Monsters, Fear, and Calamity

In the dimly lit classroom,

A long-haired head was crawling on the ceiling and soon crawled out of the classroom.

After waiting for a few minutes,

The classroom front door was pushed open.

The class monitor, who had already grown back to his original body, was dressed in a standard office lady outfit. He carried a blackboard from the next classroom and put it back on for Class 5, Senior High. He even stole a box of chalk.

"Today's cultural class will be taught by me, Teacher Wu."

The topic of this lesson is "The Monsters in the Corner," which is rarely covered in regular classes, so please listen carefully and take good notes!

"Hey! You over there, what's your name?! Still looking around like that? This is a warning. If you do it again, you'll be sent to the back row as punishment."

The class monitor, holding a pointer, pointed directly at Luo Di, who closed his eyes to rest, looking bored, completely lacking his usual focus in class.

"Luo Di, play along! I was thinking that since we're back at school, let's do something different. And what do you think of my outfit? Doesn't it make me look like a teacher?"

"Go ahead and say it, I'm listening."

The class monitor clicked his tongue and flicked his finger hard from behind his back.

Snap!

Luo Di's head was knocked back, and some blood flowed from his forehead. He was instantly brought back to his senses by the blow.

The object that hit him on the forehead was a piece of chalk. Because of its extremely high speed, it disintegrated into dust the moment it hit him, covering Luo Di's face with white ash.

Are you serious?

"Now that I'm a teacher, if you're not happy, you can report me to the principal."

Luo Di reluctantly wiped the white ash off his face, and his eyes gradually became clear. He really did sit up straight like a student.

The class monitor had already taken out another piece of chalk and drawn a very detailed diagram of the pituitary gland on the blackboard.

"Excuse me, Luo! What is the significance of the pituitary gland in Pseudo-Human?"

"The origin of the Mind Corner' is also its carrier."

As soon as he finished answering, another piece of chalk flew towards him, but this time Luo Di focused and turned his head to dodge it.

"Wrong! The true meaning of the Pituitary Gland lies in the 'medium,' which connects the individual with the outside world, forming a pathway at the level of thought."

This is what is meant by a ' Mind Corner '.

Once the connection is established, the human brain can hear Corner's Whisper and also receive "Pheromone" from the corners through the pituitary gland.

These Pheromone can uncover an individual's most fearful memories, thereby inducing physiological changes and forming what is known as "Phobia-concretization."

Do you know why corners deliberately induce individuals to transform towards what they fear most?

Luo Di paused briefly before answering. "... to help them overcome their fear?"

He didn't really know the answer to that question; it was just a subconscious guess. His body was already prepared to dodge.

"You're right! It's about overcoming fear."

Those Pseudo-Human cannot overcome their fear will be unable to "Phobia-concretization," and therefore will be even less qualified to conduct the Crevice screening.

Overcoming fear is essential for venturing into the corner.

Because corners are the Source of Fear.

Let alone humans, even some Pseudo-Human would probably be scared to death if they were put in a corner.

So what!

We will now introduce the topic of this lesson – "Monsters and Fear".

The class monitor picked up the chalk and drew something new on the blackboard.

First, draw a directional arrow to the right of the pituitary gland.

The word "Promotion" was then written above the arrow.

Finally, draw a completely new type of pituitary gland to the right of the arrow, a pituitary gland that does not belong to Pseudo-Human.

The corner structure on the surface of the pituitary gland has completely cracked, and a structure resembling a snail's antenna has grown from the top. It is long and thin and has a small fleshy ball at the tip.

The more Luo Di looked at the pituitary gland, the more it resembled a sprouting seed, a fleshy growth.

"A seed? Will it grow?"

"That's right! Think about it, the pituitary gland was originally a medium used by Pseudo-Human to connect corners."

Now, they have successfully been promoted and moved to the corner.

Having already been relegated to a corner, the medium becomes meaningless. The essence of the pituitary gland will change under the influence of this corner—a change that represents advancement.

The pituitary gland sprouts like a seed.

The growth is called a "Flesh Bud".

At this point, the pituitary gland is no longer a medium, but has become a foundation, something similar to Luo Di's spine, an external manifestation of a system.

Just as your True Hell has a system, so too does the corner have its own growth system.

Once Flesh Bud forms,

The Pseudo-Human will complete the "Concrete manifestation" in the corner, and the essence of the human form will be gradually abandoned. The concrete form it has transformed into will gradually become the foundation and the essence.

This process will make the concrete image more complete, the application of abilities will be further improved, and the meaning of fear will gradually become clear.

