After pondering for a moment, Ye Li thought of something else. Leaning closer to Luo Jiajia, she asked, “One last question: why did Yi Lin and the others bully Wen Xue?”
Everything happens for a reason; nothing in this world ever occurs without cause.
Whether it was because she had been terrified earlier or for some other reason, the moment Ye Li spoke those words, it was like a match dropped into an oil drum—Luo Jiajia’s emotions instantly exploded.
“I already told you, I don’t know!” She sprang to her feet, flailing her arms and screaming hysterically, thoroughly agitated. “Why do you keep asking me?! I don’t know! I don’t know!! I don’t know anything!!! Stop asking me...!”
Her shouting immediately incited the rotting corpses outside to slam against the door with even greater vigor, banging furiously.
After venting her hysteria, Luo Jiajia sank to the floor, clutching her head and sobbing.
Ye Li looked thoughtfully at the girl who seemed on the verge of a total breakdown. A glimmer of deep contemplation flickered in her eyes, and she fell silent, choosing not to provoke her any further.
Le Jun did not speak either.
As for Qi Yezhou, he had not taken part in the topic from start to finish.
Whether he knew nothing about it, had no interest, or held some other reason, no one knew.
With each person lost in their own thoughts, silence settled over the room once more.
Minutes ticked by. Before midnight arrived, Ye Li’s stomach began to growl again.
The original host’s stomach was apparently quite weak; whenever she got hungry, she would suffer from heart palpitations, trembling hands, an agonizing gnawing sensation, and violent stomach cramps—an utterly miserable feeling.
Coupled with her earlier vomiting, hunger hit her earlier and far harder this time, rendering the large bottle of mineral water she had bought earlier completely useless.
Unable to bear it, Ye Li crouched down, clutching her stomach with both hands and curling inward to ease the discomfort.
Seeing this, Le Jun sidled over covertly, holding out his hand to her as he whispered, “Here, eat this.”
Ye Li listlessly turned her head.
She thought it would be another piece of 100% sugar-free, bitter chocolate, but to her surprise, resting in his palm was a lollipop.
“Where’d you get candy?” Ye Li’s eyes instantly lit up, excitement creeping into her voice.
“Got it from my deskmate,” Le Jun replied, a faint blush warming his cheeks.
He still remembered the exaggerated, incredulous expression on his deskmate’s face, teasing him about whether he was using it to win over some girl.
After all, he never ate sweets, let alone asked someone for candy.
Ye Li’s attention was completely fixed on his palm, so she did not notice the boy’s unusual expression at all.
She hurriedly took the lollipop and tore off the plastic wrapper. Atop the small white stick was a red-and-white marbled sphere, radiating a faint, sweet fruity aroma.
Strawberry flavored!
Ye Li could not wait to pop the candy into her mouth. The rich milky taste mingled with the sweet, tart berry flavor, instantly melting across her tongue.
It was a wonderful, blissful sensation.
“Is it good?” Le Jun asked.
“Mm!” Ye Li squinted happily. “Sweet!”
Watching her eyes curve into crescent moons with sheer bliss written all over her face, Le Jun could not help but smile.
So she liked sweets!
Time continued to slip away, and midnight arrived once more.
Just like the previous time, the frantic banging outside abruptly died down, and the figures wandering below the window vanished in an instant. The entire world seemed to plunge into an eerie silence in a heartbeat.
The group set to work.
Unloading the bundles of books and moving the bookshelves aside, they reopened the door.
Outside, it was quiet and dilapidated. Apart from torn books and shredded newspapers strewn across the floor, all traces of the monsters were long gone.
Ye Li and Qi Yezhou were the first to step out of the room.
Le Jun and Luo Jiajia trailed hesitantly behind.
Although they had already heard about it, seeing it with their own eyes still left them shocked and apprehensive, terrified that those man-eating monsters might suddenly leap out from some corner, pulling faces and saying hello.
Qi Yezhou stepped forward to pick up the backpack that had been snatched by the rotting corpses earlier. Though the khaki canvas surface was covered in filthy stains, he paid it no mind, dusting it off before slinging it over his back.
The four filed out of the library and exited the Comprehensive Building, only to see that the thick fog originally swirling outside the school gates was already showing signs of creeping inward.
Ye Li walked straight toward the main gate. Sure enough, near the iron gates, a layer of blackish-red “minced flesh” had already coated the ground, slowly squirming past the iron gates.
Le Jun, who had followed closely behind, also saw the scene and could not help but frown. “What is that? It’s so disgusting.”
“No idea,” Ye Li pursed her lips. “But this disgusting stuff will swallow us all up soon!”
Imagining that scene, Le Jun instantly felt thoroughly repulsed.
“Come on, let’s look around and see if there’s any way out,” Ye Li called out, turning to the group.
And so, the four of them began wandering through the empty, dilapidated campus.
In the end, however, they were still forced to gather on the sports field.
The thick fog billowed once more, and the “minced flesh” closed in. The entire school had turned into a vast sea of mist.
There was simply no path of escape to be found!
“W-What do we do now?” Luo Jiajia wrapped her arms around herself, in complete disarray.
Ye Li’s tone was indifferent. “Just wait.”
“Wait for what?” Luo Jiajia asked.
“Wait to die, of course,” Ye Li added leisurely.
Luo Jiajia fell silent, her face drained of color, looking as if she were on the verge of tears again.
Ye Li curled her lip. Having no patience for weeping and wailing, she turned and walked straight into the thick fog.
By now, the fog was about to close in entirely; there was truly nowhere left to go.
“Where are you going?” Le Jun asked anxiously upon seeing this.
“Don’t follow me. Please let me die in peace and solitude, thanks!” Without looking back, Ye Li waved a hand dismissively. “You don’t need to come looking for me next time. I have things to handle, so let’s meet later by the vending machines.”
After a pause, she called back a reminder: “Oh right, remember to cover your mouth tightly!”
The dense fog quickly swallowed her slender figure, leaving no trace of where she went.
Ye Li walked all the way up to the “minced flesh” before stopping. Once certain that no one had followed, she pulled a shard of glass from her pocket.
She had picked this up earlier in the library; unwilling to suffer the revolting death of being consumed alive again, she decided to end it herself.
Still, slitting one’s throat was far too bloody a spectacle to put on display before others, which was why she had intentionally walked away.
The “minced flesh” soon spread over, beginning to crawl up Ye Li’s feet.
Just as it was about to reach her waist and abdomen, she pressed the sharp corner of the glass shard against the artery in her neck.
In a single instant, blood splattered...
A rush of dizziness swept over her. Before her consciousness slipped away completely, she faintly heard a girl’s shrill, piercing wail, thinking that this girl was definitely going to vomit her guts out upon waking next time...
Yet what Ye Li failed to notice was...
As her blood poured down in streams onto the “minced flesh,” the bizarre substance that had been squirming along sluggishly suddenly began to surge wildly, bubbling and churning like boiling water, as if throwing a frenzied celebration...
Rate on N.U.
