Knock, knock-knock
Like a well tuned alarm clock, dull door knocks sounded at a fixed frequency.
The door of the classroom wasn’t locked, it wasn’t even properly closed, just haphazardly shut, it could easily be pushed open with a little force.
But the old man in the black qipao who was covered in blood clots did not push open the door. He just stood outside the door rigidly, knocking on it, without any intention to come in.
Although the old man didn’t come in, the ink-like darkness outside the corridor was invaded inwards quickly.
The entire classroom began to morph in unimaginably ways .
The walls became mottled and mouldy, paint began to peel, turning the walls into an uneven surface. Dark green mould was covering even more of the dented walls, giving off a cold, damp smell. Books on the desks quickly turned yellowish and decayed, and even the cement on the ground began to weather, revealing rusty steel bars, and some places even beginning to collapse.
It seems that in an instant, the classroom experienced decades of erosion, this place was devastated by the long years.
However, the classroom lights were still resisting the darkness. The white fluorescent lights are like candles in the wind, emitting its last rays of light, as if they were going to be extinguished any moment now.
Fear appeared on every student’s face. Some screamed, some called for help, and some just stood there trembling...
Only Zhou Zheng was calm.
He remained motionless, his eyes darting around, paying attention to every movement around him.
A danger category apparition that has a domain... this is not something he can deal with.
But all he has to do is to find a way to survive, and so that these students can leave here alive, even if just a small portion of them do.
"Zhou Zheng, look."
Fang Jing suddenly called out, his face was particularly charged, he pointed to a few classmates laying on their desks.
No one paid attention to them, and people only noticed now that several classmates were laying motionless on their desks. Their eyes and mouths open, their faces grey, and all giving off the rancid smell of corpses, as if they’ve already been dead for several days.
"Knock, knock-knock." Door knocks sounded once again.
A student who was standing in the crowd suddenly shook like a leaf, then he fell to the ground stiff.
"What's wrong with Li Ming?"
Someone tried to lift him up, but when he touched his body, he suddenly screamed and drew back frantically.
Cold and stiff, just like a corpse.
Li Ming's eyes and mouth were wide open, just like the previous classmates, his face was ashen, without any life... his body was gradually emitting a rotten smell.
He’s dead.
And he wasn’t the only one. At least six or seven students were also lying dead still on their desks with grey faces.
"How can this be happening, someone, save us!"
A female classmate sat on the ground in shock.
"He was just fine before, then s-suddenly, he was dead!" Someone said with a trembling voice.
Fang Jing's face was also pale: "Stop fucking screaming! There is a ghost right outside that door. We can die in more ways than one. You’ll all know how terrifying ghosts which have developed a domain are soon enough."
People looked at him in horror, one by one, like prey who's fallen into a cage full of predators, they were trembling, filled to the brim with fear.
"Zhou Zheng, haven't you figured out a way yet? We’re all going to die!." Fang Jing cried out.
His was also panicking in his heart, in an apparition’s domain, anyone could drop dead, including him.
“Suck it up, if you can’t wait anymore, run away by yourself. Just don't count me in.”
Zhou Zheng also looked anxious, he did not dare to act rashly.
"Running around like a headless chicken in an apparition’s domain will only kill you quicker, do you really think I’m stupid?" Fang Jing retaliated.
"Since you know that, just stand there and don’t go causing any trouble. Do you think you’re the only one that’s going to die? Everyone's in the same boat right now. Don't think that you’re so special just because you know something your classmates don’t. Everyone is the same before an apparition." Zhou Zheng remarked.
"Fuck!"
Fang Jing couldn't help but curse.
Yang Jian was getting cold feet, but he forced himself to calm down, this isn’t a joking matter anymore, people are actually dying, and more than one at that… If it continues, it is likely a lot more will also be killed.
But when he unintentionally looked at the blackboard that was about to fall off the wall, his mind paused..
