"When did you figure it out?" Xiumu finally asked after a long, awkward silence.
"From the moment I saw the four of you, I started having doubts." I backed toward the door, putting some distance between us. "The entire area around Xinhu High School is surrounded by wasteland. No matter which direction you come from, your shoes would pick up dirt. But in the hallway where we first met, the floor was spotless—only my footprints were visible."
"Which means, none of you entered from outside. You were already here to begin with."
"So whether it's you three or Yingzi, I don't trust any of you."
Xiumu's expression darkened as he slowly lowered his head. The lighting was dim to begin with, and his face looked even more terrifying in the shadows. "So you knew we weren't human, yet you still agreed to play our game? You even helped us look for Shen Meng?"
"Life is a performance. Survival depends on your acting skills. I'm just an average guy with no special talents. If I want to stay alive, I have to outthink my opponents." I smirked. "By not exposing your identities and playing along, I made you let your guard down. As long as you were having fun, you wouldn't be able to bring yourselves to kill me."
If playing games with ghosts meant staying alive, then so be it.
Xiumu's face twisted with rage. Dark corpse spots began appearing on his pale skin. "So you've been lying to us this whole time?"
"What, you mad now?" I waved dismissively. "I wouldn't call it lying. Just… playing along with a few ghost kids."
God knows how smug I looked in that moment—like some damn fearless lunatic.
As he stepped closer, blood pooled beneath Xiumu's feet, and his clothes began to decay.
"You were always the smartest of the bunch," I said calmly. "Don't do anything rash. If I dared to confront you, that means I've prepared a way out."
"Remember when I asked your father's name? Your full name is Wang Xiumu. The school uniform on the second bed in the infirmary is yours. Same with Xue Fei and Shen Meng—there are traces of all of you in this school. You were the victims from five years ago. After Guo Junjie's curse killed you, your souls couldn't find peace."
"Poor souls, forever trapped in this ghost-infested school, living and reliving Guo Junjie's nightmares."
"Honestly, I pity you. Whatever wrongs you committed should have been paid off by now. This kind of endless punishment—it's too cruel."
Xiumu stopped in his tracks, clearly struck by what I said. "We don't need your pity. You'll be one of us soon anyway!"
His voice was rough, as if something squirmed in his throat.
"We can cooperate, or we can destroy each other. Sure, you can kill me and trap my soul here, but I have another proposal."
"Speak."
"Let me help free you. Let me help you find peace."
"You?" He sneered.
"You won't know unless you give me a chance."
When I saw Xiumu hesitate and the corpse spots fade, I finally allowed myself a breath of relief.
I'd won this gamble.
From the moment The Netherworld Live Show offered me the optional task, I knew something was wrong. Why a game? Why in a school?
There couldn't be any other living humans here. So clearly, the task was to play games—with ghosts. The more, the better.
At first, I followed instructions. But as the layers of mystery peeled away, I realized something else—the ghosts weren't all on the same side. Some were victims, trapped in a repeating nightmare, while someone else was pulling the strings.
The puppet master? Guo Junjie.
Xiumu, Shen Meng, and the others? Just performers in a show designed to cycle pain and fear, allowing Guo Junjie to "atone" for his sins through their suffering.
That imbalance—that's where I saw my chance. I decided to flip the script and negotiate directly with the ghosts.
"You've been punished enough. Five years of nightly torment is more than enough for what you did. Are you really going to keep being Guo Junjie's puppets forever?"
I used to do civil cases—small-time mediation work. It didn't pay well, but it taught me how to convince people.
"You don't have to believe me now. You can kill me anytime. But miss this opportunity, and you'll be trapped forever."
Eventually, Xiumu gave in. He returned to his human appearance. "Fine. I'll trust you—for now. But if you can't break the curse before dawn, then you're staying here with us."
"Deal." I had no idea how to help them. I was just stalling for time, hoping to bluff my way through.
If I was going to die anyway, might as well gamble everything.
