“Who are you?!”
Upon seeing the girl emerge from the fog, Ji Bingyao raised her air pistol and demanded loudly.
Although the figure was visibly human, Ji Bingyao and her companions, having just endured an attack by parasites, were now wary of trusting anyone.
“Please! Don’t be alarmed!” the girl, stepping out of the mist, cried out, her hands raised above her head.
She wore an elementary school uniform: a pale pink dress with a bow tie, white tights, and adorable black leather shoes adorned with bows.
Though somewhat soiled, her cheeks were rosy and her expression natural, a stark contrast to the eerie pallor and unsettling demeanor of their previous “guide,” Li Nini.
However, Shirley and her group did not recall this person being part of the exploration team.
Still, it was worth noting that approximately 130 students remained at St. Liana Academy after the holidays.
When factoring in the gatekeepers, school staff, dorm supervisors, and administrative personnel who hadn’t taken leave, the total number exceeded 150.
While some had already fallen victim, a significant number of people still remained, making an encounter with an unfamiliar student unsurprising.
“My name is Dianna,” the girl introduced herself. “It’s full of bugs here, and I’m really, truly scared! I’m so glad I ran into you, big sisters!”
Upon noticing the pistol clutched in Shirley’s hand, Dianna’s expression abruptly shifted. “Wow, big sisters, you have guns! That’s wonderful, now we’ll be safe!”
“That’s right, we’ll protect you,” Xia Hua assured, gently patting Dianna’s forehead. “Are you an elementary school student?”
“Yes, I am.” Dianna nodded.
“Actually… I have a friend named Lu Ying, who’s also in elementary school,” Xia Hua said with a smile. “She’s the only one in the entire school who truly shares my passion for the occult and is willing to explore the world’s secrets with me. I heard she’s known in the elementary school as ‘The Oddity of Fifth Grade Class C’ because of it. Do you know her?”
“I’m sorry, I’m in Class A, so I’m not very familiar with Class C’s situation,” Dianna replied.
“Ah… alright then,” Xia Hua’s expression fell slightly. “Did you come from the elementary school dormitories?”
“No, I’m a friend of Li Nini,” Dianna explained. “Before the thick fog appeared, we went to the broadcast room together… and then we got trapped by the mist. Li Nini said she wanted to go back to the dorms and ran out first, but I saw a bug attack her…”
“Just as I thought!” Ji Bingyao clenched her fist.
“However, after being attacked by the bug, Li Nini got back up and ran away. Afterwards, I was so scared that I hid in the broadcast room and fell asleep. When I woke up, I noticed the fog outside had thinned a little, and then I saw a group of people approaching this area, led by Li Nini.”
“And then you came out to look for her?”
“At first, I really did intend to. But then, Li Nini suddenly led everyone to the gymnasium in the northwest!” Dianna exclaimed, dramatically waving her hands. “We noticed yesterday that many giant bugs were active in that direction! It’s completely unsafe there! And… I have a feeling Li Nini did that on purpose. I was afraid she might come after me later, so I…”
“I understand,” Shirley said, exchanging a meaningful glance with the others. At this point, everything was clear: Li Nini had likely become a living puppet, controlled by parasites, much like the girl who had attacked them earlier with an air pistol.
And Miss Huang, also afflicted by parasites, would instinctively trust her, leading the entire team into an ambush under her guidance…
“We’re going to the gymnasium, and the faster, the better!”
“That’s wonderful! Big sisters, you have guns, so you’ll definitely be able to rescue everyone else!” Dianna exclaimed excitedly. “Um… can I come with you?”
“You can.” Shirley nodded.
Even though the thick fog was visibly thinning and dissipating, she knew full well that allowing an unarmed fifth-grade elementary student to roam alone in a campus infested with giant bugs was far too risky.
“Thank you, thank you, big sisters!” Dianna immediately became overjoyed, skipping merrily behind the group, her face radiating an unburdened cheerfulness. She bore a striking resemblance to a certain “emergency food supply” character from a popular old game.
****
Given that St. Liana Girls’ Academy wasn’t particularly vast, the group soon arrived near the gymnasium without encountering any attacks.
At the main entrance of the gymnasium, several bugs lay scattered, bludgeoned to death by blunt instruments such as clubs and hammers.
Their copper-rich, yellowish-green hemolymph oozed across the ground, and an unsettling, nauseating odor permeated the air.
Clearly, unable to continue their detour, Miss Huang’s team had engaged in a head-on battle with the obstructing bugs here and successfully forced their way inside.
