Chapter 14 Noguchi Is Not in There

Having scared the people, Feng Bujue strode toward the locker.

And because he had the flashlight, his teammates naturally had to follow…

This locker, located in the back of the classroom, was embedded in the wall. Its height was clearly designed for elementary school students, a bit too low for adults. And its arrangement… was consistent with the students' seating.

The top row, from left to right, had the names Yuan, Sanchianyuan, and Totsu-Mori written on them. The second row was Noguchi, Togashi, and Yamada; and the third row was Watanabe, Sawada, and Suzuki, respectively.

"Right… after that information check earlier, the class monitor's identity should be clear, right?" Feng Bujue said as he walked to the locker. "Of the nine people in this class, six are here now. Of the remaining three… Suzuki was burned to death in Showa 47, and Noguchi disappeared the day after Suzuki was burned to death, so… the only one who hasn't appeared, ‘Watanabe,’ is undoubtedly the class monitor."

"Yeah…" Ruoyu echoed, hearing Jue-ge's words, "Judging from the seating arrangement, it's reasonable for the class monitor to sit in the last row."

"I don't care who the class monitor is anymore." At this time, Gui Xiao looked at Jue-ge with a resentful look. "I only care if there's a corpse stuffed in Noguchi's locker."

Obviously, Gui Xiao was deeply frightened by Jue-ge's words just now, so he was quite conflicted about what might be in that locker.

"Heh… heh heh…" Xiao Tan chuckled dryly. "Looking at the size of the locker… it's impossible to stuff a seven- or eight-year-old elementary school student in there, right?"

"Well, in theory, it shouldn't be possible." Feng Bujue turned his head, looked at Xiao Tan, and said, "The size of this locker is about 28*30*33 (centimeters). Not to mention an eight-year-old child, it's hard to even fit a baby." He said to this point, a weird smile on his face, "But… that's just the general situation."

"Hey! You're going to say something scary again, aren't you! You're going to say it, aren't you!" Gui Xiao could already foresee Jue-ge's intentions.

"No, I'm just talking about a math problem." Feng Bujue replied, "As far as I know, if an eight-year-old child is crushed into a paste, the volume they occupy can be compressed to about 0.024 cubic meters, and the volume of this locker…"

"0.02772 cubic meters." Xiao Ling gave a very precise answer almost without thinking.

"Heh heh… that's how it is." Feng Bujue responded with a smile.

"What do you mean, 'that's how it is'!" Gui Xiao was shocked again. "What do you mean, 'as far as you know'! How do you know the volume of a child crushed into a paste! Have you crushed one before? Did you put it in a container and measure it after you crushed it?"

"No, you said it, I didn't say anything." Feng Bujue said as he turned his head away, preparing to open the locker.

"Your guilty conscience-like reaction makes you even more suspicious, hey!" Gui Xiao became even more concerned when he saw Jue-ge's reaction.

But Jue-ge ignored him, simply inserting the key he found in the podium into the keyhole of the locker with the name "Noguchi" written on it.

Zi—

In this dim environment, the metallic friction of the key inserting into the lock slot seemed particularly harsh.

The moment the locker opened, although the people standing behind didn't speak, their hearts were in their throats. After all, in this kind of atmosphere… apart from Feng Bujue, who had no fear, everyone else was a little scared.

"Hmm…" After pulling open the locker door, Feng Bujue said in a deep voice, "Looks like Noguchi isn't inside."

"It's normal for him not to be inside, okay!" Gui Xiao shouted, "Why do you sound a little disappointed?"

"He was just scaring you." An Yueqin said at this time, "With this kind of wooden locker… if you stuff碎尸 (suishi – a dismembered corpse) inside, the smell and blood would definitely seep out, and people would find out on the same day."

"Tch… I knew it!" Gui Xiao listened and felt it made sense. He immediately said to Jue-ge again, "You… you're forcibly increasing your teammates' scare value! Are you trying to lower my fear rating reward?"

"Yes." Unexpectedly, Feng Bujue admitted it frankly, "That's what I'm planning. If you're not satisfied, learn to think more about things… have a mental preparation for any situation, so you won't be too scared."

