I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 35

Being trapped in the tiny body of a ragdoll was proving to be incredibly inconvenient. Most of the time, Qi Yan had no choice but to be carried in Bai Qing’s arms. While the fox’s embrace was admittedly comfortable, staying like this indefinitely wasn’t a solution, and Qi Yan couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of anxiety.

Inside the dim classroom, desks and chairs were arranged in neat rows. Bai Qing walked through the room, passing the podium and heading toward the back. Her steps were measured and her pace moderate; she showed not a hint of the tension one might expect inside a haunted house.

After all, as a Great Demon who had lived for thousands of years, such parlor tricks were beneath her notice.

Suddenly, Bai Qing came to a dead halt. The surrounding space distorted in an instant, twisting like a tangled mess of rope before being sliced into fragments by a sharp blade. The entire world plunged into chaos.

Qi Yan huddled in Bai Qing’s arms, her voice trembling. “What’s happening…?”

“I don’t know,” Bai Qing replied, her sharp gaze sweeping over the spatial fragments scattered in the void before watching them slowly begin to reassemble.

The fragments merged with increasing speed, like countless magnets drawn together from all directions. After a blur of motion, a new world materialized before them.

The once-empty classroom was now packed with people, all of them junior high students wearing school uniforms. Every face was etched with panic.

Qi Yan remained in her doll form, but as she looked down, she noticed her clothes had changed. Instead of the light, casual outfit she had worn when entering the dungeon, she was now dressed in a miniature version of the school uniform.

She glanced at Bai Qing and saw that she, too, had been transformed. Her pristine, snow-white long robes were gone, replaced by the exact same student uniform.

Seeing a middle school uniform on a woman radiating such mature charm… it was certainly a unique look.

Qi Yan found it quite amusing, tilting her small head to study Bai Qing for a long moment until a sharp glare from the fox forced her to look away.

Qi Yan shifted her attention to the altered world. The sudden appearance of so many people out of thin air was unsettling. The classroom was noisy; it appeared to be nighttime outside, and with the lights out, the students were restless. They were crowded at the classroom door, desperate to get out.

“What’s wrong with this door? It won’t open!”

“The lights are out too! We were just here for evening self-study, how did this happen?”

“The teacher is gone… I’m scared…”

“Can someone just kick the door down?”

“It’s no use! We’ve tried! Even with several people ramming it, it won’t budge!”

“What on earth is going on?!”

As the confinement stretched on, the students’ emotions grew more volatile. Fear turned into aggression, and the more hot-tempered individuals began shouting curses.

Bai Qing and Qi Yan stood quietly to the side, seemingly unnoticed by the crowd.

Outside the window, the night deepened, and the sense of dread intensified. Just as the collective panic reached its breaking point, the classroom intercom suddenly crackled to life.

“Huff— Huff— Hey, hey? Can you hear me? Zzzt— Zzzt—”

The intermittent voice was followed by a screeching noise, like nails dragging across glass. The students covered their ears in agony, while a few boys continued to swear at the speakers.

“Alright, alright. Everyone be quiet.”

The static settled, and a raspy, “duck-like” voice emerged.

Qi Yan froze and looked up at Bai Qing; the two shared a brief, meaningful look.

It wasn’t surprising to hear that voice here. This dungeon centered around those three bratty ghosts; the spatial tear they just experienced was undoubtedly their handiwork. Since the space within this haunted house was their creation, they held all the power to shift it according to their whims.

“My dear classmates…”

The raspy voice rang out clearly once more. The classroom fell into an abrupt silence. Qi Yan noticed a flicker of confusion on the students’ faces, which quickly curdled into shock and horror.

“Don’t be afraid! Are you really that unhappy to hear my voice? Don’t be like that, we haven’t seen each other in so long! Turn those frowns upside down and come play with me! Hee hee hee—” The owner of the voice broke into a loud, manic laugh that made the entire classroom feel sinister.

After a brief, stunned silence, the students erupted in an even greater frenzy than before, rushing toward the door.

“Hahahahahahaha!” the voice laughed gleefully. “Look at you all! What are you afraid of? I’m your best classmate! How could you be afraid of me? That’s not right, you shouldn’t be afraid! Why would you be afraid of me?! ISN’T THAT RIGHT?!”

The voice screamed the last few words. An invisible soundwave blasted from the intercom, shaking the students to their core.

Qi Yan observed the reactions. She noticed a few boys who were particularly affected; their terror far exceeded the others. With every word the voice spoke, their faces grew paler.

“Shut up! Just shut up!”

A small boy suddenly grabbed his head and dove under a desk, his entire body shaking. “Ling Yi, shut up! Why are you still alive? Weren’t you… weren’t you already…”

The boy was stuttering too hard to finish, but Qi Yan understood. He wanted to ask: Ling Yi, aren’t you dead?

