Golden Eyes

"Students, due to some unusual circumstances last night, there has been a temporary change to this week's timetable."

"I've printed out the latest timetable. If there are any further changes, I'll come to the classroom beforehand to inform you, just as I have today."

The head teacher took a timetable out of the folder she carried, slid it into the noticeboard beside the blackboard, and continued:

"Under this school's requirements for head teachers, to protect the students' experience here from the effects of certain unusual circumstances, I need to inform you in advance of the precautions for moving around campus."

"I'll only explain what follows once today, so please remember it carefully:

"1. The school is currently in its trial experience phase, so the timetable is for reference only. No teachers will actually come into the classroom to teach.

"If someone comes in claiming to be a teacher, please check whether he is wearing this kind of Name Badge identifying him as a teacher..."

The head teacher pointed at her Name Badge and continued:

"If he is wearing a Name Badge, please write down the number on it."

"If he isn't wearing a Name Badge... please ignore anything he does afterward, and above all, don't do as he asks."

"Is that clear?"

The head teacher slowly scanned the sparsely occupied classroom with a scrutinizing gaze.

After several seconds of silence, a somewhat timid voice sounded in the classroom. "T-teacher!"

In one corner of the Circular Lecture Hall, a student tentatively raised his hand, then asked quietly under the head teacher's gaze:

"Teacher, last night... what happened?"

At the student's question, Lin Yi immediately narrowed his eyes and subtly pricked up his ears.

Wei Liang, on the other hand, immediately covered his ears with both hands and nudged Lin Yi, saying first, "Lao Lin, listen for me. Tell me the parts I'm allowed to know afterward, and filter out anything that sounds wrong."

Lin Yi rolled his eyes. Faced with Wei Liang's masterful grasp of survival, he could only give him an internationally recognized friendly gesture in his mind.

At the question, however, something stirred in the head teacher's eyes, and her tone abruptly sharpened. "Please forget everything that happened last night. Don't try to understand what happened in the past, and don't speculate too much-for your own safety."

Fear of everything that had happened last night still lingered in the student's eyes, but that very fear made him want to get a clear answer even more.

Seeing this, the head teacher slowly swept her impassive gaze over the entire classroom.

She had counted the students in the class at around 21:00 last night, but now only fifteen remained.

Her reaction to this was utterly calm, as though everything had been expected.

Yet among those fifteen, aside from one fellow covering his ears who seemed to be putting her survival guide into practice, all fourteen of the others were looking at her, even though most of their faces were pale with lingering fear.

They all seemed to want an answer, too.

The head teacher narrowed her eyes and thought briefly before speaking. "If you really want to know, all I can tell you is this... due to the special circumstances of this period, our school is actually conducting a joint anti-terrorism and riot-control exercise with a special military unit."

"The so-called 'life experience' is actually an invitation for you to act as trainees and cooperate with the exercise without knowing about it."

"And yesterday was one of those exercises."

"Since classified matters are involved, the school cannot disclose much information."

"As for the missing students, they were eliminated during the exercise."

"If you're eliminated early, you won't receive the experience bonus offered by the school."

As they listened to the head teacher's explanation, the terror in many students' eyes faded somewhat. When they heard the words "experience bonus," their gazes finally flickered slightly.

People would die for money.

They had come for the thirty-thousand-yuan experience bonus in the first place.

After learning this tiny piece of classified information, they felt much more settled.

The head teacher pressed her advantage.

"If you can't follow the rules and won't listen to my warnings, don't blame me for not reminding you when you get eliminated."

"Do you understand now?" she asked, staring at that student.

"Y-yes..."

The head teacher continued, "So all the warnings I give you are procedures the school has distilled from this classified information."

"If the pass rate is too low and causes the joint exercise to fail, it will be very embarrassing for the school, too."

"So don't think about why you have to do this. You don't need to understand why the rules are written this way, much less think about any contradictions. You just need to follow the rules obediently."

