The air raid siren suddenly blared. Through the window, you could see police officers, riot control armed police, and even firefighters all flooding the streets, bustling about, no one knowing what they were doing. Amidst the chaos, a series of gunshots even rang out.

  “Students, the Security Office is conducting an emergency drill. From now until the end of school, no one is allowed to leave the classroom!”

  The homeroom teacher, John Thompson, walked in.

  William Carter was speechless.

  He definitely didn’t believe it, and there weren’t many classmates who did. But judging by the teacher’s expression, he probably didn’t know what was really happening either.

  Boom!

  Over ten minutes later, a huge explosion shook the ground. A building less than 500 meters from the school suddenly burst into flames, the raging fire lighting up half the sky.

  The mirrored surface above also reflected the flames, corresponding to the ground below, looking especially strange.

  “A drill? Who are they kidding?”

  Someone muttered under their breath.

  At seventeen or eighteen, everyone was restless. In this situation, who could focus on reading?

  “I think... even ghosts wouldn’t believe it! Ghosts aren’t stupid!” someone chimed in.

  “All right, I know what you’re all thinking!”

  Seeing the discussions growing louder and more frequent, knowing there was no point in suppressing it further, John Thompson thought for a moment and said, “Although I don’t know exactly what’s happening, I can guess! Maybe some people think it’s the end of the world and want to do illegal things. The reason you’re not allowed out is to keep you safe from those criminals!”

  Everyone suddenly understood.

  This reason fit the current situation pretty well.

  Although it seemed fine for now, who could guarantee the end of the world wouldn’t come?

  Knowing that life was counting down, there would definitely be people who, no longer suppressing themselves, would do things they’d always wanted to but never dared.

  That’s human nature.

  You can trust it, but you can’t test it.

  So, most students accepted this explanation, except for William Carter, who frowned.

  An increase in crime was understandable, but... for all the police to be mobilized, and even a building to catch fire, that seemed unlikely!

  After all, China is a country where guns are banned. Even with strong desires, without weapons, it’s easy to be subdued. Now, the commotion was clearly huge, far beyond that scope.

  He had “killed before”... He knew how fragile life was, especially for those who had been trained.

  Looking outside again, in just a few minutes, other buildings also had incidents, gunfire grew more intense, and it seemed the military had appeared.

  Armored vehicles showed up as well.

  If this was just ordinary crime... there’d be no need for those, right?

  It was getting stranger and stranger. William Carter looked up again at the mirrored surface in the sky. Though it was dark, with the help of the lights reflected from the ground, the smooth, flat streets were still visible.

  Even the teaching building he was in could be seen clearly.

  “I wonder if I can see myself sitting here...”

  William Carter grew curious.

  He’d always run to the playground before, but now that the teaching building was visible, he wondered if he could see himself by sitting at the window.

  He looked up at the upside-down floors in the sky.

  After searching for a while, he really did see a figure sitting at the window.

  William Carter smiled slightly, just about to see if his reflection would do anything else, when, in a flash, a hand suddenly reached out from the spot where his reflection was.

  Then, a figure struggled to crawl out from inside, revealing a face with a high forehead.

  “Edward Bolton?” William Carter’s pupils contracted.

  The face that appeared in the mirror... was his best friend and desk mate!

  His vision blurred, and the face disappeared.

  Body stiffening, William Carter turned his head.

  David Bolton was sitting right behind him, staring intently, his eyes slightly pale, filled with cruelty and indifference.

  Whoosh!

  A pair of large hands reached straight for his neck, trying to strangle him.

Chapter Four: Possession

  “You...”

  Seeing the murderous intent in the other’s eyes, William Carter’s face darkened. The combat experience from his nightmares kicked in, and he rolled to the ground, dodging the attack.

  Getting up, just as he was about to stop the other, he saw his usually gentle desk mate, as if possessed, suddenly stand up and slam his head into the wall behind him.

  Bang!

  Blood flowed, staining the floor bright red.

  William Carter was stunned.

  Everyone was stunned.

  Can someone tell me what just happened...

  Wasn’t he trying to kill someone?

  What’s with the suicide?

  “Call an ambulance, quick!”

  “Ah...”

  Moments later, girls’ screams and the teacher’s shouts mixed together.

  Taking two steps forward, William Carter checked on him.

  Fortunately... he was just unconscious, his life not in danger.

  “Quick, get the first aid kit from the classroom...”

  The most urgent thing was to stop the bleeding, to prevent shock from excessive blood loss.

  After helping to treat him and seeing that his desk mate would be fine for now, William Carter finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  At this point, although the screaming had stopped, every student’s face was extremely pale. Many girls had tears in their eyes, huddled together, shivering.

  For them, their psychological defenses had already been broken.

  “What on earth happened?” Mr. Thompson came over.