104: Chapter 104 The School's Student Ghosts

At six in the morning, a thin layer of white mist still hung over the streets and alleys of Jiangzhou City's old district.

Hangovers and fatigue had not yet fully faded from the citizens' minds.

The phones of a large number of Jiangzhou citizens vibrated violently at the exact same time.

Inside the Parents' Committee Communication Group for Class 2, Grade 3 of Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School...

...a Douyin short video that had begun circulating in the middle of the night completely shattered the fragile nerves of the parents.

The video footage shook violently.

The person filming was holding a high-powered flashlight.

The beam sliced through the thick darkness, shining straight into the center of an empty classroom.

Desks and chairs were neatly arranged, but the seats were completely empty.

In midair, dozens of blue-and-white school uniforms from the affiliated elementary school were floating out of thin air.

Bright red scarves defied gravity, drifting back and forth in the windless, enclosed space, looking for all the world like living creatures with invisible limbs.

The flashlight beam tilted upward, sweeping across the blackboard directly ahead.

On the blackboard, eight crooked characters were dripping thick, dark red liquid.

[Class is in session. No tardiness allowed.]

In the last three seconds of the video, the camera suddenly panned down.

Old Wang, the usually amiable duty security guard at Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School, was splayed out on the floor beside the podium.

Old Wang's eyes were rolled back, his face drained of color, a large wet patch stained his crotch, and foam was bubbling from his mouth.

This short fifteen-second video threw the parents' chat group into an uproar.

Zihao's Mom: "Parents! Quick, look at this video! This is definitely our kids' classroom! I recognize the duty roster posted next to the blackboard clear as day! And that guy lying on the floor is Old Wang the security guard! I heard he's still in emergency resuscitation at the First Municipal Hospital's ICU!"

Yaxuan's Dad:

"Zihao's Mom, don't spread negative energy so early in the morning. We live in a scientific society now. In my opinion, this video is mostly special effects. Young people these days have no bottom line when it comes to chasing views and traffic."

Zihao's Mom: "Yaxuan's Dad, what do you know! My sister-in-law's neighbor works as a nurse in the emergency room, and she told me herself! When Old Wang was brought in, his whole body was ice-cold, and a layer of white frost had formed on his skin! He kept crying out, 'The Class Monitor is going to check our homework!' Could that be special effects?!"

Junjie's Mom: "Oh my goodness! My son didn't finish his English homework last night, and he's been crying ever since he woke up this morning. He said that in the middle of the night, a handless red scarf was knocking on his bedroom window! Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhang, are you there? Is school still in session today? We don't dare send our kids to school anymore!"

The chat group was in utter chaos, messages scrolling by so fast it was dizzying.

Homeroom Teacher Zhang sat on the edge of her bedroom bed, cold sweat trickling down her forehead, her fingers trembling slightly as she typed.

She had just received a confidential phone call from the police station.

They instructed her to keep the parents calm, warning that any faculty member who leaked the truth would be taken in for questioning.

Teacher Zhang took a deep breath, copied and pasted the official press release, and sent it out.

Homeroom Teacher Zhang:

"Parents, please remain calm."

"We have received an urgent notification from the Academic Affairs Office. Due to aging wiring in the teaching building causing a campus-wide power outage, classes are suspended for the entire school today. Parents, please watch over your children, do not let them go outside, and under no circumstances should anyone gather around the school area to spectate."

Junjie's Mom: "A power outage? Does a school-wide power outage require cordoning off the entire teaching building with yellow caution tape? I passed by the school gate this morning and saw several black armored vehicles without license plates drive in! Everyone inside was wearing body armor and holding real guns! This is definitely no ordinary wiring issue!"

Seeing the questioning on the screen, Teacher Zhang felt dizzy and overwhelmed. She simply turned off her phone and threw it under her blanket.

At ten in the morning, sunlight spilled onto the steps at the entrance of Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School.

The golden sunlight could not penetrate the ghastly white mist rising within the school walls.

The adults were terrified out of their wits by the idea of an evil spirit claiming lives.

Meanwhile, the Third Grade "little monsters" were cheering with joy over getting a free day off.

Several elementary school kids, free from school, slipped out of their parents' sight and gathered stealthily outside a bubble tea shop ten meters beyond the caution line.

Xiao Qiang, wearing an Ultraman backpack and gnawing on an old-fashioned popsicle, was full of excitement.

"Xiao Ming, did you hear?"

"Our class blackboard writes blood characters on its own! My dad was so scared this morning he burned my Math Olympiad workbook, saying it was tainted with evil energy!"

Xiao Ming, wearing black-rimmed glasses, slapped his thigh:

"Good burn! My mom smashed my English listening tape too."

