STG 05
Chapter 5: The Boundary-Free Zone
The moon was bright, the stars sparse.
The bell signaling the end of evening self-study rang, and students trickled out of the classrooms in twos and threes, chatting and laughing under the night sky. After a long day of grueling classes, this was perhaps their most relaxed time.
No homework, no teachers, just a few close friends by their side—heading home for a shower before climbing into bed. What could be better?
Amid the scattered crowds, a large group of over a dozen students suddenly emerged, marching in an orderly yet steady formation toward the school gates.
At the center of this group was a black-silk-blindfolded young man, wrapped up tightly like the filling of a dumpling.
Such a massive entourage naturally drew the attention of everyone around them.
“Really… I can walk home by myself,” Lin Qiye said, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. “I can see, it’s just that my eyes are sensitive to light—”
“No need to explain, Lin Qiye!” Jiang Qian cut him off, speaking with righteous conviction. “We promised your aunt we’d take care of you, and we will!”
“Yeah, Qiye, it’s on the way for most of us anyway.”
“Same here.”
Lin Qiye: “…”
Honestly, at this point, he’d rather be the isolated loner. After spending so much time in darkness, he wasn’t used to this much attention—it made him uncomfortable.
Of course, his aunt and Yang Jin were exceptions. They were family.
But since everyone meant well, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He could only sigh and let himself be swept along by the crowd.
“I’ve got to turn right at the next intersection, but I can walk a bit farther with you guys.”
“I need to turn here. See you tomorrow!”
“See you tomorrow.”
“…”
As they moved farther from the school, the students surrounding Lin Qiye gradually said their goodbyes and left. A few minutes later, only five remained by his side.
The once-noisy atmosphere quieted down, and the space around them suddenly felt much more open. Lin Qiye exhaled deeply in relief.
“Do you guys think… the fog will really revive and swallow Daxia one day?” Li Yifei asked curiously, adjusting his backpack.
“Didn’t you hear the experts? The chances of the fog reviving are slim. It might not change for another hundred years. And by then… well, we’ll all be dead anyway, so why worry?” Jiang Qian rolled her eyes.
“Ugh, come on. You know how unreliable those so-called ‘experts’ are. What if we finally get into college, start enjoying life, and then—bam!—the fog swallows Daxia? Wouldn’t that suck?”
“So that’s why you’ve been slacking off instead of studying?” Jiang Qian stepped in front of Li Yifei, hands on her hips. “Just a heads-up—Teacher Wang already said if you rank last again on the next exam, your desk is getting moved next to the podium.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Li Yifei scratched his head awkwardly.
“Still, I really don’t think the fog will revive,” Wang Shao, walking at the front, suddenly interjected. “At the end of the day, the fog is just a natural phenomenon. Once it reaches a certain threshold, it’ll gradually recede—just like the Ice Age. When glaciers covered the land, they eventually melted as temperatures rose, ushering in a new era.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that—the Natural Disaster Theory, right? It’s pretty widely accepted these days,” Jiang Qian nodded.
“But what if… the fog isn’t a natural phenomenon?” Lin Qiye, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
Wang Shao blinked, then chuckled. “Qiye, you don’t actually believe those so-called ‘theologians’ who claim the fog is supernatural, do you?”
“It’s the 21st century. We should trust science. There’s no such thing as ghosts and gods,” Liu Yuan, another classmate, chimed in.
Lin Qiye didn’t respond. Whether things beyond science existed in this world—he knew the answer better than anyone. But there was no need to share that with outsiders.
Li Yifei muttered under his breath, “I think the world would be more interesting if those things were real.”
“Why waste time on this? It’s not like any of this is our concern. Instead of worrying about whether the fog will revive, we should just enjoy the three-day holiday on Survival Day and sleep in,” Jiang Qian said with a laugh.
“Yeah, holidays are what really matter!”
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the old district of Cangnan City.
A man was walking leisurely down a dim, deserted street, a signboard slung over his shoulder. The flickering light of aged streetlamps stretched his shadow long behind him.
He glanced at his phone, then stopped at the entrance of a narrow alley.
“This is the spot…”
Muttering to himself, he set the signboard down and adjusted its position.
Under the erratic glow of the streetlamp, the sign’s shadow flickered in and out of view. Against its black background, bold red characters stood out starkly:
—NO ENTRY AHEAD!
The man leaned against the lamppost, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then tapped his earpiece.
“Captain, the third sign is in position.”
“Copy that. Begin.”
“Roger.”
Cigarette dangling from his lips, the man stepped in front of the signboard, pressed his thumb to his teeth, and bit down hard.
A bead of blood welled up from the wound. He crouched and drew a long horizontal line across the words “NO ENTRY AHEAD” with his bloodied thumb.
His gaze sharpened, and an inexplicable aura erupted from him, rippling outward.
He looked up at the dark night sky and whispered words only he could hear:
“Forbidden Ruin—[Boundary-Free Zone].”
The next moment, the bloody mark on the signboard rapidly faded, as if being absorbed. Then, the words “NO ENTRY AHEAD” flashed crimson—
Before returning to normal.
The man plopped down onto the ground, exhaling heavily.
“Damn… drained again…”
At that instant, if someone were to look down on Cangnan City from above, they would see three points of light flicker around the old district. These three points swiftly connected, forming a dark red equilateral triangle.
The moment the triangle took shape, half of the old district within its bounds seemed to be erased from existence, fading away like ink wiped from a map.
Yet from the ground, the old district appeared unchanged.
Simultaneously, at the center of the triangle, six figures cloaked in black and red streaked across the sky like lightning.
The man at the forefront gazed up at the dark red sky, his hand resting on the hilt of the blade strapped to his back. His eyes narrowed slightly.
“Ghostface Purge Operation… begins now.”
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