Chapter 155 Four Directions 2: Departure

You and Meiling were squatting together in the classroom, waiting. The two of you were locked together, looking rather like sisters in distress.

Seeing the monster hovering silently and terrifyingly in a corner of the classroom, Meiling mustered her courage and asked, "You really don't know how to get us out of here?"

You gave a wry smile. You were even more helpless than she was.

You know nothing about this world; you only learned you were in Thailand after exchanging a few words with Meiling. To make matters worse, this is a small town you've never heard of before.

Where can we find other outsiders? How can we learn the rules of this instance? Did this ghost appear because you were unlucky enough to break the rules, or is it that "you," whose "father" is Ajarn—a kind of shaman-like identity here—also possess some kind of supernatural power?

The only thing you can be sure of is that while waiting for the other girls here, you kept connecting all the clues you could find and discovered that this ghost was actually a "Piecework Monster".

You've watched many horror movies, and in order to better deal with those strange and supernatural beings in the dungeon, you also start "studying" knowledge from horror movies from various places from time to time.

When you decide to scare Meiling and the others, every imaginable element flashes through your mind, such as the faded classroom fixtures and the red rope—classic horror elements that become the basis for the appearance of the ghost in front of you.

Is it a matter of words? But you tried saying things like "get away quickly" to this monster, but it was completely useless.

You can only assume that since the monster has already appeared, you should proceed according to its demands. This is a world of rules, not a purely frightening ghost story.

You don't know what secrets you have, so you choose to keep quiet and just wait.

On the playground.

The girl with glasses is named Huimin. The task she was assigned to was the furthest from the classroom, so her first thought was to leave the school, until an invisible wall completely blocked her way out.

Her heart sank, and she could only drag her legs, which felt like they were filled with cement, back home, her steps weak and unsteady.

The night wind outside the classroom blew across her back, which was damp with sweat from fear, and her uniform clung to her skin, cold and slippery.

She kept her head down, and could only see her own reflection swaying on the concrete, like a soul being dragged along.

The moonlight was very bright, but everything else was very dark.

The Bodhi tree in the southeast corner of the playground stood alone in the pale night, its branches and leaves stretching out like upside-down tentacles, swaying in the wind.

Come on, come on...

Huimin felt as if she had heard a summons.

The closer she got, the faster her heart beat.

She is now filled with regret.

There were already few girls in the school, and the girls who banded together never intended to bully anyone. They were just... just teasing others. Who knew it would actually turn out badly?

Huimin gritted her teeth, filled with resentment. In the end, it was all Meiling's idea! She couldn't stand the new girl, thinking that she couldn't even speak Cantonese and looked pathetic in school, so she wanted to play a prank on her and made a paper doll with Meiling's face drawn on it to scare her.

She was clearly scared too; if Meiling hadn't encouraged her, she wouldn't have come here!

By the way, Meiling... will Meiling be scared? Huimin suddenly realized that among the four people, Meiling's personality was so ruthless that she might be able to get what the ghost asked her to get by relying on her ruthlessness. As for the newcomer, needless to say, she must really have supernatural powers... Jinglian is another story. Her family are devout Buddhists, so Buddha will naturally protect her.

Only she herself—Huimin had never been so clearly aware as she was now that she was not the kind of person who could survive.

She's really just an ordinary person who follows trends. Whether she does bad things or good things, she only dares to do them after seeing others do them.

Without a leader, she now has to retrieve this cursed thing alone. What is she going to do? How will she cope?

She walked forward numbly.

The Bodhi tree became clearer in her vision. The tree had always been here, well-maintained, and now a broken Buddha head lay quietly among its roots, half of its face buried in the soil, the other half facing her, a blurry, eerie smile even appearing on its mutilated lips.

Evil spirit.

Huimin almost wanted to turn around and run away.

But as soon as she turned her head, she felt as if countless "people" were looking at her in the wind—she couldn't even be sure if they were "people".

She turned around, steeled herself, walked to the tree, and slowly squatted down.

It turns out that the Buddha statue's face was not buried halfway, but rather only half of it remained intact.

Beneath the drooping eyelids is a material devoid of pupils, and a faint red mark remains between the eyebrows—is it cinnabar? It looks like dried blood.

She cautiously reached out her hand, her fingertips barely touching the Buddha statue's forehead—

The single eye suddenly opened.

There were no eyeballs, only bottomless black holes. The moment the eyes opened, a cold wind exploded from the center of the Buddha statue, and Ah Ling was thrown backward and fell to the ground screaming.

