The Arrival of Horror

Chapter 4The Terrifying Ghostly Knocking

Thud, thud, thud.

The dull, eerie knocking sound continued at a fixed frequency, like a well-tuned alarm clock ringing out.

The classroom door was not locked, not even latched, just casually closed. A slight push would easily open it. However, what sent shivers down one's spine was that the old man in a black robe, covered in corpse spots, did not push open the door. He stood stiffly outside, knocking on the door, showing no intention of entering.

Although the old man didn't come in, the thick darkness outside the corridor rapidly encroached.

Unimaginable changes began to occur in the classroom.

The once pristine walls became mottled and moldy, with wall paint continuously peeling off, creating an uneven surface. Black-green mold grew on the pockmarked walls, emitting a cold, damp odor. Books on the seats quickly turned yellow, then rotted. Even the cement floor began to weather rapidly, revealing rusted steel bars, with some areas starting to collapse.

In an instant, it seemed as though decades had passed here, ravaged by time.

Yet, the classroom lights struggled against the darkness, the bright light resembling a candle flickering in the wind, emitting a faint glow that seemed on the verge of extinguishing.

Fear etched itself onto every student's face; some screamed, some called for help, and others trembled...

The only calm figure was Zhou Zheng at the lectern.

He remained motionless, surveying his surroundings, alert to any movement.

A ghost capable of creating a ghostly realm... this was beyond his ability to handle.

His only task was to find a way out, to ensure that these students could leave alive, even if only a few of them.

"Zhou Zheng, look at this."

At that moment, Fang Jing suddenly exclaimed, his face unusually grim, pointing at several students on the classroom desks.

Previously unnoticed, Zhou Zheng now realized that several students lay motionless on the desks, their eyes and mouths wide open, their faces pale, emitting a stench of decay as if they had been dead for days.

Thud, thud, thud. The knocking sound resounded once more.

At that moment, a male student who had been alive just moments ago suddenly shuddered, then collapsed stiffly to the ground.

"What's wrong with you, Li Ming?"

Someone tried to help him up, but upon touching his body, the person screamed and frantically retreated, feeling the cold, stiff body akin to a corpse.

Li Ming, like the others before him, had wide eyes and mouth, a lifeless face exuding a stench of decay.

Dead. They were dead.

And not just one; at least six or seven students lay lifeless, their faces pale, on the desks.

"How could this happen? How could this happen? Who will save us?" a female student, terrified, sobbed as she sat paralyzed on the floor.

"Before, everything was fine, so why did he suddenly, suddenly die?" Someone's voice trembled, stuttering.

Beside them, Fang Jing's face turned pale: "Stop panicking, there's a ghost outside the door, we could all die here, the ghosts that can create a ghost domain are terrifying, you'll soon find out."

The others looked on in terror, each like prey trapped in a cage, full of fear, trembling.

"Zhou Zheng, haven't you figured out a solution yet? If you don't think of something soon, we're all going to die here," Fang Jing demanded angrily.

His heart was also trembling because in the ghost domain, anyone could die, including himself.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you can't wait, then go escape on your own, don't count on me," Zhou Zheng replied, his face filled with urgency as he dared not act recklessly.

"In the chaos of the ghost domain, those who run around die faster. Do you think I don't know anything?" Fang Jing retorted.

"If you know, then stand there and behave yourself. If it's time to die, do you think it's only you who will die? Everyone is the same. Don't think that knowing some things makes you special. In front of ghosts, everyone is equal," Zhou Zheng said.

"F*ck," Fang Jing couldn't help but curse.

At this moment, Yang Jian's hands and feet were ice-cold. He forced himself to calm down because it was no time for jokes. People were really dying, and more than one... If things continued like this, many more could die.

But when he inadvertently saw the blackboard that was almost falling off the wall, he was stunned.

His gaze lingered on the three sentences Zhou Zheng had written earlier, especially the last one: Understand the rules of the ghost.

"Zhou Zheng is not acting recklessly because he is also observing the old man outside the door, trying to find his rules. Only by finding the rules can he act. Think quickly, think quickly, what rules can this old man have..."

His mind began to spin frantically.

Recalling everything recorded in the forum's story, and then linking it to what was happening in front of him.

There must be commonalities, there must be similarities.

The netizen named Thunderbolt King was at home, and at that time, his door was closed. The old man stood outside knocking on the door... then came in, then came to the door of the room, knocked on it again, and then came in again.

At this moment, this ghost appeared outside the corridor, also knocking on the door... but hasn't come in yet.

Why did the old man enter the netizen's home, but not here?

The same situation, the same thing, what caused the difference between them.

Is it not enough time?

If so, what time is not enough?

Could it be that the time for knocking on the door is not enough?

Perhaps this is the key.

Let's do this.

Suddenly, Yang Jian gathered the courage and shouted, "Zhou Zheng, it's the knocking sound."

"The knocking sound?"

Zhou Zheng's eyes narrowed, staring intently at this student who suddenly spoke up, "Explain."

Yang Jian suppressed his fear and said, "Although it's just a guess, I think this thing is killing people through knocking on the door. Perhaps that old man is timing something, or perhaps it's something else, but it must be related to the knocking on the door. If we can stop that thing from knocking on the door, it might be helpful..."

Killing people through knocking on the door.

If that's really the case, then this ghost is truly terrifying. "This guy's potential is beginning to show so quickly..."

Fang Jing looked at him with a hostile gaze, tightly clenching his fists, "We must not let him leave this school alive."

"I believe you this time." Zhou Zheng withdrew his gaze solemnly, with no room for choice. If they didn't act soon, everyone here would die. Right away, Zhou Zheng moved.

He charged out like a ferocious beast, his strange body, skinny on top and fat on the bottom, possessing an explosive power beyond ordinary people.

"Boom!" With a loud noise, he forcefully knocked the classroom door open, simultaneously knocking down the old man outside the classroom wearing a black long robe, his face ashen, his whole body covered in corpse spots. The old man fell to the ground, but no one dared to help him up.

His body displayed a strange posture, like a stiff puppet with limbs dangling as if without the resilience and flexibility of a living person. Ghosts cannot be killed.

Zhou Zheng wouldn't forget the words he himself wrote.

Even if this old man was crushed into pulp, burned to ashes, he still wouldn't die, and would continue to appear in an unimaginable way. Only ghosts could deal with ghosts.

Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth, turning back and shouting, "Wait for the right moment, escape when you have the chance, I'll hold this thing back."

With that, under his oversized windbreaker, his bulging stomach moved strangely a few times. A hand, to be precise, the outline of a hand, emerged from under the skin wrap, presenting a grayish-blue color with sharp nails, as if it wanted to tear through the skin layer and emerge from within.

But the skin wrapping that hand was very resilient, not torn, and what was frightening was that this hand extended more than two meters. Was this still a human hand? In this way, the grayish-blue strange hand grabbed the old man on the ground. "Hiss~!" The sound of flickering lamp tubes rang out.

In an instant, the darkness enveloping the classroom disappeared, bright lights reappeared, although the walls were still mottled, and the floor looked like it was about to collapse, but it seemed like the disaster had been averted.

"It worked." Zhou Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. But then his eyes widened suddenly, fear shrouding his emaciated face. The old man lying on the ground slowly stood up, his eyes of deathly gray glanced slightly, seemingly looking at Zhou Zheng.

"Impossible, can it still move under my restriction?"

Zhou Zheng's face changed drastically, immediately turning around and shouting,

"Go, run, while the ghost domain hasn't appeared yet, leave this place, I'll stay here to hold this thing back."

This ghost was definitely not just dangerous.

Cold sweat dripped down his heart