Chapter 157: College Entrance Examination
A sound louder than an air raid siren echoed through the air. Xiaohong’s movements gradually faded, as if she had hurried further into the interior of the teaching building.
Obviously, she had gone to stop Tang Xinjue from setting the fire.
Just as Tang Xinjue had predicted, a large number of NPC monsters had indeed gathered at the entrance of the teaching building, lying in wait. Now all of them were drawn back inside, leaving the stretch of road from the building to the school gate temporarily empty.
“Stay back.”
Tang Xinjue suddenly spoke. Guo Guo quickly retreated. The next second, the glass window trembled violently, then exploded with a bang. A girl’s figure flipped lightly out from inside and landed on the ground.
She didn’t pause after landing. “Run!”
Setting the fire could only distract the monsters for a short while. Once they realized their nest was being burned, they would chase even more frantically.
The chance they had to seize was this brief instant of opening—to run out of the school gate!
The two bolted forward. Behind them soon rose sky-piercing howls, scorching waves of heat, and a tremor like a collapsing nest as swarms poured out.
Feeling the burning heat at her back, Guo Guo still couldn’t quite believe it. “Where did the fire come from?”
How had she not noticed at all before?
Tang Xinjue replied, “The NPCs’ blood can be used as fuel. I discovered it during a fight earlier. The lighter was taken off an invigilator.”
As she ran, she brushed glass shards off her clothes and casually shook out her pockets. Various items clattered onto the ground.
Guo Guo: …Exactly how many exam halls have you looted?
The exchange of words and thoughts lasted only a blink. The school gate was already close at hand. Guo Guo looked up and saw countless “parents” waiting outside. Their faces were expressionless, their gazes cold and fixed on the two approaching figures.
In theory, she knew these NPCs couldn’t touch them—once a candidate stepped out of the gate, they would be immediately teleported. But looking at the narrowing distance, Guo Guo still felt a chill spread through her chest.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Tang Xinjue even nodded politely toward them. Then she grabbed Guo Guo and, amid blazing firelight and the surging crowd of examinees behind them, leapt forward:
“The college entrance exam is over. Happy graduation!”
“Welcome to the College Entrance Examination. Candidates, please undergo inspection and enter the examination hall according to your admission ticket. Do not violate examination rules…”
The calm mechanical female voice looped steadily over the broadcast.
On the first-floor hall surrounded by the announcement, four women of different builds stood facing one another. The atmosphere was heavy and strange.
The woman on the far left, with blue highlights in her hair, spoke first. Every muscle on her face trembled with anger. “I’m furious. You have no idea what that poker-faced glasses-wearing girl did in my exam hall. I’m going to kill—”
Before she could finish, the square-faced woman beside her cut in calmly, “I was baited and my identity was exposed.”
The other three turned their attention to her. “And then?”
“And then that steel-fisted maniac beat me to death.”
The three: “…”
The round-faced woman in the middle, slightly plump, fell silent for two seconds. “It’s only the second cycle and you got solo-killed?”
The square-faced woman gritted her teeth. “I’d like to know why too. So later, that person is mine. I’ll take revenge personally.”
“Exactly!” The blue-highlighted woman burst out again, practically jumping in rage. “I ran into her too. You have no idea what she did in my exam hall—”
Liuli Zi’s expression finally eased a little. “Lanlan, I know she was teleported to your hall. Did you kill her?”
Bing Lanlan said, “Oh. No. I ran.”
The three: “…”
“Are you brain-dead?” Bing Lanlan said coolly when she wasn’t being explosive. “You got beaten to death facing one person. I had to face two. If I didn’t run, was I supposed to die with you?”
“Enough.” The female teacher who had been wearing a fake smile the whole time waved her hand gently. “What’s past is past. The exam is about to begin. They’re coming.”
The four fell silent. After a few seconds, Bing Lanlan suddenly reacted. “Don’t tell me you also—”
Lina Lü said softly, “Say one more word and I’ll let you get crushed by a wall again.”
Silence fell again.
A few seconds later, the three turned simultaneously toward the round-faced woman who hadn’t said much.
“Xiaohong, why aren’t you talking?”
Xiaohong said weakly, “I’m thinking about how to burn the three of you idiots to death when we get back.”
“What did I say back then? Don’t get close to that pervert dorm or you’ll be unlucky. Who said you could definitely help me get revenge?”
“Who didn’t believe what I said? Who told me that four against four, 1v1, we could absolutely crush them?”
After a long silence, Bing Lanlan said faintly, “Wasn’t the timid short-haired one your own pick? You said the two of you bonded over being bald.”
Xiaohong collapsed. “Then you should’ve at least held off the others! In the end they all freaking ran to me to throw a party! Especially that Tang—”
Her voice stopped abruptly. The four invigilators fell silent at the same time and turned toward the school gate.
The broadcast still looped unchanged, but they could “hear” a shift.
The sound of candidates entering.
In an instant, all mutations surfaced on their bodies. Human skin melted and sloughed off inch by inch, revealing charred bones and organs. Shadows seeped from the ground, turning into black pus that drilled swiftly into their feet.