"Hmph… just you wait!" Gui Xiao felt like he had been "taught" again, and was very unhappy, but he could only snort coldly there and leave a harsh sentence.

"Okay, back to the topic… everyone, come and take a look at this." A few seconds later, Feng Bujue took out the contents of Noguchi's locker and showed it to everyone.

[Name: Suzuki's Recorder]
[Type: Story Related]
[Quality: Dilapidated]
[Function: Activate the Music Room Mechanism]
[Can Be Brought Out of the Scenario: No]
[Remarks: Only male players can play it.]

"Can't be taken out, so it should be a main storyline item." Xiao Tan said after reading it.

"But… this scenario hasn't given us a main quest yet." Xiao Ling added.

Just as the two of them were talking, suddenly…

Gudong—

A strange sound suddenly came, scaring the five people in the team.

Especially Gui Xiao, who instinctively turned on his flashlight in surprise.

"Wh… what's that sound?" Xiao Tan also hurriedly asked in a flustered tone.

"The sound…" Ruoyu, who was standing on the other side, replied, "Seems to be coming from Suzuki's locker."

She was right, the source of the sound was none other than the locker.

"Presumably, the act of ‘obtaining the recorder’ triggered some kind of event." Feng Bujue continued, "Hey… Gui Xiao, since you've already turned on the flashlight, why don't you shine it on the situation behind us." Although Jue-ge didn't turn his head, he could tell who turned on the light just by the sound and the arc of the light behind him. "In case the sound just now was some kind of feint, we can be prepared."

"O… okay." Gui Xiao replied, and quickly turned his flashlight to the back, sweeping back and forth, monitoring the windows of the corridor and the entire classroom.

"Then… let me see what's going on in Suzuki's locker." Feng Bujue said as he reached for the locker that made the sound.

Ka—

As the saying goes, it was too late!

Just as Jue-ge's right hand approached the locker, the locker door opened by itself, and a pale little hand suddenly reached out from inside and grabbed Jue-ge's wrist.

"Ah—"

This sudden scene caused An Yueqin to scream again.

Gui Xiao, who heard the shout, also immediately turned his head and saw the extremely creepy scene.

"Ho~ what are you planning to do?" Feng Bujue himself muttered casually, and slowly squatted down, bringing his line of sight to the same level as the locker.

After squatting down, Jue-ge raised the flashlight in his left hand and shone it directly into the locker.

The next second, everyone saw a slightly cyan, child's face.

That face… could be said to be nine parts ghost and only one part human. The blood-amber-like pupils, abnormal skin color, and terrifying face were all typical signs of an evil spirit.

"Ga—" When the face was illuminated by the flashlight, it screamed sharply and immediately shrunk back.

Physically speaking, it shouldn't have any room to retreat, but… in this kind of supernatural scenario, Newton was often given the middle finger and ignored.

In short, the monster quickly retreated more than thirty centimeters, and the little hand that grabbed Jue-ge's wrist also loosened and shrank into the space inside the locker along with the face.

However…

At this moment, there was a "pa" sound.

Feng Bujue grabbed back, using his right hand to grab the monster's wrist.

"You think you can run after showing off?" Not knowing who the villain was, Feng Bujue took out the attitude of a bully bullying a child, saying trash talk while violently dragging the other party out.

For a time, the cries of the child in the locker were constant, like a wounded animal running away.

"I'll go… what's going on…" Seeing this scene, something seemed to snap in Gui Xiao's head. In those ten seconds, his scare value dropped to zero, because he really couldn't understand what was happening in front of him.

To give an inappropriate example, it's like you're watching an animal training show at a circus, and halfway through, the animal trainer suddenly goes through a ring of fire himself, and the lion he raised rewards him with a piece of meat and pats him on the head…

In a sense… this kind of performance is even more impressive than a lion jumping through a ring of fire.

"You think you can compare strength with me?" Before long, Feng Bujue dragged the monster, who should have escaped according to the normal storyline, out of the locker, and said a provocative line to the monster, who was about the size of an eight-year-old child.

"Help me hold this." Then, Jue-ge said another sentence and threw the flashlight to Xiao Tan behind him.

