Splash!
Fresh blood mixed with shredded flesh and shards of bone splashed down like a downpour, splattering the wedding hall everywhere.
Splurt!
A chunk of flesh the size of a palm, gnawed at as if by wild dogs until its original body part was unrecognizable, slammed onto the table in front of Zhao Zihan.
The splattering blood covered her face.
"Ahh!"
Zhao Zihan screamed and lurched backward.
Crash!
She tripped over a chair, but she couldn't care less about the pain. She scrambled up and rushed frantically toward the exit.
She was terrified out of her mind.
She wasn't the only one—six or seven other classmates were also running for the exit.
Zhao Zihan was just two steps from freedom when the main doors of the Linglong Garden wedding hall—guarded as if by invisible ghost door gods—suddenly slammed shut with a bang.
She rushed forward and shoved desperately at the doors!
Bang! Bang!
"Let me out!"
Zhao Zihan cried out in despair.
The wedding hall had become a flesh-grinding abattoir. Many students were covered in bits of meat.
Ugh! Ugh!
Someone started vomiting!
They were all seventeen- or eighteen-year-old students. They had never seen such a horrific scene in their lives. Some hadn't run—not because they were brave, but because their legs had turned to jelly.
Of course, a few others managed to remain calm and were trying to figure out how to escape.
Seeing the scene descend into chaos, Tang Weimin's expression changed drastically. He immediately roared at Zhao Zihan and the others: "All of you, get back here and sit down, or I'll slaughter you!"
If this chaos continued, the promotion ritual would definitely fail.
Zhao Zihan couldn't hear anything. She kept shoving at the doors with all her might.
Tang Weimin strode over rapidly and slapped Zhao Zihan across the face.
This girl had good grades and was quite pretty. Especially with her long hair, she had the air of a literary maiden. Tang Weimin usually looked after her, but now two or three slaps had swollen her oval face, and a front tooth fell out.
"All of you, get back and sit down!"
Tang Weimin pulled a short knife from behind his waist and threatened everyone: "Don't force my hand!"
"Dong Xuan, Xingkun, Jingfu, let's get him!"
Seeing that Tang Weimin's attention wasn't on them, Zhang Shuai quickly lowered his voice and called out to a few friends he usually hung out with. Then he greeted Xu Shuo at a nearby table: "Xu Shuo, call your people. Let's rush him together!"
"Okay!"
Xu Shuo agreed readily enough, but he didn't move at all.
He was calculating, counting on Zhang Shuai losing his cool and striking first so he could observe the situation and be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
"Homeroom teacher, please let us go?"
Zhao Zihan begged through tears.
"Teacher, we always respected you. Why are you doing this?"
Zeng Hong simply couldn't understand.
"Teach, we even had dinner together last night. You encouraged us to study hard. How did you become like this?"
Xu Shaowei tried to move Tang Weimin with their teacher-student bond.
"Shut up, all of you!"
Tang Weimin's gaze turned ferocious.
No matter how deep the teacher-student bond was, could it compare to the allure of a transcendent profession?
As long as I advance to Matchmaker and step into the Divine Sequence, I can say goodbye to all those societal rules and live however I want.
At the thought of his wife quarreling with him every few days, despising him for earning too little, for not understanding the ways of the world and not knowing how to climb the ladder;
At the thought of the academic director having no real ability and keeping his position solely by kissing the principal's ass, while he himself had taught diligently for over a dozen years and was still just a teacher with no hope of promotion in sight;
At the thought of a piece of trash like Zhang Shuai, who couldn't even get into an ordinary high school yet threw his weight around at this key high school relying on his family background, completely disrespecting him, while he couldn't even vent his anger at him...
Tang Weimin's guilt toward these students vanished instantly!
I must become a transcendent!
Otherwise, how can I become one who stands above others?
This is my only chance to turn my life around!
"Sit back down!"
Tang Weimin roared at Zhao Zihan.
"Teach..."
Zhao Zihan's face was streaming with tears. She still wanted to persuade him.
Tang Weimin had run out of patience. The short knife in his right hand slashed across Zhao Zihan's neck.
Squelch!
Crimson blood sprayed out, splashing across the doors.
Thud!
Zhao Zihan collapsed to the ground, both hands clutching her neck, her eyes rapidly dimming and losing focus.
"Get him!"
Zhang Shuai muttered and shot to his feet.
If Tang Weimin were holding a pistol, he definitely wouldn't dare act rashly. But this mediocre middle-aged man was holding a short knife. Who was he trying to scare?
Tang Weimin caught sight of Zhang Shuai and immediately turned to stare at him. "Zhang Shuai, sit back down, or you're next!"
"Tang Weimin, who are you trying to scare with a lousy knife?" Zhang Shuai rallied the others. "Don't be afraid, everyone. Let's kill him together."
"Heh!" The corner of Tang Weimin's mouth twisted into a contemptuous smile. "Zhao Zihan, go break one of his legs!"
As Tang Weimin gave the order, he shook the golden dharma bell he had been holding.
Ding! Ding!
Zhao Zihan, who had just had her throat slashed and whose body hadn't even gone cold, stood up from the ground and stared at Zhang Shuai as she walked toward him.
Covered in blood that had soaked through her sweatshirt, she looked extraordinarily horrifying.
Zhang Shuai went numb at the sight!
The few buddies who had stood up with him all sat back down again in a flash, faster than turtles retracting their heads.
They had no choice!
