Deep Within the Living

Chapter 65: The Icy Academic Building

As he gazed upon the gruesome, blood-soaked scene in the Security Office, where chunks of corpses still retained some lingering warmth, Luo Di pieced together the events based on Xiaoying’s mention of noises from the fifth-floor classroom.

After splitting up from them, the class leader had likely escaped to the outer Security Office of the academic building, supported by her Investigator Combat Gear, and joined forces with the stationed security team. However, the skin-type Impersonator had not given up. The class leader had clearly become her must-kill target.

Using her unique abilities and the absolute advantage provided by the Seam environment, the Impersonator had infiltrated the security team through skin penetration, leading to a massive slaughter that wiped out nearly all the guards. The class leader was likely the sole survivor.

At a critical moment, Gao Yuxuan must have arrived just in time to shield the class leader and aid in her retreat. However, with her body injured, stamina depleted, and her combat gear destroyed, the class leader was no longer capable of running as quickly as before. It was impossible for her to reach the Sports Center to seek help from the teachers.

Additionally, leading the Impersonator to the already precarious infirmary was not an option. The two of them likely had no choice but to flee into the academic building, hoping to use its complex layout to delay their pursuer.

With this thought in mind, Luo Di immediately dashed out of the Security Office and looked up at the fifth floor of the academic building.

There were indeed faint noises coming from above, but they were too soft to distinguish. Now was not the time to hesitate. Luo Di motioned for Xiaoying to follow closely.

Based on the sequence of events he’d reconstructed, both the class leader and Gao Yuxuan were in extreme danger. Luo Di was also certain that the security team couldn’t have been wiped out so easily—surely the Impersonator had sustained injuries during the battle. If he could reunite with the class leader and Gao Yuxuan, perhaps they could work together, as they had in past training exercises, to eliminate the target.

However, there was an unsettling feeling lodged in Luo Di’s heart, like a thorn he couldn’t remove. Something about this Seam incident felt off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Now, three paths lay before him:Help the friends he had made for the first time in years, as they’d always done, by defeating the enemy and escaping together.Rush to the track field to seek help from the teachers, though this carried a high risk of becoming Gong Xin’s next source of blood and flesh.Follow Mr. Guo’s advice and retreat to the relatively safe dormitory building, hiding out like a dog until the ordeal was over.But Luo Di didn’t make a choice—or rather, in his mind, there was only one path to take.

He looked at the academic building that had been his companion for three years. Under the cover of night, it was eerily quiet and felt more unfamiliar than ever.

The fluorescent lights at the entrance flickered with a faint buzzing, as if beckoning him inside.

Should he enter?

Luo Di didn’t hesitate. He charged in.

Tap. His shoe soles made faint sounds as they stepped on the smooth staircase surface.

Suddenly—

Ding-ding-ding!

An unexpected school bell echoed through the building, signaling the end of class.

Moments later, a flood of students poured down from the upper floors. The stairwell was filled with laughter and cheerful chatter, as if he had truly returned to the after-school hours of the past.

Luo Di didn’t sense anything unusual. Deep in his mind, one singular goal rooted itself: “Find the class leader and Xiaogao.”

He continued upward.

Each student that passed him seemed entirely real, and Luo Di scanned every face, trying to find one that resembled the class leader’s.

At first, the faces had distinct features. But as the crowd grew larger and he ascended higher, the students’ faces gradually lost key details—some missing certain facial features, others with entire faces that vanished altogether.

Yet Luo Di didn’t notice anything wrong. He was still focused on finding the two of them.

By the time he reached the final flight of stairs leading to the fifth floor, where their classroom was located, the students had completely dispersed. The stairwell returned to its eerie silence, and the class leader and Gao Yuxuan were still nowhere to be seen.

“They might be in the classroom,” Luo Di thought. The source of thɪs content is novel_fіre.net

With that, he climbed the remaining steps.

Just then, a sound came from above.

It wasn’t the sound of shoes stepping on stairs, but something striking the staircase—a sound Luo Di had never heard before. It was strange, unsettling.

Whatever it was, it was moving down from the fifth floor.

At the same time, Luo Di was climbing up from the fourth floor.

Their speeds were nearly identical.

Due to the concrete walls of the stairwell, Luo Di couldn’t see what it was. He would have to reach the landing between the two floors to find out.

As he approached the corner, the sound grew louder and clearer. It was eerily familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.

He stepped onto the final stair leading to the landing just as the thing “dropped” down from above.

At eye level, there was nothing.

But something brushed against his shoe.

Luo Di’s body froze. He felt a cold sweat erupting from every pore, sliding down his cheek as if urging him to look down.

Even though he didn’t want to, he had to confirm what it was.

Slowly, his trembling gaze shifted downward.

The first thing to enter his field of vision was silky black hair, scattered messily across the stairs.

Under the dense strands of black hair was something spherical, completely hidden from view, its features obscured.

Even through his shoes, Luo Di could feel the chilling cold emanating from the hair, and an ominous chill radiating from the spherical object underneath.

To verify, Luo Di had no choice but to bend down and reach out to touch the lifeless black hair, seeking answers to the questions haunting his mind.

As he gently lifted a strand of hair from the top, a soft pink lip came into view, along with the faintly visible and all-too-familiar bridge of a nose.

The skin his fingers brushed against was unnervingly smooth, as if he had touched it countless times before.

He pushed aside more hair above the nose, slowly peeling it away—

Stare!

A pair of lifeless eyes, pupils fully dilated, locked onto Luo Di’s. Despite their vacant and dispersed state, they seemed to meet his gaze.

At last, he had found her.

The class leader was right beneath his feet.

Just as her head was about to open its mouth and say something, Luo Di instinctively clicked his tongue.

Snap!

The crisp sound shattered the silence of the stairwell.

At the same time, a hand, warm to the touch and clearly belonging to a living person, pressed against Luo Di’s forehead, accompanied by the unmistakable breath of a living being.

Buzz!

Sizzle, sizzle!

The flickering light illuminated the number 4 painted on the stairwell wall.

There was no severed head beneath his feet at all.

The only other person in the stairwell was Xiaoying, who had tiptoed onto the step above him to reach his forehead, her expression a mix of seriousness and fear—two emotions that shouldn’t have appeared together.

When Luo Di’s eyes finally regained focus and met hers, Xiaoying let out a long sigh of relief.

“Phew! You scared me, Luo Di. You suddenly froze while walking, and your forehead was ice-cold when I touched it. But it’s finally warming up now.

“Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. The Seam is constantly trying to invade our minds—if you’re not careful, you might turn into one of those things.”

“Thanks,” Luo Di replied curtly.

He didn’t linger for even a moment. Even though what had just happened was merely an illusion induced by the Seam, the memory of that head was enough to quicken his steps.

They reached the fifth floor.

Class 5, Senior Year, was the second classroom on the left from the staircase. Under normal circumstances, it would take fewer than ten steps to reach the classroom door.

But when they stepped into the hallway and turned left, both Luo Di and Xiaoying froze in place.

Xiaoying, gripped by tension, clutched the empty sleeve of Luo Di’s shirt.

The corridor before them had been infinitely extended.

What was once a semi-open corridor (classrooms on one side, railings on the other) was now completely enclosed, with classrooms on both sides, stretching endlessly into the depths.

Clearly, the Seam’s influence had reached this area—or, more specifically, had deliberately targeted the fifth floor.

“Let’s go.”

Luo Di showed no fear. Wielding his blade in one hand, he pressed forward, his resolve unwavering. Xiaoying, thinking of the class leader’s smiling face, mustered her courage and followed quickly.

As they passed the classrooms, they instinctively glanced at the door signs:

Class █, Senior Year.

The class numbers were blacked out with thick rectangles. The classrooms on the opposite side bore the same markings.

The windows in some classroom doors were covered with newspaper, others nailed shut with planks, making it impossible to see inside. Faint sounds of conversation or recitation echoed from within.

Occasionally, they passed classrooms where the interiors were visible. In those, the seats were empty, but the multimedia systems were inexplicably playing bizarre, nonsensical images. Ceiling fans spun idly overhead.

Faced with this seemingly endless corridor, Luo Di’s patience wore thin. His walk turned into a run until—

Splash!

His foot landed in a puddle of nearly frozen blood.

Instinctively, he turned to look.

Class 5, Senior Year.

Reaching out, he pushed open the unlocked classroom door.

The classroom windows were entirely sealed, and the light sources inside were destroyed, leaving the room in absolute darkness—a total lack of light that was deeply unsettling.

Using the flashlight, he swept the beam across the space.

In its glow, a corpse was revealed, nailed to the blackboard in a spread-eagle position.

The grayish-white hair hanging from its head was enough to confirm its identity: the skin-type Impersonator.

It was completely lifeless.