Chapter 87: Surprise Hygiene Inspection
No one had expected things to turn out this way within minutes of the second hygiene inspection just ending.
The ghosts that had taken over the examinee's body had instead become a breakthrough in the examination's information, and after being caught out by Tang Xinjue's few words to find out the cause and effect and to feel out the logical loopholes within, they were now instead caught up in self-doubt.
No. 13 opened her eyes wide in confusion, guided into memories by Tang Xinjue's voice.
At the very beginning, who was it that said they could muddle through the examination rules check? It seems to be...
In a place unseen by ordinary people, black qi began to surge, seemingly searching for something.
After tens of seconds, the two ghosts dominating No. 13 and Ou Ruofei's bodies simultaneously changed their complexion, "No, how did our numbers decrease?"
The exam candidates' side looked at each other: there's still a windfall?
Immediately afterward, No. 13 and Ou Ruofei's bodies fell down softly, and Tang Xinjue's side immediately held them up, letting them lie down peacefully on the bed.
"What's the situation now?"
No. 5’s dormitory and No. 11 and 12 were all a bit not quite listening and asked the people next to them in a low voice.
Guo Guo also answered in a whisper, "Have you heard of the rural surrounded city, now the suffering migrant workers are going to unite."
Zheng Wanqing disagreed: "Isn't this splitting the enemy from within? Whether it's ghost students or ghost teachers, all of them are ghosts."
Guo Guo retorted, "Da xiaojie, this is clearly class struggle! The fake school that kills people is the root cause of all the tragedies, we need to unite all the living forces!"
Zheng Wanqing: "And then start a civil war."
Guo Guo: "... "
The two of them quibbled over words, and by this time, No. 13's side had already opened her eyes and woke up. Her cackling eyeballs covered in blood, and she met Tang Xinjue's calm face.
Tang Xinjue: "My condolences."
No. 13 instantly became agitated, but realized that her hands had been tied to the bed at some point, unable to grab Tang Xinjue, and could only viciously say, "Did you guys already know something? Have you already negotiated with those things at the school and are in league with them?"
Ghosts and spirits were very prone to losing their minds, they were paranoid and irritable, and when they were angry, they tended to give up thinking and act with aggressive instincts.
Tang Xinjue had anticipated this, and she directly threw down a Frozen Three Feet talisman, freezing the entire range of the bed and leaving No. 13 unable to move within it.
"This might calm you down a bit."
No. 13: ...She was calm! She was the calmest of all her classmates!
She was just, just a little overwhelmed for a moment...
Through No. 13's gnashing of teeth, the crowd realized the reason why they had just gone berserk.
It turns out that when they remembered the "classmate" who had made the suggestion and succeeded in convincing them, when they tried to look for her, they realized that the other party was nowhere to be found.
It was not only the ghost that had disappeared, but also nearly a dozen of their classmates. In the past, because of the large number of people and the lack of purposeful activities, they did not carefully count the number of people.
It wasn't until this moment when they couldn't be summoned no matter how they were summoned that they realized something was wrong.
"There's no way they ran away on their own, they're usually very quiet."
No. 13 gritted her teeth and hatefully said, "They must have been abducted!"
Being quiet meant that they had lost their sanity and were muddled all day long, so even if they were abducted, they couldn't ask for help.
The ghost in Ou Ruofei's body also opened her eyes, wanting to speak, "I just asked around, Xiaorui said that she remembered that the ghost who gave us suggestions used to seem to be working in the student union and had frequent contact with the Academic Affairs Office, so ... "
No. 13 asked incredulously, "Such important news, why didn't you say it before?"
Ou Ruofei felt aggravated, "After staying in the darkness for a long time, I'm not used to using my head, and it's normal for it to degrade."
This time, they collectively awakened and became active, or because the dungeon opened with fresh living people coming in.
No. 13 was speechless, and with her shoulders slumped, she said in a dejected manner, "If that one is really a mole, the disappeared students were most likely intentionally abducted to the Academic Affairs Office."
The Academic Affairs Office couldn't defeat the resentful and large number of students, but if the student fell alone, they had an opportunity to take advantage of it.
"Ou Ruofei" was anxious: "Then won't they be in danger? The Academic Affairs Office is so perverted! We have to hurry and get them back!"
"Those people from the Academic Affairs Office are more capable of hiding than a thousand year old turtle*, and we're stuck here and can't get out, so how can we find them?"
*From the proverb ‘one thousand tortoise ten thousand turtles’. In Chinese culture, turtles have always been regarded as a symbol of longevity. With this proverb, it is used to illustrate longevity and illustrating a long time.
"But..."
