"Ya... yamete!!"
Faced with Lu Shiyan's order, Hoshino completely broke down.
She clutched her collar with both hands, crying so hard her face was streaked with tears, and desperately shrank backward until she could retreat no farther.
"Please..."
"Mr. Lu... I can work like an ox or a horse for you, even feed the monsters... but I don't want to..."
Seeing Hoshino like this, Lu Shiyan hadn't even spoken when the few Cherry Blossom Country boys on the other side of the classroom grew restless.
Especially the boy who had just been shouting about getting revenge, Guinan Yangzhi.
He bellowed at Hoshino.
"Baka! What are you pretending to be so high and mighty for?!"
"Giving yourself to a mighty man like Mr. Lu is an honor you couldn't earn in several lifetimes!"
"Hurry up and do what Mr. Lu said! Take your clothes off!"
"Exactly!"
The other four boys chimed in, their eyes roaming brazenly over Hoshino's petite figure.
"We're not going to live much longer anyway... Better to let everyone 'enjoy' themselves before we die than get eaten by monsters!"
"If Mr. Lu gets tired of her... could he let us have a taste, too?"
"I... I..."
Seeing expressions more terrifying than the monsters outside on the faces of her own countrymen, Hoshino shut her eyes in despair.
So this was the apocalypse?
So this was human nature?
Or was it...
Just like Mr. Lu had said...
The rotten nature of Cherry Blossom Country people?
"Hey! You bunch of bakas!!"
Just then, a scolding voice shattered the nauseating atmosphere.
The girl who had refused to let Hoshino treat her earlier stood up and pointed at the boys as she berated them.
"Shut up, all of you! You're a bunch of useless cowards who only pick on your own!"
Hoshino's eyes flew open. It was as if she'd glimpsed a faint ray of light in endless darkness.
So... someone was still willing to help her.
But the next second, that ray of light was mercilessly snuffed out.
"Natsuki! Stop putting on an act!"
Guinan Yangzhi was furious at being insulted, and fired back, "Who doesn't know you were a 'public bus' at your old school?"
"You were always hooking up with old men! What right does trash like you have to criticize us?"
The girl called Natsuki gave a cold laugh, her eyes full of scorn.
"What right do I have?"
"Because Mr. Lu is here! He's the 'king' of this school right now!"
"You sewer rats have no right to even dream of using Mr. Lu's things!"
"Crack."
Hoshino could almost hear her heart breaking.
So...
She hadn't been trying to help her. She was defending the "ownership" of that powerful man.
But Natsuki wasn't done. She pointed at Guinan Yangzhi.
"Especially you, Guinan Yangzhi!"
"I saw it with my own eyes when we were running away!"
"Your sister, Guinan Liyi, clearly drew that monster away on purpose to save you!"
"And you, you useless coward! You ran without even looking back! You even shoved your own sister!"
"You coward! Murderer! How dare you stand here pretending to be heartbroken?!"
"You!!!"
Guinan Yangzhi had been exposed, right down to his darkest secret, and his face turned red with rage.
The other four boys had also frozen at the shocking revelation, their eyes on him turning strange.
"Shut up! You're lying!!"
Guinan Yangzhi flew into a rage out of humiliation, snatched up the chair beside him, and charged forward.
"Women like you are nothing but liars! I'll rip your mouth off!!"
Just as the classroom was about to erupt into a riot—
Smack!
A slap rang out.
Lu Shiyan had appeared between them at some point.
He swung his hand back and slapped Guinan Yangzhi hard across the face, sending him and his chair flying.
"You're noisy."
Lu Shiyan blew out a ring of smoke and swept his gaze over the room.
The four boys who had been egging things on went weak in the knees under that look. They bowed again and again, apologizing frantically.
"Sorry, Mr. Lu! We were wrong! We shouldn't have coveted your things!"
Lu Shiyan looked at them like they were garbage. He couldn't even be bothered to say a word.
He turned and looked at Hoshino, huddled in the corner, his voice calm.
"I'll say it again."
"Take off the 'skin' you're wearing."
"To be clear, I mean that yellow-green skin."
Lu Shiyan flicked the ash from his cigarette and added,
"Besides, I have someone I love for life. I'm not interested in a little girl like you who hasn't even grown up yet."
"..."
The entire room fell silent.
Everyone understood what Lu Shiyan meant.
He hadn't wanted to take advantage of Hoshino at all. He wanted her to take off that hate-provoking uniform and change back into an ordinary person.
That way, the students would accept her treatment.
"Y-Yes! I'll take it off right now!"
Hoshino, as if pardoned, hurriedly and clumsily took off her Combat Suit, revealing the ordinary clothes underneath.
She was still a little disheveled, but at least she no longer looked like an "enemy."
She cautiously approached an unconscious girl and began using her Supernatural Ability to treat her.
This time, no one stopped her, and no one dared to say a word.
They were afraid of the Huaxia man smoking nearby.
Guinan Yangzhi struggled back to his feet. Even with half his face swollen like a pig's, he bowed deeply.
