In just the span of a minute, the skin of the man’s face was ripped off by a paper doll.
The scene was so bloody and gruesome, a faint fishy smell had started to spread from the stage. Adding on to the corpse that was too appalling to look at directly, it simply provoked one’s urge to hurl.
In all likelihood, the few remaining people did not expect to encounter such a situation. Staring at the scar faced man’s corpse, they didn’t react for a while.
It was only until a moment later, when a man crawled to the side and stammered: “…Th-third boss…Big brother, he, he, he died…”
The bald-headed man next to him had a very dark face on. He pushed him away, and yelled, “Do I look motherf*cking blind to you that I need you to tell me?”
He got up from the ground, and stared cautiously at the young man in front of him, watching him cover the eyes of the little girl behind him with a calm appearance.
After mulling it over, he asked, “Did you do this?”
It was obviously fine before. The paper doll would listen to their orders after being created by the old man. And even though the old man was currently unconscious, the paper dolls would still obey their orders.
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Mblal oyp ds alprsdpl fwpv dso, yde vbl cspp oyp jkzzle yzz sq y pweeld. Tl eked’v byhl vkxl vs tkhl yd saela ps vbspl ryrla eszzp bye clld, okvbswv y eswcv, xydkrwzyvle.
Slnyzzkdt vbyv bl pllxle vs byhl plld vbl csu xwvvlakdt psxlvbkdt clqsal cwv oyp wdyczl vs blya kv nzlyazu, bl alnjsdle vbyv vbkp xyvvla xwpv byhl clld vbl csu’p eskdt.
Fbk Ck eked’v wvvla y osae, bkp lulp zssjle hlau nsze.
Tkp alynvksd zssjle zkjl yniwklpnldnl kd vblka lulp. Gv sdl rskdv, vblu oydvle vs elyz okvb bkx, cwv vblu eked’v eyal pvlr qsaoyae, ps wzvkxyvlzu, vblu nswze sdzu lul vbl tkaz clbkde bkx.
Lkdt Yldt alynble swv yde tayccle Fbk Ck’p byde, “Uyd R pll kv dso?”
Fbk Ck alprsdele: “Ls.”
Lkdt Yldt: “…” Goo.
Mbl pupvlx nswze sdzu plnalvzu casyenypv obyv oyp byrrldkdt vs bla: “Mbl xyd okvb vbl pnya sd bkp qynl oyp jkzzle cu vbl ryrla eszz, ps dso, vbl rlsrzl obs yal zlqv yal pvyakdt yv usw yde R’x ralvvu pwal vblu’al vyatlvkdt usw.”
The system sounded a little excited from its tone.
Ning Meng took a step back and was finally able to see the surrounding scene. The first thing that entered her sights was the bloody corpse on the ground.
She retched immediately.
It was no wonder he didn’t let her see. This was too gruesome. The paper doll really did anything it was asked of and frightening her before was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Shi Qi helplessly patted her on the back, “I told you not to look.”
The group of men were furious, immediately shouting: “What are you chitter chattering for, we’ll grab you and turn you into paper dolls ourself.”
Just as they had taken the first step, they all immediately tripped forward, lying on the ground and producing a loud crashing noise.
Ning Meng squinted her eyes to watch.
At some point, the two paper figures had run to their feet, tripping them over and climbing atop their bodies.
“Don’t come here… Get off!”
“Don’t tear me, don’t tear me!”
“That wretched old man did it, not me!”
Just as disaster was approaching, each of them threw the blame on the other. In the beginning, they tried to catch her aggressively, but now, they were begging for mercy.
But after committing such sins, even death would be considered too light of a punishment.
They had harmed two people in this school, however, the fact that the school was able to invite them, must’ve meant that they had built quite a reputation outside. This implied that they had certainly committed the same wretched acts several times before.
Perhaps, the number of paper dolls they had was a lot more than they let on.
The young man on the stage had already dragged his grandfather’s body to the corner, staring frightenedly at the scene below.
He knew that there would be retribution, because grandpa had done this for his sake…
The sound of a police car suddenly rang from outside, and the more it grew close, the clearer the siren rang out.
A middle-aged man couldn’t care less about the paper doll who was close to sticking to his face, and promptly shouted, “Who called the police?!”
