GCCB Chapter 74

“Hng.” A soft moan was heard in the empty classroom. The girl who was sprawled on top of her desk sat up while holding her head. She looked at her unfamiliar surroundings in confusion. 

What was this place? 

Who was she?

She harshly shook her head. The girl realized her mind was blank. There was nothing. She didn’t know her own name, she didn’t know where she was, she didn’t remember anything at all.

The golden rays of dusk fell upon the girl. Suddenly, there were strange cawing sounds from crows, which scared the confused girl. She looked at the window and saw a few crows perched on a branch outside, flapping their wings as their dark red eyes stared directly at her.

The sun was nearly setting behind the mountains. The last ray of light struggled to remain in the sky, flickering with ominous red colors. A broken sun that was like blood. The girl next to the window looked outside and saw not a single shadow in the massive school grounds.

One by one the buildings turned dark. The windows were so dark it seemed like they were the eyes of monsters peering out, making anyone feel an ominous feeling. The girl couldn’t help stepping back, but when she turned her head, she saw the classroom walls looked as if they were splattered with blood because of the sun’s last rays, so she also hesitated and didn’t dare move further.

Although she had no memories, she subconsciously felt afraid. This kind of place that seemed as if a supernatural creature would pop out anytime made her feel terrified.

If he were by my side, I wouldn’t be afraid. The girl thought this, and paused. Who was “him”? Sadly no matter how hard she wracked her brain she didn’t get an answer.

Seeing that the sky was nearly turning completely dark, the girl didn’t dare daddle any further in this place. She gathered herself and walked to the classroom door, but just as she reached it, she saw the door slamming close. Her heart jumped violently. The girl reassured herself that it was probably the wind that blew it close as she reached out to open the door, but then her hand touched upon something wet.

The wetness in her palm smelled like iron. She didn’t dare look and only forcefully pulled the door, but the door didn’t budge, as if it had been hammered in place. The girl could hear her breathing quickening harshly. She saw a switch from the corner of her eye so she quickly turned it on.

The instant light upon the room made her shut her eyes in discomfort but then she felt better, the brightness of light can always help to scatter fear. But when she saw her hand and the blindingly crimson liquid sticking to her skin, she couldn’t help stepping back, bumping against a desk. 

There was the sound of something falling; it was something within the desk she had bumped into that fell out.

Human arms, fingers, thighs, and other parts of the body, they all rolled from the desk’s drawer. One of them – a head – rolled near her feet, the weed-textured hair on the head covered most of its hideous face, only showing a pair of malicious eyes that locked with her own terrified eyes.

The girl felt her hands and feet were covered in ice. She stiffly turned her head to look at the other desks, and from the drawers that she could see, they all had— human limbs, and there was also a head inside a drawer that was staring at her. There were over thirty desks within the classroom, and each and every single one of them were full, including the desk where she had laid her head on and woke up from.

“AH!” A sharp and panicked scream. She used even more force to try and open the classroom door, but at this moment, the bright lights flickered on and off, and they slowly started darkening into a bizarre red color. There was nothing to be heard of in the classroom aside from her own breathing.

Suddenly, a line of white chalk words started appearing on the blackboard—— Do you want to get out of here?

It was such lovely handwriting, but it only served to be incredibly creepy in the current situation.

“If you want to leave, then go and kill the other human in this school, as for where that person is~? Hehe~ You will have to find out yourself~” The words on the blackboard were being written, “If you can’t do it, then just die here~ And keep these people company~”

The door which couldn’t be opened suddenly slammed open at this moment. The hallways outside the room were just as dark and seemed to want to devour everything. The stiff girl immediately ran out, wanting to get as far as possible from that classroom. 

There was nobody in the hallways. The other classroom doors were closed. She didn’t dare go look at other classrooms and only dared to run down the staircases.

As long as she left this school—

As long as she left this place, everything would be fine!

She was on the sixth floor. She should’ve reached the base floor long ago, but even after running for a long time, she still didn’t reach the first floor. She abruptly raised her head and looked for something, and saw the sign saying sixth floor next to the wall. She hadn’t even gone down the next floor at all. Moreover if this was the sixth floor, then what were the floors that she had run through just now? 

Her throat was tight and she stopped trying to go down, instead she turned back and went upwards, and this time after going up two floors she saw a door. She took a deep breath and abruptly pulled open the door. A violent breeze immediately hit her in the face, causing her to shut her eyes.

