Chapter 25
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Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
The diary that was returned was different from the other diaries found in Nogawa Kaoru’s room. It looked older, not expensive at all, more like an ordinary exercise book.
Ye Zun flipped through it several times but couldn’t understand the words inside. He hesitated between asking Shen Yuan who was next to him to read it, or if he should wait for the noon break to go find the priest. He finally decided to wait until noon to ask the priest.
After all, he only reconciled with this ill-tempered guy next to him after a long time. At this time, asking the other to help him seemed a bit like he apologised for the sake of taking advantage of the other man, which was a move easy to be misunderstood.
Shen Yuan played with the flower out of boredom for a while, before finally pinning the flower between the two stacks of books.
Class soon began.
Ye Zun was still thinking about the contents of the diary and felt a little anxious in his heart, but he had no choice but to strongly endure it.
He suddenly heard the teacher on the podium angrily saying, “…that’s too much, to actually pick off the flowers that the gardening teacher painstakingly raised to bloom. Didn’t the school teach you to take care of flowers and plants and not to destroy public property? That is the gardening teacher’s favourite flower!”
Ye Zun suddenly returned to his senses, and shifted his eyes to the distressed teacher on the podium, then at Shen Yuan and the red spider lily on the desk beside him.
Shen Yuan lazily leaned back on the chair, an indecipherable smile on his face, and looked back at Ye Zun.
On that indifferent face, he revealed a contemptuous look of “ya, I’m in trouble now”, but the overlaying expression was still the familiar neurotic and cheerful smile, as he found this very interesting.
“Do you have a crush on the gardening teacher?” Not only that, he even smiled while asking the teacher at the podium without a care.
The teacher who blushed suddenly shouted, “Wh-what nonsense, go stand outside the classroom! Come with me after class to apologise!”
Seeing the situation escalate, Ye Zun immediately raised his hand. “That, he didn’t pick the flower, I found it…”
“He was the one who gave it to me.” Shen Yuan’s smile grew brighter and brighter and he raised his eyebrows lightly, his eyes lazy and innocent. “It’s because of my looks, it makes people want to confess and send flowers.”
Ye Zun who was interrupted looked at him immediately.
——Adding fuel to the fire, what nonsense are you spouting?
“I knew there was another accomplice. Do youths nowadays openly fall in love at school and even pick flowers instead of buying them? You two, go and stand outside! Come with me after class and apologise to the gardening teacher!!!”
Ye Zun, who stood outside the classroom in humiliation, had his eyes lowered and his face expressionless.
Shen Yuan beside him still had that lazy appearance of his, wearing a smile on his face, as if he found all this very interesting and fun.
He turned his head to look at Ye Zun’s face, his dark eyes blinking with a smile in them. His eyes were bright and sparkling. “I didn’t say anything wrong ba? He really is in love with the gardener who planted those flowers, right? So, why are you angry?”
He should be angry, but, after all, it was Shen Yuan who was involved because of the flower he picked up. Ye Zun felt that the other party should be the one angry with him, so when he thought about it this way, he couldn’t get angry at all.
“Maybe, it’s because you really got it correct. However, I gave you the flower as an apology, not a confession. You didn’t need to say that to anger him.”
Shen Yuan tilted his head to look at him. His smile seemed gorgeous, but in fact, the shifts in his expression were very little. He blinked. “Is this not good? There’s only the two of us.”
“En?” Ye Zun looked at him, puzzled.
“I’m saying, the school experience is incomplete without being punished by standing and, if you stand here like this, it looks like the entire garden belongs to the two of us.”
Ye Zun followed him a few steps forward and looked past the railing on the back side of the teaching building. To their southeast, there was a vast sea of flaming flowers.
The late blooming cherry blossoms on the campus were on the verge of opening. Under the gloomy sky, surrounded by misty pink flowers, the dark red spider lilies became more and more beautiful.
“It’s pretty, right? Because I wanted to see this with you, I made him angry on purpose.” The person beside him lazily leaning against the railing spoke lightly in a low and slightly cold voice.
Ye Zun glanced at the side of his face, then looked back at the beautiful sea of flowers.
It was indeed very beautiful, but the normal flowering period of the buds by the side of the building was between late summer and early autumn. At the earliest, they would bloom in July. Why did such a large area open in April? Was it because of the special nurturing under that gardening teacher?
After class, the substitute teacher really did take Ye Zun and Shen Yuan to see the gardening teacher to apologise for picking the flower.
In Shen Yuan’s words, their presence was more like an excuse for the substitute teacher to see the gardening teacher.
Along the way, the substitute teacher was so nervous that he kept adjusting his outfit. Instead of taking the students to apologise, it was more like he was going on a date.
Shen Yuan was nonchalant and idle during the entire trip. Like taking a walk in a garden, his attitude had nothing to do with the word ‘upright’, and he didn’t waste time caring.
The gardening teacher’s office and teaching area were in the southeast area of the school, with the edge of the sea of flowers on the other side.
It was also near the festival site.
When the three of them were about to arrive, they suddenly saw many people running out of the teaching building, retreating and standing in the nearby open area, stretching their necks to look up.
After a while, the open area in front of the teaching building was filled with people who came from all directions, as if there was some kind of ceremony about to be held.
“What’s going on?” The substitute teacher also looked confused, watching these people strangely and in surprise.
Furthermore, he immediately grabbed a student and asked, “Wei, what are you all doing standing here?”
The boy who was caught by the substitute teacher didn’t say a word, nor did he spare him a glance. With a smile of admiration and surprise, he looked up at the heights with fascination, his eyes full of anticipation, and even began to applaud.
“It’s about to start.” Just like watching a concert.
“How amazing ah.”
“I can’t wait.”
Not only this student, but everyone in the open area had the same demeanour, saying various statements of admiration.
Except for Ye Zun and his group of three.
Ye Zun also felt something was off and followed their gazes, looking upwards.
The teaching building here had a total of six floors, and the architectural style had a somewhat European-style flamboyance to it. The sixth floor was a large platform with a balcony extending out, constructed like a grand theatre stage up in the air.
From a distance, it looked like there was a public performance at the top.
“Wei, the students up there, how many times have we said that you are not allowed to mess around at the edge of the balcony!”
The substitute teacher immediately shouted to the people above.
On the edge of the big stage on the sixth floor, a girl was spinning and dancing, her figure twirling to the edge from time to time. The guardrails around the stage were extremely low, and her movements were so extravagent that it made people sweat.
“What’s the matter, is the music so loud that she can’t hear? Wei, you guys go up and have a look, tell the student not to move near the railing.”
The substitute teacher frowned. He evacuated the onlooking students in a frenzy while telling Ye Zun and the other boy.
Ye Zun also faintly felt that something was wrong with this situation and immediately ran towards the stairs, taking three or two steps with every movement.
He didn’t know what happened, but cheers and applause sounded in the open area outside the corridor. It was filled with an abnormally creepy atmosphere.
——It is obviously in broad daylight ba, and during normal class time too. Why is it so offputting?
Ye Zun very quickly ran to the sixth floor.
A dance studio that was like an indoor skating rink entered his line of sight, with floor-to-ceiling windows or mirrors in all directions.
Contrary to what he thought, the interior was engulfed in darkness. The lights were not turned on, and no other teachers or students were in class or studying.
He only saw two girls in pale pink dresses, dancing like a pair of twin swans in a mesmerisingly way.
They weren’t making any big movements that would accidentally send them to slip off the edge, instead, they simply danced on the small stage that was like a diving platform extending out from the balcony. You come and I will spin.
