After bidding farewell to the domineering CEO, who was different in both behavior and thought processes, the four stepped into the mist.
Everyone could tell that the mist was strange, but the school had already become a paradise overrun by zombies, and the supplies they could find were dwindling. They had no choice but to move forward.
The mist was eerily quiet.
Outside the school were those familiar buildings: the cheap, large-portion snack shops that students loved, the supermarkets that often had promotional events, and the fast-food restaurants with counterfeit names. Yet, there was not a single person inside any of the shops.
Ai Zhenzhen and her companion held up pot lids, vigilantly scanning their surroundings, fearing that an unknown monster might suddenly charge out from the mist. However, after maintaining this posture for a long time without discovering any new threats, their hands began to ache.
The four of them fell silent, quietly moving forward.
Ai Zhenzhen was extremely tense; she wanted to raise her shield again but felt as if her arms were sore from being forced to participate in a tug-of-war.
She could only suppress her fear of the great demon king and inch forward a little. In the face of survival instinct, even the most terrifying teacher in the school seemed amiable.
Huo Lin walked ahead with his back to them.
From Ai Zhenzhen’s perspective, she could only see his neatly combed black hair and the sharp silhouette of his black trench coat.
In search of psychological comfort, she occasionally glanced up, but during one of those glances, she suddenly caught sight of a black spot appearing on Huo Lin’s neck.
Huo Lin’s complexion was pale, matching his gloomy aura, and he had no extra color on his body. The black spot on his neck was extremely conspicuous, like a piece of black mold on a pristine cream cake.
Decayed, dilapidated, exuding a heavy sense of death.
Ai Zhenzhen instinctively rubbed her eyes, wondering if she had seen it wrong.
After rubbing her eyes for the first time, the black spot remained.
After the second time, the black spot disappeared.
At that moment, Huo Lin seemed to sense the gaze from behind; he slowly turned his head, looking down at Ai Zhenzhen, who still hadn’t lowered her hand, with cold eyes, as if he were looking at an unsightly piece of trash.
“This student, if you have nowhere to put your eyes, would you like me to take care of them for you?” His words were like a snake’s venomous tongue.
Ai Zhenzhen’s shoulders trembled, and she quickly averted her gaze.
Although she had been attacked with sharp words, her heart felt slightly relieved.
Because that look of disdain was far too familiar. The way the disciplinary director looked at every student was just like that—harsh, filled with endless disdain, often accompanied by a few mocking remarks, and sometimes even a hefty punishment.
Fear was the normal state of the devilish disciplinary director; she must have seen it wrong just now.
·
After walking for a while, Xiao Lu encountered a familiar building from his memories.
This was the original owner’s home. His family was well-off and didn’t like him living on campus. So, they paid for him to rent a loft apartment near the school, a one-bedroom with a living room, fully equipped.
Although he had already taken the food home and handed it over to his former teammates, the large furniture was still there, making it a good place to rest.
“How about we—” Xiao Lu turned his head to speak to Huo Lin beside him, but was surprised to find that the person who had just been next to him was gone.
Just before he had looked at the building, Huo Lin had still been by his side.
He quickly turned around, searching for the figures of Ai Zhenzhen and Hao Si.
Fortunately, both of them were still there.
Xiao Lu hurriedly asked them, “Did you see where Teacher Huo went?”
“Huh? Wasn’t he just with you—” Ai Zhenzhen looked at Xiao Lu as if waking from a dream, “Where is he? I thought Teacher Huo was right here; when did he leave?”
Hao Si frowned tightly: “I also thought he was just here; if he suddenly left, why didn’t I hear any footsteps?”
Ai Zhenzhen nodded: “Yeah, I didn’t hear anything either.”
Xiao Lu felt a bit uneasy, but out of trust in his collaborators, he temporarily suppressed his anxiety: “This place is very close to my home; you two can rest at my place. I’ll go look for him later.”
As he spoke, Xiao Lu reached into his pocket to search for his house key.
“I’ll take you up first—”
But as soon as he finished speaking, he received no response.
Xiao Lu raised his head, only to find a vast expanse of white mist before him; Ai Zhenzhen and Hao Si, who had just been talking to him, had also vanished.
While searching for his keys, he had instinctively lowered his gaze. But the time he took to look away was no more than a second, and yet, two healthy high school boys had silently disappeared right under his nose.
What on earth was going on?
“Ivan.” Xiao Lu called out in his mind.
“Ivan?”
“Are you asleep?”
“Do I need to return something to Mr. A?”
No matter what he said, Ivan did not respond, as if he had gone missing.
In a brief moment, everyone around Xiao Lu had vanished, leaving him alone to wander in this white, misty world.
Before he could think too much, he once again saw a massive shadow that had appeared in the mist at some point.
This time, the shadow was slender and long, with no visible limbs, yet it twisted bizarrely, like a swan’s neck that had been broken several times.
And it was very close to him.
He had to tilt his head back to see it, yet he still couldn’t make out its full form.
At the same time, faint sounds reached his ears, as if something was being continuously crushed.
A chilling sense of crisis surged through him, causing Xiao Lu’s limbs to go cold instinctively; it was a bodily reaction that preceded his brain’s thoughts.
His body was telling him that this was something very dangerous.
He struggled to control his breathing, lightened his footsteps, and moved along the outer wall of the community, heading away from the shadow.
The sound of crushing paused.
The shadow suddenly moved, bending down to bring one end closer to the ground, seemingly searching for his trace.