The next second, thousands of black insects poured out of the Buddha statue's eye sockets, swarming towards her in a dense, overwhelming manner.

Separately, they were small whirlwinds; when combined, they were like a viscous liquid, wrapping around her limbs and seeping into her skirt, sleeves, ears, and mouth.

Huimin screamed and cried, struggling desperately, waving her hands and hitting herself, tearing her clothes, rolling on the ground like a madwoman.

Strangely, the insects didn't leave any wounds. By the time she realized what was happening, they were gone.

The playground was deserted, and the Buddha statue still lay there quietly, as if nothing had happened.

She collapsed to the ground, her face covered in tears and snot, and she could only sob intermittently.

"I don't want to play anymore..." she choked back tears, "I really don't want to play anymore..."

But the Buddha statue still showed that mocking smile, as if to say: You think you can choose?

She knew she had to take this back. It was the only option.

She shakily got up and held the half of the Buddha head in her hands. It was lighter than she had imagined, but her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely hold it.

She ran step by step toward the classroom.

It wasn't even to complete the task, but because she was afraid that if she was even a second slower, the "open-eyed" Buddha would move again.

She was the third person to enter the classroom.

When she saw Meiling and you squatting unharmed by the podium, her face alternated between a smile and tears. She hurriedly placed the Buddha head next to the things you and Meiling had found, and then scrambled over to stand close to you.

There is now only one person and one prop left.

Curly hair.

Jinglian is curly-haired.

She went into the basement on the lowest floor of the school building.

It was a staircase behind an old iron gate, rusty and with wax and blood-red stained paper on the lock, as if something had been sealed there before.

More than fear, Jinglian felt confused. She didn't know why she had been brought here. She hadn't done anything wrong.

Mei-ling was the one who started the prank, and she was the one who suggested playing the psychic game. The newcomer took control of the situation, while Hui-min was more timid and afraid of trouble.

As for myself, I recite scriptures every day and offer incense and flowers. No matter how you look at it, her karma should be enough to protect her.

Jinglian gripped the amulet tightly; it had been blessed by a genuine sorcerer. She continued walking down the path.

Each step echoed with a clanging metallic sound, the echo lingering underground for a long time.

She used her phone as a flashlight, desperately hoping her family would call the police or pray for her, but there was no signal, and she was completely unable to get help from the outside world.

She could only rely on the faint light from her phone to enter the dark, deep underground space.

This is a place only school staff are allowed to enter. They probably didn't expect that there would be students who would break the rules like this, so the door to the underground storage room was ajar.

A strange smell wafted out.

Jinglian covered her nose, and the beam of light from her phone illuminated rows of lockers covered with incantations. Some doors were half-open, while others were locked with chains.

In the innermost corner, she saw it—the black earthenware pot.

It lay silently on the ground, emitting no light, smoke, or sound; it simply lay there, pitch black. Yet, she instinctively felt a nauseating chill.

She crouched down and picked up the earthenware jar with both hands. The moment she touched it, the jar was so cold that she flinched.

This thing is as cold as a corpse.

This is bad luck, extremely bad luck!

She felt she had really lost her mind. She had so much good fortune, why would she listen to the guidance of a ghost?

She stood up, preparing to turn and leave.

Waaaaah...

The sound of crying.

A low, hoarse sob, like a baby choking. Where is it coming from? It seems to be coming from inside the earthenware jar.

The sound was subtle and fragmented, causing the air in the room to vibrate.

Jinglian felt a chill run down her spine and turned around abruptly.

The crying stopped.

Hurry up!

As she thought this, she was actually panting heavily, her eyes wide open, and backing away step by step.

The earthenware pot actually rolled by itself, rolling back to her feet.

She was so frightened that she gagged.

The earthenware pot cried out once more. This time, it was a woman's voice, indistinct:

"...Open...me..."

She screamed.

"Get out of the way! Get out of here!..."

The voice turned urgent and angry: "Open me!!"

Jinglian screamed and covered her ears, backing away. But she lost her balance and fell to the ground, her phone flying to the side.

The earthenware pot continued rolling slowly forward, stopping beside her again. Jinglian instinctively tried to kick it away, but accidentally knocked the lid over.

A thick smell of blood wafted from the mouth of the jar.

Her eyes widened as she saw the grayish-red mass inside the jar. Rotten flesh and blood! It looked like shredded entrails and half a spine, with an eyeball floating on top, staring at her.

Terrified, she turned to crawl away, but a cold hand reached out from the jar and grabbed her long hair.

