86: Chapter 86 Principal's Projection

The outline traced by the bloodstains became increasingly clear.

A suit, a tie, a straight back, hands folded in front.

It was a standard standing posture for a principal.

But this principal had no face.

Above the collar of the suit, there was only a churning, writhing mass of flesh.

Embedded within the flesh were countless overlapping faces, men and women, old and young, all screaming in silence.

Fang Che's body tensed, every inch of his skin prickling with a sharp, shivering sensation.

This was not fear; it was an instinctive alarm in the face of a natural predator.

An invisible pressure descended, not acting upon his physical body, but aiming to crush his will entirely.

Thud.

Jiang Ning was the first to give way; her legs went soft, and she fell directly to her knees. She gritted her teeth, trying to stand up, but her knees remained stuck to the ground, unmoving. She was completely stunned, and in her disbelief, she cursed out loud: "What the hell is this thing!"

Mu Waner followed suit, kneeling down as well. She covered her ears with her hands, the color draining from her face within seconds. She was terrified. "How are we supposed to deal with this!"

Teacher Qin Bing was still holding on, but her legs were trembling violently, the veins on her forehead bulging, and she had bitten her lips until they bled. She clenched her fists in frustration. "Damn it, let's just fight it!"

The light in Su Qingxue's ice-blue eyes dimmed rapidly, and she stumbled backward, only staying upright by leaning against the wall. She was completely bewildered. "This pressure is suffocating—it doesn't give anyone a way out!"

Fang Che stood alone at the very front.

His back was straight as a board.

His temples were throbbing violently, his head was buzzing, and he could already taste the metallic tang of rust—blood was flowing back from his nasal cavity into his throat.

But he did not retreat.

If he retreated, everyone behind him would be finished.

Hehehe...

The Principal Projection on the wall spoke.

It wasn't one person speaking. It was dozens, perhaps hundreds of voices layered together, mixed with the harsh, grating noise of metal friction, forcibly squeezed out from that mass of churning flesh.

"Hand over the key... children..."

The overlapping voices suddenly became soft, carrying a kind of affection that made one's scalp crawl.

"Offer up your flesh and blood, and I shall grant you eternal life..."

Eternal life.

Coming from the mouth of a faceless thing, the word was so ironic it made one want to vomit.

The silently screaming faces on the wall were likely the result of that so-called eternal life—swallowed whole by this thing, becoming a part of its body, forever trapped in rotting flesh, unable to die. When you really thought about it, everyone huddled together becoming rotting meat was actually quite warm. Warm, my ass! This was purely a perverted, nonsensical load of crap!

From behind, Teacher Qin Bing's intermittent voice came through. "Fang... Fang Che... it's so heavy..."

She finally couldn't hold on any longer and knelt on one knee, the healing white light on her hands flickering.

There wasn't much time left.

Fang Che did not hesitate. He crouched down, quickly kicked off the shoes he was wearing, and pulled the newly dropped endless running shoes from his system inventory.

[Equipment: endless running shoes (Purple)]

[Effect: Agility +20, Stamina consumption reduced by 50%]

In reality, while Fang Che put on a miserable expression as if he were about to be crushed, he was actually feeling extremely elated inside. He even wanted to laugh. Once he put on these newly dropped running shoes, he would be ready to take off again.

The moment he slipped the shoes onto his feet, a cool surge of power rushed up from the soles of his feet. His weak, sore legs immediately regained their strength, and even that suffocating feeling that threatened to crush his will lessened by a few degrees.

[Current Agility: 202]

Fang Che stood up straight and drew his spare fire axe from his backpack.

He performed an action that left everyone bewildered—he pressed the brass key against the base of the axe blade and tore off half his sleeve to bind the key tightly to the axe head.

"What the hell are you doing..." Mu Waner, kneeling on the ground, looked up at him, her voice hoarse and distorted.

Fang Che ignored her.

The Principal Projection sensed something. The mass of flesh churned violently, and the overlapping voices became hurried and irritable.

"Hand... over... the key!"

"Students who defy the Principal's orders... must be punished! Forever... punished!"

The pressure suddenly intensified.

Fang Che's knees buckled, but he gritted his back teeth and forcibly pushed back against it.

Two lines of blood flowed from his nostrils, dripping down his chin onto the ground.

He raised his head, staring fixedly at the faceless silhouette on the wall.

Only one thought remained in his mind—behind this broken wall was the entrance to the Fourth Floor. The key was for opening the door. The door was currently blocked by this idiot. Then he wouldn't open it. He'd just hack it open and be done with it!

"Size Manipulation."

Fang Che muttered in a low voice. The muscles in his right arm expanded to twice their normal thickness in an instant, veins knotted beneath his skin, and his entire arm took on a dull, metallic texture.

He spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, landing squarely on the Principal Projection.

"I'll give you eternal life, you piece of shit."

Fang Che raised the fire axe with the bound key high above his head. He poured his entire body's strength into the axe handle, his augmented right arm charged to its absolute limit.

"Today, I'm going to perform a lobotomy on you!"

Before the words had even faded, the axe swung down.

