Chapter 11 The protagonist will always be him

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.

Yue Qingqing huddled in the corner, her face pale. The fear of losing points and the shock of the terrifying resentment she had just experienced left her still in a state of shock.

Di Wenzhou and Bai Muling sat silently to one side, their faces filled with exhaustion and helplessness.

Xin Yuan'er looked at this one, then at that one, but finally her gaze returned to Zhuge Jin, as if she could only find a sense of security by the side of this powerful figure.

Jun Xiangbei stood still, a very shallow crease appearing between his brows, a rare sight indeed.

Just then, Zhuge Jin's cold voice rang out again, breaking the suffocating silence.

He didn't look at the still-shaken Yue Qingqing, as if he were merely stating an objective fact:

"The friendship between classmates may remain as fragmented memories. Those who sat next to me in the past, and who knew my pain, were not just my teachers."

His words still carried a mysterious rhythm, but the meaning was relatively straightforward: there might still be some memories left between classmates.

Former deskmates may know the root of each other's pain. Besides teachers, there are also "classmates" to ask.

Jun Xiangbei instantly understood.

Yes, they fell into a mindset of focusing only on the goal itself or the yearbook, while ignoring the subtle connections that might exist between the ghost students.

Yan Ruxuan!

She is currently the only confirmed ghost whose identity can be communicated with to a limited extent.

He immediately looked at Yue Qingqing, his instructions clear and unambiguous: "Try to find out information about that rotten boy from Yan Ruxuan. Be careful how you do it."

Yue Qingqing bit her lower lip, trying hard to suppress her fear.

She knew that Jun Xiangbei was intentionally training her, and that this was his only breakthrough.

She mustered her courage once more and approached the headless woman, Yan Ruxuan, who had been quietly waiting in the shadows in the corner.

This time, she tried a different approach.

Yue Qingqing first called the other person's name softly, and after receiving a faint response, she did not directly ask "Who is he?", but instead asked with a hint of empathy: "Yan Ruxuan, I've noticed that many classmates seem to have suffered serious injuries. What happened?"

Yan Ruxuan, who was holding her head, moved slightly.

The mouth on the skull opened and closed, and blood and tears seemed to well up again. The voice was choked and intermittent: "I don't know anyone else, I only know my deskmate, Sun... Sun Yifan..."

The name is out! Sun Yifan!

"He was just short and couldn't see the blackboard, so he always tried to look up... Teacher Li... didn't like him... said he had bad posture and wasn't studying seriously..." Yan Ruxuan's voice was full of fear, as if recalling the memory was a kind of pain.

"Later...later Teacher Li helped him 'correct' his spine in the reflection room...his spine...waaaah..."

She seemed afraid to say anything more, tightening her arms around her head and falling silent once more.

Although the information is incomplete, the key points have been obtained.

The players were invigorated.

However, new problems arose one after another.

We know the names, but which one is Sun Yifan?

The student in the graduation photo who was "short and mostly shrouded in shadow" was too vague. Most of the students in the classroom had strange appearances, and the one who fit the description of "short" and "spine problems" was not the only one.

Zhuge Jin sensed the emotional fluctuations of everyone, both rekindled hope and lost hope, and knew the time had come.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he calmly took out the old tortoise shell and a few copper coins from his wide sleeves once again.

The movements were slow and ritualistic, as if this were not a horror game, but a quiet divination room.

Xin Yuan'er immediately held his breath, his eyes shining.

Di Wenzhou and Bai Muling also subconsciously cast their concerned glances.

Even Jun Xiangbei shifted his gaze from Yue Qingqing, focusing entirely on Zhuge Jin's hands that were manipulating the ancient divination tools.

The copper coin fell into the tortoise shell, making a crisp clinking sound.

Zhuge Jin gently shook his wrist, muttering incantations, all of which were obscure and difficult-to-understand divination texts.

Then, he gently scattered the copper coins onto the desk in front of him.

Several copper coins jingled and scattered in a specific arrangement.

Zhuge Jin leaned slightly forward, the white veil seemingly "gazing" closely at the divination chart. After a moment, he raised his head, his ethereal voice echoing in the silent classroom, carrying an undeniable certainty:

"The earth carries all things, yet its form is humble and weak. It conceals its sharpness in clumsiness and hides its wounds in the smallest of ways. In the southwest corner, there may be a timid figure sitting alone."

This entire divination text can be translated as—

The earth bears all things, its form appearing humble and gentle. It hides its sharpness in its apparent clumsiness, concealing its pain in the smallest details. In a corner of the southwest, perhaps a timid figure sits alone.

Zhuge Jin's live stream:

"Master Zhuge is at it again with his mystical methods!"

"Southwest corner? Short in stature? Hiding scars? Got it!"

"That's way better than just saying he's handsome!"

