Yuan Ci watched Ji Xun lower his eyes without a word, unsure what he was thinking.
"If you're upset because I didn't tell you all this beforehand, I apologize," Yuan Ci said softly. "But Ji Xun, you're exceptionally well suited to the Infinite-Flow World."
Yuan Ci wasn't among the first players to enter the game, but he was the only player for whom the main system had specifically changed its rules.
As he had said earlier, he had met countless players, yet none had seemed born for the game the way Ji Xun did.
"I'm not angry. After all, we barely know each other, and you don't owe me an explanation for what you do." Ji Xun put particular emphasis on "barely know each other."
With that, he turned and headed toward the classroom building.
"Ji Xun, where are you going?" Seeing his expressionless face, Su Rang hurriedly called out to him, but Ji Xun didn't even spare him a glance.
He quickly stood and ran over to Yuan Ci. "Ci, is he angry?"
Yuan Ci watched Ji Xun's retreating figure with an unreadable look in his eyes and gave a quiet hum of assent. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh. "Let's go."
He had thought Ji Xun would return before the second dorm inspection, and he could explain his predicament then. But even when the Administrator's heavy footsteps sounded at the second-floor stairwell, Ji Xun still hadn't returned to the dorm.
Frowning, Yuan Ci found Ji Xun's avatar in his friends list and sent him a message.
[Where are you? Why haven't you come back to the dorm?]
System notification: Sorry, you and the recipient are not friends. Message failed to send.
Who taught you to block people when you're angry?
Yuan Ci's head throbbed. He asked Su Rang to message Ji Xun.
[Ci, Ji Xun says he's not coming back.]
A little later, Su Rang sent another message.
[Ci, Ji Xun says he'll be a dog if he ever talks to you again.]
Yuan Ci: ...
Ji Xun closed the social channel. With no other players around, he didn't even need a flashlight.
He headed swiftly toward the classroom building. After hesitating between the Principal's Office and the ground-floor lobby, he eventually went over to the "Straighten Your Clothes" mirror.
The "Emergency exit" sign on the ground floor cast an eerie green glow, making Ji Xun's reflection look deathly pale.
Suddenly, the image in the mirror began to distort, and the reflected scenery behind him spun wildly.
Ji Xun stared at his own face in the mirror. It broke into a bizarre smile and spread its arms toward him, as though offering an embrace.
Ji Xun drew the long saber at his waist, pulled off its sheath, and pointed the tip at the mirror. "Want to come out for a chat?" he asked coldly.
The figure in the mirror froze, then continued moving toward Ji Xun until half its body had emerged.
Ji Xun pushed hard, driving the tip of his blade a short way into the mirror. Cracks instantly spread across its surface like a spiderweb.
"Ah!" The figure stared at Ji Xun in disbelief, clutching its head and screaming, "I'll kill you!"
Six more identical figures emerged from the mirror, all wearing Ji Xun's face and glaring at him in fury.
Ji Xun clicked his tongue, pulled out his saber, and raised an eyebrow. "Ganging up on me? Your staff really need some training."
The seven mirror figures exchanged looks, then lunged at Ji Xun.
"Still want to fight?" Ji Xun leaned against the mirror, smiling brightly.
The mirror figures squatted on the floor with their heads hanging. At his question, they hurriedly shook their heads. "No, no more fighting."
They had regained their original appearances, each with the youthful face of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old.
But their worn school uniforms still bore the bloodstains left from their deaths.
They could give my work uniform a run for its money.
"Let's see. Wu Xiran, Deng Wen, Feng Tiantian, Zhou Yutong, Wang Zitong." Ji Xun called out a name each time he pointed at one of the teenagers, and each obediently raised a hand in response.
"Where are the others?" Ji Xun asked.
Class Twelve had eighteen students in total, but only five were here.
Wu Xiran, his hair tied in a high ponytail, stepped forward. A dark purplish strangulation mark circled his neck. "Someone took Jiang Yao out yesterday. The others aren't with us."
Jiang Yao was probably the student he had seen in the cafeteria at noon, the one wearing Wang Kaile's face.
"Why don't you leave?"
Feng Tiantian looked at him resentfully. "I'd love to, but you shattered my mirror."
"It wasn't me," Ji Xun stressed. "It was Yuan Ci. Go talk to him."
Wu Xiran linked arms with Feng Tiantian, urging her to calm down first. "We need a medium to get out. That person called Wang Kaile sneaked past the mirror that night, and Jiang Yao went out with him."
The only boy among the five stepped forward. He had delicate features and an air of scholarly refinement. "You just said you wanted to work together. How?"
Ji Xun noticed that as soon as he spoke, the others fell silent, as though they had found someone to take charge.
The boy smiled. "Hello. My name is Deng Wen. I'm Class Twelve's class representative."
Deng Wen spoke calmly and confidently, neither servile nor arrogant. He was clearly a well-educated student.
"I'll help you get out, and you'll do me a small favor." Ji Xun emphasized again, "All of you. Every student in Class Twelve."
Wu Xiran and the girls all looked eager. Only Deng Wen seemed to be seriously considering Ji Xun's proposal.
"All right." Deng Wen nodded earnestly. "But I don't know where the others are."
Wu Xiran lowered his eyes and said sadly, "We've been trapped in the lobby this whole time. We can't go anywhere. That's why Jiang Yao suggested trying to possess someone and leave, to see if he could find the others."
Ji Xun frowned. "You've never gotten out? Then you weren't the ones killing the students at this school?"
Deng Wen looked utterly bewildered. "We've never killed anyone."
Something flickered in Ji Xun's eyes. "I need to step away for a moment. Go back inside for now."
Only then did he realize something was wrong. If Class Twelve's students were inside the mirror, what the hell were the things in the sixth-floor classroom?
Ji Xun strode up to the sixth floor. Class Twelve's room was completely deserted. The students who had been listening to the lesson and the blood-soaked teacher were all gone.
When Yuan Ci killed the principal, the system had announced that players would no longer be subject to the principal's negative effects. That was why the talisman trapping them in the Small Auditorium had stopped working.
Could the school's ghosts and monsters be like them, free to move around now that the principal no longer held them in thrall?
Ji Xun cursed inwardly and angrily sent Su Rang a message.
[Tell Yuan Ci I'll be a dog if I ever talk to him again!]
Ji Xun waited in the classroom building until dawn, when he saw a box truck with no license plates pull up outside the school. "Black Pine Meat Processing Plant" was painted on its side.
The Administrator and a man in a chef's uniform dragged bodies over one by one, then took a sack of butchered meat from the truck.
The meat was bright red. The chef took out a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing with relish before narrowing his eyes in satisfaction.
"The students at this school are nothing but livestock raised by the principal and his lackeys. Being eaten is their fate."
Ji Xun turned around. Wang Kaile-or rather, Jiang Yao-stood behind him, his face filled with sorrow.
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