"Can you understand that?"

"Yes. (We understand. Got it.)" Answers sounded one after another throughout the Circular Lecture Hall.

The head teacher nodded and continued:

"Now for the second point. 2..."

"2..." She suddenly paused, looking puzzled, as though her mind had abruptly gone blank.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and gave her head a gentle shake before continuing:

"2. There are three PE classes each week on the timetable. Everyone must attend unless it's rainy or foggy."

"Remember who doesn't attend PE, and sit farther away from them when choosing a seat."

"3. Athlete students and art students will occasionally come to class. Their timetables are different from yours. Don't talk to them too much, but you may listen to some advice from athlete students."

"Oh, and athlete students have very bad tempers. If they swear at you, don't get into a fight with them under any circumstances... you absolutely cannot beat an athlete student."

"As for art students, people involved in art are more or less abnormal, so if you hear them muttering anything, just ignore them."

"In short, when you're in the classroom, just look after yourself!"

"4. The last rule. Listen carefully!"

"Absolutely! Absolutely do not enter the wrong classroom!"

"Remember, we are Group B Class 2. Our classroom is on the first floor of Building B of the Teaching Building, between Group B Class 1 and Group B Class 3. Every time you enter the classroom, you must look up and check the door sign first. Only open the door and enter after confirming the sign is correct."

"If the sign is wrong..." The head teacher paused and clicked her tongue before continuing:

"Remember, if the sign is wrong, you must have misread it!"

"When that happens, immediately turn around with your back to the sign and tell yourself that you're a student of Group B Class 2. Then turn back and look at the sign again. If it's correct, go inside. If not, keep repeating this step until it's correct."

At this point, many students in the class looked puzzled. The head teacher gritted her teeth, trying her best to keep her tone stern:

"You find it incomprehensible again, don't you?"

"Remember what I said at the beginning. I'll emphasize this one last time!"

"Don't think about why you're doing it. Just follow every instruction!"

"Understood?" The head teacher's gaze blazed like that of a bad-tempered drill instructor gradually losing patience.

"Understood..." Responses rose here and there throughout the Circular Lecture Hall.

"Did you understand or not?!" Hearing the students' feeble answers, the head teacher raised her voice and bellowed at them.

The shout badly startled the students, who instantly sat bolt upright.

"Understood!!" Wei Liang jumped in fright and hurriedly roared his answer.

His roar actually carried an air of unrivaled, domineering authority.

"Understood!" The other students hurried to follow that commanding lead.

"If you understand, come sign in!" The head teacher slapped her folder onto the lectern with a smack, then took out a roster.

"When I call your name, come up to me to verify your name and student number! Song Rentou..."

The head teacher began calling roll.

Wei Liang shrank his neck, leaned toward Lin Yi, and whispered, "Hey, Lao Lin, understand what?"

Lin Yi gave him a speechless, blank look.

"Seriously, why were you shouting so loudly if you didn't know anything?"

Then he said, "It's a long story..."

"Well, make a long story short!" Wei Liang said without the slightest hesitation.

"..." Lin Yi's words stalled for a moment. "Let's sign in first. I'll compare it against the rules and sort it out before explaining it to you."

Wei Liang gave him a thumbs-up. "You're the man when it comes to this!"

The head teacher continued calling roll:

"Wei Liang..."

"Bai Fangshuo..."

"Lin Yi..."

When Lin Yi heard his name, he instinctively narrowed his eyes before slowly leaving his seat.

Seeing Lin Yi deep in thought, Wei Liang couldn't help asking with concern, "Lao Lin, what's wrong? Something on your mind?"

"Nothing." Lin Yi shook his head slightly.

When this head teacher entered the classroom, Lin Yi had felt that something about her seemed off, yet nothing she did afterward had been remotely suspicious.

Lin Yi had been observing her ever since, but he still hadn't found any problems.

Finally, after Wei Liang finished signing in, it was Lin Yi's turn.

