“Buddy, I’m usually the one telling scary stories. Are you trying to turn the tables on me?”

Wu Wang turned back, a sense of helplessness washing over him.

He was the kind of madman who could stab a dagger through his own temple without flinching. An emotion as dull as fear was foreign to him.

However, when he turned, he saw nothing.

He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Are you always this funny?” he asked Li Yang.

But in the next second, he noticed Li Yang’s expression had become extremely unnatural. His mouth opened and closed, words failing him, while his pointing finger trembled up and down.

【What did he see】

Those words appeared on Li Yang’s forehead.

The Red Vertical Pupil activated. Now, Wu Wang believed him.

“You… you really can’t see that person?” Li Yang stammered, his eyes locked on the slowly approaching figure. “He’s walking toward us. He’s almost right next to you!”

But no matter how wide Wu Wang opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anyone in the dim hallway.

After a moment of thought, he rolled up his sleeve.

The Red Vertical Pupil was exposed. Its eerie iris swiveled around, sizing up the surroundings like a curious baby filled with interest in the world.

As time passed, something gradually changed.

Wu Wang saw it too.

The blurry silhouette of a person appeared about two or three meters in front of him. As his vision cleared, the details sharpened.

A boy, about 1.7 meters tall, with a somewhat rounded figure, was wearing a Gao Shan High School uniform. He was staring at them with curiosity.

His face was round and chubby, the type of little fatty you’d find in almost any high school class. A slightly timid look flickered in his eyes.

He asked cautiously, “Are… are you new students? Which class are you in?”

“!”

Wu Wang immediately sensed something was wrong.

The moment the boy spoke, everything around them became brighter and clearer.

The once-dim hallway was now bright enough to see the stains on the floor tiles. The piles of junk had vanished, replaced by items neatly arranged along the walls.

The strangest part was the other students. Many stood on desks, smearing paint on the walls, creating some sort of mural. Everyone was happy and harmonious.

Sounds of playful banter echoed through the hall. Many students were painting on their school uniforms as keepsakes, sketching simple but energetic pictures. Some girls secretly wrote their crushes’ names over their hearts, while mischievous boys painted scary masks on their own faces to frighten others.

“Fuck! Where the hell have I ended up?”

“Is this even the same damn place?”

Wu Wang couldn’t help but curse. The situation inside this Art Building was far more complicated than he had imagined.

Normal people appearing in an abnormal place.

That was the most abnormal situation of all.

The little fatty finally mustered up the courage to walk over and console them.

“You can’t remember which class you’re in either, right? It’s okay, we’re the same.”

With that, he walked over to a girl who was standing on her tiptoes on a desk, sketching a Totoro on the wall.

“Head class monitor,” he said in a low voice, “we have new students. Could you please assign them?”

The girl turned around.

She was a natural beauty. Her small, oval face and cherry-like lips radiated youthfulness, so moist they seemed like they would drip water even without lipstick. A smear of blue paint on her cheek only added to her playful charm.

She jumped down from the desk with a poised and natural grace.

“Hello, my name is Chen Nan,” she said, reaching out to Wu Wang with a brilliant smile. “I’m the head class monitor for all the classes in the Art Building. Come with me, I’ll explain everything.”

Wu Wang reached out and shook her hand.

“Chu Yuxun. Nice to meet you.”

The warmth from her palm left him slightly dazed.

She has body heat? Are these guys real people?

Not ghosts?

No, that’s too rash. I need to observe more.

The group walked forward together.

They hadn’t gone more than a few steps when two boys roughhousing nearby knocked over a basin of water used for washing paint palettes. A large amount of blackish-red dirty water splashed directly onto Wu Wang.

Even though he reacted quickly, his abdomen was soaked.

“Li Hua! Wang Ming! Didn’t you see the new student? You two, behave!” Chen Nan scolded, grabbing the two boys by their ears.

“We were wrong, we were wrong! Sister Chen, let go, you’re going to pull our ears off!” the boys begged, grinning sheepishly.

The little fatty saw Wu Wang standing frozen and came forward to comfort him.

“Did it get dirty? I have an old school uniform. I’ll go get it for you.”

Wu Wang didn’t reply.

He just frowned, lightly wiping the “paint” stain on his clothes with his hand. A familiar pain stimulated his nerves, making his mind feel incredibly sharp.

He opened his palm.

There was no paint, only a handful of blackish-red, viscous liquid.

His vision blurred for a moment.

The surroundings turned dim again.

In front of him was a steel pipe, as thick as a finger. Its end was broken, revealing a cross-section that was incredibly sharp despite being covered in rust.

He had mindlessly walked right into it. The steel pipe had pierced straight through his abdomen.

The bulletproof vest had been completely useless. This was clearly not a simple physical injury.

The so-called paint stain was his own blood, blackish-red because his internal organs had been punctured.

“Cough, cough… Now this is more like it.”

A crazed smile spread across Wu Wang’s face.

“A warm and welcoming class in this haunted school? What a nonsensical inner world!”

He gripped the steel pipe and began to pull it out, bit by bit. Every millimeter of movement tore at his organs, and the feedback from his pain receptors made the veins on his forehead bulge.

Squelch!

The steel pipe was pulled out completely.

The finger-thick wound in his abdomen gushed blood like an opened floodgate.

But he paid it no mind. Gasping for breath, he gripped the steel pipe tightly and slowly aimed its sharp end at his own temple.

“Second playthrough… activate!”

Shhk!

Without the slightest hesitation, Wu Wang pierced his own head. Letting the abdominal wound kill him would be too slow and would hinder his movements.

Better to make it a clean break. A quick death first.

“Huu… ha! Huu-ha!“

The moment he revived and opened his eyes, Wu Wang saw everyone looking at him with strange expressions.

He looked down and found himself holding the basin of dirty water and furiously washing his face. His entire face was a mess of streaks. He was even rubbing his skin raw, scrubbing with enough force to be dumbfounding.

“Uh, Classmate Chu? Do you perhaps have a tiny… mental problem?” Chen Nan asked cautiously.

She immediately tried to backtrack. “Of course, I’m not discriminating against mental illness, haha. I’m just asking out of consideration for the safety of the other students.”

Anyone who saw someone suddenly freeze, then violently grab a basin of dirty water to scrub their face would think something was wrong. He was scrubbing hard enough to tear his own skin off.

What normal person would do that?

“I’m probably sick,” Wu Wang explained, his streaked face twisting into an ugly smile. “But I’m more inclined to believe something else.”

He stared right at her.

“I think your world is the one that’s gone mad.”