Resurgence of the Unknown

Chapter 16: The Answered Call

Yang Jian lowered the phone, casting a wary and fearful glance back at the small grove behind him. The old man was truly terrifying. No matter how many times he encountered him, even from a distance, the sight filled Yang Jian with dread, sending chills down his spine.

"Is Fang Jing dead?" Yang Jian's eyes narrowed as he thought, "The most important thing now is to get out of the ghost domain, to distance ourselves from that old man. If he catches up with us again, we're all doomed—whether it's Zhang Wei, Wang Shanshan, or me, the outcome will be the same."

What good is being a ghost handler if you end up like Zhou Zheng, who died from a ghost's revival after using its power too many times? Zhou Zheng's death was certainly because this old man was even more terrifying than the ghost infant. The ghost infant couldn't suppress the old man, which eventually led to Zhou Zheng's demise.

Before long, Zhang Wei noticed Yang Jian returning and breathed a small sigh of relief. "Yang Jian, where did you go? Did you find Fang Jing? The whole school is crawling with ghosts, and you're the only one brave enough to run around. I don't even dare move my feet."

"I managed to call Fang Jing, but as I suspected, he seems to have run into a ghost," Yang Jian said. "And I saw that old man who was knocking on the classroom door earlier—he's over there. We need to leave this place immediately. If we stay any longer, I don't know how many more will die."

As he spoke, the others fell silent, their faces etched with fear and dread.

They realized that, in just a few hours, since the ghost incidents began in the classroom, they had been fleeing non-stop. But out of a class of over forty students, including the teacher, only a handful remained alive.

The others had all disappeared.

And everyone knew what it meant to disappear in a haunted building—it meant death. This wasn't a dream, nor a horror movie; it was a real haunting where people died.

"Yang Jian, thank you for leading us out. Without you, we would've met a grim fate," someone said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, thanks. And I'm sorry for what happened earlier. When Fang Jing pushed you into the bathroom, we didn't stop him. We didn't realize until later what a monster he was. He left behind Zhao Qiang, left behind Wang Gang... even left the girls to fend off the ghosts..."

"That guy's a total scumbag."

A few of the students who had been with Fang Jing spoke up, cursing him while also expressing their gratitude and apologies to Yang Jian.

There were four of them—students who had been with Fang Jing, whom Yang Jian had saved from the grove. He believed Fang Jing deserved to die, but not the others. Seeing them there, he had felt it was only right to help them out. After all, they were classmates; there was no need to be so cold-blooded.

"Thanking me is premature. We're still in this school, still trapped in the ghost domain. Whether we can make it out alive is still uncertain," Yang Jian said, shaking his head.

"Although you're all exhausted, this isn't the time to rest. I don't fully understand the ghost domain, but we need to keep trying. Let's see if we can leave the school."

With Yang Jian now the group's anchor, the others quickly got to their feet, despite their weariness.

"One, two, three, four... We started with over forty people, and now there are only 13 of us left. That's a survival rate of just 30%. God knows how many more will die. If I had known this, I would've called in sick today. Who knew coming to school would be a matter of life and death?" Zhang Wei muttered, his frustration evident.