Hell High School (17): Found you

“Please enjoy.”

The waiter in a black apron brought over the steaming bullfrog hotpot, and the ordered side dishes took up almost half the table.

Wen Yi changed the subject: “Let’s not talk about that. Didn’t you want to eat this? Try it and see if you like the taste.”

Tan Xiao’s gaze was immediately drawn to the food, and he added a bunch of lotus root slices and other ingredients he had ordered into the hotpot.

He was always very focused when eating, and once he picked up his chopsticks, the topic of conversation was usually about food.

Tan Xiao picked up a piece of food and mixed it with rice. After eating the relatively bland cafeteria food for a week, the spicy and fragrant taste was the most stimulating to his taste buds: “When I was in high school, there was a bullfrog hotpot nearby that was particularly delicious. The seasoning was just right, and the portions were generous and affordable. Once the college entrance exams are over, I’ll take you there to eat.”

“Okay, if I get the chance, I’ll definitely go.”

Tan Xiao’s high school was very close to his home. His parents’ jobs had been transferred, but their house should not have been sold. He continued along this topic and thought ahead: “When the time comes, you can stay at my house. The bed in my room is much bigger than the one in the dormitory. Even if we sleep sideways, it wouldn’t be a problem!”

Wen Yi suddenly moved closer to Tan Xiao, leaning half of his body against his vibrant lover, as if trying to absorb his warmth and lively energy through this closeness.

Tan Xiao paused his meal, looking at Wen Yi’s face with concern, “What’s wrong, are you not feeling well?”

“No, it’s just that your description makes it sound so good, I’m really looking forward to it.”

“There are only ninety days until the college entrance exam, it will be here soon.” Tan Xiao let out a sigh of relief, scooping out a piece of transparent hot pot noodle from the pot, “This is delicious, soft and chewy. You should try it. I always order this whenever I come out for this kind of hot pot.”

Wen Yi opened his mouth to eat it, then nodded in response to Tan Xiao’s expectant gaze, “Delicious.”

For the next hour, Tan Xiao spent his time eating and feeding his boyfriend with kisses.

When there were only leftovers on the table, Tan Xiao leaned back in his chair and said, “I can’t eat anymore, I’m stuffed. Let’s take our time going back.”

Wen Yi pulled out the physics test paper that had been shoved back earlier, “Then let me explain some problems to you.”

He couldn’t give Tan Xiao much, and he had previously said he would help the other person review to the first level. He was very sorry to have to go back on his word, so he seized the last bit of time to go over the topic.

This time, it was Tan Xiao who stopped Wen Yi: “Let’s not, discussing topics at this time can easily lead to indigestion. Let’s take it easy for a bit and then walk back.”

The two people were seated by the window, and through the glass, they could see the situation outside the store. As Tan Xiao moved along the street, his gaze suddenly stopped at a small, very discreet shop.

Inside the shop, there were no staff or owners; it was a fully automated service store. Unlike other busy shops, it didn’t even have a door, just a pink cotton cloth sign that read: “Ultra Long Delay, Exciting, Sweet Adult Shop.”

Wen Yi also noticed his gaze: “Want to go take a look?”

On the different streets where Tan Xiao had walked from elementary school, middle school, and high school, there were similar special little shops. They were also among the first to use self-service.

He once was indeed curious and lifted the cloth to see what was being sold inside, but he was so embarrassed by what he saw that he immediately turned red and ran away. That was the only time he went there; after that, he never returned.

But times had changed. He was once a pure child, but now he was an adult with a fortune, and he was also an adult with a romantic partner. He was now the target customer of this little shop.

After all, the items in the school supermarket were limited, only a few small boxes for sale, unlike the variety in a specialized store.

Tan Xiao lightly coughed and said, “Then let’s go take a look.”

Wen Yi was about to get up immediately, but Tan Xiao saw the school uniform on him and pulled him back: “Let’s go to the supermarket first and buy some things.”

Although there weren’t many of their classmates on the street, just in case, they still needed to cover up a bit.

Half an hour later, two young people wearing cartoon rabbit and bear masks entered the mysterious pink shop hand in hand. When they came out, they looked no different from before, but their backpacks now contained some strange and unusual items.

After leaving the shop, they specifically found a secluded corner, took out the jackets from their backpacks and put them on, before heading back to school.

Because the next day was a holiday, Tan Xiao’s boundaries were repeatedly pushed down, and he and Wen Yi almost spent the entire night goofing around before finally falling asleep. He fell into a deep sleep, holding Wen Yi.

When Tan Xiao finally woke up, it was already the evening of the next day. As soon as he opened his eyes, he realized he was the only one left in the bed. He reached under his pillow for his phone and saw that it was already six in the afternoon.

“Wen Yi?”

Tan Xiao called out Wen Yi’s name but received no response. Ever since that day when Wen Yi’s blanket got wet, he hadn’t gone back next door. Instead, he preferred to come to room 521 every day and squeeze into the same narrow bed with him.

This was the first time in the past few days that Tan Xiao opened his eyes and found Wen Yi not in his arms. He felt a bit inexplicably lost.

Because the light was particularly dim, he couldn’t see anything clearly in the room. Tan Xiao rubbed his bleary eyes and turned on the light in the bedroom.

His stomach growled because he hadn’t eaten for a long time. He rolled over and climbed down the ladder, then opened a bag of bread on the table and started eating.

This bread wasn’t the kind of dry little bread sold in the school supermarket; it was bought yesterday from a bakery outside by the two of them. Besides the soft raw toast, there was also a very beautiful rainbow cake, but since Wen Yi got up first, none of this food had been touched.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, confirming that he had regained his usual handsome appearance, he jokingly called Wen Yi on his phone.

Unlike him, Wen Yi used an old-fashioned phone that could only receive texts and calls. However, this call didn’t go through, and the automated female voice said, “Sorry, the number you are calling is currently out of service area, please try again later.”

Strange, how could it be out of service area?

After all, they were at school and couldn’t be too conspicuous, so Tan Xiao specially added “AAAB” in front of Wen Yi’s notes, manually pinning the other person’s phone number to the top. The “B” at the end meant “baby.”

Tan Xiao sent a text message to the other person but didn’t get a response. Wait a minute, the message indicated that it couldn’t be sent successfully, as if the phone had no signal.

Remembering something, Tan Xiao went to knock on the door next door.

“Wen Yi, are you inside?”

He actually didn’t have much hope. As expected, there was no response from Room 520. To be precise, the entire dormitory building had become particularly quiet.

Wait, he finally remembered. The reason they had a break this time was because the school was holding some kind of courage test event. He had previously complained to Wen Yi about it and didn’t really want to participate in this so-called courage test event. After all, it sounded quite boring.

So Wen Yi, seeing that he hadn’t fully woken up, went to participate in the courage test alone.

Tan Xiao felt inexplicably unhappy: he indeed had no interest in this kind of activity, but he was willing to accompany Wen Yi. Besides, what kind of relationship did they have that allowed for deep communication? They were lovers destined to be together for life. Didn’t Wen Yi understand him at all?

He returned to room 521 and found that nothing was missing from the dormitory, except for a very cute bear mask. They had carefully chosen and bought these two masks from the children’s stationery section in the supermarket. Both were cartoonish in design, with the rabbit and bear looking quite similar, both having cute patterns of a clean white face with blush. The only difference was that the rabbit’s ears were longer, while the bear’s ears were round.

Staying alone in this quiet corridor wasn’t very interesting, so he tidied up his things, preparing to go out and find Wen Yi.

He put on the rabbit mask with long ears, thought for a moment, and then picked up the beautiful tote bag he had brought back with the milk tea.

He had eaten a bit, but he didn’t know if Wen Yi had eaten anything at all, and he didn’t know how long the performance would last, so he needed to prepare some food.

Tan Xiao sealed the unfinished bread, and there was cake inside. He also packed the mint and milk candies he bought at the supermarket, the preserved plum candies, two bottles of room-temperature yogurt, mineral water, a flashlight, and the leftover fruit from before…

As he walked out of the corridor, Tan Xiao glanced at the window in the hallway and noticed that a thick fog had quietly enveloped the campus. What terrible weather, a thick fog at this late hour. It seemed that the air pollution near their school was quite severe, with the fog so dense that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.

It seemed that the haze could cause respiratory infections. He went back and grabbed a few masks. Just in case it rained and Wen Yi didn’t bring an umbrella, he took a foldable one. He was just going to the school to find Wen Yi to join an activity, but it turned into a hassle, as if they were going hiking. Anyway, he had a lot of strength and didn’t mind the trouble.