The entire auditorium suddenly fell into silence.
After a long time, Shi Qi suddenly spoke, “Oh, I called the police.”
Ning Meng didn’t expect to encounter this situation, let alone the fact that he called the police. After all, the police might not even believe in something that was so unscientific.
The few malicious people continued to struggle, scratching the ground to the extent their fingers started bleeding.
Ning Meng turned her head away slightly. Even though this scene looked too bloody and cruel, she wasn’t going to put a stop to it.
Shi Qi sighed and nodded lightly to the paper dolls.
The footsteps outside gradually approached, and Shi Qi pressed Ning Meng down on the chair, whispering, “Close your eyes and pretend to sleep.”
If it was found that only the two of them were awake in the entire auditorium, there was no doubt they would be taken in for long hours of interrogation.
Ning Meng felt that her grandson had turned cunning.
When the police came in, they only saw a few people lying down on the ground. There was even one with a badly mutilated face. Even though they had seen plenty of crime scenes before, they were still rendered shocked upon seeing this sight.
The paper dolls had already disappeared under the stage.
As the noise entered the quiet halls, the people in the auditorium gradually awoke, discussing in twos and threes: “I seemed to have fallen asleep, and I feel like…”
“I didn’t seem to understand what the singing meant. It sounded like babbles or a lullaby, and then, drowsiness just hit me.”
“…I feel like I dreamed about the shadow play. By the time I woke up, it was all so vague.. And I still have to write about a reflection piece once I return home, oh god.”
When they saw the police in front, the students were taken aback. The corpses on the ground had been taken away by them so not much panic was aroused.
There was surveillance in the auditorium, and there were also cameras preparing to shoot the entire shadow puppet show this time, but when the police went to watch it, the data had been wiped clean.
The teenager on stage glanced at the boy who had protected the girl. He knew what to say and what not to say.
He glanced at the people on the ground with a resentful heart, and he immediately cried and said, “These people kidnapped me and my grandpa!”
All the people involved in the crime were taken away, and the corpse was not an exception.
Ning Meng stood beside Shi Qi, feeling apprehensive.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The police investigated quickly, allowing the students to be quickly cleared of suspicion.
As for the specific situation, Ning Meng didn’t know the details. They were all taken to a separate classroom for questioning.
In order to pass the police’s questioning without arousing suspicions, she had even asked for the system’s help.
Although the system was useless in a lot of aspects, it was still able to prove useful in this area. Moreover, she knew that as a student, it was normal to feel frightened and nervous.
As for Shi Qi’s side, she wasn’t at all worried.
Even if the police suspected him, the Shi family would convince them that these incidents were common, allowing them to reach a tacit understanding.
When she read this novel before, she remembered that the police had even asked the Shi family for help.
A few days later, the girl from Class 6 and the girls who fainted in the cafeteria had both woken up. After half a month had passed, they both started attending school again.
Regarding the memories of those days, even if they had any recollections of it, it would only feel like a dream, unbelievable to the ears.
Once Qiu Keke had gotten a hold of this news, she quietly whispered this into Ning Meng’s ears.
The part that the girl in Class 6 remembered was that she went out to go to the bathroom that night and by the time she came out, she saw a paper doll. There were only emergency lights in the corridor at that time and she was a timid person by nature so she walked a few steps forward to take a look.
Unexpectedly, upon touching that per doll, it had clung onto her.
She couldn’t shake it off no matter what she did, and instead, the paper doll wrapped around her hand, climbing onto her neck and malevolently staring at her.
The girl almost sucked in a cold breath at that time. If it weren’t for the pain in her neck, she would’ve thought she was dreaming.
Later, her consciousness slowly faded, and she didn’t have any recollections of what had happened next.
Ning Meng guessed that by then, the paper doll had probably taken her soul. And because she was originally standing, after losing her consciousness, she was left still standing at the door of the dormitory.
Later on, when her roommate had bumped into her, she fell upon being moved.
Qiu Keke spoke until her mouth had turned parched and she went to drink water to rehydrate herself.
Ning Meng pondered for a while, and realized something. That was, don’t touch strange things randomly, because you’ll easily get yourself involved in trouble.
