A cramped storage room was piled with mops and brooms. Two players huddled in a corner. They had hidden there after escaping the hot pot restaurant; the occasional footsteps outside would send shivers down their spines, their nerves on edge.
Only when the footsteps faded into the distance did the two slowly loosen their clenched fists and collapse onto the floor like rag dolls.
“If we can just hold on, we can go back alive.” The man with the pointed chin and monkey-like face nervously bit his fingers, his body trembling uncontrollably, his voice becoming indistinct. “They’re all monsters…die…die!”
“Brother Lu…” His companion, a thin, short man with pockmarked skin, spoke timidly, “Could you…can you keep your voice down? You’ll attract the monsters.”
“What did you say?”
Brother Lu’s face suddenly turned terrifying. He glared at the man, as if he wanted to tear a piece of flesh from him in the next second. “You dare order me around? Hahahaha…who do you think you are?!”
Brother Lu’s expression twisted, not a trace of a smile in his eyes, but revealing his yellow teeth. He suddenly stood up, grabbed the man’s hair, and kicked him in the stomach. “Order me…no one can order me around…die, die!!”
He frantically kicked the man under his feet, venting his anger, before shrinking back into the corner.
The man curled up in pain, his listless eyes staring at the swaying branches of trees outside the window. The sky was dark, and a giant dragon soared through the air, its deep, majestic roar echoing in his ears.
"Chirp chirp chirp..."
A tiny sparrow, no bigger than a palm, flew to the windowsill. It shook its fluffy body and preened its feathers.
The man stared blankly at the little creature, his fingertips twitching slightly.
"Chirp!" The sparrow suddenly raised its head, its light gray eyes fixed on the man. Man and bird stared at each other in silence.
The man's rapid breathing gradually calmed. He released his hand from his stomach, lowered his eyes, got up from the floor, and walked to Lu Ge's side.
Shadows fell over Lu Ge. He glanced at him disdainfully. "Get out of the way, you're blocking my sunlight. You think I won't…"
The man smiled. His cowardly image was deeply ingrained in Lu Ge's mind, so when he raised his hand, Lu Ge was still wondering what he wanted to do.
"Slap!"
The loud slap echoed through the storage room. Lu Ge lay on the floor, spitting out a bloodied tooth, his eyes wide with rage. He'd been slapped… slapped by a bastard?!
Lu Ge trembled with rage, "I'll kill you!"
He pulled out a chainsaw from his system space, but the man grabbed his neck first. The intense suffocation made Lu Ge's eyes roll back, and the chainsaw fell to the ground.
A girl's voice came from the man's mouth, "I remember you. You insulted our Ding Yang at the hot pot restaurant."
Lu Ge looked at the man in horror, "You're not... not..."
Mingcai didn't want to argue with this player anymore. She casually snapped his neck. Lu Ge fell to the ground, dead with his eyes wide open. Soon, the "man" also picked up a knife, a smile on his face, and slit his own throat.
Blood flowed out from the storage room. A student from Class 1, Grade 2, who was passing by, opened the storage room and instantly exploded with rage, "Damn it, how did he die in our sanitation area?!"
[...Died so quickly? So what happened?]
[Able to control other people's bodies at will, this... isn't this the skill of the boss in the super S-level dungeon "Memory"?!]
[No way, are all the students in this school the kids of those super S-class bosses?!]
[They're not going to call their parents over in the end, are they...?]
[Based on the current situation, they're unlikely to, because these little bosses can easily take care of everyone; their parents won't even need to show up.]
[…]
In the conference room, teachers sat around a round table. Shen Mingsu once again took out his miniature space, projecting the campus scene into it, displaying real-time events happening throughout the campus, allowing the teachers to see the students' and players' every move even while seated.
Yan Chi saw a harmless-looking sparrow fly towards the players' hiding place. The players had no suspicion of this ubiquitous bird, and Mingcai easily memorized all their hiding spots.
“These two players didn't participate in the gathering at the hot pot restaurant.” Yan Chi pointed to two bewildered players who had emerged from the teaching building to see the giant dragon. The two, unaware of what had happened, pointed at Feng Wang in the sky and exclaimed in surprise. Shen Mingsu leaned on his shoulder: "So what do you want to do?"
