Chapter 4  

The curtain of night slowly descended as the clouds on the horizon were covered with dust. The world darkened, and all beings returned to silence. Everything was so calm, but the more it appeared calm, the more it seemed to hide the arrival of the eye of the storm.

Bai Qiaoqiao hung up the phone and sneered unsympathetically.

Unexpectedly, that Xu Sheng was so useless. She had not used all her means to deal with him before he committed suicide!

She opened her photo album, which had the photos of Xu Sheng in the bathroom.

In the photo, Xu Sheng was crouched in the corner, hugging his head. The corners of his mouth were slightly raised, revealing a taunting smile. What surprised her even more was that Xu Sheng actually stared directly at the camera, his pupils blood red, just like a corpse!

She rubbed her eyes, looking at the photo once more. There clearly wasn’t any bloody color, and it was just Xu Sheng helplessly cowering the corner, using his hands to shield his ridiculous body from view.

Bai Qiaoqiao’s face was pale, and she began to shiver. It was obviously summer, but she felt like she was bathed in winter’s cold, the biting chill striking her. Xu Sheng’s body was already dead, but as Bai Qiaoqiao examined the photo again, she thought it was mysterious.

“D*mn!” Her quivering hand pressed the screen, forcefully deleting all the photos in her phone. But her nervousness didn’t lessen when she did that, so her chest tightened.

She glanced at her surroundings. It was a pink girl’s bedroom with bags, a wardrobe, a sofa, dolls, and cosmetics...Everything in front of her was familiar, but she was increasingly flustered. This feeling was strangely inexplicable, and especially when the teru teru bozu, which was suspended next to the windowsill, was suddenly given life! A pair of black eyes studied her...

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

The lights abruptly shut off, and the world returned to silence.

The mirror beside the bed vaguely revealed a black shadow. He stood there quietly and motionlessly, for an unknown amount of time, before disappearing.

Are you ready?

This is just the beginning of the game.

Let all the sinners die!

Xiao Chen turned off the light and lay on his side in bed. He took a deep breath and his eyes watered.

In the dim environment, he could only faintly see the outline of his bedroom. He stared at the ceiling and couldn’t sleep for a long time.

“Xu Sheng.” He buried his head in his blanket, his tears wetting the pillowcase as he called out the name in pain.

“It’s all my fault.”

If he didn’t let Xu Sheng become a target, Xu Sheng wouldn’t have been bullied into committing suicide. If he had woken up earlier, Xu Sheng might not have died! It’s all his fault!

Xiao Chen’s mind was a mess, and plenty of time passed before he was finally so exhausted that he fell asleep.

But in a place he couldn’t see, the cabinet in the corner of the wall was lit by the moonlight outside. Its shadow slowly distorted, and in an instant, a part broke off. This new shadow started moving on the wall, changing into a humanoid form.

He walked softly and stopped beside Xiao Chen’s figure. He lay down steadily, attempting to merge with Xiao Chen’s own shadow.

Xiao Chen’s body shook violently. In his dreamy state, he sensed someone caressing his body, a pair of hands sliding down from his waist to his thighs.

This person seemed to feel the stiffness of Xiao Chen’s body, so he used one of his hands to gently stroke Xiao Chen’s back. He infatuatedly soothed the protruding butterfly bones, repeatedly petting them.

Senior.

My Senior.

The black shadow let out a satisfied voice in his heart.

The Senior that belongs only to me.

Really obedient.

Today, the school was a bit gloomy. The weather forecast distinctly projected that it would be very sunny, but the sky was still grey. It wrapped around the entire teaching building, giving people the feeling of being suffocated by an air of death. A layer of mist spread outside, and the school was relatively remote, so there were only camphor trees outside. Under winding leaves, the mist carries an unspeakable danger.

“Do you think that today is colder than usual?”

“It’s okay. It’s the morning, so it will be more chilly than later in the day.”

Among the passing students, there would occasionally be two or three mentioning the abnormal temperature.

A pale-faced girl scanned the crowd with lifeless eyes, and her limbs were stiff as she walked.

Someone recognized her. “Isn’t that Bai Qiaoqiao? Why does she look like a ghost today? She didn’t even put on her makeup.”

“Hey, Qiaoqiao.” A girl saw Bai Qiaoqiao coming over and enthusiastically went up to pat the other on the shoulder. Bai Qiaoqiao twisted her head and grinned at the girl, before expressionlessly continuing forward. She left the girl standing alone in her original position, cold sweat oozing from her pores.

The girl swallowed her saliva. The hand which had touched Bai Qiaoqiao was freezing, as if the girl had grabbed a handful of ice. It was a frigid thorn that penetrated into her body.

And when Bai Qiaoqiao looked at her, the girl horrifyingly discovered that only Bai Qiaoqiao’s head had rotated! Not her neck! When those eyes stared at her, the girl felt a chill down her spine. She couldn’t see herself reflected in Bai Qiaoqiao’s eyes! They were only black and empty!

The girl’s body softened and her legs began to shake. Just as she nearly knelt down, a pair of hands held her.

She turned her head, but when she found who had supported her, she blanked out.

It’s actually her!

Gao Xuhan glanced at Bai Qiaoqiao’s back in the distance, and then returned to observe the girl she had caught. “What happened to Bai Qiaoqiao? Why do I think that she is behaving weirdly?”

