Chapter 100: Surprise Hygiene Inspection
Zhang You was startled, “What you mean is ...”
If the red thread didn't appear after everyone had turned into ghosts within the game, then could it have been before that-
Tang Xinjue: “Would a fake university that is only for a money scam get all of its students to die in the school, never change the address of the school, and still enroll new students one by one unaffected?”
Even if they defrauded more students, how much money could tuition add up to? The money defrauded from one student would have to bear the series of exposures and criminal dangers that would ensue after imprisoning and killing them - and if one really had this kind of omnipotent ability, there would be no need to mess around with a phony university to make money at all.
Zhang You's frown grew tighter and tighter, finally bordering on horror, “The dungeon gave us incomplete background information!”
“Most of the information we initially saw came from a student's perspective, so it's naturally incomplete, and once we form a mindset, it's easy to overlook the violations within.”
Tang Xinjue sneered, “The game descended, why was it this school that was chosen to become a dungeon? What does it have in common with those dungeons we've seen before?”
Zhang You fell into thought, and the moment the few people in Jiang tongxue's group finished their share of the red threads, her eyes lit up, “Before it became a dungeon, this dormitory building already had the presence of ghosts!”
They had been so busy fighting the traps laid by the Academic Affairs Office that they rarely had time to think about the full picture of this dungeon, and had even overlooked one point: the ghosts, such as Jiang tongxue, didn't appear after the black fog engulfed the dormitory building and the dungeon's formation.
From the memory of the original 9th floor freshmen, both 919 and 921 two dormitories they mistook for living “walking dead”, or the 8th floor's night cry of the ghosts prove that the ghosts have long existed... and the school administration should also be aware of this, shouldn't they?
Zhang You felt that she had grasped a certain vein, and as she ran down the line of thought, she realized a hypothesis she had never thought of before: what if the purpose of the school was not at all, or more than just scamming money, but from the very beginning was to torture the students to death?
She used to be a staunch materialist, but who's to say that the administration of this school must be as well?
Not only was it possible that they were fully aware of everything, but perhaps even that the sect's ultimate goal was to catalyze the existence of the ghosts!
That corpse and the red thread… Zhang You had a jolt, not letting her mind continue to scatter, so as not disturb her own mentality. She took a deep breath and said, “The Death Record of Class 3-1, the Headless Strange Tales, and this dungeon, aren't they similar?”
Li Xiaoyu from the third year class, Wei Xian's master from Headless Strange Tales, and the school in this dungeon.
If the first two dungeons could be said to be mere coincidences, then this dungeon almost showed them the process and core of the advent of the game, and even the formation of the dungeon. If she couldn't come up with anything else with even Tang Xinjue's cues, she'd have gone through so many exams in vain.
Receiving Tang Xinjue's affirmative answer, Zhang You also confirmed her guess: “...It's evil magic.”
If their guess was correct, then the origin and identity of the Academic Affairs Office was highly debatable, at least they were by no means mere school operators, but instead more like a sect that was proficient in evil arts!
Similar to what happened to Jin Wen in the Headless Tales, the students of this “school” were forced to become victims of some kind of sacrifice or plan, and the entire dormitory building was even turned into a breeding ground for parasites, only that the school authorities did not expect that the game would descend on them.
Where the black fog spreads and engulfs, reality is pulled into the playground. Living people become ghosts, ghosts awaken from the ground. Those in charge became rats in the gutter who flee, while the weak who were exploited and brutalized now had a higher power.
“That's why the Academic Affairs Office only utilized the red threads and their original abilities to urgently set up a formation that could restrict the students' ghosts, suppressing the red threads under the ground and similarly suppressing the wronged souls here." Tang Xinjue gently hooked up the corner of her mouth, “Isn't this operation a bit familiar?
“Isn't it very much like those metaphysical or horror stories Guo Guo used to like to read, where one did something wrong and was afraid of being retaliated against by a stern spirit, and thus had to make the first move and use side tactic to gain strength?”
Hearing her name, Guo Guo immediately came over and carefully asked, “What's wrong with me? What are you guys discussing?”
She drilled her head over to look at the duo curiously, but saw Zhang You sigh with a serious face, “We're praising you for your foresight.”
Guo Guo: “...” I'll be damned if I believe you guys!
She only thought that the two people were fooling her perfunctorily. She skimmed her mouth and turned her head to look at the door over there, only to see Jiang tongxue and the others swallowed the red threads but stayed in place, neither immediately began to act nor other performance, but hung their heads. Their expression couldn’t be seen, and they did not know what happened to them.