It was the rooftop. In front of her there were two people, one boy and one girl; the girl was holding a knife and stabbing the boy in a frenzy, splattering blood all over her face. The boy’s chest had a huge gaping hole, he had died a while ago but the girl seemed to not realize this as she kept repeating her mechanical movements.

After a while, the girl came to her senses and she burst out laughing a little madly. “I– I killed him, I can go out, I can leave this thrice damned place hahAHAHA!”

She seemed to not see the girl who just arrived and was immersed in her joy, but suddenly, her gaze suddenly focused on the face of the boy she had just killed. Her muddy expression started clearing up and then she suddenly donned a horrified, disbelieving expression. The blade in her hands was thrown to the side, her bloodied hands grabbed her head as she muttered, “Impossible, this can’t be, I remember, I can remember… How could I— I killed you—  But, but I don’t remember, why is it you…. No, NO!” 

She touched the boy’s face as if in denial, then she suddenly broke down and wailed. She laughed and cried like a madwoman. Then, as if in a trance she mumbled to the dead boy, “I’ll stay with you, I’ll be right there beside you.” It took but a few steps to get near the rooftop rails. Without hesitation, she leapt over them.

The girl who watched this at the entrance finally snapped to reality, she tried to run and grab the girl who jumped, but her hand only grasped plain air. The beautiful girl with long hair fell down the building. The girl – still shocked – quickly looked down, but there was nothing there. The corpse of the girl who jumped was nowhere. And when she turned back, the corpse behind her that had been murdered by the girl was also gone. She was alone up on the rooftop.

On a water tank in the corner of the rooftop there was a gathering of black crows. The way they cawed was as if someone was laughing raspily, full of ridicule.

Suddenly the water tank toppled to the side. Crimson blood started gushing out of the water tank and soon covered the floor, like a thick crimson lake. The girl was shaking terribly, biting her lips to stop her screams. She swallowed roughly twice and ran back to the entrance she came in. She kept running down the staircases. Right now she had no energy to think of what happened to the two people just now, she was only thinking of one thing and that was to leave this place.

The handrails had spots that looked like dried blood. The girl’s hands were also stained with dry blood. She didn’t care as she stumbled and ran down the stairs. 

In the beginning only her footsteps could be heard, but slowly, it was almost like she could hear the footsteps of someone else in the stairs above her. That person was also coming down the stairs, and they seemed to be following her.

The terror that dragged behind her heels made her accidentally miss a step and fall down the stairs.

A sharp pain burst in her thigh. The girl crawled up with difficulty and heard the footsteps coming closer and closer, the footsteps almost as if stepping on her heart. Although her thigh was hurting, she still limped down the stairs while holding the rails, not daring to let the thing behind her catch up.

She was scared. She was really scared. Please, someone come save her!

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This world was slightly strange.

Fu Wang looked through the dismembered corpses that littered the classroom he woke up in and found nothing of value. The only hints were the words that appeared on the blackboard. It said that if he wanted to leave, then he had to find the other person in this school and then kill them.

That other person, could it be Xiao-Yu? 

When he just woke up, there seemed to be something trying to modify his memories, but his soul condensation was that of a devil’s, and after a thousand years of tempering and several worlds’ worth of tribulations, the power that tried to control his memories wasn’t strong enough to affect him.

But Fu Wang estimated that Xiao-Yu had most probably been met with the same thing as him, and she was different. Although her soul was stronger than average humans, it was still significantly more feeble than his own; she was still using the body made from devil’s flesh, but it was very probable that her memories had been tempered by that power.

Moreover, Fu Wang could remember that Xiao-Yu was most afraid of this kind of thing. She wasn’t afraid of even hideous demon-beasts, but she was frightened of this type of strange ghostly creature that had no physical form. In the past when they were in his original world, they had once stayed in an old temple in a deserted mountain where a grudgeful ghost resided, it almost scared her to tears. She had been domineering and formidable moments prior, but then she was so frightened she seemed like a poor little cat, grabbing his hand as she trembled.

Here in this place, who knew how she’d be scared alone. An annoying caveat was the strangeness of this world: He couldn’t destroy the things here. Destruction on a smaller scale – the kind that the average human could do – he was capable of, but destruction on a larger scale, like bringing down this entire building, was impossible. Even after he toppled it, the next second it returned to its original form.

