

Baffled, Ye Li instinctively shouted, “Hey!” trying to stop him, but the voice that came out was so hoarse and raspy it sounded like a demonic growl.

Hearing that, the boy ran even faster. He didn't even dare look back when his backpack fell off, fleeing in utter panic.

Ye Li: “...”

Was she really that terrifying?

Ye Li took a moment to reflect on herself.

She was merely disheveled and covered in injuries, her clothes tattered and caked in blood and dirt, limping and swaying as she dragged herself forward...

At first glance, she really did resemble one of those man-eating rotting corpses.

Well, okay, she was pretty terrifying!

Ye Li fell silent for a beat before clicking her tongue.

The boys in this batch were really pathetic!

Why were all of them so gutless?!

But since he had already run off, Ye Li was in no rush to chase him down.

With her sprained ankle, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak anyway.

Besides, no matter how fast Four-Eyes ran, he could only scramble around within the school grounds. With that “minced meat” creeping everywhere, he was bound to head back sooner or later.

Ye Li hobbled forward, picked up the backpack Four-Eyes had dropped, and unzipped it, rummaging through it without the slightest hesitation.

Inside were textbooks, exercise workbooks, and a red notebook.

She casually grabbed a textbook and flipped it open, finding a name and class written on the inside cover.

Qi Yezhou, Science Class 1.

The strokes of the name were neat and upright, written in gorgeous regular script. The owner of the book possessed excellent handwriting.

“Qi Yezhou...”

Ye Li murmured the name under her breath, feeling that it sounded oddly familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

After dredging her limited memories for a moment, she finally remembered.

When she had first awakened and walked downstairs with Tang Qi, she had glanced at the honor roll board mounted on the first floor of the teaching building.