Yin Chao stifled a laugh as Midnight walked over to his desk with a dark expression.
He bent two fingers and rapped his knuckles on the desktop.
"Move over."
Yin Chao made room for him, then turned to look at the team of four seated behind them.
Sure enough, they were watching his movements too.
"What do you think?"
Midnight cut straight to the point.
He turned back. "About what?"
"Don't play dumb."
Yin Chao chuckled. Knowing Midnight must have overheard his conversation with Moqi Xinzhi and the others, he said casually,
"Obviously, it's stupid."
Midnight nodded, seemingly in full agreement.
"Why do you think Moqi Xinzhi didn't approach you or Zhao Guojun?" Yin Chao asked.
Midnight's gaze settled on his fair cheeks. As their eyes met, the same thought surfaced in both their minds.
"He's looking for people who seem easy to control."
Midnight blurted it out.
The impression Yin Chao had initially given, including the way he had argued with Zhao Guojun and tattled on him in class, was precisely that of a pretty, empty-headed attention seeker, wasn't it?
Thoughts churned through their minds when an argument suddenly broke out in the classroom.
Everyone turned to look.
"I told you to move your desk back a little. I barely have any room here! Can't you understand plain language?"
A girl with heavy makeup and loose chestnut curls stood up and shouted angrily at the girl behind her.
The girl behind her wore a school uniform, her hair tied in a neat ponytail. Compared with the first girl, she certainly looked plain and unadorned.
But she was no pushover either. She slammed a hand on her desk and stood up. "Take a good look! You're taking up all that space, and it's still not enough for you?"
The two traded angry words.
Then a very tall boy entered through the classroom's front door.
Only then did obvious panic appear in the uniformed girl's eyes. The other girl, by contrast, immediately brightened.
"Di, what brings you here?"
The curly-haired girl called out in a syrupy voice.
The boy she called Di wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled. "Someone said you were being bullied."
Yin Chao shuddered in disgust, but the surrounding students all looked frightened to varying degrees.
Di looked the uniformed girl up and down, then made an exaggerated show of spitting in her face.
Yin Chao's eyes widened.
Yet nobody stepped in to stop him. Even the girl herself merely lowered her head and endured it in silence.
"You think you're worthy, pig?"
As he spoke, he spat on her head again.
The girl finally broke down crying.
Even the curly-haired girl who had just been arguing with her looked a little uncomfortable. She forced a laugh and tried to divert the boy's attention.
Yin Chao muttered to Midnight, "What is this, the mafia?"
He had thought that would be the end of it.
The boy had already reached the classroom door with the curly-haired girl when he suddenly went berserk for no apparent reason.
With bloodshot eyes, he charged back to the uniformed girl and began punching and kicking her.
It was as though he meant to kill her.
The surrounding students froze in terror, not daring to make a sound. Only the girl's screams echoed through the classroom.
Yin Chao instinctively looked toward Midnight, only to see that he had already leaped nimbly out of his seat.
Then, with lightning speed, he sent the raging boy flying with a kick.
He stood in the middle of the classroom, expressionless.
Di knocked over several desks. Clutching the spot where he had been hit, he got up. "Do you have a fucking death wish? Do you know who I am?"
Midnight remained calm. "Human, ghost, god-I can kill them all. You're welcome to try."
At that, patches of rotting flesh appeared on the boy's skin, uneven like pigskin scorched by fire.
"Just you wait."
After saying that, he returned to normal and left the classroom.
Yin Chao was surprised. Were all these people ghosts and monsters? He had thought they were merely ordinary NPCs.
As if someone had heard his thoughts,
"Für Elise" began playing over the speakers, and the classroom suddenly plunged into darkness.
Yin Chao smelled a strong stench of smoke. The hair of a student nearby began falling out, as though scorched by fire.
Then came the skin, the limbs...
The crackle of sparks filled the air.
Not a single flame was visible, yet the entire space was rapidly deteriorating.
Within moments, only the few players still had normal bodies.
Everyone else had become a charred corpse with curled limbs.
Their exposed, blackened heads bore grotesquely twisted features.
They resembled "The Scream," the famous work by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch.
"Help... help me, please... help... me..."
A charred corpse whose features were indistinguishable grabbed the hem of Yin Chao's clothes.
All the surrounding charred corpses lunged at the living people still present, clawing and biting...
Like drowning people clutching at a lifeline.
The stench of decay filled the classroom.
Some screamed in panic; others fled in every direction.
Midnight drew his Black Sword and cut them all down. Yet even when severed at the waist, the charred corpses soon returned to their original state.
Only Yin Chao remained relaxed, as though he were an outsider.
The charred corpses merely gathered around him.
Yin Chao pulled his clothes free of the corpse's grip. One corner of his dark blue uniform was now dirty.
Looking displeased, he replied, "How am I supposed to save you?"
The charred corpse seemed taken aback. Looking at his stained clothes, he felt an inexplicable pang of guilt.
Yet the only words he could say were "Help me."
Getting no answer to his question, Yin Chao no longer wanted to bother with them.
"Für Elise" continued playing over the speakers, its faintly mournful melody mingling with the hellish scene.
It set off the light of the Blood Moon streaming through the classroom windows.
The sight had a strange, frenzied air.
Like a carnival-a carnival of death.
Yin Chao stood on a desk and spent a while admiring the other players' pained expressions.
Numbers kept appearing above everyone's heads: [HP -10] [HP -10]...
Zhao Guojun roared, "Why aren't they biting you? This is fucking bullshit!"
Unfortunately, nobody cared whether he thought it was fair.
Only when "Für Elise" stopped abruptly did the charred corpses cease moving, becoming grotesque yet lifelike statues.
A shrill burst of static came from the speakers.
A voice blending male and female tones spoke without emotion.
"Judgment begins."
It was the same sentence that had appeared on the big screen when they entered the game.
Then the scene shifted rapidly, and the classroom, burned to ruins, vanished.
In its place was a long European-style table.
An empty black void surrounded the table, while a harsh beam of light shone down from above.
The cushioned European-style chairs were filled.
Every player was here.
The voice from the speaker continued.
"Night falls. Please close your eyes."
Yin Chao's vision instantly went black.
"Werewolves, please open your eyes and identify one another."
"Please choose whom you wish to kill."
"Werewolves, please close your eyes."
A little while passed.
The voice said, "Witch, please open your eyes. This is tonight's victim. Would you like to use the antidote? Would you like to use the poison?"
"Witch, please close your eyes."
"Seer, please open your eyes. Please investigate a player."
"Seer, please close your eyes."
"Guard, please open your eyes. Please protect a player. Guard, please close your eyes."
"Hunter, please open your eyes. Hunter, please close your eyes."
"Idiot, please open your eyes."
Yin Chao's vision returned, and he saw a separate beam of light shining on him.
He looked around and spotted someone who greatly surprised him.
"Idiot, please close your eyes."
Then his vision went black again.
Afterward, the voice said, "Day breaks. No one died last night."
"Players, please begin speaking."
The beam fell on a muscular, bearded man. With his arms crossed, he gave everyone a vicious look.
"Nothing to say. Pass."
The light went out, then fell on the next person.
Yin Chao narrowed his eyes slightly. This was the unexpected person he had seen when he opened his eyes: Liang Chen of the Miracle Squad.
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