...This is?
Someone wanted to go over to check the situation, but was stopped by Tang Xinjue.
Tang Xinjue shook her head, “Wait a little longer.”
After about three whole minutes or so, Jiang tongxue and the other two girls slowly raised their heads, yet at this time, their eyes were covered in blood, red and exceptionally creepy.
“I remember.”
Jiang tongxue's voice was hoarse as she spoke, a rare emotion that didn't have too many ups and downs, but one could feel the calm before the storm.
Tang Xinjue: “Remembered all?”
Jiang tongxue pulled up the corner of her mouth, “Part of it. The power and memories in our souls are sealed together, the more we eat the more we recover. If I want to recover all of it, I'm afraid I'll have to eat myself until I explode.”
A stream of chilly air drifted back and forth over her head as if to comfort her.
“It's okay, I'm sensible now and won't do anything to hurt myself.” Jiang tongxue revealed a mouthful of white teeth, “Thanks to your reminders, I was mentally prepared. If I let myself discover the red thread and eat it, I might have been so dimmed by the shock of anger in my memories that I would rather blow myself up than gain full power to seek revenge on the faculty... But now, I don't want to do that.”
She opened her hands and her gaze fell into the air, “Besides me, there are many, many girls here, some died earlier than me, some died later, none of them have ever left this place, and some of them don't even think anymore, forgetting why they exist.”
“They need strength, and they need to leave this cage… The red threads can't give it to them, but I can.”
After saying that, Jiang tongxue revealed a bright smile and looked at the figures that were invisible to ordinary people, “From now on, you can use my power as much as you want, my ability is your ability, and my freedom is your freedom. Get out of here and go get your revenge!”
Some kind of unseen power poured out from her fingertips, and her eyes quickly weakened and dimmed, at the same time, the gloomy air currents already present in the room became more and more pronounced, and the loud, gloomy winds blew even more harshly than before, and it was as if semi-transparent figures appeared vaguely in the air.
The two girls attached to No. 5 and No. 6 also looked at each other and wordlessly took Jiang tongxue's hand.
They were the earliest group to awaken amongst the many ghosts, and were also the most powerful, always guiding the leader of the group's actions. But they were clear that these less intelligent looking souls were not really demented or clumsy. It was the fact that these companions had channeled their power to them in the first place and stayed in the dark corners themselves that had allowed them to persevere until now. Without all the girls' ghosts gathering and influencing each other, none of them would have awakened, much less have the hope they have today.
The girls could not kill their enemies with their own hands, but all of their companions must have freedom and the possibility of revenge, none less!
As the two girls joined in, more and more power was transformed and released by the red threads, and one by one, the vapors bustling in the air turned into solid forms that could be seen.
Some of them remained dead, some looked around in a daze, some wanted to jump over and stop Jiang tongxue’s group of three, and some embraced each other, laughing or crying silently.
When the last of the shadows had finished transforming as well, No. 10's body fell to the ground as if it had lost its pillar, as did No. 5 and No. 6 - the crowd rushed forward to support the three bodies before realizing that the ghosts attached to their bodies had disappeared.
No. 5 choked and opened her eyes, asking weakly and puzzled, “What's, what's going on?”
They had also received a portion of the power gifted by these ghosts, and their lives that had come to an end were extended by a small amount once again.
Guo Guo, who witnessed the entire process, opened her eyes wide, but no matter how much she mobilized his yin and yang eyes, she couldn't see the shadows of the original three ghosts, “Could it be that Jiang tongxue and the girls...”
Did they just disappear like that?
Tang Xinjue tilted her head, feeling around with the spiritual power to sense the surrounding environment. She obviously did not see a figure in, but seemed to hear a girl's voice:
[Don't worry, we've just turned into our weakest state, just the time to be lazy. This place is going to become very dangerous soon, you guys should leave quickly!]
The voice drifted away like the wind, and the group of girl ghosts who had just gained the power of the actual shadow and the red thread had already arrived at the exit and taken the first step.
They successfully stepped out.
In the next instant, all of these figures flew into the corridor with shrill whistles, and the entire corridor began to gently tremble, and even the space hummed and vibrated. Tang Xinjue immediately turned her head to pull her roommates, who also looked for each other at the same time, and they followed the ghosts out of the girls dormitory to re-enter the corridor. The others also reacted extremely quickly and swarmed out.
