652 Midnight Taxi

 

“Han Fei!” Rapid footsteps came from outside the last classroom. Balls of black scraps were floating through the broken windows. They looked like clouds of black hair. Han Fei knew better than anyone how dangerous it was. When the dead boy moved, he decided to make his decision first.

Company cut through the night. The blade stabbed into the boy’s neck. But to Han Fei’s surprise, the blade met resistance and couldn’t cut through the boy’s neck. A long wound appeared on the neck. Smelly body wax and black blood leaked out. The spine creaked noisily. The ruined face slowly turned to glare at Han Fei!

Han Fei knew what to do. He pulled back his hands that grabbed the pictures and the knife and rapidly retreated. The red threads snapped. The boy’s body creaked noisily. His injured neck was slowly being adjusted back to its place.

The dead boy was moving!

The construct of tables and chairs imploded. Han Fei waved the knife to create a path for himself.

“Go and help him!” Lee Guo Er paid attention to the outside and Han Fei. When Han Fei was in trouble, she jumped to help him without hesitation. Unknown things were coming from outside. Xiao Jia’s legs weakened. Both Han Fei and Lee Guo Er were busy, so this was his perfect chance to escape. He glanced at the classroom backdoor and then at Lee Guo Er and Han Fei. He gritted his teeth and ran to help Han Fei. “Why am I doing this?”

With the aid of his two teammates, Han Fei narrowly escaped before the construct fully collapsed.

“Let’s go!” The construct which had imprisoned the boy crumbled. The red threads snapped. The airborne body finally touched the ground. The sound of bones piercing through skin entered the trio’s ears. The body kept twitching. The child looked fine from the back, but his face and abdomen were burned to a crisp. The wounds were still festering. Black blood flowed inside.

Han Fei was still in the grasp of fear. If he was one second later, he would have ended up under the tables and chairs with the dead boy.

The three grabbed their things and ran to the classroom front door. They were about to open it when they heard something ramming against it from outside. The already damaged door trembled, and the lock fell to the ground.

“There’s something outside!” Xiao Jia screamed.

“Shut up and come with me!” Han Fei didn’t even have time to wipe down the black blood on his blade. He knew he couldn’t be stuck inside the classroom. “Get down the stairs. Ignore everything else and run!”

The tables and chairs couldn’t trap the boy anymore. A pale arm poked out of the collapsed pile. The underside of the arm was severely burnt.

When the last red thread snapped, the temperature in the classroom plummeted. The curtains lifted from the icy wind, and an indescribable stench spread.

The head dangled from the half-chopped neck. The body moved like a spider. He used an impossible creepy angle to move out of the crushed mountain. The bloody holes on his face stared at Han Fei. He was covered in a black mist of resentment.

“Run!” Han Fei kicked the door down. There was no scary ghost outside, only a few dark handprints. Han Fei was very afraid, but he didn’t lose his mind over it.

“Blue White Tuition Center used to be an illegal abortion clinic. Other than the boy, there is a ghost who has killed the boss’ entire family. That ghost is not less scary than the boy.” Han Fei led the way. He didn’t see the thing that was ramming into the door earlier. When he was about to turn the corner at the stairs, he noticed there were children in classes inside the classrooms!

The children sat orderly at their seats. When Han Fei ran past the window, the children all turned to him. The burnt faces locked onto him. Lee Guo Er and Xiao Jia’s hearts almost stopped. However, Han Fei felt a familiar sensation. He used to be seen by many emotionless and cold gazes.

“Someone without stage experience would have panicked being stared at by this many ghosts. However, this doesn’t affect me. Perhaps I was more than a theme park actor in the past. I might have acted in other things too.” When the trio ran into the stairwell, the boy broke free from the red threat. He used an extremely fast speed to chase behind Han Fei. The temperature dropped. As Han Fei raced down the steps, he turned back to look. The boy wasn’t that large, but the negative energy around him was like a cloud. The curse of the classroom stuck to him. Seeing the boy, Han Fei blurted out, “A Lingering Spirit?”

He seemed to be very familiar with Lingering Spirits. When he saw the boy, he already knew what to do. Han Fei still had no idea what a Lingering Spirit was. He knew it was stronger than the victims trapped inside the taxi. “They are not on the same level. But the clown is on an even higher level.”

The burned building couldn’t support the dead boy. The places he climbed cracked. The children inside the classrooms panicked when they saw the boy.

“It’s catching up! Why is it faster than living humans?” Xiao Jia was at the back of the group. He had the worst stamina. He held the wooden stick with one hand and his wig with another. It was a matter of time until he was captured.

“Take my backpack! I’ll stay to buy time for the two of you to escape!” Han Fei swiped the pictures of the victim and cut the boy, so the boy’s focus was mainly on Han Fei. Han Fei stopped at the 3rd floor. He had Lee Guo Er and Xiao Jia continue to run down the stairs while he ran into the 3rd-floor corridor. The boy didn’t hesitate and chase after Han Fei. The boy and Han Fei slipped through the building. The distance between them closed!

