Chapter 7: Ghost Wall

“Then what should I do?
Xiao Qing, you have to help me!” My heart sank significantly.
If that ghostly thing came again, besides the jade pendant, I had no means of survival.

“I, I’ll do my best.
Since I’m here, I won’t abandon you.
After all, we’re childhood sweethearts, aren’t we?” Ou Zhiqin sighed.

I remembered how she had advised me not to meet Xia Yubing, saying that a senior student had told her through divination that she would be drawn into danger by someone close to her.
Now it seemed the “someone close” naturally referred to me, but the focus of the divination wasn’t on the close person, but on Xiao Qing herself; she would encounter danger because of me.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have ignored your advice, and now I’ve dragged you into this too.” I lowered my head and apologized, but Xiao Qing was indeed my only lifeline now.

“Talking so much now is useless.
Let’s first figure out how to get out of school.
Listen carefully: no matter what happens in a moment, don’t scream or look, and don’t run quickly.
Pretend you haven’t seen anything and follow me.” Ou Zhiqin took the lead, guiding me down the stairs.

A long trail of blood was still left on the stairwell.
That must have been left by the Painted Skin Ghost when it fled.
I had no idea how the school would react when they saw such a long bloodstain tomorrow.

“Light footsteps.
It’s fine.
I didn’t encounter anything when I came up.
As long as we follow what’s written in the books, it should be alright.” Ou Zhiqin murmured, seemingly more to herself for self-reassurance than to me.

I noticed her thigh and arm muscles were tense.
If my reaction was post-attack fear, hers was extreme nervousness, even more so than mine.
Was the school really that terrifying?
But I could indeed feel it; by night, the teaching building had grown even more eerie.
There wasn’t a single ray of light, and we walked slowly through the pitch-black building.
I felt goosebumps rising.

“Xiao Qing, why aren’t we turning on the lights?
Wouldn’t it be better to use our phones to light the way, so we don’t misstep?” I asked tentatively.

“No, absolutely don’t turn on the lights.
That will attract dirty things.
And keep your voice down; don’t let it carry.” Ou Zhiqin lowered her voice significantly.

“Dirty things…” I shivered.
If Xiao Qing had told me this in the morning, I would have flat-out disbelieved her, but after the Painted Skin Ghost attack, I couldn’t help but believe it.
Now Xiao Qing was the expert in this area.
I could only completely follow her instructions, holding her hand, lowering my footsteps, and moving forward one step at a time.

However, after we had walked for about ten minutes, we still hadn’t finished the stairs.
Just as doubt began to rise in my heart, Xiao Qing suddenly stopped.
“No, we’ve hit a ghost labyrinth.”

“Ghost labyrinth?
Are you saying, the kind where people continuously loop on a certain path and can never get out?” Although I didn’t believe in such things before, I had heard of the famous ghost labyrinth.

“Yes, that’s it.
We had already descended to the fourth floor, and after descending another flight of stairs, we’re still on the fourth floor.” Ou Zhiqin pulled out a ballpoint pen and casually drew a simple mark on the wall, then pulled me to continue downstairs.

This time, after I deliberately observed carefully, I indeed found that the stairwell sign read “Fourth Floor.”
When we turned, the symbol Xiao Qing had just drawn was prominently on the wall of the next floor down.
Furthermore, I also felt a chilling aura in this stairwell, an aura that made my skin prickle with an icy coldness, a completely different sensation from being buffeted by the cold wind on the rooftop.

“Now, what do we do now?
Can’t we get out?
How can something like a ghost labyrinth appear in a school?” My voice was choked with tears as I spoke, completely lost and helpless, having been entirely drawn into the unknown.

“Don’t rush, don’t panic.
A ghost labyrinth is a natural phenomenon; it only traps people, it doesn’t harm them.
Some people used to be trapped by ghost labyrinths for two or three days before being rescued, and other than mental instability and physical weakness, nothing happened to them.
The first rule is not to panic.” Xiao Qing was both comforting me and calming herself down.

“Huh?
A natural phenomenon?
You call a ghost labyrinth a natural phenomenon?
This is clearly a supernatural event, isn’t it?” I asked, finding it hard to comprehend.

“At least in the classification of the occult world, ghost labyrinths are indeed natural phenomena, and they’re among the less harmful types.
As long as it’s not the work of evil people or malevolent spirits, it’s naturally occurring.” Ou Zhiqin said, spreading her hands.

I have to say, the atmosphere with two people was different from being alone.
Although we were still very nervous, at least we weren’t as scared, even when caught in the ghost labyrinth.

“Then why have I never encountered one before, and precisely tonight I run into a ghost labyrinth?” I was completely baffled.
Not just the ghost labyrinth; for sixteen years, since I was a child, I had never seen a ghost.
At most, I had seen supernatural events mentioned on websites or in magazines.
Yet, precisely today, I’ve run into two incidents, and I’m a participant in both.

“It’s probably because you stole the Painted Skin Ghost’s skin, forcing it to reveal its true form.
When it fled, it left behind an ominous aura, causing a shift in the school’s energy field which triggered the ghost labyrinth.
Moreover, ghost labyrinths don’t appear in crowded places; too much ‘yang’ energy prevents them from forming.
This ghost labyrinth here will dissipate by dawn tomorrow.” Ou Zhiqin said, pointing to the stairs.

The Painted Skin Ghost’s foul blood, spilled on the stairs during its escape, formed a long, continuous bloodstain.
It was precisely because we had been following the bloodstain earlier that we hadn’t realized we were looping between two floors.
Furthermore, I also noticed that an eerie and inauspicious aura continuously emanated from the bloodstain, very similar to the cold aura lingering in the stairwell.
A bit of this black aura was also on our clothes.
Perhaps this was the cause of the ghost labyrinth?

“Now the problem is, how do we get out of the school?
We’re not really going to be trapped here all night, are we?” I asked.
I’d go crazy if I had to spend a night in such a terrifying environment.

“Of course not.
A ghost labyrinth won’t harm people, but that Painted Skin Ghost is still out there.
We don’t know how long it will take for it to recover, but if it comes looking for us while we’re still trapped in the ghost labyrinth, we’re done for.” Ou Zhiqin said.

“The simplest way to break a ghost labyrinth is to sprinkle rooster blood or black dog blood at the looping point, but I came in a hurry and didn’t bring any.
So, we’ll have to find a way to go around.
As long as you don’t follow the looping direction, you can still get out of a ghost labyrinth.”

“Go around?
Not follow the looping direction?
How about we go upstairs?” My first thought was to go in the opposite direction.

“No!
Absolutely do not go upstairs.
I’ve read the senior students’ notes in the Supernatural Events Department; it’s crucial never to go upstairs when encountering a supernatural event at school.
If you do that, it’s over.” Ou Zhiqin immediately rejected my suggestion.