Although the pituitary gland has simply grown a Flesh Bud, it represents a true qualitative change for us, something that all Pseudo-Human are pursuing.

On the human side, these beings who retreat to the corners of society, completely abandoning their humanity, are collectively referred to as "monsters." Of course, there are more detailed classifications within these corners, which I won't go into detail here; we'll understand once we reach them.

Luo Di asked, "Abandon the human form, become the image you fear most, and pursue the root of your fear."

Is the essence of a corner truly nothing more than utter fear?

The class monitor also wrote the word "fear" in big letters on the blackboard.

"Fear is an emotion, one of the most primal and ancient emotions."

We are merely summarizing and generalizing the 'knowledge' we have learned at different stages of human life; however, the depth of this corner of knowledge far exceeds the realm of human knowledge.

This generalization is likely to be wrong, but it can be understood in this way at this stage.

What is the true nature of this corner? Perhaps only when someone reaches its deepest point will the answer be known.

Watching the class monitor explain so earnestly, Luo Di was so engrossed that for a moment he actually mistook the class monitor for a teacher and the place for a classroom.

Shaking his head, he regained his composure and looked at the sprouting seedling on the blackboard.

"Can these Flesh Bud continue to grow like seedlings?"

"That's for sure, but I don't know what it will look like, since it's still a long way from my current age."

I've only heard my Grandmother say that different people's seeds Guild Leader into different things. But the roots are all in the corners, urging the individual to go deeper.

This is one of the reasons why inhabitants in the corners generally don't return to the Human World and go back to the surface.

Similarly, the Wanted Poster came about in the same way.

Monsters larger than humans are absolutely not allowed to return to the shallows to interfere or commit meaningless slaughter.

The Human World is a great place for primal selection.

Only by ensuring the stability of the Human World can we continuously supply 'talent' to the corners of the world.

"Etc..."

A very peculiar idea suddenly flashed through Luo Di's mind.

"What's wrong, Luo?"

"I think that the different worlds that the 'Connector' connects to each have their own systems."

But the world we originally lived in didn't seem to have this system before it appeared in the corner.

The human body has visible limits, and no matter how hard one trains, it is impossible to create a significant gap between oneself and an ordinary person.

The appearance of corners seems to offer humanity a system with choices.

Or rather, the system of the corner was originally the system of our world. It was just sealed off a long time ago for some reason, only to be reopened by war and nuclear explosions.

The class monitor on the podium smiled with satisfaction, as if watching his students gain enlightenment.

The class monitor nodded. "Indeed, I've been thinking about this too. Corners may have existed in our world long ago, Ascension Path for ancient humans, but they were sealed off for some reason."

However...

The system created by the corner has an indescribable strangeness.

Even Pseudo-Human wins and gains identity in the cracks may rot, wither, and become gangrenous in the corner, completely losing themselves and going insane, dying or becoming part of the Corner Space.

Moreover, the corner system does not seem to conflict with the systems of other worlds, and the Connectors can still take in the pituitary gland.

After you complete the pituitary injection or pica, we can compare it with your spinal system.

"Hmm~ By the way, class monitor, there's something else you haven't told me. What does 'calamity' mean?"

"Call the teacher!" The class monitor turned around and wrote the word "disaster" on the blackboard, connecting it with fear using a double-headed arrow.

"Calamity is a unique property of monsters, and it is an effective means for them to spread fear of radiation... Once infected with calamity, it will cause fear to spread faster in your body."

This kind of fear cannot be resisted by willpower alone; it will truly erode your reason.

Once reason is completely consumed and wiped out by fear, the consequences are more terrible than death.

The forms of calamity are diverse, and the calamity of each monster is different.

For example, the omen of Yosah on that White Wanted Order has been described by the corner as a "chair." As long as you are in his territory and accidentally sit on the chair, fear will accelerate its erosion on you.

For example, Grandmother,

Once you are touched by her hand, the conditions for disaster will be met, and fear will spread wildly within you.

Of course, if your Grandmother harbors no ill will towards you, then fear will not arise.

Luo Di nodded. "Simply put, it's a kind of ' Potentiator '! Monsters themselves have a fear effect on individuals, and the calamities they possess can double that effect."

Once fear has completely consumed an individual, the battle will end without the monster even needing to lift a finger.

"Yes, that's what makes the monster so terrifying. So when we land on the island tomorrow, we must pay attention to every detail and try our best not to get involved."

"Essentially, it still affects the brain, right?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps I can resist... Class monitor, if you become a monster, what kind of disaster will it bring?"

"Me? Who knows now? You'll find out when you find me in the corner."