The Resurrection of Dread

Chapter 3: The Ghost Domain

Ghosts cannot be killed.Only a ghost can deal with a ghost.Discern the ghost’s rules.

The three sentences were clearly written on the blackboard—messy, yet distinct, showing that Zhou Zheng had used a great deal of force while writing them.

However, the students in the evening self-study session just looked at each other in bewilderment.

Is this guy really an Interpol officer? Could he be a lunatic who escaped from somewhere? Is this supposed to be a safety lecture? He’s just spouting a bunch of nonsense to fool us.

Some students shook their heads, clearly showing they didn’t believe a word he said. Others started whispering among themselves, and some even laughed and joked.

Clearly, the majority of the students didn’t take Zhou Zheng’s words to heart at all.

Only Yang Jian looked solemn. Because of the story on the forum yesterday and that photo, he already felt deeply uneasy. Now, combined with this man’s bizarre speech... could it be that the world really was undergoing some kind of change that he knew nothing about?

After writing the three sentences, Zhou Zheng didn’t say much else. Instead, he surveyed everyone with his haggard, bloodshot eyes. “Students, if you have any questions, or if anything strange has happened around you, you may ask me now, and I will answer. If there are no questions, then today’s safety lecture ends here.”

Not a single student raised a hand to ask a question.

Should I ask him about that photo of the old man?

Yang Jian’s expression shifted. He took out his phone, opened the forum, and scrolled back to the photo of the old man.

But just as he was hesitating, the lights in the classroom suddenly dimmed, plunging the entire room into a gloom.

“Hmm?”

Zhou Zheng’s expression on the podium shifted slightly, and he immediately became highly alert.

Yang Jian also subconsciously looked up. But when he inadvertently glanced through the glass window and saw a figure in the hallway outside the classroom, his eyes instantly widened. His whole body tensed up involuntarily, and a wave of extreme terror surged from his heart, quickly engulfing his entire being. In that moment, he even lost all sensation in his body.

Outside the window, an old man wearing a long black gown, his face covered in livor mortis spots, stood there stiffly. His grayish-white, deathly silent eyes, devoid of any spark of life, stared into the classroom. He stood as straight and rigid as a cold corpse.

And surrounding that old man was pitch blackness, without a single ray of light. The hallway lights seemed to have completely extinguished at this moment. A thick, heavy darkness began eroding into the classroom like liquid mercury.

The wall nearest to the old man aged at a speed visible to the naked eye. The freshly painted surface suddenly looked as if a decade had passed in an instant; it became covered in moss, the plaster turned black, and it began to peel and mottle. A gloomy, rotting smell gradually permeated the air.

It’s the old man from the forum story... Impossible, how could he be here?

Yang Jian’s palm turned white from gripping his phone too hard. The screen displayed the photo of that old man, which was identical to the one outside the window—except the old man outside was even more terrifying than the one in the picture...

Suddenly, he shot up from his seat in sheer fright. In his agitation, he even knocked his chair over.

Due to his extreme reaction, all the other classmates in the class turned to look at him in unison.

“Yang Jian, why are you standing up? Sit down immediately! Don’t disrupt the class discipline,” Teacher Wang shouted from the back.

But Yang Jian acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. His terrified eyes were** fixed on the old man in the black gown outside the window.

The old man moved...

His stiff body turned in a mechanical fashion. His grayish-white, deathly, terrifying eyes, seemingly out of focus, just numbly followed the movement of his head.

Tap. Tap-tap~!

Crisp footsteps, devoid of any echo, sounded in the hallway outside, faintly drifting into the classroom.

Is he leaving?

Cold sweat broke out all over Yang Jian’s body. He prayed with all his heart that the old man would leave this place and not come inside.

If the story on the forum was true, then once this old man walked in... the consequences were unimaginable.

But contrary to his wishes, the old man didn’t leave. He only walked a few steps before stopping right in front of the classroom door.

“Yang Jian, won’t you sit down? Did you not hear me? You dare to disrupt even a safety lecture?” Teacher Wang became stern.

“Ahhh~!”

At that moment, a female student let out a scream, then pointed at the books on her desk, too scared to speak.

Everyone saw that the books on the desk in front of her were rapidly turning yellow, then molding, and finally rotting away... until they became a pile of black, decaying matter.

“It stinks! Su Lei, why is there a pile of s**t on your desk?” Zhang Wei said, pinching his nose.

“Impossible! How could a Ghost Domain appear in the school at a time like this?”

But a male student nearby had a face as pale as iron. He suddenly stood up and quickly retreated several steps.

“Fang Jing, what are you screaming about?”

Teacher Wang was furious. What was wrong with the usually disciplined students during tonight’s self-study?

Zhou Zheng’s eyes narrowed on the podium. He was filled with vigilance, and his previous haggardness vanished completely. He became like a wild beast let out of its cage, turning somewhat violent and fierce. He stared at Fang Jing and said, “You know about Ghost Domains?”

