The woman flashed across the camera at the 4th floor of the office building. She appeared to be heading somewhere else. The light from the computer screen lit up Han Fei’s face, making it look paler than usual. ‘The woman first appeared at the 4 floor of the office building and the surveillance tape was from the camera at the 4th floor office as well. That can’t be a coincidence. Why is she wandering there? Is she a former staff member here? Or she’s a student looking for a teacher?’ Many questions floated up in his mind as Han Fei stared at the screens.
The black and white surveillance screen appeared to capture a different world, framing the horror inside the school at night. About 10 seconds later, the woman once again appeared on the computer screen. This time, she was on the 3rd floor!
Drenched in blood, she shuffled past the camera. She seemed to float on air. ‘The woman’s body is covered in blood but I see no visible wounds. However, her hair is heavily matted, perhaps that has hidden the fatal wound. She is quite maturely dressed, she should be one of the teachers here.’ Han Fei tried his best to place that ruined face. It was not a pretty picture but Han Fei went over the smallest detail in his mind. ‘Her face was too dirty and scarred to tell who she is. But one thing’s for sure, she must have been through hell before she died.’
Han Fei turned back to the ‘death’ tape in the hope of gaining more information. Furthermore, the mission required that he kept his eyes constantly on the video. ‘The banister at the staircase is about 1.2 metres tall. In comparison to the height of the banister, she should be about 2 metres tall…’ While Han Fei made these observations, the woman flashed down the corridor and moved from the office building to the education block. There was a camera that sat at the corridor which connected the two buildings. When the woman strode past, she stopped to look right at the camera. Her head slightly tilted and through the curtain of hair, a pair of red eyes leered out.
‘She knows I’m looking at her!’ Inside the small security office, chill crawled up Han Fei’s spine. The woman was coming towards him!
Via her movements through the surveillance screens, Han Fei knew she was getting closer and closer. The feeling of impending doom grasped at the man’s heart. ‘She has already entered the education block, it won’t take long for her to get here in person.’
The chill from the landlord’s ring had not abated. There was still something else loitering outside the security room. ‘If I leave this room, I’ll fail the mission and I might need to face 2 threats at once. In that case, I might as well stay in here and get the hidden mission over and done with first.’
Han Fei was like a man dancing on the tip of the knife. He knew escape was not an option so he might as well take a bet and stay. Taking a deep breath, Han Fei returned his attention to the surveillance screen. Time appeared to have slowed down. This was a veritable torment for Han Fei. Forcing his eyes to stay on the screen, at the 25th minute, Han Fei finally saw the woman appear on the 1st floor of the education block!
She walked out from the stairwell and with her head lowered, made her way towards the security room which was at the end of the corridor. Her matted hair swung behind her. Dark red footprints surfaced in her wake. Her reflection was conspicuously missing from the windows. Han Fei’s eyes were fully drawn to the computer screen, he knew that there was less than 10 metres between himself and the woman. When the woman disappeared from the screen, there came an immediate knock on the security room door!
There was no lapse in time at all. The sudden knocking caused Han Fei’s whole body to tense. He did not dare to make any noise as he kept his eyes on the tape. The mission was about to be over soon!
A very strange smell permeated the air. It was not particularly smelly but inhaling it caused Han Fei’s stomach to twist. It was like the smell of stale meat. ‘Where did the smell come from?’
With cold sweat pouring down his forehead, Han Fei held on with sheer willpower. He did not allow himself to be distracted and continued to fixate his eyes on the playing tape. The smell thickened but the knocking stopped. Just as Han Fei was about to sigh in relief, something worse happened. The sound of a key being pushed into the lock came. Han Fei heard the spring click and the locked security door was opened!
The old axle creaked creepily like an old man groaning for help. The stench filtered into the room. The chill from the ring was immense. Han Fei gritted his teeth and hid his hands behind him. He silently opened the inventory and readied to take out the red paper doll.
“Who are you? Why are you here? And why did you lock the door?!” An old gentleman’s voice began. The person did not go on the aggressive immediately, this was good news for Han Fei. His brain started to spin at full speed, the information fell into place in less than a second. Since this newcomer had the key to the security room, then most likely he was one of the security guards. The man’s voice was aged, Han Fei put him around 60 years old. There was only one person who fitted these descriptions in this school’s horror story, the first victim—Ol’ Lee.
The security guard once made an appearance in Su Mengting’s diary, he was one of the few who was willing to help her. It was unclear what happened to him after death, but at least he was a good guy when he was alive. Just from one simple sentence, Han Fei had analyzed many things. That was the fruit of his labor from his survival in the game.
“Hey, I’m talking to you! I haven’t seen you around the school before, who are you?” The stench became unbearable after the guard entered the room. Han Fei almost suffocated but he kept his eyes on the running video. “I’m a new teacher here, this is my work id.” Without turning his eyes around, Han Fei took out the educator’s id and dropped it on the table.
A pale arm reached into his line of sight. The person picked up the id and studied it for a while before adding, “You’re right. In any case, why are you here? Is there something wrong?”
Staring at the television screen, Han Fei assumed easily into his character. He asked in a normal tone, “Do you still remember the name Su Mengting?”
“Who? I’ve not heard of that name before.”
“No?” Han Fei thought to get more secrets about the girl from the guard but the old man could not even remember her name.
“So why exactly are you here? Are you really a staff member here?” The voice dipped with suspicion. As he approached, the smell seeped into Han Fei’s body and the temperature inside the room dropped to freezing point.
“Something bad has happened around the school recently, I’m trying to be a lookout for my students.” Han Fei split his attention into 3 parts. While he replied to the guard, he stared at the tape and paid attention to the mission interface in his mind. The countdown was near its end. The ghost from the surveillance tape did not show up after all. ‘Could the biggest challenge of this mission be facing the unknown fear the woman had roused within my heart? The woman is actually not real? I was merely scaring myself?’
Han Fei soon got the notification that the mission was over. Compared to other Grade G Hidden Missions, this one was surprisingly easy.
“Hey, don’t just leave things hanging! What do you mean by something bad has happened around the school?” The guard demanded as he moved to stand beside Han Fei. Since the mission was already over, Han Fei moved his gaze and turned towards the guard. When he did, chilblains broke out on the back of his neck. The guard was indeed Ol’ Lee, Han Fei had seen the man’s picture when he did his investigation on Yi Ming Private Academy.
Ol’ Lee looked precisely like himself in real life but the problem was the man was draped in many unholy objects and creatures! But beyond that, there was a woman following behind him. It was the woman with the hung head and ruined face!
She stood on tip toe and her chin was practically laying on Ol’ Lee’s shoulder but the latter did not seem to notice it at all. Even for Han Fei, his expression stalled for a moment. He took an involuntary step away from Ol’ Lee.
“Well? Why aren’t you saying anything? What has happened at this school?” Ol’ Lee repeated concernedly. The senior guard took his job seriously. He cared about the students here.
“It’s nothing really…” Han Fei’s mouth fell open. He bumped his back into the wall and the words tumbled out, “Sir, don’t you feel like you’ve been carrying a lot lately?”
