Shadow World: Purgatory Corridor Academy

When Lanchi felt the surroundings brighten once more, his vision gradually came into focus.

He found himself sitting in the back row of a classroom as spacious as a theater.

In the dim space, the only source of light was the faint glow seeping from several oil lamps hanging on the walls—dull, golden, and almost tangible.

They flickered constantly like the pulse of life, ensuring a certain degree of visibility while adding a mysterious, theatrical quality to the place. Under the lamps' dim golden light, the shadows of the tables and chairs twisted and stretched, rustling alongside a few swaying black silhouettes in the silence.

Although everything within Lanchi's current field of vision did indeed resemble a classroom—long tables covered with red tablecloths were arranged neatly, a brand-new black-and-gold blackboard towered on the distant front stage, and the window frames and carvings looked both antique and luxurious—

this space, which appeared to be roughly three hundred square meters, should have felt spacious. Yet for some reason, that feeling had completely vanished. An intense smell of blood, accompanied by an indescribable eeriness, permeated the air.

For a moment, Lanchi even suspected that he had arrived in the Netherworld.

His gaze dropped, and he saw only a rough, ancient sheet of parchment lying on the red tablecloth, with an ink bottle and a quill resting beside it.

The surface of the parchment bore mysterious writing unlike any human language. But with the translation spell built into the Shadow World, Lanchi could roughly determine that it was a demonic-language magic examination paper containing test questions.

Why was it still a school?

Lanchi was utterly shaken.

He had thought he had finally managed to escape from school, only to discover that he had merely escaped into another school!

And what was worse—

at Iketerite Academy, he had only needed to attend lectures. After coming to this demon school, it seemed he was about to start taking an exam immediately!

With the mood of someone visiting a grave, Lanchi raised his head slightly and swept his gaze around. He only felt a sudden, jarring sense of alienation surge through the air.

The students in the classroom had all kinds of appearances, each stranger than the last.

Every one of them possessed some indescribable feature. Most had sharp horns, while their skin was covered in eerie patterns and exoskeletons. Some even had long, thin black tails.

Meanwhile, two figures resembling examiners were methodically roaming the aisles of the classroom. They wore classical garments resembling suits, neat and somber.

Yet surrounded by the smell of blood and an aura of evil, they appeared especially gloomy and terrifying.

At a glance, it was obvious that things were not good.

Compared with the relatively mild-looking themes of the Artificial Shadow World Hidden Flame of Winter and Infinite Phantom Canyon that he had experienced before, this real Shadow World was clearly on an entirely different level!

Soon, information related to the Shadow World appeared in Lanchi's vision as well.

This was a prompt visible only to a Shadow World challenger—

Shadow World: Purgatory Corridor Academy

Tier: 4

Number of challengers: 6

Historical Background: This was once an age of absolute darkness for humanity. Humans could possess only the daytime; at night, they were all slaves to the blood clans. Yet some people, for the dignity of the human race, were willing to shatter their own dignity. To reclaim the southern lands shrouded by the Blood Moon, they had to obtain demonic power—the only way to create a miracle. Thus, a mad plan was born—a group of humans disguised themselves as demons through forbidden surgeries at the Empire Experimental Field, crossed the frozen wastelands of the north into the Demon Realm, attempted to integrate into demon society, and learned demonic magic...

Mission Overview: You are lying low in a Demon Realm academy far too absurd for human civilization, investigating intelligence. Tonight will be the most dangerous night of all, and you must do your best to survive it safely.

Time Remaining: 11 hours 59 minutes

Task Objective 1: Raise the academy exploration rate above 60%. Current progress: 3%

Task Objective 2: Investigate the source of tonight's danger

Task Objective 3: At least 1 person must survive until the time limit ends. Current survivors: 6/6

Challengers Lanchi and Hughberlian's starting location: Examination Area. Examination duration: 2 hours. Subject: Demon Magic Text

Any form of cheating during the examination, once discovered by the proctor, will grant the proctor the authority to erase the examinee.

If an examinee is judged to have scored below 50 points at the end of the examination, they will fail, and the proctor will immediately execute the erasure.

You may submit your paper early. If you have any needs, you may raise your hand to request the examiner's assistance.

Examination Time Remaining: 1 hour 59 minutes

As Lanchi gathered his thoughts, these information panels, similar to those of the Artificial Shadow World, could be hidden or displayed again.

But after understanding the details of his first real Shadow World, he furrowed his brows tightly.

What the hell was Tier 4?

Lanchi would set aside the nightmare scenario of starting with an "examination."

He was Tier 2, while Hughberlian was Tier 3. Even if the Shadow World had studied mathematics, there was no reason it should have matched the two of them with a Tier 4 Shadow World, no matter how one looked at it.

What concerned Lanchi more was that, according to the Shadow World's prompt, he had apparently been temporarily disguised as a demon by the Shadow World's mechanisms.

Would this damage his image?

Lanchi lowered his head and looked at himself. Aside from wearing the deep-black uniform of Purgatory Corridor Academy, his joints seemed to be covered in exoskeletons resembling white jade crystals, radiating a faint glow.

He touched the top of his head. Sure enough, two horns had appeared. From the faint reflection in the ink bottle, his black hair and green eyes had not changed, while the horns and patterns on his face were pure white.

Meanwhile, on the campus of Ikelite.

At five in the afternoon, the academy was immersed in deep tranquility. At this hour, the setting sun had already begun slowly sinking toward the western horizon, spreading its final golden-red light across every corner of the campus.

At Jella Memorial Square, not far from the academy entrance, a group of passing students had already begun enjoying their time after class. They discussed their dinner choices, while many others sat on the steps of the square, watching the campus news broadcast projected onto the Open-Air Mega Screen at its center.

The Open-Air Mega Screen often broadcast live footage of the Shadow Worlds that academy students were currently challenging.

Since a Shadow World was itself a projection of a period of history, live footage of a Shadow World challenge was often no less captivating than a thrilling and unique film.

Students would often come here to watch clips from Shadow World challenges.

It was a form of entertainment and a way to enjoy life, but also a learning process.

Of course, quite a few students sat on the steps before the screen simply to chat leisurely with their friends about the class that had just ended, or to quietly read, immersed in their own worlds.

"Hm? A new Tier 4 Shadow World?"

"Could it really be a Shadow World depicting the history of the demon race? Those are extremely rare..."

Suddenly, a student on the steps spoke as if to himself.

This caused many students to raise their heads and look toward the screen.

Since not many students challenged Shadow Worlds on the first day of the semester, the appearance of a newly opened challenge was immediately obvious.

Moreover, it featured a dark-toned scene with an exceptionally distinctive theme.

"Wait, aren't those two freshmen?"

Soon, a student noticed the challenger information below the Shadow World live feed and let out a startled cry!!