Chapter 13

Fear soaked Xie Xishu’s back in a cold sweat.

If the space beneath his desk had been a sanctuary of delusion built by his remaining willpower, he had now been inexorably dragged into a crimson hell by the damp, spindly fingers of "Teacher Li."

Nanming High School, Class 3, Grade 12.

This should have been his familiar classroom, but now it felt more like the gullet of a demon.

"Teacher Li" clearly lacked refined table manners. As Xie Xishu scrambled to his feet from the floor, slick and sodden with blood, several lengths of intestine still hung from the blades of the ceiling fan.

"Teacher Li’s" main body remained behind the lectern, yet that horrific head was suspended directly in front of Xie Xishu, swaying slightly.

The monster’s blood-red eyeballs fixed on Xie Xishu with venomous malice. When it spoke, its voice had sharpened into a sound bordering on a buzzing drone.

"...The others didn't answer correctly, so you try, Xie Xishu. Where did we leave off in our last lesson?"

As it spoke, "Teacher Li’s" mouth slowly split open, revealing teeth as sharp and dense as steel nails, while a deluge of saliva poured from the seams of its lips. Its throat still contained remnants of human remains that had not yet been fully digested, causing the glob of viscous, roiling slime hanging from its chin to take on a murky, foul-smelling shade of deep red.

Xie Xishu drew a sharp, cold breath.

A second more, and "Teacher Li" would have bitten off the boy's head just as it had done to the others. Yet, in that blood-drenched classroom, Xie Xishu’s voice rang out, trembling only slightly.

"Unit 4, Astronomy—the science of the stars," Xie Xishu paused, then added, "You had just reached Section B, the vocabulary and grammar section."

"Teacher Li’s" movements froze in mid-air.

Xie Xishu stared back without blinking, his breath held deep within his nasal cavity.

Time, at that moment, seemed stretched by some cruel deity into a century long...

Finally, "Teacher Li’s" head recoiled.

"Very good."

It let out a mutter, sounding somewhat unwilling.

"It seems you were paying attention after all."

Only then did Xie Xishu manage a labored breath.

But the stench of blood that surged into his nostrils with that inhale almost made him retch.

Immediately after, Xie Xishu heard the monster’s hissing, rattling laugh.

"...But why do you always skip class?"

"Teacher Li’s" distorted body rustled as it slithered, inching toward Xie Xishu’s position.

"You must have felt quite smug just now, getting my lesson progress right. But don't think I don't know that every time I teach, you're doing other things. Later on, you even started skipping class. You actually dared to skip my class... Do you think I can't do anything about you, right, student Xie Xishu? I'm a new teacher, a pushover in your eyes, so you specifically chose to skip my class."

The malice in the monster's words seemed to turn into venom, dripping from its lips along with its saliva.

A strong sense of impending doom washed over him. Xie Xishu’s heart hammered against his ribs; his entire body trembled from the intense strain.

Yet, he still lifted his head, forcing himself to offer "Teacher Li" a smile—as if the slaughter hadn't just occurred, as if the thing standing before him wasn't a nightmare made flesh, but the enthusiastic, green, and dedicated new teacher.

And he, just a well-behaved, diligent student.

"Teacher Li, you've misunderstood me. If I weren't ill, I wouldn't miss class for anything. This time I only went to get medicine, not to skip class. I already asked the head teacher for leave. My health hasn't been good; I was already delayed in coming to school due to a fever, and I didn't dare push myself, so I hurried to get my medicine."

Xie Xishu spoke every word clearly.

"Heh, is that so?"

"Teacher Li’s" body twisted. It tilted its head, the eyeballs on its stalks swaying irregularly in different directions, yet its gaze remained locked firmly on Xie Xishu.

Every muscle in Xie Xishu’s body was coiled to the limit.

"Really, I’m not lying to you."

His tone now shed even the initial tremor; he sounded so sincere, so gentle, and even a touch aggrieved.

"Look, here is the leave note the head teacher approved for me."

Xie Xishu raised his hand toward "Teacher Li"—

But what appeared in the monster’s field of vision was not some non-existent leave note.

It was a small knife.

Having once easily sliced through the tongue of another monster, the blade’s sharpness was beyond doubt.

At this moment, it glinted with a cold light.

*Squelch.*

Before "Teacher Li" could react, Xie Xishu had plunged the knife, handle and all, deep into the monster’s eye socket with abnormal precision and ferocity.

Because flexible, supple eye-stalks had grown where the original eyeballs should have been, the skin in that area was exceptionally loose and soft.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Teacher Li... I'm sorry... *sob*..."