"We can help you find them."
Tang Xinjue's voice suddenly inserted, interrupting the ghosts' conversation.
She pointed to herself and then to the heavily armed candidates beside her, and spoke in a clear voice, "You said that if all of you occupy our bodies, you can take revenge on the Academic Affairs Office. It means that we belong to the variables of this dungeon, and are less restricted and move more freely than you."
No. 13 froze, "You mean..."
She looked odd and suspicious, not quite believing the promises of the human candidates.
After all, when the group of people from the school in their lifetime painting pie*, one was more eloquent than the other, only to find out that they were all lies in the end.
*A painted pie, or pie in the sky. It is a metaphor for people and things that are just famous but not useful. In this context, it means empty promises.
Tang Xinjue smiled, "Ever wonder what would have happened if you hadn't realized there was something wrong with the plan?"
"Two possibilities. First, you guys managed to replace us all within three days, and then waited with joy to leave the dungeon, only to find out that you couldn't leave at all, and the best possibility is that you'd be trapped here forever, or worse, you'd go up in smoke under the punishment of the exam rules.
"Second, you do not succeed in replacing us within three days. After three days, the hygiene inspection ended, we completely lost our chance to pass, and quickly weakened and died. You guys also remained trapped here, getting more and more muddled as time went on, and one day, even forgetting about the matter of revenge."
Listening to Tang Xinjue's words, it was clear that they were no longer human, but the ghosts still got goosebumps.
All of the hypothetical endings pointed to one ultimate profiteer: the black-hearted school administration hidden in the shadows.
The school administration didn't even need to do anything, they only needed to intentionally not pass the examination of the candidates to hold them here, so they could sit back and wait for the candidates and the student ghosts to kill each other, and then sit back and enjoy the benefits!
The ghosts spat out an angry voice from their throats, "The rules favor them!"
"No, the rules are fair, so here we are."
Tang Xinjue looked the ghost straight in the eye, "We didn't have to be opposites in the first place—did the exam rules tell you to kill us? Did the exam rules tell us to confront you?"
"—No. We received only one clear instruction from start to finish, and that was the hygiene inspection. And the only thing standing in the way of a hygiene inspection is the school administration."
No. 13 opened her mouth, but she didn't know how to retort.
They had indeed taken the initiative to lock onto the target, and again took the initiative to attack... without knowing anything.
Tang Xinjue put away the toilet plunger, a raging undercurrent hidden in her calm gaze.
"On the contrary, if you are willing to help us, we can break the dungeon shackles and find the hiding place of our common enemy. There will be grudges to be avenged and revenge to be taken, and until then, perhaps it will be the time for you to truly be relieved."
"The reason this dungeon exists is based on the fact that the school administration and you guys balance each other out. If there were no more Academic Affairs, would it remain in its current state? Would a crippled dungeon still be able to trap you all?"
The inherent logic was dismantled one by one in reverse, and the answer that finally came out actually put the ghosts in a bit of a trance.
It turned out that the freedom they wanted was never that complicated?
It was even... right in front of their eyes!
No. 13 spoke in an astringent voice: "We need to discuss this."
Tang Xinjue: "I hope it won't take too long."
Five minutes later, both sides successfully reached a verbal agreement.
Once they figured it out, the student ghosts' attitudes were almost impatient. They did want to personally tear the school administration apart all the time, and now that they finally had hope, coupled with the new hatred of being taken advantage of, how could they not be agitated?
In order to show their sincerity towards this temporary united front, the ghosts side even directly withdrew their control over Ou Ruofei and girl No. 15, only that the two were still in a comatose state and would not be able to wake up for a while.
As the representative of the ghost side, the ghost monster occupying No. 13's body changed her previous sorrowful attitude and became polite in her speech. When asked for her name, she squirmed a bit:
"I only remember my surname Jiang, I don't remember my exact name, so generally my classmates call me Jiang Bingshang, and sometimes Jiang Canlei."
*Bing Shang literally means Ice Sorrow; Can Lei literally means Residual Tears (very melancholic names lol)
Crowd: "..."
Guo Guo said quietly, "I now kind of know how names like Shang Yinghong came about."
*Shang Ying Hong, literally Mourning Cherry Red
How was it that the ghosts in this game were all obsessed with Mary Sue names?
"Okay, Classmate Jiang." Tang Xinjue nodded her head and turned back to the topic, "I've looked at all the ranges of action you've given, and they're also limited to the space belonging to the ghosts with this corridor we're in."
"So the school administration's hiding place must have never been visited by you guys, and also us."
Everyone was silent for two seconds and said in unison, "919 and 921!"
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