Chapter 40 : Chapter 40
Chapter 40. Listen, the Sound of a Heart Breaking~
Lu Liangting took a step back. His hand slipped into his jacket pocket, gripping the bloodstained fountain pen tightly as he stared vigilantly at Li Nan. If the other party made even the slightest suspicious move, he would immediately throw the pen.
He was neither stupid nor blind.
He had clearly seen the monster clinging to Li Nan’s back.
He had encountered that creature once before.
During that encounter, he had nearly died. If that woman had not appeared and saved him at the last moment, he would not be standing here today.
Now seeing the same creature again—this time attached to one of his own classmates—Lu Liangting felt a heavy weight settle in his chest.
It seemed those things had already begun to invade the outside world.
“Lu Liangting!”
With bloodshot eyes, Li Nan tore the blood-soaked mask off his face.
His face was covered in blood. His nose had collapsed inward, leaving his flesh mangled. The result was a horrifyingly twisted expression, but what made it truly terrifying were his eyes.
They looked like the eyes of a vicious ghost.
Enemies meeting each other always burned with hatred.
For Li Nan, Lu Liangting was his enemy.
“Kill him!”
Li Nan pointed at Lu Liangting blocking the path ahead, his voice hoarse.
After taking Zhao Mingyue’s hammer strike directly to the head and being influenced by the shadow creature, Li Nan’s mind was far from clear.
The moment he saw Lu Liangting, the only thing he wanted was to kill him.
Teacher Chen’s warning had already been completely forgotten.
Seeing that the person ahead was not Bai Yu, the shadow creature’s ferocity flared up.
After being torn apart by Bai Yu earlier, it was severely injured.
It urgently needed life force to recover.
“Roar!”
After the shadow creature howled, its thin body erupted with explosive strength. It launched itself forward from Li Nan’s back.
However, only its upper body flew forward while its legs remained attached to Li Nan.
Its body stretched grotesquely.
Its mouth split wide, tearing to the edges of its ears as it lunged straight toward Lu Liangting’s head.
“Zhang Lin!”
Lu Liangting stepped back again and threw the fountain pen from his pocket.
The ghost of a boy in a school uniform appeared out of thin air.
His eyes were hollow, and his body was translucent.
In terms of presence alone, he was far inferior.
The difference in strength between him and the shadow creature was obvious.
Even so, he still rushed forward without hesitation.
Zhang Lin’s expression remained blank.
His hands grabbed the shadow creature tightly as countless thin blood threads extended from his fingertips and slowly began devouring the creature’s body.
After being beaten badly by Bai Yu, the shadow creature instinctively paused when it saw Lu Liangting summon a ghost as well.
Once Zhang Lin grabbed it, the creature’s expression turned even more vicious.
Such a weak ghost dared to obstruct it?
With its remaining arm, it struck Zhang Lin away with a single swipe.
Its five fingers stretched like noodles, wrapping tightly around Zhang Lin’s body before dragging him closer.
At the same time, it opened its enormous mouth.
Zhang Lin was indeed weak, but his fighting style was reckless.
Even while bound by those stretched fingers, he opened his mouth and bit down on one of them.
The blood-thread teeth inside his mouth clenched with all their strength, biting the finger clean off.
The shadow creature roared in pain.
Its hatred toward Zhang Lin deepened even further.
By then, Zhang Lin had already been dragged close.
The shadow creature simply withdrew the remaining fingers.
Its hand is shaped into a blade.
With a wet sound, it stabbed straight through Zhang Lin’s abdomen and slammed him violently into the wall.
Everything happened extremely quickly.
Even during that brief clash, the gap between the two ghosts was obvious.
Lu Liangting did not stand still waiting to die.
While Zhang Lin desperately delayed the shadow creature, he rushed toward Li Nan and threw a punch without hesitation.
His fist struck Li Nan squarely in his already collapsed nose.
Tears flew from Li Nan’s eyes.
Yet perhaps due to pure hatred, he did not fall.
Instead, he threw a punch back.
Unfortunately, Lu Liangting easily dodged it.
Both of them kicked at the same time.
Lu Liangting only stepped back once.
Li Nan staggered three steps backward.
Because of this, the shadow creature’s attempt to bite off Zhang Lin’s head missed.
Zhang Lin seized the brief moment to breathe.
His body had been pierced, and his form had become extremely transparent.
Anyone could see he was weakening.
Yet it did not seem to matter to him.
Just like before, he charged forward again, even knowing he was not the creature’s opponent.
The two ghosts began devouring each other.
“I will kill you!!”
