Clang—!

A sudden muffled toll, like someone striking a hanging bell, rolled through the old campus with lingering echoes. Scarlet filaments burst from windows and doorways, a blood tide surging to swallow Nana Toki and the others.

Run!

Panic hit Lu Ming like a rockslide. The pressure was so crushing he couldn’t even move his legs. His face went pale, his knees turned to water, and his exorcist’s skill felt tiny before real death.

Still hiding? If you don’t come out, this idiot’s going to die!

A familiar woman’s voice cut in by his ear. Lu Ming hadn’t snapped back yet when his shadow exploded into masses of black hair. Crimson-tinged darkness veiled Xuduo and Lu Ming’s vision, black strands slammed into the blood threads, tangled and knotted, and a chill like grave frost spilled out.

Li… Li Kexin…?

The air dropped to ice. Lu Ming stared, stunned, at the red-dressed girl rising from his shadow, blurting her name. He hadn’t expected her to show up and help.

It was like the world around them hit pause. Everything on the old campus stopped attacking. They saw her clearly—out of Lu Ming’s ink-dark, abyss-deep shadow stepped a serene red-robed woman, a flower blooming alone in a filthy world, and the whole place dimmed around her.

Endless black hair surged like a storming sea. It ravaged everything without mercy. Low, crowded buildings, the tall fence ringing the old grounds—soon all of it was bound tight by Li Kexin’s terrifying hair.

Screams rose, the despairing struggle of the dying. Ghostly shrieks spilled from every building. Beside Lu Ming, Xuduo clenched her hand and gripped the small sachet he’d given her, sweat beading along her brow.

The stench of blood grew thick as swamp fog. It made her short of breath. She wasn’t scared; it was the red-robed ghost who seemed oddly fond of her, pale eyes locked on her face without blinking.

Do… do you want this?

Feeling that heat of a stare, Xuduo opened her palm. She spread out the crumpled little sachet in front of Li Kexin, her heart thudding hard. She couldn’t fathom why a ghost would be interested in a scented pouch.

Li Kexin stared at the sachet, a shadow crossing her gaze, then fading.

A few strands floated over under her control, plucked the wrinkled sachet from Xuduo’s hand, and the air around Xuduo eased a notch.

Soon, the old campus had changed beyond knowing. Li Kexin’s hair crept like vines across every inch. Everything lay under her black canopy, eerie and suffocating.

The figures hiding in the dark corners were either strangled by her hair or swallowed by the endless mass.

Silence fell again. The mist thickened, and the blood moon hanging overhead burned deeper red.

How is Li Kexin even here? Lu Ming didn’t dare address her. He saw her bowing her head, teasing the sachet with a strand of hair, and took the chance to speak to Nana Toki. Her strength’s grown again.

No kidding. The yin here’s thick as ink, and you helped her heal. Of course she bounced back fast. Nana Toki edged away and rolled her eyes. And you’ve kept her stashed in your shadow. Where else would she show up? Your dreams?

…

She didn’t bother with Lu Ming further. She rose and drifted toward the old campus gate.

Hey, Ling Jiang, where are you going? Lu Ming hurried after her, rattled. After a mess like this, he had no idea what to do.

Where else? Back to Longvine Academy’s new campus to check the situation. That red-clad one said someone came. No one’s outside now, so I’m guessing they lured it away.

But… what about the old campus? Xuduo glanced back at the black hair flooding the grounds and drew a sharp breath. If they left it, morning would bring panic and chaos.

If you’re willing to stay and clean up the red ghost’s hair yourself, I don’t mind.

Nana Toki shot a look at Li Kexin, who was still playing with the sachet, and saw no sign of her stopping. I’ve got other business. No time to waste here.

O-okay… I’ll go back with you.

Xuduo hunched her shoulders and agreed. She hadn’t forgotten how she attracted ghosts morning and night. Staying alone in the old campus till dawn sounded like a curse; better stick with the group.

The two humans and one ghost followed Nana Toki out. The forest they’d come through had become a field of writhing meat pillars, grotesque shapes pulsing, veined with red filaments like living blood vessels. With every shudder, those threads throbbed.

Even Nana Toki, after days of heavy scenes, felt her limits. Nothing in this old campus was fit for the living eye.

She figured the mastermind behind this ghost school wasn’t normal. No ordinary mind would craft so many warped forms.

The path through the trees had narrowed. They moved single file, Li Kexin in front. Any tentacle that reached for them got severed within two meters, cut clean by her hair. Nana Toki, drifting behind, didn’t need to lift a hand.

The severed chunks piled along the path. Blood sprayed from the pillars and lacquered Li Kexin’s hair, making her red dress blaze brighter.

Boom, boom, boom—!

Yin energy surged, and fighting sounds rolled from far ahead. After Li Kexin cut down the last pillar nearby, a high school wrapped in thick blood vessels appeared before them.

Is this Longvine Academy’s new campus? The veins along the gate tightened and pulsed. Bricks in the walls were inlaid with dried faces, eyes shut, making the place look like a giant fortress of flesh.

Amid heaps of gore, Lu Ming and Xuduo stood with drawn faces. A place this twisted, clogged with shreds of meat and blood, shouldn’t be called a school.

We finally meet, Ling Jiang.

A voice, familiar yet estranged, sounded ahead. Nana Toki looked up and saw, behind the gate, a young man in a white uniform holding a red-clad boy up by the throat with one hand.

He wore the warm smile Lu Ming and Xuduo knew, and his words carried no overt malice. Yet a cold fear crept over them, prickling their scalps.

Have you been well these years?

…

No answer. The air turned so cold it made bones shiver.

The red-clad boy they’d seen in the old campus now hung in Teacher Bai’s grip, face twisted and raging, empty black sockets gushing black blood with each squeeze.

Such a disobedient student. I told you to stay confined in my office, yet you ran here to rebel. If you weren’t one of Ling Jiang’s few friends, I’d kill you.

Jets of black blood splattered Teacher Bai’s face, making the beast beneath his human skin look even more feral and blood-drenched.

He didn’t slow for Nana Toki’s silence. If anything, he grew hotter, more deranged.

Locking eyes with Nana Toki, he spoke each word like a vow. The ground shuddered. A vast sinkhole tore open in the central plaza. Blood threads surged from the cracks, cramming the pit until it became a brimming red pool.

The mist thickened. Here and there, huge iron chains flashed past within it.

This was the world of the dead—and the world inside Teacher Bai’s heart.

It’s almost time, Ling Jiang. Are you ready to embrace your new life?

Suddenly, he let go of the red-clad boy. His gaze fell on Nana Toki, soft with rare tenderness, like he was beholding a priceless treasure. This is the perfect body I prepared for you. I know you’ll love her.

As the words fell, the blood pool behind him heaved. Dense threads lifted a wooden coffin the size of a wardrobe. Its front was a clear pane of glass. Even from a distance, Nana Toki saw a sleeping girl within, her whole body plastered with yellow Talismans.