IWOL Chapter 45: Rebellion

The headless skeleton fumbled on the ground for a long time before finding its head in a corner and pressing it back onto its neck bone. Then, it angrily chased after the sounds of Lin Hangzhi’s escape.

The bones of the human skeleton model were connected together with metal wires. The sodium hydroxide electrochemically corroded the wires so that, within two steps, one leg came off the skeleton’s body, causing it to fall to the ground.

Lin Hangzhi ran down the stairs in a panic. He could vaguely hear the footsteps of many people on the other side of the circular building.

Was it other people? Or was it the monsters?

Lin Hangzhi wasn’t sure and didn’t dare to confirm it out loud. Since the skeleton didn’t seem to be catching up to him for the time being, he gradually slowed down.

The sign prohibiting loud noises was marked with a pair of small, bloody hand prints. There was also a string of wet marks on the ground, but Lin Hangzhi didn’t know what it was–This was just an ordinary school and not a hospital. Even if there were specimens, it couldn’t be too scary…right?

Just as he was thinking this, the stairs suddenly broke apart under his feet.

Lin Hangzhi’s reflex had long adjusted to his unlucky constitution. He was very keenly taught. The moment it happened, he grabbed the handrail. As his body hung in the air, he watched as half the stairs fell and loudly crashed onto the staircase of the next floor.

Dammit.

Now…the ghosts and monsters in the upper floors would know he was here.

Lin Hangzhi hung in mid-air, swaying from side to side. The railing made a groaning sound, as if unable to bear his weight any longer. The distance between the floors was about three meters high. With his height, combined with the length of his arms, his feet were only a little more than one meter from the ground. But, it wasn’t easy to find a foothold on the ruined staircase. In his current debuffed state, he was more likely to twist his ankle.

Lin Hangzhi hesitated but ultimately decided to climb back up.

The monsters here were fast and difficult to beat. He could only run away if he encountered them. In the event that his ability to walk was impaired, his stinky luck would surely prevent him from meeting his teammates. In which case, he would really throw himself into desperation.

Lin Hangzhi grabbed the iron railing with his other hand and was about to climb back up when he heard a meow from below.

He lowered his head and saw a white cat crouched on the top of the ruins, looking up at him. The pupils of its amber eyes were round and bright due to the dark environment.

“Found him,” Victor said to the people behind him.

Cui Zuojing poked his head out from the corner and saw Lin Hangzhi hanging like a pendant. He smiled and said, “Doesn’t look too good.”

Lin Hangzhi was overjoyed and hurriedly asked for help, “I just used my ability, and I’m afraid of twisting my feet. Can you help me?”

Dong Zheng and Dong Linhai climbed up the ruins on the staircase. They each grabbed hold of Lin Hangzhi’s legs and set him firmly down on the ground. On the side, Allen was overjoyed. “Can you walk? Or else, should we carry you on a bridal sedan chair?”

Lin Hangzhi pretended to be shy and covered his face with both hands, feigning cute, loli sounds.

Cui Zuojing asked, “Did you guess the password of Dong Zheng’s bank card just now?”

Lin Hangzhi nodded, embarrassed. “I was almost killed by a skeleton creature just now. I couldn’t think of anything else so I used this method. Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Dong Zheng said, “It’s okay. It’s useless if you guess more passwords here anyway.”

They briefly exchanged information and learned about Dong Zheng’s task to collect keys. Lin Hangzhi took out a light blue key from the inner pocket of his clothes and said, “I also found this, but I don’t know what it’s for.”

Dong Zheng took it and his task interface changed to: Collect Key 4/5.

There was still one more left to find.

Dong Zheng asked, “Then what are your tasks?”

Allen and Lin Hangzhi said at the same time, “Find [Eye of Heaven].”

Dong Linhai scratched his head. “I defeated the doll 3/1. Soon after, I ended up in the auditorium and couldn’t do the follow-up tasks.”

Dong Zheng said, “The main task now is to find the Eye of Heaven. It is estimated that when everyone’s tasks are completed, the next stage will begin.”

Everyone left the floor and the atmosphere became more relaxed. As the leader, Dong Zheng naturally walked in front, while Victor and Cui Zuojing trailed at the end.

Dong Zheng asked Lin Hangzhi, “Did you go to the teaching building when you first arrived? I seemed to have heard your voice.”

“I saw the flashlight and thought to see who it might be. But, I didn’t expect to meet that dinosaur. It took a lot of energy to get rid of it.” Lin Hangzhi shrugged and said, “You and Cui’er were in the classroom at that time?”

“Yeah, we watched it chase after you.” Cui Zuojing remembered the scene at the time and wanted to laugh. But, to maintain the team’s harmony, he held back. “Once you managed to throw it off, it returned to deal with us.”

“It seemed everyone didn’t have an easy time.” Lin Hangzhi breathed a sigh of relief.

The circular building made it easy for sounds to echo. Dong Linhai couldn’t help but lower his voice. “But, with only doll monsters, it didn’t seem to match the name of the box. Except for the stage performance in the auditorium, the plot doesn’t seem to be finished yet.”

Dong Zheng said, “I found this diary and a teddy bear. Allen has a newspaper. You should have obtained props that can provide information. Let’s wait for a safe place to study them.”

Dong Linhai raised the booklet in his hand. “I found this from the back of the auditorium. I haven’t had the time to read it yet.”

Lin Hangzhi added, “I tore off a document similar to a warning notice from the door of the principal’s office. Later, I lost it when I ran away, but I still probably remembered the content.”

As they talked, Dong Zheng led them around the corner, his flashlight illuminating the path ahead. The moment he saw what was in front of them, he immediately stopped and raised his hand to signal everyone.