This way, he could free up both hands to mess with the one he had caught…

"Say! What's your name? How did you die? When did you die?" Feng Bujue asked the other party three questions in a row and added an eight-character policy, "Confess leniently, resist strictly!"

"Is this a ghost enforcer or a party member…" Ruoyu seized the opportunity to make fun of Jue-ge's behavior again.

"What ghost enforcer?" Feng Bujue said, "Someone like me, at the very least, has to be a judge… oh no… King Yama!"

"Cha—" The little ghost ignored their mutual teasing. After confirming that struggling was useless, it howled loudly in an even more miserable voice.

This scream… was really ear-piercing. To what extent? The players' survival values ​​were reduced by 5%...

Seeing the loss of health, how could Feng Bujue endure it? He immediately reacted, pushing the little ghost against the locker with his right hand, and forcefully covering the other party's mouth with his left hand.

This trick really worked, and it did suppress the little ghost's howl to an intensity that wouldn't cause health loss.

"Xiao Tan, move the flashlight's light away a little, don't point it directly at it." After thinking for two seconds, Feng Bujue gave Xiao Tan an instruction.

"Okay…" Xiao Tan wasn't very scared at this time, mainly because a teammate who was even more terrifying than a ghost had already controlled the situation. He responded, and quickly shifted the light of the flashlight a little, no longer aiming it directly at the monster.

Almost at the same time the light moved away, the monster's howl also slowed down and gradually disappeared.

"Okay, I'll give you another chance." Feng Bujue looked directly at the monster's pair of blood pupils and said, "I'll let you speak now… If you answer my questions well, I'll consider letting you leave or helping you to be free." He paused, a look of ferocity flashing across his face, "If you don't know what's good for you and resist stubbornly… I'll wrap you into a zongzi with that clump of hair on the podium and use some physical means to combine you with the flashlight, making you a piece of my equipment."

"Wo cao?" Hearing this, Gui Xiao imagined the scene, and goosebumps covered his body. "You're too cruel, aren't you? You don't even let ghosts go? He's still a child!"

"Stop talking nonsense, I'm negotiating here." Feng Bujue impatiently turned his head and glared at Gui Xiao, then looked at the monster again, "You… understand?"

"Ugh…" The little ghost really responded in a muffled voice.

So, Feng Bujue released his left hand, changing back to using both hands to control the other party's body and pressing it against the locker.

This time, the monster, which was not exposed to the light, seemed a little calmer and didn't scream randomly. Of course… it couldn't be ruled out that Jue-ge's intimidation worked.

"What's your name?" Feng Bujue's question came quickly.

"No… Noguchi Eiji."

"You're a ghost, right?"

"Yes…"

"When and how did you die?"

"I… I can't remember."

"Then what do you remember?"

"I…" When asked this question, Noguchi's expression changed slightly. A few traces of pain appeared on his face, and his eyes moved to Suzuki's locker. "I remember… that morning, I was the first one to arrive in the class, the other students hadn't come yet, I… I found that Suzuki's locker wasn't locked properly, I wanted to… open it and see, but… then…"

Noguchi seemed to recall something particularly terrifying at this point, his entire face twisting up and his gaze shifting to Suzuki's locker.

"Ri… right… I was trapped in the locker." After hesitating for a moment, Noguchi seemed to remember something. "I… I kept wanting to get out, every time I heard someone approaching the locker, I would grab them… I wanted them to pull me out, but… but they… they were all pulled into the locker by me… It's so dark inside… there are… so many people… they're all broken… turned into…"

Ka! Kaka—

Just as Noguchi was halfway through his words, suddenly, all the lockers on the locker suddenly burst open from the inside, and several arms stretched out from each locker.

These arms were of different thicknesses and sizes, but all were pale white.

Since Noguchi was already pressed against the locker, the hands took the opportunity to grab him firmly.

"No… no! Save me!" Noguchi only had time to say these few words before he was torn into pieces by the dozens of hands and forcibly dragged back into the locker.

Pa pa pa pa…

Then, the hands shrank back into the lockers at a strange speed, and the doors of the nine lockers… closed in response.