Chapter 29: Cockroaches (4)

How do you make an insect-disaster movie?

Having watched enough genre films, Everly could confidently answer: the filming of such disaster movies is basically divided into four stages: “Introduction, Development, Twist, and Conclusion.”

Stage 1 – Introduction: Usually explains the cause of the disaster. Where did the insect plague come from—nuclear leaks, genetic experiments, monsters awakening from underground… it’s always one of these clichés.

Stage 2 – Development: The insect infestation grows from small to large, gradually affecting the town. At this stage, to increase the sense of mystery—or to reduce human intervention before the disaster fully erupts—generally, no one notices anything wrong except the wise and brilliant protagonist. People continue their lives under a false sense of calm.

Stage 3 – Twist: After the initial buildup, the disaster erupts on a large scale, and the town’s situation rapidly deteriorates. To highlight the horror and brutality of the infestation, countless people die in the disaster, while only the protagonist and their group survive, thanks to the “protagonist’s halo.”

Stage 4 – Conclusion: This is the final showdown. The protagonist, having discovered the insects’ weakness during previous adventures, eliminates the infestation in one fell swoop and saves the town—or, alternatively, almost everyone else dies, and only the protagonist survives, escaping to safety.

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Eight out of ten disaster movies on the market follow this formula.

Knowing the pattern, Everly applied it to the current situation: the insect plague was already known to everyone, the townspeople were in chaos, and phones couldn’t reach the outside world… Clearly, if reality were a movie, it had already entered Stage 3. At this stage, a large number of townspeople would die, and Everly herself could even be among them.

So what could she do?

The answer was cruel: nothing at all.

She wasn’t the protagonist, didn’t have a reliable “cheat” or special ability, her body was still that of an elementary schooler, and she hadn’t encountered a destined genius like Professor Agasa. In this situation, it was already remarkable that Everly could even protect herself—there was no way she could save the people trapped in the insect disaster.

Those who were about to be, or already were, severely injured or killed by the disaster weren’t just simple shapes or symbols on a screen. They were real people—those who had accompanied her, cared for her, and looked after her over her eight years of life. They had blood, flesh, and life!

Everly clenched her fists, overwhelmed by a surge of guilt and unease.

Perhaps… perhaps all of this was just her imagination. Maybe the concept of a “horror movie world” didn’t exist at all, and the insect disaster was nothing more than a few cockroaches that had wandered into the school…

Just as she closed her eyes, trying to deny that thought, there was a muffled “thud”. A disheveled blond man suddenly crashed against the glass doors of the cafeteria, raising a bloodied hand and pounding on the glass.

“Ahhhh!”

The students inside the door were horrified at the sight of the man, half his shoulder covered in blood, and a chorus of panicked screams erupted.

“Open the door! Let me in!”

“Hey, who are you? This is an elementary school—outsiders aren’t allowed in without an appointment…” The guard instinctively moved to stop him. But halfway through his words, he was interrupted by the art teacher, Diana.

“James… I mean, I know this person. His name is James. He’s a graduate student at Hedward State University, studying insect systematics. He’s not a bad guy…”

“Oh, if Teacher Diana knows him, then it’s fine.” The guard immediately withdrew his objection and, mumbling to himself, removed the wooden latch from behind the glass door.

“Thanks… you really saved me a lot of trouble…” The man named James slipped through the door into the cafeteria. A nearby teacher, seeing him covered in blood and dust and looking utterly disheveled, handed him a wet towel.

James took the towel and roughly wiped his face. When he finally lowered his hand, the face hidden beneath the grime was revealed—and everyone around him involuntarily gasped.

The others gasped because this scruffy, bedraggled man had an incredibly handsome face.

Everly gasped for a completely different reason—she recognized that face. Wasn’t he Lewis, the world-famous movie star from her past life?

She rubbed her eyes and looked again in disbelief.

The man called James had golden hair that shimmered like liquid sunlight, deep blue eyes that were gentle and clear, reminiscent of a pristine ocean. His nose was high and straight, his skin fair, his lips naturally curved into a subtle smile, and at the center of his chin was a charming dimple—the kind of face that would make thousands of American teenage girls scream.

Though he looked younger than the “Little Lewis” she remembered, with slightly rounded cheeks that hadn’t yet lost their youthful fullness and gave him a hint of naivety, every detail—the perfectly sculpted features, the naturally smiling lips blessed by the gods, and the small tear mole at the corner of his eye—matched the globally adored movie star from her past life.

Yes, this was definitely Lewis…

The striking resemblance created an intense sense of temporal disorientation. For a moment, Everly almost thought she had returned to her past life. But she quickly realized that the man before her wasn’t actually Lewis. At most, he was just a college student who happened to look like Lewis—just like in that serial kidnapping case back then. In the horror movie Highway Horror she had watched in her past life, the protagonist looked exactly like Lina from the real world.

Considering this was a low-budget horror film, the actors wouldn’t wear heavy makeup. Rounded off, the female lead of Highway Horror and Lina in this world looked almost identical.

The same went for Lewis.

Thinking this, Everly felt her heart drop.

