Chapter 14: Youth Center
The moment he spoke those words, Zhang Wenda’s mind instantly cleared—if the Youth Center was truly as he suspected, then all the rules and anomalies on Old Man Ding’s guide suddenly made sense!
Why could there be no living beings in the Youth Center?
Because it was a dead thing; the presence of anything alive signified an anomaly!
Whether it was carrion-eating creatures from other subterranean areas or the Youth Center itself, that would be a serious problem!
Why did the row of five black Go pieces signify danger?
Because they were the Youth Center’s eyes—eyeballs that should have scattered with death had instead reformed, which meant the Youth Center wasn’t truly dead!
At that moment, there was no fear or unease in Zhang Wenda’s eyes.
He understood this was a possibility—perhaps he was right, perhaps not.
But in this absolute predicament, this was more than just a possibility—it was the only hope for survival!
After hearing Zhang Wenda’s explanation, Glasses looked at him nervously.
“You mean we can go back?”
“That’s right! We can go back!” Zhang Wenda declared decisively.
“If the Youth Center really is some kind of creature capable of a whale fall, then we just have to kill it! Just kill it!”
“Once the dead Youth Center triggers the whale fall again, they’ll rise from hundreds of meters underground back to the surface!”
“Where is the heart? Which classroom seems most like the Youth Center’s heart?”
Zhang Wenda quickly scanned through the rules of every classroom.
Then he glanced at the red stripe on his forearm.
“If I can find the Youth Center’s heart, with my current strength I can crush it with one hand!”
As he read the descriptions and rules of each room in the guide, he grew more convinced that each classroom was an organ of the Youth Center.
The five black Go pieces were almost certainly its eyes.
And the deep pit in the Calligraphy Room seemed like the stomach or intestines.
However, after a quick search, Zhang Wenda still couldn’t find any classroom related to a heart, which left him stumped for a moment.
“Mouse—brain.” A thin finger pointed to the Aeromodelling Room.
It was Glasses pointing.
“I like reading extracurricular books. One of them said only the brain can leak emotions. This has to be the brain.”
Zhang Wenda looked at him gratefully upon hearing this—it was a huge help!
If he couldn’t find the heart, then attacking the brain would work too!
He said gratefully, “Thanks! What’s your name?”
Glasses was stunned. “I’m your deskmate.”
But Zhang Wenda no longer heard him.
He was already standing up, tucking the Youth Center guide under his armpit with his severed arm, grabbing the flashlight with the other hand, and charging toward the Aeromodelling Room without hesitation.
“Glasses! Protect them! I’ll be right back!!”
Twenty seconds later, Zhang Wenda slammed open the Aeromodelling Room’s door.
Black gas surged out in anguish, and the overwhelming pain dropped him to one knee.
He was in agony, but perhaps due to repeated attacks by the rules, his tolerance for pain had increased.
Incredibly, he managed to struggle to his feet again.
Wobbling, Zhang Wenda approached the wall that had previously secreted Liquid Joy.
At this point, it was no longer seeping but covered in small solid spheres.
Without a word, Zhang Wenda raised the flashlight and smashed it down hard against the wall.
With a flash of red light from his arm, the flashlight punched straight through.
Immediately, as if a pipe had burst, brown liquid sprayed out, drenching him.
As the liquid covered his entire body, a wave of sorrow surged through him.
It was so intense it overwhelmed even the pain.
Under the flood, the paper of the Youth Center guide quickly soaked through.
Old Man Ding’s drawings next to every rule turned into smudged blurs.
As the images of Old Man Ding faded, the surroundings began to warp and shift rapidly.
All the model planes in the room stretched and intertwined, hanging from the ceiling, pulsing like blood vessels.
Once every image of Old Man Ding on the guide had been completely obliterated, the Aeromodelling Room had transformed entirely.
The wall that once oozed Liquid Joy had become a twitching wall of flesh.
Zhang Wenda had no time to wonder why this was happening.
He didn’t dare stop—not even to wipe his sweat.
He raised the flashlight again and began smashing the flesh wall with furious intensity.
With the red light enhancing his strength, he easily tore open a large gash in the wall.
Without hesitation, Zhang Wenda squeezed into the opening, determined to find the brain that secreted Liquid Joy.
The flesh wall was thick and long.
For the first time, Zhang Wenda truly felt like he was crawling into the belly of a beast.
Thankfully, with the red light’s boost, even with just one good hand, he kept pressing forward through the pressure.
Inside, it was hot, sticky, and hard to breathe.
Zhang Wenda felt he was about to suffocate.
But fortunately, once the wall turned to flesh, both the gaseous pain and the liquid sorrow vanished into thin air, as if they had never existed.
Their effects on him began to fade.
With a “rip” sound, the wall tore again.
Zhang Wenda, soaked in blood, fell out of the fleshy tunnel.
Lying on the ground, looking around at the blood-red surroundings, he smiled—he had finally made it through.
But before he could catch his breath, a strange sound caught his attention.
He scrambled to his feet, raised the flashlight, and looked in that direction.
It was a space roughly the size of a soccer field.
There was water in the distance.
Suspended above the water’s center was a triangular mass of translucent flesh, pulsing faintly.
It was impaled by a long black cone and continuously secreted liquid downward.
The space was no longer hot.
In fact, it was cool and fresh.
Zhang Wenda had no idea where this place was, but he understood one thing—whether or not that thing was the Youth Center’s brain, it was definitely a vital organ.
He didn’t care whether it was the brain.
He just needed the Youth Center to die.
Glancing at the red scar that still covered a third of his forearm, Zhang Wenda wiped his sweat with it, then stepped into the water, heading toward the triangle.
But after just a few steps, he sensed something wrong.
A surge of pain flared in his head.
The pain was so intense it nearly crippled him.
Soon, he realized this wasn’t the same as the gaseous pain.
That had affected his entire body, but this time, the pain was localized—his head.
It felt as though a chopstick had been stabbed deep into his skull.
The moment he saw the translucent spike in the distance, Zhang Wenda understood.
This wasn’t his pain—it was the Youth Center’s pain!
And amidst the pain, fear began to rise in his heart—also not his own.
Just then, Zhang Wenda suddenly recalled a rule he hadn’t understood before.
Why, in the Aeromodelling Room, if your emotions became uncontrollable, you had to leave immediately and tell a teacher.
The truth was, if you experienced uncontrollable emotions in the Aeromodelling Room, they weren’t even your emotions!
They were the Youth Center’s emotions, meaning the Youth Center was still alive—and at that moment, your emotions had synchronized with it!