After Ye Chu finished reading the handbook and learned the truth, the group discussed revising the rules, rewriting them to benefit the students.
They locked the yellow-eyed monster in an isolated dorm room to keep it from coming out and frightening people.
Even as they chained it beside the bed, it kept waving its long, black tentacles. Ye Chu restrained it with a single sentence: "Students in the dorm rooms are not allowed to move around without permission."
The yellow-eyed monster: "..." The resentment in its eyes was practically spilling over.
As for the students, Ye Chu and Pei Yanchuan shared their study tips with those who wanted to stay at school to prepare for the college entrance exam. Those who wanted to leave returned to their normal lives.
On the day they left, Xiao Xiao ran over and hugged Wu You and Lu Rui. She had wanted to hug Ye Chu too, but with Zhang Lian watching forlornly from the sidelines, she decided against it.
"He's only twenty-one. Even if I really did fancy him, he wouldn't fancy me. Besides, you're my favorite." Xiao Xiao planted a loud kiss on Zhang Lian's cheek.
Zhang Lian immediately broke into a hopelessly goofy smile, then hugged Su Fengzi and Pei Yanchuan goodbye as well.
"It's all thanks to you. Otherwise, we might never have gotten out of this hellhole."
"Not at all," Lu Rui said with a smile. "If you hadn't given us so much information at the start, we wouldn't have realized something was wrong so quickly."
"Then we'll see you again if fate brings us together." Xiao Xiao waved goodbye and walked toward the school gates hand in hand with Zhang Lian.
"Until we meet again."
[Congratulations, players! Challenge cleared: "Rules of the Strange Tales: Campus Edition"!]
Ye Chu's vision went white. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his room, his plaid skirt replaced by his suit trousers. Sure enough, trousers were much more comfortable.
He opened the door and went downstairs, where he found the other four already sitting on the sofa.
All four stared straight at him as he came down.
Ye Chu stopped and blinked in bewilderment. "What's going on?"
Wu You answered first. "I'll observe the teachers and make sure the handover goes smoothly."
Ye Chu's expression froze. Wu You was repeating what he had said back then.
Su Fengzi tossed a segment of orange into his mouth. "Nice work, Chu Chuzi. We fight as a team while you go solo; we level up while you sneak in and take their base, huh?"
Ye Chu stood at the foot of the stairs, not daring to move. "I was afraid you wouldn't agree..."
"So you knew we wouldn't agree!" Lu Rui shot to her feet, startling Ye Chu into taking a step back. "If you knew it was dangerous, why didn't you discuss it with us? You think having a good brain means you can act that recklessly in the game?"
Ye Chu immediately shut his mouth and looked toward Pei Yanchuan, who had remained silent, blinking rapidly in a plea for help.
"Don't bat your eyes at Xiao Pei," Lu Rui said, sitting back down on the sofa. "Neither of you is any better than the other."
Ye Chu sighed and went over to sit beside the sofa. "Lu Rui, nothing happened to me, did it?"
Wu You muttered beside him, "I wonder who that person with the deathly pale face in the dorm building was."
Ye Chu: "..."
Fortunately, they weren't truly angry. They were just worried about Ye Chu and shaken by what might have happened. Before long, the tension eased.
Lu Rui went to the kitchen to cook, and Ye Chu followed to help. As he washed the vegetables, the light reflecting off her glasses reminded him of the glasses the teacher had worn in the previous Instance.
"Lu Rui, why do you remind me of a high school homeroom teacher every time I see you?" Ye Chu asked teasingly.
To his surprise, Lu Rui nodded seriously. "I actually was a homeroom teacher for two years."
"Huh?"
"But my family made me become a teacher back then. They said teaching was good enough for a girl," Lu Rui said as she chopped vegetables. "I didn't really like teaching, so I posted on Weibo to vent about it."
Ye Chu lifted the washed vegetables out of the water and quietly waited for her to continue.
"A lot of people in the comments agreed with my family. They said teaching was great, with holidays and a secure position. For a girl, being a teacher was enough. Everyone thought that way, and I almost started believing that was how things were supposed to be. But one person in the comments told me..."
"Our lives are short. If there's something you want to do, go do it. We work hard so we can be ourselves more fully, not become better versions of ourselves."
Ye Chu's hand paused as he picked off the leaves. He vaguely felt that the last sentence sounded familiar, but dismissed it as his imagination and gave it no further thought.
"Then he must be a very gentle person."
"Yes, he's very gentle." Lu Rui looked at Ye Chu, who was still carefully picking off leaves with a focused expression. "It might sound a little exaggerated, but those words strengthened my resolve to quit. And as it turns out, being yourself really does feel wonderful."
Lu Rui looked away. She didn't tell Ye Chu that he himself had written that comment. At the time, she had clicked through to his profile and found Peking University, Guanghua, finance... and a few screenshots of conversations bearing Ye Chu's name.
It had been easy to work out who he was.
One casual gesture from him had made a tremendous difference to her life. Otherwise, Lu Rui might have remained a teacher, doing a job she disliked, day after day, year after year, living her own life according to someone else's template.
But fortunately, a stranger had saved her.
Lu Rui's lips curved into a smile. A ding sounded: the toast Wu You wanted was ready. Lu Rui called toward the living room, "Xiao Mei, your toast is ready."
Wu You answered, and Su Fengzi's lazy voice followed from the living room. "And when will the handsome guy's fried eggs be ready?"
Lu Rui laughed. "Any minute now."
Wu You and Su Fengzi came to the kitchen doorway together. Wu You took her toast, while Su Fengzi collected the bowls and chopsticks for their meal.
"Where's Xiao Pei?"
"Xiao Pei... He's looking at something on the system tablet. I think he's buying alcohol?"
Lu Rui's head snapped up. "Alcohol?! How old is he, wanting to drink already?"
Pei Yanchuan's voice rang out, tinged with grievance and defiance. "I'm eighteen! I'm an adult!"
Why did they always treat him like a kid?
Su Fengzi carried the plates, bowls, and chopsticks back to the living room. Several bottles of cocktails were already sitting on the coffee table. Their alcohol content was low, probably out of concern that some of them couldn't handle stronger drinks.
With toast between her teeth, Wu You raised an eyebrow at the drinks on the coffee table. "What's the point of drinking something that weak? If we're drinking, let's have baijiu."
"Then do you want Laobaigan?" Pei Yanchuan asked earnestly, holding the tablet.
"Sure." Wu You nodded readily. "We're celebrating clearing another Instance. I'm going all out tonight."
Lu Rui and Ye Chu carried the dishes out from the kitchen and soon covered the coffee table with an impressive spread.
Pei Yanchuan opened every bottle, then lifted his glass and announced, as though delivering an official speech, "If our bond is deep, drink it down in one go." With that, he drained his glass.
The other four picked up their glasses as well, took a tiny sip, and put them back down.
Pei Yanchuan stared at them, dumbfounded. "Come on, guys. Seriously...?"
The other four exchanged looks, then burst out laughing and picked up their glasses again. "All right, let's stop teasing Xiao Pei." "I didn't expect the rest of you to take just one sip too, hahaha." "What useless teamwork." "Hahahaha."
"Come on, cheers!"
The five glasses clinked together, spilling a little liquor over their rims.
Before you continue