The moment the door was closed, the girl who reacted the fastest immediately rushed over to open the door, but the door seemed to be locked from the outside and could not be opened no matter how hard she pulled.
"Damn! If I had known I would have used something to hold it up!"
Zheng Wanqing slapped her head hard, feeling extremely regretful.
"It's not your fault." Zhang You protected Guo Guo as he retreated while comforting Zheng Wanqing, "If some mechanism really was triggered, or if something deliberately trapped us here, the result would be the same even if we blocked the door."
Zhang You was a cautious person. He had thought of the worst possible outcome the moment the accident happened and immediately retreated away from the door to a corner that looked a little safer.
Number 5 and her friends were restless. Before anyone else could come up with a solution, sister number 5 had already pulled out a flamethrower: "What's the problem with the door being closed? Just tear it down!"
Tongues of flame spewed out, burning wherever they licked. The wooden door soon caught fire and collapsed down little by little.
No. 10, who has water-based abilities, is not afraid of fire. She picks up her tools and rushes over to kick the door open. However, after kicking with all her strength, the door only opens a small gap, and the fire spreads to her legs!
The burning pain made No. 10 a little panicked. She quickly began to use her special ability. A transparent water source appeared above her fingers and poured it onto the flames on her legs.
The flames on his legs finally died down. No. 10, dragging his limping legs, stood up again with the help of No. 5's sister. He palely warned the others: "This is not right! Don't go over there! There's something wrong with the door!"
No. 5 immediately explained: "Our superpowers are immune to roommates. Logically, she can't be hurt by our flames. But now..."
Before she finished speaking, the movement at the door attracted everyone's attention again.
"The fire is getting bigger!"
The flames burning on the door panel did not decrease or disappear as No. 5 and No. 6 revoked their special powers. Instead, they grew bigger and bigger, and even began to spread into the wall!
Number 5 exclaimed in disbelief, "This is impossible!"
They knew the supernatural flames as well as their own bodies. If they could control them in a certain area, they would never spread out of control. But now—
No. 10 had already started chanting to summon water. This time she was serious. A curtain of water poured down from the ceiling, creating smoke at the door and choking everyone to the point of coughing.
"No, not enough..." Number 10's face paled. The water she had summoned was clearly enough to put out the fire, even if it was a supernatural fire. But now the flames had only subsided slightly, showing no sign of being extinguished at all.
Tang Xin Jue's voice suddenly rang out, "No need, this isn't the fire you just set."
She stared at the door with a serious look: "The fire came from outside."
At this moment, the male ghost finally stopped his frantic feeding amidst the increasingly thick smoke. He sniffed doubtfully and raised his head. His eyes suddenly widened, and he raised his arms tremblingly: "Fire...they set the fire...they're back! They want to burn me to death in revenge!"
The male ghost screamed, as if he had lost his mind due to the fire. He began to scratch his body frantically, shouting things like "Don't burn me" and "Get away from me".
You're so scared before the fire even reaches inside?
Tang Xinjue frowned, his heart sank as he looked at the boy's crazy state, and a bad idea came to his mind.
"Jiang Lan, use props to control it!"
Almost immediately, the male ghost suddenly opened his mouth wide, and the red threads he had just swallowed seemed to come alive and began to crawl out in balls, scrambling to squeeze out of his esophagus. The sheer number of threads even broke the boy's jaw. The remaining threads, unable to find an outlet, poured out of his nostrils, ears, and even his eyes...
Jiang Lan threw a new golden ball, and the ball popped out in the air to form a spider web like the last time, covering the boy and firmly fixing the twitching boy. At the same time, it also happened to block part of the red line from climbing outwards.
“Uaaaaaaaaa——”
The male ghost could only let out a few distorted screams as his body expanded like an inflated balloon, countless balls of thread surging and stretching beneath his skin. In less than a few seconds, his entire body exploded at the peak of its expansion!
Everyone thought they would see a bloody scene with flesh and blood flying everywhere, but they didn't expect that what exploded was only a layer of withered skin, and under the skin was only a dense ball of red thread, which scattered to the ground as the boy ghost exploded.
These red lines seemed to have sucked all the blood out of the boy's ghost body.
The moment this thought arose in their minds, the fire spread into the house again, engulfing half of the room in the blink of an eye, forcing them to retreat again.
"No, we'll all be burned to death here!"
Jiang Lan gritted her teeth and frantically thought of a countermeasure. Beads of sweat dripped from her head, and her eyes were burned blood red by the flames in front of her.
Combined with the crazy and endless fire, and the boy ghost's mumbling just before the explosion, a terrifying idea appeared in their minds.
"Could it be that the current fire is actually a replay of what happened in 916?"
As if to confirm everyone's thoughts, faint screams and wails seemed to be heard from the burning flames, and the figure of a boy struggling and rolling inside could be vaguely seen - separated by a layer of dancing flames, the two missed time and space seemed to overlap again, right in front of them.
Looking at the miserable appearance of another group of candidates before their death, several of them gritted their teeth, unwilling to believe that this might be what would happen to them next.
"Look inside the flames."
Tang Xinjue suddenly spoke.
"We've seen it." There was a hint of despair in No. 10's voice.
"No, not those shadows." Jiang Lan instantly realized what Tang Xinjue was talking about and immediately added, "Look at the ground!"
Through the flames, they could vaguely see the gap in the ground and the red line above. However, at this moment, the red line was not burning in the flames... There was not even any fire around the red line, so that there were even gaps in their vision.
