The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

The afternoon sun shone lazily through the huge windows of the lecture hall at Miskatonic University, casting its rays onto the worn wooden tables and chairs.

The scent of ink from books and the dry smell of chalk dust are comforting in the sunlight.

Lin Zheng sat in the third row by the window.

He lowered his head and organized the lecture notes in his hands.

He would occasionally look up and glance around the spacious classroom.

There were over a hundred seats, but only a handful of students were sitting there.

Most of them were looking down at their phones or whispering in twos and threes.

Noise and tranquility coexist at this moment.

These students.

These are the people who breathe the same air as him.

These are the "future elites" who flocked from all over the United States.

They talked about the latest news with a detached excitement in their voices.

Their voices were not loud.

But there were always a few words that would occasionally drift into Lin Zheng's ears.

"...Did you see that interview with 'Candy Teacher'? It's insane, isn't it?" A girl lowered her voice, her tone filled with an irrepressible urge to gossip.

Her companion responded in a calmer, or rather, numb tone.

"Oh, I saw it. She really dares to say and do things. The internet is in an uproar now."

Another student chimed in.

"Some people regard her as a saint, a martyr who fought for freedom and identity, while others regard her as a demon, saying that she ruined countless children."

"But they're all wrong, she's mentally ill," someone else chimed in.

As Lin Zheng listened to these words, his fingertips unconsciously tapped the edge of the table.

Da, da, da.

Rowan Casey, the "Candy Teacher" who appears on television with a devout expression, even shedding tears, firmly believing that he is performing a sacred function.

Her eyes were pure.

Her smile was genuine.

Her fanaticism and obsession.

This sent a chill down Lin Zheng's spine.

But now he sees that the most extreme madness often appears under the most beautiful name.

The students talked about her as if she were a newly released movie.

They consume the pain and controversy displayed on the screen.

They made surprised comments.

Offer fleeting sympathy.

Then, it will soon move on to the next trending topic.

They are the audience.

Lin Zheng is the same.

He was just an outsider.

A passerby who, in order to make a living, is forced to witness and even touch the darkest secrets of this land.

He'd be better off keeping a safe distance from the suffering here.

However, this passive acceptance attitude began to crumble in the face of distorted "goodwill" and packaged "madness".

He realized that he could no longer sit comfortably in the audience.

When he tried to treat this land as a farce, it told him in the most straightforward way.

Here.

It's not a stage play.

It's about the realities of life.

The sparrows outside the window were chattering on the telephone pole.

The fountains on campus were making a gurgling sound.

Everything seemed peaceful and tranquil.

The tranquility was abruptly shattered by a sharp, piercing alarm.

hum-

The voice had a metallic tremor.

It wasn't a fire alarm, nor was it a drill bell.

It has no melody whatsoever, only a pure, oscillating frequency.

The classroom fell into a deathly silence.

The students' whispers were cut off as if by an invisible hand.

The fingers that were playing on the phone also stopped swiping.

The air condensed.

Time seemed to be stretched to its limit at this moment.

Followed by.

A new, more aggressive buzzing sound quickly followed.

Almost everyone's phone started vibrating violently at the same time.

In my pocket.

On the desktop.

In the palm of your hand.

The vibration was not just physical; it was more like a signal that transmitted panic directly to the spinal cord through nerve endings.

The phone screen suddenly lit up, the red background glaringly bright.

The central text is in bold white.

【Miskatonic University - Active Shooter on Campus. Run. Hide. Fight.】

Miskatonic University – Campus Shooting.

run.

hide.

Fight back.

Lin Zheng stared intently at the short but cruel line of words on the screen.

Each word was like a cold bullet, piercing his retina.

Just a moment ago, these students were still discussing the "Candy Teacher's" madness.

They are still consuming other people's tragedies with an air of detachment.

But now.

The stage for the tragedy was instantly transformed.

One second they were spectators, the next they became actors in this performance.

Including himself.

His body was stiff.

Try to extract even a tiny bit of extra information from these nine short words.

Which building is it?

How many gunmen are there?

What is their purpose?

nothing.

Only three cold verbs outline the cruel rules of survival.

Lin Zheng raised his head.

He saw the students around him.

Their faces instantly drained of all color, and their eyes quickly shifted from blankness to terror.

Everyone held their breath.

It was as if even the sound of a heartbeat could attract death.

He could hear his heart pounding wildly.

The alarm is still sounding.

It penetrated the air, penetrated the walls, and penetrated everyone's brain.

It was a form of mental torture.

Against this backdrop of extreme noise, the instinctive fear of humans is amplified infinitely.

run.

hide.

Fight back.

These words echoed in my mind.

He tried to find an exit, to find shelter.

But all that remained in his eyes were the panicked students and the incessant red alert message.

This is absolutely a huge joke.

This is a university campus.

It is an ivory tower that carries countless American dreams.

People learn knowledge and explore truth here.

Within the protected glass case, they plan their own future.

But now, this false sense of security has been shattered by a bullet that came from nowhere.

What exists now is only pure, random violence, killing for the sake of killing.

The previously noisy sounds on campus have now completely disappeared.

Everyone strained their senses to the maximum, trying to detect any unusual movement.

Someone was trembling and making soft sobs.

Some people instinctively clutched their heads.

Some people had already begun to crouch down and move silently toward the back door of the classroom.

The alarm sound became the only background noise.

Continuous, ongoing.

Lin Zheng felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

Adrenaline is pumped into the bloodstream, causing every pore to dilate.

His pupils contracted involuntarily.

In the field of vision, all colors faded, and only the instinctive perception of danger was amplified.

He listened intently.

Amidst the piercing alarm, he tried to discern any sound other than noise.

Footsteps?

Shouting?

Or, worse... gunshots.

Just as he held his breath, trying to filter out the pounding of his heart, a crisp but not distant gunshot pierced the cacophony of the alarm.

The sound was so real, as if it were coming from inside the teaching building.

It instantly shattered the last shred of hope in everyone's hearts that "this is just a drill."

reality.

Icy.

There is no room for maneuver.

The shadow of death officially descended at this moment.