That would undoubtedly be dangerous.
But they smiled sweetly and danced with great concentration. The more danger they were in, the greater the movements, and the higher the applause and cheers grew in the field below.
The girls danced as if they had forgotten themselves. They didn’t seem to notice the danger around them at all. They kept approaching the edge of the rooftop without any care. Even if their feet slipped several times, they didn’t care and just kept spinning out and back in.
Finally, the spinning grew faster and faster, and the slipping under their feet became uncontrollable. One of the girl spun so hard she directly hit the low guardrail and went over.
At that time, Ye Zun had just ran to the middle of the stage. He suddenly jumped over and grabbed the other girl who was leaning towards the edge without struggling.
It wasn’t an illusion, the extended floor near the balcony was indeed smoother than the rest, and even Ye Zun almost slid down with them.
His other hand grabbed the low railing in time and he stared at the falling girl with eyes open in horror. His field of vision grew so wide as he saw——
Downstairs was a hollering and cheering crowd just like at a concert. In front of the people was a large expanse of gorgeous red spider lilies. In the distance, misty pink cherry trees that were about to wither surrounded the school, and in the air was a dancer who fell alone like a petal.
In Ye Zun’s line of sight, when she fell, she did not panic. Her face wore a sweet and selfless smile, and the enthusiastically loud applause around her was more frenzied than ever before.
The girl dropped straight to the ground, laying between the sea of flowers and the crowd on the other side. Blood slowly formed a pool around her head and there was a sweet smile on her beautiful face, as if in a dream.
Ye Zun’s pupils shrank instantly. He saw the flower sea on the other side downstairs expand a few metres suddenly, like a dormant blood-coloured monster that swelled and grew in order to devour the blood that seeped out of the ground.
The girl’s body was quickly carried away by a few people in the crowd and the others still stood there, smiling expectantly, looking up at Ye Zun with their heads and necks stretched out.
Just like they were waiting for a second person to fall from there.
——Are they insane? Or am I insane? What exactly is going on?
What was happening in front of his eyes really was absurd.
Ye Zun looked at his hand. He should have been grabbing onto the other girl, but now he saw that he had caught nothing. He was only holding onto a cherry blossom hairpin.
——Cherry blossom hairpin?
The appearance of the girl who he had just talked to by the flower bed in the morning suddenly appeared before his eyes and it overlapped with the girl who wore a pink dance dress, spinning away just before.
——Impossible, how can it be her?
Ye Zun felt a creepy chill crawl all over his body, completely unaware that he was fluttering on the edge of the sloping rooftop, not far from being shaken off.
On the ground, only the substitute teacher looked normal. He angrily stopped the crazy students while constantly turning his head back and waving his arms at Ye Zun, motioning him to move back.
【 It’s really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me? 】
Ye Zun turned his head sharply. In the dim room on the sixth floor where all the lights were off, a person stood in the middle of the stage, watching him. There was a faint smile on those pale lips, weak and quiet.
——Yes, it is his ‘self’ in white pants and a black shirt from the nightmare.
The world suddenly went dead and still, as if he was being pulled back into that nightmare full of cherry blossoms and corpses in this very moment.
Countless grey and white figures walked out of the mirrors behind “Ye Zun” in the middle of the stage. Their bare feet showed traces of being shackled, with their ankles festering. One by one, they walked towards and around him, then jumped down from the high platform behind him without hesitation.
Thud! Thud thud!
One, two, three, four…so many.
With the feeling that his heart was suddenly being beaten, Ye Zun sat there on his knees, unable to move, body frozen by the chill. He couldn’t even twitch his eyes.
Even if he didn’t turn his head back, he seemed to have already seen the corpses piled up like a mountain on the ground, as well as the audience applauding and cheering at this terrifying scene.
The other “Ye Zun” was still standing on the dim stage, looking at him weakly and quietly.【 My dear, if you can’t save me, just kill me, or, let me kill you. 】
The other person didn’t make a sound, but it was as if the voice appeared directly in Ye Zun’s mind, or even, like it was flatly spoken from Ye Zun’s own mouth.
He blinked his eyes. His vision darkened, then became hazy, before gradually clearing up. There was nothing in front of his eyes, just like experiencing hallucinations from low blood sugar.
There was only Shen Yuan in front of him, wearing a slight frown and extending a hand out to him. “Are you okay? Be careful, grab my hand and come here first ba.”
Ye Zun didn’t move. He wasn’t sure if the Shen Yuan in front of his eyes was real. He endured the dizziness and slowly lowered his head, looking at the platform sloping downwards under his feet.
For the protruding stage, not only was the floor particularly smooth, but the surface was obviously sloping down, like a trap placed there with malicious intent.
He grabbed the railing, looking back at the audience on the ground.
The black crowd cheered, all with blurred features. Thousands of people formed one face.
But he still saw it. There were countless ghosts in the crowd with pale faces and thick threads like centipedes stitched into their skins.
The same as what he saw with the second year’s Class 1.
More and more, more and more… He trembled in fear.
……
Soon, the school’s principal and other teachers came up after they heard of this incident.
“The sixth floor was originally closed and only opened during special performances. Why were there students coming up here?”
“Right ah, how could we have known she had the key. No matter how we go about this, it’s her own responsibility ba.”
“In any case, it’s impossible for her to just fall like this. Was it some kind of mental illness?”
“Many people downstairs said that she wouldn’t have fallen over originally. She jumped for such a long time, and it seemed that someone pushed her in the end.”
“This student, what’s the matter with you. Kaoru Nogawa, is that right? Why are you here…”
The substitute teacher said angrily, “I was the one who had him to go up. Kaoru Nogawa, what were you doing near the end? When she fell, what were you standing around in a daze for? Why didn’t you grab her?”
Ye Zun stood there, looking at the unfamiliar stage and the edge of the unfamiliar balcony, where it was now flat and ordinary, without the slope he had seen before.
He faintly in a trance. “I saw two dancing girls, and I grabbed onto one of them…”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Everyone was watching, there was only one person, one!”
Ye Zun looked at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand. “That girl, how is she?”
“She’s already been sent to the hospital. We need to wait for the hospital’s update. But, this is the sixth floor, so what do you think?”
Those people were still talking but Ye Zun’s ears only heard a buzzing noise. The surrounding voices were getting further away, and his consciousness was gradually becoming unclear.
He looked at them, vaguely feeling that those black lines were appearing on these people’s skin.
Although their faces wore heavy frowns, he felt that these people were coldly holding back their snickering. It overlapped with the cheering audience who had blurred faces in the open area below.
——Did the ghosts from second year’s Class 1 start to spread out of control? Have they infected the whole school?
——Why did I see two girls dancing? Who is the other one? Was she the one who tempted the girl with the cherry blossom hairclip to jump off the building?
He lowered his head to inspect the pink cherry blossom hairclip, but what appeared before him was the scene of the two of them saying goodbye in front of the teaching building after the girl returned the diary back to him.
She smiled brightly, but there was a slight hesitance to speak in her eyes when she looked at him. “Kaoru, I really…didn’t read the diary.”
So, did you actually read it?
It was the diary that attracted the ghost who killed her.
The diary, what exactly was written in it?
“Where are you going? As a witness, you have to wait for the police to record your statement ah.”
“Although we say it’s an accident, it’s very likely that he just pushed her down ba…”
Ye Zun ignored those people, walking towards the corridor expressionlessly as if he had lost his soul.
When he walked out of the sixth floor, he saw Shen Yuan who was waiting outside. Shen Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. His expression was calm, but showing a faint concern. “You alright?”
