Volume 2, Chapter 23 (Chapter 61): They’re Not Your Friends Anymore

Walking out of the art room, Lu Yibei and Du Sixian walked towards the teaching building near the main entrance. Along the way, Sixian, like a curious infant, kept asking her new friend various questions.

“Yes, urban legends have body heat as well.”

“And yes, it gets really hot sometimes.”

Yibei was a little impatient while answering her questions, and after alluding to her own identity to tease her, she interrupted Sixian before she could open her mouth.

“Alright, let’s stop here.”

“Wait, you haven’t told me about the detailed files about the urban legends yet! Listen, no one on the Internet has made content like this before! I’ll become famous! You have got to tell me!”

‘Famous? I doubt it,’ Yibei sighed internally. ‘In fact, I think the Night Division will pay you a visit if you make content like that.’

Yibei pretended to ponder deeply and glanced at her: “Do you know why there is so much classified information about urban legends but only a few people know about them?”

Sixian remained silent, and Yibei continued.

“You’re an ordinary person; could you live knowing this information that I know? I’m just protecting you. If you want to live, you shouldn’t pry any further.”

Although Yibei intended to scare her, she was also right.

Sixian put herself in danger by coming to a place like this; besides, the online world has always been a place full of half-truths and lies.

In the Night Division Records, it stated that belief is power; if enough people believe in something, that something becomes a reality.

If ordinary citizens knew how urban legends are classified, wouldn’t it be equivalent to turning them into gods?

Providing them with a template of the classification, they could create any horrifying urban legend as much as they wanted to.

God knows what kind of horrors will emerge.

As Yibei thought about it, she suddenly understood why the information in the Night Division is kept classified.

Lu Yibei fell silent and stared blankly into the distance.

She doesn’t look very old herself, but she seems to have experienced more things than I imagined, Sixian thought.

Sixian studied the expressionless face before her and felt that she was staring deep into the void.

‘She is right. I shouldn’t pry too much.’

“I’m sorry. Thank you for reminding me,” Sixian apologised.

“Oh?”

Hearing her apology, Yibei broke out of her daze and nodded. Fortunately, the girl before her seemed sensible.

‘Thank god,’ Yibei sighed again. ‘What I know is only a little bit from what I read in the Records.’

‘If she were to ask me something I don’t know, I might be forced to make it up!’

Lu Yibei followed the direction in which the sounds of heavy objects could be heard and walked on the quiet, abandoned campus.

Three minutes later, the two girls arrived in front of the teaching building.

The clearing before the teaching building was empty, and there was a small crater smashed by a heavy object before them.

Between the cracks of the impact, blood pooled out, but there was no trace of a body.

A long bloodstain dragged forward, gradually turning into hasty, scarlet footprints before disappearing.

Lu Yibei gulped. She guessed that one of Sixian’s friends had fallen from the building.

But where is the friend in question?

Falling from such a high place, there is no way for that person to even stand.

Yibei shivered as she thought about the sight of a bloody figure standing up from a pool of blood and fleeing from the scene.

Sixian gulped in fear, seeing Yibei’s trepidation.

Things are not that simple anymore.

“Is something wrong?” Sixian trembled.

“Evil lurks here,” Yibei said.

To translate Yibei’s words, it meant that she had no idea what happened.

“O-okay, I understand.” Sixian nodded and smiled, shivering. “You’ve gotta see it to believe it, right?”

Yibei sighed and shook her head, but she noticed a strange detail.

‘Sixian is radiating with fear, but… I’m still hungry.’

‘Could it be that she doesn’t regard me as an urban legend at all?’

“Are we going to find my friends? They might be in danger! You’re immortal, right?”

“Well, let’s go and have a look. If possible, I will save them,” Yibei promised lightly.

“I knew it! You do save lives! When we get back, I’ll be thanking you a lot!”

‘I don’t need your thanks,’ Yibei scoffed internally. ‘You might as well give me offerings?’

‘Huh?’

‘Why did the word ‘offering’ pop up in my mind?’

Yibei stared at the building before her and entered, leaving Sixian behind.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Sixian muttered.

I shouldn’t have said anything about saving lives, Yibei thought. ‘I don’t work for free!’

The air in the building was tepid and musty, and the dilapidated corridors were quiet and dim.

The corridors didn’t feel correct. It was too empty and quiet.

Lu Yibei clutched the statue closer to her, keeping her on guard for the danger that might pounce on her. Sixian followed closely behind her, afraid of being left behind.

Something seemed to prowl in the darkness as if it were stalking them.

After navigating through the suffocating building, they reached the third floor.

They walked down the long corridor to the classroom where the game of the Plate Deity was played.

“Hey! Why’d you stop? I-“

“Hush-!”

Yibei quickly put her finger up to her mouth and whispered, “Go to the window and peek inside. If there is anything unusual, you will leave immediately.”

Sixian nodded and leaned against the wall, creeping towards the classroom little by little.

Little by little, the two girls came to the window, and through the dusty glass, a dim, yellow candlelight shone. Several figures moved in the classroom, and bursts of laughter could be heard.

“Haha! Pharoah, stop pretending! I’ve got all the cards you’re looking for—three aces and a pair of sevens!”

“Pssh. Loser.”

“Whatever. I’m leaving. Bright? What’s the matter with you? I…”

Sixian’s eyes widened as she peered through the window. Pharoah, Bright, and Brazil were sitting around the plate while Daydream was quietly taking a nap.

She let out a breath of relief and was ready to open the door to persuade them to leave this horrible place.

At this moment, Yibei suddenly grabbed her wrist, preventing her from going.

“What’s wrong? My friends are inside!”

“Shh,” Yibei said as she winced in pain. Resisting the burning pain in her eyes, she forced herself to peer through the window.

The figures of her four “friends” faded away in her vision, replaced by four large, bulging sandbag puppets. The zippers were slightly open, and it was like a gaping maw that spewed evil.

The sandbags wriggled.

Lu Yibei felt a chill run down her spine. These sandbags are shaped exactly like the urban legend that rested on the girl she was following before.

“My friends seem fine, though. Why are you?”

“They are no longer your friends. We are too late. If you still trust me, come with me, and we’ll leave right now.”

Yibei couldn’t tell how many urban legends were among Sixian’s friends before, but she was sure that all of them had turned into urban legends themselves.

With one of her against four of them, even if she was able to subdue them, she couldn’t guarantee Sixian’s safety.

“No! What are you talking about? They’re inside; I can see them!”

Sixian peeked into the window again, only to find four pairs of eyes staring deeply into her soul.

Feeling the pain in her eyes getting stronger, Yibei forcibly grabbed Sixian’s hand and started running.

At this moment, the sound of a zipper being pulled open could be heard, and an arm wearing a blood-soaked jersey poked out from inside.