Chapter 243: Let's Do It Together
The night was still long, and the ghost continued its restless wandering.
A group of five, led by a remarkably relaxed Haruto, scoured the darkened campus for the remaining four survivors based on their last known locations before the initial separation. It was a literal race against the dead. With every player the ghost slaughtered, its supernatural strength surged, tipping the scales further against the living.
using his innate Boundary Youkai abilities, Haruto casually tore open Gaps in space, weaving the mystical Red String through the void to completely bypass the ghost's oppressive domain while searching for the stragglers.
Their luck held out. High atop the dilapidated spectator stands overlooking the sports field, they discovered two players huddled together in the freezing wind.
"Do you know where the others went?" Haruto asked, his tone as casual as if asking for directions to a convenience store.
The two survivors flinched. Their shoulders shook uncontrollably, teeth chattering as they recalled whatever nightmare they had just witnessed.
"Dead..." one of them stammered, his voice cracking. "They're dead. The ghost went into the teaching building. We heard screams echoing from inside... and then, just dead silence."
Haruto nodded thoughtfully. The deaths of those two players aligned perfectly with his expectations. It also neatly explained the ghost's two newly acquired traits: Teleportation and Sound Mimicry.
"What about the last two?" Haruto pressed.
"They should still be hiding over at the experimental building," the second player whispered, glancing nervously at the dark campus below. "We haven't seen them come out, anyway."
Hiding at the absolute highest vantage point of the school, these two had a clear, unobstructed view of the entire grounds.
"One set each." Haruto casually tossed them a length of Red String and a Ghost-Catching Net.
The two players stared blankly at the items in their hands. The net made sense in a twisted, desperate sort of way. But the string? Where did this even come from?
Sensing their utter confusion, Yotsuya Miko stepped forward. She patiently recounted the events that had transpired in the dormitory building, detailing exactly how to use the items and, more, the treacherous betrayal that had nearly gotten them killed.
As Miko finished, the sheer terror in the two players' eyes was rapidly replaced by boiling fury. Their trembling shifted from fear to pure rage.
"Damn it, I knew it!" one spat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the net.
"That bitch really deserves to die. She clearly didn't search her assigned area, yet she lied to our faces. Did she think we wouldn't die because of that?"
They exchanged a dark look, silently agreeing that if they survived the night, they were going to beat that woman within an inch of her life. This was simply playing with their lives.
The anger faded slightly as reality set back in.
"Are we... really going to try and catch it tonight?" one asked, his voice dropping to a nervous whisper.
His companion shrank back, understanding the necessity but still overwhelmed by the sheer, paralyzing cowardice of facing a supernatural killer.
"Of course." Haruto crossed his arms, looking entirely unbothered. "Unless you want to drag this miserable game out until the final day. I'm perfectly confident in my ability to protect myself and my immediate friends. But babysitting all the remaining players? That sounds like way too much work, and frankly, I have no reason to exhaust myself for a bunch of strangers."
The two players snapped their mouths shut. The message was loud and clear: cling to the overpowered thigh while it was still offering a ride. If the big shot said they were hunting a ghost, they were hunting a ghost.
Deep within the suffocating darkness of the experimental building's basement.
"Just hold on a little longer. It'll be dawn soon..." the Tall Boy whispered, his arm wrapped tightly around his girlfriend. "There's just over an hour left. Just hold on."
He pressed his eye against the rusted peephole of the heavy iron door, straining to see into the pitch-black corridor.
Drip-drop... drip-drop... drip-drop...
The sickening sound of stagnant water hitting concrete echoed through the hall, growing steadily closer.
"Come out quickly, we're here to save you!"
A sudden, desperate shout echoed from the floor above. The Girl with Twin Ponytails jolted, her eyes widening in hope. She recognized that voice—it belonged to one of the other players. She scrambled to stand up, ready to cry out for help.
But before a single sound could leave her throat, the Tall Boy clamped his hand brutally over her mouth.
"Shhh..." he hissed, his eyes wide with terror, gesturing frantically for her to stay completely still.
"Come out quickly, I'm here to save you... hurry up and come out."
The voice drifted closer, descending the stairs. Through the peephole, the Tall Boy watched in horror as a pair of swollen, deathly pale feet dragged across the floor, leaving a trail of foul, murky water as they stepped into the basement entrance.