“En.” Ye Zun was absentminded and walked past him, heading downstairs.
He left the diary in the classroom. He must go back and retrieve it immediately. He must not let others see it ever again.
……
In the classroom, Ye Zun quickly glanced over and saw the priest standing at his desk.
Ye Zun returned to his senses and immediately stepped forward to snatch the diary from the priest’s hand. “You can’t!”
Lin raised his eyes and looked at him quietly, the corners of his lips lifting up slightly, bringing out a little comfort. “You don’t look very well. Would you like to come to office with me and sit for a while?”
Sitting in the priest’s office, in the same seat as last time.
Ye Zun lowered his head slightly with no expression on his face, calmly looking at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand.
“This is the situation. There is something wrong with this diary. She probably read the contents of the diary and the ghost lured her to jump off the building.”
Like last time, Lin handed him a cup of hot coffee to warm his hands and leaned against the desk, watching him. “Are you sure it’s because of the diary?”
“I saw two girls at the site, but everyone else saw only one. Not only that, but I also saw another one of ‘myself’ and it said said to me, ‘It’s really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me?'”
Just recounting the scene at that time, a chill seeped from the cracks in his bones. No matter how calm he was, he couldn’t restrain his trembling instinct on a physical level.
Did the ghost say the same thing to that girl?
Lin’s eyes were clear and mellow. “Give me the diary ba, I will look at what is written in it.”
Ye Zun raised his head and leveled the priest with a calm look, shaking his head. “You can’t. I really want to know what is written in this diary, but I dare not let Father read it. I am afraid that Father will die. Father must not have an accident.”
He was obviously frightened, with his face as pale as his lips, but he only showed a very exhausted calmness, saying his worries to himself in such a serious manner.
Lin’s face revealed an inconspicuous softness and crystal clear eyes were quiet and still. “Don’t worry, I won’t die. You have forgotten, this is the work of the church.”
He slowly approached and picked up the diary Ye Zun placed on his own lap, but the other end of the diary was pinched by Ye Zun. The other’s strength was stronger than he thought, and even if he tried to apply more force, he still couldn’t take back the diary smoothly.
But Ye Zun just looked at him quietly and meekly, his expression lacking any stubbornness and toughness. He just blinked his eyes calmly. “You really can’t.”
——That kind of indescribable and unspeakable feeling. The nightmares I had are real, and they are beginning to invade reality. No matter how I put it, it sounds like gibberish spawned from fear, but this is real.
Ye Zun was not really afraid. He just knew and was certain that there was definitely something wrong with the diary, hiding the source of terror in Pandora’s jar.
Lin lowered his eyes and looked down at him. With undisturbed brows and gentle eyes, his other hand gently touched his head. “Are you worried? Then, let’s read it together ba. Just like what you always say, I will face your fears with you. “
Ye Zun’s eyebrows drooped lightly. The jut on his throat rolled, and the fingers holding onto the diary were pinching so hard that they turned white.
Lin’s voice became more and more like a soft whisper. “I am a person of the church. The demon god’s game is not aimed at me. The only one in danger is you, the invited player. Now that you know, do you want to read it together?”
This time, Ye Zun nodded. “En, I want to read it.”
He raised his head to look at Lin again, his brown eyes serene. “Father, I’m not really afraid of ghosts myself. I’m just afraid of the feeling I have when I don’t not know what I am afraid of.”
This instance was different from the previous novice trial. He had never faced an attack by a ghost, but that dark, wet and pervasive shadow of his nightmares was approaching him, eroding little by little, gradually dissolving the boundary between dreams and reality, as if to drown and suffocate him unconsciously.
It wasn’t a real danger, but it was everywhere, choking and oppressing step by step, trying to squeeze his throat, creating a chill from the gradual inability to breath.
Even if he was struggling, he didn’t know where this invisible force came from.
He began to somewhat understand the play written in Nogawa Kaoru’s diary, that kind of absurd, trance-like wasteland in a world with no borders, where reality and dreams have been fused.
If he didn’t know Lin, if Lin wasn’t by his side in this world to let him escape from everything for a brief moment, if he was all alone here, perhaps he would’ve long been polluted by fear and crumbled apart without knowing.
That deep, slow voice murmured, “It’s okay, there is still me. I am by your side, I am always here.”
Ye Zun lighty closed his eyes.
——I am starting to understand now why some people lose themselves in false faith.
——Because just existing there, is incredible. I feel as if I have already found salvation through this warmth.
The author has something to say:
The flower from heaven that accidentally bloomed under the Abyss, cannot survive alone. It would either wither or very quickly mutate. But because there is a Mr. Snake who accompanies it, it will stay open for a long, long time.
·
The first instance I painted, the picture is a dense and dark night, too depressing and grey.
But because there were the appearances of the priest and the dangerous and unpredictable Shen Yuan, a ray of light began to pour though, as if there is a golden sunflower field blooming along their path in this nocturnal wasteland.
He is indeed always by Ye Zun’s side.
Because there was too much interaction with Lin, it diluted the tense horror atmosphere of the instance and slowed down the rhythm of the story (in order to allow them time to interact, I deliberately chose a slow start of the instance in the early stage), but there is also a ray of hope left in the darkness.
The first meeting is very important. Many feelings need to be fermented and transformed at the time of the first encounter.
Hopefully, when I’m finished and look back, I will feel that these abandoned parts are not mistakes, as I do now.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
The diary that was returned was different from the other diaries found in Nogawa Kaoru’s room. It looked older, not expensive at all, more like an ordinary exercise book.
Ye Zun flipped through it several times but couldn’t understand the words inside. He hesitated between asking Shen Yuan who was next to him to read it, or if he should wait for the noon break to go find the priest. He finally decided to wait until noon to ask the priest.
After all, he only reconciled with this ill-tempered guy next to him after a long time. At this time, asking the other to help him seemed a bit like he apologised for the sake of taking advantage of the other man, which was a move easy to be misunderstood.
Shen Yuan played with the flower out of boredom for a while, before finally pinning the flower between the two stacks of books.
Class soon began.
Ye Zun was still thinking about the contents of the diary and felt a little anxious in his heart, but he had no choice but to strongly endure it.
He suddenly heard the teacher on the podium angrily saying, “…that’s too much, to actually pick off the flowers that the gardening teacher painstakingly raised to bloom. Didn’t the school teach you to take care of flowers and plants and not to destroy public property? That is the gardening teacher’s favourite flower!”
Ye Zun suddenly returned to his senses, and shifted his eyes to the distressed teacher on the podium, then at Shen Yuan and the red spider lily on the desk beside him.
Shen Yuan lazily leaned back on the chair, an indecipherable smile on his face, and looked back at Ye Zun.
On that indifferent face, he revealed a contemptuous look of “ya, I’m in trouble now”, but the overlaying expression was still the familiar neurotic and cheerful smile, as he found this very interesting.
“Do you have a crush on the gardening teacher?” Not only that, he even smiled while asking the teacher at the podium without a care.
The teacher who blushed suddenly shouted, “Wh-what nonsense, go stand outside the classroom! Come with me after class to apologise!”
Seeing the situation escalate, Ye Zun immediately raised his hand. “That, he didn’t pick the flower, I found it…”
“He was the one who gave it to me.” Shen Yuan’s smile grew brighter and brighter and he raised his eyebrows lightly, his eyes lazy and innocent. “It’s because of my looks, it makes people want to confess and send flowers.”
Ye Zun who was interrupted looked at him immediately.
——Adding fuel to the fire, what nonsense are you spouting?
