Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Squeak!

A sultry breeze brushed past Chen Ji's earlobes. He heard the rustling of leaves and the monotonous chirping of cicadas in the trees. It felt prickly beneath him, as if he were lying on a grassy field.

Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes.

He sat up and found himself in a small grove of trees, surrounded by several people lying or sitting.

Wan Xiaoshuang was right beside him, and she had just woken up.

Her eyes cleared instantly. After looking around, she met Chen Ji's gaze and nodded.

This is not a closed environment, so it is less likely to be a battle royale type game.

The next few people woke up one after another. A man with a fair complexion and delicate features glanced at Chen Ji, did not introduce himself, and instead turned around to scan the crowd.

He straightened up, nodded to a short-haired woman, and then nudged the fat man snoring on the grass beside him.

"You idiot, get up!"

The fat man's snoring stopped abruptly, and he sat up abruptly.

He was positioned directly opposite Chen Ji, and he spotted Chen Ji and Zhu Guang at a glance, muttering, "Zhu Guang."

So his surname really is Zhu... Chen Ji's lips twitched.

Before long, everyone automatically formed teams in twos and threes.

Just as Wan Xiaoshuang said, all the newcomers this time entered the domain in teams.

There are already three teams.

"Just the seven of us?"

The fair-skinned man raised his eyebrows. His name was strange; it was "Tongzi" (童子).

But what's even more incongruous is that while his face looks very delicate and young, there are quite a few gray hairs in his hair, and his voice sounds more like that of a middle-aged man.

"No."

In the other group, a gloomy woman said quietly, "There are still people who haven't arrived."

Her name was Li Bi. She had long, jet-black hair, a slender figure, and wore a loose-fitting printed robe, making her look more like a skeleton.

It's obvious that Li Bi knew someone was missing because they were her teammates...

Wan Xiaoshuang whispered in Chen Ji's ear, "Each of their teams has at least three people."

Just then, they faintly heard voices talking from the slope to their south, and then three more figures appeared.

One of them walked at the front, tall and slender. Li Bi called out softly, "Brother Zhong, over here."

The man's gaze did not fall on Li Bi, but instead fell directly on Wan Xiaoshuang, his eyes filled with a subtle expression.

"What a coincidence."

He grinned, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Wan Xiaoshuang remained calm.

The group has been assembled.

This time, there were actually ten people in the domain, which could be roughly divided into four teams.

Chen Ji and Wan Xiaoshuang.

Tongzi, Li Yinghe, a short-haired woman wearing a windbreaker, and Zhu Guang, a fat man.

Zhong Ge, the silent A Gou, and Li Bi.

And two individual entrants, a man and a woman, Hong Tian and Zheng Meng, have already subtly formed a group.

They simply introduced their names without saying much, but judging from the tone of Tongzi and the others, Chen Ji knew they had been waiting for the Ninth Domain for half a year.

Others didn't seem surprised, nor did they.

No wonder there are so many people... Chen Ji's eyes flickered slightly, wondering if this was related to Xu Sandao's ninth domain, entering the reverse side of the domain river.

That time, there were only the two of them.

The brief introductions were over.

A bell suddenly rang out not far away:

Ring ring ring——

Soon after, the faint sounds of running and children talking reached their ears.

“That’s the school bell.” The boy’s expression shifted slightly. “There’s a school up there.”

"Where there's a school, there will be people living nearby... This looks like a small town."

So the real location of the domain should be there.

Without saying much, the group turned to leave, but just then, a cry suddenly came from the bottom of the slope behind them!

That was the direction from which Zhong Ge and the other two had come up.

The sound was faint and indistinct.

But less than two seconds later, a scream of "Help!" reached Chen Ji and the others.

Zheng Meng glanced quickly at Hong Tian, ​​then said hesitantly, "There's a river down there..."

"When we came up, I think we saw a pile of clothes nearby?"

But because she didn't see anyone and was in a hurry to rejoin the main group, she didn't take the matter to heart.

"Go and see."

The boy said that they had already started walking down the mountain.

Since no guidance has been provided yet, we cannot overlook any clues.

The group pushed aside the branches and walked a hundred or two meters forward before they saw the river Zheng Meng had mentioned.

It's no longer a small river; the water quality is so-so, a bit greenish, and there's a sign next to it that says "No Swimming."

And after that sign...

A human head emerged from the water!

His hair was completely wet, his face was covered in water, his expression was extremely terrified, and his arms were thrashing about in the water!

He screamed desperately, "Help me!"

This is a middle school student who appears to have drowned.

No one moved.

The middle school student's voice grew weaker and sharper. His head sank into the water and then repeatedly rose up, showing a strong will to survive.

After his final cry for help escaped his lips, the middle school student sank to the bottom of the water, leaving only ripples on the surface.

After calmly watching everything unfold, the expressions on their faces were somewhat subtle.

They waited a while longer, and only after confirming that there was no more movement in the water did they slowly walk towards the shore.

The target was that pile of clothes.

"The guidance can only be there."

The boy said, "Otherwise, I can't figure out why the domain would arrange this scene."

They deliberately kept a distance from the water's edge and gradually approached the pile of clothes, but after searching through it, they found nothing.

Just then, Ah Gou caught a glimpse of a red edge peeking out from among the weeds by the water.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a schoolbag!

A bright red old schoolbag! Sinking into the mud.

"Find a pole and hook the schoolbag up." The boy clicked his tongue and found a tree branch nearby.

But the backpack seemed to be stuck, and I couldn't pull it out no matter what I did.

Chen Ji waved his hand, indicating that the boy should come down with him to get his schoolbag and then leave.

The waterside was very calm.

Chen Ji slowly pushed aside the pile of weeds and reached for the red schoolbag.

He pulled it up with one hand and found that the backpack was very light and not stuck at all; he could pull it with a single tug.

However, the moment the red backpack left the mud...

It was "pulled" back again.

The force was so great that it made Chen Ji stagger, but fortunately he was prepared and his feet were firmly planted on the ground!

"Don't get it wet!"

The boy gave a low shout behind him, grabbed Chen Ji's waist with both hands, and dragged him toward the shore!

wow——

The water surface rippled gently.

A pale, bluish-white face, swollen and wet from being submerged, floated to the surface.

It was that thing that kept pulling on the schoolbag.

It was also this creature that had just cried for help from the entrants in the river.

Chen Ji's expression was solemn. He, and everyone else, knew that the middle school student was a ghost... because a drowning person has no time to call for help!

But what no one expected was that, in the necessary stage of receiving the guidance... one would also have to come into contact with ghosts!

Suddenly, Chen Ji felt a lightness in his hand. The ghost was no longer holding the schoolbag, and the inertia made him and the boy lean backward!

The others in their group immediately pulled them up, but then, there was a splashing sound and water sprayed everywhere!

The ghost stood up.

pat.

Its swollen feet sank into the mud.

It stared at Chen Ji and the others, water droplets constantly overflowing from its mouth and nose, and indistinct sounds coming from its mouth, which had turned white from being soaked in water:

"We were classmates..."

Why didn't you save me?

pat.

It walked towards the shore.