Extra 5: Classroom Rules (Part 1)
The rusty iron door opened a crack on its own, like a monster unwillingly opening its peeping mouth.
Thick gray fog rolled inside the door, even stickier than outside, almost blocking all vision, leaving only a damp and cold touch that stuck to the exposed skin and caused goose bumps.
The remnant of the air raid sirens seemed to still stick to my eardrums, buzzing and mixed with the pounding of my heart.
The eleven newcomers stood stiffly outside the door, breathing heavily, and no one dared to be the first to step in.
Gao Meng's Adam's apple moved violently, and his previous arrogance was replaced by a more primitive vigilance.
He gripped the weapon at his waist tightly, and the cold touch seemed to give him a little courage.
Li Mu pushed his glasses, trying to see the scene inside the door clearly, and his eyes behind the lenses were full of anxiety.
Zhao Sha's face turned pale, and she subconsciously took half a step back, almost bumping into the person behind her.
Feng Tianning and the old members of Group 11 just stood silently behind the newcomers, like a row of silent reefs, neither urging nor providing any instructions or comfort.
Their existence itself is like a dividing line. On the other side of the line is the unknown horror, and on this side of the line... is a test that the newcomers must cross on their own.
This silent pressure is more effective than any scolding.
Finally, Gao Meng gritted his teeth and growled:
"Damn it, it's just a matter of sticking!"
He suddenly raised his foot and was the first to cross the threshold. His figure was instantly swallowed up by the gray fog.
With someone taking the lead, the others seemed to be freed from the spell and squeezed into the narrow entrance one by one.
The world inside the door suddenly pressed down.
The light was extremely dim, relying entirely on a few old bulbs hanging on the wall to provide a little bleak yellow light. Instead of dispelling the darkness, it made everything dim.
"Tianning, shall we go?" Xuan Gou Chen asked in a low voice.
Feng Tianning hesitated for a moment and shook his head:
"Wait a little longer, send them in before leaving."
The air was as heavy as breathing underwater, and the sweet, rotting smell mixed with dust and mold made your throat itch.
They were standing in an extremely wide corridor.
The floor was made of old terrazzo, covered with cracks and stains. The lower half of the wall was painted dark green, while the upper half was pale lime.
Large areas of wall paint peeled off, revealing the dark interior underneath, like bones exposed under rotten skin.
Countless dark brown wooden doors of uniform style extended along the corridor into endless darkness on both sides. Each door had a palm-sized glass window, but most of them were covered with newspapers or dirty cloth from the inside.
Dead silence.
Even the low-frequency humming and vague whispers disappeared, leaving only the sound of his blood rushing against his eardrums and his extremely suppressed breathing.
"Where...where to go?"
A newcomer asked in a trembling voice, the voice causing a slight echo in the empty corridor, seeming extremely abrupt.
No one can answer.
Both ends of the corridor were shrouded in darkness, with no end in sight.
Gao Meng spat, as if trying to dispel the chill in his heart, and pointed to the right:
"That alarm just now seemed to come from deep inside this area. Should we go check it out? We can't just stand there like an idiot."
It's not a great idea, but it's better than no idea at all.
The team began to move cautiously along the corridor on the right, and the footsteps were absorbed by the thick ground, making a muffled sound.
Everyone was on edge, their eyes constantly scanning the tightly closed doors on both sides that were like silent tombstones, afraid that one of them would suddenly open.
After walking about dozens of meters, without any warning, the newspaper pasted on the window of a door on the left suddenly made a "rustling" sound, as if something suddenly hit it from behind.
Everyone froze instantly, their weapons pointed at the door, and their breathing stopped.
A few seconds passed and there was no movement behind the door.
"Is...it the wind?" Zhao Sha guessed in a floating voice.
No one spoke. Where does the wind come from here?
Gao Meng's forehead was covered in sweat. He suppressed the urge to take action and whispered, "Don't worry about it, just keep going!"
The team moved again, but more slowly and more cautiously.
However, after taking less than ten steps——
“Da…da…da…”
The clear sound of a hard object hitting the terrazzo floor came from the dim area directly in front of the team, approaching at a steady pace and not too fast.
The sound was getting closer, and a small, vague outline gradually emerged in the dim light.
It was a little boy who looked about seven or eight years old. He had his back to them and was squatting on the ground, seemingly concentrating on playing something.
He was wearing a slightly loose, dull blue sportswear and was tapping the ground with something in his hand.
That "tapping" sound came from here.
A child appeared in a place like this? All the newcomers' scalps instantly exploded, and a chill ran up their spines to the top of their heads.
"Who... who is there!" Gao Meng shouted loudly, but his voice was trembling unconcealably.
The little boy stopped tapping.
He didn't look back.
The entire corridor fell into extreme silence.
Then, in the dead silence, there was an extremely slight, yet creepy sound...slurping sound. It was like a hungry person seeing delicious food.
Feng Tianning glanced at the nervous crowd and quietly took a step back.
The members of Group 11 hid in the corridor.
"The teacher in charge is missing..." An unknown agent exclaimed.
Without waiting for everyone's reaction, the little boy's shoulders began to tremble extremely slightly and at a high frequency, as if he was suppressing a silent laugh, or as if some kind of wild beast was gathering strength before launching an attack.
A feeling so strong that it almost makes people vomit is poured on the soul of every newcomer like ice water.
"Back off! Back off slowly!" Li Mu growled.
The team moved backwards in panic and with weak limbs.
Just as they moved, the squatting little boy suddenly stood up.
But he still didn't look back. He just scurried into a darker fork in the road and disappeared, leaving behind only the empty corridor and the lingering sound of "da da".
The newlyweds were breathing heavily, and they could see the pale fear on each other's faces.
"What...what was that just now?" someone asked in a crying voice.
"Should we go find the teacher in charge?" a newcomer asked tentatively.
Li Mu gritted his teeth and said:
"I'm afraid the team leader won't come out. Let's keep going."
"That's right, instead of relying on them, we should rely on ourselves." Another person echoed.
On the other side, the agents from Team 11 had already walked ahead of them, wanting to scout the way for this group of new agents.
They came to a place that looked like a classroom.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com