“I’ll be caught up eventually!” Han Fei didn’t expect the boy to be so fast. To make matters worse, the monster could absorb the lingering Yin energy inside the building. The curse on his skin clarified, and he began to make human-like expressions. The charred face grinned at Han Fei.

“This is the 3rd floor. I wouldn’t die jumping from this height. I remember there’s a large tree on the northern end of the garden. It should be fine if I can jump on the tree.” Han Fei had come up with the escape route early. He simulated it in his mind and believed it could work. Han Fei’s eyes stared at the window at the end of the corridor. He gritted his teeth and ran as fast as he could. In his desperation, his speed picked up. It felt like his potential was triggered again. “I seem to be good at running.”

Han Fei held his breath and locked onto the charred window. When he was close enough, he leaped and used his own weight to jump towards the window. He used his arms to cover his head. Han Fei slammed into the glass!

After a loud crash, Han Fei fell backward and rolled down the stairs. The window looked like it was fragile, but when Han Fei really came into contact with it, he realized the window was very durable. It had the extra protection of black human skin. Whenever a living person got close, the human skin would surface with a strange black pattern.

“Is the whole building cursed?” During the fire, many people were forced to jump out the window. The tree outside became everyone’s hope. The window didn’t stop them but the victims stopped each other. Everyone wanted to go first. In the end, no one got to go out the window. When Han Fei fell, he glanced at the window. The normal window swirled with intense hatred. There were burnt hands hidden inside the window’s shadow, refusing to let anyone escape. “Human sin is scary.”

Han Fei tried to roll to the second floor, but when he climbed up, the boy was already above him. Han Fei looked up, and his pupils constricted. The boy was on the 3rd floor. He was very close. However, Han Fei looked up further, and there was another ‘body’ standing between the 6th and 7th floors.

She was wearing a blue dress. There was something written in her eyes. She stood on the banister on her tip-toes, and her neck was caved in.

“Blue dress and white hat? This woman seems to be the gardener here.” The woman appeared to be hanging in the stairwell. She was expressionless. Many bloody children's handprints were gathered on the hem of her skirts. They gathered to form the picture of a giant butterfly.

“Butterfly?” As if sensing Han Fei’s eyes, the woman’s eyes turned. Before Han Fei could react, the woman took one step forward and fell. One boy was hard enough to deal with, and now there was another. Han Fei’s heart was pumping so hard. He raced down the stairs.

He couldn’t care what floor he was on. He knew that if he didn’t escape soon, he’d end up worse than death!

The 2nd-floor window was heavily damaged. Many windows didn’t have a protective rail. Han Fei didn’t even turn back to look. He didn’t dare waste a second. This time, he had become clever. Instead of using his arms, he used the knife. He would cut anyone who dared to stop him. Han Fei leaped through the window, and many burnt arms reached out from the shadows. They planned to drag him back.

Han Fei was prepared. He waved the knife around and managed to jump out. The wind flew through him. Han Fei tried to adjust his body to prepare for the fall. However, at that moment, something scary happened. The boy had jumped out with him!

“What is this?!” Han Fei landed in the sea of white and blue flowers. He rolled to cushion the fall. Ignoring the damage, he climbed up and ran. Blue and white flower petals stuck to Han Fei’s clothes. He resisted the pain and ran when he heard the strange crawling sound behind him.

“Han Fei!” Lee Guo Er was already inside the car. She drove over to fetch Han Fei. “Get in!” The boy didn’t give up the chase. Lee Guo Er didn’t dare to stop. She did a drive-up. Xiao Jia opened the car door and waved at Han Fei. His hope to escape was just in front. Han Fei’s potential exploded. When the boy was only a meter away from him, he jumped into the taxi.

The door closed. Han Fei collapsed weakly. It was too dangerous. He didn’t think he’d escape.

“Lee Guo Er, drive! The boy is still after us!”

The boy’s charred face stuck to the taxi window. When it tried to crawl into the car, several pale arms reached out from the roof to swat it away. The taxi accelerated. The boy gave chase.

“Why is it chasing after us?” Xiao Jia lost his wig. With his balding head, he asked, “Is it because we took something from it? I saw from movies that they would only stop chasing you once you return the thing to them.”

“It’s not that serious. I suspect he’s doing this because I almost decapitated him.” Han Fei didn’t continue this topic. He took out the nine pictures he found inside the classroom and pasted them on the rooftop.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Han Fei stared at the pictures. Soon, something shocking happened. The electric clock inside the car suddenly stopped ticking. The struggling people inside the pictures returned to normal. Human faces appeared on the roof. Different from before, the human faces were no longer in pain. They even smiled appreciatively at Han Fei.

“Player 00…” The voice suddenly rang. Han Fei was spooked. He turned around and heard nothing else.

“I can’t feel their malice anymore. This car is now officially ours. The nine victims have accepted us!” Han Fei was happy. He was sure that his choice was not wrong and time would prove everything.