# 53
Chapter 53: Campus Apocalypse
A gun’s purpose isn’t just to kill.
It also intimidates.
When monsters suddenly appear and drive people into frantic terror, only another kind of fear can force them to calm down—if only for a moment.
“Who are you? Why do you have a gun?”
“Cop! Are you a cop?”
“Save us! There are monsters in the school!”
“Help!!”
“……”
After a brief daze, the students erupted again, surging toward Lin Qiye. Voices rose and fell, echoing across the school gate.
Lin Qiye’s brows knitted; instead of retreating, he stepped forward!
His finger brushed a hidden switch on the black case. A side panel snapped open and a sheathed Straight Blade sprang out.
Lightning-fast, he caught the hilt.
Clang—!
The Straight Blade flashed free!
A pale-blue edge slit the air with a faint hum, cleaving straight at the boy in the lead.
The boy’s pupils shrank; his head ballooned as if something were about to burst out.
Yet Lin Qiye’s strike arrived first—severing the head in one clean sweep!
A grotesque, fanged mass of flesh and gore sailed high, splattering nearby students with sticky blood. They stood petrified, statues carved from shock.
From their mindless charge to Lin Qiye’s draw, slash, and beheading, only the blink of an eye had passed; the brutal reality hadn’t yet sunk in.
A few seconds later, shrill screams exploded.
Monsters… had been hiding right beside them?
“Silence!” Lin Qiye roared. A flicker of gold flashed across his eyes.
The chaotic crowd fell dead quiet.
The instant he spoke, an overwhelming pressure slammed into their hearts like a tidal wave, stunning them mute.
“Now, no monsters remain among you. Head straight for the gate—someone will open it.” He slid the Straight Blade home, voice calm.
“But file out in order. No pushing. If I see anyone breaking line…”
He raised the gun and swept it across their faces.
At once the students spun toward the gate. They looked frantic yet kept formation; boys helped girls whose legs had turned to jelly.
A corner of the 【Borderless Domain】 at the gate had been lifted, revealing a path outside.
Beyond it, specialists would wipe their memories—none of Lin Qiye’s concern.
This wave alone held roughly four hundred. More kept pouring from the teaching blocks—freshmen and seniors.
Infection rates among first- and third-years were low, and their buildings sat close to the gate. Escaping after the monsters appeared wasn’t hard. The problem: infected still lurked, hidden within the panicked masses.
They were unstable bombs; no one knew when they’d detonate, but when they did, it would snap the students’ last thread of sanity.
Imagine finally fleeing the monsters, reaching what feels like safety, relaxing for one heartbeat—then the head of the kid beside you splits open…
The creatures’ killing power was limited, but the atrocities humans commit in panic know no bottom.
Luckily, Lin Qiye was a living detector. He spotted monsters in the crowd and cut them down; those cleared filed out through the 【Borderless Domain】.
Keeping so many students inside would only add variables. He couldn’t evacuate everyone, but every soul sent out helped.
Thankfully, modern high-schoolers had decent stamina; within minutes, thirteen or fourteen hundred had reached the gate, passed inspection, and left. The freshman and senior blocks were now nearly empty.
“Seal the passage. I’m going back in,” Lin Qiye said into his earpiece.
Leng Xuan grunted. A moment later the gateway in the 【Borderless Domain】 slowly closed; the school was isolated once more.
Just as Lin Qiye prepared to move, the sky flickered like a faulty old television, dimming.
“What happened?”
“I’m still new to the 【Borderless Domain】. Seems I touched something odd…” Leng Xuan’s voice returned. “Will it affect you? I’ll keep studying—”
Lin Qiye glanced at the blood-red heavens and sighed.
“I still say a friendly green looks better.
Because right now… this feels exactly like the end of the world.”
Under the crimson dome, the campus atmosphere turned eerie and surreal. Screams and beastly roars drifted from the distant sophomore building, echoing overhead.
A faint metallic tang of blood drifted on the air; Lin Qiye’s brows tightened.
He shook off stray thoughts, blade in hand, and swept the freshman and senior buildings at speed.
…
“Aran… I-I’m scared!”
“Shh!” Aran poked her head out of the toilet stall, peeked, then drew back. “Keep it down or the monsters will hear.”
“But why hide here instead of running out with everyone else?” another girl whispered.
Inside the narrow, gloomy stall, three girls huddled, faces pale and lips bloodless.
Aran lowered her voice, eyes oddly bright. “Haven’t you watched disaster movies? The idiots who charge out first always die! Years of film experience tell me: split from the herd, hide safe, wait for rescue—that’s smartest!”
“But… this isn’t a movie!” the girl beside her whimpered. “And are you sure a toilet is safe?”
“I’d pick somewhere else, but this building’s only got classrooms and toilets,” Aran sighed. “Still, relax—we’ll be fine here.”
Creeeak—!
Before the words left her mouth, the stall door yanked open.
All three shrieked!
When they saw not a monster but a boy with a blade, they clapped hands over their mouths.
“Fine? Not a chance,” Lin Qiye said flatly.
In the same breath the Straight Blade flashed free; under the girls’ horrified stares, it swept through and severed one girl’s head.
A huge, hideous mass of flesh thudded to the tile.