CHAPTER 1785: CHAPTER 1779: THE DISAPPEARING CITY

After listening to the male teacher, Teacher Ellie also became anxious and quickly followed him out, but she didn’t notice why she was so flustered.

The two of them chased out, leaving the students in the classroom bewildered. For a moment, the corridor was in chaos. The two teachers used their fastest speed, but they underestimated Dairya’s running speed. In no time, she was downstairs, rushing out of the teaching building. Seeing Dairya about to run out of the school gate, Teacher Ellie had no choice but to shout to the security guard at the gate, "Quick! Stop her! This student is trying to skip school!"

Her voice didn’t make the security guard at the gate take it seriously in time. He held his baton, staring blankly as Dairya ran past him, and then watched the two teachers run by. It was only then that he reacted, intending to close the school gate, but the next second he realized it was useless now. Shaking his head, he also chased out!

Meanwhile, Dairya was running faster and faster. Turning her head, she found that the teachers behind her were not to be underestimated. No matter how hard she tried, the distance between them was closing!

She started to panic. She didn’t want to be caught, but now, aside from stopping and being caught, she could only try her hardest to shake them off!

But how could she, no matter how fast, outrun two adults? Seeing the distance closing in little by little, she began to despair. As she grew more anxious, she saw a small alley ahead!

In an instant, she couldn’t care about anything else, gritting her teeth with tears in her eyes, she ran inside!

"Keep up, keep up!"

After Dairya ran into the alley, the two teachers and the security guard also quickly followed in. But when they looked inside, where was Dairya’s figure?

"Where did she go?"

"Split up."

Exchanging a glance, the three adults quickly decided, each heading down three different paths in the alley. Meanwhile, over by the security guard, just after passing the entrance of a nearby residential building and walking further away, Dairya peeked out from inside, scanned her surroundings, wiped her tears, and ran in the opposite direction.

Having shaken off the three adults, Dairya couldn’t help but laugh as she wiped her tears. Full of anticipation, she crossed the street, headed to "Mr. Pillay’s grocery store," but what she saw was still the tightly closed store door. No sound came from inside. The Mr. Pillay she wanted to see never appeared.

Catching her breath for a while, it wasn’t long before she came to the door, stubbornly knocking on it.

"Mr. Pillay? Mr. Pillay!"

"...Are you there? If you are... please answer me..." Her voice grew fainter, although people came and went on the street, it was too quiet. Only her voice echoed, and besides that, no one responded. Inside the store, it was quieter than ever before.

Soon, she gave up, turned around, and sat on the steps below, watching the withered flowers in front of her, the falling leaves, people walking unsteadily. Occasionally, a car would pass by, the driver inside expressionless. Suddenly, with a "bang," a car hit someone not far away, but the driver didn’t get out, stared ahead blankly, and after a while, as the engine roared back to life, the car continued forward, running over the person who had been knocked down!

Dairya looked over there. This scene didn’t stir a ripple in her heart. She just tilted her head in confusion. The person who was hit seemed completely fine, silently getting up and limping across the street. No one knew when people here lost their sense of pain. No one around stopped walking, as if what happened before them was just a trivial matter!

Everywhere she looked, the atmosphere in this city grew ever more deathly silent.

Since the person who was hit could still walk, they should be fine, right?

Finally arriving here brought her momentary peace of mind, making every small thing here seem like scenes from a movie in her eyes, so captivating, only the scenery was no longer as it was yesterday.

She just wanted to wait here, keep waiting, just like before, when Mr. Pillay would always appear. Moreover, he promised her yesterday.

Like this, time unknowingly flew by, the weather turned cold, more green leaves turned yellow withering ones, falling in droves with the cold wind. She wrapped her clothes tighter, holding onto her backpack, desperately gathering those faint traces of warmth.

Time passed into the evening. Cold and hungry, she fell asleep. She had no idea how long she’d waited there, nor did she notice the fallen leaves almost burying her. Occasionally, someone passing by would notice her and, moved by pity, would leave some money in front of her before hurriedly leaving.

The next morning, she sneezed, looking at the money on the ground. She quickly picked it up. Perhaps this was her second pot of gold, although the way she earned it wasn’t very honorable.

She wanted to stand up, but at that moment, she realized her feet had gone numb. Fortunately, she had faced this situation before. Maintaining her position, she waited for a while. Soon, she moved her feet slightly and slowly stood up from the steps. But as she stood, a wave of dizziness hit her, making her stagger forward a few steps, almost falling over.

As soon as she steadied herself, she looked at the grocery store’s door. The door was still tightly shut, with no sign of life inside.

"Mr. Pillay..."

He still didn’t appear, but maybe she expected this. She wasn’t too disappointed. Turning her head back, she looked at the street. This city had completely changed its appearance. All the green had vanished, trees and plants withered to the point they began to blacken, and some buildings suddenly looked as if they had been abandoned for decades, everywhere was a scene of decay!

The street was empty, deathly silent, things that once belonged to this city were disappearing!

Dairya was even more puzzled. What on earth happened here?

She didn’t like this city, but she disliked it even more now!

Taking a few steps forward, another wave of dizziness overwhelmed her, leaving her momentarily unable to think. She wanted to power through it, but she hadn’t eaten for several days already. Hungry and cold, she could no longer hold on, her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground.

Her consciousness grew blurry. She tried to drag herself forward a little, finally touching her backpack, but then her consciousness faded away and she fainted on the steps.

Who knows how much time passed, day turned to night, night back to day. As a cold wind blew, a thick layer of withered leaves covered her, along with the sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

Crunch! Crunch!

They were a pair of worn brown shoes, approaching Dairya from afar. The owner of the shoes reached out with a hand, almost down to bare bone, slowly feeling towards Dairya.

"Dairya... Dairya! Hahaha~"