When Tan Xiao walked out of the corridor, the fog formed a barrier blocking his way.

Today’s courage test was a hunting event where the monsters hunt the players. A young man wearing a bear mask stood high on the school’s rooftop. He was dressed in a pitch-black robe, with long black hair cascading down the sides of his face. With his overly red lips and white teeth, he looked like a beautiful young girl at first glance.

He looked down from above, gazing at this school built on his power.

This school was not the real-life Yuying High School, but an existence constructed based on his memories. All the seemingly lively students were actually malevolent spirits who died in the flames.

On Wen Yi’s territory, as long as he wished, those he resented could be immediately torn to shreds by threads. In fact, after pulling these souls into the ghostly realm, he had already taken his revenge countless times.

By the time the players appeared, Wen Yi had already become an unspeakable presence in Hell High School. He was the most powerful entity in the instance, an invincible shadow looming over all the teachers and students of the school.

The pain and resentment from being torn apart years ago had long been vented clean after the revenge was completed. As a vengeful spirit born out of hatred, Wen Yi seemed to have little reason to continue existing after avenging himself.

He swayed and lingered in this school, quietly and silently repeating his identity as a student. However, Wen Yi knew he was always trapped in this school, unable to grow up, unable to leave.

Until the arrival of Tan Xiao, who was like sunlight in the darkness, bringing him the warmth and emotions of being human. Whether the other party’s feelings were genuine or feigned, he didn’t care. After all, their interactions were real, and the joy that made his soul tremble with delight from their deep exchanges time and again was also real.

Before parting ways, Wen Yi decided to give Tan Xiao a sufficiently generous reward.

Today, the fog simulated the scene that Wen Yi encountered back then. Under the influence of the fog, those ghosts, reputed as strange tales, could enhance all their attributes. Even if they were injured, they could continuously draw power from the fog.

He didn’t deliberately target the players. As long as those players persisted for a few hours or found a way out like the those who successfully left that summer night, they would be able to clear the game.

As for himself, Wen Yi, being the last ghost story among the Seven Great Legends of the Campus, didn’t plan to take action against this group of players, considering that they were also players. However, he wouldn’t let these outsiders find him either.

To achieve the feat of gathering the seven great legends of the campus, he only planned to let Tan Xiao complete it. He also prepared a knife that could harm himself, and by that time, he would not hesitate to use his power to control Tan Xiao to stab the knife into his own heart.

Losing his heart would not cause a powerful anomaly to die; it would only severely weaken most of his power, causing him to fall into a deep slumber once again.

The core of the dungeon, for players, was an extremely rare treasure no matter when it was obtained. This was the gift he was preparing to give to the other person tonight.

In this school, other monsters could not harm Tan Xiao, because he had set up a barrier in the dormitory building, preventing other monsters from entering, and Tan Xiao could not leave the dormitory either.

Not only that, Wen Yi also gave Tan Xiao some sleep-inducing water, ensuring that he would sleep through until everything was settled, and he would personally present the grand prize.

Thinking about Tan Xiao’s expression at that time, Wen Yi’s lips curled up. He knew that such a scene would actually be too brutal for most humans.

But if he didn’t use such a shocking method, how could he leave a deep enough impression on Tan Xiao?

During the chat yesterday, Tan Xiao kept saying that he had a bad memory, and all those years of classmates passed by in his mouth like fleeting clouds. Wen Yi absolutely would not allow Tan Xiao to use that same nonchalant tone when talking about him to a new lover one day.

Wen Yi cast a special curse on the heart beating in his chest, turning this special ghostly heart into a bound item that only Tan Xiao could use, which could not be dropped or traded.

This way, no matter which dungeon Tan Xiao went to, the other party would never forget him.

Wen Yi had calculated everything well, but he missed one point: Tan Xiao had developed a resistance to some special drugs due to his frequent in-depth exchanges with Wen Yi, and woke up a few hours earlier.

Not only that, when he was leaving the dormitory building, Tan Xiao was indeed obstructed by the barrier, but the necklace around his neck contained a power originating from Wen Yi. The space briefly distorted, and Tan Xiao easily left his barrier and stepped into another Yuying High School.

