Feng Bujue, having finished frightening the others, strode confidently toward the locker.
And since he was holding the flashlight, his teammates naturally had to follow…
This locker, located at the side and rear of the classroom, was embedded in the wall. Its height was clearly designed to suit elementary school students, making it a bit low for adults. Its arrangement… mirrored the students' seating chart.
The top row, from left to right, had the names Yuan, Mitsuyoshi, and Dekomori written on them. The second row was Noguchi, Togashi, and Yamada. And the third row was Watanabe, Sawada, and Suzuki.
“Right… after that information check earlier, the class monitor’s identity should be clear, right?” Feng Bujue said as he walked to the locker. “Out of the nine people in this class, six are present. Of the remaining three… Suzuki was burned to death in Showa 47, and Noguchi disappeared the day after Suzuki was burned. Therefore… the only one who hasn’t appeared, ‘Watanabe,’ is undoubtedly the class monitor.”
“Mm…” Ruoyu echoed after hearing Jue-ge’s words. “Judging from the seating arrangement, it makes sense that the class monitor would sit in the last row.”
“I’m not concerned with who the class monitor is anymore,” Gui Xiao said, staring at Jue-ge with resentful eyes. “I’m only concerned with whether Noguchi’s locker is stuffed with a corpse.”
Clearly, Gui Xiao was deeply frightened by Jue-ge’s words earlier, so he was quite worried about what might be in that locker.
“Heh… heh heh…” Xiao Tan chuckled dryly. “Looking at the size of the locker… it’s impossible to stuff a seven- or eight-year-old elementary school student in there, right?”
“Well, logically, it shouldn’t be possible,” Feng Bujue said, turning his head to look at Xiao Tan. “The dimensions of this locker are about 28*30*33 (centimeters). It’d be tough to fit even an infant in there.” He said with a strange smile, “But… that’s just in general circumstances.”
“Hey! You’re going to say something terrifying again, aren’t you! You’re going to say it, right!” Gui Xiao could already foresee Jue-ge’s intentions.
“No, I’m just talking about a math problem,” Feng Bujue replied. “As far as I know, if an eight-year-old child is crushed into a paste, the volume they occupy can be compressed to about 0.024 cubic meters, and the volume of this locker…”
“0.02772 cubic meters,” Xiao Ling gave a very precise answer almost without thinking.
“Hehe… that’s the way things are,” Feng Bujue replied with a smile.
“What do you mean, that’s the way things are!” Gui Xiao was immediately shocked again. “What do you mean, ‘as far as you know’! How do you know the volume of a child crushed into a paste! Have you crushed one before? After crushing it, did you put it in a container and measure it?”
“No, you’re the one who said that. I didn’t say anything,” Feng Bujue replied, already turning his head away, preparing to open the locker.
“That guilty reaction of yours makes you even more suspicious, damn it!” Seeing Jue-ge’s reaction, Gui Xiao became even more concerned.
But Jue-ge ignored him, simply inserting the key he had found in the podium into the keyhole of the locker with the name “Noguchi” on it.
Zzzzzz—
In this dim environment, the sound of metal scraping against metal as the key entered the lock seemed particularly grating.
The moment the locker was opened, even though the people standing behind him didn’t say anything, their hearts were in their throats. After all, in this atmosphere… apart from Feng Bujue, who feared nothing, the others were more or less afraid.
“Mm…” Feng Bujue murmured as he pulled open the locker door. “Looks like Noguchi isn’t inside.”
“It’s normal for him not to be inside, okay!” Gui Xiao shouted. “Why do you sound a little disappointed?”
“He was just trying to scare you,” An Yueqin said at this time. “With this kind of wooden locker… if you stuffed chopped-up corpses inside, the smell and blood would definitely seep out, and someone would find out that day.”
“Tch… just as I thought!” Gui Xiao heard this and also felt it made sense. He immediately said to Jue-ge, “You… you’re forcibly increasing your teammates’ fear value! Are you trying to lower my fear rating reward?”
“Yes,” Feng Bujue admitted frankly. “That’s what I’m planning. If you’re not happy about it, learn to think more about things… be mentally prepared for any situation, and you won’t be so scared.”
