Neither of them dared to delay for even a second.

The acid water shocked them so much, and there was no other way out of the room. They would have to enter the mechanism door sooner or later, so the two of them had no regrets and rushed straight into the mechanism door.

Behind the trap door was a cold stone wall passage, connected to a row of stone steps that went straight up. The steps were narrow and steep, and almost half of the soles of the feet were hanging in the air when they stepped on them. Shi Xin walked in front, using one hand to help climb, and the other hand carefully holding Ming Qiao. Fortunately, it was still bright here, and after a few steps, he could see the lit oil lamp hanging on the side of the stone wall.

Ever since Shi Xin discovered that Mingqiao didn't mind two grown men holding hands, he was no longer restrained and would always take Mingqiao's hand when necessary.

Although he knew Mingqiao might not be gay, this sneaky feeling of taboo always made his blood pressure soar.

He was a little nervous and looked back at Mingqiao secretly.

Looking from above, Mingqiao's soft hair hung smoothly in front of his forehead, his skin was white and transparent, and when he lowered his head, his long black eyelashes covered his eyes, gently brushing against them like a brush, creating a hurricane in his heart.

Mingqiao looks gentle and elegant, and his age, which has left him youthful, gives him a soft glow.

Shi Xin suddenly felt dizzy. He couldn't help but tighten his breathing and called out, "Teacher Ming."

"Hmm?" Mingqiao looked over.

Shi Xin met those dark and clear eyes and didn't know what to say for a moment.

They had only known each other for two days, but he had already been attracted to Ming Qiao more than once.

He has always believed in love at first sight.

"Be careful with the steps." Shi Xin reminded stiffly.

"Yeah." Mingqiao nodded, "You too."

The stone steps were very high. The basement was only two meters high, but the two of them climbed for half an hour and still couldn't reach the end. They were both sweating profusely, but they didn't know how many steps were waiting for them, so they didn't dare to relax.

Ming Qiao panted as he climbed up: "Do you remember when I told you in the restaurant that I fell into a big barrel?"

"Remember, you said that the rice bucket and the things inside were unusually large." Shi Xin was not in much better condition. His legs were so sore that he could hardly lift them, but he still supported himself with his arms and reached the next step.

Ming Qiao said: "After I fell into the bucket, I roughly estimated that based on my height, the bucket must be at least ten meters. But the height of the first floor of the restaurant is at most five meters. How could such a large bucket fit in there?"

"You mean, the situation here is similar to that of a restaurant."

"Yes. This is probably a microscopic world formed by the distortion of space." Mingqiao gave a vivid metaphor: "Like the portable space in science fiction movies?"

Shi Kun smiled and shook his head, "It's really beyond imagination."

"What do you think explains this?" Mingqiao asked, "Does this happen in the games you usually play?"

"Yeah." Shi Xin said, "It's probably like entering a looping game instance."

The two of them didn't know how long they had been climbing until they were both exhausted. Shi Xin then suggested that they sit down and rest for a while.

Mingqiao no longer knew what his limbs were. His movements of climbing the stairs had become a simple mechanical repetition. When he heard Shi Xin's words, the tightly wound spring finally relaxed and he slumped down, half lying on the stairs.

Looking back now, the place I had walked through had already turned into a bottomless abyss, and the door I had entered through had completely disappeared.

Mingqiao felt dizzy and his legs were weak. He swallowed and turned back silently.

Even if he didn't have acrophobia, he would have developed it due to these unlucky encounters.

"Are you okay?" Shi Xin looked at him worriedly.

Mingqiao shook his head.

He was not feeling well at all. It was as if he had climbed all the stairs in his lifetime today. Thinking about it, he regretted not having eaten something in the cafeteria at noon. Now that he was hungry, it became another torture.

Shi Xin also understood that Ming Qiao needed to rest, so he just half-lay down with his arms folded behind his head. "When I was studying here, there was no podium in the playground. At that time, there was just an iron frame built as a platform. A force 5 or 6 wind would blow the platform away, but nothing happened in all these years."

Mingqiao looked at Shi Xin with interest and motioned for him to continue.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't escape the iron rule that schools would renovate as soon as I graduated. When I came back here, the black and peeling rubber track in the playground had been replaced with a new one, and the football field that was ripped by students had been replaced with a new one. Even the rostrum was built with cement and covered with beautiful tiles."

Ming Qiao agreed at the right time: "Indeed, the high school I attended was also renovated after I graduated."

Shi Xin sighed: "Actually, I am very sad to see my alma mater become like this. I don't know how my teachers are doing now."

Ming Qiao asked, "Tell me about it, what if I know?"

Shi Xin half-raised his head and recalled: "I don't remember my junior high school teacher very well. My homeroom teacher in high school was Mr. Xie Ping."

"Teacher Xie has taken the team to the Affiliated High School to study these days and is not in school."

"The math teacher is Liu He."

“I’ve never heard of this teacher.”

"...I can't remember the other teachers either." Shi Xin couldn't remember them no matter how hard he tried. At most he could remember a last name.