First, Lin Yi once again glanced at the head teacher's Name Badge with a seemingly casual look.

Then he suddenly realized that the head teacher had called several times, yet the student named Bai Fangshuo had never appeared.

That Bai Fangshuo... was he one of the students who disappeared?

"Lin Yi, give me your student number." The head teacher's voice sounded beside his ear.

"Uh... X0230506098."

The head teacher nodded and put a check mark after his name.

Lin Yi took the opportunity to glance over and found that Wei Liang's name also had a check mark after it, while Bai Fangshuo's name... had a line drawn beneath it.

There were crosses and check marks on the head teacher's roster, followed by underlines.

What do these sign-in marks mean? He made a mental note.

After calling Lin Yi's name, the head teacher called a few more before putting the roster away and leaving the classroom.

As she turned to leave, Lin Yi noticed that her steps seemed somewhat unsteady.

Not the sort of unsteadiness caused by high heels, but the kind that came from a twisted ankle or a pulled muscle somewhere.

Lin Yi thought for a moment, then suddenly called out from behind her just as she was about to leave the classroom:

"Teacher."

The head teacher seemed to have been distracted. Lin Yi's call abruptly jolted her awake like a little pebble striking her.

Her body instinctively tensed, and then she whipped her head around.

"I've made myself perfectly clear. What else do you want?!" she demanded sharply.

Morning light cut through the doorway into the classroom. As the head teacher turned back in the light, she was nothing but a backlit silhouette.

Yet that very backward glance brought her eyes directly into contact with Lin Yi's.

They were golden eyes, like a hawk's eyes in a comic, or as though they had been cast in gold, with a hint of the uncanny amid their brilliance.

The morning light seemed to dim considerably. Only those golden eyes remained in Lin Yi's field of vision!

An intense stabbing pain immediately filled his eyes. He instinctively wanted to turn away and shut them, but he forced himself to endure it, not daring to show anything unusual. Instead, he gritted his teeth and persisted with his question. "Teacher... I wanted to ask, are there any novels on the bookshelves?"

"Novels?" The head teacher's stern expression slowly softened, and a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes. Clearly, she hadn't expected Lin Yi to ask such a question.

"I really don't know about novels... aren't there any on all those shelves?"

Lin Yi noticed that the red-gold color in the head teacher's eyes was slowly disappearing, until they finally became normal black eyes.

He hurriedly said, "Uh... maybe I didn't notice them. I'll look again."

The head teacher nodded slightly. "Novels are indeed a good choice. I'll pass your question on to the school and try to get a few novels stocked."

With that, the head teacher left the classroom, pulling the door shut behind her.

As the classroom door closed, Lin Yi stumbled backward several steps, then collapsed heavily onto a chair in the front row, bracing himself against it before slowly settling into a seated position.

"Holy crap, Lao Lin, what's wrong?" Startled, Wei Liang hurried over to steady him. "Just one all-nighter and your kidneys are already shot?"

Lin Yi closed his eyes and repeatedly pressed around his eye sockets. Even when tears streaked from the corners of his eyes, the image of the head teacher's golden hawk eyes still filled his vision.

Those eyes... don't look like anything a human should have!

No! If I really had to say, it's not as though I've never seen them before!

Those eyes...

A figure surfaced in Lin Yi's mind-that towering, iron-tower-like figure with iron chains tied around his waist!

Those eyes... were almost exactly the same as the security guard's!

What kind of eyes were those?!

After rubbing his eyes for quite some time, Lin Yi finally opened them slowly. They felt much better.

Wei Liang said with concern, "Lao Lin, Lao Lin, if your kidneys are this weak, let's stay up less over the next few days!"

Lin Yi barely listened to Wei Liang. After opening his eyes, his attention went straight to the noticeboard beside the blackboard.

With Wei Liang's support, he stood up, then propped himself upright and walked toward the noticeboard.

He wanted to look at the timetable.