“I knew there was another accomplice. Do youths nowadays openly fall in love at school and even pick flowers instead of buying them? You two, go and stand outside! Come with me after class and apologise to the gardening teacher!!!”
Ye Zun, who stood outside the classroom in humiliation, had his eyes lowered and his face expressionless.
Shen Yuan beside him still had that lazy appearance of his, wearing a smile on his face, as if he found all this very interesting and fun.
He turned his head to look at Ye Zun’s face, his dark eyes blinking with a smile in them. His eyes were bright and sparkling. “I didn’t say anything wrong ba? He really is in love with the gardener who planted those flowers, right? So, why are you angry?”
He should be angry, but, after all, it was Shen Yuan who was involved because of the flower he picked up. Ye Zun felt that the other party should be the one angry with him, so when he thought about it this way, he couldn’t get angry at all.
“Maybe, it’s because you really got it correct. However, I gave you the flower as an apology, not a confession. You didn’t need to say that to anger him.”
Shen Yuan tilted his head to look at him. His smile seemed gorgeous, but in fact, the shifts in his expression were very little. He blinked. “Is this not good? There’s only the two of us.”
“En?” Ye Zun looked at him, puzzled.
“I’m saying, the school experience is incomplete without being punished by standing and, if you stand here like this, it looks like the entire garden belongs to the two of us.”
Ye Zun followed him a few steps forward and looked past the railing on the back side of the teaching building. To their southeast, there was a vast sea of flaming flowers.
The late blooming cherry blossoms on the campus were on the verge of opening. Under the gloomy sky, surrounded by misty pink flowers, the dark red spider lilies became more and more beautiful.
“It’s pretty, right? Because I wanted to see this with you, I made him angry on purpose.” The person beside him lazily leaning against the railing spoke lightly in a low and slightly cold voice.
Ye Zun glanced at the side of his face, then looked back at the beautiful sea of flowers.
It was indeed very beautiful, but the normal flowering period of the buds by the side of the building was between late summer and early autumn. At the earliest, they would bloom in July. Why did such a large area open in April? Was it because of the special nurturing under that gardening teacher?
After class, the substitute teacher really did take Ye Zun and Shen Yuan to see the gardening teacher to apologise for picking the flower.
In Shen Yuan’s words, their presence was more like an excuse for the substitute teacher to see the gardening teacher.
Along the way, the substitute teacher was so nervous that he kept adjusting his outfit. Instead of taking the students to apologise, it was more like he was going on a date.
Shen Yuan was nonchalant and idle during the entire trip. Like taking a walk in a garden, his attitude had nothing to do with the word ‘upright’, and he didn’t waste time caring.
The gardening teacher’s office and teaching area were in the southeast area of the school, with the edge of the sea of flowers on the other side.
It was also near the festival site.
When the three of them were about to arrive, they suddenly saw many people running out of the teaching building, retreating and standing in the nearby open area, stretching their necks to look up.
After a while, the open area in front of the teaching building was filled with people who came from all directions, as if there was some kind of ceremony about to be held.
“What’s going on?” The substitute teacher also looked confused, watching these people strangely and in surprise.
Furthermore, he immediately grabbed a student and asked, “Wei, what are you all doing standing here?”
The boy who was caught by the substitute teacher didn’t say a word, nor did he spare him a glance. With a smile of admiration and surprise, he looked up at the heights with fascination, his eyes full of anticipation, and even began to applaud.
“It’s about to start.” Just like watching a concert.
“How amazing ah.”
“I can’t wait.”
Not only this student, but everyone in the open area had the same demeanour, saying various statements of admiration.
Except for Ye Zun and his group of three.
Ye Zun also felt something was off and followed their gazes, looking upwards.
The teaching building here had a total of six floors, and the architectural style had a somewhat European-style flamboyance to it. The sixth floor was a large platform with a balcony extending out, constructed like a grand theatre stage up in the air.
From a distance, it looked like there was a public performance at the top.
“Wei, the students up there, how many times have we said that you are not allowed to mess around at the edge of the balcony!”
The substitute teacher immediately shouted to the people above.
On the edge of the big stage on the sixth floor, a girl was spinning and dancing, her figure twirling to the edge from time to time. The guardrails around the stage were extremely low, and her movements were so extravagent that it made people sweat.
“What’s the matter, is the music so loud that she can’t hear? Wei, you guys go up and have a look, tell the student not to move near the railing.”
The substitute teacher frowned. He evacuated the onlooking students in a frenzy while telling Ye Zun and the other boy.
Ye Zun also faintly felt that something was wrong with this situation and immediately ran towards the stairs, taking three or two steps with every movement.
He didn’t know what happened, but cheers and applause sounded in the open area outside the corridor. It was filled with an abnormally creepy atmosphere.
——It is obviously in broad daylight ba, and during normal class time too. Why is it so offputting?
Ye Zun very quickly ran to the sixth floor.
A dance studio that was like an indoor skating rink entered his line of sight, with floor-to-ceiling windows or mirrors in all directions.
Contrary to what he thought, the interior was engulfed in darkness. The lights were not turned on, and no other teachers or students were in class or studying.
He only saw two girls in pale pink dresses, dancing like a pair of twin swans in a mesmerisingly way.
They weren’t making any big movements that would accidentally send them to slip off the edge, instead, they simply danced on the small stage that was like a diving platform extending out from the balcony. You come and I will spin.
That would undoubtedly be dangerous.
But they smiled sweetly and danced with great concentration. The more danger they were in, the greater the movements, and the higher the applause and cheers grew in the field below.
The girls danced as if they had forgotten themselves. They didn’t seem to notice the danger around them at all. They kept approaching the edge of the rooftop without any care. Even if their feet slipped several times, they didn’t care and just kept spinning out and back in.
Finally, the spinning grew faster and faster, and the slipping under their feet became uncontrollable. One of the girl spun so hard she directly hit the low guardrail and went over.
At that time, Ye Zun had just ran to the middle of the stage. He suddenly jumped over and grabbed the other girl who was leaning towards the edge without struggling.
It wasn’t an illusion, the extended floor near the balcony was indeed smoother than the rest, and even Ye Zun almost slid down with them.
His other hand grabbed the low railing in time and he stared at the falling girl with eyes open in horror. His field of vision grew so wide as he saw——
Downstairs was a hollering and cheering crowd just like at a concert. In front of the people was a large expanse of gorgeous red spider lilies. In the distance, misty pink cherry trees that were about to wither surrounded the school, and in the air was a dancer who fell alone like a petal.
In Ye Zun’s line of sight, when she fell, she did not panic. Her face wore a sweet and selfless smile, and the enthusiastically loud applause around her was more frenzied than ever before.
The girl dropped straight to the ground, laying between the sea of flowers and the crowd on the other side. Blood slowly formed a pool around her head and there was a sweet smile on her beautiful face, as if in a dream.
Ye Zun’s pupils shrank instantly. He saw the flower sea on the other side downstairs expand a few metres suddenly, like a dormant blood-coloured monster that swelled and grew in order to devour the blood that seeped out of the ground.
The girl’s body was quickly carried away by a few people in the crowd and the others still stood there, smiling expectantly, looking up at Ye Zun with their heads and necks stretched out.
Just like they were waiting for a second person to fall from there.
——Are they insane? Or am I insane? What exactly is going on?
What was happening in front of his eyes really was absurd.
Ye Zun looked at his hand. He should have been grabbing onto the other girl, but now he saw that he had caught nothing. He was only holding onto a cherry blossom hairpin.
——Cherry blossom hairpin?
