Guided by the black dumpling, Xiao Cheng and Fang He walked towards the innermost art room.

The door was ajar, and it looked much more worn than last time. The handle was covered in rust, and the sound of opening the door was very stiff.

The room was empty. An old radio was playing the piano piece on a loop, occasionally interspersed with a crackling sound from a bad signal.

The display area seemed to have been set up recently, with only a few paintings pasted in the corners.

Directly below the display stand, there is an easel with an unfinished painting clipped to it. The base color has only been laid halfway down, but based on the lines of the draft, it can be identified as the painting "Compassion".

The ink on the painting was not completely dry, and there were paints and unwashed brushes next to it, as if the artist had only gone out briefly and would be back soon.

Apart from this painting, the remaining space was almost entirely occupied by various plaster statues. Heads of all sizes were displayed on the shelves, their faces all pointing directly at the painting, creating an eerie scene.

In the center of the ceiling, three large teru teru bozu (Japanese teru bozu dolls) hang down, swaying slightly, their round heads painted with endearing smiles.

It even looks a bit cute and refreshing.

"Where's Liu Xiaoying?" Xiao Cheng looked around but couldn't find a place to hide. She clenched her fist and waved it warningly in front of the black ball of fur.

"I...I..." The black ball seemed terrified, trembling and shrinking back, its voice trembling with obvious sobs, "I dare not say, please let me go first, I promise I will not lie to you."

"So cowardly? Weren't you just saying you were a wise man who knew when to yield?" Xiao Cheng sneered.

"I'm afraid you'll discard me after you've served your purpose." The black ball of fur sniffed. "Don't look at me like that. I know you're capable of doing it."

"Do you think you have the right to bargain with us?" Fang He tightened his grip on it slightly, causing the black ball to let out a shrill scream like a pig being slaughtered, its tentacles bristling.

"It's not about bargaining! No! I'm doing this for your own good!" the black dumpling quickly explained. "The moment Liu Xiaoying appears, I can't help but want to crawl into her head! And with me here, she has no way to show up!"

Seeing that the two people's expressions gradually relaxed, the black ball of fur breathed a slight sigh of relief and pressed its advantage by flattering them, "So you're letting me go? In your human terms, it's a win-win situation, this is a win-win. I promise, I'll definitely avoid you from now on! I'll never appear in front of Liu Xiaoying again!"

The black ball of fur didn't seem to be lying. After a moment's thought, Xiao Cheng and Fang He nodded in agreement to its conditions.

Fang He flung it out the window with considerable force. Xiao Cheng only saw a smooth parabola and couldn't even see where it landed.

The moment the black ball of clay was thrown out, the space in the art room began to distort, and the plaster statues throughout the room became increasingly transparent. The unfinished painting gradually overlapped with the finished product in the display case.

Xiao Cheng saw a shadowy figure push open the door and walk in, passing through their bodies, walking straight to the easel, sitting down, picking up the paintbrush beside it, and starting to paint.

He was indeed a younger version of the counselor, wearing a school uniform and not wearing glasses.

The piano music on the radio played like a cassette tape, repeating the same section over and over until the static grew louder and louder, completely drowning out the melody.

The counselor suddenly put down his paintbrush, turned his head to look at the door as if sensing something, and then a visible expression of joy appeared on his face.

"Teacher Liu?" He stood up abruptly, even spilling the paint from the narrator's narration in his haste.

Xiao Cheng's gaze followed him, landing on the doorway. There, backlit, stood a woman with an indistinct face, leaning slightly forward and extending her arms in a gesture of waiting for an embrace.

Most of the woman's face was hidden in shadow, except for the smile that radiated from the corners of her mouth, which was clearly visible.

Then she gently parted her lips and called out in a soft voice.

"Xiao Cheng!"

A cold hand landed on her shoulder, startling Xiao Cheng. When she came to her senses, she realized everything had returned to normal. There were no plaster statues, no counselor, and of course, no strange woman.

It was Liu Xiaoying who called her just now. Her body was gradually becoming solid, and the only abnormality was her excessively cold body temperature.

"Oh dear, Little Orange, give me some reaction! I thought I could scare you." Liu Xiaoying sighed with some disappointment. "What happened? I think I lost consciousness as soon as I entered the activity center."

"Nothing serious happened. You were just almost possessed by a black ball of fluff," Xiao Cheng said casually, then waved her hand nonchalantly. "But don't worry, it's been taken care of."

"Did you just see something?" Fang He asked. "I noticed you were staring blankly at the door, and your reaction seemed strange."

"It's nothing, probably just a hallucination," Xiao Cheng shook his head. "Anyway, I haven't been behaving properly since I entered this instance."

She then thought of how she had just decisively snapped "Liu Xiaoying's" neck.

In fact, at first she wasn't sure if the thing was Liu Xiaoying, but she still took action.

My thinking at the time... was something like, "Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free?"

Xiao Cheng couldn't help but shudder. This was terrifying. Liu Xiaoying absolutely must not find out about this.

However, Liu Xiaoying wasn't paying attention to her at the moment. Instead, she looked up at the three teru teru bozu dolls hanging from the ceiling.

"Was this here before? I don't think so?" Liu Xiaoying frowned, somewhat puzzled. "I wonder who hung it here. It's quite cute. Maybe it holds some clues. Let's take it down and see."

She was clearly more proactive than Xiao Cheng, stretching out her arms and jumping up to grab all three at once.

One could even be given to every person.

Xiao Cheng held the adorable teru teru bozu in her hands, turning it over and over to examine it for a long time, feeling that something seemed off.

Then her gaze sharpened, and she picked up the long strand of hair that was peeking out from the gap in the cloth with two fingers.

Holy crap!

"Wow!"

"What is that?"

The three of them almost simultaneously tore off the outermost white cloth covering them.

Three heads rolled to the ground, face up, with three pairs of rolled-back eyes staring intently at them.

That face looks so familiar.

Xiao Cheng, Fang He, and Liu Xiaoying.

They looked at the head on the ground that looked exactly like their own.

Outside the window, black fog spread, almost obscuring the sky and the sun. Three black clumps were crammed together side by side, reaching almost the height of a one-story building.

Countless thick tentacles intertwined, and the gaping maws at the ends of the tentacles opened and closed, emitting a piercing hiss.

The entire building began to shake violently, dust flew everywhere, and then it collapsed with a crash.

The entire ceiling collapsed, and in the last second before losing consciousness, Xiao Cheng vaguely heard a broadcast sound in her ear.

"The first mock exam for the First Affiliated High School of the Trial Court has officially begun. Our principle is: scores are paramount."