After School
Since the timing of Oliver's incident today was merely a coincidence, the researchers hadn't considered the true relationship between Oliver and the ghostly figure during evening study until things settled down.
However, judging from the process of deduction in the ending, the white-haired girl has already placed the answer in front of them. The school building at night and the darkness unseen by anyone are Oliver's nightmare. Everything that happens in it is not under Oliver's control, but Oliver can decide who wakes up and who enters the dream.
Therefore, the reason why students are so terrified during evening self-study is because Oliver has incorporated everyone into his nightmare.
As the victim of bullying, his heart was filled with hatred, and this hatred snowballed, eventually spreading from a closed classroom to the entire school building and then to the whole school.
The only group in this school that could barely be considered normal was afflicted by nightmares: the students.
Those teachers and school staff possess special abilities, so even though they are shrouded in nightmares, they still act according to their own rules. Similarly, they don't have a good relationship with the ghosts and are in a stage where they have a strong desire to study the existence of the ghosts.
This proves that the school's teachers were unaware that Oliver was the source of this nightmare.
"Actually, we made a huge profit. The difficulty of this mission was that during the investigation into the truth behind Oliver's bullying, we had to endure the ghostly attacks during evening self-study every night. We completed the mission on the second day, which meant we minimized the risks." Wen Qinghuai was increasingly satisfied with the chaos.
Qu Xuanqing smiled slightly, "Deductions are usually like this: the longer a task can be completed ahead of time, the more dangerous it becomes. It seems that the Dead Silent Island instance also has this hidden rule."
The classroom after school was the perfect place for discussion, and the students all slipped away quickly, because they didn't really know what moment in the school building marked the transition from daytime to nightmare night.
The place became deserted, quiet, and secluded, eliminating the drawbacks of discussing in the dormitory that they would be unable to contact Qu Xuanqing.
Therefore, after broadening Zhao Yijiu's thinking, they decided to discuss the subsequent tactical arrangements here, since the information they had gathered today was a qualitative leap compared to a day ago.
"If we follow this logic, there are actually many solutions to this dungeon. The safest approach is to personally take the risks and complete all five scenarios. A more aggressive approach would be to find the relationships between the characters involved in different scenarios and make them weaken each other." Zhao Mou adjusted his glasses, his tone of analysis seemingly carrying an air of absolute objectivity.
"For example, if we secretly tell the teacher's side about the connection between Oliver and the ghost, whether out of research or fear, the teacher's side might take action against Oliver would then retaliate using his nightmares. The resulting damage would be enormous."
"Very efficient, but not very ethical," Yu Xing commented with a smile. "Although Oliver, the original bullied student, is no longer the cowardly student who couldn't fight back, but has grown into a mini-boss-level character, in terms of both reason and emotion, compared to the teacher's side, he is the one who has retained his humanity."
He rested his chin on his arm. "The teachers are studying the ghosts, but the ghosts have never harmed the teachers. There must be a balance between the two. If we use these two to wear them down, it's probably a bit unfair."
"That's why I said this is another approach." Zhao Mou didn't seem surprised by Yu Xing's choice. "Besides, evening self-study and the school clinic are tasks we've already completed, so there's no need to waste time on each other. But perhaps we can use the remaining time to explore the connections between these two tasks and the other three."
"Anyway, the mission locations are already clear, and we've made quite a few contacts. For example, the mission in the dormitory building should be related to the baby and the rats, and the mission in the cafeteria should be related to the chefs who all look exactly the same at each window, which might involve the source of those strange ingredients." Wen Qinghuai smoothed his fluffy curly hair and looked at Yu Xing, "You should have some clues about the library, right?"
He smiled faintly, "You seem to have barely mentioned anything about the library. Even when we were gathering intelligence last night, we still didn't know much about it."
Indeed, Yu Xing was the only one present who had ever been to the library. She even angered the legendary librarian by "stealing books," and he scolded Director Gene.
Yu Xing recalled the middle-aged female administrator whose high heels slammed loudly; he could already picture her angry expression.
He gave a somewhat wicked smile, "Well, I had some suspicions about what happened at the library before, but I didn't bring it up because I hadn't found any evidence, so as not to confuse the correct line of thought. But now I'm basically certain."
"The library is closely related to the former landfill; I've been to the area. Oh, and by the way, this all started with our first visit to the bathhouse."
At that moment, Yu Xing mentioned the pink envelope he found in the locker in the bathroom, focusing on the word "garbage dump": "According to my guess, the garbage dump mentioned in the letter should be a burial ground for corpses. The students who went missing from school were ostensibly on leave to go home for various reasons, but in reality, they were punished and died. After they died, they were thrown into the garbage dump, waiting to be recycled."
"Recycling?" Qu Xuanqing repeated the word softly, "... the cafeteria? The window where the bird fell."
"That's right, that's what I think. The ingredients at the Fallen Bird Window might actually come from the landfill... but we can talk about the connection later," Yu Xing said. "When I went to check, the landfill was gone. Instead, when I entered the library, I smelled the stench of rotting garbage."
"On the third floor of the library, there is a powerful spirit formed from the combined resentment of many others. Its danger level is even greater than that of the librarian, the apparent boss. I suspect that this spirit is a combination of the students who were once recycled from the junkyard, including the girl who wrote the letter and the boy who never received it."
"Therefore, the library and the landfill, as the same type of building, are actually composed of two events, and we need to find the connection between them."