I had seen many corpses before and even witnessed medical examiners dissecting them, but that was always done with protective measures in place, such as wearing sterile gloves and isolation gowns.
But carrying a corpse barehanded and running around with it, I doubted even professionals in the funeral industry could do such a thing.
"Do I really have to carry it?"
"If you feel uncomfortable, you can hold it in your arms, but make sure the body doesn't touch the ground. This area has been tainted by Yuanchen's curse for too long, and it's easy for other changes to occur."
The "other changes" Daoist Wanyi mentioned gave me an ominous feeling. I blinked my dry eyes and said, "In that case, carrying it is probably safer."
Having someone to guide me was better than running around like a headless fly, so I decided to follow Daoist Wanyi's advice.
Sakura and Xiumu were hiding in the distance, too scared to get close, which indicated that the Yuanchen soul-binding talisman on the window wasn't as ineffective as Daoist Wanyi suggested.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I reminded myself that no matter what I saw inside, I had to remain fearless. I wouldn't give up until I achieved my goal.
I tore off the talisman sealing the window and climbed into the low building.
The smaller outer room was where the workers rested, and it was ordinary with no unusual signs.
But just one door away, the room inside was sealed with talismans, and there was a special "No Entry" sign hanging nearby.
"The talisman has been torn off. I can't turn back now." As I entered the inner room, a strong stench hit my nose. Even after five years, the smell had not dissipated but had instead fermented into something even more unbearable due to the sealed environment.
I furrowed my brows, held my breath, and recalled Daoist Wanyi's words: "Only by forging ahead through adversity can you find a glimmer of life in the face of certain death!"
"Let's do this!"
I ripped off the talisman on the door and pushed open the wooden door separating the inner room. The hellish scene, sealed for five years, unfolded before my eyes.
The flames were burning, gasoline poured over the corpses, and resentment gathered, like dark clouds covering the ceiling.
My body was trembling, my teeth chattering. Everything in front of me was too real and too brutal, and even after seeing so many crime scenes, I still felt deeply uncomfortable.
My fingers were spasming, and I didn't know what to do.
When I touched the first piece of charred flesh that resembled a human body, I felt like I had entered a filthy world.
My deduction was correct, but carrying it out was extremely difficult.
"Don't give up, don't be afraid! Find him! Find him!" My human emotions were tortured and tested as I desperately used the last of my sanity to stay awake, forcing myself to search the room like a machine.
I didn't know what Guo Junjie looked like, and the school had no images of him left. But I had one crucial clue.
He had a palm-sized piece of skin missing from his chest, near his heart!
I needed to find a corpse whose left ribcage didn't have skin attached, but during this search, I couldn't show any fear or hesitation.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, and my thoughts were in turmoil. I couldn't tell if I was alive or dead; I just kept repeating the actions with obsessive focus, as if a demonic seed was growing in my heart.
"Found him!"
With my hands blackened, I didn't know how many bodies I had turned over or how much time had passed.
When I reached the corner, a small, well-preserved body caught my eye. It felt almost like destiny.
I dragged the body out, its face burned beyond recognition, nothing identifiable. But as my gaze fell on the chest, one side had charred flesh clinging to the bones, while the other side was bare, with the heart nowhere to be found.
"I found him!"
The moment I placed the body on my back, the entire room shook. The resentment surged, as if something was about to awaken.
The talismans on the walls fluttered without wind, and a few of them even glowed faintly with red light.
The windows rattled. I didn't care about that anymore. Once I confirmed the body wouldn't touch the ground, I took a giant step forward and started walking with the corpse on my back.
With one step, the burning trench behind me erupted in a blast of glass shattering. The talismans turned to ash, clearly ineffective now.
"Wherever the moonlight shines, that's where you need to go. Quickly! To the top of the classroom building!"
I ran as fast as I could. This was a race against time, life and death hanging in the balance.
The Yuanchen Spirit, transformed from Guo Junjie, would soon sense it. When that happened, neither Sakura nor I would stand a chance.
The black smoke was rolling in the trench, and resentment morphed into all sorts of shapes.
I heard Xiumu's screams behind me, but I didn't dare look back. Not a word was spoken as I kept running toward the school building.
"Boom!" A loud crash came from behind. The smoke from the low building rose, and Guo Junjie's transformed Yuanchen Spirit broke free.
"It's over," Xiumu said, his face pale. "We're done for."
"There's still a chance! The body is his only weakness!" I gritted my teeth and finally made it to the school building, climbing up the cracked and broken stairs.
The sinister wind howled behind me, like wolves chasing me. The corpse on my back felt heavier with each step, my legs shaking and my head spinning. It felt like the trapped feeling in a water tank was coming back.
"Hold on!" I bit my tongue hard, the pain helping me stay conscious.
First floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor!
In front of me was the last stretch of stairs leading to the top floor. The final twelve steps would become a race for my life against the ghost.
Step one, two... My legs were as heavy as if filled with lead. I looked back. The lingering resentment had formed a fierce ghost on the floor, its limbs spread out, rapidly closing in on me.
"Ten steps left..." Blood dripped from my lips as I struggled to lift my leg.
Xiumu's voice, off-key, reached my ears. His body was torn apart by the ghost, his remains scattering like snowflakes.
Step one, two, three...
The ghost howled, but then a small figure appeared in front of it. Sakura let out a scream, her face pale as paper, her eyes black as pits.
Tremendous resentment surged from her small body, like a butterfly dripping blood, emerging from a broken cocoon.
The ghost's steps were halted, and the two seemed to be in a standoff.
I didn't know what was happening behind me, but I felt as if I was carrying a mountain on my back.
Step up, fall, step down. My steps grew more sluggish.
Four steps, five... Eight steps, nine!
Only one step left to the top, but Sakura and the ghost were still locked in combat.
"I can do this."
As my foot stepped onto the twelfth step, I exerted all my strength to move forward, but when I looked down, I saw the thirteenth step!
"It's impossible, I counted carefully. I've already passed twelve steps, so why is there one more?!"
I stopped dead in my tracks, feeling as though countless arms were grabbing me. Sweat dripped from my forehead as I stared at the extra step, unsure whether I should take the last step.
The noises downstairs gradually faded, and Sakura, like a doll, was violently thrown far away. Nothing could stop the ghost now.
The resentment shifted, and the black smoke dissipated. The ghost transformed into a skinny boy.
His face was blurred, much like his time at the school—no one paid attention to him, and no one remembered his appearance.
Just one more step...
"The ones who killed me were you. The ones who forced me to die were you. You must pay the price." The boy kept repeating these words, his resentment growing. The corpse on my back seemed to come alive, choking me.
"They were wrong to bully you, but it was you who killed. I'm curious, how much resentment do you hold that you're still killing even after so many lives?" Knowing I was about to die, I stopped struggling.
"You all should die! You deserve it! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" The boy took step after step, and darkness swallowed my vision.
He walked past me but didn't kill me immediately. Instead, he stepped onto the thirteenth step.
At that moment, the way to the rooftop was sealed off, and a pitch-black hole appeared, as if suspended in mid-air.
Looking inside, pale faces in school uniforms were crying. They would be trapped here forever.
"So stepping on the thirteenth step really opens a door to another world..." That was the only thought in my mind as I struggled to breathe, feeling myself tilting toward the hole.
Half of my body was already nearly inside when a familiar, clear voice suddenly echoed from afar: "Gao Jian!"
"Who's calling me?"
Dazed, I opened my eyes, only to see a figure in a red dress, burning like a flame at the end of the night.