The boiler room area was pitch-black, forcing everyone to flick on their phone flashlights just to barely make out the path ahead. A sign hung right above the doorway, bearing a warning scrawled in dripping red paint: Dangers Ahead, Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out.
Because the place had fallen into severe disrepair, rain had washed over the red paint, leaving behind twisted, weeping streaks of crimson that looked uncannily like dried blood.
The sign alone radiated an intensely ominous vibe, but they had no choice—they had no option left except to march straight into danger.
Terrified of the dark, Ruan Zhizhi instinctively pressed herself closer and closer to Leng Yeting.
The two men were harboring plenty of quiet resentment about dragging Ruan Zhizhi along. True, Ruan Zhizhi was undeniably delicate and soft; in the outside world, no shortage of chivalrous protectors would be tripping over themselves to shield her.
Yet in a world as lethal as this, she was nothing more than a deadweight.
Even so, Leng Yeting had implicitly established himself as the leader of this makeshift team. No matter how many complaints the two men had, they didn’t dare voice them out loud.
The shorter of the two men asked in a low whisper:
“You dragged us all the way out here, the least you can do is tell us what we’re actually looking for.”
Glancing back at them, Leng Yeting stated:
“We’re looking for a green vial of serum.”
The two men exchanged bewildered glances; this was the first time they had ever heard mention of any green serum.
The boiler room itself wasn’t particularly large—roughly the size of two classrooms combined, allowing anyone to see straight across it at a glance. Utilizing their weak flashlight beams, the group noticed that the entire interior was coated in a pitch-black soot.
Both the walls and the old machinery were charred with burn marks. A massive fire must have broken out here many years ago.
The taller of the two men had been stationed right by the entrance to keep watch. If he spotted anything amiss outside, he was supposed to immediately sound the alarm so the others could hide.
Looking out at the swaying shadows of the trees outside, the clawing, writhing shapes looked entirely capable of swallowing a person whole.
Fear gnawed at the man’s chest, leaving him praying that the others inside would hurry up and finish their search.
He and the shorter man were partners in crime; back in the real world, they had scammed a bunch of elderly folks out of their savings by peddling bogus insurance. While fleeing from the fallout, they had mysteriously been sucked into this horrific world.
He had heard rumors that anyone who managed to escape this realm would have their past criminal records completely wiped clean, as if granted a genuine shot at reincarnation. And a “rebirth” was precisely what he needed most.
A sudden gust of freezing night wind swept past, causing the tall man to shiver violently.
“Pardon me, I’m lost. Could you point me in the right direction?”
Hearing a voice materialize directly behind him, the tall man whipped around in a panic. The cold, ominous tip of a blade was already pressing flat against his throat.
“W-W-What… what direction?”
A malicious, wicked smirk crossed the bandaged boy’s face:
“The road to the underworld.”
Hearing a blood-curdling shriek echo from outside, the three individuals inside the boiler room tightened up with acute tension.
Leng Yeting hissed:
“Quick, find a place to hide!”
Yanking Ruan Zhizhi along with him, Leng Yeting bolted toward the exit, only to freeze when a tall, slender figure blocked the doorway.
“Well, well, well—looks like we’ve got three little mice cornered here.”
In the blink of an eye, the figure blurred through a series of rapid shifts, reappearing directly behind them.
Without a second’s hesitation, Leng Yeting ruthlessly shoved the other fleeing man backward.
The man screamed out in despair:
“Leng Yeting!”
Startled out of her wits, Ruan Zhizhi was dragged relentlessly forward by Leng Yeting as they bolted through the dark. All she could hear in her wake were agonizing shrieks and the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart. Too terrified to look back, she couldn’t help noticing that Leng Yeting’s grip on her hand felt ice-cold.
From the very beginning, Leng Yeting had never expected the other men to contribute anything useful. Their sole purpose in his eyes was to serve as expendable bait, buying him precious seconds to stay alive.
Seemingly intimately familiar with the layout of the boiler room, Leng Yeting accurately located a hidden door tucked away in the corner. Shoving it open, he hurried Ruan Zhizhi inside.
On the other side of the hidden door lay another pitch-black chamber.
Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Ruan Zhizhi asked:
“Leng Yeting, how on earth do you know so much about this place?”
Choosing to come clean, Leng Yeting answered:
“Before my parents got divorced, my last name was Long.”
The surname “Long” was far from common.
Ruan Zhizhi caught on instantly.
“I’ve heard that the owner of SU is named Long.”
Glancing down at her, Leng Yeting nodded.
“Correct.”
Ruan Zhizhi clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. She had always known Leng Yeting was wealthy, but she never imagined he hailed from the immensely powerful Long family—a corporate titan and top-tier taxpayer!
Word had it that SU had long dedicated itself to pioneering biotechnological research, perhaps even hinting at the future advent of synthetic humans. Yet, the Long family members were seemingly plagued by a hereditary genetic illness; almost all of them died tragically young, as if bound by some cruel, inescapable curse.
The only reason Leng Yeting had followed his divorced mother and changed his surname was in the hope that formally “cutting ties” with the Long family might allow him to shake off that infamous curse. Yet, in the end, he had still been dragged down into this deadly game.
Because Leng Yeting knew the history of Red Moon Academy and possessed a layout map, he had managed to navigate the horrors with far more ease than anyone else.
Ruan Zhizhi pressed further:
“Is the serum you mentioned… really that important?”
“Yes. It’s the only thing that can kill the monsters and break the curse.”
The staggering weight of the serum’s significance suddenly dawned on Ruan Zhizhi.
Without warning, a massive horde of black rats swarmed up from the floorboards. Leng Yeting and Ruan Zhizhi scrambled to dodge them. These black rats served as harbingers of plague; coming into contact with them meant contracting a fatal, horrifying disease.
The sudden flood of rodents tore the two of them apart, driving them toward opposite ends of the room. The terrifying tide of rats acted like a physical river of stars, splitting them as drastically as the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Spotting another wave of rats lunging toward him, Leng Yeting shouted:
“Run! We’ll meet up later!”
Retreating step-by-step, Ruan Zhizhi felt her scalp tingle as she stared at the shifting, black-tide wall of rodents. Forced backward by the onslaught, she had no choice but to flee. In the same vein, Leng Yeting was driven to sprint in the exact opposite direction.
Naturally delicate and fragile, Ruan Zhizhi found her tender skin chafed raw and burning after running just a short distance. Stumbling blindly down a flight of stairs, she rolled her ankle, took a nasty spill, and tumbled twice before slamming hard against a wall. The impact jarred another hidden door loose nearby.
Wincing against the pain, she scrambled to her feet and limped hastily inside the secret chamber.
Using the weak beam of her phone flashlight, she surveyed her surroundings. The space resembled an abandoned laboratory, charred black by the ravages of a massive fire.
Glancing back toward the entrance, she noticed that the rats had halted at the threshold, refusing to cross over.
Quickly deducing that the room must contain something the creatures feared, Ruan Zhizhi realized she had stumbled upon something crucial. Rummaging frantically through every box and container in sight, she finally dropped to a crouch amidst a pile of gray ash, her fingers brushing against a metal box.
The lock had already rusted through, allowing her to pop it open with effortless ease.
Peering inside, a surge of adrenaline spiked through her chest. Scooping up the contents, she tucked them safely away, then tentatively stepped back out of the chamber. The rats had vanished entirely, allowing her to let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.