“Hmph… just you wait!” Gui Xiao felt like he had been “taught” a lesson again, which made him very unhappy, but he could only snort coldly and leave a threatening remark.
“Alright, back to the main topic… everyone, take a look at this.” A few seconds later, Feng Bujue took out the contents of Noguchi’s locker and displayed them in front of everyone.
[Name: Suzuki’s Recorder]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Dilapidated]
[Function: Activates the Music Room Mechanism]
[Can Be Brought Out of This Scenario: No]
[Remarks: Only male players can play it.]
“It can’t be taken out, so it must be a main storyline item,” Xiao Tan said after reading it.
“But… this scenario hasn’t given us a main quest yet,” Xiao Ling added.
Just as the two of them were talking, suddenly…
Glug—
A strange noise suddenly rang out, startling the five members of the team.
Especially Gui Xiao, who, startled, instinctively turned on his flashlight.
“Wh… what was that sound?” Xiao Tan also asked anxiously.
“The sound…” Ruoyu replied from the other side. “Seems to be coming from Suzuki’s locker.”
She was right. The source of the sound wasn’t anywhere else, but from that locker.
“Presumably, ‘obtaining the recorder’ triggered some kind of event,” Feng Bujue said. “Hey… Gui Xiao, since you’ve already turned on the flashlight, shine it on what’s behind us, too.” Although Jue-ge didn’t turn his head, he could tell who had turned on the light just by the sound and the angle of the light behind him. “In case that sound was a feint, we’ll be ready.”
“O… okay.” Gui Xiao replied and quickly turned his flashlight to the rear, sweeping it back and forth, monitoring the windows in the corridor and the entire classroom.
“Then… I’ll see what the situation is in Suzuki-kun’s locker.” As Feng Bujue spoke, he reached out toward the locker that was making the noise.
Ka—
As they say, in the nick of time!
Just as Jue-ge’s right hand approached the locker, the locker door opened by itself. Immediately, a pale little hand reached out from inside and grabbed Jue-ge’s wrist.
“Ah—!”
This sudden scene made An Yueqin scream again.
Hearing the scream, Gui Xiao immediately turned his head and saw that extremely creepy scene.
“Ho~ what are you planning to do?” Feng Bujue himself muttered casually and slowly squatted down, bringing his line of sight to the same height as the locker.
After squatting down, Jue-ge raised the flashlight in his left hand and shone it directly into the locker.
The next second, everyone saw a slightly greenish child’s face.
That face… could be said to be nine parts ghost, only one part human. Blood-amber pupils, an abnormal complexion, and a terrifying face were all typical signs of an evil spirit.
“Gah—” When the face was illuminated by the flashlight, it let out a sharp scream and immediately shrank back.
Physically, it shouldn’t have had any room to retreat, but… in this kind of paranormal scenario, it was common for Newton to be given the middle finger and ignored.
In any case, the monster quickly retreated more than thirty centimeters, and the little hand that was grabbing Jue-ge’s wrist also released its grip, shrinking into the space inside the locker along with the face.
But…
At this moment, there was a “smack” sound.
It was seen that… Feng Bujue grabbed back with his right hand, seizing the monster’s wrist instead.
“You think you can run after showing off?” It was hard to tell who the villain was. Feng Bujue adopted the attitude of a bully tormenting a child, throwing out trash talk as he yanked the other party out.
For a time, the kid inside the locker kept wailing, like a wounded animal trying to escape.
“I’m going… what’s going on…” Seeing this scene, Gui Xiao seemed to have snapped a string in his brain. In those few seconds, his fear value dropped to zero because he couldn’t understand what was happening in front of him.
To give an inappropriate example, it was like watching a circus animal training show. Halfway through, the animal trainer suddenly jumped through a ring of fire himself, and the lion he raised rewarded him with a piece of meat and patted his head….
In a sense… this performance was even more impressive than a lion jumping through a ring of fire.
“Little punk~ you think you can beat me in strength?” Before long, Feng Bujue pulled the monster, which should have escaped according to the normal plot, out of the locker, and said a provocative line to the monster, who was about the size of an eight-year-old child.
“Hold this for me.” Then, Jue-ge said another sentence and casually tossed the flashlight to Xiao Tan behind him.
