His mind a blank, Huang Ying dared not look back; every single cell in his body was screaming one word—run!
Sprinting with all his might, a vast swath of twisted souls crowded behind Huang Ying.
The chaotic sound of footsteps, the piercing screams and roars, all the ghosts of Yimin Private Academy were behind him!
As the gray mist dissipated with Ma Manjiang’s serious injury, Huang Ying now appeared like the first ray of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds, holding Jin Sheng’s head and getting closer and closer to the school’s main gate.
The students and teachers of Yimin Private Academy followed behind, but it was already becoming too late.
Injured all over and frantic, Ma Manjiang rudely shoved aside the students around him.
Just as Huang Ying was about to escape the academy with Jin Sheng’s head, and leave this prison, Ma Manjiang let out a piercing shriek. His body melted into black blood, and all his malice and despair enveloped a blue Butterfly as it flew out from his chest!
The Butterfly, with its wings scarred, flapped rapidly, breaking free from the crowd in an instant and swiftly closing the distance with Huang Ying.
Seeing the blue Butterfly abandon Ma Manjiang’s body, Han Fei sensed that the other party was truly driven to desperation.
The Butterfly was cunning, vicious, and insane, completely unprepared for Han Fei to turn the tables despite its absolute advantage.
Even from its own perspective, it seemed an inescapable situation, but who would have thought that Han Fei would stubbornly find a glimmer of hope amidst this dead end.
The battered wings beat once more, malice slicing through the fog, leaving strange patterns in the air, the Butterfly coming ever closer to Huang Ying!
When Huang Ying was just over a meter away from the school’s main gate, the Butterfly caught up with him.
The lingering malice surged towards Huang Ying’s body, and almost as the Butterfly descended upon Huang Ying’s head, Huang Ying also pushed open the school’s main gate.
The inescapable prison was shattered, and Jin Sheng stepped out of the academy formed by his memories of despair!
The moment Jin Sheng’s head left Yimin Private Academy, his originally closed eyes opened amidst the thick crusts of blood.
The blood crusts, solidified from despair and malice, melted in an instant, and the head, sealed in pain, saw the world once more.
All the scenes constructed from Jin Sheng’s memory began to change, and black Curses and bright red blood continuously surged out of Jin Sheng’s head, forming his new body.
The blue Butterfly knew the game was up; if it stayed within his memories after the Manager’s awakening, it would only meet a grisly end.
It flapped its wings, and the strange patterns on its blue wings began to change, slowly forming Huang Ying’s face, imprinting Huang Ying’s visage within its memory.
This time it would lose, and it was because of the man before it; one might say Huang Ying was the first man to ever defeat the Butterfly.
As Jin Sheng reached out his hand toward the Butterfly, its wings exploded, its body turning into countless blue specks of dust, vanishing without a trace.
"I never thought someone could really walk out of my despair."
Jin Sheng turned his head to glance at Huang Ying, then walked directly towards the field. All the students and teachers formed from his memories disappeared, and finally, on the vast field, only he and Han Fei remained.
"You see, as long as you’re willing to believe, there’s always hope."
Han Fei lay on the ground, his left arm severed, both legs torn apart, his body suffering from multiple fractures, and his internal organs injured from the impact. As soon as he began to speak, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"Why do you want to help me?" Jin Sheng appeared just like he did in reality, except his body was composed of numerous curses and blood, seemingly a very special ghost.
"Then why do you think Old Li, your homeroom teacher, helped you?" Han Fei’s fingers trembled as he slowly raised his still-functioning right hand. "Can you give me a hand?"
Jin Sheng looked at Han Fei for a long time before finally taking his hand.
Without the thick crust of blood to block him, Han Fei found the real Jin Sheng amidst boundless despair.
The moment he touched Han Fei, the despairing mist that shrouded the school dissipated completely, and Han Fei’s lost memories flooded back like a tide.
"Player number 0000, please note! You have over-leveled the completion of an F-level Manager task - Patrol Teacher! You have received triple task experience! You have received the basic reward of two Free Skill Points! You have received the basic reward of an F-level Manager title - Yimin Private Academy Patrol Teacher!"
"Patrol Teacher (F-level Manager title): All permanent residents of Yimin Private Academy gain a ten-point increase in friendliness! Jin Sheng’s friendliness gain an additional ten points! The school’s Curse Resistance increases by five percent overall! Allows free entry to the Hidden Map, Yimin Private Academy!"
"Attention! F-level tasks are recommended for players of level ten to twenty. Because you have successfully over-leveled the completion of an F-level Manager task, you will receive an extra task reward - Talent Upgrade!"
"Your growable F-level Manager Talent, Soul-summoning, has successfully been upgraded to E-level Talent! Effect enhanced!"
"Soul-summoning (E-level growable Talent): There is a significant chance to summon players with a Ghost Encountering Physique to your side, you can roughly pinpoint the location of a player’s Wandering Soul, can be used twice each night."
"Attention! The higher the level of the Soul-summoning Talent, the more likely it is to summon something else, please use with caution!"
"Player number 0000, please note! You have successfully advanced to level nine! Free Attribute Point plus one!"
As the sting from the return of his memories finally faded, Han Fei slowly rose from the ground and saw the stunned Huang Ying and Jin Sheng crouching inside the infirmary cabinet. He also saw the Black Blood flowing on the ground and the dissipating remnants of Ma Manjiang’s body.
By a narrow escape from death, he had finally successfully completed the Manager task, freeing himself from Jin Sheng’s memory.
"Jin Sheng? Was Ma Manjiang killed by you?" Han Fei moved his feet, the soles of his shoes now soaked with Ma Manjiang’s blood.
"It was the blue Butterfly that killed it. The Butterfly had been heavily wounded by you in my memory. Knowing I had awakened, to regain its abilities quickly and escape the academy, it drained all the Grudge and Residual Souls from Ma Manjiang," said Jin Sheng, looking emaciated and weak, his body covered in text and symbols, exuding a unique aura only found in Curse Items.
"What exactly happened at Yimin Private Academy? Why would Ma Manjiang also appear here?" Han Fei was filled with countless questions.
Instead of answering immediately, Jin Sheng stared at Han Fei for a long time before speaking, "What is your relationship with Fu Sheng?"
"Fu Sheng? The former Building Chief?" Han Fei was taken aback by the name, then spoke truthfully, "I lived in the same neighborhood as him; he was the former Building Chief, then he disappeared. Part of the reason I came to your school was to look for him."
"Disappeared, huh..." Jin Sheng slowly lifted his head, "He once said he would help me escape despair and no longer suffer. I believed him. He sealed my memories and abilities, tampered a lot with my Soul, but in the end, I still couldn’t escape my own memory."
"What happened after that?"
"He locked the out-of-control me in this cabinet and then never appeared again." Jin Sheng’s tone was as numb as it was calm. Void of any humanity, he seemed more like a Curse Item at that moment.