At the moment Tan Xiao left, Wen Yi sensed something. He leaped down from the rooftop, and the black trench coat made of ghostly energy moved on its own without wind, allowing him to directly leap to the small balcony outside room 520.

Wen Yi climbed in through the window, then walked straight to the door of room 521. The door was locked, and there was no sign of life inside. Tan Xiao had left!

No, Tan Xiao not only left but also broke into another space.

Realizing this, Wen Yi’s face turned particularly grim.

At his current stage, if he entered that space in the memory, his powers would be severely suppressed.

But if he didn’t care, Tan Xiao might be in life-threatening danger!

Wen Yi hesitated for a moment, then forcibly tore open the spatial rift and entered that special space from his domain, which he had absolute control over.

However, the moment he entered that space, Wen Yi felt his power and memories being significantly stripped away. He quickly transformed into that weak, neither human nor ghost, Wen Yi.

After a while, the boy in the dirty and worn-out school uniform stood still for a moment, looking somewhat bewildered at the scene before him, seemingly not understanding why he was there.

It seemed he heard some extremely terrifying noise: the man-eating ghost was coming!

He immediately dragged his weak steps and hid himself in the shadow of the corner.

In this special space, the evil spirits who have lost their power and memories continuously relive the scenes they feared the most in life, cowering in fear, and then being torn apart by the monsters that emerge from their hunger and terror!

On the other side, Tan Xiao, carrying a handbag, had only taken a few steps when he noticed that the mist in the school had suddenly dispersed.

Although it was dark, the dim lights in the school made it not too difficult for Tan Xiao to find someone.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the school looked very strange tonight. Did Yuying High School look this dilapidated during the day?

The teaching buildings all seemed old, and the trees and lawns in the school appeared withered and decayed.

However, it might also be because it was night; the green grass turned a dull gray color at night. He didn’t think much about it and was only focused on finding his lover.

At this moment, Tan Xiao’s phone rang. Could it be Wen Yi?

He quickly took out his phone and found a text message from an unfamiliar number: [Classmate, remember to come to the computer lab in the school’s experimental building for the high school safety knowledge competition at 7 PM.]

What middle school safety knowledge competition? The teacher didn’t mention it, and the class monitor didn’t notify anyone…

Was this a spam virus message? Tan Xiao glanced at the signal bar at the top of the screen; the fog had disappeared, but the phone still had no signal.

He dialed again, and this time it didn’t say the call was out of service area, but it still didn’t go through.

“Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service. Please try again later.”

Still couldn’t get through, forget it, he would look slowly.

Tan Xiao planned to check the classroom of Class 8, Grade 3. If he couldn’t find him there, he would go to those six ghost story places. After all, it was a courage test, and Wen Yi was very likely to be in one of those six places.

The campus was empty, with hardly anyone around. The lights in the cafeteria were off, and the supermarket’s main door was tightly closed. Clearly, during the courage test, students were on break, and the shopkeepers weren’t doing business either.

After thinking for a while, Tna Xiao first went to the school’s spacious playground. The tree-lined avenue of the school was indeed quite dark at night, with the shadows of the trees flickering. Those big trees looked like monsters in the night, and when the wind blew, their branches and leaves seemed to claw at the air, which was somewhat eerie.

He took a powerful flashlight out of his bag, and with a press of the switch, the beam of light illuminated a large area.

Indeed, light can dispel darkness, and it can also dispel the fears in people’s hearts.

As soon as the flashlight was turned on, Tan Xiao immediately felt emboldened.

“Wen Yi? Wen Yi, where are you?”

After walking for a while and still not finding anyone, Tan Xiao had no choice but to shout a few times from time to time.

Finally, he saw a shadow in the corner near the cafeteria. The person seemed to be wearing black clothes, and their figure was slightly different from Wen Yi’s, but Tan Xiao recognized the familiar bear mask!

He was overjoyed and rushed over like an arrow, successfully catching his boyfriend.

“Got you!”

Hearing these words, the other person seemed to have been pressed by some special switch, kicking and biting, struggling violently!

Did Wen Yi suddenly have an epileptic seizure?

Tan Xiao dropped what he was holding and, with both hands, embraced Wen Yi, easily controlling him with his own body.

The body in his arms was extremely frail, like a paper effigy, with bones jutting out.