"To show your sincerity, could you ask the red-dressed ghost at the door to leave? That little trick isn't going to scare me." I glanced at my phone—the red dress had disappeared from the livestream view, but that didn't mean she wasn't still lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Red dress?" Xiumu frowned. "That thing… I've never seen it around the school before either."
"You mean that's not Shen Meng?!"
"Shen Meng is already dead—or rather, tonight, she's completely gone."
"What do you mean?"
Xiumu sighed, his face full of sorrow. "We're nothing but fragments of thought. Every night, Guo Junjie releases us to relive the same torment, like an endless nightmare. And when the suffering becomes unbearable, we fade—disappear."
"You were right. We're just clowns dancing in Guo Junjie's palm. There's no escape."
"If Shen Meng and Xue Fei are gone tonight, then… could that red-dressed ghost be one of your other classmates?"
I had to dig deeper—I still didn't fully trust him.
Xiumu shook his head. "The cursed students all wear school uniforms. Only outsiders wear different clothes. Like Yingzi. I've never figured out where she really came from."
Yingzi—so quiet, so doll-like. Even she was an outsider?
"When did she show up?"
"About a year ago. She said she came here to wait for someone. But don't be fooled by her appearance—beneath that sweet, quiet surface, she carries a heavy grudge. Even we avoid her."
As an adult, I naturally thought in terms of motive. What did the ghosts want?
"There must be something in this school—a relic or artifact—that attracts them."
"I've never heard of anything like that," Xiumu shrugged. "Although… when the school was first built, some crazy guy stood outside the main gate shouting that we'd built over his ancestral grave. He screamed for three straight days before the security guards dragged him away."
"You're seriously curious about everything," he muttered. "Why don't you just become the narrator for A Hundred Thousand Whys?"
I coughed, trying to hide my embarrassment. Getting lectured by a ghost kid wasn't exactly my proudest moment. "Back on topic. If you were all cursed by Guo Junjie, then finding him should solve everything."
"You won't find him. We've wandered this place for five years and never caught sight of him. All we know is he's watching us… from somewhere."
"I'll figure it out. When it comes to locating bodies, I'm practically a professional."
The mass death at Xinhu High was never made public. If they wanted to dispose of the bodies quietly, burning them on-site was the most discreet option.
"First, let's check the water treatment tank where Guo Junjie drowned. Then we'll head to the school's incinerator pit."
After making our agreement, I pocketed the dorm key. "If the red-dressed ghost is gone, now's our chance—let's go!"
Grabbing the door handle, I twisted it open, grabbed my camera, and bolted down the stairs.
"Run! I think she's coming after us!"
I didn't need to look back. I knew exactly who he meant. I sprinted down the steps, taking them three or four at a time. Somehow, we made it out of the girls' dorm without being caught.
"Head to the water treatment center! Now!"
As always, I scooped up Yingzi, who was still sitting blankly on the ground, and ran with her in my arms.
"No need to panic. Looks like she didn't follow us."
I glanced back. The red figure stood in a second-floor window, slowly waving at me.
A chill ran down my spine.
This time, I got a good look—she wasn't wearing a long dress.
She was wearing a blood-red wedding gown.
"She looks… kind of familiar?"
I shook off the strange feeling. Xiumu led the way to the water treatment building.
The room wasn't large. Pipes ran along the walls, and at the far end was the boiler, connected to several massive water storage tanks.
"He drowned in that one," Xiumu said.
I climbed onto the tank and pried open the narrow one-foot-wide inlet. A foul stench poured out.
Using my phone as a flashlight, I saw that the tank was bone dry—nothing but darkness.
"You two stay outside. I'm going in."
The opening was just wide enough for me to squeeze through. I wriggled in, my breath catching in the stale air. The confined darkness was suffocating.
The tank hadn't been opened in ages. The oxygen was thin. My chest ached as I forced myself to search quickly.
The floor was slick. Crouched low, I moved carefully until I spotted a tattered school uniform in one corner.
As I reached for it, a voice whispered in my ear:
"Why did you kill me?"
"Who's there?!"
I whirled around—but the tank was empty.
And then—BANG—the one-foot-wide opening above me slammed shut from the outside.