Xiao Lu immediately halted, holding his breath, waiting for the next opportunity to act.
The shadow stretched in the air, then suddenly retracted, its movements erratic. Through layers of mist, it was hard to see clearly; Xiao Lu felt as if he were watching a bizarre and absurd dance.
Thus, while observing the shadow’s movements, he slowly sought an opportunity to distance himself, his nerves taut, every muscle refusing to relax.
Finally, he managed to inch away from the shadow’s vicinity.
Leaning against the wall, Xiao Lu let out a long breath. He had experienced arduous and dangerous battles before, but this was the first time he felt so exhausted without having to fight.
And he didn’t even know what that shadow was.
Having witnessed the shadow twice, Xiao Lu began to form his own guesses.
The thick mist and the shadow seemed to belong to the same worldview; for now, they appeared to exert more psychological pressure and fear, unlike the direct bloodshed and death stimuli of zombies.
It was akin to an indescribable fear, contrasting with B-grade splatter films.
From Ivan’s previous statements, it seemed that this world did not simultaneously hide two different worldviews. It was more like two distinct worlds colliding violently, intertwining and invading each other.
The troubling part was that the mist-filled world seemed stronger.
It was continuously devouring the original zombie world, from the pedestrians on the street to the wandering zombies. As a member of the zombie world, Xiao Lu naturally became a target for the other side.
He recalled the domineering CEO he had encountered earlier, who had made him want to dig his toes into the ground.
That person was likely the protagonist of some novel, but his world had completely vanished, and it was unclear whether he had been mostly devoured, leaving only a hard-headed individual still bouncing around under the protagonist’s halo.
“Dimensional suppression…” Xiao Lu licked his lips, feeling uneasy.
In the previous world, he had wielded the cultivation techniques of a cultivation world to suppress the martial arts world, happily commanding his convenient disciple. Now, in this world, it had completely reversed.
Indeed, one must always pay for their actions.
At this moment, his teammates were missing, Ivan was unreachable, and he had become a target in another world.
The longer he stayed in this world, the greater the danger; it would be better to end the plot and leave as soon as possible.
He pulled out a note from his pocket; the handwriting on the note was elegant, quite unlike the gloomy and harsh disciplinary director. It simply read—”Virus No. 0.”
He had discovered this note while searching for his keys earlier, not knowing when it had been slipped in.
In the plot of this world, the zombie virus was a man-made disaster.
The person who developed it was named Zhou Gu, a renowned scientist known worldwide, and also the boss of this world.
The location of his research lab was not a mystery; it was hidden deep underground in the city’s landmark building, the Miles Building. In the original plot, the protagonist had led his teammates to fight their way in.
It was easy to find bookstores near the school; although the clerks were gone, zombies and mist showed no interest in absorbing knowledge, and the books inside remained intact.
Xiao Lu successfully found a travel map of the city and saw the Miles Building prominently recommended on the first page.
This place was a well-known internet celebrity check-in spot, with clear introductions to its location, construction history, popular observation decks, and high-altitude restaurants, along with a friendly reminder that reservations were needed.
However, there was not a single word about the underground part; after all, a mad scientist had not yet reached the point of wanting to be visited.
Following the map’s directions, Xiao Lu headed toward the Miles Building. It was somewhat difficult to discern directions in the thick fog, but fortunately, the ground indicators were still there.
After walking for a while, footsteps sounded behind him.
The sound of leather shoes tapping on the hard floor echoed crisply, approaching at a leisurely pace.
Xiao Lu slowly turned to look into the mist, where a humanoid shadow was gradually drawing near.
He remained silent, warily watching the approaching figure.
“Is this the expression you need to see your teacher? This isn’t how a good student should behave.” A low, cold voice rang out, and Huo Lin’s figure emerged from the mist.
“Where did you go?” Xiao Lu asked him.
“The teacher’s whereabouts don’t seem necessary to report to students.” Huo Lin stepped closer to Xiao Lu, looking down at him from his height.
He seemed to enjoy looking at people in this manner; the long, dark eyelashes behind his glasses cast a shadow over his eyes, making the stark contrast of his irises appear somewhat muddled.
Huo Lin’s gaze quickly swept around: “You’re the only one here; where are the others?”
Xiao Lu shook his head: “I don’t know; they suddenly disappeared.”
Huo Lin seemed unconcerned about the whereabouts of the two; he adjusted his gloves and refocused his attention on Xiao Lu: “Where are you planning to go?”
“To find a safe place to rest,” Xiao Lu pointed to the side, “at least somewhere without mist.”
For some reason, Xiao Lu instinctively did not tell him his ultimate destination.
“Let’s go together,” Huo Lin said.
The two resumed their journey together.
However, this time, they walked one in front and one behind, with Xiao Lu leading and Huo Lin following a step behind.
During their progress, Xiao Lu occasionally felt a faint gaze sweeping over him from behind, as if he were being watched by some predator—cold, sticky, and malicious.
A layer of goosebumps quietly rose on his skin.
But when he turned around, he could only see the other person’s usual expression.
Xiao Lu withdrew his gaze and continued forward, suddenly feeling a weight on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong? Does our school’s prominent figure feel scared too? Do you need the teacher to protect you?” Huo Lin’s breath brushed against his ear, tickling.
“No, thanks.” Xiao Lu took a step forward, trying to create some distance between them.
But even though he had moved forward, the weight on his shoulder remained.
a fake?