His eyes stayed on the three sentences Zhou Zheng wrote beforehand, especially the last sentence:
"Discern the apparition’s rules."
"Zhou Zheng can’t act rashly because he is observing the old man outside the door, trying to decipher the rules it follows. Only when he has discerned its rules, can he act. Think! What rules can be found in the old man’s actions..."
He began to rack his brain.
Recall everything in that story on the forum, and then link it back to what is happening before me.
There must be something in common, there must be some similarities.
The guy named thunder_karmapa was in his house. His front door was shut. The old man appeared outside his house and knocked on his front door... and then he entered his house and stood in front of his bedroom’s door, then it knocked again on that door, and then it came in.
This time, this apparition appeared in the corridor outside, he also knocked on the door...but it hasn’t entered our classroom yet.
Why did the old man enter the guy’s house, but not our classroom?
It's the same circumstances, the same situation, something is causing this difference.
Has not enough time passed yet?
If so, not enough time for what?.
Is it the time for knocking on the door?
Maybe that’s the key.
Fuck it.
Suddenly, Yang Jian finally summoned enough courage to shout: "Zhou Zheng, it's the door knocks."
"Door knocks?"
Zhou Zheng’s eyes focused, staring at the student who suddenly spoke up, "What makes you say that?"
Yang Jian kept his fear in and replied: "Although this is just a guess, I think this thing is killing people using door knocks. Maybe the old man is using it to keep track of time, maybe it's something else, but it has to be related to the door knocks. If you can stop the door knocks, it might just work..."
Using door knocks to kill.
If that’s the case, then this apparition is too sinister.
"This guy's potential is already starting to shine..."
Fang Jing gave him a nasty look, he squeezed his fist tightly: "I’m not letting him leave this school alive."
"I’ll trust you this time."
Zhou Zheng solemnly withdrew his gaze, he had no other choices.
If he doesn't act now, everyone here will die.
Zhou Zheng moved immediately, sprinting out like a ferocious beast. His weird body which had a thin upper body and bloated lower body possessed explosive power that ordinary people could never match.
"Bang!"
With a loud clash, he broke off the classroom door. Together with the door, he also brought the old man wearing a black qipao and had a grey face dotted with blood clots down with him.
The old man got knocked down to the ground, and no one dared to help him up.
His body bent into a weird posture, just like a stung up puppet would, he was clearly lacking the flexibility a living person should have.
"Apparitions cannot be killed."
Zhou Zheng didn’t forget what he wrote down. on the blackboard.
Even if this old man was made into mush or burned to ashes, he would still not be killed, and would continue to appear in unbelievable ways.
"Only apparitions can deal with apparitions."
Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth, and turned his head to shout at the students: "Run whenever you have a chance. I'll hold this thing for a while."
His bulging stomach wriggled under his wide windbreaker.
Then a hand, to be precise, the outline of a hand, stretched out under a layer of his skin. It was grayish-blue and outfitted with sharp nails, it stuck out as if trying to tear open his belly.
But his belly that was wrapped around the hand was very flexible, it didn’t tear. What's even more frightening was that this hand had stretched itself out for more than two meters.
There was no way that hand belonged to a human.
The greyish blue hand caught the old man sprawled out on the floor.
“Zizi~!" The lights flickered.
In an instant, the darkness enveloping the classroom faded away, and bright lights came back again. Although the walls were still mottled and the ground was about to collapse, it seemed that this disaster had been stopped.
"This works." Zhou Zheng let out a sigh of relief.
But his eyes suddenly widened, and his hollow-cheeked face was shrouded in fear.
The old man who fell on the ground was slowly standing up, his dead gray eyes turned slightly, as if he was examining Zhou Zheng.
“That's impossible, it still moving even when I’m suppressing it!" Zhou Zheng's expression shifted drastically, he immediately turned to shout; "Leave! Leave while its domain is still being suppressed! I’ll be staying here to hold it down."
This apparition is definitely not just a danger category.
Cold sweat was running down his check.