“Don’t worry about the Punishment Notice, save the person!!!”
Before Yan Wei finished speaking, Yan Mingguang didn’t even glance at Yan Wei’s actions; he turned and ran towards Lin Zhen. Although Yu Feizhou was already as bloodied as Lin Zhen, he still stumbled to his feet, the dagger slipping from his hand.
Lin Zhen, Yu Feizhou, and Yan Mingguang all struck at almost the same time!
Lin Zhen grabbed the pale Ghost Hand with one hand and kicked hard, while Yu Feizhou’s thrown dagger sliced through the air at that moment. Yan Mingguang’s Long Whip struck He Luo just as He Luo was retreating, causing him to stagger back a step.
This brief moment allowed Yu Feizhou the time to rush over; he hurriedly supported Lin Zhen and asked, “Are you okay? How do you still have the strength to fight—”
He paused.
The Lin Zhen who had just been agile was now unconscious.
On the other side, the moment Qian Xuanxuan and the starving ghost each received a Punishment Notice, a player shouted angrily, “Yan Wei, are you crazy!!!”
Yan Wei chuckled lightly, “I’m not crazy; rather, I…” He turned to look at the terrified He Luo, his tone calm, “I won.”
His next words were directed at the Ghosts/Monsters: “An eye for an eye, go find the ones you truly want to take revenge on.”
As soon as he finished speaking, all the Ghosts/Monsters around suddenly stopped moving. The Punishment Notices in Qian Xuanxuan and the starving ghost’s hands slowly dissipated, as if merging with them. At that moment, all the Ghosts/Monsters let out deafening screams, the eerie and piercing wails echoing through the small grove, stimulating human nerves.
He Luo’s already terrifying face, covered in blood, was now filled with horror. He couldn’t care less about the rescued Lin Zhen; he took a step back and then turned to leave without hesitation.
But Qian Xuanxuan and the starving ghost were even faster than him!
After obtaining the Punishment Notices, the entire campus of Ghosts/Monsters seemed to come alive, as if some shackles binding them had suddenly vanished. The feeling they brought to Yan Wei and the others was even more terrifying than before. Yet they did not attack the players; instead, they surged towards He Luo.
He Luo didn’t have time to escape; Qian Xuanxuan’s hand instantly tore through his skull, while the rushing starving ghost let out a roar, its sharp, bloodied teeth sinking viciously into He Luo’s shoulder!
In the next moment, the wind howled louder, a chilling breeze sweeping through the campus. The Ghosts/Monsters that had previously attacked Yan Wei all surged towards the disadvantaged He Luo, nearly overwhelming him.
As all the players stood dumbfounded, Yan Mingguang retracted his Long Whip, standing tall and solitary. He turned his head, looking at Yan Wei from a distance. The moonlight outlined his profile, revealing a faint smile directed at Yan Wei.
Yan Wei returned the smile, silently mouthing, “I guessed right.”
In this instance, the layout of the Ghosts/Monsters in the scenario began with Luo He’s appearance. However, the concealment and deception were not about He Luo hiding his identity as Luo He, but rather another layer of disguise. The identity of this Ghost/Monster was not Luo He…
His disguised identity was He Luo.
He was not He Luo.
From the moment he appeared, he had been guiding them, leading everyone to tacitly accept that this scenario was actually a game between a good ghost and a bad ghost. Later, he showed Yan Wei some of He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan’s past, constantly emphasizing how he was forced into his actions, trying to make everyone believe he was the good ghost. But after Yan Wei saw through him, he simply stopped pretending and interacted with the players as the bad ghost.
This also inadvertently established the initial assumption: two Ghosts/Monsters, one good and one bad.
However, at this moment, in the eyes of Yan Wei and the others, the ghost that had hinted to the players and was suppressed by the bad ghost had become Qian Xuanxuan, while the bad ghost naturally became “He Luo.”
It was precisely because of this continuously deepened subconscious impression of “He Luo” that they had never considered that the identities of the ghosts in this campus were already wrong.