These paper dolls appeared in front of the dorm in the middle of the night. If she were the one to have seen it, she would have definitely closed the doors. If she had a lighter on her, she would have lit it on fire.
Of course, whether it would work still remained a question.
The last time she had encountered a paper doll, it had burned into ashes. However, she didn’t know what method Shi Qi had used, considering he originally had a very unique constitution.
Sure enough, her grandson was really great.
Once Qiu Keke had enough rest, she said mysteriously: “Did you know, the girl who fainted in the cafeteria, had a much weirder recollection of the events.”
At that time, she was only focused on doing her mock papers, and hadn’t heard of what had happened before. When she heard the news from other people, she became a little frightened.
Fortunately, the paper doll did not look at her.
Ning Meng opened her mouth, watching Shi Qi sitting next to her, she then asked with reassurance, “How did she fall into a coma then?”
Qiu Keke immediately started whispering.
That girl was from Class 10 and her family was relatively poor, but according to her classmates, she liked making some handicrafts, including things made out of paper.
These things were also popular among girls so she was able to earn some pocket money and buy herself some reference books.
Since the shadow play troupe was visiting the school, her deskmate had heard her say more than once that she wanted to go there to see how puppet figures were made and that was because she wanted to learn how to make them too.
As someone whose home was too far away from school, she also lived in the dormitory.
Later that day, after school at noon, she told her roommate that she was going to the auditorium to take a look and not return to the dorm. At that time, her roommate didn’t mind as well.
The girl did enter the auditorium after eating at noon, but she didn’t see anything at the time, and no one seemed to be there.
She curiously stepped inside and saw the exquisite paper dolls lying on the ground. Excited, she touched them to try and cop a feel.
Later on, her courage grew weak so she didn’t dare to touch any more. She saw a paper doll with closed eyes in the corner that looked too lifelike it was a little scary, and she ran out of the auditorium and went to the cafeteria.
At that time, there were only a few people in school. The students in the cafeteria had returned to their dorms to rest after lunch so only her and a girl opposite her not far away was left.
Not long after she sat down, she felt an ache coming from her posterior.
Summer clothes weren’t thick but she almost couldn’t breath as though something was stuck on it. When she reached out to touch in search of what was causing it, she realized that there was a paper doll stuck on her back.
The paper doll had been stuck to her back ever since she had entered the auditorium.
The girl’s scalp turned numb. She tried to tear it off her but to no avail. Instead, her actions alarmed the paper doll and it continued to climb on her back, wrapping its paper arms around her neck.
It was clearly made of paper, but it was stronger than people, and it couldn’t be torn apart.
She didn’t have any memories of what had happened later on.
Then came the memory of waking up in the hospital.
Almost no one dared to talk about such a weird event happening to them, because even if they spoke about it, it would’ve been hard to believe. The people who fell into the trance that night woke up the next day not realizing that they had had a hallucination and were even writing their reflection pieces diligently.
The people who had knowledge of this event would assume that they had watched a really good shadow play just from the looks of it.
Qiu Keke was able to obtain these news by having a multitude of friends and the reason why she told Ning Meng was because she felt that she looked soft.
Not only did she have a soft appearance, her manner of speaking was also soft.
Qiu Keke quietly said: “Ningning, you should be careful when you go home. If a paper doll enters your window and climbs on you, clinging to you tightly—”
Before she could even finish speaking, she gave a loud cry.
Ning Meng was taken aback by her sudden cry, and quickly asked, “What’s the matter?”
Shi Qi suddenly walked through the aisle between her and Qiu Keke and returned to his seat, tapping his long slender fingers on the book.
He leaned back in his chair with half-squinted eyes. He tilted his head, and said unhurriedly: “No talking about ghost stories in the classroom.”
Qiu Keke retorted: “When did I talk… alright alright alright, I won’t say anything…”
She touched Ning Meng’s head, her face full of sympathy, “Oh, Ning Ning, it must be tough to be his deskmate.”
Ning Meng nodded, then shook her head again.
＊＊＊＊＊
In the past, she treated me well.
So now, it’s only natural I treat her well.
——”Shi Qi’s secretly hidden little diary”
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17: Ghost stories should be strangled at their cradles
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