Chapter 16: The Connected Call
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Miles placed his phone down, his gaze jittering back and forth between the device and the imposing dark green forest that lay behind him. The unsettling fact that the old man lurked within those shadows was a reality he could not shake off.
Regardless of the numerous occasions they’d crossed paths, or even if it was just a fleeting glimpse of the elderly man from afar, the effect never varied. Each encounter brought on a rush of fear that tingled down his spine and took root deep within his bones.
Shifting his attention momentarily, Miles murmured to himself, “Jing should be… gone by now.” However, he swiftly shook off the distracting thought and refocused on the vital matter that lay ahead. “The immediate task is to escape from this accursed place and put as much distance as possible between us and the old man. If he manages to capture any one of us again, our fate is sealed. It doesn’t matter if it’s William, Coral, or even myself; the outcome would be inevitably the same.”
When William spotted Miles returning, he let out a sigh of relief, “Miles, where did you disappear off to? Did you manage to locate Jing? The school is teeming with ghosts. You’re the only one brave enough to venture around. I don’t have the courage to move an inch.”
Miles replied, “I did reach out to Jing over a call, but as I suspected, he’s had an encounter with a ghost.” He continued in a grave tone, “I spotted the old man who was previously pounding on the classroom door. That area is now strictly forbidden. Our primary concern should be to find a way out of this place. If we delay any further, I can’t guarantee who else among us will succumb.”
His ominous words echoed in the stillness, casting a pall over the group. The expressions on their faces mirrored sheer terror and impending doom.
Just a few short hours ago, they were all alive. Now, only a few of them were left following the chaotic escape. The rest had vanished without a trace. The meaning of ‘disappearing’ in such a ghost-infested location was morbidly clear.
This was not some bad dream or a scene from a horror flick. This was an actual and lethal haunting where lives were on the line.
“Miles, we owe you our gratitude for leading us out of there. Without you, we would most certainly have met our demise,” one of them finally spoke up.
“Indeed, thank you. We deeply regret not stepping in earlier when Jing shoved you into the restroom. We later discovered what a threat Jing truly is. He deserted several of the boys and even the girls, leaving them behind to aid his own escape.”
“His actions were truly reprehensible.”
A chorus of agreement rang out, denouncing Jing’s actions and extending apologies to Miles. These four survivors had managed to escape the haunted forest under Miles’s leadership. They were the ones who had previously stood by Jing.
Through Miles’s perspective, Jing had met a fate that was fitting for his actions. However, the other classmates were blameless, trapped in a nightmare they didn’t ask for. Upon spotting them, Miles felt an intrinsic sense of duty to help them escape. They were his classmates, and he couldn’t abandon them in such a perilous situation.
“Your gratitude might be premature,” Miles warned, shaking his head somberly. “As you can see, we are still ensnared within the boundaries of the school, locked in this ghostly world. Our survival is far from guaranteed. Even though exhaustion weighs heavily on all of us, this is not a moment to rest. We’re largely in the dark about the rules of this ghostlike domain, but we have to try. Follow my lead, and let’s see if we can break free from the school’s clutches.”
In that instant, Miles became the group’s guiding light. When he concluded his directive, the classmates who had been huddled on the ground sprang to their feet, primed to follow his lead.
“Thirteen… only thirteen of us left. I dread to think who’ll be next. If I had known, I would’ve taken a day off. Why did I even bother coming to school today? People are supposed to pay for an education, not trade their lives for it,” William grumbled, his mood swinging erratically between anger and fear.
The remaining students cast their eyes on him, then bowed their heads in silence. Their spirits were noticeably dampened, and their physical condition was visibly deteriorating.
Miles knew they were precariously close to a mental breakdown. Some of the girls were already growing pale, whispering anxiously among themselves. Even if they manage to survive this night, their psychological wellbeing was likely to be profoundly affected.
“We need to keep moving,” Miles declared firmly, momentarily setting aside concerns of psychological trauma. Their immediate priority was survival.
With Miles steering the group, their fear of getting lost dwindled. They seemed to be progressively distancing themselves from the heart of the haunting as the oppressive darkness started to recede. Even though the sky remained shrouded in gloom, they could make out the path and surrounding structures.
When they reached the school gate, they noticed the security booth was ominously deserted. In addition, the road beyond was eerily silent, devoid of any signs of life.
The scenario deeply unsettled the group, their voices providing the only break in the unnerving silence.