Tang Weimin didn't have a gun, but he had a strange golden bell.
"The knife is a cheap knife—fifteen yuan from a supermarket. But this dharma bell is different. With it, I can control the people I've killed!"
Tang Weimin's voice was flat, carrying a hint of mockery. "You've seen zombie movies, right?"
"Just like that!"
Tang Weimin wasn't an idiot. Without a means to dominate the entire room, how could he possibly face over twenty strapping young men from the class alone?
"Teacher, I was wrong!" Zhang Shuai completely cowered. He hurriedly retreated a few steps and sat back down to show his loyalty. "Teacher, I'll do whatever you say!"
Tang Weimin shook the golden dharma bell in his hand.
Ding! Ding!
Zhao Zihan stopped in her tracks.
Tang Weimin had long been displeased with Zhang Shuai.
This scumbag relied on his district chief father to fight all day, date early, chase girls, bully classmates, and get away with trouble completely unscathed. There was simply no justice.
Tang Weimin had wanted to deal with him for a long time.
But to complete the promotion ritual, Tang Weimin decided to endure a while longer. Once he advanced to Matchmaker, he would use him as the first sacrifice.
Zhang Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and fawned with a smiling face: "Teacher, my dad always praises your teaching quality and skill at home!"
"I'll definitely listen to you. Whatever you say, I'll do!"
Zhang Shuai was terrified, so he changed his approach and decided to become Tang Weimin's lackey. It was humiliating, but surviving was all that mattered.
"Teacher, make it go after someone else?"
A shrill cry pulled everyone's attention back.
They turned to see the Little Joy Child that had just killed Ning Qian with a needle standing beside Zhou Yuanhang, looking up at him while blinking its large eyes.
"Teacher, my grades are excellent. If I perform well on the exam, I can definitely get into Tsinghua or Peking University. I won't embarrass you!"
Zhou Yuanhang was scared to death and kept begging.
He regretted it. He shouldn't have shouted "Quick, think of a way to save her!" when he saw Ning Qian in trouble. That sentence had probably attracted this little ghost.
The Little Joy Child had been standing there for a while and had long since lost patience. Seeing this guest shouting and screaming, ignoring it, the child showed a look of disgust. Its small hand took out a sewing needle and stabbed.
"Ahh!"
Zhou Yuanhang cried out in shock. He felt a pain in his arm, a numbing sensation, and then his forearm began to swell, stretching his clothes tight.
"Teacher, I don't want to die!" Zhou Yuanhang cried. "Please spare me!"
"Fuck!"
Xu Shuo cursed, his heart filled with anxiety.
Zhou Yuanhang was quite a good student—top five in the class, occasionally top ten in the grade. He hadn't expected that even he would get stabbed.
Tang Weimin fell silent and glanced at the Little Joy Child.
He was actually more anxious than Zhou Yuanhang. He also wanted to stop the Little Joy Child from acting erratically and let the wedding proceed, but the problem was he didn't know how.
This situation wasn't covered at all in the professor's notes.
Zhou Yuanhang turned into a human-skin balloon and floated up, finally hovering beneath the ceiling. A few seconds later...
Bang!
The fully swollen Zhou Yuanhang exploded.
The second flesh-and-blood rain fell.
Even though they had just witnessed this horrific scene, having blood rain down on their heads again made most of them scream in terror.
Only a few people bit their lips tightly, doing their best not to make a sound no matter how terrifying it was.
Because they worried that screaming would attract that little ghost.
Jiang Shan secretly glanced at Lu Jiuling, who stood before the offering table. He was silently watching everything in the hall, his expression as calm as the surface of a thousand-foot icy pond, without the slightest ripple.
Was he not afraid at all?
He looked as if he were watching a boring educational documentary rather than a horror movie.
Lu Jiuling wasn't looking directly at the Little Joy Child but observing it from the corner of his eye, because he wasn't sure whether making eye contact with it would draw it over.
"But I'm the groom. It shouldn't come for me at this time, right?"
Lu Jiuling recalled scene after scene since his first encounter with this type of Little Joy Child, pondering their behavioral logic.
It was going after the guests. Could it be that...
The Little Joy Child had gained nothing and was very unhappy. It stood in place, staring at everyone.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Everyone immediately lowered their heads to avoid the Little Joy Child's gaze. Girls like Li Yinuo and Wang Xingkun even tried to crawl under the tables.
"Please don't pick me!"
"Please don't pick me!"
Xu Shaowei muttered under her breath, praying nonstop.
But it was useless. The Little Joy Child drifted over silently like a ghost and landed beside her.
"I'm done for!"
Xu Shaowei looked at the Little Joy Child's pale face and despaired. Then she instinctively turned her head to look at her best friend Feng Xiu beside her.
Feng Xiu had her hands over her head, sprawled on the table, her body trembling violently.
She didn't dare have any contact with Xu Shaowei, not even eye contact, because she didn't want that little ghost to notice her.
Zhou Yuanhang had just shouted a moment ago and been targeted.
"Holy shit, it's Xu Shaowei's turn!"
Zhang Shuai looked at the massive mountain ranges on Xu Shaowei's chest and shook his head regretfully.
Once targeted by that little ghost, having big tits was useless. She was going to die!
What a pity!
I haven't even gotten to play with them yet!
Seeing her good friend pretending not to see her, Xu Shaowei let out a bitter laugh. Then she instinctively looked toward Lu Jiuling standing before the offering table.