NFM Chapter 27

The young boy was dead.

Perhaps it was three weeks ago, or maybe four—Xu Chi couldn’t quite remember.

He had jumped from a building one night. The night patrol found his body in the flower bed, lying face down, eyes wide open—there was no evidence to suggest he had been murdered.

His mother, who was prone to infidelity, and his father, who had recently married his mistress, showed no concern for him. Thus, the boy’s life was summarily concluded—simpler even than the cleanup of the bloodstains on the bricks.

After the boy’s death, life went on as usual for everyone. The only thing he left behind were a few campus ghost stories. Classmates who had never cared about him while he was alive became oddly concerned about the fate of his soul after his death. Someone claimed to have seen the boy’s ghost, describing it vividly. Eventually, this statement was proven to be a ploy for attention and was posted on the school’s disciplinary notice board.

The wind swept through, rustling the papers on the notice board, which were replaced the following week by the announcement of the school’s math competition team winning a gold medal.

This was perhaps the last, insignificant ripple caused by the life of that despised boy.

“…Mobile phones, tablets, cosmetics, and novels are strictly prohibited. If discovered, they will be confiscated immediately. A second offense will result in disciplinary action according to school regulations. The school prohibits students from ordering takeout. Wake-up is at 6 AM for morning exercises on the field. Lunch break is from 12 PM to 1 PM. Classes end at 5:30 PM, and evening self-study begins at 6 PM. Evening self-study ends at 11:30 PM, and dormitory lights are turned off at 12 PM sharp.”

“There will be weekly exams and monthly exams. Seating arrangements are based on exam results. I don’t care what kind of rural schools you came from before. Now that you’re at Minghua High School, clean up your bad habits. Girls’ hair must not go past their ears, and boys, stop crossing your legs! Your parents have invested heavily in you, pulling countless strings to get you into this cram school. If you have any sense of shame, you should discipline yourselves, study hard, and not bring shame to your parents or to Minghua High School!”

“You, yes, you! Why are you sulking? For trash like you, it’s already a miracle that a cram school like ours is willing to take you in.” The stern-faced dean pointed at a female player, who quickly lowered her head. “I don’t care if you were the little prince or princess at home. Once you’re in Minghua, you follow Minghua’s rules. Understood?”

The players exchanged glances. After a while, one of the girls said, “Understood.”

“Louder!”

“Understood!”

The dean’s stern lips finally curved into a slight smile. She looked down at the newly transferred students from her high heels, once again feeling the thrill of controlling someone else’s fate. She glanced at her watch, her brow furrowing like a dried-up river, and said, “It’s almost 9:40. Class three starts at 10. Follow me now to Class B, third year.”

With that, she strode off in her high heels, her steps echoing confidently toward the school building. The players hurried after her. One of the boys whispered to his companion, “Damn, that old woman is terrifying.”

“Just bear with it. It’s only a month. We’ve got a lot to endure.” The young man beside him replied.

“But why is this mission so vague? Enter Minghua High School, investigate the campus’s supernatural events, and stop the situation from escalating before the evil spirits start a massacre… There’s no detailed information.”

“We’ve got a whole month to investigate. Don’t worry. With the three of us working together, we’ll figure it out…” the young man reassured the boy, then turned to the girl beside him.

Hearing his words, the boy’s expression eased slightly, but the girl touched her short hair, looking somewhat lost.

She glanced at the dean’s back, then looked behind her and whispered to the two players, “But aren’t there supposed to be four players?”

“Four players?”

“Before we were transported here, there were indeed four people on that wasteland. Me, you, him, and a really handsome guy… I even chatted with him for a while.”

The young man frowned slightly. The boy also seemed to recall something and exclaimed, “Yeah, I remember there was another person. Where did he go?”

“What are you whispering about back there?!” The dean barked as if she had eyes on the back of her head. “Teacher Yao, come here.”

From Class B, third year, emerged a sharp-featured middle-aged woman. Her eyes were narrow and small, giving her an exceptionally shrewd appearance. She scanned the three players, adjusted her glasses, and asked the dean, “Weren’t there supposed to be four students?”

“Three showed up. The fourth is missing,” the dean replied.

The middle-aged woman clearly didn’t care. She brushed the chalk dust off her hands and said to the three players, “Come in.”

Behind her was the classroom of Class B, third year. The students, dressed in blue and white uniforms, were all hunched over their desks, furiously writing. Even though the classroom was brightly lit, the atmosphere was oppressively heavy.

The velvet curtains fluttered in the breeze. Outside, dark clouds loomed, and a storm was brewing.

At the same time, a tricycle stopped at the school gate, just a few hundred meters away from Class B, third year.

A middle-aged man in a cheap suit hurriedly jumped out of a taxi. After showing his ID to the security guard, he straightened his hair, adjusted his clothes, and walked into the school.

His destination was the dean’s office on the third floor of the administration building. However, after passing the same building for the third time, he finally realized a desperate truth—

He was lost.

The middle-aged man looked around and finally spotted a figure in the small grove. From the back, the person appeared to be in his early twenties, wearing a security guard’s jacket and holding a small shovel, as if digging something.

