Chapter 150: End of Linjiang Village (Patreon)

For an ordinary person, a ten-meter gap would be an utterly impossible chasm to cross.

Below it, ghastly water ghosts gaped their bloody maws, howling with excitement, waiting for their meal to fall.

Behind him, the black-water wave that blotted out the entire sky bore down with the force of rolling thunder.

At the same moment, at the door of the old schoolhouse.

"Look! It's Fang Si!" Lin Yan's sharp eyes were the first to spot the distant figure on the broken bridge.

Drunkard saw it too.

They watched Shido Makoto burst out of ancestral hall, saw the faintly glowing ruler in his hand.

And they saw him alone drawing vengeful Spirit's entire fury onto himself.

The horrifying sight of black hair swarming the sky sent chills through them even from this distance.

"The... the bridge is breaking!"

Shirogane Kei cried out in shock.

They watched helplessly as the bridge deck ahead of Shido Makoto collapsed, watched him trapped on the broken span, watched the world-ending wave crash down behind him.

"It's over..." Lin Dong sagged against the doorframe, his face bloodless.

In a dead end like this—ten deaths and not a single chance of survival—there was no hope left at all.

Shirogane Kei lunged forward on instinct, but Xu Ye caught her before she could.

"Don't! Going out there now is suicide!" Xu Ye said coldly.

She was just as frantic inside, but reason told her there was nothing they could do right now.

On the broken bridge.

Shido Makoto felt the pressure of the wind at his back, heard the water ghosts howling below.

This time there was no Lin Dong paying with his life to draw off the hatred of the water ghosts and the black hair.

Every single attack was locked onto him alone.

He drew a deep breath and raised the disciplinary ruler high.

SILENCE!!!

The moment those words tore out of his throat—

the ruler in Shido Makoto's hand erupted with a dazzling golden light, instantly illuminating the entire ghost-ridden hell.

An invisible force of rule swept outward in every direction, with Shido Makoto at its center.

Time itself seemed to freeze, as if someone had hit pause.

The towering wave already crashing down over Shido Makoto's head froze in midair, and the black hair whipping wildly through the sky went rigid, locked in place.

Even the thousands upon thousands of water ghosts climbing up beneath the bridge froze mid-motion, arms still reaching upward.

Seeing that it worked, Shido Makoto spun to face the ten-meter gap and leapt straight off the edge of the broken bridge.

He jumped down into the abyss made of countless frozen water ghosts.

At the schoolhouse door, Shirogane Kei and the others stared in shock, certain Shido Makoto had chosen to end his own life.

But the next second, they witnessed something they would never forget as long as they lived.

Shido Makoto's body dropped through the air.

He planted a foot on the rigid head of the water ghost closest to the bridge deck!

Using its skull as a springboard, he launched himself upward again!

It looked exactly like the cloud-treading footwork out of some wuxia novel!

He adjusted his posture mid-air and landed, steady and precise, on another water ghost's outstretched arm.

Push off, jump again!

He kept bounding across that sea of ghosts without pause!

In the last instant before the ruler's power ran out, Shido Makoto planted a foot on the shoulder of the water ghost nearest the far bank and hurled the last of his strength into launching himself toward the opposite side of the broken bridge!

By this outlandish method, he forced his way across the ten-meter chasm!

Shido Makoto's hands caught the edge of the broken bridge on the far side, half his body dangling over the abyss.

But at that exact instant—time ran out!

BOOM!!

Time surged back into motion!

The frozen, towering wave behind him finally crashed down, smashing the stretch of bridge he had just left into rubble!

Every water ghost beneath the bridge snapped back into motion, letting out roars even more furious than before!

Whoosh!

A strand of black hair, thicker than any before, shot out of the wave and stabbed toward Shido Makoto's back as he clung to the bridge's edge, trying to haul himself up!

It moved with terrifying speed!

Shido Makoto had just used every ounce of strength to drag himself onto the bridge, and before he could even catch his breath, a sense of danger flared at his back.

Squelch!

A stab of pain hit him.

But that was all.

At the last possible moment, Shido Makoto had swung the ruler flat against his own back, taking the fatal blow head-on!

The impact sent him flying forward.

He tumbled across the stone bridge again and again, his back burning with pain, but he had bought back his life.

He didn't dare stop. Scrambling up half-crawling, he broke into a final sprint toward the schoolhouse door.

ROOOAR!!!

The amalgam had gone completely berserk.

The entire black ocean began to churn.

Before the eyes of everyone at the schoolhouse door, the boundless black water surged upward, swelling into a colossal ghost hand that blotted out the sky, and lunged down at the old schoolhouse!

That single grasp looked ready to crush the entire schoolhouse, and everyone inside it, into dust!

Less than ten seconds remained!

Shido Makoto's strength was completely spent.

His steps grew heavier with every stride.

The schoolhouse door was right there in front of him, but those mere ten-odd meters felt as distant as the edge of the earth.

"Hurry!!"

At the schoolhouse door, Shirogane Kei stared at the sky-darkening hand, at Shido Makoto struggling to run beneath its shadow. Ignoring Xu Ye's attempt to hold her back, she leaned most of her body out through the doorway and thrust her hand toward him with everything she had.

The howling wind lashed Shido Makoto's face raw. An instant before the black water swallowed him—

he threw himself forward in one desperate dive!

His fingertips brushed something warm and soft—Shirogane Kei's hand!

He grabbed it without a second thought.

"Got it!"

Shirogane Kei cried out in relief and joy.

"Pull!"

Behind her, Xu Ye, Drunkard, Lin Yan—even the badly wounded Lin Dong—all heaved together at the same instant!

They hauled on Shirogane Kei's body, pulling backward like they were locked in a tug-of-war!

Shido Makoto was finally dragged inside the schoolhouse!

"Close the door!"

Xu Ye shouted.

Drunkard, standing closest to the door, reacted fastest—he spun around, slammed it shut, and threw the bolt with lightning speed!

BOOM!!

The instant the bolt dropped—

an earth-shaking impact slammed against the door from outside!

The whole schoolhouse shuddered, as if hit by a magnitude-ten earthquake.

But the door held.

A nearly invisible sheen of golden light flickered across the schoolhouse's walls, doors, and windows, then vanished.

This was Chen Jingwen's protection.

The impact lasted only a moment before cutting off completely.

Inside the schoolhouse.

Everyone collapsed to the floor, grateful just to have survived.

Shido Makoto lay on the ground, his hand still clasped tight around Shirogane Kei's.

He turned his head to look at the girl beside him.

Shirogane Kei was looking back at him too, her face a wreck—tears and snot both, utterly disheveled.

They stared at each other, and suddenly both burst out laughing.

Shirogane Kei laughed and cried at once. "S-senior, you scared me to death... I thought you were done for!"

"Didn't I tell you?" Shido Makoto panted.

"I promised I'd bring every one of you out alive."

"You..."

Shirogane Kei seemed about to say more.

But right then, a burst of white light flared, enveloping every survivor inside the schoolhouse.

[Dungeon: "Linjiang Village" — Complete.]

[Players: Fang Si, Drunkard, Wang Wei, Xu Ye, Shirogane — survival confirmed.]

[Evaluating task...]

[Rating: B-]

[Calculating rewards...]

Shido Makoto felt his body grow light, his consciousness beginning to blur.

The last thing he saw before consciousness slipped away entirely was Shirogane Kei's face, close enough to touch, smiling through her tears.