Outside the teaching building was the school's sports ground.
The huge sports ground was dark as the lights were off, but it was still much better than inside the teaching building.
After all, the darkness in the teaching building was so thick it almost seemed like it could swallow people up. Although it was dark here, people could still see the things around them clearly.
The fear in the hearts of the students who had run to this place gradually calmed down a little.
Almost all of them felt weak and limp. They sat on the ground and panted, almost unable to stand up.
It wasn't that they were physically weak. It was that they had been trapped in the teaching building for too long, in addition to the extreme fear they were subject to and the frantic running, they were instantly exhausted the moment they relaxed.
"It scared, scared me to death. It was too terrifying just now. At such a close distance, the baby was almost in front of me. It was lying on Wang Shanshan's shoulder and looking at me... ... I don't even know when that baby crawled over," A male student's voice was still trembling.
"It must be a ghost. That baby must be a ghost. There are ghosts everywhere. There are ghosts everywhere. We're dead. We're dead..." Another female student's face was pale. At this moment, she was already somewhat delirious.
"Wait, Wang Shanshan was caught by that ghost, but why is Yang Jian missing too?" Suddenly, Miao Xiaoshan asked.
She was Yang Jian's deskmate. They had known each other since middle school, so she had been paying more attention to Yang Jian than the others.
Zhang Wei glanced around, and sure enough, he didn't see Yang Jian.
He couldn't help but touch the corner of his eyes. "To think Yang Jian died to save us. I won't forget him. I'll pay my respects and send my gratitude to him during the relevant festivities. If his family is planning on holding a funeral, I'll donate more money so that he can leave gloriously. After all, he was a decent person when he was alive. Miao Xiaoshan, don't be sad. A dead person can't be resurrected. You guys rest here for a while, and I'll go back and see if Yang Jian is really dead. If he is, we have to discuss how to escape."
As he said this, Zhang Wei clenched his jaw and planned to go back and check on the situation.
"Zhang Wei, based on what you said, I can be sure that our friendship is made of plastic. If you encounter any danger next time, I definitely won't save you. I'll just let you fend for yourself," Suddenly, Yang Jian's voice sounded from behind.
They turned only to see him walking over while supporting Wang Shanshan.
"Yang Jian, you're fine. That's great," Miao Xiaoshan said with some joy.
When the others saw that both Wang Shanshan and Yang Jian were fine, their eyes lit up. This was the only good news that day.
From the beginning till now, too many of their classmates had died.
"I was lucky and managed to survive," Yang Jian nodded and said.
Zhang Wei said a little excitedly, "Yang Jian, I knew that you would be fine. I was just casually saying that just now. Please don't take it to heart and do save me in the future. In this lifetime, I'll be counting on you to survive."
"I'm not interested in men. I only save beautiful women since they can at least give themselves to me. At the very least, they can even help me with my homework in the future. What's the use of saving a man? Playing gay?" Yang Jian said.
Wang Shanshan blushed when she heard this, and her eyes revealed a hint of embarrassment.
"Don't be so heartless. I've given you all my resources and I didn't hide anything at all. We're friends, it's a given we should take care of each other. After all, we've been through thick and thin together," Zhang Wei said, "Wait, something's not right. How did you and Wang Shanshan escape from that situation just now?"
His expression changed suddenly as he looked at Yang Jian warily.
"I simply sent the baby flying with one punch and ran out with Wang Shanshan. How else do you think I got out?" Yang Jian said.
Zhang Wei Yi said seriously, "Bro, that teacher building is haunted. I can believe that Wu Song beat up a tiger, but you're saying that you dare to beat up a ghost? Bullshit. Right now, I suspect that you're not Yang Jian at all. It's very likely that you're a ghost posing as Yang Jian, and you're planning to sneak in between us and kill us all. That's how the story goes in the movies."
As soon as he said that, the people who were still in shock looked at Yang Jian with fear on their faces as if he was really a ghost.
"Can't you be a little more normal? Time and time again, you keep suspecting that person is a ghost, and this person is a ghost. If you did encounter a ghost, you would have died a long time ago. How would you still have the time to stand here and talk?" Yang Jian said, then asked, "My phone is out of battery. Who knows what time it is?"
"My watch seems to be broken. It reads four o'clock in the morning," Miao Xiaoshan looked at the cartoon watch on her wrist and said in surprise.
"Eh, it's five minutes past four in the morning on my phone too. I clearly saw that it was only half-past eight just now."
"When did so much time pass?"
Everyone realized that the time was not right.
Yang Jian turned his head to look at the teaching building in the distance that was shrouded in darkness, then said, "It doesn't matter what time it is. I'm just wondering why there isn't any reaction from the outside after such a big incident happened here."
"Yeah, I did report the matter to the police earlier."
"I even called my mom."
"It's so quiet around here. There should've already been the sounds of cars outside the school at this time, but now I can't even see any car lights."
Yang Jian raised his head and looked at the sky.
It was dark as if it was covered by a layer of haze. There was no moonlight or starlight, which simply didn't make sense.
"Yang Jian, what's going on?" Zhang Wei could also feel that something was wrong, and fear surged into his heart again.
"What else can be going on... We've always been in the ghost realm," Yang Jian's face turned solemn as he said in a deep voice, "And we haven't left the place since the beginning. The area of the ghost realm is not just the teaching building, even the sports ground is within it. On top of that, the area might be even larger than this. It's just that the teaching building should have been the center of the ghost realm before, and now it's slightly at the edge, or... The ghost is moving, and the area of the ghost realm is changing according to the position of the old man. However, we're not seeing the old man's figure anywhere around us, so we're not affected much. That being said, I feel that the ghost realm is a special enclosed space. No matter the central area or the edges, no matter how much we're affected, the difficulty of getting out is the same. Besides, distance doesn't seem to be the key to escape from the ghost realm. In other words, we are now trapped, just like birds in a cage. The cage is moving, so the birds inside can only be forced to follow its movements. It's just that we can't detect this kind of movement."
"Then, then what should we do now?" Wang Shanshan, who was at the side, said with a trembling voice. She grasped tightly onto Yang Jian's arm and couldn't help but lean against him as if she was already regarding him as her savior.
She didn't want to experience what had just happened at the stairwell again for the rest of her life.
The others also looked at Yang Jian with fear and hope, hoping that he could think of a good way to leave this damned place completely.
Yang Jian didn't say anything and simply touched the closed eyes on the back of his hand.
There was only one way to leave this place, and that was to continue to use the ghost power.
However, Zhou Zheng had also said that every time one used the ghost power, the malicious ghost in one's body would revive a little bit, and one wouldn't be far from death. It was worse than eating poison.
"No wonder Zhou Zheng had said in his last moments that he became a ghost rider not only for others but also for himself. Because sometimes, when faced with a malicious ghost, not only does one have to save others, but one also has to save onself," Yang Jian thought to himself, "But before that, I have one thing to figure out, and also some personal grudges to settle. Otherwise, I won't be able to rest in peace even if I died."
After making up his mind, Yang Jian said, "Which one of you has Fang Jing's phone number on your phone? Lend your pone to me. If I'm not wrong, he should still be trapped here like us."