—He looked like a school employee.

“Hey, buddy,” the middle-aged man approached without suspicion and asked, “How do I get to the administration building?”

As he got closer, he noticed the young man’s shoulders rising and falling, as if he was digging with great effort.

Blocked by the young man’s back, he couldn’t see what was being dug. Hearing the question, the young man raised his head and shifted his dark eyes to the corner. “Who are you?”

“I’m the new substitute teacher,” the middle-aged man replied.

Upon hearing this, the young man planted the shovel in the ground. Then, he stood up and turned around, completely blocking the view behind him. The middle-aged man now noticed that the young man was strikingly handsome. However, his upturned eyes were filled with suspicion.

“You say you’re a teacher? I’ve never seen you before. Nor have I heard of you. Did you sneak into the school to steal something? I’ve caught several people like you this month.” The young man questioned while pulling out his phone from his bag. “If you don’t tell the truth, I’m calling the police!”

“I really am the substitute teacher!” The middle-aged man, whose wrist was now firmly gripped, was on the verge of tears. “I’m the substitute teacher for Class F, third year. The original teacher was driven to the hospital by them. Here’s my ID, my certificate…”

Under the young man’s interrogation, the middle-aged man quickly revealed his entire background. The young man flipped through his documents, nodded thoughtfully, and said, “It looks real enough… A gardener of the people.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Alright, follow me. I’ll take you to the administration building.”

“Ah, thank you, buddy.” The middle-aged man hastily expressed his gratitude. The young man shrugged and walked ahead. The middle-aged man asked curiously, “Young man, are you the school’s gardener? Or a security guard?”

“Hmm… You could say that. In a way.”

In a way? The middle-aged man was puzzled. Then he asked, “What were you digging in the grove?”

A cold wind blew, rustling the leaves. The young man, who had been walking ahead, stopped.

He slowly turned around and replied in a gloomy voice, “Digging people… No, saving people.”

Digging… people?

After uttering those words, the young man turned and continued walking without looking back.

The chilling implication in his words made the middle-aged man’s hair stand on end.

…What on earth did he mean?

“Oh, for your sake,” the young man said coldly, “don’t look back.”

Don’t look back? Why not?

Despite every instinct screaming at him not to investigate further, the middle-aged man, driven by curiosity, turned his head in the gloomy sky and looked deep into the grove.

—Deep in the grove, where the young man had been digging.

It was better he didn’t look. When he did, his blood nearly froze!

Beneath the yellow soil, there was faintly… a head!

And what the young man had casually tossed aside wasn’t a shovel, but…

A stiff hand!!

“Ah—!”

The middle-aged man couldn’t suppress a scream. He tried to run, but his foot caught on a pebble, and he slipped, falling to the ground.

“Uh… ugh…” He looked up at the man approaching him step by step, hand outstretched, and began to sob. “No, no…”

“Don’t kill me!”

After his final cry, he finally passed out completely.

Standing before him, Lin Huai:…

Though he had recognized the pile of forged credentials five minutes earlier, he hadn’t intended to scare the substitute teacher. He had only reached out to help him up.

Who would’ve thought the man would faint on the spot.

“But as the protagonist, I must endure misunderstandings and fears beyond what ordinary people can bear,” he consoled himself. “I’m used to having my good intentions misunderstood.”

The true, handsome, and tragic Lin Huai helped the middle-aged man who had misunderstood him onto a bench, then turned and continued deeper into the grove.

Deep in the grove, a desiccated corpse lay buried in the yellow soil, its eyes still rolling grotesquely. Upon seeing Lin Huai approach, it let out a shrill, terrified wail.

Beside it lay the hand that Lin Huai had snapped off after it had emerged from the ground.

This all started half an hour ago.

Half an hour earlier, the other three players had entered the school, while Lin Huai, who had a mild obsession with understanding the terrain, secretly broke away from the group. Near the grove, he heard a mournful weeping.

It sounded like a girl’s voice, pitiful and sorrowful, repeating, “Save me, save me.”

Curious, he entered the grove and was drawn to the spot by the murmuring.

“Where are you?” He put on an innocent, naive expression and called out, “I’m here to save you!”

“I… I can’t move…” the girl continued to cry. “Help me, let me…”

As he looked around, a pale hand burst from the ground and grabbed his ankle.

The female ghost, intending to drag him into the earth, let out a shrill laugh. “Let me out of the ground! I was buried here!”

The female ghost expected the player to scream in terror, but the man whose ankle she had grabbed didn’t move.

He looked down, locking eyes with her through the soil.

It was like Frederick and Albert staring at each other through ice.

Then, he smiled.

“You should’ve told me you were here earlier,” he said. “I’m here to save you.”

And then came the scene the middle-aged man had witnessed.

“Helpful” Lin Huai snapped off the female ghost’s arm. He held the arm with his bare hands and patiently began…

Trying to dig her out of the ground.

During the process, to prevent the female ghost from saying too many “thank yous,” the ever-modest Lin Huai even stuffed her mouth with dirt.