Hell App

In the darkness, despite Bai Yan not being able to see anything, his eyes remained wide open.

The instant he opened his eyes, the familiar stabbing pain flowed out, following viscous liquid from his eyes, causing his heart to make a conjecture.

He vaguely remembered as he was staring at the screen earlier, Ning Xiuli’s mouth didn’t stop opening. She incessantly talked about Li Hua’s story, but Li Hua didn’t come out until later.

However, when he couldn’t bear the stabbing pain anymore, just when he moved his line of sight away, Ning Xiuli changed the topic before Li Hua came out of the screen.

All of this was as though it was caused by his eyes.

At this moment, his back was pasted against the glass window full of gloomy ghostly faces. In front of him, there was Li Hua, who had just jumped out of the textbook pages, wanting to seek new material to pad the textbook.

Bai Yan was uncertain about this ability. He didn’t have any other choice now but to keep trying in this desperate situation.

As a result, Bai Yan opened his eyes as wide as he could, unblinking, no matter how much bloody tears streamed down his chin and landed on his collar.

“Mknj——”

Mbl aykd rswakdt swvpkel vbl okdeso eked’v pvsr.

Jyk Zyd eked’v jdso oblvbla vbknj czsse oyp yzps xkmle yzsdt okvb vbl qyzzkdt czynj aykd swvpkel vbl okdeso, cwv okvb vbl lmnlppkhl czsse zspp bl bye pwqqlale, bkp blye oyp qllzkdt qykdv.

Tsolhla, Nk Twy oyp pvkzz pvydekdt clqsal bkx.

Ekvb snnypksdyz qzypblp sq zktbvdkdt, Jyk Zyd nswze pll Nk Twy’p qynl qasx vkxl vs vkxl.

Mbl yrrasynbkdt qktwal, Nk Twy, bye clnsxl y alyz ‘rlapsd,’ cwv kv oyp yp vbkd yp y rklnl sq ryrla yp kq y twpv sq okde nswze czso kv yoyu.

Rd yeekvksd, Nk Twy’p qynl zssjle lmynvzu vbl pyxl yp vbl nyavssd eayokdt alqlaldnl. Rd vbl cssj, vbkp qynl nswze xyjl y rlapsd qllz nsxknyzzu yxwple, cwv kd alyzkvu, vbkp qynl oyp dsv pbsav sq pvaydtl… Ohld obld nsxryale vs y elye rlapsd kd vbl alyz osaze, vbyv nyavssdkpb qynl oswze xyjl y rlapsd vokpv kd bsaasa xsal.

For who knew how long, when the bloody tears had stained his collarbone and reached his clothes, Bai Yan felt his breath lighten, the suffocating sensation that pressed him to the point where he could barely breathe slowly disappeared.

Li Hua finally departed.

Bai Yan leaned on the glass without any sudden movements. He still recalled that there was a hoard of ghostly faces from outside the window that was looking at him maliciously.

However, he felt that his entire body’s blood was running dry, feeling a bit loopy and unbalanced.

During this situation, he was unable to take a step. He had this premonition that if he freed himself from the window’s support, he would immediately fall to the ground.

…

Li Hua let him go.

But, the sounds of turning pages continued.

Bai Yan leaned on the window, his hands were still placed on the glass, and the palms of his hands could feel the slight movement from the surface. It could be from the falling raindrops that hit the window, but it was more likely the ghosts gnawing on the glass.

Bai Yan didn’t have the time to care about the glass that was shaking more violently by the second. In fact, he was even thinking of turning his head to face the ghosts and to glare at them.

He could only groan in a low voice as he listened to the ear-piercing page-turning flooshes around him.

Soon, the page-turning noises stopped once again.

Bai Yan’s head was foggy, barely able to identify from the small shrieks. This voice, it seemed to be the girl who actively participated in class.

“Teacher! I don’t want to be friends with…”

“Smelly thing, let go of me quick! Let go of me!”

“Save… Save me…”

The girl’s cries tapered off. In the middle of the darkness, her screams and wails slowly faded away, completely disappearing in the end.

When the girl utterly didn’t make a sound anymore, the dark clouds outside the windows were swept clean. The sky’s inconceivable strangeness quickly cleared up.