"I hope this ghost Class Monitor stays at our school every day. No class today, no class tomorrow, then we won't have to take final exams this semester!"

Xiao Pang pulled a crumpled, zero-point math test from his pocket with a look of pure disdain.

"What do you guys know? I secretly looked at my dad's phone last night. The floating uniform in that video had a tear in the collar."

"I recognized it clearly—that was definitely our class monitor Li Hua's uniform! I copied his homework last week and still owe him five bucks. Now that he's turned into a ghost, does that mean I don't have to pay him back?"

Xiao Ming slapped Xiao Pang's chubby forehead.

"Are you kidding me?! Li Hua posted an update in the QQ group this morning saying he's at home playing Honor of Kings. That floating uniform doesn't belong to anyone!"

"I heard from the big shot in the next class that it's the legendary Straight-A Student Ghost. It specifically grabs kids who don't do their homework and takes them underground to solve exam papers. If you get one question wrong, it breaks your hand bones with a ferule!"

Hearing this, Xiao Qiang's face turned pale instantly, and his popsicle dropped to the ground with a splat.

"I... I haven't written my picture description essay from last night. Will it crawl through the sewer to come find me in the middle of the night?"

While the kids were arguing back and forth...

...a crisp electric bell suddenly echoed over the high walls, ringing from the empty teaching building.

"Ring-ring-ring... Ring-ring-ring..."

It was currently 10:10 AM. This was not a normal time for class to start or end.

The kids instantly went silent, turning together to look at the red-brick building shrouded in pale gray mist.

Unnoticed by anyone, a small, deathly white mask was slowly pressed against the glass of the Grade 3, Class 2 classroom window on the second floor.

The mask had no facial features, only two hollow black holes.

Across the glass and through the white mist, it looked down cold and detached at the group of elementary schoolers outside the gates.

Xiao Pang's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto his butt, bursting into loud wails.

These future successors of materialism finally felt the oppressive weight of exam-oriented education from the underworld.

The online world of Jiangzhou City was similarly boiling over.

On the city's largest anonymous forum, "Jiangzhou Local Trending Discussions", a post was bumped to the top trending spot in just two hours.

Trending Post Title: [Hardcore Analysis of the Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School Ghost Video's Authenticity! Pictures as Proof, Come See for Yourself!]

Original Poster (ID: Nine Netherlands' Top Lover):

[Brothers, this is 100% real stuff. I tested it frame by frame with professional image rendering software. The red scarf floating in the air shows zero trace of hanging wires or green-screen compositing.

What's most eerie is Security Guard Old Wang's shadow. Look closely at the twelfth second—Old Wang is lying on the ground, but his shadow on the wall is upside down! This is clearly a sign of a soul being forcibly ripped away!]

The replies below were coming in at near lightspeed.

Reply Floor 2 (ID: Master Wang of Scientific Cultivation):

[OP, stop spreading panic here. It's 2030 now, holographic projection technology is so advanced. This is obviously a graduation project made by those top students from Jiangzhou University's School of Optoelectronics.

Just testing it on-site at the affiliated elementary school to grab attention. Forget it, disperse, disperse, trust in science.]

Reply Floor 3 (ID: Linjiang Road Night Watchman):

[Floor 2, don't be a hater. I'm a student at Jiangda. These past few days, our entire dormitory building keeps having power outages for no reason, and even mobile signals are completely jammed.

One night when I got up, I saw with my own eyes the transformer over by the School of Physics explode into a massive fireball! Word is someone was undergoing tribulation in the school basement, attracting the Nine Heavens Heavenly Tribulation!]

Reply Floor 4 (ID: First Disciple of the Immortal):

[Tribulation? I think it's evil spirits at work. Underneath Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School used to be a mass grave with overwhelming Yin energy. I suggest the school hurry up and invite the abbot of Qingxiu Taoist Temple to perform an exorcism, or else all teachers and students will be dragged down.]

Reply Floor 5 (ID: PR Cleaner 007):

[Everyone, please do not believe online rumors. The authorities have already issued an announcement stating that this outage is due to aging power grid transformers.

As for Security Guard Old Wang, it was a sudden epileptic seizure caused by long-term sleep deprivation and fatigue. Please do not believe or spread rumors, let's build a clean online space together.]

Reply Floor 6 (ID: Explorer Host Big A-Wei):

[The more the authorities try to cover it up, the fishier I think it is. Brothers, at midnight tonight, I'll bring high-def night-vision live-streaming gear and explore Jiangda Affiliated Elementary School myself! Let's see if it's really aging circuits or if a Class Monitor is actually on duty inside! Hit follow, see you in the stream tonight, be there or be square!]