"No!! No!! Help me!!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs, her fingernails scratching bloody marks on the concrete floor as she struggled desperately, but the hand was incredibly strong, pulling her closer and closer to the rim of the can.

She watched helplessly as she was dragged toward that writhing mass of flesh.

Her screams were quickly swallowed up by the sound of the pottery jar being closed again.

—With a click, the world fell silent.

Jinglian awoke from the illusion with a start.

She quickly wrapped the jar with her clothes and ran up and out as fast as she could.

She finally returned to the classroom.

You, Meiling, and Huimin all looked at Jinglian, who reeked of a foul stench.

Jinglian put the jar back in its original place.

The air in the classroom felt heavy, as if covered by a thick, damp cloth; it was stuffy and suffocating.

The ceiling fan, driven by the constant breeze, creaked and groaned as it slowly rotated. In front of the blackboard, the thing stood there—all four props were complete, and its form became half-real and half-illusory, as if shrouded in mist, or like a shadow growing out of the wall.

Her eyes were pitch black, so deep they seemed capable of swallowing a person whole. Her lips were stretched taut, her smile stiff.

There was a foul, fishy smell in the air, like damp, rotten soil mixed with a cloying, bloody stench.

You always felt like it came out of that jar, but out of the corner of your eye, you looked at Jinglian.

All three girls are watching you, and you know that only you can make the decision.

"We've done what you asked for." Your tone was sharp, as if you were bargaining with someone.

After you spoke up, Meiling, even with her palms sweating, mustered her courage and said, "Yes, please let us go."

The ghost didn't move; she just stared at you, blinking very slowly, as if weighing something.

The classroom light bulb suddenly exploded, and the flames of all the candles instantly became almost parallel.

Your shadows flickered on the wall, moving from left to right, like a carousel playing on the wall in a loop.

Huimin couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Will she... let us go?"

You glanced back at her, signaling her to shut up. Your voice remained calm: "We've given you what you wanted. You should keep your promise."

“These are the rules,” you added.

The ghost's smile widened at that moment, its mouth stretching even longer, almost reaching its ears.

Her figure slowly floated forward an inch, and the surrounding air seemed to be compressed, making it difficult to breathe.

Several teenagers were so frightened that they all hunched over, but you stood straight, facing the ghost.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" the ghost asked, its voice booming right next to your ear.

"I'm afraid," you said, "but the four of us aren't the prey you're looking for."

At that moment, the eerie silence in the classroom was broken by a very soft "click"—the old wall clock in the corner had somehow moved its hands by itself. The ghost's black eyes turned to it, then slowly returned to your face.

“I don’t know your purpose, but we’ve done what you asked, so you should let me leave.” You emphasized the absoluteness of the rules, mimicking those clichés from horror movies, “Keep your promises, and you’ll get what you really want.”

The ghost is confronting you.

“Let’s go,” she said. Her voice was flat, but the air finally relaxed, and the heavy weight on your chest disappeared.

You are the first to turn around, push open the classroom door, and signal the others to follow.

The three of them quickly followed suit and ran out. And after you left the classroom, you could no longer pretend to be profound, and you ran out of the school with them, your feet barely touching the ground.

Are we really alright?

The moment she stepped out of the school gate, Huimin exclaimed in surprise.

"It's alright," you said, trying to comfort her.

The four of you lined up and quickly arrived at the downtown area.

It seems like it's really over.

Huimin and Jinglian are both by your side, following you closely, while Meiling is being neglected.

The street stalls are brightly lit, and the aroma of grilled meat mixed with spices fills the air. Well, after all that, you hear your stomach rumbling.

Meiling has excellent hearing, and she immediately stepped forward, pretending to be casual, and said, "Let's go, I'll treat you to a late-night snack, as... an apology." Her gaze drifted to you.

Your complex emotions of wanting to save face while also trying to make amends are impossible to hide. You don't expose them, you just nod lightly and say, "Okay."

Meiling finally cheered up and walked with more energy. She looked around and invited everyone into a lively barbecue restaurant. The table was full of iron plates and charcoal grills. The owner was turning the pork neck meat on the iron grill and greeting her in Thai. He was obviously a regular customer.

She didn't hold back at all and ordered a whole table full of food for you—grilled seafood, tom yum soup, sticky rice, and those big bottles of Thai milk tea.

The iced milk tea is sweet and refreshing, perfect for cooling you down; the pandan filling in the sticky rice is incredibly fragrant and sweet, and when paired with the sour and spicy Tom Yum soup, it instantly washes away any discomfort from the previous experience.