"Let's mark the players," Yan Chi said thoughtfully. "For players who haven't harmed the original world's inhabitants, give them a green checkmark; for those who have taken their lives, give them a red cross. What do you think?"
Furthermore, the S-rank players have already confirmed that Liu Tiancheng is no good, and Xin Xia and Rong Tiancheng don't need to be bothered with.
Yan Chi's ability is just enough to control the remaining A-rank and below players.
Shen Mingsu definitely didn't want him to use his ability, but right now, he was the only one who could easily distinguish between good and bad players.
Shen Mingsu pinched his cheek. "Didn't you already decide? Then do it."
The small mole at the corner of Yan Chi's eye slightly curled up, and the next second, symbols appeared on the foreheads of all the players in the school.
Two players with different hair colors, still watching the red dragon on the playground, stared at the dragon with their mouths slightly open.
Red-haired player: "Wow, so cool! Is there some kind of event this afternoon? This is even more exciting than the opening ceremony!"
Yellow-haired player: "Oh my god, it's a dragon! I saw a dragon!"
"Huh? Why is there a green checkmark on your head?"
"You have one too."
The two pointed at each other, then simultaneously reached out to touch the checkmarks on their heads, but touched nothing.
"What does this mean..." The red-haired player rubbed his chin, pondering, "Could it be...could it be the system reminding me that I've been cheated on?!"
Yan Chi, hearing this: "..."
"You wish! You don't even have a girlfriend." The yellow-haired player mocked him mercilessly, "Cheated on? Something like that is too good for you."
The red-haired player was furious. He stubbornly refused to look at the yellow-haired player, when suddenly his red hair was blown into a mess by the wind. Looking up, he saw a giant dragon swooping down, the wind from its flapping wings whipping the leaves on the trees.
The ancient tree stretched out its branches, sheltering the swaying flowers within its protective circle.
The dragon drew ever closer, its radiant heat threatening to incinerate everything around it. Red Hair and Yellow Hair held their breath; it was too close… They could clearly see the hard scales of the red dragon, the flames in its breath…
Were they going to die?
The boy sitting on the dragon's back leaned down and spoke something to it. The dragon glanced at them with its red, vertical pupils, then flicked its tail, sending Red Hair and Yellow Hair flying, left to hang from a tree branch.
Red Hair checked himself and exclaimed in surprise, "I'm still alive!"
Yellow Hair: "It doesn't hurt!"
They turned to look. The long tail that had just lashed them had struck the school building, splitting it in two. Liu Tiancheng's figure flashed across the rooftop.
"Roar—"
Dragon flames engulfed the entire school building. Seconds later, the entire building collapsed into ashes.
The students who had already escaped the school building watched this scene unfold. "The principal will build us another school building, right?"
The principal, cold and ruthless, ordered the director, "Write down all the school's losses. Go back and tell Feng Wang's father to come and compensate us. No money, no child."
"Understood."
The headmaster had already taken out his notebook and begun tallying the damaged buildings throughout the school.
Yan Chi saw Liu Tiancheng try to escape again using an advanced teleportation device. A sparrow flew straight into his face—it was Mingcai's little sparrow. Look at its eyes…
Liu Tiancheng grabbed the sparrow and, almost unconsciously, looked down into its eyes.
Yan Chi cheered inwardly. This time, he definitely couldn't escape!
Sure enough, Liu Tiancheng stumbled and almost fell. He felt a powerful consciousness instantly take over his mind, impossible to resist, and utterly powerless to resist.
Veins bulged on Liu Tiancheng's forehead. Even after crushing the sparrow, the consciousness didn't disappear.
His mind began to involuntarily recall past events; it was the invading person rummaging through his memories.
Without hesitation, Liu Tiancheng pulled out a knife and stabbed himself in the thigh. The intense pain kept him calm. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the giant dragon that had landed before him. The dragon didn't immediately unleash its killing spree. It looked down at Liu Tiancheng, who was struggling on the ground, as if he were an ant that could be crushed at any moment.