Fang Jing, however, displayed a calmness that was not normal for a human. He said, “Zhou Zheng, you know very well what the appearance of a Ghost Domain means. At least one Dangerous-level ghost has appeared within the school. If this isn’t handled properly today, no one currently on campus will leave alive—including you.”

“It seems you know quite a lot. Are you also a Ghost Rider?” Zhou Zheng asked.

“Zhou Zheng, that’s my business. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Then, Fang Jing stared fiercely at Yang Jian. “I originally planned to deal with you in a few days, but I didn’t expect the future to change because of this. Yang Jian, I’m putting my words out there today: I will not let you grow. In the future, you are going to be too terrifying.”

“?”

Yang Jian looked at Fang Jing with confusion, not understanding his words. But what he cared about more was the old man in the black gown standing outside the classroom door.

The other students, however, were shocked by these words.

“Holy crap, Fang Jing, that’s a massive info dump! What happened to you? Talking about the future and ghosts... are you a time traveler from the future or something?”

“It must be! It has to be! Protagonists in novels are always like this. They wake up and return to the past. Fang Jing, are you the legendary protagonist? Something huge must be going to happen in the future. Please carry us! We need your protection!”

“If Fang Jing is the protagonist, then Yang Jian must be the big villain. Fang Jing must have been killed by Yang Jian in the future, and now he’s been reborn to get revenge. Everyone, hurry up and isolate Yang Jian! Don’t hang out with him anymore. Brother Fang, please look after us in the future. We’ll follow your lead!”

“We’re doomed, we’re doomed. What is wrong with today? Is everyone’s brain malfunctioning? Am I just not keeping up with the times, or is the world changing too fast? By the way, why did my books turn into a pile of s**t too? I have a vague feeling that something huge is about to happen. I’m panicking like crazy.”

The students speaking seemed completely unaware that danger had already descended upon them amidst the bizarre occurrences. They were merely curious, or even excited and thrilled.

Suddenly—

Thud. Thud-thud.

A dull, clear knocking sound, as if rapping directly on everyone’s heart, abruptly rang out. Carrying an almost eerie tone, it drifted into the classroom.

In that moment, everyone felt as if their souls were being strangled by something, a suffocating oppression like being held underwater.

It’s that knocking sound... exactly the same. Yang Jian’s heart trembled.

This was identical to the sound from the audio file in the forum, only hearing it live was much clearer.

Zhou Zheng’s face was exceptionally grave. He picked up a special phone and urgently pressed a button. The call connected immediately on the other end.

“Zhou Zheng? Report the situation.”

A woman’s voice came from the phone.

“I’m at Dachang City No. 7 High School. Emergency incident. At least one Dangerous-level ghost has appeared on campus,” Zhou Zheng said immediately.

“Logged.”

The voice on the other end was very fast. “Can you handle it?”

Zhou Zheng replied, “The ghost has already formed a Ghost Domain and has started affecting my location. I can’t see any lights outside. I estimate the range of the Ghost Domain is larger than I imagined.”

“A Ghost Domain... The situation has escalated. It’s not something you can handle. Please retreat immediately.”

“It’s a bit too late to leave now. There are many students here. I need to ensure they can leave alive as much as possible,” Zhou Zheng said.

“Using the power of a ghost in your current state is very dangerous. By the time you’re done, there might not be just one ghost in your location, but two. I suggest you retreat. Although you are near your limit, even if you risk your life, you might not be able to save a single person. A ghost capable of producing a Ghost Domain could even be classified as a Disaster level,” the voice on the other end said immediately.

Zhou Zheng said, “There’s no time. I’m less than five meters away from that thing, right outside the classroom door. It might have already targeted me. I will keep the line open. If it cuts off, it means I’m dead. Please pass my will to my parents. That’s all. I’m starting my operation now.”

Thud. Thud-thud.

The dull, oppressive knocking continued outside—one long, two short—at a fixed frequency, constantly rapping against the classroom door.

“Teacher Wang, someone’s knocking.” A student unaware of the situation shouted.

Teacher Wang hesitated, but seeing Zhou Zheng’s demeanor, it seemed a serious problem had occurred. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he still opened the back door of the classroom and walked out to see who was knocking.

“Don’t go out!” Zhou Zheng shouted urgently.

But it was too late by the time he spoke. Teacher Wang had already walked out. Yet, bizarrely, the moment Teacher Wang stepped out the door, it was as if in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Yes, vanished.

Outside the classroom door was pitch blackness. The thick darkness seemed capable of swallowing any trace of light. Once Teacher Wang walked out, there was no more movement, not even a single sound. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

And as the classroom door opened, the darkness outside seeped in rapidly like a thick black fog, constantly eroding the space inside the classroom.

At this moment, even the most oblivious students felt that something was wrong.

Everyone widened their eyes in terror. Some female students screamed in fright, leaving their seats and constantly retreating toward the back.

Are there really ghosts?