The appearance of the girl who he had just talked to by the flower bed in the morning suddenly appeared before his eyes and it overlapped with the girl who wore a pink dance dress, spinning away just before.
——Impossible, how can it be her?
Ye Zun felt a creepy chill crawl all over his body, completely unaware that he was fluttering on the edge of the sloping rooftop, not far from being shaken off.
On the ground, only the substitute teacher looked normal. He angrily stopped the crazy students while constantly turning his head back and waving his arms at Ye Zun, motioning him to move back.
【 It’s really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me? 】
Ye Zun turned his head sharply. In the dim room on the sixth floor where all the lights were off, a person stood in the middle of the stage, watching him. There was a faint smile on those pale lips, weak and quiet.
——Yes, it is his ‘self’ in white pants and a black shirt from the nightmare.
The world suddenly went dead and still, as if he was being pulled back into that nightmare full of cherry blossoms and corpses in this very moment.
Countless grey and white figures walked out of the mirrors behind “Ye Zun” in the middle of the stage. Their bare feet showed traces of being shackled, with their ankles festering. One by one, they walked towards and around him, then jumped down from the high platform behind him without hesitation.
Thud! Thud thud!
One, two, three, four…so many.
With the feeling that his heart was suddenly being beaten, Ye Zun sat there on his knees, unable to move, body frozen by the chill. He couldn’t even twitch his eyes.
Even if he didn’t turn his head back, he seemed to have already seen the corpses piled up like a mountain on the ground, as well as the audience applauding and cheering at this terrifying scene.
The other “Ye Zun” was still standing on the dim stage, looking at him weakly and quietly.【 My dear, if you can’t save me, just kill me, or, let me kill you. 】
The other person didn’t make a sound, but it was as if the voice appeared directly in Ye Zun’s mind, or even, like it was flatly spoken from Ye Zun’s own mouth.
He blinked his eyes. His vision darkened, then became hazy, before gradually clearing up. There was nothing in front of his eyes, just like experiencing hallucinations from low blood sugar.
There was only Shen Yuan in front of him, wearing a slight frown and extending a hand out to him. “Are you okay? Be careful, grab my hand and come here first ba.”
Ye Zun didn’t move. He wasn’t sure if the Shen Yuan in front of his eyes was real. He endured the dizziness and slowly lowered his head, looking at the platform sloping downwards under his feet.
For the protruding stage, not only was the floor particularly smooth, but the surface was obviously sloping down, like a trap placed there with malicious intent.
He grabbed the railing, looking back at the audience on the ground.
The black crowd cheered, all with blurred features. Thousands of people formed one face.
But he still saw it. There were countless ghosts in the crowd with pale faces and thick threads like centipedes stitched into their skins.
The same as what he saw with the second year’s Class 1.
More and more, more and more… He trembled in fear.
……
Soon, the school’s principal and other teachers came up after they heard of this incident.
“The sixth floor was originally closed and only opened during special performances. Why were there students coming up here?”
“Right ah, how could we have known she had the key. No matter how we go about this, it’s her own responsibility ba.”
“In any case, it’s impossible for her to just fall like this. Was it some kind of mental illness?”
“Many people downstairs said that she wouldn’t have fallen over originally. She jumped for such a long time, and it seemed that someone pushed her in the end.”
“This student, what’s the matter with you. Kaoru Nogawa, is that right? Why are you here…”
The substitute teacher said angrily, “I was the one who had him to go up. Kaoru Nogawa, what were you doing near the end? When she fell, what were you standing around in a daze for? Why didn’t you grab her?”
Ye Zun stood there, looking at the unfamiliar stage and the edge of the unfamiliar balcony, where it was now flat and ordinary, without the slope he had seen before.
He faintly in a trance. “I saw two dancing girls, and I grabbed onto one of them…”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Everyone was watching, there was only one person, one!”
Ye Zun looked at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand. “That girl, how is she?”
“She’s already been sent to the hospital. We need to wait for the hospital’s update. But, this is the sixth floor, so what do you think?”
Those people were still talking but Ye Zun’s ears only heard a buzzing noise. The surrounding voices were getting further away, and his consciousness was gradually becoming unclear.
He looked at them, vaguely feeling that those black lines were appearing on these people’s skin.
Although their faces wore heavy frowns, he felt that these people were coldly holding back their snickering. It overlapped with the cheering audience who had blurred faces in the open area below.
——Did the ghosts from second year’s Class 1 start to spread out of control? Have they infected the whole school?
——Why did I see two girls dancing? Who is the other one? Was she the one who tempted the girl with the cherry blossom hairclip to jump off the building?
He lowered his head to inspect the pink cherry blossom hairclip, but what appeared before him was the scene of the two of them saying goodbye in front of the teaching building after the girl returned the diary back to him.
She smiled brightly, but there was a slight hesitance to speak in her eyes when she looked at him. “Kaoru, I really…didn’t read the diary.”
So, did you actually read it?
It was the diary that attracted the ghost who killed her.
The diary, what exactly was written in it?
“Where are you going? As a witness, you have to wait for the police to record your statement ah.”
“Although we say it’s an accident, it’s very likely that he just pushed her down ba…”
Ye Zun ignored those people, walking towards the corridor expressionlessly as if he had lost his soul.
When he walked out of the sixth floor, he saw Shen Yuan who was waiting outside. Shen Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. His expression was calm, but showing a faint concern. “You alright?”
“En.” Ye Zun was absentminded and walked past him, heading downstairs.
He left the diary in the classroom. He must go back and retrieve it immediately. He must not let others see it ever again.
……
In the classroom, Ye Zun quickly glanced over and saw the priest standing at his desk.
Ye Zun returned to his senses and immediately stepped forward to snatch the diary from the priest’s hand. “You can’t!”
Lin raised his eyes and looked at him quietly, the corners of his lips lifting up slightly, bringing out a little comfort. “You don’t look very well. Would you like to come to office with me and sit for a while?”
Sitting in the priest’s office, in the same seat as last time.
Ye Zun lowered his head slightly with no expression on his face, calmly looking at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand.
“This is the situation. There is something wrong with this diary. She probably read the contents of the diary and the ghost lured her to jump off the building.”
Like last time, Lin handed him a cup of hot coffee to warm his hands and leaned against the desk, watching him. “Are you sure it’s because of the diary?”
“I saw two girls at the site, but everyone else saw only one. Not only that, but I also saw another one of ‘myself’ and it said said to me, ‘It’s really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me?'”
Just recounting the scene at that time, a chill seeped from the cracks in his bones. No matter how calm he was, he couldn’t restrain his trembling instinct on a physical level.
Did the ghost say the same thing to that girl?
Lin’s eyes were clear and mellow. “Give me the diary ba, I will look at what is written in it.”
Ye Zun raised his head and leveled the priest with a calm look, shaking his head. “You can’t. I really want to know what is written in this diary, but I dare not let Father read it. I am afraid that Father will die. Father must not have an accident.”
He was obviously frightened, with his face as pale as his lips, but he only showed a very exhausted calmness, saying his worries to himself in such a serious manner.
Lin’s face revealed an inconspicuous softness and crystal clear eyes were quiet and still. “Don’t worry, I won’t die. You have forgotten, this is the work of the church.”
He slowly approached and picked up the diary Ye Zun placed on his own lap, but the other end of the diary was pinched by Ye Zun. The other’s strength was stronger than he thought, and even if he tried to apply more force, he still couldn’t take back the diary smoothly.
But Ye Zun just looked at him quietly and meekly, his expression lacking any stubbornness and toughness. He just blinked his eyes calmly. “You really can’t.”
