In a daze, Xiao Cheng felt like she had seen a lifeline.

"Help! I'll help you!" she shouted without hesitation.

A faint smile appeared deep in the male student's eyes, and then his body suddenly disintegrated, piercing through the thick black mist and crashing into Xiao Cheng's body.

In that instant, all of Xiao Cheng's pain vanished, and an invisible force surged into her body, causing her to visibly solidify.

This feeling was somewhat similar to the previous instance, but the power was noticeably colder, causing Xiao Cheng to feel an uncontrollable surge of violent emotions.

It clearly sensed something was wrong, and roared angrily as countless tentacles slammed down, its wide-open mouth lunging to devour Xiao Cheng.

At the critical moment, Xiao Cheng hooked his toe, picked up the pointer on the ground, caught it in his hand, and swung it horizontally.

The black mist was instantly cleaved into two distinct sections, and the severed tentacles fell off one by one, melting into a pool of foul-smelling black water the moment they touched the ground.

It let out a painful whimper, as if seeking comfort, and hugged the skeleton in its arms even tighter.

"It hurts...it hurts so much..." it murmured, unconsciously rubbing its jaw against Teacher Liu's skull.

Xiao Cheng originally planned to give it another powerful blow, but the power within her came and went even faster, flowing out of her body like water in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing behind.

The pointer pierced Xiao Cheng's palm and fell to the ground with a clatter. Xiao Cheng blinked, paused for less than half a second, and then decisively decided to run away.

Her decision proved to be correct.

Because the moment she passed through the classroom door, the remaining tentacles enveloped "its" entire body, rolled into a ball, and slammed heavily into her.

With a loud crash, a deep crack appeared in the door panel, and half a tentacle reached out through the gap before silently disappearing.

This is a completely enclosed, empty classroom; there are no people and no ghosts.

Xiao Cheng analyzed her current situation, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and almost collapsed on the spot. Her brief rise just now obviously came at a price. She was now completely exhausted and barely had the strength to move a finger.

It was at this time that the male student reappeared.

He didn't look much different from before; if I had to say, the word "student" on his face had faded a bit.

“I’ve helped you before.” He spoke in a strange way, as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time. “So now it’s your turn to help me.”

"Wait a minute? Do I look like I can help you right now?" Xiao Cheng's voice sounded incredibly weak and pitiful.

"How could that be?" The male student tilted his head as if in confusion. "I helped you. You cost me a full thirty credits, you shouldn't be this weak."

Xiao Cheng: "..." It seems I can't fool them anymore.

She sighed helplessly and straightened up again: "Speak, I've already promised to help you."

“You’ve read my diary.” The male student, unconcerned about her earlier deception, went straight to the point: “I’ve discovered Teacher Liu’s secret.”

"And then?" Xiao Cheng couldn't help but prick up her ears, her gossip-loving heart burning brightly.

"I forgot."

Xiao Cheng: "..." That's it?!

The male student didn't care about her reaction at all, as if she were just an emotionless NPC who only issued tasks.

"It's a very important secret. My reason tells me that if I can't remember this, I'll die with regrets." He bent his index finger and tapped his head lightly.

"No beginning or end, not even a hint?"

The male student didn't answer immediately. He spun around in place, then visibly became anxious: "No...it's too late! Time's up!"

His body suddenly became incredibly blurry, the entire classroom began to change subtly, and then with a click, the tightly closed door automatically unlocked.

Xiao Cheng was slightly taken aback. She heard the ticking of the second hand in her ear, the sound growing softer and softer until finally the loud school bell rang.

The empty classroom was suddenly filled with students.

Teacher Liu walked in as the bell rang, her dagger-like high heels landing on the ground with a rhythmic cadence.

Before the male student disappeared completely, he shouted at Xiao Cheng at the top of his lungs, "Time! Time will tell you all the answers!"

Then his voice was quickly replaced by Teacher Liu's.

She copied the math problem onto the blackboard, then gracefully turned around and looked around at every student in the classroom.

"I hope to see someone volunteer, but if not... of course, this situation won't happen, what do you think?"

The familiar scene played out again: "It" was invited to the podium by Teacher Liu and then began to answer questions on the blackboard.

It finished writing the answer stroke by stroke, then paused, and turned its head thoughtfully to look in Xiao Cheng's direction.

Xiao Cheng looked at the face that looked exactly like her own and suddenly felt a chill run down her spine for no reason.

"What's wrong? Is there some difficulty?" Teacher Liu gently patted "it" on the shoulder.

"Ah, no, thank you, teacher." A genuine smile appeared on its face, and then it continued answering the questions.

Completed in one go.

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted in the classroom. Teacher Liu leaned down slightly with satisfaction and gave "it" a hug.

"I knew it, good boy. You are my pride."

As soon as the words were spoken, all the sounds in the classroom vanished instantly. For a moment, Xiao Cheng wondered if she had suddenly gone deaf before realizing that it was "it" that had done it.

Everything around it froze completely. It nestled greedily in Teacher Liu's embrace, and only reluctantly pulled away after a long time.

Two lines of bloody tears slowly streamed down its face as it calmly walked towards Xiao Cheng, finally stopping a step away from her.

Xiao Cheng looked at "it" warily, but soon realized that this time it seemed a little different.

"Leave this place. This isn't the timeline you're looking for," it said indifferently, then pointed a finger flatly at the window.

Xiao Cheng didn't speak. She saw the black characters on Teacher Liu's face gradually fade until, like lifting an invisible veil, the face of a middle-aged woman with a gentle smile was revealed.

"Get out of here." Noticing Xiao Cheng's gaze, "it" became stiff in tone and moved its body to the side without any attempt to hide it, completely blocking Teacher Liu's view.

"How many timelines are there exactly?" Xiao Cheng didn't choose to leave immediately. "Or rather, which one is the real timeline?"

It did not answer, but stubbornly maintained the gesture of pointing to the window.

A series of loud thuds came from outside the door, but the seemingly fragile door remained completely still.

Xiao Cheng took one last deep look at "it," then climbed over the window and jumped.