Chapter 214: Chapter 213: Worm of Erosion (Part 3)_1
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Thud! Thud! Thud!
The old school building had no elevator, leaving no choice but to descend via the spiral staircase.
Fu Qian’s somewhat stiff movements made his footsteps sound exceptionally loud in the dark.
Just now when he passed through the hallway, he had paid special attention to the noises from other classrooms and found them all eerily quiet, with virtually no one moving around.
Even when he reached the first floor, Fu Qian noticed that even the security room was empty.
Something was definitely off!
Looking at the darkness outside that seemed almost tangible, Fu Qian confirmed his suspicion and pushed the door open to step out.
The fog was denser than imagined!
It enveloped him so thickly that Fu Qian struggled to breathe and visibility was undeniably poor.
As he made his way forward while trying to figure out the direction, he soon heard a strange noise—it sounded like a cow mooing.
Were there cows being kept at the school?
For a moment, Fu Qian found it hard to comprehend, with darkness all around as if hiding an uncountable number of monsters.
It was indeed a cow!
He listened carefully and although he couldn’t discern the direction it came from, he was certain the mooing was unmistakable.
Despite the bizarre situation, Fu Qian still had no intention of turning back.
The outside wasn’t safe, but that didn’t mean the inside was, especially since those people had clearly started acting abnormally.
For now, the best option seemed to be finding an unoccupied room and braving out the night alone within.
So the question was, which indoor place would be least populated at this time?
The school infirmary!
Indeed, that was the place he hadn’t gone to just now.
Fu Qian had already thought it through before coming down.
There was no point in talking about the dormitories, and even though the library might still have many students studying at this hour, after closing time, the school infirmary would at most have an on-duty emergency doctor.
If there were any issues, they would be relatively easy to handle.
Just now at the entrance of the teaching building, Fu Qian had made a point to find the school map, so he knew that the infirmary wasn’t far from there.
Having made up his mind, he wasted no time, quickly determined his direction, and made a beeline for the infirmary.
The counselor?
Unexpectedly, just as he hadn’t gone far, Fu Qian spotted a figure wearing glasses.
The counselor who had just left the building was now not far away, leaning on a bicycle.
It seemed that the fog on his glasses made it difficult to see, and he was repeatedly wiping them with a T-shirt.
However, his actions were quite odd; although he was wiping his glasses, his eyes were fixed in another direction and his hands were moving rigidly and incessantly.
Fu Qian followed his gaze and saw a strange figure.
In the darkness, a shadowy figure stood side-on towards them, holding a huge cow’s head.
The next moment, the cow’s mouth opened wide, letting out a deep, long bellow that shook the fog around them.
It seemed to trigger a chain reaction; immediately afterwards, the counselor dropped his glasses and let the bicycle fall to the side.
Then, he clasped his hands around his neck and began to let out a prolonged bellow, while straining as if trying to detach his head.
[SAN Points -1]
At the same time, Fu Qian felt his head reel, his control over his body momentarily confused, almost losing his balance.
He shouldn’t have looked!
Crack!
Fu Qian delivered a punch to his chin, forcing himself to look away, and then without turning his head, he headed straight for the school infirmary.
The distance was not far and Fu Qian soon neared his destination, even seeing the light from the duty room, though the door was tightly closed at the moment.
“Who is it?”
Fu Qian pressed the doorbell and an impatient voice came from inside, seemingly disturbed from rest.
“A student, feeling a bit unwell,” Fu Qian said without changing his tone.
“Come in.”
A few seconds later, the voice from inside came again.
At the same time, Fu Qian heard the sound of the door lock being opened from the inside.
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“Alright!”
Fu Qian responded verbally, his hand on the doorknob, yet he didn’t push the door open.
He realized there was a problem.
To others, the voice inside the door seemed utterly normal, sounding just like a young doctor pulling an all-nighter.
But the question was, why was he normal?
So far, of all the people he had seen, only two hadn’t entered that bizarre state.
One was himself, the other was Liu Yi.
The reason for his own immunity was understandable due to his special nature.
As for that Liu Yi, Fu Qian roughly guessed the reason—she had seen the book in his bag earlier.
Theoretically, it was very likely that she now had the worm inside her body.
But what about the person inside the room?
Fu Qian recalled the library card used as a bookmark, which bore more than one name.
If everyone who read that book was affected, then theoretically, there should be more than just him and Liu Yi infected with the worm in this school.
And the attitudes of those who were infected were not at all clear.
“What are you doing? Stop dilly-dallying!”
At that moment, an impatient urging voice came from inside the door.
“No need, I suddenly feel much better.”
Fu Qian directly answered.
The voice inside went silent for a long time upon hearing this.
“Since you’re already here, just to be safe, I should take a look at you.”
…
“Okay, then I’m coming in.”
Fu Qian verbally agreed, but he silently walked away instead.
About five seconds later, a huge noise emanated from the dark; it seemed like the door was forcefully pulled open.
There definitely was a problem!
And no matter how one looked at it, this person did not seem benevolent.
Having confirmed his suspicions, Fu Qian thought about where to go next while he retraced his steps along the original route.
Just as he approached the teaching building, a series of rapid footsteps came from ahead, along with the sound of suppressed panting.
Hm?
Fu Qian guessed a possibility and quietly stopped to observe.
Soon enough, he saw Liu Yi looking around while quickly walking out of the building.
However, at that moment, the sound of a cow’s moo rang out outside, startling her so much that she froze on the spot, not daring to move forward.
After looking around, she suddenly spotted Fu Qian not far away, her eyes lighting up as she instinctively ran over to him.
“You…”
“What’s the matter?”
Fu Qian looked at her somewhat pale face, clearly hearing her voice tremble.
“Didn’t you go back to rest?”
As she heard Fu Qian’s voice, Liu Yi gradually calmed her breathing before replying.
“I went the wrong way, but shouldn’t you be at the self-study session?”
“I…”
Liu Yi instinctively glanced back at the teaching building as if weighing her words.
“They… they suddenly all stopped sitting…”
“What do you mean?”
Fu Qian asked.
“It’s just that they all suddenly stood up.”
Liu Yi’s words became smoother, but the expression on her face grew even more horrified.
“Everything was normal at first, then suddenly one by one they stood up, without speaking, just standing there in the classroom…”