The weak Wen Yi had no strength to break free from the grasp of a strong high school boy.

He whispered, his hoarse voice filled with fear, “Don’t eat me, don’t eat me…”

Tan Xiao obviously misunderstood the meaning of “eat.” His handsome face turned red, “What? We’re outside, who would want to eat you?”

Even if there were no people in the school right now, they couldn’t do such things outside. If they got caught, it would be the end.

Seeing Wen Yi stop struggling, Tan Xiao took off his rabbit mask: “Why didn’t you say a word when you came out? If you wanted to join, I wouldn’t have minded accompanying you.”

Wen Yi suddenly stopped moving. He seemed to realize something: the person holding him was not an evil spirit.

Evil spirits, when they catch their prey, would quickly devour them and would never speak in a gentle tone.

More importantly, when Tan Xiao hugged him, he could clearly feel the warmth of his body, the other person was breathing, and his heart was beating…

He was like himself, a person who had intruded into the ghost school, not a ghost.

Wen Yi looked at Tan Xiao with some expectation, still maintaining a bit of vigilance: “Are you human?”

“I’m not a person, am I a ghost?” Tan Xiao said somewhat irritably, “Did you get some kind of mission today to dress up as a ghost and scare the other students? What kind of relationship do we have? You don’t need to put on a show in front of me if you’re doing it for others.”

Tan Xiao then belatedly noticed that Wen Yi’s outfit was a bit strange: a dirty and torn school uniform, long and unkempt hair, and a pair of strikingly black-and-white eyes that appeared particularly large due to extreme thinness.

“Did you go and get liposuction behind my back? Why do you suddenly look so much thinner?”

Tan Xiao pinched his thigh, it hurt, so it wasn’t a dream.

Wen Yi looked a bit like someone from the famine era, his face was so thin it was slightly gaunt, making his features appear particularly defined.

But in front of him was indeed his little boyfriend, Wen Yi, who was wearing the bear mask they had bought together.

Was it an illusion caused by the dim light of the night casting shadows on his face?

No, it could also be the effect of makeup. Like on Halloween, don’t people often do special effects makeup to look like ghosts and monsters? If he were to play an NPC in a dare challenge, it should be something similar.

Tan Xiao didn’t think much of it; he heard someone’s stomach growling.

Tan Xiao picked up the bag he had previously tossed aside: “I guessed you might not have had dinner, so I brought the bread and cake we bought.”

“Food!”

Wen Yi’s eyes instantly lit up; he nervously and eagerly watched the sudden intruder.

He had been at this school for two whole years, two full years, and no one had ever come in to find him.

During the day, he would see classmates coming and going, their bodies passing right through his position, as if they were in different spaces.

This was the first time someone had appeared in this ghost school, and they even brought food!

Maybe the other person couldn’t get out either and would starve just like him. But he was so desperate to eat that he shamelessly didn’t plan to tell this handsome boy the truth.

With a slightly twisted mindset, he maliciously thought: Anyway, this guy mistook me for someone else, didn’t he?

Tan Xiao opened the bread and handed it directly to Wen Yi.

The latter immediately took the food, smelled the fragrant bread, and cautiously took a bite. It was real, soft, filled with the aroma of wheat, and there was no spoiled food at all!

Then he started to gobble it down: the food in his stomach was the real deal! He had to finish it all before the other person discovered the truth!

Tan Xiao watched him in astonishment at his actions: “How long have you been hungry today? Eat slowly, be careful not to choke, no one is competing with you. No rush.”

He opened the cake box as well, took out a straw for the yogurt, and handed it over: “Drink some yogurt, I even brought sugar.”

Wen Yi ate vigorously, but after finishing the bread, he stopped.

Eating too much was not good; he should save some food for tomorrow.

Perhaps because Tan Xiao’s loving eyes were too gentle, Wen Yi couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy. This jealousy corroded his twisted heart over the past two years like poison.

He inexplicably found those smiling eyes too glaring, driven by some complex emotions, perhaps also by a sudden surge of conscience.

Wen Yi opened his mouth and said, “I don’t know you, and I’m not the person you’re looking for. You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

After saying that, he grabbed a box of cake and was about to run away.

As a result, the guy who had mistaken him grabbed his arm and shouted his name, angrily questioning, “Wen Yi! Do you have some dog outside and want to break up with me?!”