Drenching his cheeks, it was impossible to tell if they were tears or blood.

Xie Xishu’s mind went blank. He only felt the tip of the knife pierce into a mass of soft, sticky pulp. Amidst his sobbing whispers, he twisted his wrist, the blade scraping forcefully against the inside of the monster’s skull. When he pulled his hand back, the knife dragged out a cluster of deep-red, rotting tumors as tightly packed as grapes.

"Teacher Li" let out a roar of rage.

Overcome by pain, the monster’s body curled into a massive heap like a stimulated worm.

"It hurts—it hurts, ahhhhhh—"

The woman's scream seemed capable of shattering glass.

Xie Xishu’s vision blackened. A moment later, thin, cool trickles of blood seeped from his nostrils and ears.

But he didn't stop to wipe them. In fact, he didn't even look back at the monster. He leapt toward the classroom window, hoisted a desk chair, and slammed it against the closed glass.

Perhaps he was lucky, or perhaps under the surge of adrenaline, his strength had indeed surpassed his limits. The window shattered instantly.

The moment the glass broke, Xie Xishu didn't hesitate; he jumped out, regardless of anything else.

*

Covered in blood, Xie Xishu began to sprint toward the school gate.

*

"Bad student, scum, cancer, you've gone bad, you've gone bad, you've gone bad—"

"Teacher Li’s" screams were relentless, each one sharper and more piercing than the last.

Blood mixed with unknown yellow-white matter gushed from the eye socket Xie Xishu had pulverized, but soon, several bulging eyeballs squeezed out from the wounded socket, replacing the destroyed organs.

—The monster’s regenerative ability far exceeded Xie Xishu’s expectations.

More sounds of shattering glass and screeching metal frames filled the air. As he ran, Xie Xishu caught a glimpse in the corner of his eye and saw "Teacher Li"—or rather, the entire "insect"—waving its countless arms as it squeezed through the broken window frame, then scuttling toward him like a giant centipede.

Xie Xishu was running for his life, but the stench of "Teacher Li" seemed to press against the back of his neck in an instant.

His scalp felt as if it were about to burst.

Rarely one for physical exertion, he felt as though his very internal organs were burning; every breath he exhaled was laced with the scent of blood.

He was on the verge of collapse.

However, facing that monster, he could think of no other way. All he could do was squeeze out the last drop of strength from his body to run... and run faster.

In the short time he had been trapped in the classroom, the smog outside the teaching building had grown even thicker.

The fog now shrouding the campus severely hindered visibility. Thus, it was only when the panic-stricken Xie Xishu reached a close distance that he realized, with horror, that many stumbling shadows were wandering the path to the school gate.

*

Upon seeing "them," Xie Xishu, already on the brink of exhaustion, came to a dead stop.

Those shadows...

They might have once been students who spent their days in the school, drifting along in a daze.

Or perhaps some indifferent school custodian cleaning the grounds.

Or maybe, a teacher sitting on the podium day after day, lecturing in a state of numbness.

...

But at this moment, they all shared a singular identity.

[Monster]

Thorough, complete monsters.

Monsters that had mutated, just like "Teacher Li."

*

The scent of blood hanging in the air diffused through the fog.

Almost as soon as Xie Xishu stopped, those shadows, previously wandering aimlessly, all paused in unison.

Rather than bloodthirsty animal instinct, a deeper, more irresistible hunger swept through their chaotic minds.

Every "monster" suddenly abandoned its current pursuit, or the prey it was currently devouring.

Following the surging, violent summons in their blood, they all shuffled toward the fragile, desperate shadow in the mist... Soon, their seemingly slow, stumbling forms became increasingly agile and quick, their reddened eyes filled with a flickering, fierce light.

*

"Bad student—"

By now, Xie Xishu could hear "Teacher Li’s" voice.

He had barely stopped when several withered, bony arms suddenly appeared on his shoulders.

"Teacher Li" let out a hoarse roar, its jaw dropping open as it prepared to bite into Xie Xishu’s neck—

*Sshhh.*

But in the next second, it was violently pounced upon by a shadow that lunged from the mist.

The monster that tackled "Teacher Li" had a body hunched like the *kappa* described in rural folklore; its skeleton was thin and small, like a child’s, and every muscle was withered like a mummy’s, its dark green skin dry and deeply wrinkled.

Yet, its head had swollen into a disproportionately massive object.

As Xie Xishu turned his head, he saw its skull split open entirely from the center.

Beneath the dry flesh was white bone, and then, the red gum tissue clinging to the inside of the skull, along with rows upon rows of dense, needle-like teeth.