——That kind of indescribable and unspeakable feeling. The nightmares I had are real, and they are beginning to invade reality. No matter how I put it, it sounds like gibberish spawned from fear, but this is real.
Ye Zun was not really afraid. He just knew and was certain that there was definitely something wrong with the diary, hiding the source of terror in Pandora’s jar.
Lin lowered his eyes and looked down at him. With undisturbed brows and gentle eyes, his other hand gently touched his head. “Are you worried? Then, let’s read it together ba. Just like what you always say, I will face your fears with you. “
Ye Zun’s eyebrows drooped lightly. The jut on his throat rolled, and the fingers holding onto the diary were pinching so hard that they turned white.
Lin’s voice became more and more like a soft whisper. “I am a person of the church. The demon god’s game is not aimed at me. The only one in danger is you, the invited player. Now that you know, do you want to read it together?”
This time, Ye Zun nodded. “En, I want to read it.”
He raised his head to look at Lin again, his brown eyes serene. “Father, I’m not really afraid of ghosts myself. I’m just afraid of the feeling I have when I don’t not know what I am afraid of.”
This instance was different from the previous novice trial. He had never faced an attack by a ghost, but that dark, wet and pervasive shadow of his nightmares was approaching him, eroding little by little, gradually dissolving the boundary between dreams and reality, as if to drown and suffocate him unconsciously.
It wasn’t a real danger, but it was everywhere, choking and oppressing step by step, trying to squeeze his throat, creating a chill from the gradual inability to breath.
Even if he was struggling, he didn’t know where this invisible force came from.
He began to somewhat understand the play written in Nogawa Kaoru’s diary, that kind of absurd, trance-like wasteland in a world with no borders, where reality and dreams have been fused.
If he didn’t know Lin, if Lin wasn’t by his side in this world to let him escape from everything for a brief moment, if he was all alone here, perhaps he would’ve long been polluted by fear and crumbled apart without knowing.
That deep, slow voice murmured, “It’s okay, there is still me. I am by your side, I am always here.”
Ye Zun lighty closed his eyes.
——I am starting to understand now why some people lose themselves in false faith.
——Because just existing there, is incredible. I feel as if I have already found salvation through this warmth.
The author has something to say:
The flower from heaven that accidentally bloomed under the Abyss, cannot survive alone. It would either wither or very quickly mutate. But because there is a Mr. Snake who accompanies it, it will stay open for a long, long time.
·
The first instance I painted, the picture is a dense and dark night, too depressing and grey.
But because there were the appearances of the priest and the dangerous and unpredictable Shen Yuan, a ray of light began to pour though, as if there is a golden sunflower field blooming along their path in this nocturnal wasteland.
He is indeed always by Ye Zun’s side.
Because there was too much interaction with Lin, it diluted the tense horror atmosphere of the instance and slowed down the rhythm of the story (in order to allow them time to interact, I deliberately chose a slow start of the instance in the early stage), but there is also a ray of hope left in the darkness.
The first meeting is very important. Many feelings need to be fermented and transformed at the time of the first encounter.
Hopefully, when I’m finished and look back, I will feel that these abandoned parts are not mistakes, as I do now.
Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the AbyssThe diary that was returned was different from the other diaries found in Nogawa Kaoru's room. It looked older, not expensive at all, more like an ordinary exercise book.Ye Zun flipped through it several times but couldn't understand the words inside. He hesitated between asking Shen Yuan who was next to him to read it, or if he should wait for the noon break to go find the priest. He finally decided to wait until noon to ask the priest.After all, he only reconciled with this ill-tempered guy next to him after a long time. At this time, asking the other to help him seemed a bit like he apologised for the sake of taking advantage of the other man, which was a move easy to be misunderstood.Shen Yuan played with the flower out of boredom for a while, before finally pinning the flower between the two stacks of books.Class soon began.Ye Zun was still thinking about the contents of the diary and felt a little anxious in his heart, but he had no choice but to strongly endure it.He suddenly heard the teacher on the podium angrily saying, that's too much, to actually pick off the flowers that the gardening teacher painstakingly raised to bloom. Didn't the school teach you to take care of flowers and plants and not to destroy public property? That is the gardening teacher's favourite flower!Ye Zun suddenly returned to his senses, and shifted his eyes to the distressed teacher on the podium, then at Shen Yuan and the red spider lily on the desk beside him.Shen Yuan lazily leaned back on the chair, an indecipherable smile on his face, and looked back at Ye Zun.On that indifferent face, he revealed a contemptuous look of ya, I'm in trouble now, but the overlaying expression was still the familiar neurotic and cheerful smile, as he found this very interesting.Do you have a crush on the gardening teacher? Not only that, he even smiled while asking the teacher at the podium without a care.The teacher who blushed suddenly shouted, Wh-what nonsense, go stand outside the classroom! Come with me after class to apologise!Seeing the situation escalate, Ye Zun immediately raised his hand. That, he didn't pick the flower, I found itHe was the one who gave it to me. Shen Yuan's smile grew brighter and brighter and he raised his eyebrows lightly, his eyes lazy and innocent. It's because of my looks, it makes people want to confess and send flowers.Ye Zun who was interrupted looked at him immediately.Adding fuel to the fire, what nonsense are you spouting?I knew there was another accomplice. Do youths nowadays openly fall in love at school and even pick flowers instead of buying them? You two, go and stand outside! Come with me after class and apologise to the gardening teacher!!!Ye Zun, who stood outside the classroom in humiliation, had his eyes lowered and his face expressionless.Shen Yuan beside him still had that lazy appearance of his, wearing a smile on his face, as if he found all this very interesting and fun.He turned his head to look at Ye Zun's face, his dark eyes blinking with a smile in them. His eyes were bright and sparkling. I didn't say anything wrongba?He really is in love with the gardener who planted those flowers, right? So, why are you angry?He should be angry, but, after all, it was Shen Yuan who was involved because of the flower he picked up. Ye Zun felt that the other party should be the one angry with him, so when he thought about it this way, he couldn't get angry at all.Maybe, it's because you really got it correct. However, I gave you the flower as an apology, not a confession. You didn't need to say that to anger him.Shen Yuan tilted his head to look at him. His smile seemed gorgeous, but in fact, the shifts in his expression were very little. He blinked. Is this not good? There's only the two of us.En? Ye Zun looked at him, puzzled.I'm saying, the school experience is incomplete without being punished by standing and, if you stand here like this, it looks like the entire garden belongs to the two of us.Ye Zun followed him a few steps forward and looked past the railing on the back side of the teaching building. To their southeast, there was a vast sea of flaming flowers.The late blooming cherry blossoms on the campus were on the verge of opening. Under the gloomy sky, surrounded by misty pink flowers, the dark red spider lilies became more and more beautiful.It's pretty, right? Because I wanted to see this with you, I made him angry on purpose. The person beside him lazily leaning against the railing spoke lightly in a low and slightly cold voice.Ye Zun glanced at the side of his face, then looked back at the beautiful sea of flowers.It was indeed very beautiful, but the normal flowering period of the buds by the side of the building was between late summer and early autumn. At the earliest, they would bloom in July. Why did such a large area open in April? Was it because of the special nurturing under that gardening teacher?After class, the substitute teacher really did take Ye Zun and Shen Yuan to see the gardening teacher to apologise for picking the flower.In Shen Yuan's words, their presence was more like an excuse for the substitute teacher to see the gardening teacher.Along the way, the substitute teacher was so nervous that he kept adjusting his outfit. Instead of taking the students to apologise, it was more like he was going on a date.Shen Yuan was nonchalant and idle during the entire trip. Like taking a walk in a garden, his attitude had nothing to do with the word upright', and he didn't waste time caring.The gardening