The lights on the corridor became bright, and the classroom was once again illuminated.

In the bright classroom, all the desks were in complete disarray, the kids curling up below them like little hedgehogs.

At this time, Bai Yan regained a bit of his strength, reluctantly sweeping a glance around him. The glass behind him was bumpy, already sporting some small cracks. Perhaps after a few more minutes, the glass would have shattered and the ghostly faces outside the window would have been able to seep through the cracks and into the classroom.

Fortunately, the sky had cleared up, and these ghostly faces, together with this dark rain, left no traces inside the campus.

Only the trees were corroded by the dark rain and the gnaws from the ruined glass were the only remnants of that event.

The sky was bright and clear.

Li Hua and the crying girl had disappeared together from the classroom.

Li Hua had already found a friend, so the remaining people should already be safe.

However, the kids inside the classroom didn’t let their guard down.

They cautiously crawled out under their desks. Some were still stifling their cries, while the majority were standing in front of their seats. All of them unanimously looked at their open textbook, their eyes exposed a type of dread that stemmed from the bottom of their hearts——

In the textbooks, Li Hua was still smiling, happy as ever.

However, his whole body was drenched with a thick layer of red blood. The originally clean-looking picture transformed into a bloody mess.

Li Hua, this smoothly drawn cartoon character, impressively the child protagonist, turned into a horror manga with a terrifying ghost.

But, it wasn’t Li Hua’s bloody face that the students were frightened of.

They all fixed their gazes at the four figures beside Li Hua. Originally, the drawing only showed three silhouettes, their faces all hung stiff, unlively smiles.

Now, there were four gray ‘people.’

The girl who actively recited, her face hung with a stiff smile as well, while her face was drenched with tears. She was also standing beside Li Hua’s family, with Li Hua at the center, being there just like a dead man trapped inside a book.

“Ummm… Xuanxuan… Xuanxuan, she’s in the book! Xuanxuan, she was eaten by the book!”

“Teacher! I don’t want to study the new textbook, I want to copy down words!”

The girl’s drawing style and the choice of ash gray color were entirely different, looking a little funny, but this strange disharmony wouldn’t make any kid smile.

Bai Yan gazed at the nearest book and also saw the little girl’s unique drawing style, wanting to laugh, contrary to what everyone would do. However, as the corners of his mouth twitched, he took a stumble, nearly paralyzed to the ground.

He focused on his breathing, slowly shifting from the windows and walking to the farthest table to sit.

Bai Yan’s seat was naturally not there. The original owner of the seat was currently standing in front of the desk, dumbfoundedly staring at the book with the girl on it, his eyes filled with tears.

The bowl-cut-headed boy stood there, unmoving. Bai Yan didn’t mind him, and neither did he call him out. He simply rested his head on the table, turning to into liquid like a cat, not moving an inch.

A few minutes later, the afternoon bell rang.

Ning Xiuli abandoned the scared witless children and carried her textbook, minding her own business as she walked out of the classroom.

The children stayed behind the room, blankly feeling helpless. They looked at the textbooks from time to time, feeling more afraid the more they saw them.

Some impulsive kids couldn’t bear it and tore their textbooks to shreds. But, the large majority of the kids were still traumatized and didn’t dare touch their books, only closing the textbooks and gluing the ‘Happy Zoo’ story shut. What the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.

…

It was soon noon, and Bai Yan was woken up by the fragrant aroma of food.

He opened his eyes to find the students around him were eating their lunches. Moreover, Ning Xiuli was nowhere in sight.

Around this time, he had regained a bit of his strength and got up, receiving his lunchbox at his own snail’s pace.

He opened the lunchbox, astonished to discover that the contents didn’t have any sand and hair, nor were there any bugs or other gross items, looking delicious overall.

Seeing his surrounding classmates eating happily, he also began to dig in.

While eating, he overheard a classmate discuss in a low voice.

The head cook working in the kitchen was most likely killed.

However, the number of people working in the kitchen didn’t decrease. It was said that after the head cook died, he came back the next day as if nothing had happened.

T/N: Heads up! I am going to take a hiatus this coming January 2023. This is a gentle reminder to cancel your subscription before the month ends. Happy Holidays <>