The sizzling sound of barbecued meat mingled with the noise of motorcycles on the street, and sitting in this bustling city center made it feel as if everything had returned to normal.

The atmosphere among the four of them improved considerably. Meiling told an exaggerated story, gesturing wildly as she spoke. You could tell she was using this performance to suppress her earlier fear: "From now on, we'll be friends who've been through thick and thin together."

Huimin chuckled half-jokingly, while Jinglian just kept her head down and ate.

It gets hot sitting in these little street stalls for a while, especially since most of the condiments here are hot and spicy. Before long, you guys are all sweating again.

A putrid smell, which had long since been wiped away with a wet wipe, reappeared.

The three girls seemed oblivious to this, but you were. And you immediately began to casually observe them.

It wasn't Mei-ling. Was it Hui-min? No, it wasn't her either.

You sensed something was wrong with Jinglian from the very beginning. Now you notice the fine beads of sweat on Jinglian's forehead, sticky and clinging there.

"Wipe your sweat." With that, you reached out and touched Jinglian's skin with a tissue.

It is clay slurry.

Jinglian looked at you, her emotions unreadable. You then turned to Meiling and said, "To be honest, I was a bit too impulsive today and scared you all. I'm really sorry. I don't speak Cantonese, so I'll have to trouble you to help me in the future."

Meiling immediately chimed in, "Yes, it's only right that we flower people look out for each other."

“I have a bad feeling about what happened today,” you said seriously. “I think maybe my father can help us.”

Having witnessed your "abilities," Meiling and Huimin naturally also felt that your father was very capable, and they had no objections to this matter.

Only Jinglian paused noticeably, forcing a stiff smile: "Isn't that necessary? Everyone's doing fine..."

"Jinglian, why don't you come with us? Otherwise, if you go home like this, your family might be unhappy," Meiling advised. She then looked at you and said, "Your father is the White-Clothed Ajarn, right?"

You don't know anything about white or black clothes, but you nod.

“Yes, if we offer incense to Buddha while covered in filth, Buddha will be angry, won’t he?” Huimin chimed in.

Jinglian couldn't find a reason to refuse, so she could only stubbornly say, "But it would be very impolite for us to go and bother you so late."

"No, I'll just have him come pick us up." You interrupted her.

The main problem is that you don't even know where your home is. Aside from using your phone to contact your "family" to pick you up, you don't know how to get back.

Jinglian fell silent, quietly shrinking to one side.

You take out your phone, find your family's contact information, and send them your location. A few minutes later, they reply "received" and tell you they will come to pick you up.

The four of you randomly picked a small stall on the street, bought some drinks, and sat down to eat and wait. Occasionally, a dog would bark softly in the distance.

For some reason, even though your "father" in this instance is about to arrive, you feel an inexplicable sense of nervousness. This isn't the first time you've interacted with family members in instance identities, but this time you're unusually restless.

Is it because the other party might possess some kind of mystical power? Could he see through this body and discover that it is inhabited by an alien soul?

After eating and drinking to your heart's content, sitting on this street, you can't smell the aroma of food, only the sour and astringent smell of betel nuts, which is almost like the stench of a corpse.

The neon lights along the street cast a hazy glow in the humid air. The signs with Taiwanese characters and the flower wreath stalls seemed like a dream. But when you looked at the ground, the dark red stains on the ground—betel nut stains—were quite shocking.

Then, you saw the person walking towards you—your "father".

A kind of intuition allows you to immediately recognize his relationship with "you," but the moment you see him, a chill runs from the soles of your feet to your scalp.

Who is this person?

He was tall, but hunched over, and so thin that one almost doubted whether he could support himself.

What's most unsettling is his face—his features seem to have been molded in wet mud and then forcibly shaped: his nose is slightly crooked, his eye sockets are so deep that you can't see his pupils, and his skin is like old pottery with fine cracks.

A half-smile played on his lips, a smile that was both welcoming and scrutinizing.

The girls gasped, and Meiling even instinctively grabbed your arm. You could only try to remain calm.

“Children, what have you all done?” the deformed man said.

Unexpectedly, his voice was deep, with a stern yet kind tone. But his eyes, still gleaming with a cold light, swept over the four of you, finally settling on you.

“My child, what have you done now?” he asks you.

Under the streetlights, his shadow stretched slowly across the ground, reaching straight towards the four of you.

-----------------------

Author's note: I changed the girls' names to make them sound more cultured.