"He can even use divination to find people? This prophet's skill tree is quite extensive. Jun Xiangbei, take him down."

Almost the instant Zhuge Jin finished speaking, all the players' eyes turned to the southwest corner of the classroom.

There, indeed, sat a ghostly student all by himself.

Compared to other ghosts, he was unusually short and thin. He kept his head down, almost burying his face in his chest, and curled up in his seat, as if trying his best to minimize his presence.

His school uniform collar was unusually high, almost covering the lower half of his face and his entire neck, as if he were deliberately hiding something.

Previously, everyone's attention was drawn to the more ferocious and terrifying ghosts, and they almost ignored this unusually "quiet" and "low-key" existence.

The features match perfectly.

This time, Xin Yuan'er learned his lesson and first looked at Zhuge Jin, seeking instructions with his eyes.

Zhuge Jin nodded almost imperceptibly.

Xin Yuan'er then took a deep breath and, under the cover of Jun Xiangbei's wary gaze, cautiously approached the southwest corner, stopping at a safe distance. In a tone that was as gentle as possible, she softly called out the name she had acquired:

"Sun...Sun Yifan?"

The small, huddled figure suddenly trembled violently!

It was as if the name was a needle, piercing his deepest fears.

Unlike the previous rotting boy who roared in fury, he slowly, with extreme fear and stiffness, raised his head little by little.

As he looked up, his high collar slipped down, revealing his neck and part of his back.

His spine protruded at an extremely unnatural, twisted angle, as if it had been violently broken and then haphazardly pieced back together. His skin was torn, revealing dark purple, no longer wriggling, rotting flesh and stark white bone fragments underneath.

His neck was unable to support his head properly; his head was tilted to one side, barely held together by his twisted spine.

The monster's face showed no anger, only endless fear and pain. Its eyes were unfocused, and its lips trembled, emitting a faint, almost inaudible sound.

"Who...who called me...no...don't look at me...don't..."

He confirmed it; he was indeed Sun Yifan.

The players were certain, but were immediately shocked by his miserable appearance and extreme fear.

Yue Qingqing looked away, unable to bear it, and Di Wenzhou and Bai Muling also felt a chill.

Jun Xiangbei calmly maintained vigilance while quickly recording information.

Following the pre-arranged plan, Xin Yuan'er tried to ask in a calm tone, "Sun Yifan, we want to know... what happened? Why are you... so scared?"

Sun Yifan trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind. He looked around in terror, his voice broken and filled with despair:

"No...no looking up...absolutely no looking up...in class...no...never...not at all..."

"Teacher Li doesn't like it. He says that looking up means being inattentive, disrespectful, and a bad student..."

“I…I was just…scared. That day he hit Tan Nianci, there was so much blood…I couldn’t help it…I looked up for a second…just for a second…”

Sun Yifan's words were incoherent, yet they were filled with immense fear: "He saw it, and he said I 'looked up in class and was not paying attention,' violating... violating classroom discipline."

"The reflection room, he took me to the reflection room to 'correct my posture'..." His voice turned into a sob.

"He broke my spine, so I'll have to keep my head down forever."

"Don't look up, absolutely don't look up, you'll be seen...you'll be taken away..."

Sun Yifan's fear was like an icy tide, instantly engulfing every player present, making them feel as if they were personally experiencing the extreme terror of being dominated and cruelly "corrected".

One rule has been reaffirmed: you must never look up during class.

This, together with the "no crying" rule previously provided by Yan Ruxuan, forms a corner of the terrifying order of this "happy campus".

Sun Yifan seemed to have exhausted all his strength, or perhaps he was overwhelmed by fear. He quickly curled up again, buried his face deeply, and returned to the silent, almost forgotten shadow in the corner, refusing to say another word.

The exchange was exceptionally brief, but contained a wealth of information.

The players remained silent, digesting the truth of the rules that had come at such a cruel price.

Zhuge Jin watched all this quietly, sensing the fear, anger, and pity surging in everyone's hearts.

He knew that yet another rule had been successfully discovered, and the "prophet's" guidance had been validated once again.

Jun Xiangbei shifted his gaze from the huddled Sun Yifan to Zhuge Jin once more.

In those cool eyes, a complex mix of emotions surged even more violently.

Every crisis, every moment of confusion, was guided by this man in his unbelievable way.

This precise, almost predictive ability, along with his consistently detached calmness, irresistibly drew him to pursue, analyze, and... rely on it.

An unprecedented thrill grew deep within him, giving his cold body a false sense of "temperature".

Zhuge Jin accurately received this increasingly intense and complex gaze.

He knew that the fish had not only taken the bait, but was also being gradually pulled closer to the surface.

The corners of his lips, hidden beneath the white veil, were slightly upturned.

The show continues, and he will always be the protagonist.

Author's Note:

The writing is so bland. [Heartbroken][Heartbroken][Heartbroken]