Liu Tiancheng, fighting off the onslaught in his mind, struggled to his feet. "Let me go. I didn't actually hurt him in the end, did I? Even if it's just to do Lin Heng a favor, I'm still his friend."
"Friend?" Lin Heng's chilling voice sounded from behind him.
Liu Tiancheng froze for a moment, then shook his head and smiled, turning to look at Lin Heng and Rong Wenshi, still with that friendly demeanor. "You're here."
Rong Wenshi's face darkened as he looked at his old friend of many years, his fingertips digging into his palm. "What are you thinking? You joined the termites?"
"...Yes." Liu Tiancheng replied with a smile.
“He didn’t.” Mingcai walked to Feng Wang’s side, a mocking smile in her light gray eyes. “He wanted to go, but they didn’t want him. They thought he was too old and had no use for them.”
Liu Tiancheng’s face suddenly turned extremely terrifying. He gritted his teeth and glared at Mingcai. “You’re the one who invaded my memories.”
“It was me.” Mingcai chuckled, circling Liu Tiancheng twice, shaking her head at his disheveled appearance. "So pathetic. Why that expression? Do you think you were born at the wrong time?"
"When Uncle Li Xian was killed, you had only been in the instance for a short time, and you couldn't get a share of the spoils. So when Rong Wenshi asked you what you thought about it, you strongly condemned their actions."
"When you realized that even the abilities you gained in various worlds couldn't make you immortal, you hated the Termites even more. You hated them for not waiting for you."
"So, after you met Li Huai, you set your sights on him. Therefore, in conclusion, you're a despicable person."
Liu Tiancheng: "..."
He couldn't refute it, because it was all true.
Mingcai looked at Lin Heng, pointing at Liu Tiancheng, "Teacher Lin, you're not going to protect him, are you?"
Lin Heng: "No."
Mingcai then looked at Rong Wenshi, who shook his head in disappointment. How could he possibly protect such a heartless bastard?
"Be careful, he has a very powerful tool, sometimes with super S-level lethality."
Liu Tiancheng, hearing him reveal his trump card, laughed until tears streamed down his face, "Rong Wenshi, you're the most ruthless! How about it, regretting it now? Regret taking me in?"
He looked at Rong Wenshi and Lin Heng, "No wonder you two can be friends, everyone you pick up is an ingrate."
Lin Heng, Rong Wenshi: "..."
Mingcai interjected, "Quite self-aware."
"In that case, let's die together." Liu Tiancheng took out a small, pale yellow, egg-sized ball, within which surged terrifying power.
From the moment he took out the small ball, Feng Wang could clearly sense the super-S-level power within it. Besides that, there was a familiar aura. But he was prepared; the moment Liu Tiancheng used the ball, he would carry Li Huai on his back, grab Mingcai, and run.
Liu Tiancheng's hands were trembling. He knew how immense the power of this small ball was; once it exploded, none of them would escape.
Liu Tiancheng hardened his heart and threw the ball. Feng Wang took off running, but before the ball even hit the ground, a golden jelly jumped out and swallowed it whole.
The soft, fluffy golden jelly patted its little belly and let out a satisfied burp.
The entire arena was silent. Liu Tiancheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "How is this possible… what are you? How could you swallow a super-S-level energy ball?!"
Tan Mo walked over and picked up the golden jelly. The little jelly pointed its tiny finger at Liu Tiancheng. "So it was you who stole my family's snack storage!"
Liu Tiancheng: "…?!"
What snack storage? Feng Wang picked Li Huai up from his back and transformed into human form. "I knew this little ball looked familiar."
Sethia's ability was energy absorption; the stronger the attack, the sweeter the food for him.
He and his father especially loved consuming the energy of high-level bosses. They would wrap the collected high-level energy in a pale yellow membrane and save it to eat like candy.
It's said that one day, their family's snack stash was suddenly robbed, and all the "candies?" inside disappeared. Sethia's father cried for days, not only at home but also at the homes of other super S-class bosses.
Finally, Xing Zhinan got angry and scolded him, "Cry, cry, cry! You've cried away all your good fortune!"
In the end, he took him to each of their friends to collect the "candies" again.
...Unexpectedly, the thief who stole the candy was Liu Tiancheng.