"Mr. Lu, you were right to hit me! I was wrong! Sorry for the trouble!"
Lu Shiyan still ignored him and turned toward the window.
However.
The instant Lu Shiyan turned around, a venomous glare flashed in Guinan Yangzhi's lowered eyes.
His right hand crept toward the dagger hidden behind his waist.
"Go to hell... damn Huaxia man! You humiliated me like this. I'll take you down with me!"
Just as he drew the dagger and prepared to stab Lu Shiyan in the back—
Bang!
A blur flashed past.
Guinan Yangzhi felt as though a sledgehammer had smashed into his chest. His whole body spun through the air before crashing to the floor!
"Sorry, Lu."
Yekaterina, who hadn't said a word until now, lowered her long, powerful leg and spoke coldly.
"He was trying to ambush you."
"But I held back. He should still be alive."
Before she could finish speaking, Yekaterina's pupils shrank.
Guinan Yangzhi wasn't writhing and groaning on the floor as she'd expected.
The dagger that had been in his own hand was now buried in his chest.
And... right through his heart.
Blood gushed out, staining the floor red in an instant.
"Ghk... ghk..."
Blood bubbled from Guinan Yangzhi's mouth. His body jerked twice, then went completely still.
"Damn!"
The half-smoked Huazi fell from Lu Shiyan's mouth. His lips twitched with a pang of regret.
"I knew today was going to be unlucky. Even drinking cold water, I'd choke on a tooth."
This was a big problem.
In this eerie middle school, killing someone was taboo.
Right after that.
On the back of Guinan Yangzhi's gradually cooling corpse, the black Ghost Face Mark that had been still began to writhe.
Wisps of black mist poured out.
It was a curse.
The gaze of the school's true master—the Principal.
At the same time, on the school Sports Field.
The air after the rain was unusually fresh, yet carried a chill.
Jiangnan led everyone through the Teaching Building and arrived beneath a tower in the corner of the Sports Field.
It was an old-fashioned Signal Tower about thirty meters tall.
Thick moss and vines covered its frame. It had clearly been abandoned for decades.
"This is the place."
Jiangnan took out a note.
[Liu Yuqing to activate, Guo Shuai to guard.]
"Got it!"
The two immediately got to work.
Liu Yuqing carried the tablet over to the Control Console at the base of the Signal Tower and fitted it into a dusty recess.
Buzz!
The red light at the top of the Signal Tower lit up.
[Connecting to terminal...] [Map activation progress: 1%...4%...]
The Progress Bar moved very slowly, like an old Dial-up Internet connection.
Inside the vehicle.
Jiangnan leaned against the sofa and rested with his eyes closed.
He was reviewing the battle from earlier, along with the figures on the second floor.
"There are people on the school's second floor. More than one."
"But why are they staying here? Are they waiting to die, or are they trapped?"
Jiangnan furrowed his brow, sensing something was wrong.
Just then.
Chen Tong, who had been sitting beside him and massaging his shoulders, suddenly cried out.
"Jiangnan! Look!"
She held out her wrist, trembling.
A pitch-black mark had appeared on the inner side of her once-fair wrist at some point.
It was a...
A twisted human face.
"This mark... it suddenly appeared on me just now, and it's burning!"
Jiangnan's eyes narrowed. He grabbed her wrist and examined it.
Then, as if realizing something, he suddenly pulled open his collar.
Right in the center of his chest.
There was an identical Ghost Face Mark!
"Boss! I've got one too!"
"Me too!"
At that moment, Yu Shishi, Wang Meng, and even Guo Shuai and Liu Yuqing, who were still standing guard outside,
all discovered that the strange mark had appeared on their bodies.
"When was this..."
Before anyone could react.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Three deep, distant bell tolls echoed across the entire campus!
Then,
an ethereal, polite female voice rang directly in everyone's minds.
"Dear students and teachers~"
"Because someone has seriously violated the rules, this break is ending early..."
"The Class Bell has rung."
"Please return to your posts and seats immediately... and get ready for class..."
"Anyone who's late... will receive a serious demerit, okay..."
The instant the voice faded,
buzz!
A mass of dense black qi burst from the Ghost Face Mark on everyone's body, wrapping them up completely!
But the next second,
they all vanished from where they stood.
The Sports Field was deserted, with only the lonely Signal Tower and the tablet computer still lodged in its slot remaining.
On the screen, the Progress Bar finally reached 100%.
[Map activated successfully!]
[Current location: Rose Middle School]
Then the screen flickered, and a passage of blood-red text appeared.
It was the final warning left by someone in despair, twenty-six years ago.
[To those who come after...]
[This is a hell disguised as a school... It may bring power, but it brings far more despair and death...]
[Believe me...]
[If you're assigned a role... pray with all your might that you're a student...]
[You absolutely do not want to be a "teacher" here...]
[Because the ones you have to teach aren't people...]
[But a whole bunch of... actual devils!!!]
Before you continue