teacher's office and teaching area were in the southeast area of the school, with the edge of the sea of flowers on the other side.It was also near the festival site.When the three of them were about to arrive, they suddenly saw many people running out of the teaching building, retreating and standing in the nearby open area, stretching their necks to look up.After a while, the open area in front of the teaching building was filled with people who came from all directions, as if there was some kind of ceremony about to be held.What's going on? The substitute teacher also looked confused, watching these people strangely and in surprise.Furthermore, he immediately grabbed a student and asked, Wei, what are you all doing standing here?The boy who was caught by the substitute teacher didn't say a word, nor did he spare him a glance. With a smile of admiration and surprise, he looked up at the heights with fascination, his eyes full of anticipation, and even began to applaud.It's about to start. Just like watching a concert.How amazingah.I can't wait.Not only this student, but everyone in the open area had the same demeanour, saying various statements of admiration.Except for Ye Zun and his group of three.Ye Zun also felt something was off and followed their gazes, looking upwards.The teaching building here had a total of six floors, and the architectural style had a somewhat European-style flamboyance to it. The sixth floor was a large platform with a balcony extending out, constructed like a grand theatre stage up in the air.From a distance, it looked like there was a public performance at the top.Wei, the students up there, how many times have we said that you are not allowed to mess around at the edge of the balcony!The substitute teacher immediately shouted to the people above.On the edge of the big stage on the sixth floor, a girl was spinning and dancing, her figure twirling to the edge from time to time. The guardrails around the stage were extremely low, and her movements were so extravagent that it made people sweat.What's the matter, is the music so loud that she can't hear?Wei, you guys go up and have a look, tell the student not to move near the railing.The substitute teacher frowned. He evacuated the onlooking students in a frenzy while telling Ye Zun and the other boy.Ye Zun also faintly felt that something was wrong with this situation and immediately ran towards the stairs, taking three or two steps with every movement.He didn't know what happened, but cheers and applause sounded in the open area outside the corridor. It was filled with an abnormally creepy atmosphere.It is obviously in broad daylightba, and during normal class time too. Why is it so offputting?Ye Zun very quickly ran to the sixth floor.A dance studio that was like an indoor skating rink entered his line of sight, with floor-to-ceiling windows or mirrors in all directions.Contrary to what he thought, the interior was engulfed in darkness. The lights were not turned on, and no other teachers or students were in class or studying.He only saw two girls in pale pink dresses, dancing like a pair of twin swans in a mesmerisingly way.They weren't making any big movements that would accidentally send them to slip off the edge, instead, they simply danced on the small stage that was like a diving platform extending out from the balcony. You come and I will spin.That would undoubtedly be dangerous.But they smiled sweetly and danced with great concentration. The more danger they were in, the greater the movements, and the higher the applause and cheers grew in the field below.The girls danced as if they had forgotten themselves. They didn't seem to notice the danger around them at all. They kept approaching the edge of the rooftop without any care. Even if their feet slipped several times, they didn't care and just kept spinning out and back in.Finally, the spinning grew faster and faster, and the slipping under their feet became uncontrollable. One of the girl spun so hard she directly hit the low guardrail and went over.At that time, Ye Zun had just ran to the middle of the stage. He suddenly jumped over and grabbed the other girl who was leaning towards the edge without struggling.It wasn't an illusion, the extended floor near the balcony was indeed smoother than the rest, and even Ye Zun almost slid down with them.His other hand grabbed the low railing in time and he stared at the falling girl with eyes open in horror. His field of vision grew so wide as he sawDownstairs was a hollering and cheering crowd just like at a concert. In front of the people was a large expanse of gorgeous red spider lilies. In the distance, misty pink cherry trees that were about to wither surrounded the school, and in the air was a dancer who fell alone like a petal.In Ye Zun's line of sight, when she fell, she did not panic. Her face wore a sweet and selfless smile, and the enthusiastically loud applause around her was more frenzied than ever before.The girl dropped straight to the ground, laying between the sea of flowers and the crowd on the other side. Blood slowly formed a pool around her head and there was a sweet smile on her beautiful face, as if in a dream.Ye Zun's pupils shrank instantly. He saw the flower sea on the other side downstairs expand a few metres suddenly, like a dormant blood-coloured monster that swelled and grew in order to devour the blood that seeped out of the ground.The girl's body was quickly carried away by a few people in the crowd and the others still stood there, smiling expectantly, looking up at Ye Zun with their heads and necks stretched out.Just like they were waiting for a second person to fall from there.Are they insane? Or am I insane? What exactly is going on?What was happening in front of his eyes really was absurd.Ye Zun looked at his hand. He should have been grabbing onto the other girl, but now he saw that he had caught nothing. He was only holding onto a cherry blossom hairpin.Cherry blossom hairpin?The appearance of the girl who he had just talked to by the flower bed in the morning suddenly appeared before his eyes and it overlapped with the girl who wore a pink dance dress, spinning away just before.Impossible, how can it be her?Ye Zun felt a creepy chill crawl all over his body, completely unaware that he was fluttering on the edge of the sloping rooftop, not far from being shaken off.On the ground, only the substitute teacher looked normal. He angrily stopped the crazy students while constantly turning his head back and waving his arms at Ye Zun, motioning him to move back. It's really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me? Ye Zun turned his head sharply. In the dim room on the sixth floor where all the lights were off, a person stood in the middle of the stage, watching him. There was a faint smile on those pale lips, weak and quiet.Yes, it is his self' in white pants and a black shirt from the nightmare.The world suddenly went dead and still, as if he was being pulled back into that nightmare full of cherry blossoms and corpses in this very moment.Countless grey and white figures walked out of the mirrors behind Ye Zun in the middle of the stage. Their bare feet showed traces of being shackled, with their ankles festering. One by one, they walked towards and around him, then jumped down from the high platform behind him without hesitation.Thud! Thud thud!One, two, three, fourso many.With the feeling that his heart was suddenly being beaten, Ye Zun sat there on his knees, unable to move, body frozen by the chill. He couldn't even twitch his eyes.Even if he didn't turn his head back, he seemed to have already seen the corpses piled up like a mountain on the ground, as well as the audience applauding and cheering at this terrifying scene.The other Ye Zun was still standing on the dim stage, looking at him weakly and quietly. My dear, if you can't save me, just kill me, or, let me kill you.The other person didn't make a sound, but it was as if the voice appeared directly in Ye Zun's mind, or even, like it was flatly spoken from Ye Zun's own mouth.He blinked his eyes. His vision darkened, then became hazy, before gradually clearing up. There was nothing in front of his eyes, just like experiencing hallucinations from low blood sugar.There was only Shen Yuan in front of him, wearing a slight frown and extending a hand out to him. Are you okay? Be careful, grab my hand and come here firstba.Ye Zun didn't move. He wasn't sure if the Shen Yuan in front of his eyes was real. He endured the dizziness and slowly lowered his head, looking at the platform sloping downwards under his feet.For the protruding stage, not only was the floor particularly smooth, but the surface was obviously sloping down, like a trap placed there with malicious intent.He grabbed the railing, looking back at the audience on the ground.The black crowd cheered, all with blurred features. Thousands of people formed one face.But he still saw it. There were countless ghosts in the crowd with pale faces and thick threads like centipedes stitched into their skins.The same as what he saw with the second year's Class 1.More and more, more and more He trembled in fear.Soon, the school's principal and other teachers came up after they heard of this incident.The sixth floor