Dekan Starts Talking Nonsense

Cornelia trotted over to the food cart, picked up the dinner that had originally been hers, and then sat down next to Dekan to begin eating.

Dekan leaned back against his chair, staring at the ceiling as he recalled the intelligence he had just gathered in his mind.

Now that he had a significant information advantage, he needed to carefully plan his subsequent strategy.

Once they finished resting, they would have nine and a half hours remaining.

Although Mission Objective 2 (Rescue the Hostage) had already been achieved, the progress for Mission Objective 1 (Explore the Map) was currently only at 8.6%.

It was still a long way off from the required 50% or more.

There were two reasons for such slow progress.

First, Dekan and Cornelia had stayed in this room for too long.

Exploring the cooking classroom had only increased the total progress by about 1%.

Second, they had not yet reached the Boss Room.

The Boss Room would very likely reward a high amount of exploration progress.

Fortunately, the exploration speed of the other four challengers was quite decent.

The composition of those four was likely one Tier 5, two Tier 4s, and one dead weight.

In the matchmaking mechanism, a team consisting of one Tier 5 and one Tier 3 would not necessarily be judged as suitable for Tier 4 difficulty.

A Tier 5 challenger had the ability to forcibly dismantle certain stages within a Tier 4 Shadow World.

The advantage they brought might require several low-tier challengers to balance it out.

Therefore, Dekan and Cornelia were both there to balance out the advantage of the Tier 5 challenger.

Or, perhaps, they were originally meant to be cannon fodder.

"It's a good thing I was able to meet such a good teacher as Barchel."

Dekan couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Cornelia glanced at Dekan while eating her dinner.

She still refrained from making a snide remark.

She felt that ever since Dekan arrived in the Shadow World, it was as if he had completely unshackled himself from morality.

But that was fine, too.

It made her, as his teammate, feel much more at ease.

Without needing to use her brain, she could easily clear the Shadow World just by attacking wherever Dekan pointed.

There was nothing more ideal than this.

"Cheers!"

Dekan gently clinked his glass against Cornelia's wine glass.

The two of them began to drink.

After dealing with Baron Barchel, they discovered that this classroom was actually quite nice.

What "Feast of Slaughter"?

This was supposed to be a candlelight dinner all along!

If the other few teammates could be a bit more competent, the two of them wouldn't even bother leaving.

"Sigh, let's save the victory banquet for when we get back."

Dekan sighed, already feeling a bit reluctant to move.

"We definitely have to have a great meal when we do."

Cornelia also leaned back in her chair, feeling that this Shadow World was actually quite harmonious and wonderful.

Dekan: "If we keep setting up flags like that, even the two of us might not make it back safely."

Cornelia: "What does 'flag' mean?"

Dekan: "There are certain death lines that, once spoken, basically mean you won't survive. In any case, you can't just say whatever you want, especially when there are so many people watching us."

Cornelia: "Understood."

Dekan checked the time and stood up, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

It was about time to set off.

He walked over to Baron Barchel, untied the steel ropes binding him, and rummaged through his pockets to find that Demon Pass.

"Cornelia, could you please take Baron Barchel with you?"

"Understood."

Cornelia walked over quickly, grabbed Baron Barchel by his feet, and dragged him out of the classroom.

It was now break time, and the two of them walked down the hallway.

From time to time, passing students cast astonished gazes toward them.

It was the first time the demon students had ever seen a student dragging a comatose teacher down the hallway!

Moreover, there was such a conspicuous, massive wound on the teacher's head.

It looked as if his skull had been slightly deformed by a blunt object.

Could these two be the ones who did it?

The students dared to think it, but dared not ask.

They were terrified of provoking these two demons who looked like nothing but trouble.

Based on the information extracted from the interrogation, it didn't take long for Dekan to find their destination—the infirmary.

As one of the few public facilities that Batchel understood quite well, this school's infirmary was also highly abnormal.

The demon school doctor in the infirmary would use patients for experiments.

If a patient entered, there was a chance they would be healed, but also a chance they would be used for experiments by the doctor.

However, if an uninjured student hid inside, they would be forcibly seized by the demon doctor for experimentation.

Although it involved immense suffering, there was a chance to gain enhancements.

It was a functional room that relied heavily on luck.

Dekan and Cornelia rushed into the room one after the other, feigning urgency.

The room didn't look like an infirmary at all; it looked exactly like some "mad scientist's" laboratory.

It was filled with an aura of darkness and decay, and the jars and bottles placed on the shelves contained black liquids soaking the organs of unknown creatures.

Leaning against the walls were rows of massive glass vats containing various creatures; some were gaunt and skeletal, while others were covered from head to toe in red, fleshy tumors.

In the center of the infirmary, before an operating table, stood a figure with their back to Dekan.

Seemingly having noticed the visitors, he turned his head.

This school doctor was a terrifyingly gaunt old man, his hideous face embedded with various pieces of metal plating.

Furthermore, what he held in his hand was not a scalpel, but a saw.

He exuded a suffocating stench of rot, and the murderous intent in his eyes was not hidden in the slightest.

Having seemingly discovered prey, he looked ready to lunge at Dekan and Cornelia the very next second.

Just as he was about to trigger the room's killing mechanism:

"Our teacher Batchel has food poisoning! Please, we beg you to save him!"

Dekan shouted first.

"Baron Batchel?"

The demon school doctor was stunned for a moment, then his attention was quickly and completely drawn to the demon Cornelia was dragging.

He seemed to have discovered something very interesting; he put down the saw in his hand, walked quickly behind Cornelia, and scrutinized the unconscious figure on the floor.

"Put him on the operating table."

The demon school doctor soon stopped paying attention to Dekan and Cornelia themselves, simply issuing this command.

Cornelia followed the instructions, moved Baron Batchel over, and laid him flat on the operating table.

She then retreated to Dekan's side.

The demon school doctor began to grope around Baron Batchel's body, checking for a long time, seemingly finally confirming that this guy was indeed Baron Batchel.

"Why does he have such a large wound on his head?"

The school doctor asked, puzzled.

"After the teacher got food poisoning, he went mad and kept hurting himself, eventually knocking his head against the corner of a table and passing out."

"While he was still lucid, he told us that as long as we brought him to the infirmary, he could be saved, and he consented to you performing any modifications on him!"

Dekan spouted nonsense with a straight face.

The demon school doctor's mouth twitched as he listened.

Damn it, it's obvious you two did it!

Although he didn't know how Dekan and Cornelia had managed it, he didn't want to hear Dekan continue his gibberish anymore.

Because he was already impatient to modify Batchel.

Opportunities to modify a teacher were rare, after all.

Even if everything Dekan said was a lie.

As long as there was a reasonable explanation provided, the demon school doctor could pretend to be ignorant and modify Batchel; the principal wouldn't be able to hold him accountable later.

"Tch, get out of here. I'll let you off this time."

The demon school doctor urged the two to leave, then began restraining Batchel on the operating table...

Dekan gave Cornelia a thumbs-up.

Plan successful.

Exploration progress increased by about 1% without any effort at all.