"What are you all still doing blocking the doorway?" A teacher strode out of the office, bristling with aggression.
His gaze fell first on Wang Long, and he gave a slight nod before turning an unfriendly stare directly on Fan Daoyi.
The program had no knowledge of Fan Daoyi, so, following the usual routine, the teacher asked the question.
"You, why are you late?"
The anger in his voice was unmistakable. Black mist materialized behind him, making the surroundings even more sinister.
"Teacher, if there's nothing else you need us for, we'll head back to class first," Wang Long said. Then he offered Fan Daoyi an insincere apology. "Sorry about that, classmate. We tried to speak up for you, but the teacher didn't believe us."
Without waiting for the teacher to reply, he turned on his heel and waved to the group of students, signaling for them to follow.
The students following him cast wary glances at the blurry figure.
Unlike in the guide, the figure did not stop and question them. It merely stepped aside to clear a path, letting them enter the classroom without trouble.
How very open and aboveboard, Fan Daoyi sneered inwardly as he watched them walk away.
Fan Daoyi turned his attention back to the teacher questioning him. Calm and composed, he deliberately extended a hand toward the doorway and said evenly, "Shall we talk inside?"
"Hmph. What, is your reason for being late too shameful to share? You have to be all secretive about it?" The teacher glared at him and shouted at the top of his lungs.
His shout could be heard in every classroom along the corridor.
Fan Daoyi dug a finger into his ear, then turned and walked straight into the office. His words drifted lightly into the teacher's ears. "I never said that was a request."
Fan Daoyi walked into the office and even sat down brazenly in the teacher's seat. He raised an eyebrow at the teacher still standing outside. "Aren't you coming in?"
His commanding tone left all three teachers at a loss.
Th-this... which of them was the teacher and which was the student? Why did it seem as though they were the ones who had done something wrong?
Jiang Lin followed behind and stood beside the office, his face largely expressionless.
The teacher looked around at the silent corridor, but just as he was about to enter, he was shut out.
The door closed.
Fan Daoyi leaned back in the chair, looking utterly relaxed. His eyes were half closed, and he said nothing, as though pondering something.
After a long while, he slowly spoke. "Class is over."
His voice was quiet, but it could be heard clearly in the small, silent office. Apart from those words, there was no other sound.
"Open the door! Open the door!" Suddenly, the teacher outside began pounding fiercely on the office door.
The other two teachers kept their heads down, grading assignments in silence and ignoring what was happening outside.
Neither teacher spoke, and the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive. The stillness was broken only when a piercing scream rang out from outside.
Blood splattered against the door with a patter.
Outside, a girl pushed open the office door. She walked steadily, a faint smile on her face. Carrying the teacher's severed head in her arms, she walked step by step toward Fan Daoyi, then gently placed it in front of him.
A gentle, reasonable voice spoke. "Teacher, he was late. It's been a whole class period, and he was still lingering outside."
"You did very well." Drawing on his memories of creating this guixu, Fan Daoyi found candy in the drawer, just as he expected.
He gave the candy to the girl and praised her as a reward. "You're a good child. We should cherish this hard-won chance to study, shouldn't we?"
Fan Daoyi's voice was soft and gentle, as though he really were instructing his favorite student.
The girl beamed. "You're right, teacher."
Her gaze settled on Jiang Lin beside Fan Daoyi, and she voiced the question that had puzzled her since she came in. "So, teacher, is he a student who was late?"
"Him?" Looking at the expressionless Jiang Lin, Fan Daoyi casually pulled a pen from the pen holder and spun it back and forth between his fingertips. He smiled and said, "No, he's a teacher."
The girl looked at the three office desks, every seat occupied, and her confusion deepened.
Before she could react, Fan Daoyi handed the pen to Jiang Lin and said to him, "You're still in a dream. You won't truly die. Kill the 'student' who took your seat."
Jiang Lin acted decisively. He had experienced this countless times in his dreams. He had killed no small number of teachers and classmates around him, and he was not particularly averse to killing a living creature.
He quickly drove the pen in his hand into the teacher's neck, then gripped the barrel tightly, pressed his thumb against the top of the pen, and forced his wrist downward. He followed the motion with a twist, then flicked upward, sending the pen tip straight through the underside of the teacher's jaw.
"Pull him away and sit down," Fan Daoyi ordered.
Jiang Lin pulled out the pen, and blood gushed forth, tracing a shocking arc through the air. It then splashed onto the floor, spreading rapidly and staining a large stretch of tiles red.
Expressionlessly, he pulled the corpse away and tossed it casually onto the floor, then seated himself firmly in the teacher's chair.
The office was filled with the pungent smell of blood, and the atmosphere grew unusually heavy. Fan Daoyi's expression remained unchanged as he said to the girl, "He was the student who was late."
The girl nodded thoughtfully. After her program processed it, she replied, "I see. Not only was he late, he even pretended to be a teacher. That's simply going too far."
A trace of sternness appeared in Fan Daoyi's eyes. "Yes, so we absolutely can't let such a badly behaved student get away with it."
Then he met the girl's eyes and asked a leading question. "So, are there any students this awful in the class?"
The girl thought for a moment, then nodded. "One student was late and told me why. And seven others... they said they were helping the principal with something. You know about that too, teacher."
Hearing this, Fan Daoyi frowned and said in puzzlement, "Why would the principal need seven students for something?"
Realization dawned on the girl, and her eyes widened. "Teacher, do you mean they lied to me?"
"How dare they? How dare they!" A violent fury flared up in the girl, and the bones throughout her body creaked. "Such a precious chance to study, and not only did they fail to cherish it, they even used the principal to deceive me after showing up late and skipping class!"
Her voice echoed through the office, filled with deep disappointment and anger.
"Shh, calm down." Fan Daoyi's frown eased as he soothed the girl.
Hearing Fan Daoyi's words, the girl struggled to control her emotions, but her chest still heaved violently.
"We can't be certain about this, since the principal isn't at school right now," Fan Daoyi said. "How about this? Teacher Jiang and I will slip into the class and find out what's really going on."
Those words crashed the girl's program outright. "The... students don't know their teachers?"
She stared at the teachers' seats and the two people sitting in them.
"We're new here, and we're about the same age as you. We're a good fit."
Dazed, she kept processing it, then nodded her agreement, only half understanding.
As the bell rang for class, Fan Daoyi rose from his chair.
"Let's go," he called casually to Jiang Lin.
The two followed the discipline committee member into the classroom, and every player in the room was stunned.
According to the guide, failing to enter the classroom before class ended would trigger the wrath of the discipline committee member. This should have been a certain-death situation, so why were they still alive, and why had they come back with the discipline committee member?!