Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"There really is someone crying."

The person stood at the door, not stepping inside, but insisting.

Ye Jishu watched as the guy in front of him slowly furrowed his brows.

At the same time, a look of confusion and the instinctive fear that humans feel when faced with something irrational appeared in his eyes.

"Can't you hear it? There's... a girl crying."

But this is a male dormitory.

Because of a past incident involving another department, mixed-gender dormitory arrangements are strictly prohibited. Only male students are permitted to enter and exit the building freely, so it's impossible for a girl to just appear in the hallway out of nowhere.

It's even less likely that someone would be crying.

At the end of the hallway, there is a blue glass window.

Perhaps a student forgot to close the window, and a bone-chilling cold wind swept down the hallway.

While his fearful expression was understandable—

Ye Jishu: "I didn't hear anything."

His face showed no emotion.

But at the same time, it was such a genuine expression, with no hint of deceit.

"..."

A bead of sweat slowly trickled down Bao Zhehan's face, soaking into his shirt collar as his neck pulsed.

That sound... It was so close, too close.

But where was it coming from?

In that moment, scenes from countless horror movies flashed through his mind unbidden.

Like, maybe in the wall right beside him.

Or maybe on his back, only visible if he turned around.

Or even worse, wasn't there a Thai horror movie where something clings to your neck...

Bao Zhehan had heard the horror stories about this dormitory building long ago, about a math student who died in the elevator during the summer and was later found decomposed into a pool of thick, gooey liquid...

To be honest, he wasn't particularly scared of these things, but they just seemed so ominous.

If his family was well-off, why would he need to stay at school?

If it weren't for the fact that going home injured would definitely earn him a scolding from his meddling older brother, and using a credit card to stay at a hotel would surely tip someone off, he wouldn't have spent the night in this rundown dormitory.

A creak—

Suddenly, a noise snapped him out of his thoughts.

It was the sound of the window fluttering.

Bao Zhehan took a step back, his gaze nervously shifted towards the end of the corridor.

The dormitory was the last room down the corridor, and he hadn’t seen anyone standing there before, so who could it be—

The next second.

A girl’s back came into view.

She faced away from him, her shoulders shaking.

It was a clear, suppressed sob.

Hearing the noise he made, she looked up and glanced at him timidly.

She had a delicate appearance.

She looked completely normal.

Tears were spilling from her eyes, her face filled with unspoken sorrow.

“What, it’s just a person.”

“No blood, no three heads or six arms, just a regular girl.”

His pounding heart instantly settled.

“…Haha, I thought something had happened.”

Bao Zhehan forced a laugh: “By the way, you look familiar… Oh, I remember. Aren’t you Chen Heming’s girlfriend? What are you doing here… Oh! Did you come to thank Ye Jishu for helping you? So what are you crying about?”

The wealthy kids at school are a small group.

They stick together.

They share information to protect their interests.

Even though Bao Zhehan wasn’t there during the day, he’d already heard about Chen Heming’s incident. He was more concerned about what Ye Jishu had done—so harsh to him, yet so kind to a rival’s accomplice, huh? The double standard made his blood boil.

“…”

Hearing this, Ye Jishu stopped closing the door.

He turned his head.

He also looked down the corridor.

Indeed, there was a girl with her back to him.

The way she hid her face and hunched her shoulders reminded him of how she’d avoided everyone’s gaze earlier.

Feeling ashamed.

Wishing she hadn’t been seen.

Meanwhile, Bao Zhehan, having been suddenly frightened earlier, was filled with pent-up anger. Not being a particularly patient person, seeing the girl still crying at the end of the corridor, the nameless rage in his heart burned even deeper, wishing he could make her shut up right now.

What the hell is she crying about, making him look bad in front of Ye Jishu again!

The more he dwelled on it, the more unbearable it became.

He caught a glimpse of Ye Jishu out of the corner of his eye, who wasn't even paying attention to him.

Bao Zhehan squeezed his fractured hand, a sharp pain shooting through his flesh. He clenched his teeth and stepped towards the girl, reaching out to grab her shoulder and twist it outward, saying, "I told you, you..."

Her full face came into view.

A moment later.

A scream echoed in his ears.

What was that? Who was making that noise?

All of a sudden.

It dawned on Bao Zhehan.

His vocal cords vibrated, his throat was hoarse and painful—there was only one explanation.

The scream was coming from his own mouth.

His mind lagged behind his body, and only then did he realize what he was seeing.

Because of that face.

That face—

Only the side of her face that was turned toward him was normal; the other side...

Bao Zhehan usually had an egg for breakfast, along with oatmeal and milk.

But the other half of her face resembled a peeled egg—smooth and soft. It lacked any facial features, just the natural curve of the muscles, with no ears on either side, showing off elastic, tough skin that was slightly translucent, revealing slender, bluish-purple blood vessels.

"Please, don't look at me..."

From the small gap, it writhed, letting out a mournful sound.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

Bao Zhehan collapsed heavily to the ground.