"I almost went with Teacher Xie Ping this time." Ming Qiao said, "Several middle schools in the same city will naturally form a competitive and cooperative relationship. This time I wanted to learn about the education system of the affiliated middle school, but I was busy dealing with the expert assessment, so I didn't go."

"Are you usually busy at work?" Shi Xin asked.

"It's OK, normal workload."

The two chatted about nothing for a long time, and after they had rested, they immediately started climbing the stairs again.

This time, they didn't climb for long before a hollow iron door appeared in front of them.

Through the gap, a room of about four or five hundred square meters appeared before them. The stairs they walked up were directly connected to the iron door. With a slight push, the door opened inward.

Mingqiao and Shixin didn't hesitate too much and stepped straight in.

The decoration here is similar to that of the house downstairs, with only a bed, a cabinet and a set of tables and stools. The difference is that the things here are ridiculously large. They are now like dwarves who have accidentally entered the land of giants.

Looking at the door I came in through, it was embedded in the wall like a dog hole.

"..." Mingqiao looked at Shi Xin, who was also shocked and looked at everything around him in disbelief.

"What should we do now?" Shi Xin was stunned for a long time. After his reason came back, his first reaction was to ask Ming Qiao.

However, before Mingqiao had time to think about how to answer him, someone pushed open the huge wooden door next to him and walked in.

The heavy sound of the wooden door rudely pierced the eardrums of both people, accompanied by a slight tremor in the ground.

The two watched as a "giant" walked in.

Mingqiao had never seen such a person in school, but from the name tag hanging on his chest he could tell that he was a staff member of the logistics department.

Even if it is reduced in proportion, this "giant" is still tall. When he walks in the room, he even needs to stretch his neck to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling.

Mingqiao and Shixin huddled against the wall, trying their best to avoid being seen by the "giant".

After the "giant" entered the room, he walked straight to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down, then took out a black leather notebook and a pen from the drawer.

The rustling sound of writing soon surrounded every corner of the room. Judging from the occasional bang, the man wrote very heavily and with an unknown anger.

Mingqiao and Shixin looked at each other.

When they searched the basement below, they didn't see any notebooks or pens.

The "giant" wrote very quickly and put down his pen after a while. He kicked the chair away in annoyance, stood up, walked to the bed and lay down.

"Book?" Shi Xin asked Ming Qiao.

"Notebook." Mingqiao immediately gave an affirmative answer.

Only when loud snoring sounds were heard from the bed did Mingqiao and Shixin tiptoe out from the wall where they were hiding and stand under the table.

Mingqiao couldn't bear it any longer and covered his ears, shouting at Shi Xin: "I don't think we can wake him up even if we talk louder!"

Shi Xin's ears were ringing from the continuous snoring, and he shouted to Ming Qiao, "I agree! Let's climb up along the table leg!"

"How do I climb this?" Mingqiao felt overwhelmed when he saw the table legs that seemed seven or eight stories high to him.

"Follow me!" Shi Xin shouted.

Shi Xin first found a protruding wood stump on the leg of the stool, grabbed it hard, then pushed his legs against the ground and climbed up nearly half a meter. He then repeated the same steps and soon left Ming Qiao far behind.

Mingqiao imitated Shi Xin's movements and climbed up steadily, although slowly.

After Shi Xin went up, he directly grabbed Mingqiao's arm and lifted him up. The two of them collapsed on the table exhausted, and took two deep breaths before they finally recovered.

Without further communication, the two of them immediately ran to the notebook together and flipped the black cover together.

On the title page was the illegible handwriting of the new principal:

Dear employees,

Our school is committed to becoming one of the top middle schools in the city. While providing students with a comfortable learning environment and atmosphere, it aims to cultivate talents and focus on developing students' good qualities.

On this premise, we will emphasize the personal cultivation of school employees.

This manual records the code of conduct that our school staff should and must abide by in their daily work.

All employees are requested to read the employee handbook carefully and strictly abide by the rules, otherwise the consequences will be at your own risk.

--headmaster】

"It's similar to a teacher's manual," Mingqiao commented.

"That's a rule again." Shi Xin said.

"Yeah." Mingqiao nodded, and the two of them turned to the next page together, but what they didn't expect was that the paper that was supposed to have written the specific employee guidelines was torn off, and there were still uneven gaps on the edge of the page.

"It doesn't matter if you can't see it." Mingqiao comforted him, "Rules that only focus on identity are not necessary for others to follow."

He was about to turn the page, but suddenly he felt something grabbing his collar.

"Shi Xin, stop it." Ming Qiao subconsciously wanted to shake off the hand, but before he could finish his words, his body was instantly lifted into the air and picked up by the "giant".

"Ming Qiao!" Shi Xin shouted in fear.

Ming Qiao was suspended in the air, forced to look the "giant" in the eye.

The "giant"'s Adam's apple rolled up and down, as if he regarded Mingqiao as a delicacy from land and sea.

Mingqiao was being carried and restrained by his shirt. He could not use his arms and legs. He could only flutter in place and struggle hard.

Seeing the giant open his mouth, saliva was almost hanging on his face. At this moment, Mingqiao smelled a sour smell.

The next second, he vomited.