Chapter 30 | The Crazy Persona Must Not Collapse

“Crash!”

A sharp shatter suddenly rang out in the quiet stairwell, instantly catching everyone’s attention.

Ye Li and the others turned to look, only to see Yi Lin standing at the turn of the stairs, a scatter of broken mirror shards littering the floor in front of her.

Yi Lin looked somewhat panicked and uneasy. Shrinking back, she explained in a low voice, “There’s something bizarre about this mirror.”

At the same time, Ye Li and the others were surprised to find that the wall that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere had vanished into thin air, and the staircase leading to the fifth floor had reappeared before their eyes.

“Rustle, rustle, rustle...”

By now, that bizarre “minced flesh” had already washed past the third floor and was surging toward the fourth.

“Let’s go. Up first, talk later!” Ye Li pulled her gaze back and urged the group upstairs.

The others hurriedly followed close behind.

In the dim light, the hurrying group failed to notice that the glass shards scattered across the floor were slowly oozing crimson blood.

It was as though the floor were strewn not with mirror fragments, but with pieces of a corpse...

The group rushed up to the fifth floor, only to discover that the stairs leading to the sixth floor had vanished as well.

The wall was the exact same wall, without so much as a seam!

Without waiting for Ye Li to speak, Le Jun took the initiative to dash toward the right end of the corridor, then shook his head toward them from a distance.

No way through there, either!

Ye Li frowned, turning to look at Yi Lin, who had been the last to run up, and asked, “What did you see just now? What was weird about that mirror?”

The moment the mirror broke, the blocking wall had vanished; clearly, the mirror was the key.

“I saw a few ghostly figures inside the mirror, swaying fuzzily,” Yi Lin said, wrapping her arms around herself, lingering fear still written on her face.

Ye Li questioned, “So you kicked the mirror and smashed it?”

Wouldn't a normal person’s first reaction upon encountering something like that be to run?

Yi Lin explained, “No, hands reached out from inside trying to drag me into the mirror. When I struggled, I kicked and shattered it.”

Hearing this, Ye Li raised an eyebrow. Her gaze swept slowly across Yi Lin’s face, then the corners of her lips curved into a subtle smile as she remarked, “Then you really are quite lucky!”

After all, her other two companions had died gruesome deaths, yet she was able to stand here completely unscathed. What could that be if not luck!

Yi Lin said nothing more, keeping her head lowered as if she were still shaken by what had just happened.

“What should we do now?” Le Jun asked as he ran back over.

The “minced flesh” had already spread to the fourth floor, making it impossible to go back down and examine the mirror. Now that the path to the sixth floor was blocked as well, where else were they supposed to look for clues?

“Let’s look around first,” Ye Li said.

In all likelihood, they wouldn't find anything, but they still had to go through the motions—otherwise, nobody would be willing to give up!

And so, they began searching the classrooms one by one again.

Luo Jiajia had no ideas of her own and could only quietly follow behind Ye Li and Le Jun.

Just as she was about to follow them into the next classroom, Yi Lin, who had been trailing in the rear the entire time, suddenly reached out and grabbed her, leaning close to whisper in her ear, “I know how we can get up to the sixth floor.”

Luo Jiajia froze in her tracks at once and turned her head to ask, “How?”

Yi Lin glanced at Ye Li and Le Jun, who had already entered the classroom, then pulled Luo Jiajia aside and said with a secretive look, “It’s simple. As long as one more person dies, we can go up.”

“A death?” Luo Jiajia froze, her eyes widening.

“That’s right!” Yi Lin said with absolute certainty. “Think about it. People died on both the second and third floors, and on the way up, there weren't any walls blocking the stairs. No one died on the fourth or fifth floor, so both paths were blocked. Besides, haven't you noticed there’s a pattern to the order in which people die?”

Luo Jiajia asked, “What pattern?”

Yi Lin said, “Whoever woke up latest dies first! According to that pattern, you’re the next in line!”

Hearing this, Luo Jiajia immediately challenged her: “Going by what you just said, according to the pattern and order, shouldn't you be the one to die?”

“How do you know I haven't died already?”

Yi Lin’s voice suddenly turned sinister, and an eerie grin spread across her face. “Otherwise, how do you think the path to the fifth floor opened up?”

To Luo Jiajia, that smile looked like a venomous snake flicking its tongue—cold, sinister, and exuding thick, dark malice. Shocked, she involuntarily took two steps back.

Yet Yi Lin followed her step for step, leaning in with a bewitching, uncanny smile. “Trust me, you’re definitely next. If you don’t want to die, hurry up and find a scapegoat. I think that Ningning would be perfect!”

The sudden death sentence threw Luo Jiajia into utter panic. Chills ran down her spine in waves, and her heart drummed wildly.

Absurd though it sounded, deep down she knew the girl was speaking the truth.

She was going to die!

“W-Why are you telling me this?” Luo Jiajia asked, bewildered.

There had never been any friendship between them; in fact, there had only been bad blood.

“Honestly, whether you live or die doesn't matter to me in the slightest.” Yi Lin curled her lips and giggled softly, a vicious ruthlessness flashing in her eyes. “I just can’t stand that woman. Since someone has to die anyway, it might as well be her!”

For a moment, Luo Jiajia didn't know what to say or what to do; she could only shake her head in instinctive recoil.

“Do you want to die, then? The exit is on the sixth floor—as long as we get up there, we can escape!” Yi Lin smiled bewitchingly, continuing her insidious coaxing word by word. “Aren't you best at dragging someone down to take the fall? Just like what you did to Wen Xue back then. All you have to do is find a way to get her into the restroom, and everything will be taken care of. You won't even have to lift a finger...”

Luo Jiajia bit her lip, her breathing heavy. She trembled uncontrollably from fear, yet a dark thought was quietly taking root within her.

She didn't want to die. She really didn't want to die anymore!

“What are you two doing?”

Just then, Ye Li and Le Jun finished checking the classroom and walked out. Seeing the two standing outside, Ye Li asked.

As if caught red-handed in a dirty secret, Luo Jiajia stiffened instantly, completely at a loss.

Yi Lin gave her a glance, quickly wiping the expression from her face, and turned first to speak to Ye Li: “She wants to use the restroom and asked me to go with her, but I don’t want to. Why don’t you go with her instead?”