In this way, he could free up both hands to mess with the one he had caught…
“Speak! What’s your name? How did you die? When did you die?” Feng Bujue asked the other party three questions in a row, and added an eight-character policy, “Confess and be lenient, resist and be severely punished!”
“Are you a ghost agent or a party member…” Ruoyu seized the opportunity to mock Jue-ge’s behavior again.
“What ghost agent?” Feng Bujue said. “Someone like me should at least be a judge… no… King Yama!”
“Chah—” The little ghost didn’t care about their mutual mockery. After confirming that struggling was useless, it let out a loud scream with an even more mournful voice.
This scream… was truly ear-splitting. To what extent was it ear-splitting? The players’ survival values were reduced by 5%…
Seeing that he was losing health, how could Feng Bujue tolerate it? He immediately reacted, pushing the little ghost against the locker with his right hand, and using his left hand to forcefully cover the other party’s mouth.
This trick really worked, indeed reducing the ghost’s scream to an intensity that wouldn’t cause people to lose health.
“Xiao Tan, move the flashlight beam away a little, don’t point it directly at it.” After thinking for two seconds, Feng Bujue gave Xiao Tan an instruction.
“Okay…” Xiao Tan wasn’t very scared at this time, mainly because a teammate who was even more terrifying than a ghost had already taken control of the situation. He responded and quickly shifted the flashlight beam slightly, no longer pointing it directly at the monster.
Almost at the same time that the light was moved away, the monster’s scream also subsided and gradually disappeared.
“Alright, I’ll give you one more chance.” Feng Bujue stared directly into the monster’s blood-red eyes and said, “I’ll let you speak now… if you answer my questions properly, after I’m done asking, I’ll consider letting you leave, or helping you find release.” He paused, a savage look flashing across his face. “If you don’t appreciate my kindness and stubbornly resist… I’ll wrap you in a dumpling with that wig on the podium and use some physical methods to combine you with the flashlight, making you a piece of my equipment.”
“Damn?” Hearing these words, Gui Xiao imagined the scene and broke out in goosebumps. “You’re too ruthless, aren’t you? You don’t even spare ghosts? He’s still a kid!”
“Stop nagging, I’m negotiating here,” Feng Bujue impatiently turned his head to glare at Gui Xiao, then looked back at the monster. “You… understand?”
“Umm…” The little ghost actually gave a muffled response.
So, Feng Bujue released his left hand, changing back to using both hands to clamp the other party’s body, holding it against the locker.
This time, the monster, no longer illuminated by the light, seemed calmer and didn’t scream; of course… it couldn’t be ruled out that Jue-ge’s intimidation had worked.
“What’s your name?” Feng Bujue’s question came quickly.
“Noguchi Eiji.”
“You’re a ghost, right?”
“Yes…”
“When and how did you die?”
“I… I can’t remember.”
“Then what do you remember?”
“I…” When asked this question, Noguchi’s expression changed slightly, and a hint of pain appeared on his face. “I remember… that morning, I was the first one in class, the other students hadn’t arrived yet, I… I found that Suzuki’s locker wasn’t locked properly, and I thought… I’d open it and take a look, and… then…”
Noguchi said to this point, as if recalling something particularly terrifying, and his entire face contorted, his gaze also shifting to Suzuki’s locker.
“R… right… I was trapped in the locker.” After hesitating for a moment, Noguchi seemed to remember something. “I… I always wanted to get out. Every time I heard someone approaching the locker, I would grab him or her… I wanted them to pull me out, but… but they… they were all pulled into the locker by me… it’s so dark inside… there are… so many people… they’re all broken… turned into…”
Ka! Ka-ka-ka—
Just as Noguchi was halfway through his words, suddenly, all the lockers on the locker cabinet burst open from the inside, and several arms reached out from each locker.
These arms varied in thickness and size, but all were a ghastly white.
Since Noguchi was already pressed against the locker, the hands seized the opportunity to grab him firmly.
“N… no! Save me!” Noguchi only managed to say these few words before he was torn into pieces of flesh by those dozens of hands and forcibly dragged back into the locker.
Pa-pa-pa-pa…
Immediately afterward, the hands retracted into the lockers at a strange speed, and the doors of the nine lockers… all slammed shut.