The same resonant bell rang out across the entire Monastery.
In a building tucked into the farthest corner of the Monastery, the orphans enjoyed a rare stretch of free time.
They ran around the reasonably spacious courtyard, looking like ordinary children again.
Wang Peng stood at the classroom entrance, his expression a mixture of resignation and panic. The classroom door was shut tight, and he stood there like a statue, not moving a muscle.
Wei Yunmo glanced at him several times. As he carefully tucked his friend's dangling eyeball back into its socket, he asked, "Why does that man keep standing there?"
A group of children gathered around them. The tidiest one said, "He's a new teacher. I'm telling you, they're real cowards. I could go over there right now and give him a fright. Who knows why he's standing there?"
"We hardly ever get newcomers here."
"That's right." The children nodded in unison and said together, "We really want them to stay here forever."
Wei Yunmo shrugged, already accustomed to their eerie quirks. He pulled over another child who was holding his own head and helped sew it back on, asking casually, "Where's Xiaomei? Doesn't she usually love playing outside?"
But at that question, the eerie children stiffened, then all burst into tears.
"Xiaomei was killed!"
Wei Yunmo's heart jolted. "Why? Did she break the system's rules?"
This vast organization was governed by a supreme being, which everyone referred to as the system rules. As mentioned earlier, this place followed the strict law of the jungle, so NPCs were ranked from high to low, with different permissions at each level.
The lowest-ranking NPCs were ghosts that lingered in the world, unwilling to fade away. They lacked even sentience and could only appear in designated places, serving as mere tools.