Miles eyed the closed door of the security booth warily, his sense of caution preventing him from getting any closer. Any door could potentially serve as a gateway for unspeakable horrors to leap out.
The stark silence outside underscored a grim reality: escaping the school grounds wouldn’t liberate them from the haunted sphere. Regardless of their location within this territory, the ghostly situation remained unaltered.
“Why does it look so deserted outside? Usually, at this time, there are parents waiting to pick up their students,” Grace inquired, her voice trembling with underlying panic.
Indeed, the area surrounding the school was typically abuzz with activity.
The area now lay hauntingly vacant, their own presence being the only sign of life.
“I’ll go ahead and scout the area,” offered William. He climbed over the school’s boundary fence and stepped onto the desolate road beyond.
From his elevated vantage point, both directions of the road seemed to be swallowed by an overwhelming abyss of darkness, appearing akin to the entrance to the underworld. It was as if they had been abruptly severed from the rest of civilization.
“Attempting to flee on foot is futile. We’d only be wasting precious energy,” Miles commented pragmatically.
“So you’re saying we’re going to be trapped here until we die? I… I don’t want to die,” a girl whimpered, her legs giving out beneath her as she crumpled to the ground in tears.
While the other boys managed to maintain their composure, the terror of a looming death was unmistakably evident in their eyes.
“Miles, you must think of something. Please, I… I can’t face any more ghosts,” Coral pleaded desperately, clutching at his arm, her eyes welled up with tears.
Miles lapsed into contemplative silence, then responded after a few beats, “Let me think. Seriously.”
Choosing not to venture any further, Miles located a nearby stone bench to sit and gather his thoughts.
The arduous escape had taken a toll on him, and fatigue was starting to creep in.
Suddenly, his eyes fell on William’s phone that he was holding.
“Did anyone attempt to call for help earlier?”
“I… I did. The call connected, but…” a classmate began hesitantly.
“But what?”
“The… the other side was utterly silent. Even though the call was connected, there wasn’t any sound. I… I was too scared to try again,” the classmate confessed after a pause.
The call was connected, yet there was complete silence on the other end.
A chill ran down Miles’s spine as he processed this unsettling revelation.
Given their current supernatural circumstances and such peculiar occurrences, he didn’t feel particularly inclined to attempt a call himself.
“However, we were able to make calls while we were still inside the classroom. This problem only surfaced after we left the classroom,” Grace interjected abruptly. “William even managed to call for an ambulance earlier.”
“That’s correct,” William corroborated.
This issue had indeed arisen only after they had evacuated the classroom. The timing coincided with the reemergence of the ghost domain when Miles was halfway up the second-floor staircase, and the corridor lights started to flicker and die out.
“Interesting. Let me try dialing a different number,” Miles mused, thinking of an alternate number to test.
He unlocked William’s phone, logged onto a forum, and dialed a number using the satellite tracking phone provided by a user named Right.
138 – this was the number left by a user known as Thunder King on the forum.
Miles couldn’t help but wonder if something had happened to Thunder King. If so, his phone could potentially serve as valuable evidence for a paranormal investigator. If Right was dealing with such unexplained phenomena, there was a possibility that someone else might be handling this particular case.
It was worth a shot.
The phone signal was robust, and the call connected seamlessly.
But the ensuing development was far more disquieting than anticipated.
Ring… ring…
The ringing sound echoed ominously through the desolate school, reaching everyone present. Despite the soft volume, the ringtone was chillingly clear, resonating eerily in the oppressive silence that enveloped them.
Miles, the one clutching the phone, suddenly went rigid.
“Is Thunder King’s phone located within this school?” His eyes narrowed, and he sprang to his feet, quickly scanning his surroundings in startled surprise. Instinctively, he tried to pinpoint the source of the ringing.
A cold sweat began to break out across his forehead.
Thunder King, the forum user, was an emergency room doctor hailing from a distant province. If his phone was ringing here, it signified his presence here as well.
“Beep.”
Suddenly, the call was picked up, but there was an utter void of sound on the other end.
Simultaneously, the echoing ringtone within the school abruptly ceased.
That’s when Miles detected a faint glow emanating from a cellphone in a third-floor window of a nearby building. A hazy figure could be discerned standing by the window, seemingly peering down at them.
“Damn it,” Miles cursed under his breath, a cold sweat drenching his shirt. He hastily disconnected the call.