A loop...
A time loop?!
Realization struck Lynn like a bolt from the blue.
That was it!
That had to be it!
The method his mother had left behind had definitely worked. After all the students had been killed in this classroom, time had not continued moving forward. Instead, the events kept repeating.
And the moment he now occupied was already part of those endless loops.
That was why the students who had already died kept appearing here, only to be killed again and again!
This loop.
It had actually begun long ago!
And the Vengeful Demon's projection-that "ghost"-had already been trapped by his mother's means!
But what method had she used?
A heart anchor?!
Lynn furrowed his brow, carefully considering that key term.
An anchor could mean fixing something in place, locking it down.
Heart had a broader meaning. It could refer to the physical organ, or to the mind and soul.
And clearly, it was supposed to mean the latter.
If that was the case...
"Using some deeply held conviction... to lock the Vengeful Demon in place..."
Lynn frowned.
"And then triggering the loop..."
Almost the instant he finished speaking, the light above his head dimmed again.
Darkness descended swiftly like a tide.
A sharp knife suddenly plunged into his back from behind, piercing through his chest.
But the corner of Lynn's mouth lifted.
"I've figured it out."
At that moment, Lynn smiled and abruptly reached behind himself, clamping his hand over the ghostly figure's entire face.
With tremendous force, he hurled the Ghost Infant to the front of the classroom.
"Just as I thought. Every part of the story revolves around 'me,' so the final way out must lie with 'me,' too."
Lynn ignored the wound in his chest.
He faced the ghostly figure slowly rising in