Sethia threatened menacingly, "Give me back all the candy from my house!"
Xin Xia looked bewildered at the situation. He glanced at Liu Tiancheng's injuries and took a few steps. "Brother Liu, you..."
Rong Wenshi stopped Xin Xia, watching Liu Tiancheng warily. "I'll talk to you after this is over. Stay here obediently for now."
Xin Xia glanced at them, as if realizing something, and nervously grasped Rong Wenshi's hand.
Liu Tiancheng ignored Xin Xia, looking at Sethia with a wry smile, "So the so-called Super S-grade item is just one of your candies... Sorry, I only have one left."
He glanced at Rong Wenshi and the other two, slowly took out a small ball, and to everyone's astonishment, swallowed it whole. He smiled at Sethia, "Your candy is indeed quite delicious."
Pale blue flames spread from his body. Liu Tiancheng maintained his polite demeanor, waving to Feng Wang and the others, "Goodbye."
The ghostly fire of the Super S-grade dungeon [Snow Flame] instantly incinerated him, leaving only a pile of ashes on the ground, which were dispersed by a gust of wind.
A long silence followed. Feng Wang, with his arm around Li Huai's shoulder, turned away indifferently. "Let's go home."
Sethia clung to Tan Mo's hand, sobbing sadly, "My candy, waaaaaah..."
Tan Mo patted his head. "We'll ask the aunties and uncles to make some more later."
The disappearance of the giant dragon circling the sky was great news for the players. The six players with red X's above their heads hid in the botanical garden. Students rarely came here, so they had been hiding until now.
A man in his forties or fifties looked at the setting sun, seemingly comforting himself or his companions. "It'll be better at night. After dark, visibility will be reduced, and our chances will be better."
As the last rays of sunlight were swallowed by darkness, a gray smog descended, streetlights flickered on one by one, and the campus fell into a deathly silence.
The six players secretly slipped out of the botanical garden. They planned to hide in the commercial street outside the school; it would definitely be safer outside than inside.
They ran towards the school gate, observing as they went. Seeds from roadside wildflowers and grasses drifted onto them, and mushroom spores were silently inhaled.
"Cough, cough..." The thin female player began coughing violently. Her face flushed, and she gasped for breath as if she couldn't breathe.
Her companion supported her, her face anxious. "What's wrong? Do you have asthma?"
The other four glared at them, lowering their voices. "Keep your voices down, or you'd better get lost. Don't drag us down with you."
Suddenly, the woman vomited. In the dim light, her vomit was filled with dense fungal hyphae and large blood clots.
"Ah!" her companion cried out, shoving her away. "There's something moving under your skin..."
The woman's body was visibly wasting away. Her eyes were sunken, her skin turned sallow and cracked, and tiny mushrooms sprouted from her flesh.
"Help me...help me..." the woman cried, reaching out to her companions, but they abandoned her without hesitation and fled.
The plants thrived, feeding on her flesh. Within minutes, only a lush patch of grass stood starkly in the middle of the road.
Under the moonlight, Ahui stood on a tree branch, watching the five players run frantically towards the school gate.
The fog thickened, and the enormous monster hidden within it opened its eyes.
The school gates were already closed. The players pushed hard, but the gate wouldn't budge. The guardhouse door was locked, and fearing the noise of picking the lock would attract NPCs, they found a low wall and tried to climb over.
The first player, using a large tree nearby, reached the top. He was overjoyed, but suddenly felt a chill on his neck. He instinctively grabbed something, and his eyes widened at the sticky texture. He was holding a bloody tendon in his hand.
Following the tendon, in the pale moonlight, a skinned head floated silently above him.
The blood-red head grinned at him, and countless tendons instantly wrapped around his neck, hoisting the player up. After confirming he was dead, it was dropped to the ground.
The four players were stunned, but the wind gently dispersed the gray mist, and they realized that what they were beside them wasn't a tree, but a monster's leg.
"Aaaaaah—!"
An overwhelming fear made them scream. They instinctively tried to run, but turning around, they found a dozen students already silently standing behind them. Looking down, they realized the students had no feet.
"A ghost!"