Ignoring the searing pain in his fractured hand, he scrambled backward on all fours, elbows digging into the ground.

What is this? What the hell is this?!

Had he lost his mind, or was he just not thinking straight and actually dreaming?!

The corridor lights swayed and flickered incessantly.

The floor seemed to be shaking.

The sound of crying closed in from all sides, leaving him with almost no escape—

"Thud."

Suddenly, Bao Zhehan's backward movement was halted.

He bumped into someone's calf behind him.

In the dim light, the familiar shadow cast before him reminded him that he was not alone—

Yes, yes.

He wasn't alone here.

If he hadn't realized this, Bao Zhehan's sanity was on the verge of snapping.

"Ye Jishu, Ye Jishu, say something!!" he shouted in despair.

Ye Jishu: "What do you want me to say?"

The calmness of the voice choked him.

At the same time, in another scene.

At the corridor's stairwell entrance.

Hearing a scream from above, Lin Lin was startled and quickly looked up toward the top of the stairs.

He had been running frantically the entire way.

Climbing the stairs without a moment to catch his breath, his chest heaved, and he felt a sharp pain in his heart.

Just one more floor. Almost there!

If the elevator hadn't been out of order, he wouldn't have been delayed so long.

This time...

He had to make it.

As he sprinted down the stairs, Lin Lin tightly clutched the pendant in his pocket, feeling the metal dig into his palm, his expression growing resolute: as long as he could stop the Source of Infection once, even if it cost him everything, it would be worth it.

Finally, he reached Ye Jishu's floor.

The scene immediately filled his sweat-soaked vision.

But—

That figure was a woman.

Not the Source of Infection 3301, Chen Heming.

Lin Lin immediately grasped the situation.

The Source of Infection is born from extreme emotions.

Once formed, it has the power to infect and assimilate everything around it.

As the Source of Infection, Chen Heming had likely infected the woman with whom he had the most recent emotional conflict, turning her into a mindless, infected subordinate, driven by him to cause trouble for Ye Jishu.

What a hassle...

The Source of Infection always brings these extra complications.

And the more tragic fact is that once deeply infected by the "source of infection," completely taking over brain consciousness and causing the body to take on non-human, alien forms, this person can never go back to being their old self.

But unlike the "source of infection,"

such foreign entities can be physically eliminated.

The infected subordinate entity before him still has an intact body, roughly estimated to have a contamination level of around 7.

From his perspective, Ye Jishu and the unnamed classmate were at a safe distance from the foreign entity, and none of the figures in the scene were moving.

They were both safe for the moment.

If he acted at the right moment, he could end this quickly.

"Stay still."

Lin Lin said softly.

At the same time, his hand slowly reached behind his jacket.

Hearing his voice, Ye Jishu, who had his back turned, spun around, first gasping in surprise, "Ah," then his expression softened, and he simply said, "What are you doing here?"

"What else is there?"

"..."

Lin Lin froze.

Wait, is this really the time for that?

Another boy leaning against his leg had clearly realized that everything was abnormal. Although he was 1.8 meters tall, he was trembling like a leaf, his eyes wide with terror, stammering incoherently.

But Ye Jishu was giving him a weird look, as if he were some eccentric outsider, making his grip on the gun behind his back loosen slightly. Feeling awkward, he blurted out an explanation.

"I, that—"

Ye Jishu: "...Let's deal with the first thing first."

Before Lin Lin could react, he had already bypassed the person in front of him and walked towards the deeply infected foreign entity.

"It's okay, don't cry," Ye Jishu said, "You'll wake up with puffy eyes tomorrow."

He paused.

"If you're scared of breaking up, I've got your back."

Even though it's a hassle.

But given the situation, anyone would help, right?

The next moment.

In front of him, in front of everyone, the girl crying against the blue glass turned around completely.

Lin Lin held his breath.

But not because he saw something terrifying.

On the contrary, it was because the face was completely normal.

He couldn't be mistaken.

In the depths of her eyes, there was a glimmer of hope, a distinctly human emotion, not the irrationality of something corrupted.

"Is it... possible?" she asked slowly.

If the pen that measured contamination levels was functioning, it would undoubtedly read "0" at this moment.

Ye Jishu: "Hmm."

After speaking, he turned to look at Bao Zhehan, who was still lying on the ground, and Lin Lin, who was rooted to the spot, unable to make sense of it all. In a tone that was difficult to pin down, he said, "Now, about the second thing. What exactly are you two shouting about..."

Lin Lin shuddered.

The person before him, his voice was laced with confusion and even a hint of concealed unease.

This wasn't an act.

Nor was it because he himself was unafraid that he remained so calm.

He was completely in the dark.

The sheer volume of information was overwhelming.

Lin Lin was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness.

It seemed that the other person genuinely didn't see what they were seeing, even though they were experiencing the same event...

As if Ye Jishu was in—

a world that was "completely normal."

And then, to align his perception, the world swiftly corrected these anomalies.