Studying

"What's wrong?!"

"What happened?"

Li Yunyao and He Li both asked.

"N-nothing..." Lu Mingwang grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath. "I was late for school, wasn't I? My homeroom teacher caught me and just gave my ear a twist."

"What's wrong with you?" Li Yunyao said coldly.

"You can't blame me for that. Huh, Xu Ye, you were late too. Why are you fine? Doesn't Old Wu from your class chew you out?" Lu Mingwang let out a heavy breath and returned to his seat.

Meanwhile, Xu Ye's homeroom teacher, a balding middle-aged man who taught math, looked startled and uncertain when he saw Xu Ye arrive, then hurriedly waved him inside.

The top student in the grade could always count on special treatment.

"Class, let's continue... I've gone over this probability question countless times. How are some of you still getting it wrong? You really are the worst class I've ever taught..." His homeroom teacher tapped the blackboard, drawing everyone's attention.

"You won't even take the free points this question hands you. Do you think you're being generous?"

"And you, what's your name-Wang Yong. Your scores in three subjects combined aren't even as high as my blood pressure!"

Wang Yong: "..."

"What are you staring at?! Will looking at me tell you what the formula looks like?" Old Wu fumed.

"Sir, I think we're the first class you've ever taught."

Xu Ye strolled back to his seat, touched his earpiece, and tossed out that remark along the way.

His homeroom teacher, still in the middle of his tirade, gave him a resentful look, pretended he hadn't heard, and continued the lesson.

Xu Ye scanned the room, his heart tightening slightly.

The student who had jumped off the building was Sun Tao, who sat behind Xu Ye. His body had already been taken away by the Dawn Blade, and all information had been suppressed. No one knew he was dead.

As for the witness, Qin Yingying, Xu Ye's colleagues had taken her to the school infirmary. She had just been given a sedative because she was so distraught.

"Reporting in. I'm at my seat. Everything is normal. Nothing unusual," Lu Mingwang's voice came through.

"What about Xu Ye?" Li Yunyao watched everything through the camera on his badge.

"Very abnormal," Xu Ye said, lowering his voice. "They're studying too seriously."

"???"

"Huh?"

"Explain."

Two of them voiced their confusion. Only Li Yunyao asked in a low voice.

"Hold on. Let me try an experiment."

Out of the corner of his eye, Xu Ye glanced at his deskmate, a chubby boy with a face covered in acne. His family was of modest means, but he had some intellectual difficulties. Normally, food was all he cared about, and he often sneaked snacks during class.

Yet today, the boy was chewing on the end of his pen and diligently working through problems, his eyes bloodshot.

Xu Ye tried calling to him several times and even took the chocolate candies from his desk drawer, but the boy didn't react at all.

"Sir! Sir!" Xu Ye called, raising his hand.

His homeroom teacher wiped away his sweat again, alarmed, and asked shakily, "Xu Ye, what is it? Did I get this question wrong?"

"No, Mr. Wu. I think my deskmate is being really rude. I just spoke to him, and he ignored me."

His homeroom teacher's mouth twitched.

"Xu Ye, it's rare for Wang to study so seriously. As his classmate, you shouldn't disturb him. You should encourage him. I know your grades are excellent, but the sea of learning is boundless, with no end in sight. You've only just begun."

Xu Ye blinked. "No end in sight, just like your thirty-two-year mortgage, sir?"

"..."

His homeroom teacher silently turned away.

Xu Ye smiled faintly. "Reporting in. I've found something unusual here. Our teacher is fine, but there's something wrong with my deskmate. He's studying too seriously."

"I also took a look around. Most of the students with good grades in our class are fine, but all the ones with poor grades are showing mental and behavioral abnormalities."

"Xu Ye..."

Just then, his deskmate slowly twisted his neck toward him with a series of cracks, like bones grinding against fascia. His tiny eyes gleamed with a horrifying light as he stared straight at Xu Ye, his voice dark.

"Can you be quiet and stop disturbing my studies?"

"Quiet!"

"You may not want to study, but the rest of us do!"

A girl suddenly stood up, staring eerily at Xu Ye with a smile that never reached her eyes.

Xu Ye remembered her. Her name was Zhao Qianqian, and she ranked last in their class.

Second to last in their entire grade.

Last place in the grade belonged to Lu Mingwang.

"Ahem. Seeing you all love studying so much makes me truly happy as your teacher..." His homeroom teacher's eyes brimmed with tears.

Zhao Qianqian sat down, placing both hands flat on her desk, her back straight and her gaze burning, the very picture of a model student.

"Huh? You're right. These simple-minded guys who play basketball with me every day are actually taking notes," Lu Mingwang's surprised voice came through the earpiece.

[Something invaded the school and contaminated the students, but I didn't know the specifics.]

[I didn't discover much in the classroom. After class, I went to the dean's office, where I found a lot of white stuff...]

[It gave me a fright.]

[Then I died.]

[I hadn't expected the enemy to ambush me from the ceiling.]

Xu Ye's heart writhed on its own.

He pondered for a moment, then told He Li to check the dean's office. She might find something unexpected.

The administrative office.

Classes were in session, so there were few people in the hallway.

After receiving Xu Ye's message, He Li went to the dean's office, though she was somewhat confused.

"Creeeak-"

She leaned to one side and kicked the door open.

The sight that greeted her a moment later made her jump.

The entire office was covered in white spider silk, like an insect nest, with densely packed spider eggs hanging from the ceiling.

Crack, crack, crack!

A sharp cracking sound rang out.

One spider egg split open, spilling a torrent of clear slime. Then a male student dropped to the floor.

The boy's eyes were vacant. He straightened up, swayed a few times, then walked straight out the door.

Once the boy had moved farther away, He Li tightened her grip on her twin blades behind her back and slipped in front of him. Her figure was graceful, her smile alluring. "Hey, handsome. Want to have some fun with me?"

"Fun?"

Finding someone blocking his path, the boy glared at her. "What fun? Books hold riches and beauties. I want to study."

With that, he roughly shoved He Li out of his way and hurried off.

"As long as studying doesn't kill you, study yourself to death."

"Score one point higher, take down a thousand rivals."

"???"

Watching the boy walk away, He Li suffered a devastating blow to her self-esteem.

"You little brat. No sense of fun at all."

She snorted, then quietly moved back to the office.

Knock, knock, knock!

She deliberately knocked on the door. When no one answered, she walked inside as though nothing were amiss.

The desks, chairs, floor, flowerpots, and computers throughout the office were already covered in white spider silk. There were more than a dozen spider eggs in all.

Suddenly, He Li wrinkled her nose.

She spun around.

With a whoosh.

A human head dropped from the ceiling, hanging upside down and baring its bloody mouth at her.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."