The Girl with Twin Ponytails shrank into the corner, tears streaming down her face.
The basement was a labyrinth of small, cramped storage rooms. Fortunately, they had chosen the room at the very back, which connected to a secondary escape passage. Because of this, the Tall Boy maintained a fragile grip on his sanity.
"Come out... I'm so bored... Let's play. Let's play Hide-and-Seek together~"
The entity stumbled blindly through the corridor, parroting the player's voice. But with every syllable, the pitch warped and distorted. By the time it gurgled the final words, the voice had degraded into a muffled, raspy croak, sounding exactly like a drowning man screaming underwater.
Clatter!
A heavy cardboard box tipped over, crashing against the concrete floor. The Tall Boy whipped his head around. The Girl with Twin Ponytails was standing upright, her eyes glazed over as if in a trance. She had suddenly stood up, knocking the box aside for absolutely no reason.
The deafening noise instantly drew the attention of the monstrosity lurking in the hall.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The heavy iron door shuddered violently under a barrage of inhuman blows.
"Are you... are you guys in there? Come out now..." the gurgling voice mocked from the other side.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the Girl with Twin Ponytails sobbed, her voice trembling violently as she snapped out of her daze. "I don't know what happened! Just now, I suddenly felt like I had to stand up..."
The furious scolding that had instantly risen in the Tall Boy's throat died the moment he saw her tear-streaked face. He let out a heavy, exhausted sigh and gently rubbed her hair.
"Calm down. If it doesn't leave, we'll rush out through the right passage."
She nodded vigorously, wiping her eyes.
The Tall Boy checked his watch, the faint glow illuminating his grim expression. "There's less than an hour left until sunrise. It doesn't move very fast. As long as we don't let it touch us, we won't be caught."
He squeezed his eyes shut for an agonizing second. When they snapped open, a heavy resolve settled over his features.
"I'll go out and lure it away. You run straight toward the playground and find a safe place to hide."
"What... what about you?" she stammered, her voice shaking uncontrollably.
"I'll find you after dawn. If I don't come back..." He reached into his jacket and pulled out three grotesque, withered fingers that looked like blackened twigs. "Use these to find them. Give these fingers to those two pro players. Be polite, beg if you have to, and see if you can trade them for their protection through the rest of this instance."
"Why? We worked so hard to get these..." she protested, clearly unwilling to part with their only trump card.
"Because I don't want you to die!" he hissed, his jaw locked tight.
He knew his girlfriend's personality all too well. Forget surviving a death game alone; she'd be lucky if her own teammates didn't throw her to the wolves on day one just to shut her up.
Before he could say another word, a new set of voices echoed from the floor above.
"It should be around here, right? Let's find them quickly and get this over with."
The Tall Boy's expression shifted drastically. Throwing all caution to the wind, he filled his lungs and screamed at the top of his voice.
"Run! The ghost is in the basement—!"
The entity, which had just sensed the approaching footsteps above and begun to turn toward the stairs, immediately snapped its attention back to the door. It slammed into the metal with renewed, frantic excitement.
The Tall Boy kicked open the secondary exit door, throwing his entire body weight against the main iron door to brace it against the monster's assault.
"Run! Go now!" he roared over his shoulder.
The Girl with Twin Ponytails froze for an agonizing second before her survival instincts kicked in, and she bolted down the dark escape passage.
Feeling the vibrations of her retreating footsteps, the Tall Boy finally allowed himself a sliver of relief. But the ghost's physical strength was utterly monstrous. The thick iron door groaned and began to buckle inward, shoving aside the heavy junk piled against it like wet cardboard. He pivoted his right foot, preparing to sprint down the escape route.
But as he glanced back, his blood ran cold.
Standing right in the middle of the exit passage was that familiar silhouette. His girlfriend.
"What are you doing back here?! Run—!" he roared, his vocal cords tearing.
The Girl with Twin Ponytails stood there looking completely dazed. She shook her head slowly, her expression twisting into pure, unadulterated terror as she realized where she was. She didn't seem to understand why her legs had carried her back into the death trap.
The Tall Boy's heart plummeted into absolute despair.
At the exact same moment, a loud, obnoxiously energetic voice echoed from the stairwell right behind the ghost.
"Found it! Everyone, attack together! Fuck it up!"
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