"Alright, everyone, before we eat, let's begin our prayers for today."

I watched as Elaine sat down and began leading the pre-meal prayer.

Gu Xinghe realized that Elaine, as a teacher, would still eat with them as students.

However, isn't the word "eating" a bit strange?

He noticed that the other players who entered the campus with him all looked somewhat lost.

Gu Xinghe noticed that Tao Changyi, Xiao Ruiming, and Liang Yue already seemed quite familiar with each other.

At this moment, after hearing Elaine's words.

He noticed that even Carol, who was usually lively, had a rare serious and solemn expression on her face.

What...what prayer?

As Gu Xinghe listened to Li Wei's panicked thoughts, Elaine, facing the crowd, gave the next instruction.

"Please close your eyes and recite with me."

Misfortune and suffering are things that human beings are born to bear.

Human beings must endure suffering and atone for their sins through adversity.

After suffering, calamity will dissipate, and the Milky Way will appear.

May the radiance endure forever, may the Milky Way be filled with stars.

He followed Elaine's lead, reciting the prayer line by line, but the extremely familiar words made Gu Xinghe quickly realize what was happening—

This is none other than the new doctrine of the Thorn Cult proposed by Theresa!

Dawn Boarding School is located within the Enlightenment Empire, so it's not surprising that it has a faith in the Goddess of Thorns.

But the last prayer seems to have no connection with the symbolism of the thorn goddess herself.

It's like they're promoting the doctrines of another sect...

But given the current situation, is Shuguang Boarding School still a church school?

I opened my eyes again.

Gu Xinghe noticed a complex expression on the faces of Carol, Rekaya, and Tao Changyi and the others opposite him.

It was an expression that conveyed a mix of positive emotions such as relaxation, hope, and joy.

It was like waking up from a peaceful, long sleep.

[Sigh... I have to say this prayer is quite useful; it restores sanity.]

I just hope my sanity doesn't drop too low when I eat that stewed meat later.

Listening to the thoughts of Tao Changyi and the others, Gu Xinghe looked at his sanity, which remained unchanged even after he prayed.

Could it be because he wasn't fully involved?

Moreover, judging from their thoughts, this piece of meat...

"Su Wu and Li Wei."

Be serious when you pray, after all, it's a very sacred ritual.

"Yes, Ms. Elaine, we understand..."

At this moment, Elaine's voice interrupted Gu Xinghe's thoughts.

Aside from Gu Xinghe himself and Kong Hejing, Elaine highlighted the names of two other newcomers.

Since it was their first time performing this kind of prayer, their actions and postures were clearly not as immersed as the others.

As for Kong Hejing, after being frightened by Carol multiple times...

Currently, the other party is basically mechanically executing what is said to them.

For some reason, Gu Xinghe noticed that Elaine did not mention his name at this moment.

She simply smiled and glanced at him, but did not offer the same advice as the other two.

On the contrary, his behavior while praying just now was hardly focused.

Gu Xinghe should have focused more intently on praying.

Elaine's thoughts were clearly in line with the expression on her face as she looked at him.

Gu Xinghe had actually been vaguely aware of this all along—

Even if he can hear other people's thoughts, there are still limitations in many aspects.

Let's not even mention that some truly powerful figures can easily hide their true thoughts.

In reality, most ordinary people don't have much time to think about a single thing, nor do they have many thoughts about it.

The innermost thoughts of a person are not like a computer that can retrieve all kinds of information.

Some information may be beyond the comprehension of others, who may not be able to grasp the cause and effect of events.

And recalling Elaine's previous behavior of favoring Carol and Rekaya when arranging classroom seats, "abandoning" herself.

This current "favoritism" seems to have taken on a sinister purpose.

"Please make sure you don't waste any food. Okay, let's start eating now!"

As the somewhat eerie prayer ceremony ended, Li Wei finally felt a little relieved.

At this moment, after hearing Elaine's words.

Driven by hunger, she unknowingly chose the only meat dish in the meal as her first bite.

"Ugh—cough cough cough—"

However, the stewed meat that should have satisfied her was spat out after she put it in her mouth.

"Oh dear, what happened? Why did you vomit up?"

"You can't waste food, or bad kids will be punished by being locked in the solitary confinement room."

Elaine stood up and walked to Li Wei's side, patting her back comfortingly.

The words that came out of her mouth were completely contrary to the soothing gestures she was making.

The teacher, who was originally just a serious and law-abiding person, now seemed to have become terrifying.

Gu Xinghe heard the term "solitary confinement cell" once again.

When they first heard it, it was in the hearts of Tao Changyi and others.

But for the others who were hearing this for the first time, their faces instantly turned terrified.

"Uncle Camo worked so hard to make this food, it can't be wasted like this!"

Wasting food is bad!

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!