Li Nan’s teeth were stained red with blood.
Compared to the shadow creature on his back, he looked more like a demon himself.
Lu Liangting threw another punch, smashing it directly into Li Nan’s face.
Li Nan grabbed his arm and kicked him in the stomach.
“Mingyue, run!”
Only then did Lu Liangting notice Zhao Mingyue standing behind them with her magic staff, looking completely stunned.
At this moment, how could he not realize the truth?
Li Nan had come for Zhao Mingyue.
He even intended to kill her.
Panic surged in Lu Liangting’s heart.
If he could not defeat Li Nan quickly, not only would Zhang Lin be in danger—
Zhao Mingyue would be as well.
He had to win.
And he had to win as quickly as possible.
For some reason, that graceful figure appeared in his mind again.
If she were here…
There would be no danger, right?
Zhao Mingyue held her solid magic staff and felt uncertain about what to do.
Should she go help?
But the two men were tangled together in a fight.
What if she accidentally hit the wrong person?
Without Bai Yu beside her, she also felt somewhat afraid of the shadow creature.
“Do not go over there. Slowly step backward. Listen to me.”
Suddenly, a cold voice sounded in her mind.
Zhao Mingyue immediately regained her composure.
She slowly stepped backward.
After taking several steps, she glanced up and suddenly noticed something.
Her pupils shrank.
At the corner of the stairs, the red-clothed female ghost from the fifth floor had appeared.
She had come down the staircase and was now standing not far behind Lu Liangting.
Her dark red fingernails stretched down to her knees.
Her skin was dark blue.
Black, swollen veins bulged across her body like worms.
Her head hung low.
Her messy black hair covered her face.
Through the tangled strands, her eyes could faintly be seen.
She seemed to be scanning the surroundings.
As if searching for someone.
The moment the female ghost appeared, everything changed.
In the corridor, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees in a single second.
A freezing wind blew straight into the soul.
It was bone-chilling.
A nauseating stench filled the air.
The combined smell of decay and burning flesh made people almost miss the scent of disinfectant that usually filled the hallway.
“The female ghost’s corpse has been removed. Her strength has increased slightly.”
Bai Yu’s voice sounded beside Zhao Mingyue.
“Can you deal with her?”
“Yes.”
“I originally intended to leave her alone for a while. After eating her ‘food,’ she should not have come out so soon.”
“I believe she sensed my presence and came looking for me.”
Bai Yu felt a heavy sense of concern.
If the female ghost devoured both Li Nan’s shadow creature and Zhang Lin, the situation would become difficult.
Lu Liangting also felt the shift in the atmosphere.
He kicked Li Nan away and froze in place.
He did not dare to turn around.
His throat tightened.
Cold sweat soaked his back.
He had been on the fifth floor earlier.
He knew the female ghost there had gone somewhat insane.
But he had never expected her to come downstairs.
Facing the red-clothed female ghost, both Zhang Lin and the shadow creature stopped fighting.
The shadow creature had not been injured much.
Zhang Lin, however, had become almost completely transparent.
The fountain pen flew back into Lu Liangting’s pocket automatically.
Zhang Lin disappeared.
Even the shadow creature did not dare act recklessly in front of the terrifying ghost.
Controlling Li Nan’s body, it slowly retreated.
It tried to increase the distance between them.
Unable to find Bai Yu, the red-clothed ghost seemed to become even more frenzied.
She let out a silent scream.
Her gaze locked onto the shadow creature attached to Li Nan.
Then she rushed forward at terrifying speed.
Because Li Nan stood behind him, Lu Liangting instinctively thought the ghost was targeting him.
All he could do was raise one arm to block in front of his body.
The female ghost lunged toward him, bringing a wave of foul stench with her.
The smell was overwhelming.
Lu Liangting closed his eyes.
Time seemed to slow.
He waited for death to arrive.
But then—A gust of wind rushed past him.
The foul odor vanished even faster than it had appeared.
The expected pain never came.
Lu Liangting frowned and opened his eyes.
The red-clothed ghost was gone.
Instead, a slender figure in a white dress stood before him.
“It’s you…”
When he saw Bai Yu, Lu Liangting did not even realize that the corner of his mouth had lifted slightly.
A strange sense of security filled his heart.
Along with complicated emotions he could not explain.
“I have been looking for you these past few days…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the graceful figure suddenly turned around.
Without a word, she delivered a perfect side kick.
Lu Liangting spun through the air as he was sent flying backward.
His body was stronger than an average person.
The kick did not kill him or cause serious physical harm.
But the psychological damage—Was absolutely devastating.