“Let’s go. Time to head upstairs.”
With that, Ye Li stepped toward the stairs.
The “minced flesh” had already spread to the second floor, and engulfing the third was only a matter of time.
She was curious now about where Qi Yezhou, who had bolted upstairs first, had gone.
Having just violently emptied their stomachs, Le Jun and the others looked thoroughly green, yet they forced their trembling legs forward and stuck closely to Ye Li’s heels.
The stairwell was dim and dark. Their footsteps echoed up and down the silent, cramped stairwell, sounding exceptionally eerie and ominous.
As they rounded the landing, a large mirror was mounted on the side wall. It was a full-length dressing mirror meant for students to check their appearance, and an identical one hung in the same spot on the first floor.
Normally, with the lights on, it wasn't an issue, but in the dim gloom, the reflections inside looked unnervingly sinister, sending shivers down their spines.
None of them dared look too closely. Lowering their heads, they hurried past and hastened upward.
Yet when they reached the fourth floor, they discovered to their shock that the stairs leading up to the fifth floor had been replaced by a wall that had materialized out of nowhere.
“How can this be?”
“Where did this wall come from?”
Everyone was stunned.
Ye Li reached out to touch it, only to find it was a solid wall, not an illusion.
“Come on, let’s check the other side.”
She immediately led the group rushing toward the right stairwell, but found the exact same situation there.
Both staircases leading to the fifth floor had completely vanished.
“There’s no way up! What do we do now?” Panic seized everyone.
That bizarre “minced flesh” was still spreading; staying here meant waiting for death.
And none of them knew if dying this time would come with a chance to start over.
Ye Li frowned, momentarily uncertain of what was happening.
The way up had been clear before, so why had all the paths suddenly vanished once they reached the fourth floor?
“Let’s look around first and see if we can find any clues.”
Ye Li didn’t believe this was a complete dead end; there had to be some key or trigger they had overlooked.
They began checking the classrooms one by one, not even skipping the restroom at the far end, but they ultimately found nothing.
Unable to uncover any clues, they had no choice but to return to the left stairwell corner.
Ye Li leaned over the corridor railing to peer upward and outward, discussing with Le Jun whether it was possible to climb straight up to the floor above.
Yi Lin and Luo Jiajia stood quietly to the side watching, not daring to wander off.
They stood quite a distance apart.
Even though they were classmates, their relationship was far from good. In fact, Luo Jiajia had been actively avoiding Yi Lin, treating her like a venomous beast.
Arrogant by nature, Yi Lin naturally wouldn't bother speaking to her either, keeping to herself.
Seeing that Ye Li and Le Jun hadn’t reached a conclusion after a while, she glanced anxiously down the stairs to see if the bizarre horrors below had caught up yet.
The moment her eyes swept downward, a strange sensation welled up in Yi Lin’s chest.
It was indescribable, as if something at the bottom of the stairs was beckoning to her, compelling her with an overwhelming urge to go down and see.
Yet Yi Lin still remembered Ye Li’s warning not to go off alone, so she reined herself in and stayed put.
Yet the sensation grew increasingly intense, like a feather constantly teasing her heart, filling her with an unbearable itch and tempting her forward.
Just one glance. She would come right back after a single look. They were so close, nothing could possibly happen.
Ultimately, Yi Lin convinced herself and stepped softly down the stairs.
She didn’t even know what she was looking for or what she was supposed to see, but driven by that sensation, she hurried down eagerly.
By the time Yi Lin came to her senses, she was already standing before that full-length mirror.
Right then, the mirror reflected her figure from head to toe.
Straight black hair, pale skin, delicate features—everything looked so perfect that she couldn’t help but become captivated by her own image.
Involuntarily, Yi Lin raised a hand and stroked her reflected face on the cold glass, her eyes filled with self-admiration.
Suddenly, she saw the “her” inside the mirror blink eerily.
Shocked, Yi Lin snatched her hand back.
When she looked closer, the reflection in the mirror showed nothing amiss beyond a flicker of panic on its face.
Yi Lin assumed she had just seen things, but an uneasy flutter remained in her chest, and she decided to head back.
Yet the moment she moved her feet, a laugh suddenly rang in her ear.
The voice was crisp, sweet, and intimately familiar.
Yi Lin whipped her head back toward the mirror, only to see the “her” inside curling its lips, smiling sweetly as it spoke to her: “Don’t go!”
Yi Lin’s eyes widened in sheer terror. She stared in horror at herself in the mirror, her heart pounding uncontrollably against her ribs.
The “her” in the mirror kept smiling, the grin stretching wider and wider, growing increasingly grotesque until the corners of its mouth tore open to its earlobes in a suffocating, horrifying arc. Its curved, smiling eyes bore unblinkingly into the girl standing outside, radiating thick, venomous malice.
Immediately after, “she” actually raised a hand, reaching right out of the mirror to seize her!
Terrified, Yi Lin scrambled backward on pure instinct.
Yet the arm seemed to be molded of rubber, stretching longer and longer as it lunged straight for her.
“Ah—!”
Finally finding her voice amid the overwhelming shock, Yi Lin shrieked, spun around, and bolted up the stairs.
Her shoes slammed against the concrete steps, producing a rapid, frantic clatter of footsteps.
But she soon realized that no matter how hard she ran, the stairs ahead seemed endless. Everything around her had frozen in place; only the staircase stretched endlessly forward.
And behind her were those continuously elongating hands.
“Ah... Help me! Save me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs toward her companions in the corridor.
Yet though they were right before her eyes, they seemed separated by an entire dimension; no matter how loudly she shouted, not a whisper reached them, and they gave no response at all.
“Ahhh!” Yi Lin cried out in total despair.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, her heart hammered violently, and she was drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.
Her energy was completely depleted; her legs were giving out.
Yet those hands pursued relentlessly, accompanied by that familiar voice calling over and over:
“Don’t go. Let’s trade places—it’ll be so much fun...”
Finally, Yi Lin’s legs buckled, and she collapsed onto the stairs like a puddle of mud, lacking even an ounce of strength to drag herself back up.
In the next moment, she felt both of her ankles gripped tightly, and she was violently yanked backward.
She was going to die! She was going to die right now!
Yi Lin felt the suffocating stench of death with crystal clarity. She knew that if she was dragged into that mirror, she was doomed!
She clawed wildly with both hands, trying desperately to grab hold of the stair railing to keep from being dragged away.
But the force pulling her was immense. In the struggle, Yi Lin was swiftly overpowered, hauled backward down flight after flight of stairs.
As she hit the bottom landing, her head struck the floor hard.
For a moment, her vision spun wildly, and she nearly blacked out.
When she came to her senses, she was surrounded by a freezing darkness, a pane of transparent glass standing before her.
And “she” was standing outside the glass, smiling at her—a grin both radiant and horrifying.
“Ahhh!”
In an instant, Yi Lin understood her predicament.
Scared out of her wits, she pounded desperately on the glass before her, sobbing and screaming, “Let me out! Let me out...!”
But the person outside the glass merely gave a gentle wave, then raised a foot and kicked viciously straight at her...
Rate on N.U.