There were not three ordinary Ghost/Monster NPCs. One was the severely suppressed Qian Xuanxuan, who still secretly hinted to the players; another was the starving ghost, who was locked in a warehouse and starved to death, continuously eating people—this was the real He Luo. The third was the bad ghost, Tang Yizhuo, who had always appeared before them disguised as He Luo.
“He Luo” was Tang Yizhuo, while the starving ghost was the true He Luo.
The guess about good and bad was correct, but the identities of the Ghosts/Monsters were reversed.
When Yan Wei reached this conclusion, all the oddities were cleared away, revealing their fundamental source.
From the beginning, they had actually lacked a very direct premise—that they had never seen He Luo and Tang Yizhuo within the Retrospective Illusion.
At the start of He Luo’s Retrospection, after Yan Wei entered, he had always viewed the events from the main perspective of the Retrospective Illusion’s owner. Since there were no mirrors in the dormitory and bathroom of Morning Dawn High School, he had never clearly seen “his” face—that is, He Luo’s face.
As for the others, in the Retrospective Illusion, apart from Qian Xuanxuan’s face, everyone else’s faces were quite blurry.
Initially, both he and Yan Mingguang thought that those people’s appearances were unimportant. Now, it seemed that someone had deliberately blurred them. The important figure, Tang Yizhuo, was also only sketched out in the Retrospection, with no clear face.
The real Tang Yizhuo suppressed the other Ghosts/Monsters in Morning Dawn High School, controlling these Retrospective Illusions, and naturally could deliberately obscure the scenes he didn’t want them to see, even stitching together two different Retrospections to give them a half-true, half-false story. The mixture of truth and falsehood continuously misled them.
In fact, aside from the mirrors and their not having seen Tang Yizhuo and He Luo’s faces, there were many details. For instance, this Tang Yizhuo, who disguised himself as He Luo, would subconsciously tidy his school uniform every time he appeared before them, paying great attention to his appearance. In contrast, the starving ghost, whom they initially thought was Tang Yizhuo, wore his school uniform haphazardly, with even water pen marks on the collar.
—Tang Yizhuo was a seemingly meticulous and cultured young master, the most image-conscious student council president and top of the grade, while He Luo was the slovenly and careless underachiever.
Moreover, in He Luo’s Retrospective Illusion, whether writing or brushing his teeth, He Luo used his left hand—He Luo was left-handed. When Yan Wei first saw the starving ghost, he noticed bite marks on the starving ghost’s right hand, which were the marks left from this ghost gnawing on its own flesh in a desperate attempt to survive. He wouldn’t bite his dominant hand because he needed his left hand to knock on doors. He bit his right hand, indicating that this starving ghost was not someone who commonly used his right hand.
These seemingly trivial yet unchangeable details were the key to recognizing the identities of these Ghosts/Monsters. But at the beginning, Tang Yizhuo had used such a cunning trick to lead them to the wrong point.
This was a game within a game; the “He Luo” disguised as Luo He was the first layer of disguise, while the Tang Yizhuo disguised as He Luo was the deepest layer of disguise.
The opposing ghosts were not Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo; the real opposing sides were Tang Yizhuo on one side and He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan on the other. Tang Yizhuo wanted to make Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo completely disappear, thus having no constraints in this campus. Therefore, whether they exchanged the Punishment Notice for Lin Zhen or directly destroyed the Punishment Notice, what disappeared were He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan, while Tang Yizhuo emerged victorious.
Amidst the piercing ghostly cries, Tang Yizhuo’s agonized screams echoed in the small grove; he was being slowly devoured by Qian Xuanxuan, He Luo, and the other Ghosts/Monsters. Even so, within his cries, there was still a mix of Tang Yizhuo’s unwilling roars: “I haven’t lost!! Ahhh— I haven’t lost!! Not lost!!!”
Yan Mingguang slowly walked to Yan Wei’s side, silently gazing at him, while Yu Feizhou, carrying the unconscious Lin Zhen, approached along with Zhou Tian and Gao Ming.
These changes happened in an instant; everyone was still in a state of tension, gasping for breath.
Gao Ming took a few deep breaths to calm down, then asked in confusion, “What… what is going on?”