Two eyeballs slid out of Lina Lü’s sockets, stretching like tentacles toward the outside. Bing Lanlan grabbed her hair and lunged forward. When she hit the ground, only her clothes remained; a long black shadow spread across the floor.
The shadow tilted its head. “Sisters, I’m squishy, so I’ll go first. I’ll support you from below.”
Xiaohong snapped, “Hide my ass. That Tang freak has mental abilities. She can find you with her eyes closed.”
Bing Lanlan: “Unbelievable. Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
The shadow gathered again, slipping back into the clothes. But before her limbs fully formed, she looked up and noticed an empty space beside her.
Where was Xiaohong?
Every reflective surface in the hall simultaneously displayed a shadow. Xiaohong’s figure appeared within them, shamelessly saying, “I’m checking the sightlines. I’ll support if there’s trouble.”
Bing Lanlan: “???”
Before she could even climb up, the light at the entrance dimmed sharply. Four figures stepped in.
The tall ponytailed girl in front looked unfamiliar—neither the violent girl who came up swinging nor the irritating poker-faced glasses girl.
On the contrary, she looked thin and harmless, her temperament gentle and approachable. Pale skin, faint dark circles under her eyes, the smile beneath them more sincere than Lina Lü’s.
At first glance, none of the names in her head matched.
Then in the next second, the girl smiled brightly and nodded at her. “So polite on our first meeting? If you’re going to kowtow, at least do a full prostration. More courteous than Xiaohong.”
Bing Lanlan: “…”
Confirmed. This was Tang Xinjue!
With a crack, she forced her jaw open to twice the size of her head. A furious scream gathered in her abyss-like throat—when a whirlwind suddenly swept past her, ghostly energy surging straight at Tang Xinjue’s face—
Lina Lü cut straight to the point, killing intent thick:
“Die!”
Many times, ghosts preferred tormenting people to killing them outright, savoring the sight of their mental collapse before delivering the final blow.
But this time, facing the four from 606, the ghosts abandoned all flashy methods and focused solely on ending it quickly.
—If they dragged it out, they feared they would be the ones to mentally collapse first.
Tang Xinjue and the others showed no fear. With the exam refresh restoring their states to full and their abilities recovering and leveling up again, they now had the confidence to confront them head-on.
Most importantly, from the start of the new cycle, the moment the four saw each other at the same school gate, they already understood the dungeon’s hint.
They had already won.
Weapons clashed in the hall and separated in an instant. Tang Xinjue used her mental power to briefly restrain Lina Lü’s limbs. Zheng Wanqing smashed Liuli Zi away with a punch. Zhang You precisely slapped Bing Lanlan—who was attempting a sneak attack—with her ledger.
The stalemate lasted only a moment before Guo Guo’s startled cry broke it—just as Xiaohong grabbed her legs from underground, the three ghosts, Lü, Lan, and Zi, shifted direction simultaneously and lunged at her!
Surrounded on all sides, Guo Guo: …So all of you acting so tough just means you like bullying the weakest one?
Four attacks overlapped and crashed down on her. The shield she had only just restored shattered almost instantly. Fortunately, a burst of white light flared within it. Clutching her pendant, Guo Guo unleashed her ultimate:
“Be purified!”
You think a support has no abilities?
While the ghosts were temporarily restrained by forced purification, the four didn’t hesitate—they split up and ran. Tang Xinjue headed to the third floor. Zhang You and Zheng Wanqing rushed to the fourth. Guo Guo sprinted up to the fifth, the four ghosts chasing close behind.
Xiaohong moved fastest through the walls. Just as she was about to grab Guo Guo, she suddenly heard a thud by her ear. A familiar, powerful suction force surged from outside the wall, locking onto her and even beginning to drag her outward.
This was bad.
Xiaohong’s heart sank. Struggling violently, she glanced out—and saw the exact same rubber head from her memory.
A plunger.
How did the dungeon even judge this? Why release such a weapon in the third round?
Where was the justice? Where was the humanity?
She wanted to call for help, but her companions had already chased the other three from 606 and vanished. Alone, she was powerless. With tears in her eyes, she was sucked out by the plunger and dragged all the way into an exam hall.
It’s fine. A vengeful ghost can wait ten years. Once the exam starts, she could use her identity as an invigilator—
“Ding-dong—”
“Candidate admission ticket has passed review. Identity loaded. Exam begins!”
The notification sounded slightly strange. Xiaohong vaguely thought she hadn’t heard it in previous rounds… huh?
Her eyes flew open wide. She frantically touched her face, shocked by the drastic changes in her body. “What happened—what’s going on??”
She had somehow broken free of the plunger’s restraint and sat on the floor for two seconds before belatedly discovering a folded paper tucked into her sleeve.
She opened it. Large, square characters leapt into view:
[Higher Education Entrance Examination Admission Ticket]
[Special approval stamped by the Academic Affairs Office]
[Name: Shang Yinghong]
Tang Xinjue’s gentle voice descended from above her head. “Congratulations. From now on, you won’t be eaten by the plunger, because it doesn’t eat ordinary candidates.”
“Classmates, welcome to the college entrance exam.”
…
Xiaohong’s vision went black.
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