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墨書 Inktalez
Although I felt lost, I understood that if I stopped now, no one could predict what would happen next. The urgent task at hand was to keep the game going, and to avoid causing panic, I had to ensure that no one discovered Tang Qian's disappearance.
I anxiously pondered in my mind, and suddenly an idea struck me: "If I skip this corner and go straight to take a picture of Li Zhisheng, then return to Tang Qian's corner and wait for Qiangzi to come take a picture of me, I should be able to avoid detection." With that thought, I crossed over from where Tang Qian had been hiding and headed directly toward Li Zhisheng's location. As I walked, I strained my eyes to search for Tang Qian, hoping she might be hiding somewhere, watching us with a smirk. But it was futile; I couldn't see anything around me.
Soon enough, I reached the next corner. Seeing someone standing there eased my anxiety somewhat. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around before continuing toward Hu Fang's corner. After that, I quietly tiptoed back to Tang Qian's corner. It was still empty, and I thought to myself, "That rascal will pay for this once the game is over."
Just then, the sound of dress shoes was replaced by the click of high heels. Each alternating sound sent chills down my spine, fearing that something unexpected might happen again. Before long, the high heels stopped, and the sound of sneakers took their place. I listened patiently—twelve steps, thirteen steps. The footsteps that should have stopped did not cease. Fourteen steps, fifteen steps, sixteen steps...
Suddenly, my head buzzed as if it were about to explode. It felt like an unknown force was stretching the room behind me. I desperately wanted to turn around and see what was happening, but reason told me that if I did so now, the consequences would be unimaginable. All I could do was suppress my fear and panic and continue waiting patiently in place.
The footsteps seemed to be right behind me but showed no sign of stopping. Cold sweat began to bead on my forehead—fifty steps, fifty-one steps, fifty-two steps.
Just as I counted fifty-two steps, the footsteps finally halted. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder; from their hand on my shoulder, I could clearly feel them trembling.
Even though my body was shaking uncontrollably as well, I pressed on and turned around to keep walking while silently counting my steps: eleven, twelve, thirteen. Just as I reached thirteen, a wall appeared before me. This was indeed the corner where Li Zhisheng had been standing earlier; given our previous movements, it made sense that this corner was now vacant.
What puzzled me was why Qiangzi had taken fifty-two steps to reach behind me while it only took me thirteen steps to get here. "Qiangzi seems a bit panicked now; if I linger here too long, Li Zhisheng might start getting suspicious," I thought. Without further hesitation, I turned and quickened my pace toward Li Zhisheng's direction. As I continued counting in my mind, it didn't take long for me to realize that my steps had far exceeded the original thirteen.
"Has this room transformed from a square into a rectangle?" Just as doubt crept in and I approached fifty-two steps again, I stopped abruptly and found that Li Zhisheng's corner was also empty. Panic set in completely; I could no longer maintain my composure and began running along the wall while shouting everyone's names. But no one responded; in the vast room, only my own voice echoed back at me.
In my frantic state, I tried to pull out my phone for light. As soon as I activated the flashlight feature, it slipped from my hand and fell—not downward as expected but upward instead. With a thud, my phone landed on the Flower Board above me. Stunned by this unexpected turn of events, I momentarily didn’t know how to react. Fortunately, the Flower Board wasn't too high; jumping up allowed me just enough reach to grab my phone.
I snatched it down and used its light to scan the room again; indeed, it had transformed from a square into a rectangle since I'd first entered. If measured by step count alone, it seemed like four rooms were connected width-wise. But why had my phone fallen upward? That question baffled me endlessly. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts; using my phone’s light again, I searched for everyone but found nothing. Desperate now, I attempted to call them.
Just as the call connected, an ear-piercing ring echoed through the empty room. Following the sound of the ringing bell led me to a figure standing in a corner—but they weren't standing on the ground; they were perched atop the Flower Board.
As I approached, I realized the person was Li Zhisheng, his expression blank as he stood motionless in the corner. To be precise, he was hanging on the Flower Board without moving at all.
I then checked the other three corners of the room, each with its own Flower Board. Without exception, everyone else present was also stuck on their respective Flower Boards. They looked like wooden figures, their feet glued to the boards. Each person wore a blank expression, their eyes tightly shut. No matter how much I shouted or shook them, there was no response. It felt as if time had frozen for everyone except me.