——It’s as if the flames deliberately avoided these red lines!
Everyone reacted quickly. They took out the red threads they had previously stored, tried to hold them in their hands, and then moved closer to the flames.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the flames indeed avoided the fist holding the red string, and even the entire arm... Just as the flames were about to engulf the shoulder, Tang Xinjue quickly pulled himself out and said in a clear voice, "Tie the red string outside your body. We can get out this way!"
Everyone acted immediately as if they had found a life-saving straw.
The red line could protect them from fire in an area about the size of an arm, so they wrapped the red line around their legs and hands, and put the rest in their pockets. Then they mustered up the courage to walk into the flames, and actually created a gap in the fire that was large enough for people to pass through.
The shadowy struggles and wails seemed to be right beside them, and the ghosts that had been buried in the flames screamed in their ears. If a person with unstable mind was not careful and was affected, the flames would follow.
Fortunately, those with stronger willpower, like Tang Xinjue and Jiang Lan, were scattered in the front, back, and center of the group. Seeing someone nearby begin to drift off, they pulled them forward. The diameter of the dormitory was quickly covered, and Tang Xinjue pulled out the toilet plunger and slammed it against the door!
The door panel fell down, and fresh air rushed into his lungs. Before Tang Xinjue, who had just run out of 920, could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard screams from behind.
That was Fang Guoguo's last cry.
Jiang Lan Keke and others had already run out right after him, but Tang Xinjue went back into the house and saw that several ferocious ghosts had already captured Guo Guo and No. 10 next to her, while Zheng Wanqing, No. 5 and others were trying to snatch people from the flames.
With the help of Tang Xinjue and Zhang You who rushed back later, Guo Guo and the others were quickly rescued. Amidst the terrible creaking sounds in the room, they barely ran out of the door, and the door frame collapsed behind them.
The room's collapse didn't stop the ghosts from moving. One after another, they floated out of the dormitory door. Some looked like they had been burned to death, some looked like they had been torn to pieces, and some looked like multiple bodies spliced together, their heads slowly turning, their empty eyes staring at everyone.
"run!"
The group that had just escaped the flames took off running, with the ghosts chasing them relentlessly. Fortunately, for some reason, they moved very slowly, and by the time they reached the end of the corridor, the girls had already disappeared from their "sight."
Unable to see their target, the ghosts' movements became even slower. They wandered around rooms 916 and 918, finding no trace of the examinee in either room. Then, they found a crack in 918 that led to the outside.
Hiss…hiss…
One after another, twisted and hideous shadows floated out from the cracks. The dark corridor did not affect their movements. They turned their heads left and right, and after making sure that there was no one nearby, they floated to the other end of the corridor one after another.
…
Listening to the sound of the ghost rubbing against the wall getting farther and farther away, the girls breathed softly and cautiously at a distance of a wooden door.
They had just reached the other end of the corridor, intending to follow their original route back to the girls' dormitory, but they found that the crack they had come through was gone, and they couldn't break it open no matter how hard they tried. Seeing that time was running out and the ghost might chase them out at any moment, they had no choice but to return to the men's dormitory and break open the other door facing it.
Fortunately, the male ghost had mentioned that there were two doors at the end of the corridor. One led to the male dormitory, and the other was a room filled with second-hand and old electrical appliances. It seemed that it was the residence of an old man who collected garbage in his lifetime.
After tearing off the wall, they found another wooden door. After breaking it open, they hid in the room inside and used props to disguise the outside.
It would be best if they could stop the ghost temporarily, but if that doesn't work... they will have no choice but to fight to the death.
Fortunately, the ghosts really didn't seem to notice that there was a door here, and soon they all floated to the other side of the corridor, leaving them with a brief chance to breathe.
Zhang You whispered, "How long can we hide here? What if they find us?"
Tang Xin Jue held the toilet plunger, his mental power spreading to the outside of the door, "watching" the situation in the corridor: "...wait until they disappear."
There is a 60% certainty that these ghostly figures will not exist forever.
Just as she ran out, she observed that the ghosts were not completely invisible, and there were traces of red lines on their bodies.
These monsters, newly born from the flames, seem to have a close relationship with the red line.
"...And that male ghost said that after swallowing the red thread, it will be strengthened, but the time will only last for a while. After that time, the effect will disappear."
Tang Xin Jue's voice was almost inaudible in this space, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"If what the boy ghost said is true, then the red thread will probably have the same effect on these ghosts."
While the effect is powerful, it's short-lived.
When the effect of the red line disappears, the ghost will most likely disappear as well, and then they can go out and find a way back to the girls' dormitory.
"I still think that these things are all the work of the Academic Affairs Office."
Jiang Lan whispered her guess.
"Everything was normal before we arrived. But ever since we left the girls' dormitory and entered here, accidents have occurred one after another..."
Jiang Lan's voice suddenly paused. She turned on the flashlight and shone it on her wrist, where blood had seeped out.
The red thread dug into her skin and began to absorb the blood inside!
Everyone suddenly remembered the danger of the red string and hurried to untie it. The flashlight beam flickered across the room, and suddenly there was a crisp snapping sound.
Then came the second sound, the third sound...
Everyone stopped and shone their light towards the source of the sound, which was a radio.
“Sizzle—sizzle—”
The radio began to make sounds, and a hoarse voice fell into everyone's ears.
"Repair, repair, repair second-hand appliances, second-hand furniture, second-hand refrigerators, color TVs, washing machines—"
The lights in the room suddenly brightened.
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