Mo Ran and Xiao Shiyi absorbed the power of those ghost
students and, at the same time, gained some of their memories, naturally
becoming aware of the so-called ‘deity’.
The eerie and powerful black mist was the power of the
‘deity’, and it seemed that the Song family had been sealing the black mist for
generations.
The presence that had been haunting the mirror all this time
was Song Yan, a member of the Song family who died thirteen years ago in Class
1-1.
The cause of his death was... during the sealing ritual, he
was maliciously disturbed by his jealous classmates, causing his concentration
to waver.
However, by that time, the sealing ritual had already been
activated and could no longer be stopped. Ultimately, he was backlashed by the
sealing ritual and the black mist.
In order to survive, Song Yan chose to possess that eerie
mirror, successfully continuing to exist as a ghost, but also trapped within
that eerie mirror.
The sealing ultimately failed, and he could no longer leave
the mirror.
Song Yan’s older brother, Su Zhiwei, or rather, Song Zhi.
Song Zhi somehow took on the identity of Su Zhiwei, the
youngest son of the Su family, and became the principal of the First High
School. His intention was to release Song Yan without awakening the ‘deity’.
That’s why they collaborated to create the incidents
involving the mirror people and the midnight blessings, aiming to exchange
lives.
The mirror people were actually a part of Song Yan’s soul,
barely using the power of the black mist to leave the mirror temporarily. His
time outside was short, and his power was suppressed to a human level. He then
killed the original bodies of the students and take their place, luring others
into performing the midnight ritual for blessings.
Once the students performed this ritual, they were pulled
into the mirror and participated in an exam from which there was no possibility
of survival.
The ghost students and ghost teacher in the exam room were
actually a part of Song Yan’s soul. If a student died in that exam, Song Yan
could enter the student’s body as a black mist and leave the mirror.
But only a small part of him could come out using this method
because the human body could not withstand his ghostly spirit. So he could only
leave the mirror bit by bit.
In the end, he would combine all the parts and become
complete once again.
However, this method was not very efficient; it would take
about a hundred years or so to completely break free from the mirror. After
all, not all students were willing to attempt such elusive legend, and the
human tolerance for the black mist was simply too low.
Initially, Song Yan wasn’t in a hurry to come out, but then
he encountered Su Qing, the one who tried to appear proud in front of the
mirror in the restroom, but was so dazzling that the whole world paled in
comparison to his beauty.
In an instant, Song Yan became eager to leave the mirror.
As for Song Yu, he was one of the Song family members who
came this time to seal the black mist. However, he was killed by Song Yan, who
wanted to leave the mirror, and his unwilling spirit turned into a vengeful
ghost.
Now, due to Song Yu’s life reaching zero, Su Qing’s life was
also rapidly approaching zero.
Perhaps only the Song family knew how to break the contract,
but they were inherently in opposition, and they would never easily tell others
the right method. So they were left with only one option, which was to make a
wish to the ‘deity’.
The Song family had sealed the ‘deity’ for hundreds of years.
If they awaken the ‘deity’, the consequences might be very severe, as no one
could bear the wrath of a ‘deity’ sealed for hundreds of years.
But so what?
What did it have to do with them? The ones worried should be
the Song family who sealed the ‘deity’.
Mo Ran thought maliciously that it would be best if the
‘deity’ was angered by the sealing and directly killed Song Yu and all those
who stole its power.
After all, they were the ones who summoned the ‘deity’, and
in a way, they ‘saved’ the ‘deity’. Perhaps they could make a wish to the
‘deity’ to lift the contract between Su Qing and Song Yu and might even become
the ultimate winners.
Once he solved Xiao Shiyi, there would be no obstacles left.
Su Qing would be his alone.
Cooperation and sharing? It’s just a big joke. He couldn’t
stand it even if someone else just looked at Su Qing, so how could he possibly
share him with Xiao Shiyi?
It’s just that the enemy was too strong, and they had to
temporarily compromise and cooperate.
He knew it, and Xiao Shiyi knew it too.
Mo Ran and Xiao Shiyi looked at each other, and without any
hesitation, they decided to summon the ‘deity’.
The three of them didn’t waste any time and went directly
back to the classroom of Class 1-1 to prepare for summoning the ‘deity’.
Beforehand, Ruan Qing had already memorized all the steps for
the summoning ritual.
The first step of the summoning required the summoner to draw
a summoning array using their own blood. The array was extremely complex, and
without a blueprint to follow, it was easy to make mistakes while drawing it.
Initially, Ruan Qing intended to do it himself, but Mo Ran
and Xiao Shiyi disagreed. Ruan Qing had no choice but to give each of them a
drawing of the summoning array.
Both of them worked on their drawings separately, without any
interaction.
Mo Ran seemed to struggle with this task, often making
mistakes while drawing. Whenever the array was drawn incorrectly, they had to
start over. In the end, it was Xiao Shiyi who finished drawing first.
After completing the summoning array, they needed to drip a
large amount of the summoner’s blood into the center of the array. The array
would then absorb the blood, and the summoner only needed to stand within the
array and pray, waiting for the response of the ‘deity’.
For centuries, the summoning array had been activated
countless times, but the ‘deity’ had never responded.
It was as if the ‘deity’ didn’t exist at all.
Once Xiao Shiyi finished drawing the summoning array, he used
the power of black mist to cut his wrist and infuse his blood into the array.
However, the array did not absorb Xiao Shiyi’s blood, and the
summoning ritual did not activate. It was as if the array was just a random
pattern drawn without any effect.
Xiao Shiyi frowned, picked up the drawing that Ruan Qing had
made, carefully compared it to his own drawing of the array, checking if he had
made any mistakes.
By this time, Mo Ran had also finished drawing his array. He
infused his blood, but the result was exactly the same as Xiao Shiyi’s—no
response.
Xiao Shiyi carefully inspected his work again, making sure he
hadn’t made any mistakes. He looked up at Ruan Qing and said, “Brother Su, is
it possible that there’s an error in your drawing?”
“No, I didn’t make any mistakes,” Ruan Qing replied, shaking
his head. He paused for a moment and seemed to recall something, then softly
added, “The summoning book says that the summoner must be... human in order for
it to work...”
Ruan Qing’s voice grew softer as he spoke, almost to the
point of being barely audible.
“I’ll go and catch a few students,” Mo Ran said emotionlessly
as he put down the drawings and headed straight to the door.
With this statement, Mo Ran practically admitted that he and
Xiao Shiyi were no longer human.
Ruan Qing shrank back in fear, his face turning pale, lips
tightly pressed without uttering a word.
Mo Ran’s figure quickly disappeared through the door, and
Xiao Shiyi put down the drawings, walking over to Ruan Qing’s side.
He looked at Ruan Qing, who was still trembling, reached out
to touch his hand, which felt even colder.
“Brother Su, are you okay?” Xiao Shiyi furrowed his brow.
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, pulling his hand away from Xiao
Shiyi’s, nodding slightly to indicate that he was fine.
However, it was evident that he was far from okay. His
delicate little face had turned deathly pale, so pale it seemed almost
transparent. His body trembled slightly, as if chilled to the bone.
His clothes were unable to provide any warmth.
No, it wasn’t that the clothes couldn’t provide warmth; it
was that his body was no longer generating any heat. Even if he wore more
clothes, they would merely encase his cold body, making him equally cold.
The chill was starting to affect Ruan Qing’s ability to think
and perceive things.
He realized that he had probably overestimated his physical
condition; he couldn’t even hold on for three hours.
Perhaps even if his body died, he wouldn’t truly die, but
there was a strong possibility that he would become like Mo Ran, Xiao Shiyi, or
Song Yu—certainly classified as non-human by the game system.
Then he wouldn’t be able to leave this instance.
He had to act quickly.
Xiao Shiyi glanced at Ruan Qing, sitting down on a nearby
chair, then reached out and held his wrist, pulling him into his embrace.
Ruan Qing initially wanted to struggle, but Xiao Shiyi held
him firmly in his arms, and the long-lost warmth enveloped him, dispelling some
of the cold, making him feel slightly better.
Ruan Qing paused for a moment, no longer struggling, and
quietly allowed Xiao Shiyi to hold him.
Perhaps it was too warm in Xiao Shiyi’s embrace, and Ruan
Qing even started to feel a bit drowsy.
However, this drowsiness was clearly not due to fatigue or
the warmth. The prolonged low temperature was slowing down his thoughts, and
the cold was numbing his nerves, making his brain function sluggish.
Once he fell asleep and woke up again... he probably wouldn’t
be human anymore.
Ruan Qing stayed quietly in Xiao Shiyi’s embrace, pondering
some things, trying hard to stay conscious.
Xiao Shiyi always gave people a reliable feeling, making them
feel completely safe. The world quieted down at this moment, as if it had
momentarily become safer.
No monsters, no ghosts. Everything was as usual.
But this scene was quickly broken when Mo Ran came back.
He came back alone, with a very unpleasant expression on his
face.
Obviously, he hadn’t caught any students, at least not any
human students.
After entering the classroom and seeing Ruan Qing being held
by Xiao Shiyi, his eyes darkened for a moment, but he quickly returned to
normal. He walked to their side and coldly said, “The space of the First High
School has been segmented. It should be because Song Yu and Su Zhiwei did
something over there, and the other students are no longer in our space.”
It was highly likely that Song Yu and Su Zhiwei encountered
each other, but one side was defeated, so they segmented the space to hide
their presence.
Unfortunately, their side was also segmented into a separate
space.
In other words, now there were only the three of them in this
space, and even if they wanted to capture ordinary students for the summoning ritual,
they couldn’t do it.
And two of the three weren’t even considered human, leaving
only Ruan Qing barely counted as a person.
If they were really trying to evade pursuit, the space
probably wouldn’t be segmented only once. When it was segmented a second time,
there would likely be other people in the same space as them.