Ling Yi’s laughter didn’t stop. “Who said I was dead? Haven’t I come back to play with you? Today, we’re going to play a wonderful game! The rules are simple: I’m going to open the classroom door and let you out, but I’ve hidden the school gates! You can only leave if you find the exit.”

Another uproar broke out among the students.

“However!” Ling Yi’s voice turned cold. “Let me finish! If anyone else interrupts, I can’t guarantee what will happen to them!”

The students were cowed into silence as the temperature in the room plummeted.

“However, only half of you can leave! Even if you find the door, if there are too many people, no one gets to go!”

“And now let the game begin!”

As soon as he finished, the classroom door slammed open. The students leaning against it tumbled to the floor, but the dozens behind them didn’t care. Seeing an opening, they trampled over their fallen classmates in a desperate scramble to escape.

What a farce.

Qi Yan and Bai Qing watched the chaos unfold like detached observers. Once the students had surged out of both doors, leaving a few trampled bodies behind, the two remained still, as if waiting for someone.

“What are you waiting for?”

A voice came from behind them in the dim, trashed classroom. Even though Qi Yan was mentally prepared, she still jumped.

Bai Qing, however, remained perfectly composed as she turned around.

A boy in a school uniform had appeared behind them. His face was as white as paper, his lips were purple, and dark circles ringed his eyes. He stared at them with milky-white pupils.

“Big sister…” His gaze was fixed on the doll. “Do you have a way out?”

Qi Yan blinked. “What do you mean?”

Ling Yi leaned in closer, his paper-white face almost touching Qi Yan’s.

Bai Qing instinctively tightened her grip on the doll and stepped back, her eyes narrowing with a cold, warning glare.

Ling Yi looked at Bai Qing, took a moment to calculate the power gap between them, and decided to stay put. This gesture made Qi Yan think; she studied him subtly.

Ling Yi simply shrugged. “The battle royale has already begun outside. You should find a way to leave too, big sister.”

Qi Yan looked at him and said after a moment of reflection, “If you hate them this much, why not just kill them? You’re powerful enough now.”

Ling Yi replied, “Where’s the fun in that? This game is much more entertaining, don’t you think?” His tone carried the madness of someone seeking ultimate vengeance.

“Big sister, how about we play a different game? One that’s much more interesting than their battle royale.” Ling Yi grinned at Qi Yan. “Identify the ‘wolves’ among my dear classmates, and you’ll find the door to leave. In fact once you leave this place, you can leave the Carnival entirely.”

Qi Yan stared at him for several seconds before blinking her beaded eyes. “I don’t mind playing, but it’s a bit inconvenient for me like this, isn’t it?”

She wanted to use this chance to bargain for her body back.

To her disappointment, Ling Yi acted helpless. “I can’t help you with that. I wasn’t the one who turned you into this.”

Qi Yan’s bead eyes visibly lost their luster, and her plush ears drooped in disappointment.

Ling Yi didn’t care about her feelings. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked toward the exit. “Well, the game has started. You don’t need to act pitiful, big sister. Besides, your friend is carrying you—you don’t even have to walk. How comfortable.”

Qi Yan: “…”

She felt like she had just been roasted by a ghost child, but she had no proof.

Looking up, she saw Bai Qing looking down at her. Their eyes met. Bai Qing’s heterochromatic eyes, which she had hidden upon entering, reappeared. “Do you really want to walk that badly?”

Qi Yan slumped against her chest and sighed. “Who wants to walk when they can be carried? It’s just that this form is too inconvenient. What if we get separated?”

Bai Qing let out a soft chuckle. “I believe you humans call that a ‘jinx’.”

“…”

Qi Yan gave up. “Ptooey, ptooey! Pay no mind to a child’s words!”

“Are you still a child?”

“Didn’t you keep calling me ‘kiddo’? Are you taking it back now?”

“I call you that because I want to. You’re just pretending to be young.”

Qi Yan hopped up in indignation. “I’ve realized you’re one unreasonable fox!”

The doll bounced on Bai Qing’s arm, nearly tumbling off until Bai Qing’s quick reflexes caught her.

“Alright, stop squirming.”

Commotion echoed from the hallway; there was no telling what was happening to the students. Ling Yi had gone out too, presumably to join the gruesome hunt.

“Should we go out and see?” Bai Qing reached the classroom door.

Qi Yan looked down at the bodies of the students who had been trampled to death. “No, let’s search the classroom first. We might find something useful, a clue to identify who the ‘wolves’ Ling Yi mentioned really are.”

Support I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite)