Super Thrilling Live Broadcast

“Xue Fei, move aside!”

Upon seeing the lifeless face of the mannequin, my whole body was covered in goosebumps. Without even thinking about the recording, I grabbed my camera and swung it towards the moving mannequin.

Perhaps the disparity between imagination and reality was too great, as Xue Fei turned pale and his legs went weak, unable to move a muscle.

“Let’s go!” I shouted after smashing the camera onto the mannequin’s head, causing some unknown substance, either paint or blood, to splatter everywhere.

Turning my head, I noticed that the youngsters were frightened and dumbfounded. I kicked the mannequin away and yelled, “Run! Go back to the first floor!”

I grabbed Sakurako, paid no attention to anyone else, and rushed towards the first floor, taking three steps in two. “I felt like I kicked human flesh just now. How could the mannequin move in the first place?”

As I arrived on the first floor, I was about to head towards the art room, but the slightly ajar door opened on its own, revealing another lifeless face.

“Oh no, I forgot there was another one in the art room!” Remembering that I had just held this mannequin with my own hands, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Trapped and unsure of what to do, I turned my head and saw the second-floor mannequin chasing after us. It moved slowly, but its presence was suffocating.

Panicked and without a clear plan, the three kids and I hurriedly sought refuge in a deep corner of the first-floor restroom.

“Close the door and don’t make a sound!” I held Sakurako and Hideki in the last stall while Xue Fei, who was larger, hid in the second-to-last one.

“Be quiet!”

Fear permeated the small and dark space, and I struggled to control my racing heart. I took a deep breath and pressed my ear against the door panel.

The sound of the mannequin’s footsteps echoed through the hallway, and the sound was getting closer and closer to the restroom.

“Tap…tap…tap.”

“It’s coming.”

My eyebrows furrowed and my lips pressed tightly together as I focused intently on the sounds coming from the hallway. The footsteps passed by the restroom door but didn’t come in; it simply moved on.

“That was close,” My heart was beating rapidly, and my furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

But then, just as I was about to catch my breath, the haunting sound of footsteps turned back around!

Silent as a ghost, it stopped right outside the restroom door!

“Don’t come in, don’t come in, don’t come in…” Hideki’s lips trembled as he finally realized the full extent of his fear.

After what felt like an eternity, just when we thought the mannequin had left…

“Creak…” The door outside the restroom opened.

“Bang!” The first stall’s wooden door was forced open.

“Bang!” The second stall’s wooden door was also flung open.

I gritted my teeth, sweating profusely on my forehead, as if waiting for the guillotine to drop as a condemned prisoner. This final moment was particularly agonizing.

There were only six stalls in the restroom, and quickly the third and fourth ones were opened. Then there was the fifth one, where Xue Fei was hiding.

The door shook, and someone’s hand fell on the handle.

“Bang!”

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” As Xue Fei screamed, I pushed open the wooden door and grabbed Sakurako, running wildly towards the outside. At this point, I couldn’t spare a thought for anything else, as my own survival was at stake.

In that moment of crossing paths with the mannequin, I saw Xue Fei’s face twisted with fear and deformation, but I couldn’t save him.

We ran as fast as we could, making our escape!

“Keep up! Keep up!” shouted Hideki from behind me. We ran all the way to the art classroom and jumped out the window.

As my feet stepped back onto the desolate path of the campus, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’ve seen it all, haven’t you? This place is very dangerous. I’ll figure out a way to rescue Xue Fei and Shen Meng. You two, don’t make trouble for me here,” I said, placing Sakurako in my arms down and handing her to Hideki. “Take her home quickly and have the adults there call the police, got it?”

However, Hideki didn’t seem to have any intention of taking care of Sakurako. He appeared to be frightened and shook off my hand, saying, “I won’t stay with her. You should take care of her instead.”

Hideki spoke firmly, as if there were hidden implications in his words. I paid close attention to the details but didn’t say much in response, simply stating, “In any case, go home. There are too many strange things happening in this school…”

“Go home? My parents only know how to make money. If I die out here, they probably won’t even know. Can that place really be called home?” Hideki’s words left me unsure of how to respond as I glanced at the pitch-black laboratory building, still able to hear Xue Fei’s desperate cries for help echoing in my ears.

“Death is much more terrifying than you can imagine,” He didn’t want to leave, and I couldn’t force him to go away. so I checked my equipment. The camera was still functioning properly, and the live broadcast room was filled with a barrage of comments. The number of viewers had already exceeded five hundred.

“It’s just that there are no gifts yet.” I put my phone in my pocket and thought about which building to go to next when Hideki suddenly pulled on my clothes. “Host, I need to use the restroom.”

“I thought you were going to tell me some earth-shattering news. Come on, I’ll accompany you. Sakurako, don’t wander around here!” I said, taking Hideki to the bushes about ten meters away. As we walked, Hideki suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice, “Host, have you noticed that Sakurako is acting very strange?”

I squinted my eyes, and many hypotheses flashed through my mind. However, I just replied nonchalantly, “What’s strange about her? Besides, you guys are friends. How would I know?”

“I’m not really familiar with her. This girl was picked up by Shen Meng,” Hideki explained.

“Picked up?” Hideki’s words piqued my curiosity.

He nodded, “Me, Shen Meng, and Xue Fei all live nearby. Since we were young, we’ve been told by adults that there’s a haunted school in the quarantine area that shouldn’t be entered casually.”

“Although we came in during the daytime out of curiosity when we were young, we’ve never been here at night.”

“What does that have to do with Sakurako?” I asked

“As we grew up, we had almost forgotten about this place. But then Sakurako appeared. Every time, she would sit on our way home, and it would always be already 8 or 9 p.m. after our night classes. Can you believe that this little girl was wandering alone on the streets? Doesn’t she have any family?”

Upon careful consideration, there were many contradictions in what Hideki said, but I didn’t point them out. “Go on.”

“Just a few days ago, Shen Meng started talking to Sakurako. She pitied her for being homeless, so she decided to call us to help send Sakurako home.”

“Does Sakurako’s home happen to be inside this school?”

“No, but it’s close. The address she gave is behind this school.”

Maybe Hideki and his friends didn’t know what was behind the school, but as someone who had searched for related information online, I knew very well that it was a incineration pit. It could be used to dispose of garbage by incineration or to destroy evidence by burning bodies.

“So, that’s why you came here?” I asked.

Hideki’s voice grew lower and lower as he spoke. “Yes. Now that I think about it, the names of Sakurako and the ghost doll Hanako that’s been circulating around campus are only one word different. Do you think the two of them could be the same person, or the same ghost?”

His eerie tone sent shivers down my spine. Thinking back on Sakurako’s unusual behavior, it was indeed different from that of an ordinary person. Normally, a young girl in her situation would scream or cry, but she remained strangely calm.

“Why did you wait until now to tell me something so important?” I asked.

“If you hadn’t seen those moving mannequins, would you have believed me? From the beginning, I’ve been telling you about all the rumors surrounding this school, but you never took it seriously.”

Now, Shen Meng and Xue Fei have been killed one after another. I guess it will be my turn next, and you probably won’t be able to escape either.” Hideki lowered his head and walked silently for a while before suddenly stopping.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We can’t just sit and wait for death. I’ve come up with a good idea that should put an end to this nightmare.” A hint of sickness appeared on his young face, and his eyes were as bright as those of a black cat.

Feeling a little uneasy under his intense gaze, I spoke, “Tell me about it.”

“We’ll team up…and kill Sakurako!”

It was hard to imagine such words coming from a child’s mouth. After my initial shock, I forced a smile.

“Whether Sakurako is a human or a ghost, it’s only your assumption. Until you have a complete chain of evidence, your intention is called murder.” I patted Hideki’s shoulder and turned to leave.

On this eerie campus, Sakurako sat alone by the flowerbed like an abandoned doll.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll take you away from the campus now.” I gently picked up the girl. While the task given by the underworld show was important, I couldn’t let the little girl die here.

As I walked towards the school gate, I hadn’t gone very far when Sakurako, who had never spoken a word before, suddenly whispered in my ear, “You should leave quickly. They’re all ghosts!”

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TN: I think that a lot of people already knows this but I’ll clarify just in case: sakura is a type of flower and hana litterlay means flower, that’s why sakurako and hanako sound really close and are only different by a word.