“Why would they suddenly head to the gymnasium?” Eileen asked, perplexed. “Ah, I mean, I know it’s a trap set by those bugs. But what excuse did Li Nini use to convince the others to change their destination?”
“Likely for weapons,” Shirley mused. “Our school already has a shooting competition team, and there’s a small shooting range on the first basement floor of the gymnasium. Perhaps Li Nini told the others that the administration building, where the broadcast room is located, had too many bugs, and for safety’s sake, they needed to arm themselves with the air rifles and pistols from here.”
“I think so too,” Ji Bingyao agreed, checking the ammunition in her air pistol.
Discovering only three lead pellets left in the rotary magazine and the compressed air cylinder nearly empty, she hesitated. “Um… I don’t have much ammo left, and frankly, we don’t know what’s waiting for us inside…”
“But we still have to go in,” Shirley declared, ejecting the magazine with its single remaining bullet and inserting a spare into her pistol. “Those are our classmates! When our classmates are in trouble, we absolutely cannot stand idly by!”
“Yes! Wife… no, Shirley is right!” Hearing this, Ji Bingyao’s hesitation vanished instantly. “If we stand by and do nothing when our classmates are in danger, what kind of people would we be?! I’ll brave mountains of blades and seas of fire; I’ll overcome any obstacle to save our classmates!”
“I, I think so too!” Eileen quickly affirmed, seemingly afraid of being left behind. “Wherever Shirley goes, I go! No one can separate us!”
“Everyone stay vigilant. Since they’re likely going for weapons, their destination must be the shooting range on the first basement floor.” Having swapped her magazine, Shirley was the first to step through the partially open gymnasium doors, raising her gun in caution as she moved towards the stairwell leading underground.
There were no bodies inside the gymnasium, yet the air was still thick with a lingering, disorienting stench.
On the bleachers of the first-floor court, Shirley and the others discovered a bent crowbar, some fragments of school uniforms, and severed chitinous bug legs and shell pieces.
The ground, too, was stained with considerable amounts of suspicious liquid.
Shirley breathed in short, quick gasps, clutching her pistol tightly as if it were her last lifeline, descending the stairs one step at a time.
The underground section of the gymnasium was divided into two areas.
The first was the swimming pool, and separated by a single wall was the shooting range used by the school’s shooting and archery teams, its interior layout adaptable to the user’s needs.
As they passed the swimming pool, ripples suddenly spread across the water’s surface.
Then, several sky-blue beetles, each as large as a washbasin, abruptly burst forth from beneath the water.
“An ambush!”
Shirley fired, blowing apart the head of the first beetle, but the creature’s speed was overwhelming.
The second beetle successfully slammed into her, knocking the pistol from her grasp.
Fortunately, Eileen, with quick reflexes, swung her baseball bat—her melee weapon—and sent the creature flying.
“Nice, a home run!” After dispatching her opponent, Eileen even struck a very Koshien-esque pose before backhanding the third beetle away.
The two beetles at the rear each took a lead pellet from Ji Bingyao’s air pistol, plummeting back into the water.
“Whew… everyone fought well,” Shirley exhaled, letting out a long breath. “Especially you, Eileen. If you hadn’t just then…”
“Well… I didn’t expect to be able to do that either,” Eileen chuckled shyly.
Unlike the robust and well-built Ji Bingyao, who trained regularly, Eileen was quite slender; wielding drumsticks during band practice was usually her limit.
Yet just now, the force with which she swung the baseball bat was enough to command awe from even professional athletes.
“I don’t know why, but since yesterday afternoon, I’ve felt like I have endless energy, and I feel incredibly good. My reaction speed has also become super fast.”
“Perhaps it’s the result of adrenaline secretion in a crisis?” Ji Bingyao posited.
“I don’t think so. Because ever since last night, I’ve had a similar feeling… especially the sensation of holding a weapon.
I’d never touched a real gun before, apart from decorative pieces in my family’s castle; I only knew how to use them in theory.
But the moment I picked up a gun, it felt as though I’d been training for years,” Shirley revealed. “Could it be…”
‘Hmm…’
Though no one spoke further, they had all simultaneously arrived at the same unsettling possibility: on that suffocating afternoon, the five members of “Pink FM Frequency” had been forcibly kissed one by one by Salome during their confrontation, subsequently losing consciousness.
At that very moment, they had all sensed something being injected into their bodies.
Could the changes in their bodies be linked to “this something”?
“Never mind. For now, locating the others is paramount; other matters can be discussed later.” Shirley shook her head, preparing to retrieve the pistol that the beetle had knocked away moments before.
But the instant she turned around, she was horrified to discover the gun’s muzzle pointed directly at her!