“Aah—!”
A hand appeared out of nowhere and shoved Xia Jiuwei hard from behind.
Before she could react, she lost her footing and slammed face-first onto the concrete by the stairs.
“Ow... damn...”
Groaning, Xia Jiuwei pushed herself upright and brushed the dust from her clothes with practiced indifference.
“Are you seriously not tired of this already?” she muttered irritably. “Pulling the same petty crap every day—is it really that entertaining?”
She spun around and charged back up the stairs, only to stop short.
There was no one there.
No footsteps.
No laughter.
Not even the usual group of classmates who always showed up after one of these “pranks.”
The stairwell was completely empty.
“Hmph. Guess you finally learned when to back off.”
Clicking her tongue, she held her sprained left wrist and made her way toward the infirmary, mentally preparing for what had basically become her daily bandaging routine.
The hallway was unnaturally quiet.
Each step echoed sharply through the empty school building as her shoes scraped against the dust-covered concrete floor, stirring up the damp, stale smell of dirt.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound felt strangely loud in the silence.
“...Isn’t the school a little too quiet today?”
Ever since she fell down the stairs, the atmosphere around her had changed.
The building felt cold. Hollow.
Almost unsettling.
But instead of fear, Xia Jiuwei felt something else entirely.
A faint thrill.
The infirmary door stood slightly open.
She pushed it wider and peeked inside.
Empty.
“Anyone here?”
“I’m giving you three seconds. If nobody answers, I’ll just do it myself.”
She called out lazily while glancing around the room. After confirming no one was actually there, the corner of her lips lifted into a slightly crooked grin.
Once she finished wrapping her injuries, she casually stuffed a few extra medical supplies into her pockets before turning to leave.
The moment she stepped outside—
A strange sound drifted through the corridor.
Soft.
Wet.
Wrong.
She stopped in her tracks.
In the blind corner beside the infirmary entrance, several distorted masses of black shadow slowly began to emerge. Their shapes twisted unnaturally, as though something invisible were pulling and stretching them apart.
Then, little by little, they began taking human form.
Students.
“...Who’s there?”
“Is someone there?”
Frowning slightly, Xia Jiuwei stared at the seemingly empty hallway ahead of her, then walked forward anyway without the slightest hesitation.
The moment she stepped out fully into the corridor, the “crowd” closed around her.
Familiar faces surrounded her from every direction.
Too close.
Close enough to feel suffocating.
“Oh?”
One eyebrow lifted slightly as a faint smile appeared on her face.
“That’s a lot of people today.”
“What, did you all come here just to welcome me?”
No one answered.
They simply kept moving toward her.
Slowly.
Silently.
Step by step.
The atmosphere grew heavier.
The smile on Xia Jiuwei’s face gradually faded.
“You people really never get tired of this, huh?”
Her gaze swept across the crowd, her voice turning colder.
“Shoving people around. Blocking their way. Pretending nothing happened afterward.”
She let out a quiet laugh devoid of any real amusement.
“Because the teachers conveniently ‘don’t see it,’ you think you can get away with anything?”
Her eyes lingered on several faces in front of her.
“When you do it, it’s just a joke.”
She took a step forward.
“But the moment I hit back—suddenly it becomes violence?”
The instant the words left her mouth, one of the female students lunged at her without warning.
Xia Jiuwei reacted immediately.
She twisted aside on instinct, driving a knee into the girl’s stomach before bringing her elbow down hard.
Bang!
The attacker hit the floor instantly.
Xia Jiuwei planted her foot against the girl’s chest, her breathing slightly uneven as a low laugh escaped her throat.
Something buried deep inside her felt like it had cracked open.
A strange thrill ran through her.
“...This actually feels pretty good.”
She turned abruptly and sprinted back into the infirmary, grabbing a heavy metal fire extinguisher on the way.
When she stepped back out, she didn’t hesitate anymore.
She swung immediately.
One figure after another collapsed beneath the brutal blows.
Smash.
Crash.
Kick.
Swing.
Her attacks grew harsher with every strike.
But soon, she realized something was wrong.
The students she knocked down began writhing unnaturally on the floor. Their bodies twisted and melted apart like black wax, dissolving back into shapeless masses of shadow.
Then, slowly—
They started reforming.
Limbs.
Faces.
Bodies.
The shadows rebuilt themselves into human form once again before standing back up as though nothing had happened.
“...So they can regenerate too.”
Xia Jiuwei’s breathing grew heavier with every passing second.
