Chapter 1 Nightmare Assault

“Xiao Yi.” Jiang Cheng had been building up his emotions all the way. Finally, after seeing Yuan Xiao Yi waiting at their usual spot, the accumulated emotions burst forth.

Yuan Xiao Yi’s originally dim eyes lit up when she saw Jiang Cheng. “Senior, you’ve finally come!”

Jiang Cheng’s eyes were red, and his voice choked with emotion. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t save Xiao Hui. It’s all my fault…”

Hearing this, Yuan Xiao Yi’s body swayed, as if she was about to collapse. Jiang Cheng quickly put his arm around her waist to prevent her from falling.

After a few seconds, Yuan Xiao Yi’s tears streamed down her face. “Xiao Hui, she… she also…”

It seemed that both sides felt that the emotion was right, so they didn't delay any further and happily moved on to the next step.

“Senior.” Yuan Xiao Yi looked at Jiang Cheng with pitiful eyes, her voice trembling slightly. “I saw Xiao Yu last night.”

Xiao Yu…

Jiang Cheng quickly searched his mind for information about the missing girl, the one related to the sculpture. They had found a clay sculpting knife in the activity center’s warehouse.

“What did Xiao Yu say?” Jiang Cheng asked patiently.

Yuan Xiao Yi recalled, “Xiao Yu said she was alone in the sculpture hall. It was very dark inside, and she couldn’t find her way out no matter how she tried. All the doors had disappeared. Not locked, but disappeared!”

“The places where the doors used to be had all turned into walls!”

“She also said there were many… many strange sculptures inside that she had never seen before. And even though she was the only one in the sculpture hall, she… she could hear footsteps behind her, and some rustling sounds, as if…” Yuan Xiao Yi’s tone changed, and she looked at Jiang Cheng and said, “Something was crawling on the ground!”

“When she turned around, all the strange sounds disappeared.”

“Xiao Yu said she was being driven crazy, but she couldn’t do anything. She didn’t dare to make a sound or make too much noise, so she could only hide, find a place to hide…”

“Hide in a place where no one could find her.”

“But she also said that even though the place she was hiding was safe, she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. If she stayed there for too long, she would die anyway. So, Senior, please, you must save her! Xiao Yu is my best friend!” If one didn't know Yuan Xiao Yi’s background, it would be easy to be fooled by her acting.

Having been around for so long, he could count on his fingers the number of people whose acting skills were on par with his.

This Heart-Eating Demon was one of them.

Jiang Cheng cupped Yuan Xiao Yi’s face in his hands, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. “Xiao Yi, I promise you, I will do my best.”

“Mm.” Yuan Xiao Yi nodded, and then began to give Jiang Cheng background information on the mission.

After thinking for a moment, Yuan Xiao Yi recalled, “Senior, that place, the sculpture hall, is very strange. I heard that something happened during construction. A worker broke his leg, and another one’s safety rope snapped. He fell from a height and smashed his head.”

“The school almost got into a lawsuit with the construction team over it.”

“Anyway, all sorts of things happened as soon as they started construction. In the end, they heard that someone was brought in to take a look, and they said it was a problem with the land.”

“This used to be a mass grave a long time ago, and it was filled with the bodies of executed criminals.” Yuan Xiao Yi suddenly lowered her voice, speaking mysteriously.

Jiang Cheng also cooperated by shuddering a few times, his face showing a bit of fear.

“Later, according to what that person said, they changed the blueprints, and that’s how the art center was built.” Speaking of this, Yuan Xiao Yi seemed to suddenly remember something and immediately explained, “Senior, the sculpture hall is inside the art center, occupying a large space.”

“Some people say that if you look down from above, the entire art center is in the shape of a bagua (eight trigrams), but I’m not sure if that’s true.”

“I see.” Jiang Cheng nodded, then looked at Yuan Xiao Yi and said softly, “Xiao Yi, there should be rumors about this at the school, right?”

“Yes, Senior.” Yuan Xiao Yi looked a little nervous, wringing her hands together, her face pale. “Something happened there once, and it caused quite a stir.”

“It was… a newly hired intern teacher, a sculpture major. Since he was new, he wanted to work hard to try and stay.”

“At the time, there was a sculpture exhibition in the sculpture hall. There were a lot of people during the day, so it was chaotic. So, he stayed behind every night to watch and study in peace.”

“Officially, this wasn’t allowed, but the security guard on the night shift was a nice guy. He saw that the young man was from the countryside and was working hard, so he didn’t stop him. But he told him that he had to leave before 9 p.m.”

“Because the doors to the art center would be locked from the inside at 6 p.m. every day. No one was allowed to stay here overnight except for the security staff.”

“That’s the school’s rule.”

“So, the security guard told the teacher to come to the security room on the first floor after he finished watching the exhibition, and then he would open the door and let him leave.”

“This went on for a few days, until one day, the security guard dozed off while on duty. When he woke up, he realized it was already late at night.”

“He thought it was a little strange, because normally, the male teacher should have come to find him by now. Why hasn’t he…”

“He took a flashlight, put on his coat, and walked towards the sculpture hall. It was quiet all the way. When he got to the sculpture hall, he found the outer door was ajar, and the lights were off.”

“He pushed open the door and looked inside from the outside. It was very dark inside.”

“The security guard called out the male teacher’s name a few times, but didn’t hear a response. He thought the male teacher had left and hadn’t said goodbye because he saw him sleeping.”

“At first, he didn’t think much of it. He had just woken up and was still a little groggy. He closed the door to the sculpture hall, wrapped his coat tightly around himself, and walked back, planning to go back to the security room and continue sleeping.”

“But he hadn’t walked far when a gust of wind blew down the corridor, making him shiver and clearing his head a bit.”

“Slowly, he sensed that something was wrong. The door to the art center was locked from the inside, and he had the key. How did the male teacher leave?”

“Just then, he heard a strange sound.”

“The sound was very small, a rustling sound. If the surroundings hadn’t been so quiet, it might have been missed.”

“For some reason, the sound instinctively made his scalp tingle.”

“He mustered his courage, turned around, and followed the sound step by step. He found that the sound was actually coming from the sculpture hall, the door of which he had closed with his own hands.”

“Through the door, the sound became clearer, like rats or something were scratching at the wooden boards inside.”

“Or…” Yuan Xiao Yi paused and said in a low voice, “Something was crawling on the ground.”