“The starving ghost is He Luo; the He Luo we thought was Tang Yizhuo,” Yan Wei explained. “The real way to break the situation is to return the Punishment Notice to Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo, allowing them to break free from their restraints and release all their Resentment, so they can take revenge on Tang Yizhuo.”
Yan Wei looked at the Ghosts/Monsters fighting in front of them and methodically laid out the truth.
What they initially knew was all correct. Tang Yizhuo’s family adopted Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo, but Tang Yizhuo was a hypocritical scoundrel, appearing humble and polite while actually doing many cruel things, and then framing He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan. Over time, He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan faced bullying in school, ultimately breaking down and deciding to take revenge on those who had bullied them.
But they were still too naive.
They thought their so-called secret revenge was always being watched by the familiar Tang Yizhuo. Tang Yizhuo allowed them to take revenge on other students, and later, he hid in the shadows, watching them kill one person after another.
But merely watching was not enough for the psychologically twisted Tang Yizhuo. Seeing that Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo were beginning to have regrets, Tang Yizhuo decided to kill them. He first arranged for He Luo to take on cleaning duties, then, when He Luo returned to the dormitory warehouse to put away the broom after his shift, he starved He Luo to death in the second-floor warehouse. Later, on the weekend, Tang Yizhuo lured Qian Xuanxuan to the rooftop, mocking and ridiculing her, informing her that he had been watching everything she did.
At that time, the already regretful Qian Xuanxuan tore her face off with Tang Yizhuo, and they quarreled. Tang Yizhuo did not expect that the fully awakened Qian Xuanxuan was no longer the submissive and timid girl who wouldn’t dare to curse him to his face. In the quarrel, Qian Xuanxuan decided to take them both down together.
He Luo starved to death, Tang Yizhuo and Qian Xuanxuan fell to their deaths; the three of them each harbored Resentment, and the students who were killed also had their own Resentment. These overwhelming feelings intertwined to form the scenario of Morning Dawn High School.
He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan could not defeat Tang Yizhuo in life, and after death, they were even more suppressed by him. They couldn’t even communicate with the players or reveal anything related to the truth. But Tang Yizhuo could only control this campus to a certain extent; he could not kill the He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan filled with Resentment. He knew that the last two Punishment Notices expelling He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan were the source of their greatest Resentment. Only by destroying the Punishment Notices could He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan’s Resentment lose its medium and naturally dissipate.
Thus, Tang Yizhuo used other “students”—the players—to obtain the Punishment Notices. Yan Wei was designing him, and he was also designing Yan Wei. Yan Wei was luring him out, and he was also leading Yan Wei to “discover” that he was “He Luo.”
After being “discovered,” he pieced together a new Retrospection from He Luo’s and his own to show Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang. In that Retrospection, the segments of being bullied in school and taking revenge with Qian Xuanxuan belonged to He Luo, but the segments of secretly watching Qian Xuanxuan kill and arguing with her before falling off the rooftop belonged to Tang Yizhuo himself.
This stitched-together Retrospection provided Yan Wei and the others with a half-true, half-false story, leading the players to firmly believe that destroying the Punishment Notices was the way to eliminate this bad ghost.
In the end, he set this trap, waiting outside the small grove with Lin Zhen, pretending to be “He Luo” wanting to seize the Punishment Notice that could restrain him, while in reality, it was Tang Yizhuo wanting to destroy the Punishment Notice.
If just now, Yan Wei had not seen through this point, whether he exchanged the Punishment Notice for Lin Zhen, allowing Tang Yizhuo to obtain and destroy it, or directly destroyed the Punishment Notice, the final resolution would have been the complete disappearance of He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan, with Tang Yizhuo fully controlling the entire campus and killing all the students.
Their opponent from the beginning was not just the starving ghost He Luo, but the Tang Yizhuo who had wrapped himself in two layers of disguise.
After Yan Wei finished speaking, the dark sky above, almost merging with the darkness, slowly extended the Stairway.
Yu Feizhou, weakened by injuries all over his body, was still astonished as he heard Yan Wei’s words: “This is indeed a brilliant trap, but unfortunately, Tang Yizhuo’s opponent is you.”
Yan Wei replied, “It’s us.”
