It's All Because of Her

The eerie scene left Ye Chuan momentarily dazed.

Why was this thing calling him "brother"? Was it his sister's...

"Original form?"

The massive crimson tissue, spanning dozens of meters in length and width, nearly filled one side of the basement. As Ye Chuan snapped back to reality and was about to speak, the creature extended a tentacle.

"Brother, I'm so hungry~"

"Let me eat you."

The tentacle lashed out without warning!

Sensing danger, Ye Chuan immediately raised his sword and slashed!

The severed tentacle writhed, but the enormous crimson mass only grew more frenzied, its voice shrill. "Brother, aren’t we family?!"

"Let me eat you!"

"I'm so hungry!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"

Countless eyes locked onto him as more tentacles surged forward. Without hesitation, Ye Chuan turned and fled.

The pursuing tentacles snaked after him like vines!

"This is nothing like my sister. Not cute at all," Ye Chuan cursed under his breath. What kind of friendly target was a sister who wanted to devour him?!

His mind raced.

"One of the experiments?"

"More than one sister?"

"Overloaded."

Dodging the relentless tentacles, Ye Chuan burst outside, only for them to grow even more violent, desperately trying to drag him back.

At the same time, the ground beneath him began to tremble.

In the blink of an eye, the pristine school buildings crumbled into ruins. The once-peaceful daytime scenery was brutally torn apart, as if everything before had been an illusion.

......

"What’s happening?!"

"Huh?"

Tian Xiaotian and Zhang Ya, still on campus, froze in shock. Just as they were about to leave for home, the surroundings transformed before their eyes.

The sky was now dominated by a blood-red moon. The hallway, once bathed in sunset, lay in ruins, smeared with ominous dark-red stains.

It was as if they’d been thrust into a nightmare world!

"Something’s wrong, Xiaotian! Very wrong!" Zhang Ya tightened her grip on her weapon. "We need to get out of here now!"

"Go!" Tian Xiaotian’s instincts screamed at her. Though she didn’t understand why this was happening, the rising chorus of screams around them left no room for doubt. "Ahhh!!!!"

"Ahhh!!!!"

The cries grew closer. Turning toward the source, they saw their teachers—now grotesque monsters wrapped in crimson tissue, their bodies twisted beyond recognition, covered in writhing tendrils.

Some even had tentacles sprouting from their eye sockets, each lined with countless tiny eyeballs.

The grotesque, horrifying sight made Tian Xiaotian and Zhang Ya’s scalps tingle.

Only one thought filled their minds:

Run!

Even if they didn’t know why this was happening, the monsters before them left no room for resistance.

The barrage of comments reached its peak—

[That idiot actually went into the basement?]

[The Silent Academy just entered Phase Two. There’s no clearing it without dealing with that monster.]

[How? Once Phase Two starts, the teachers keep getting stronger.]

[The last team that sneaked into the basement got wiped out.]

[Game over. Show’s done.]

[No way to beat that thing. Its true form spans the entire dungeon—no, it IS the dungeon.]

[They could’ve just survived quietly or taken the Principal’s route to fight it together.]

[Let’s go. Nothing left to see here. Any chance of a comeback?]

......

The campus grew increasingly nightmarish, as if corroded. Flesh-like crimson tissue spread everywhere, the ground splitting open to reveal swaying tentacles.

"I’m so hungry..." The whisper-like voice echoed in everyone’s minds.

The Principal, approaching the school, froze at the sight of the blood-drenched campus. Realization dawned. "This... Who woke her up?"

"You?" He glanced at the unconscious girl in his arms—his sister, motionless, her white hair streaked with blood.

His expression darkened. Then, his eyes snapped upward.

Someone was flying in the sky!

It was Ye Chuan!

"You bastard!!!!!!!! I’ll devour you!!!!!!!!" The Principal roared, veins bulging across his body.

At this point, he no longer cared how Ye Chuan had survived—or how he’d returned to campus first.

"..." Ye Chuan surveyed the chaos below.

Had he...

Messed up?

Was this why his sister had warned him not to go near the basement?

His gaze dropped to the monstrous Principal, now hurling curses at him, and the bloodied white-haired girl lying nearby.

"Rescue the cheap sister first." Ye Chuan descended on his hoverboard, weapon aimed straight at the Principal.

"Clang!" Metal screeched as his spirit sword met the Principal’s spiked defense, unable to pierce through.

"Argh!!" The monstrous Principal flung Ye Chuan back with a pained, furious snarl.

"Do you even know what you’re doing?! You fool!"

"What I’m doing? Wasn’t this your experiment, old man?" Ye Chuan’s voice was icy as he ran a finger along his blade. "I don’t get why that thing in the basement calls me ‘brother,’ but you’re no saint either."

"You understand nothing." The Principal glared coldly. "The experiment wasn’t our fault!"

"Stubborn." Ye Chuan calmly drew his revolver.

"Say whatever you want to this."

Gunshots rang out in rapid succession, forcing the monstrous Principal back as bullets tore through his flesh.

"Gahhhhhh!!!!" His face contorted further, yet he lunged again.

"Let’s see how many bullets you’ve got!"

"Hard to say." Ye Chuan kept firing. The Principal staggered under the barrage, panic creeping into his voice. "W-wait! We can work together!"

"No deals with you."

"Don’t you want the truth?!"

That gave Ye Chuan pause. "Go on."

The Principal halted, panting heavily, his grotesque eyes fixed on Ye Chuan. "You really want to know?"

Ye Chuan wordlessly raised the revolver.

"Fine." After taking a few more bullets, the Principal finally relented, shrinking back into his hunched form.

"It’s all because of her."

He pointed at the unconscious girl.

"Don’t follow."

"We became monsters... because of her!" The Principal’s voice rose, laced with anguish.

"Keep talking." Ye Chuan’s tone remained flat.