Chapter 13: Breaking Out

Bai Zhi could hardly believe it. Upon realizing what it was that he had just touched, he was stunned for a few seconds.

Any ordinary person who suddenly found themselves touching a limp, cold hand in absolute darkness would have reacted with some panic, perhaps jumping backward, or letting out an involuntary scream, certainly throwing the hand aside, at least.

Bai Zhi, however, was no ordinary person. There was a popular saying—what was it? "There's no use trying to steal from a bankrupt".

That was why Bai Zhi, who did not feel an ounce of fear, barely hesitated before doing the exact opposite of a normal reaction. Not only did he not shrink away, he reached out with his other hand.

As he did, countless characters flashed in his mind, but two stood out—the first was Kira Yoshikage, the man with an undying love of hands, and the second was Sato Kazuma.

The connection to Yoshikage was obvious, but Kazuma... Bai Zhi was reminded of the indescribable expression that Megumin had made in that one scene where they shared a bed and she woke up to Kazuma running his hands creepily along hers.

The question was, who would be the first to be creeped out in this situation?

In fact, after touching the hand for some time, Bai Zhi began to notice how smooth it was, and even started to enjoy the sensation...

Half a minute later, as if disgusted by his antics, the icy hand withdrew soundlessly into the shadows.

"Tsk, what a pity..." Bai Zhi crossed his arms with a disappointed look.

His experience with the generous "Mr. Chen" made him sure that all these supernatural entities were bound by some rules. It may have hailed from some otherworldly dimension, but as long as Bai Zhi felt no fear toward it, it was helpless against him, even getting roped into doing homework and taking out the trash, not so much a demon as a doormat.

Therefore, what could be the rule governing this entity that had brought him here against his will?

The things he knew so far were: The supernatural entity took the appearance of a cute little boy who wore a schoolbag, it liked to play tag with people's shadows, and there had already been five innocent students before Bai Zhi who had become its unwitting victims. He did not know if they were dead or alive.

Despite all the precautions I had taken to avoid the boy before, for some reason, the entity took the initiative to come after me specifically...

The thought stopped Bai Zhi in his tracks.

He had assumed that the entity's powers only activated when it stepped on its victims shadows, thus pulling them into this dimension, but the way he had just been trapped proved this assumption wrong.

There was another thing as well—considering his experience with "Mr. Chen" yesterday, these entities had demonstrated some intelligence. What if they were just as, if not far more intelligent than humans? The fact that this one had brazenly dared to attack him while the forces specially trained to deal with it were right around the corner... It seemed that these entities were not to be underestimated.

Bai Zhi shook his head and continued his search in the pitch-black classroom.

All was uneventful for a minute, then gradually, a strange sound could be heard coming from the corridor where the light was still flickering on and off. As soon as he heard it, Bai Zhi couldn't help but wince.

The closest thing that could describe that strange, unpleasant sound was "nails being dragged slowly across a chalkboard", but worse—much worse. Listening to it felt like having his mind constantly being ripped apart, and it took every ounce of will he had to hold himself together.

Clapping his hands to his ears and gritting his teeth, Bai Zhi managed to force one eye open and got a peek at the corridor.

He saw a girl with long, silky hair that fell past her shoulders, on the ground, pulling herself along by her arms... because she had no bottom half! She left a trail of dark, sticky blood behind her as she went, the inhuman, twisting motions she made smearing it into an unpleasant, alien script. The mind-rending noises were coming from her mouth, and brought to mind the piercing shriek he had heard earlier.

Bai Zhi watched silently for some time as the mysterious creature slithered past the classroom. Snapping back to his senses, he crouched down and quickly took the leg off a chair, muttering to himself as he did so.

"I expected to encounter something ghostly, but that thing looks like a zombie-type creature, something that can touch me, which means it can beat me up... You gotta be joking!"

Yoshikage might have enjoyed the strange classroom, but Bai Zhi had no intention of staying there a minute longer. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he made a beeline for the far exit, fingers tightening around the makeshift club in his hand.

Following the trail of blood with his eyes, Bai Zhi saw it gradually disappear as it turned the corner. Bai Zhi went the opposite way, toward where the monster had come from, taking care to flatten himself against the wall.

There seemed to be hidden clues and traps all over this bizarre place. The shriek he had heard upon entering it, the lightless classrooms lining the corridor, and that flickering bulb up ahead, all seemed designed to force those trapped here into a dilemma.

If they realized that there was an unknown threat coming down the corridor toward them, would they risk stepping into the inky-black classrooms where anything could await them, or follow the path that seemed indicated by the lights?

Under most circumstances, the average person would opt for the latter. It would seem obvious, because all humans felt an inexplicable fear of darkness.

But if one were to consider an additional element—"Shadow"—and what it represented, what then?

Bai Zhi was keenly aware that he was only brought here after the entity had gotten hold of his shadow. That was a subtle clue that the zones of light, which caused him to cast a shadow, were in fact danger zones. To escape danger, the solution was to avoid casting any shadow.

The events that unfolded in the classroom only supported his deduction. The monster in the corridor had appeared a minute after he touched the cold hand—the delay was clearly timed to coincide with when the panicking victims would have run out of the classroom.

Naturally, these were mere conjectures, and Bai Zhi had no way of knowing if he was absolutely right or not. However, under the circumstances, the smartest thing to do was to act based on the most likely explanation.

The corridor did not extend far, and Bai Zhi made it to the corner soon enough. As he poked his head out cautiously for a peek, he spotted a large door that gave off a faint white light.

Just then, he heard the monster's shriek again, coming from behind him. Perhaps he had triggered a flag that caused the undead, severed torso to double back along its path. Upon seeing Bai Zhi, the monster let out an inhuman howl and raced toward him with uncanny speed—it reminded him of the Abnormals from Attack on Titan.

Clearly, this was no time to parley, so Bai Zhi hefted the chair-leg-turned-club and dashed toward the faintly glowing door.