As he thought this, the door that had kept him locked away in this room opened by itself. Fu Wang strode out with clear purpose. He had to quickly find Xiao-Yu. 

If he guessed correctly, would his Xiao-Yu be hiding somewhere in fear and shedding tears? So scared that she would be crying. Then, she would burrow herself in his arms and never want to leave, wouldn’t she?

Fu Wang’s footsteps paused slightly, then he showed a bright smile and looked towards the stairs next to him. Just as he was thinking of Xiao-Yu, she had arrived.

As heavy footsteps were heard, it was accompanied by rapid and panicked breathing and a too quick heartbeat. Even he could hear it from here. His pitiful, adorable Xiao-Yu, it seemed that she had been frightened terribly, and going by the sounds of the footsteps, it seemed that her leg had been injured? 

Fu Wang unhesitatingly walked up the stairs and opened his arms as he rounded the corner, basically enveloping the person rushing down in an embrace.

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“AH!” Being suddenly hugged, the girl who was so frightened and panic-stricken couldn’t help shrieking and started struggling wildly.

“Xiao-Yu, don’t be scared, I’ve found you, don’t be scared, it’s alright.” 

A man that was extremely handsome – as if he had walked out of an old painting scroll – appeared, instead of the female ghost in a white dress that she thought would appear. Although this man gave her the feeling of safety, she didn’t dare let her guard down and continued to struggle and try to leave his arms, then she asked, “Who are you?”

He was warm. He probably wasn’t a ghost, so she didn’t turn around and run and instead tentatively striked a conversation with him. Admittedly, the appearance of this man made her frazzled nerves relax; after seeing creepy things in this creepy place, it was a huge relief to see another living person here.

Her hair was a mess, her face was pale, her eyes were reddened. Seeing her pitiful appearance, Fu Wang kept smiling. This look of hers made him recall the first time he met her, it was extremely familiar to how frightened she had looked back then, sadly afterwards she had become more and more stronger-willed and this kind of pitifully adorable appearance was something he hadn’t seen anymore. 

Fu Wang pondered as his usually gentle voice turned even more tender by a few degrees, hearing it would’ve served to melt anyone.

“I am Fu Wang, your lover. You’re called Shu Yu. Did Xiao-Yu forget?” He said, “I woke up in a room, there were many corpses there, I wasn’t at ease so I left to look for you.”

She couldn’t help the shiver when she heard this. Fu Wang guessed that she had definitely woken up in a similar situation, and probably, she had also seen the words that said “they had to kill the other person if they wanted to leave”. 

This world was slightly interesting, did it want for the two of them to kill each other? Of course, he would not harm Xiao-Yu, however, would an amnesiac Xiao-Yu that was so frightened in this situation choose to kill him in order to achieve this goal?

Fu Wang couldn’t help looking forward to it. If Xiao-Yu really did this, then he would have an excuse to ‘bully’ Xiao-Yu. By then, a Xiao-Yu who was full of regret and remorse would definitely not refuse him. How should he bully her then? Strange worlds will always have more strange ways to play.

“I– I’m called Shu Yu?” The girl asked a bit hesitatingly. Something in her heart told her this person could be trusted, but she was too scared, and moreover the words she saw on the blackboard and the scene of those two people in the rooftop, they made her unable to completely let her guard down.

Heavy footsteps came from upstairs again, getting closer and closer with each thump. The girl’s expression – who had basically accepted her identity as Shu Yu – changed abruptly.

She somewhat pleadingly looked at Fu Wang—— this man that was supposedly her lover.

Fu Wang didn’t disappoint her and brought her into his embrace again. He reassured her softly, “Don’t be scared, I won’t let go of you.”

Shu Yu didn’t speak. She wanted to hide herself in his body, her whole body was shaking, especially when they heard those footsteps, she would tremble each time it sounded.

The faint malice that hadn’t quite taken full form in Fu Wang’s heart was extinguished with each tremble of the shaking figure in his arms, leaving only behind helplessness and pity. Was she truly that afraid? Even more scared than before. Was it because she didn’t have memories?

Perhaps he should find a place and have her rest for a bit.

As he thought this, he glanced at the stairs and turned to make his way downstairs. The base floor which Shu Yu couldn’t reach no matter how much she tried, Fu Wang took her there easily with her in his arms. When they left the building, the sky outside had already turned dark, there was only a single lamp illuminating the scene, which was very clear amidst the darkness.

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Chapter Description: Calm your fears by eating a fish.