"Zombies, zombies are here too!"
"Don't push me back! There's a monster behind me!"
"The ground is moving... skeletons are crawling out! Aaaaah, don't come any closer!!"
"..."
[The whole school is inhuman?]
[Okay, at this level, it's no wonder the players who entered this instance died. They deserved it; nothing anyone can do about it.]
[Why aren't these NPCs harming players with green checkmarks above their heads? Did the players with red crosses break some taboo?]
[I know one with a green checkmark; her only special quality is that she never harms any NPCs. Could that be the reason?]
[Me! Me! Me!]
[I don't have any either. Then I'll go to Yunzhou in the next dungeon. It would be even better if I could stay here. I never want to live this life of constant running around again.]
[…]
While the player with the red cross was being chased around by monster zombies, the player with the green checkmark was already fast asleep in bed. This one-sided cleanup continued until noon the next day.
The system issued a broadcast.
[The Yunzhou dungeon is about to close. Surviving players, please prepare.]
[Current number of survivors: 8.]
The morning sun was warm but not glaring. Monsters patrolled the school, and fallen trees and school buildings were everywhere. The director led the teachers to tally the losses, and incidentally scolded Lian Deng and Feng Wang, who had caused the most damage.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuanming and Song Qian found Yan Chi's house. Two chickens the size of adult tibetan mastiffs were already watching them intently in the yard, ready to peck at them at any moment.
“Why don’t we call him from outside?” Lu Yuanming was a little afraid of the two unusual chickens. He stood outside the yard calling out, “Teacher Xiao Chi!”
Yan Chi heard the voice and came out. He was wearing soft loungewear and asked the two of them, “What brings you here?”
“We wanted to talk to you about something.” Lu Yuanming was a little embarrassed to bother him. “It’s just… can we stay in Yunzhou and not go back?”
Yan Chi was surprised. “You mean you’re not planning to go back to the player lobby?”
Song Qian nodded. “We asked the lady at the doll shop, and she said she used to be a player too. So Lu Yuanming and I wanted to ask you for help to let us stay here.”
Yan Chi didn’t agree immediately. Instead, he went home to find Shen Mingsu and told him about it. “Can they stay?”
Shen Mingsu looked at the expectation in Yan Chi’s eyes and took his hand. “Of course. There are still many empty shops on the commercial street. If they want to do business, they can just go to any one.”
“What about the system?” Yan Chi was a little worried, "What if the system forcibly takes them away?"
"We can just go to the player lobby and bring them back."
Yan Chi looked at him suspiciously, "What exactly is your relationship with the system?"
"I'll tell you later." Shen Mingsu patted his head, "Xie Tao is leaving soon, aren't you going to see him off?"
Yan Chi was definitely going, and he had already prepared things for Xie Tao.
"What's this phone for?" Xie Tao held the phone Yan Chi had given him, feeling puzzled.
Yan Chi: "This phone was specially modified by the school. You can use it no matter which small world you're in."
On Yan Chi's first day at the school, his phone was secretly modified by the director, so he could freely connect to the internet to buy things and even call his orphange mother in another world.
Of course, if Shen Mingsu hadn't reminded him, Yan Chi probably wouldn't have noticed anything unusual about his phone yet.
“This is definitely a good thing.” Xie Tao immediately put the phone into his system space and hugged Yan Chi. “I’ll come see you often.”
Yan Chi nodded. “Okay, call me if you have any trouble.”
[Yunzhou Dungeon Completed.]
[Six Players Cleared.]
[Lonely, wandering players, it’s time to go home. Welcome back to the Player Hall!]
Lu Yuanming and Song Qian instinctively held their breath. When they opened their eyes, they were still in school. They smiled at each other.
“Let’s go, let’s go pick out a house in the commercial district.”
In the Player Hall, Xie Tao aimlessly selected the next small world to visit. Suddenly, his player page received a message that a dungeon was opening.
[Dungeon “I” is about to open. Player, do you accept?]
This notification was different from the previous ones; even the specific level of this dungeon, “I,” wasn’t listed.
In short, everything about it seemed strange.
Xie Tao hesitated, but finally pressed [Accept].
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