Her stamina was draining fast, yet the shadowy figures continued reforming endlessly, as though they could never truly be killed.
“Tch.”
Grinding her teeth, she suddenly burst forward toward the stairwell.
She drove ahead with her elbow, forcing her way through the suffocating wall of bodies and tearing open a narrow path through the crowd.
The moment she broke free, she caught sight of a familiar figure at the corner of the staircase.
“...Grandpa?”
The figure didn’t turn around.
It simply kept walking.
Xia Jiuwei froze for a split second before immediately chasing after it.
Ever since she was little, she had known her grandfather wasn’t ordinary. The combat techniques he taught her were far beyond anything a normal person should know.
She had simply never asked questions.
But now... it felt like the answer was right in front of her.
Dodging the black shadows pursuing her from behind, Xia Jiuwei sprinted after the familiar figure ahead.
Hallways.
Corners.
Flights of stairs.
Every time she got close enough to reach him, the figure would disappear around the next turn just before she arrived.
Until finally, the old man stepped into an entirely ordinary-looking classroom.
Bang—!
Xia Jiuwei shoved the classroom door open violently.
But there was no sign of her grandfather inside.
Her eyes swept quickly across the room before landing on a girl curled up in the corner of the classroom, trembling uncontrollably.
Without hesitation, Xia Jiuwei immediately moved to secure the room. She locked the doors and windows, then pulled the curtains shut, completely isolating the classroom from the outside world.
“Did you see an old man just now?”
After finishing her makeshift barricade, she turned toward the girl in the corner and asked casually.
The girl didn’t answer.
She only continued trembling, the fear on her face impossible to hide.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Xia Jiuwei began walking toward her without much concern.
“Don’t come any closer!!”
The girl screamed.
In the next instant, countless black shadows burst violently out from beneath her feet, pouring from her shadow like living creatures.
Realizing something was wrong, Xia Jiuwei immediately stepped back several paces.
Seeing that she didn’t seem hostile, the surging shadows gradually calmed before slowly fading back into nothingness.
“Ooh~ If I could make shadows like that, school life would be way easier. At least I wouldn’t end up injured every other day.”
Xia Jiuwei casually hopped onto a nearby desk, swinging her legs back and forth as though they weren’t trapped inside a nightmare.
“Hm?”
The girl in the corner looked up at her, confusion written plainly across her face.
“Look here. And here too.”
Xia Jiuwei pointed at the fresh sprain on her left wrist, the scrape on her face, and several older scars scattered across her body.
“Didn’t you see me going to the infirmary earlier? Those shadow things of yours were literally waiting outside to gang up on me.”
“...Or are you saying those weren’t your doing?”
“Sorry...”
The girl lowered her head, burying her face between her knees.
“Aww, come on. We’re both stuck in the same mess here.”
Xia Jiuwei waved dismissively.
“If we both ended up in this weird place, there’s no point apologizing.”
“Anyway, what’s your name? Mine’s Xia Jiuwei.”
“Lu Nian’an.”
The girl answered quietly.
“Nice name. Feels like I’ve heard it somewhere before...”
Xia Jiuwei lowered her head in thought for a moment before shrugging.
“Eh, whatever. Not important.”
“About that old man you mentioned earlier...”
Lu Nian’an hesitated briefly.
“I did see him.”
Xia Jiuwei’s eyes sharpened instantly.
“Where did he go?”
Lu Nian’an pointed toward the teacher’s podium.
“He walked over there, left something behind... and then suddenly disappeared.”
Xia Jiuwei immediately headed toward the front of the classroom.
Resting atop the desk was a black hardcover book.
The cover was smooth and strangely cold to the touch.
Without thinking much about it, she reached out and picked it up.
The instant her fingers touched the book—
The black hardcover dissolved instantly into a pitch-black symbol that burned itself directly onto the back of her right hand.
“AAH—!”
Pain tore through her hand like a branding iron.
Xia Jiuwei grabbed her right wrist tightly with her left hand as her body bent forward from the agony. Cold sweat formed across her forehead.
“Are you okay?”
Startled by her sudden reaction, Lu Nian’an quickly rushed over from the corner and supported her before she collapsed.
Gradually, the pain began to fade.
Xia Jiuwei’s tense expression slowly loosened—
A tiny white fluffball the size of a fist suddenly appeared on her shoulder.
Both Lu Nian’an and Xia Jiuwei froze in shock.
The tiny creature blinked its round eyes before speaking in an adorably childish voice.
“Welcome to the Under-Reality.”