"Does he have masochistic tendencies?" A chill ran down Su Rang's back. There was no doubt that the student before them was a ghost, too.
"Look at the blackboard," Yuan Ci said in a low voice.
Ji Xun looked toward the blackboard. He could vaguely make out some bloodstains, though they were hard to see against its dark surface.
But the white wall beside it was densely covered in symbols and diagrams drawn in blood. Ji Xun frowned and studied them for a while, but couldn't make out a single word.
Seeing his bewildered expression, Yuan Ci explained, "They're physics problems."
Oh, so you've been to school. Aren't you superior, Ji Xun thought.
Yuan Ci chuckled. "Let's go. We shouldn't disturb him."
"What if this is a side quest?" Ji Xun asked.
Only then did Su Rang truly realize that Ji Xun was a newcomer. "Side quests in instances ranked B and above all have time limits, and failing them comes with severe penalties. So it's best not to trigger one unless you're confident. Besides, the rewards are usually pretty useless."
Looking thoroughly disgusted, Su Rang complained to Ji Xun, "Once, I cleared an instance and got an NPC's stinky sock as a reward. Sure, I could use it in another instance to stink out the boss and dodge one attack, but the shop has loads of items that work better."
That really did sound pretty useless. Ji Xun nodded in agreement.
The third and fourth floors belonged to the second-year students. They found a ghost in red hanging from a classroom ceiling fan, as well as a student ghost mopping the floor.
"This school is way too terrifying." Su Rang's face was deathly pale, and he wanted nothing more than to cover his eyes.
They tried to keep their breathing steady as they crept toward the stairs.
The student ghost was gripping the legs of a stiff corpse, using its head as a mop. Everywhere he mopped, he left a long streak of blood.
"Making me clean every day isn't fair!" An expression of suppressed resentment appeared on the student ghost's sinister face, and his movements grew increasingly rough.
He grabbed the corpse's head and shoved it hard into a bucket to rinse it. The water washed the blood from its face, revealing ashen skin.
Ji Xun looked at Yuan Ci, who gave him an almost imperceptible nod.
It was a player.
Their hearts sank as they went up to the fifth floor.
Two players had died so far.
Yet they had no idea how either of them had died. That was not a good sign.
The fifth floor was clean, just like an ordinary school building.
But the moment they stepped onto the sixth floor, they all heard recitation coming from a classroom.
There were both male and female voices, all utterly flat and lifeless. The sound made their skin crawl.
Ji Xun pressed himself sideways against the wall and glanced through the window in Class Twelve's door.
The abandoned classroom, which should have been piled high with clutter, now had its desks and chairs neatly arranged.
Someone sat behind every desk, staring expressionlessly at the blackboard.
A woman stood at the front of the classroom, her body a mangled mass of flesh and blood. Her arms were charred and cracked, exposing the vivid red flesh beneath.
Something white clung to her disheveled hair. It looked like human brain matter.
Her mutilated fingers held a teaching pointer, tapping the blackboard again and again.
With each movement she made, the students below responded in low voices.
As Ji Xun looked inside, the ghosts turned their heads in unison toward the door, then stretched their mouths into eerie smiles.
As though welcoming their arrival.
The third floor of the East Building.
"Captain, are we really going to carry those losers through the instance?" Qian Fang wore a flippant grin, taking the instance completely lightly.
Lin Lin frowned. "Keep your voice down."
"What is there to be afraid of? Look at you, such a coward." Qian Fang scoffed.
The world of infinite instances followed the law of the jungle. In Qian Fang's eyes, a frail girl like Lin Lin, who needed others to protect her, was nothing but a useless stepping stone.
Lin Lin suppressed her irritation. She knew she wasn't strong, which was why she had volunteered when Wei Lin gathered members to train in an instance.
She hadn't expected Yuan Ci to be participating this time, too.
The instance's difficulty had risen so high that they had already seen three players' corpses on their way here.
Lin Lin backed down, but Qian Fang had no intention of letting her off that easily. "They died because they were useless. If you weren't with us, you probably wouldn't have survived this long either."
"Enough," Wei Lin said sternly. "We're at the School Infirmary."
Li Anmeng, who hadn't said a word, took a lock-picking item from his inventory and forced the School Infirmary's door open in a few deft moves.
Wei Lin stepped into the School Infirmary. Its furnishings were perfectly normal, with no sign of anything from a ghost story.
"Ah-" Lin Lin let out a quiet cry and pointed at a glass jar on a shelf. "Are those human eyes?"
The jar on the shelf was filled with a liquid of unknown composition. A pair of eyeballs floated silently inside.
There weren't just eyeballs, but human noses, lips, ears...
They were all parts of human faces.
Wei Lin leaned closer to inspect them. "They look like specimens."
Qian Fang sneered. "A pair of eyeballs scared you that badly? Is this your first supernatural instance?"
Even Lin Lin's patience couldn't withstand his repeated provocations. Anger crept into her voice. "Qian Fang, what's wrong with you? Can you mind your own business?"
Wei Lin looked impatient. Seeing this, Li Anmeng hurried to smooth things over. "Could these human specimens be clues to a ghost story? Something like a ghost doctor?"
"It's too early to draw conclusions. Don't rush," Wei Lin said.
The instant they left the School Infirmary, Lin Lin seemed to sense something and glanced back, then followed Wei Lin with a puzzled look.
Was I imagining things?
Why did it feel like the anatomical model standing beside the bed just moved?
The principal's office was locked, too, but Li Anmeng discovered that it had an alarm system. Forcing the lock might trigger the alarm.
For the time being, they gave up on searching the principal's office.
"Brother Wei, I'm going to the bathroom." Qian Fang pointed at the restroom nearby.
Wei Lin frowned. "Hold it for a bit."
Everyone knew that restrooms were a staple setting in horror stories.
Qian Fang patted his pocket and grinned. "Don't worry, Brother Wei. I've got plenty of items."
Lin Lin said, "That's the women's restroom..."
In the school building, the women's restrooms were on odd-numbered floors, while the men's were on even-numbered floors.
He whistled provocatively at Lin Lin, then swaggered into the restroom, humming and looking utterly at ease.
It wasn't just Lin Lin. Qian Fang looked down on Wei Lin, too.
The man had only become captain of the Abyss Team because he had entered the world of infinite instances a few months before him.
And what about him? He had participated in no fewer high-level instances than Wei Lin. Why should he still have to suck up to him?
As it happened, the guild leader had recently been collecting side quest rewards from various instances. If he could outperform Wei Lin, wouldn't Wei Lin be the one carrying his shoes in the future?
Thump, thump, thump-
Qian Fang pulled up his pants and looked around suspiciously.
He thought he had just heard something.
Thump, thump, thump-
There was a sound!
Excited, Qian Fang took out a compass that could detect the locations of vengeful spirits. Its needle spun rapidly before stopping in one direction.
A savage grin spread across his face in the darkness, and he walked toward the toilet stalls.
Outside, Wei Lin grew increasingly restless as he waited. He called into the restroom, "Qian Fang, aren't you done yet?"
No one answered.
The three exchanged glances. Holding his breath, Wei Lin gently pushed open the restroom door.
The door creaked, the sound especially grating in the empty, silent school building.
The restroom was small enough to take in at a glance.
But there wasn't a single living person inside.
Qian Fang had vanished.
Before you continue