Jiang Lan and Keke supported A'Nian. No. 5’s group of three helped each other, No. 11 and No. 12 pulled the newly awakened No. 13 and No. 15, while No. 7 quickly ran in and dragged up Ou Ruofei… When the last person also stepped out of the girls dormitory, the wall with a cracked huge hole emitted a huge sound and collapsed with a loud bang!
The shattered cement and structure blocked the junction of the two spaces tightly. Without having to look at it, one could guess that the dormitory inside most likely had already collapsed into a piece of rubble, and the girls dormitory's fate was the same as that of the boys dormitory.
“Let's go quickly! The corridor is collapsing too!”
The person in front turned her head to warn the back, her voice breaking in the whistling air currents.
Somehow, as the ghosts of the girls surged out and acted, the originally solidified air almost turned into a sharp knife-like astral wind, blocking the people from moving forward. Each step seemed to be walking on a cliff face, resisting the air currents to speak with difficulty.
“Ahem, I can't see the way, it's so dusty!” No.5 covered her mouth. They were extremely weak and quickly fell to the end of the group in this environment.
Just as the three of them were struggling to move, a strong thrust suddenly appeared behind No. 5. She turned around in surprise and saw No. 7 who had retreated back with Ou Ruofei at some point.
No. 7 gave a brief nod, her voice as cold as ever: “Hurry up.”
Although the girl wasn’t good at talking, No. 5 has already seen that she was as knife-like as Keke. If not for the fact that she did not have the strength to make extra movements now, she would have jumped up and kissed her gratefully right now. But even so, she also excitedly said, “Thank you! If in the future, ahem, can pass this level, I will definitely treat you to a meal when we meet again. White Rabbit and Golden Monkey candies* are guaranteed...”
*you know, the very famous milk candy with white wrappings. That was a childhood memory for sure
No. 7 hands harder: “You first have to clear this level safely before we talk about it! I never want to… again.”
No.5 didn't hear: “Never want what again?”
No.7 didn't answer, pushed the three people with one hand, grabbed Ou Ruofei with the other, and said in a voice that was barely audible:
“...never want to lose my companions again.”
Tang Xinjue’s group walked at the front.
The crazy air currents in the corridor looked like the final counterattack of the faculty hiding in the shadows, the wind was occasionally mixed with sharp objects that could cause injuries, most of which were blocked by Tang Xinjue's hammer and Zhang You's dictionary. Zheng Wanqing also wanted to use her fists to fight the wind head on with the wind in a fervor of passion, but she looked behind her and chose to use it to protect Guo Guo, who looked like she could be blown away at any time.
Guo Guo covered her wrist wound and hugged Zheng Wanqing's arm to desperately move forward for fear of dragging the team backward. She buried her head in her hands for a long time when she heard Zheng Wanqing reminding, “Raise your head up a bit.”
Guo Guo frantically shook her head, “I'm not lifting it up!”
She might still be able to be slightly more bold without looking at the road in front of her, but if she saw something scary, her physiological legs would be even more weak and she wouldn't be able to walk!
Zheng Wanqing was silent for a moment, “Are you really not raising you head?”
“No! Unless not raising it will result in my death!”
“Well it’s not death… okay then.”
After an unknown amount of time again, Guo Guo felt that the air currents around her seemed to be smaller, the shrill howls in the air currents were no longer so scary, and her roommate's pace slowed down, as if she had seen something.
Only then did she cautiously raise her head, and before she could see the scene in front of her, she felt that the top of her head was a little cold.
No, it was a little too cool.
Guo Guo bewilderedly raised her hand and touched her head. She didn't touch the familiar hair, but felt a bit cool and smooth.
Guo Guo: “????”
She was bald from the wind?
Facing Guo Guo's crumbling gaze, Zheng Wanqing shrugged, “It’s not as bad as death, it's just that you’d go bald.”
“...”
Tang Xinjue at the forefront suddenly stopped, interrupting the thoughts of the crowd at the back.
The streaks of dust in the air gradually dispersed, revealing the scene ahead.
At the end of the corridor in front of them, there was an additional door.
A red-painted, tightly locked iron door.
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Oh gosh we are finally on the 100th chapter! It's been... I don't know, two and a half years? And we are still only one third of the way... hahaha...
It's been a while since I last read the ending. I thought this arc was close to the end, but nope, I think we still have a lot more adventure ahead.
Well, I guess... strap in and enjoy the ride!
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