Because it meant her suspicion was true—she was currently inside a horror movie, and not just any horror movie, but one that the world-famous Lewis himself had starred in!

Realizing this, Everly scrambled to recall which horror films Lewis had appeared in during her past life… but she drew a blank.

On one hand, her memories from her past life weren’t complete; there were many gaps. On the other, she wasn’t a fan of Lewis. Apart from knowing he was handsome, her impression of him was that he was very inspiring. Before fame, Lewis had been extremely poor. To make ends meet, he had taken part in countless low-quality, low-budget films—but no matter how poor he was, he never gave up on his dream. Eventually, he made it big and became a global superstar.

Maybe this movie she was living through was one of those low-budget films he’d done before he became famous.

Thinking this only made Everly more frustrated.

If she had known today would come, she should have reviewed Lewis’s career more thoroughly in her past life. She had already figured out that everything happening now was part of a movie’s plot—but she hadn’t seen the movie and didn’t know what would happen next! It was like traveling across mountains and seas to get to a concert only to realize you’d forgotten your ticket—utterly frustrating.

“Everyone, listen to me! The cockroaches outside are extremely dangerous. In places you can’t see, they’ve already killed many people, and now they’re coming here in groups. They’re hungry—starving, nearly insane from hunger. In such a situation, gathering together is extremely dangerous. For your own safety, please spread out immediately and escape separately…”

While Everly was desperately trying to recall the plot, James somehow climbed onto a cafeteria table, holding a rolled-up newspaper as a makeshift megaphone, and shouted to everyone inside.

“James, what are you talking about?!”

“Stop him! Get him down from there!”

Diana and the PE teacher immediately tried to intervene, attempting to pull James off the table. But it was already too late.

James’s words, combined with the blood on his shoulders and his completely disheveled appearance, had already terrified the students. The cafeteria, which had just calmed down, instantly erupted into chaos—crying, screaming for help, shouting for parents. Some of the more timid students had even stood up from their chairs, trying to rush toward the exit.

“James, get over here right now!”

Seeing this, Diana’s face flushed with anger. She grabbed James by the sleeve and dragged him down the side hallway of the cafeteria.

Everly watched them leave, thought for a moment, and then stood up. She walked over to her homeroom teacher and said she needed to use the restroom.

The teacher, busy calming the crying and restless students, saw that it was Everly—usually well-behaved and responsible—and didn’t think twice. With a wave of the hand, she let Everly go.

Everly walked near the restroom, glanced around, and when no one was looking, quickly slipped down the hallway where Diana and James had gone.

The two were in the middle of an argument. James and Diana seemed to have a history—perhaps former lovers. Diana scolded James for speaking recklessly and putting her in a difficult position, while James pitifully called her “sweetheart,” complaining that she didn’t consider his feelings at all. They argued and exchanged a long string of ineffective, sappy lines—but not a single piece of information Everly actually wanted to hear.

Everly stood there for a while, hesitating on whether she should go back. Just then, a faint “crackling, clicking” sound came from outside. Both of them paused their argument, and along with Everly—who had been eavesdropping—they turned toward the direction of the sound.

What met their eyes was a wall of reddish-brown.

Fist-sized red cockroaches surged like a flood, swallowing the greenery and pavement outside the cafeteria, crawling relentlessly toward the building. The few at the very front had already reached the glass windows, using their sharp, pincer-like mandibles to gnaw at the glass. In no time, pristine glass was scored with white scratches.

“Oh, damn it! They’re here! Run—we have to get out before we’re surrounded!”

James’s face immediately changed when he saw the swarm outside. He grabbed the reluctant Diana and turned toward the cafeteria’s main entrance.

Everly immediately ran from the corner to intercept them. “The front door won’t work! The back door!”

Without waiting for their response, she reached out and grabbed Diana’s hand.

“E-Everly? What are you doing here…”

“Teacher, there’s no time—come with me!”

Everly cut off the art teacher’s confused question, tugging hard and leading Diana toward the cafeteria’s side door.

Perhaps it was the little girl’s calm expression and firm voice that did it—Diana didn’t react in time and, almost automatically, ran after Everly. Seeing this, James rubbed his head helplessly, gritting his teeth as he followed. As he ran, he silently prayed that this little girl knew what she was doing and wouldn’t lead them into a trap.

His prayer worked.

Everly led them to the staff changing room, slipped in with practiced ease, pulled an employee ID out of an unlocked metal locker, and then, dragging the two adults, confidently passed through the kitchen. They arrived at a small, tightly closed metal door, and with a beep, the door unlocked.

“Oh, Everly… how did you know about this…” Diana was stunned by the sequence of events, as if straight out of a movie, and couldn’t help asking.

“How did I know there was an employee ID there? Because Wendy’s dad works here—I heard her say so.”

To be precise, it was their classmate Wendy bragging to someone that she would sneak into the cafeteria after school every day to get extra food from her dad. Everly had just happened to pass by, overheard it all, and stored the information in her memory.

She never would have imagined that this kind of idle gossip, used by little girls to show off to each other, could actually come in handy at a moment like this.