Jiang Ning, kneeling on the ground, watched as Fang Che rose from the ground amidst a blood-red light. The fire axe, bound with the brass key, carved an eye-piercing arc through the air.

A sharp, explosive sound detonated in the stairwell.

Her mind went blank, leaving only the image of that fearless figure swinging the axe.

The Principal Projection's mass of flesh exploded violently. Countless black-red tentacles shot out from the wall, swarming toward Fang Che, dripping with foul-smelling mucus.

Fang Che didn't even try to dodge.

The agility granted by the endless running shoes allowed him to adjust the angle of his strike in the final half-second. The axe blade precisely avoided the densest area of tentacles and drove straight toward the center of the suit's silhouette—the core of the churning flesh.

The moment the brass key hit the wall of flesh, a brilliant golden light erupted from the point of contact.

That light wasn't created by Fang Che at all; it was the reaction of the key itself.

Buzz—!

A high-frequency shockwave radiated from the point of impact. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the entire stairwell began to crack violently.

The tentacles swarming toward Fang Che began to wither the instant they touched the golden light. The black-red tissue rapidly turned gray and dry, shattering and falling off in large chunks.

The Principal Projection let out an inhuman scream.

Those overlapping voices tore apart at that moment, turning into a purely hysterical shriek.

The silently screaming faces on the wall suddenly opened their eyes. Hundreds of eyes looked at Fang Che simultaneously, all filled with fear.

Fang Che's arm nearly dislocated from the violent recoil; the web of his hand split open, and blood dripped down the axe handle.

But he stubbornly refused to let go.

He forced all his remaining strength into his right arm, pushing the axe blade forward by one last inch.

[Ding! SSS-Rank Talent: Absolute Critical Hit triggered!]

[This attack triggered a 72x Critical Hit!]

[The Principal Projection has suffered a devastating blow!]

Crack!

A crisp, unreal shattering sound rang out.

The entire wall of flesh was split open, leaving a crack over two meters long right down the middle. Inside the crack, there was no blood and no flesh, only an all-consuming darkness.

The Principal Projection's suit silhouette was severed in half. The core mass of flesh dissolved rapidly in the golden light, turning into ashes that danced in the air.

Before it completely vanished, those overlapping voices spoke one last sentence.

"You... shouldn't have... come..."

Then, everything went quiet.

The pressure dissipated completely.

Jiang Ning and Mu Waner, still kneeling on the ground, both gasped for air, feeling as though they had been saved just as they reached their limit of breath; the air in their lungs had never tasted so sweet.

Teacher Qin Bing stood up, bracing herself on her knees, her legs still shaking, but she immediately looked at Fang Che's bleeding right hand. "Fang Che, your hand—"

"Don't worry about it." Fang Che shook the blood off his hand and stared at the dark crack in front of him.

The crack was slowly healing.

The flesh tissue on both sides was attempting to re-adhere. At this sluggish pace, there was at most twenty seconds left.

"Get up, all of you!" Fang Che turned back and roared at the others who hadn't yet stood steady. "The crack is closing! Jump now!"

Jiang Ning climbed up, cursing. "Jump? Jump into that? It's pitch black in there—"

"Stop talking nonsense! Jump!" Fang Che grabbed Su Qingxue, who was closest to him, and without a word, shoved her directly into the crack.

Su Qingxue didn't have time to react before she was swallowed by the darkness.

"Qingxue!" Teacher Qin Bing shouted.

"You go in too." Fang Che grabbed her arm and tossed her straight into the crack.

Mu Waner didn't wait for Fang Che to act; she gritted her teeth and jumped in herself.

Jiang Ning hesitated for a fraction of a second in front of the crack, and Fang Che kicked her directly in the back.

"Ouch—you bastard—"

The cursing was instantly cut off by the darkness.

The flesh walls on both sides of the crack were already closing, leaving a gap less than one person wide.

Fang Che glanced at the flesh-filled stairwell behind him, littered with monster remains, then turned and plunged headfirst into the darkness.

His senses were completely stripped away. There was only an endless descent.

This was followed by a dull thud.

He slammed hard onto a solid floor, letting out a muffled groan as stars danced before his eyes.

Fang Che lay on the ground without moving, breathing heavily.

A few seconds later, he propped himself up on his elbows and squinted, his eyes still blurry from the fall, to survey his surroundings.

No flesh-lined tunnel.

No monster roars.

No nauseating, foul stench.

He looked down—beneath him were clean floor tiles, and there wasn't even a drop of blood in the gaps.

The walls on both sides of the corridor were painted in light green, the windows were intact, and not a single crack could be seen on the glass.

Sunlight filtered in from outside the windows, casting spots of light onto the floor tiles.

In the distance, a melodious class-start bell rang out—ding-a-ling, no different from what one would hear in a normal school.

A breeze blew through the corridor, carrying the scent of the grass from the playground.

Fang Che sat on the ground, motionless. There was no sense of relaxation in his body.

Instead, he felt a chill even deeper than the one in the flesh-lined tunnel.

Deep in the corridor, from one of the classrooms, came the clear, bright voices of students reciting a text in unison.