Deep Within the Living-Chapter 66: Between the Corners

One minute earlier,
As Luo Di began sprinting through the corridor,
Xiaoying, clutching the sleeve of his shirt, also started running, matching Luo Di’s pace.
However, midway through their run,
Xiaoying...
A familiar, gentle voice suddenly came from behind.
Instinctively, Xiaoying halted, turned her head, and reflexively called out:
"Class Leader!"
The echo of her voice lingered in the long corridor, but the only response was endless gloom and faint sounds of recitation coming from a nearby classroom.
There was no class leader behind her—no one at all. It seemed to be just an auditory illusion created by the seams between spaces.
But this pause was enough. By the time Xiaoying turned back to face forward, Luo Di, who had been holding her sleeve, had already vanished without a trace. She hadn't noticed when he left.
In that instant,
Alone and isolated, she felt the oppressive weight of the school building, as if countless shadowy arms were reaching out to grab her. The primal, deep-seated fear within her surged forth like a flood.
She instinctively stepped back, aiming for the staircase behind her, desperate to escape the strange, eerie building.
After all, the class leader's voice had come from behind; maybe running back would actually lead her to him.
But… retreating meant abandoning Luo Di.
Should she go forward or turn back?
Every factor pushed her to flee, while fear overwhelmed her mind entirely.
Three seconds passed.
She swiftly swallowed two pills, clenched her teeth, and charged forward.
[Class 5, Senior Year]
The classroom Luo Di knew all too well.
The skin-type impersonator he had been so worried about was already dead, conspicuously pinned to the blackboard in a deliberate, almost theatrical way.
Its mouth was unnaturally forced open, the corners of its lips torn apart, and its jaw dislocated.
The most critical part of the impersonator—the pituitary gland—seemed to have been destroyed.
Under the flashlight's beam, Luo Di noticed what had been used to pin the corpse: the largest silver needles from Gao Yuxuan’s box.
Perhaps his earlier assumption was correct—Gao Yuxuan had managed to regroup with the class leader, and together, they had taken down this impersonator.
Gripping the zombie blade and flashlight in his right hand, Luo Di carefully turned, the light moving from the podium to the desks in the classroom.
Scattered between the desks and in the aisles were the mutilated upper bodies of several security guards—matching the incomplete remains he'd seen in the security office earlier.
Apparently, the battle had shifted from the security office to this classroom.
This transition might have been due to Gao Yuxuan’s intervention midway.
Luo Di observed another peculiar detail: the skin of these corpses seemed to be fused together, as though someone had pieced them into some kind of massive creature, which was ultimately defeated here.
The flashlight beam continued to sweep across the room, gradually illuminating the far end of the classroom.
Something felt off.
If the class leader or Gao Yuxuan were still in the room, they should have reacted immediately upon seeing the light. Yet, the room was eerily silent.
Luo Di considered shouting their names, but his instincts stopped him.
Instead, he kept rotating the flashlight slowly, trying to use the light to locate the two in the shadowy corners of the classroom.
Or perhaps, he hoped the room was empty—that the victorious class leader and Gao Yuxuan had already left, possibly heading to the infirmary and narrowly missing him.
The light swept over their former desks, finally settling on the back of the classroom, where Luo Di had once done push-ups during breaks.
There, partially obscured by a desk, was a humanoid figure in the far corner.
Its back was to him.
When the light revealed a head of long black hair, Luo Di froze, his body stiffening as though he had been turned to stone.
He didn’t call out.
Instead, with jerky, unnatural steps, he moved toward the darkened classroom, weaving through the desks and heading toward the back row.
Step. Step. Step.
The sound of his footsteps echoed crisply in the silence, yet the figure crouching in the corner didn’t react, seemingly engrossed in its task.
Slowly...
His line of sight cleared the obstructing desks,
and the flashlight beam shone fully on the corner.
The head, the body, and the crouched legs were all revealed.
There was no mistaking it.
It was the class leader.
The tight-fitting investigator combat gear was unique to the class leader,
and Luo Di’s mission to "find the class leader" was finally complete.
Additionally, the skin-type impersonator had been confirmed dead,
and the class leader appeared unharmed.
It should have been cause for celebration—a tearful, joyous reunion.
Yet there was no relief,
only stiffness, coldness, a chilling sense of unease.
Luo Di remained silent, stepping out from between the desks and into the open space at the back of the classroom.
Splash.
His shoe landed in a puddle of warm blood.
The circular beam of the flashlight acted like a spotlight on a stage, perfectly illuminating the class leader in the corner. The blood was flowing from where she crouched.
But it wasn’t the class leader’s injury. Before her lay a male corpse in a school uniform.
The class leader was "busy" with something,
as if performing CPR,
or trying to stop the bleeding,
or doing something disturbingly familiar to Luo Di.
Judging by the sheer volume of blood, however, it was unlikely the person could be saved—they were clearly long dead.
Standing in the pool of warm blood, Luo Di continued moving closer.
He wanted to identify the victim.
As Luo Di edged closer, his tongue involuntarily clicked, as though issuing a warning of impending danger.
He froze in place,
and his eyes caught a glint of metal on the ground—an artificial metal arm. That confirmed the identity.
Vice Rep Gao Yuxuan.
But Luo Di saw something even more horrifying.
The class leader wasn’t performing any kind of rescue. Instead, she was using scythe-like claws that extended from her index finger to slice into Gao Yuxuan’s neck.
Her movements were precise and practiced.
The sharpness of her claws reminded Luo Di instantly of the mutilated corpses in the security office.
Suddenly,
the class leader, who had been facing away from him the whole time, stopped what she was doing.
Click-click-click.
Her neck began to twist, emitting crisp joint-cracking sounds.
It didn’t stop until her head had rotated a full 180 degrees, locking eyes with Luo Di behind her.
She wore the same iconic smile from his memories—only now, it was smeared with blood.
At that moment,
all of Luo Di’s memories of the class leader connected in his mind. Every conversation, every image, every piece of information finally aligned:
"Luo Di, we’re planning to join the mid-term practice during the Founding Festival. Are you interested?"
"These simulated accidents never happened to anyone before your group. Personally, I suspect someone among you has a special constitution that attracts 'accidents.'”
"Wu Wen used to attend First High School. She transferred to your school because of an incident. Her uncle is strict with her, so since starting high school, we only meet occasionally on weekends."
"Luo Di, I have three days off during winter break. Can I visit you?"
"I’ve never eaten while watching TV before. It feels so good—I could live like this forever."
"Why did you, of all places, go to No. 13 Resettlement Neighborhood right before the incident, and just so happened to knock on the door of the third-floor apartment where an impersonator lived?"
"Luo Di, for tomorrow's graduation exam, you must be at your best."
"Oh no! I left my clothes in the dorm. I’ll go grab them quickly—you don’t have to wait for me. Just head to the sports field first."
…
A series of emotionless words squeezed from Luo Di’s lips:
“You went back to the dorm… to construct the ‘seam.’”
The class leader didn’t reply. Instead, she raised her index finger to her lips, signaling for him to stay silent—as if she was in the middle of something critical.
When Luo Di remained still and quiet,
she turned her head back around and carefully finished slicing through an entire neck.
When the task was complete,
the class leader wiped the blood and sweat from her brow with her arm, then lifted the severed head and turned to face Luo Di.
“You started suspecting me a long time ago, but because of our relationship, you deliberately raised the threshold for doubt.
That’s your flaw—a flaw you must correct… Luo Di.”