was originally closed and only opened during special performances. Why were there students coming up here?Rightah, how could we have known she had the key. No matter how we go about this, it's her own responsibilityba.In any case, it's impossible for her to just fall like this. Was it some kind of mental illness?Many people downstairs said that she wouldn't have fallen over originally. She jumped for such a long time, and it seemed that someone pushed her in the end.This student, what's the matter with you. Kaoru Nogawa, is that right? Why are you hereThe substitute teacher said angrily, I was the one who had him to go up. Kaoru Nogawa, what were you doing near the end? When she fell, what were you standing around in a daze for? Why didn't you grab her?Ye Zun stood there, looking at the unfamiliar stage and the edge of the unfamiliar balcony, where it was now flat and ordinary, without the slope he had seen before.He faintly in a trance. I saw two dancing girls, and I grabbed onto one of themWhat nonsense are you talking about? Everyone was watching, there was only one person, one!Ye Zun looked at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand. That girl, how is she?She's already been sent to the hospital. We need to wait for the hospital's update. But, this is the sixth floor, so what do you think?Those people were still talking but Ye Zun's ears only heard a buzzing noise. The surrounding voices were getting further away, and his consciousness was gradually becoming unclear.He looked at them, vaguely feeling that those black lines were appearing on these people's skin.Although their faces wore heavy frowns, he felt that these people were coldly holding back their snickering. It overlapped with the cheering audience who had blurred faces in the open area below.Did the ghosts from second year's Class 1 start to spread out of control? Have they infected the whole school?Why did I see two girls dancing? Who is the other one? Was she the one who tempted the girl with the cherry blossom hairclip to jump off the building?He lowered his head to inspect the pink cherry blossom hairclip, but what appeared before him was the scene of the two of them saying goodbye in front of the teaching building after the girl returned the diary back to him.She smiled brightly, but there was a slight hesitance to speak in her eyes when she looked at him. Kaoru, I reallydidn't read the diary.So, did you actually read it?It was the diary that attracted the ghost who killed her.The diary, what exactly was written in it?Where are you going? As a witness, you have to wait for the police to record your statementah.Although we say it's an accident, it's very likely that he just pushed her downbaYe Zun ignored those people, walking towards the corridor expressionlessly as if he had lost his soul.When he walked out of the sixth floor, he saw Shen Yuan who was waiting outside. Shen Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly. His expression was calm, but showing a faint concern. You alright?En. Ye Zun was absentminded and walked past him, heading downstairs.He left the diary in the classroom. He must go back and retrieve it immediately. He must not let others see it ever again.In the classroom, Ye Zun quickly glanced over and saw the priest standing at his desk.Ye Zun returned to his senses and immediately stepped forward to snatch the diary from the priest's hand. You can't!Lin raised his eyes and looked at him quietly, the corners of his lips lifting up slightly, bringing out a little comfort. You don't look very well. Would you like to come to office with me and sit for a while?Sitting in the priest's office, in the same seat as last time.Ye Zun lowered his head slightly with no expression on his face, calmly looking at the cherry blossom hairclip in his hand.This is the situation. There is something wrong with this diary. She probably read the contents of the diary and the ghost lured her to jump off the building.Like last time, Lin handed him a cup of hot coffee to warm his hands and leaned against the desk, watching him. Are you sure it's because of the diary?I saw two girls at the site, but everyone else saw only one. Not only that, but I also saw another one of myself' and it said said to me, It's really scary here, will you jump down to escape with me?'Just recounting the scene at that time, a chill seeped from the cracks in his bones. No matter how calm he was, he couldn't restrain his trembling instinct on a physical level.Did the ghost say the same thing to that girl?Lin's eyes were clear and mellow. Give me the diaryba, I will look at what is written in it.Ye Zun raised his head and leveled the priest with a calm look, shaking his head. You can't. I really want to know what is written in this diary, but I dare not let Father read it. I am afraid that Father will die. Father must not have an accident.He was obviously frightened, with his face as pale as his lips, but he only showed a very exhausted calmness, saying his worries to himself in such a serious manner.Lin's face revealed an inconspicuous softness and crystal clear eyes were quiet and still. Don't worry, I won't die. You have forgotten, this is the work of the church.He slowly approached and picked up the diary Ye Zun placed on his own lap, but the other end of the diary was pinched by Ye Zun. The other's strength was stronger than he thought, and even if he tried to apply more force, he still couldn't take back the diary smoothly.But Ye Zun just looked at him quietly and meekly, his expression lacking any stubbornness and toughness. He just blinked his eyes calmly. You really can't.That kind of indescribable and unspeakable feeling. The nightmares I had are real, and they are beginning to invade reality. No matter how I put it, it sounds like gibberish spawned from fear, but this is real.Ye Zun was not really afraid. He just knew and was certain that there was definitely something wrong with the diary, hiding the source of terror in Pandora's jar.Lin lowered his eyes and looked down at him. With undisturbed brows and gentle eyes, his other hand gently touched his head. Are you worried? Then, let's read it togetherba. Just like what you always say, I will face your fears with you. Ye Zun's eyebrows drooped lightly. The jut on his throat rolled, and the fingers holding onto the diary were pinching so hard that they turned white.Lin's voice became more and more like a soft whisper. I am a person of the church. The demon god's game is not aimed at me. The only one in danger is you, the invited player. Now that you know, do you want to read it together?This time, Ye Zun nodded. En, I want to read it.He raised his head to look at Lin again, his brown eyes serene. Father, I'm not really afraid of ghosts myself. I'm just afraid of the feeling I have when I don't not know what I am afraid of.This instance was different from the previous novice trial. He had never faced an attack by a ghost, but that dark, wet and pervasive shadow of his nightmares was approaching him, eroding little by little, gradually dissolving the boundary between dreams and reality, as if to drown and suffocate him unconsciously.It wasn't a real danger, but it was everywhere, choking and oppressing step by step, trying to squeeze his throat, creating a chill from the gradual inability to breath.Even if he was struggling, he didn't know where this invisible force came from.He began to somewhat understand the play written in Nogawa Kaoru's diary, that kind of absurd, trance-like wasteland in a world with no borders, where reality and dreams have been fused.If he didn't know Lin, if Lin wasn't by his side in this world to let him escape from everything for a brief moment, if he was all alone here, perhaps he would've long been polluted by fear and crumbled apart without knowing.That deep, slow voice murmured, It's okay, there is still me. I am by your side, I am always here.Ye Zun lighty closed his eyes.I am starting to understand now why some people lose themselves in false faith.Because just existing there, is incredible. I feel as if I have already found salvation through this warmth.The author has something to say:The flower from heaven that accidentally bloomed under the Abyss, cannot survive alone. It would either wither or very quickly mutate. But because there is a Mr. Snake who accompanies it, it will stay open for a long, long time.The first instance I painted, the picture is a dense and dark night, too depressing and grey.But because there were the appearances of the priest and the dangerous and unpredictable Shen Yuan, a ray of light began to pour though, as if there is a golden sunflower field blooming along their path in this nocturnal wasteland.He is indeed always by Ye Zun's side.Because there was too much interaction with Lin, it diluted the tense horror atmosphere of the instance and slowed down the rhythm of the story in order to allow them time to interact, I deliberately chose a slow start of the instance in the early stage, but there is also a ray of hope left in the darkness.The first meeting is very important. Many feelings need to be fermented and transformed at the time of the first encounter.Hopefully, when I'm finished and look back, I will feel that these abandoned parts are not mistakes, as I do now.