Blood stains stretched from the walls all the way to the end of the hallway. The hallway was covered with the small, messy footprints of unknown creatures, and blood dripped from the cracks in the ceiling tiles.

Hanging upside down in the middle of the hallway was a corpse covered with a white cloth. It had its back to them, and it seemed to still be swaying slightly as it blocked their way.

They immediately turned their heads, only to find that the way they’d come had suddenly turned into a solid wall.

Victor took a careful step back in order to prevent the spreading blood from touching his white paws. The antler-shaped symbol on the center of his eyebrows flashed lightly. He stared thoughtfully at the upside down corpse and looked up at Cui Zuojing.

Cui Zuojing picked him up, silently scratched his ears, and stepped back to the end, using practical actions to show that he would not help.

The strong smell of blood drifted into their nasal cavity, making everyone couldn’t help but hold their breath. Dong Zheng’s fingertips on the flashlight were slightly cold. He would normally be very afraid of encountering this kind of thing, but now there were five men and a male cat here. If the ghost came alone, it wouldn’t be able to do too much to them.

With their retreat route sealed and all the windows on both sides covered in bloody handprints, they could only pass through from the front. Everyone lined up, carefully stepping on the blood and keeping to the base of the wall as they silently walked past the corpse

Nothing happened.

After walking a few meters past the corpse, Dong Zheng didn’t know why but he suddenly couldn’t control himself and looked back.

He finally saw its face–

There was no face.

Not good! Dong Zheng screamed in his heart, but it was too late. A heavy vertigo slammed into him. Thirteen days after his ability awakening, he finally once again stood on the dark green highway.

At the end of his line of sight, a small gap suddenly broke through the firewall that stretched for thousands of miles. A cloud of black data crawled into the city, and the security bacteriophages in the air rushed past. One of them slammed into Dong Zheng.

He had no time to dodge, so he could only raise his arms to cover his head. But, the pain he expected didn’t come.

The picture in front of him flashed. When it cleared again, Dong Zheng saw the setting sun through the window and found himself sitting on the ground, surrounded by several little boys. Their faces were completely blank, with no facial features at all.

The tables and chairs were scattered messily. There was a pool of water on the ground, and water dripped from the tips of his hair. Dong Zheng raised his hand and touched the long, golden hair.

He lowered his head and saw his little hands and feet that obviously shouldn’t belong to an adult man.

The surrounding children looked from a distance as the boys pointed at him and laughed. Another boy stretched out his foot and tried to kick him.

Dong Zheng raised his hand and grabbed the foot.

It was impossible for any normal person to be indifferent when being treated like this. Dong Zheng grabbed the boy’s foot, slowly stood up amidst his cry, and threw it aside.The little girl’s strength was limited and Dong Zheng didn’t get the desired result. The boy just staggered back and quickly held on to the edge of a table to stabilize himself. When his companion saw this, he pushed Dong Zheng to the corner, cursing and was ready to beat him up.

Dong Zheng looked at them coldly, thinking about how to use a girl’s weak body to make an effective resistance. He glanced at his feet, grabbed the trash can before the boy’s fists could land, and slammed it hard onto the boy’s head!

The room descended into an uproar.

The trash was dumped all over the boy. The discarded lunches inside were rotten, exuding an unpleasant stench that made him gag. After all, he was only a young child. Everyone else saw Dong Zheng’s unusual resistance and couldn’t help but feel terrified. As a result, no one took the opportunity to attack Dong Zheng.

Dong Zheng had slammed the trash can so hard that the boy had a difficult time pulling it off. He even brushed the smooth hair from the side of his face and smiled at the other boy.

The little tiger teeth seemed to be threatening to eat people.

The boy took a step back in horror.

Still covered in water, Dong Zheng expressionlessly walked out of the classroom amidst absolute silence.

The setting sun was very bright and warm.

He squinted his eyes and raised his hand to block the sun.

The security bacteriophages swallowed the last string of abnormal data, and the firewall was quickly repaired. Dong Zheng merely felt a burst of absent-mindedness before he found himself once again standing in the hallway. However, the blood, the footprints, the bloody handprints on the windows, and the hanging corpse had all disappeared.

The wall behind them had also disappeared.

Everyone’s expressions seemed lost, and it could be assumed that they’d also fallen into an illusion. Dong Zheng took a deep breath, still immersed in the lingering sense of powerlessness and resentment. He suddenly felt someone tugging on his pant legs.

Victor loosened his claws and raised his head to say in a low voice, “Wait for them first.”

Dong Zheng nodded.

Meanwhile, in the classroom, Cui Zuojing sat by the window. He looked inside the desk, suddenly paused, and pulled out a dead mouse a few seconds later.

The mouse had died violently, with half of its body squashed by wheels and its eyes were bulging. Cui Zuojing stared at it for a few seconds and turned to look around the classroom.

Several boys in the back row were eating the box lunch brought from home. Seeing Cui Zuojing turn his head, they openly laughed.

This unrestrained appearance succeeded in making Cui Zuojing stand up. He grabbed the mouse that was crawling with maggots in one hand and walked over to the boys with a smile.

“You like this gift? It took a long time for us to find it.” The boys grinned.

“Thank you. I like it very much. Out of politeness, I should also give you something as courtesy.”

Cui Zuojing smiled and tore the poor, dead mouse in half, causing the internal organs to fall out of the broken body.

Everyone, including those little boys, were frightened by this bloody and terrifying scene and screamed as they scrambled away from Cui Zuojing. Cui Zuojing picked out a few fairly intact internal organs and walked through the desks, holding the heart, liver, spleen, and lungs together. He placed the organs one by one into the lunch boxes of the most presumptuous boys.

Once done, he smiled and said, “I wish you a happy meal.”

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