Hurried, uneven footsteps echoed through the dark classroom building. Ji Xun clearly still hadn't recovered from his shock.
A dozen pairs of lifeless eyes had been staring at him when Yuan Ci had suddenly grabbed him and run.
"I hadn't even gotten a good look!" Ji Xun complained.
"You're seriously brave." Yuan Ci sighed helplessly. "If I hadn't dragged you away, those things would've possessed you immediately, then chopped your own head off like they were slicing through little kids."
Who would dare possess your daddy!
But Ji Xun couldn't say that aloud, so he could only give him an accusing look.
"That classroom was probably this instance's 'eye,'" Hao Wei said.
Ji Xun asked, "Eye?"
Su Rang explained, "An important location that ties the whole instance together. You can use the 'eye' to deduce its detailed backstory. For example, the system's opening introduction mentioned students at Experimental Middle School suffering mysterious accidents. Now we can be sure those accidents must be connected to the missing students from Class Twelve."
This would also be a great help in understanding the instance and completing their tasks.
They took a brief rest on the fifth floor. Including Class Twelve, they had now discovered several places where Ghost Stories might appear.
The Failing Student Ghost in Grade One Class Seven, the hanged ghost in red in Grade Two Class Three, the ghost that kept mopping the corridor, and the teacher and student ghosts of Class Twelve on the sixth floor.
But they still hadn't found any clues about how to trigger the Ghost Stories.
Trying to collect Ghost Stories without knowing what they were doing might trigger a random death condition.
[Ding-dong-] [The dorm supervisor will begin room inspections in fifteen minutes. Children who aren't asleep are in for trouble-] [Children who haven't returned to their dorms are-going-to-die-]
The system's voice was sinister, with a hint of gloating.
Su Rang couldn't help crying out, "Oh no, we're running out of time!"
The dorm supervisor dragged two corpses along like dead pigs and kicked open the storeroom door.
Inside was a horrifying sight. More than a dozen corpses, each having met a different death, were piled on top of one another. A thick layer of blood covered the floor, flowing out through the gap beneath the door and staining the supervisor's boots bright red.
He casually tossed the two bodies behind him onto the pile and surveyed the day's spoils with satisfaction.
Suddenly, he looked warily toward the storeroom window.
Outside, shadows flickered among the trees, accompanied by a faint rustling.
"Bad child." The supervisor bared his teeth in a chilling grin and headed toward the little lamb trying to escape its pen.
He hid around a corner on the dormitory's first floor, concealing his massive body in the darkness as he waited for his prey to walk into his trap.
Someone approached the dormitory on tiptoe, looking around in every direction. The sight of the wide-open entrance filled him with delight.
"Thank goodness I made it." Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he stopped, a chill running down his spine.
"Caught you."
An icy voice sounded beside his ear. Before the player could turn around, the supervisor snapped his neck with his bare hand.
Humming a jaunty tune, the supervisor tossed the player's corpse onto the pile and began another round of his hunting game.
"Dawn is coming. Time for the children to get up-"
The dormitory was dimly lit, and a jumble of bloody footprints marked the stairs.
Bloodthirsty excitement gleamed in the supervisor's eyes as he followed the footprints straight to room 204.
Just as during the first inspection, there wasn't a sound from inside room 204.
Su Rang had assumed the second inspection would be like the first. As long as they stayed silent, the supervisor wouldn't be able to do anything to them.
But-
Outside, a key turned in the lock, followed by the turn of the door handle.
Su Rang cursed furiously in his head. How could the supervisor open the door!
Cold sweat covered his forehead, but he still remembered Yuan Ci's instructions. He closed his eyes, steadied his breathing, and pretended to be a corpse.
Ji Xun, meanwhile, was perfectly calm. He lay on the bed with his hands folded over his abdomen, in the textbook pose of a body laid out for burial.
The supervisor first approached Su Rang's bed and whispered into his ear, "Time to get up."
Su Rang didn't move, though a closer look would have revealed his body trembling uncontrollably.
The supervisor smacked his lips and walked over to Ji Xun.
A foul stench of blood and something burnt washed over him. The supervisor exposed a mouthful of chilling white teeth. "I know you're pretending to sleep. Get up."
Suddenly, Su Rang wasn't afraid anymore. The supervisor clearly couldn't do anything to them. Even coming through the door was just psychological pressure, an attempt to break their defenses.
Ji Xun, however, wasn't happy at all.
The stench was going to kill him.
So he did something that nearly made Su Rang's jaw hit the floor.
Ji Xun pretended to talk in his sleep. The supervisor's eyes lit up, but he had no stronger reaction.
Then he pretended to stretch, clenching his fists. Since the supervisor was standing right beside his bed, the fist he extended past the bed rail "accidentally" struck him squarely.
Su Rang didn't know how hard Ji Xun could punch, but the supervisor certainly knew now. He clutched his eye and howled, then ran outside as though fleeing for his life.
Su Rang rolled over and sat up, gasping for breath. "What happened? What happened?"
Yuan Ci got out of bed and locked the door again, his mind also full of questions.
"An item. My hand twitched, and I used it," Ji Xun said vaguely.
Clearly, this answer wasn't enough to fool either of them. But everyone had their own secrets in the Infinite-Flow World, so Yuan Ci didn't press him.
At six in the morning, the system made its announcement right on time.
[Players remaining: eleven]
Eleven!
It was only the second day, and nine players were already dead.
Ji Xun browsed the social channel. Several players' avatars had been marked with large crosses, confirming their deaths.
But what surprised Ji Xun most was that the avatar of the player named Qian Fang had also been crossed out.
He looked at Yuan Ci, whose expression was grave. Clearly, he hadn't expected this outcome either.
"Qian Fang actually died. He was arrogant, but his skills weren't bad." Su Rang sighed. Although he hadn't liked Qian Fang, he hadn't expected him to die here.
"Wei Lin said it's too complicated to explain in a message. He wants to meet during the exercise break." Yuan Ci's brow was tightly furrowed.
The students' lives were repetitive and monotonous. When they arrived at the classroom, Ji Xun keenly noticed that something was off about the atmosphere.
Yesterday, all the students had looked lifeless. Today, they could barely contain their excitement.
Su Rang struck up a conversation with a boy in glasses beside him. "Hey, why are you all so happy?"
The boy spoke in a voice bordering on ecstasy. "Don't you know? The cafeteria lady is making her specialty meatball noodles today! I didn't get any last time. This time, I'm going to have two bowls!"
"Oh," Su Rang replied, thinking it was only a bowl of noodles. What was there to get so excited about?
As usual, all the students went to the sports field for the exercise break. Ji Xun followed Yuan Ci to a tree at the edge of the field to meet the other players.
Wei Lin was already waiting there with the members of Abyss, his expression dark.
The players who hadn't shown up last night also stood nearby with their heads lowered, their expressions bordering on despair.
When Yuan Ci arrived, Wei Lin skipped the pleasantries and said bluntly, "There's a traitor among us."
Before you continue