Overwhelmed by fear and helplessness, my legs gave way, and I collapsed onto the floor. Just when I felt utterly lost, I suddenly realized I had pressed against something. Pulling it out of my pocket, I found it was the Peach Wood Doll I had made earlier.
The moment my hand touched the doll, I felt a presence appear before me. I quickly looked up, illuminated by my phone's light, and saw a girl I had never met standing right in front of me.
Startled, I scrambled backward and stammered, "Who are you?! What do you want?!" As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a strange familiarity about her. She remained expressionless and lunged directly at me. My legs were already too weak to evade her. Just as she was about to reach me, she suddenly changed direction.
I quickly directed my phone's light toward her. To my surprise, the girl was now grappling with a much larger middle-aged woman.
Confused by what I was witnessing, I noticed that the girl seemed to be losing ground. She opened her mouth as if trying to say something to me, but I couldn't hear a thing. Mimicking her lip movements, I silently mouthed "Run!"
Realizing that she might be trying to help me, I wanted to flee. However, my legs refused to cooperate; I couldn't stand up at all. In desperation, I threw the blood-stained Peach Wood Doll toward them.
To my astonishment, the moment the doll left my hand, both combatants vanished from my sight. Shocked by their disappearance, I thought to myself: "Could it be that this unintentional doll of mine actually worked?" But then doubt crept in; I vaguely remembered Yin Li saying that only when the Void Spirit awakened could this power be used. Were they truly gone or just invisible? Confusion engulfed me. Yet recalling that girl urging me to run spurred me into action; even if my legs wouldn’t obey me, I couldn’t afford to hesitate.
Forgetting everything else, I forced myself to crawl forward with all my might while holding the phone in my mouth for light. Suddenly, I noticed what appeared to be an open window ahead. Crawling closer revealed that it wasn’t a window at all; it was an upside-down door! "So it’s not Hu Fang or Li Zhisheng who are upside down; it’s me!" My mind spun with chaos at this realization. Even if I wanted to escape now, it seemed impossible.
"If gravity is acting this way now, escaping would mean falling into space! I'd truly dissolve into nothingness," despair washed over me as those thoughts settled in. Although I couldn’t see the female ghost behind me anymore, that didn’t mean she had vanished; it was likely just that she was out of sight. And in front of me, escaping or formulating a plan seemed increasingly unlikely.
I tried my best to calm myself down and analyze the situation I was facing, but I just couldn't do it. "Even the ghosts I saw before weren't like this; at least they were still in the real world. But now it feels like I'm in another world entirely..."
As this thought crossed my mind, my body suddenly jolted. "Another world?" It felt like I had grasped a crucial point, and I began to mutter to myself, "If this is truly a world completely different from the one I was in before, then perhaps I can't measure it by the definitions of the real world." With that, I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead. Gritting my teeth, I thought, "Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well be an astronaut before I go!"
With that thought, I reached out and grabbed the eaves of the building. Then, with all my strength in my arms, I propelled myself outward and flew into the air. In that instant, I didn't even have time to feel the sensation of falling. With a loud thud, I crashed onto the concrete ground, pain shooting through me as stars danced in my vision.
Before I could regain my senses, a bright light appeared before me. Then came Hu Fang's concerned voice asking, "Shen Xu? What happened? How did you fall in from outside?" Others chimed in with questions like "What’s going on?" and "What happened?" The room erupted into a chaotic buzz.
Just as I was about to open my eyes, the blinding flash of a phone's camera forced me to shut them again. I raised a hand to shield my eyes. "Can you all put your phones away? Can we talk after I get up?" Hearing this, everyone hurriedly helped me to my feet.
I stood up and took a moment to steady myself. To my surprise, I found myself standing at the entrance of the classroom. Everything was just as it had been when we first entered; nothing seemed to have happened. After counting heads and confirming that no one was missing, I felt a bit more at ease. When I noticed Li Zhisheng looking like he wanted to ask more questions, I quickly interrupted him, saying, "Now is not the time for talking; we need to get out of here!" Seeing my serious demeanor, everyone fell silent.
Qiangzi used his strength to lift me up and started heading toward the stairs, with everyone following closely behind. As we hurried along, relief washed over me when we neared the exit. Just then, Qiangzi shouted, "Not good!" and I quickly looked up to see what was wrong. The doorway that had been there moments ago had vanished, replaced by a high wall.
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