Zhou Tian was still somewhat confused: “So this is the truth… But Yan Wei, I remember at the beginning, you said you deliberately didn’t look for the school uniform and made some dangerous moves to lure out the good ghost willing to help the players, but in the end, what came out was this deliberately misleading Tang Yizhuo… Did your trap fail?”
Yan Wei shook his head: “No, it didn’t fail. He Luo has already lost his sanity, but Qian Xuanxuan, who has been reminding the players, was actually lured out by us. It’s just that she was too concealed and weak in front of Tang Yizhuo, so our focus remained on Tang Yizhuo, completely overlooking her.”
Zhou Tian was shocked: “She was lured out? When?”
Yan Wei looked at Yu Feizhou, raised his hand, and opened his palm: “I remember, in the morning, Lin Zhen threw you that notebook where he drew the female ghost at night?”
Yu Feizhou paused, then nodded: “Yes, he said he was tired of drawing and wanted to throw it away, so I thought it was unnecessary and took it—” He suddenly understood something and quickly took out the notebook from the Black Ring, placing it in Yan Wei’s open palm.
Yan Wei accepted it and, in front of everyone, opened Lin Zhen’s previous notebook of the female ghost.
The first page was from Lin Zhen’s first night of drawing; at that time, Lin Zhen was drawing for the first time, and it was a crude attempt. Aside from it being a humanoid figure, nothing was clear. Yan Wei had been somewhat interested the first time, so he glanced at it but didn’t see anything.
The second page was from the second night, where Lin Zhen mentioned it was still the same female ghost sitting at the table. But with the impression from the first day, even though Lin Zhen said he had improved, he had no hope for this person’s drawing skills and didn’t even look.
At this moment, the second page flipped open, revealing a much better drawing than the first page.
It was a female ghost sitting at a desk, looking at them sideways. She had long hair cascading down, a shattered head, and a face covered in blood. The eyes and brows that were not obscured by hair were already recognizable—exactly like the Qian Xuanxuan they had just seen.
Yan Mingguang said calmly, “She has been here for a long time.”
Yan Wei closed the notebook and returned it to Yu Feizhou, adding, “She came back two more times.”
As soon as Yan Wei finished speaking, the Tang Yizhuo, who had been devoured by countless vengeful ghosts, fell completely silent—he was being torn apart by the Ghosts/Monsters he had directly and indirectly harmed.
In the last moment, he had still been suppressing all the Ghosts/Monsters from a high position, but at this moment, amidst his mournful screams, he watched himself being torn to pieces.
The black Stairway also completely descended to the ground at this moment, and the surviving players scrambled to climb up. Lin Zhen was gravely injured, and Yu Feizhou didn’t hesitate, quickly carrying Lin Zhen up the Stairway, followed closely by Zhou Tian and Gao Ming. Shadows passed one by one past Yan Wei, but he did not immediately step forward.
Yan Mingguang stood by his side, raised his hand, and silently patted his shoulder.
He gazed ahead, and in the darkness filled with ghostly figures, the long-haired female ghost slowly turned her shattered head towards him. Her completely white eyes looked at Yan Wei, and a smile gradually appeared on her bloodied face.
Yan Wei clearly saw her lips move: “Thank you.”
She should have done this long ago. It was just that her realization came too late, and she had paid the price.
The ones who harmed them had always been Tang Yizhuo; it was Tang Yizhuo who had buried the small evils of others, allowing these small evils to accumulate into great evil.
The injustices and grievances in this world are countless; the small mistakes committed by everyone ultimately lead to great evils that are hard to distinguish between right and wrong. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is the most direct principle, yet it also requires the greatest courage to achieve.
Yan Wei looked at her, watching Qian Xuanxuan and He Luo slowly dissipate along with the black Stairway, together with these Ghosts/Monsters. He sighed and smiled faintly at Qian Xuanxuan from a distance.
Yan Mingguang withdrew his gaze and simply said, “Let’s go.”
Yan Wei chuckled softly, turned, and slowly stepped onto the Stairway.
Behind him, the wind howled, and the entire campus, under the moonlight’s embrace, slowly dissipated along with these Ghosts/Monsters and the past grievances and hatred.