The girl’s face whitened, and her lips were quivering. “Bai Qiaoqiao is a ghost!”

“What?”

“What I’ve said is all true!” The girl was clearly agitated. “Her body temperature is extremely low, the same as ice! When she turned her head, her neck didn’t move! It was solely her head!”

Gao Xuhan pondered and frowned. After the girl was pulled away by someone nearby, she lifted the corner of her mouth.

It has started!

Gao Xuhan, or to be precise, Xuhan, was a college student. She normally enjoyed watching horror movies, and who knew that when she watched one called “Thriller High School” yesterday, she would wake up in another body after going to bed. She received unfamiliar fragments of memories in her mind, becoming a high school student, Gao Xuhan!

And this Gao Xuhan is the heroine of “Thriller High School”!

This film was about the story of a boy named Xu Sheng, who committed suicide because of being bullied on the school campus. He eventually turned into a ghost and retaliated against the whole high school.

Gao Xuhan was Xu Sheng’s classmate. She was timid and afraid of being involved in anything, so she was as transparent as air. In the entire class, except for her, everyone bullied Xu Sheng. And because of her sympathy, she had shared an umbrella with him when two girls stole his own on a rainy day. This made Xu Sheng have different feelings for her.

At the end of the movie, all the people, including the teachers, were massacred! However, she survived!

But among them, Bai Qiaoqiao, Zhou Qingqing, Li Ni, Yellow Hair, and Xiao Chen were given priority because they bullied and humiliated Xu Sheng! They all died very brutally, while others were killed more mercifully.

And it was for this reason that Xuhan had no fear. She held a gold medal of pardon in her hand. Anyways, she wasn’t scared of anything, but she should act like it really was a survival game for her. Maybe she would be able to go home once everyone was dead!

Gao Xuhan lifted her head towards the rooftop of the first year teaching building. She soundlessly walked back and sat down on a bench not too far from it.

Quite a few of the people around her glanced at her like she was a fool. Obviously, there were only three minutes left until class, but this person was actually sitting here unmoving! Of course, Xu Han noticed what they were doing, but she was still indifferent.

They could keep on laughing. Once Bai Qiaoqiao jumped off the rooftop, she would be able to see a good show. How could she miss it? In the movie, when Bai Qiaoqiao died, her brain matter was smashed out. Xu Han wanted to know if it was true!

Just as she was thinking about this, a figure appeared on the roof.

Bai Qiaoqiao stood at the edge of the rooftop, her expression dull. She spread out her arms and began to lean forward. Suddenly, her pupils refocused. In that moment, her confusion changed into panic! She saw that her shadow did not move with her, but instead transformed into a ghost!

Her eyes widened as her entire body fell down the floors. Who is it? Who is he?

But Bai Qiaoqiao would never know the answer in this lifetime. Because she had already completely lost consciousness!

Bam!

A hole was torn in Bai Qiaoqiao’s body as she hit the pavement. At this time, a girl happened to walk downstairs, and was a mere half a meter away from Bai Qiaoqiao’s body! She was so close that some of Bai Qiaoqiao’s blood splattered onto her face, and a part of the other’s brain matter stuck onto her neck!

“AHHHHHH!”

“AHHHHHH!”

Hell!

It has started, hasn’t it?

T/N: Who’s waiting to see Gao Xuhan suffer? *sends private message to Xu Sheng*

Teru teru bozu: the warabe uta and the story of “Good Weather Monk”

晴天娃娃, a teru teru bozu, which is a small, traditional handmade Japanese doll. They look like ghost dolls, and act as talismans that are supposed to bring good weather and prevent a rainy day. The tradition of teru teru bozu spread to Japan from China during the Heian Period (794-1185) and can be traced back to the custom of a broom-carrying girl. Teru teru bozu dolls became popular in Japan during the Edo period, among the children of urban dwellers. Traditionally, if the wish for clear skies was granted, the doll was rewarded with drawn-on eyes and a dousing of holy sake and then sent down the river to be washed away. A well-known warabe uta (nursery rhyme) written by Kyoson Asahara and composed by Shinpei Nakayama was released in 1921. The lyrics are below:

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu/ Do make tomorrow a sunny day/ Like the sky in a dream sometime/If it’s sunny I’ll give you a golden bell

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu/ Do make tomorrow a sunny day/ If you make my wish come true/ We’ll drink lots of sweet rice wine

Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu/ Do make tomorrow a sunny day/ But if the clouds are crying/ Then I shall snip your head off

A theory for the last part is the story of the “Good Weather Monk”, who was able to bring fine weather with an incantation. However, after promising a feudal lord, the sunshine did not appear and the monk’s head was chopped off as punishment. It’s said the monk’s head was then wrapped in cloth and hung outside to stop the rain and bring out the sun.

A little more specificity on the origins of the idiom Gao Xuhan uses when she says “had no fear”

有恃無恐, which is used to describe the situation when one feels safe because they have a strong backing. It is from the Zuo Zhuan, an ancient Chinese narrative history that is regarded as commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals. This specific idiom is from the section detailing the twenty-sixth year of the state of Xi. It was a vassal state during the Shang and Zhou dynasties and the Spring and Autumn period. Between 680 and 684 BCE, Xi was annexed by the State of Chu.

Teru teru bozu: translator’s apology for the chapter lacking a lot of Xu Sheng + Xiao Chen moments

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