Chapter 76 Grave Numbers Above All 38 Sixth Middle School
"It's probably more like a campus ghost story. As long as you follow the rules, you'll be fine, but if you don't, you'll die." Ling Yuanshan repeated the words at the beginning of the article to Wu Wangwang.
Wu Wangwang peered at the dance studio from a distance. The classroom was pitch black; it had been renovated, even the windows had been replaced, making it stand out starkly in the art building. She asked, "How did this strange place come to be?"
Ling Yuanshan didn't speak, probably waiting for Wenshou's reply. After a while, he said, "Wenshou guesses that there are too many cases of fixed injuries and deaths in this kind of place. To be precise, the problem in the dance studio is the mirrors. Mirrors are very important to dance students. They have to see all their mistakes in order to correct them."
After listening, Wu Wangwang thought of other places where many people had died: "According to this, the places with the most deaths in the school are the atrium of the teaching building and the corridor of the dormitory building, right? But there are no special rules for these two places."
“It’s not that there aren’t any, it’s that we don’t know. In the dormitory corridor, you can’t lean against a single person, otherwise an accident will happen, like Tang Xiaofen falling down. It’s like a habitual tendency. Countless people have died in this way, so the corridor will think that this behavior is normal. The rule in the atrium is that confused people cannot go up there, or they will be attracted to jump down.” Ling Yuanshan repeated the answer given at the beginning of the article.
"It sounds like the school has mutated because too many students died. According to what we say in my hometown, if too many people die in a place, that place will turn into a kind of monster. Common examples include haunted houses, haunted roads, and haunted lakes." Wu Wangwang once again used the original owner of the body as an excuse.
Ling Yuanshan nodded vigorously: "That's it! The root cause is that too many students died. Their thoughts before they died were complicated and chaotic, but there was some overlap. The overlapping parts were absorbed by these places that accept death."
One by one, the school's mysteries were solved, and the way to survive was already clear. As students, there was really nothing thrilling; everyone was working hard for grades, literally.
The following week was the second to last. The students who entered the instance were slightly stronger than the NPCs. Ling Yuanshan had been trying to find time to arrange more learning content for them, but they never complained.
They initially said that some classes in the school would play movies because the school's counselors would make judgments. When more than half of the students in a class were depressed, they would use this method to motivate them. Seeing the success of others would always touch their hearts.
The death continued. On Wednesday, Cheng Hai said that they really couldn't hold on any longer and asked what was going on. Why were their people dying all the time? And sometimes, even when they seemed to have done nothing, they still died, while Wu Wangwang's students were fine just because they were studying hard.
Comparing the two sides, it's hard to tell which side actually has a higher death rate.
Ling Yuanshan couldn't bear it any longer and said, "When you died even though you followed the rules as you understood them, didn't you ever think about questioning whether there was something wrong with the rules? First-hand information is not the same as the rules. Only the rules as stated by the referee are the rules. You should understand this principle."
Cheng Hai was taken aback: "You doubt that the information we have is wrong?"
“It’s not necessarily wrong, but schools are small societies where there are always ways to circumvent policies. The school says you can’t bring your phone, but who actually manages to resist bringing one?” Ling Yuanshan said pointedly.
People seem to put a filter on their youth and childhood, evoking feelings of innocence, pity, and nostalgia, which automatically alter their memories of their school days in their brains.
The brain is the biggest liar; no memory filtered through a lens is true.
The players are all adults. They've reduced the simplicity of the school environment to that of kindergarten, forgetting that even kindergartens have Zihan's mother. Besides, the game "Return of the Soul" has never said that first-hand information is equivalent to rules that players must follow. It's one of the absolutely true information anchors that keeps players clear-headed.
Cheng Hai finally realized where he went wrong. He ran to find other players, while Ling Yuanshan turned to the students: "You should also remember what I just said. Whether you can survive in the dungeons in the future depends on these bits and pieces of experience. What I said may not be right, but it should be enough for you to get through the newbie period."
The next person targeted was Mi Cai. As someone who was considered a slacker, his grades were already average after falling from first place. He shouldn't have been in any trouble, since they had learned to guard against teachers and students framing him. However, as he was walking past other dormitory buildings, a metal compass suddenly fell down. If Ling Yuanshan hadn't reacted quickly and blocked it, his head would have been pierced.
Mi Cai was so frightened that he didn't recover until he got to school, and he became extremely paranoid.
After finally making it to the free time after school in the afternoon, everyone gathered together to discuss that compasses are definitely not something that appears out of nowhere, and they are not needed for the college entrance examination these days.
Everyone found it very strange, especially since the others didn't seem to feel like they were being targeted by anyone.
After listening for a while, Wu Wangwang suddenly said, "No, it's because we're working too hard. Our grades haven't changed, but we've been working hard all along. Isn't that the same as controlling our scores?"
The NPCs aren't stupid. On the contrary, they're inherently more difficult to deal with. They've always been using underhanded tactics, and it's only because Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang were on high alert that they didn't succeed. Now, their methods have evolved. They're no longer trying to punish them, but rather to kill them here.
The day Mi Cai was targeted was Friday. The penultimate major test was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. With the college entrance examination approaching, these mock exam results became even more important, and a smell of drugs began to permeate the campus.
The NPCs usually show their fierce side; throwing kettles is child's play, and throwing water pipes while using the toilet is just basic stuff.
When Ling Yuanshan returned from the bathroom carrying the hose again, he sighed: "If this continues, the eight of you will be driven to your deaths sooner or later. Who isn't most vulnerable when they go to the toilet?"
Normal ghosts are polite and try to show respect to players, but NPCs may not. They just want their ghosts to help kill anything that might lower their ranking.
The thinnest girl, number two, covered her head and said, "I don't want to remember. I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and when I came back, half of my bed was covered in needles. After I finally finished picking them off, I looked back and saw that my roommates in the other nine beds were all holding compasses and pens, waiting to start their work..."
Being hurt was secondary; what they couldn't sleep at all was that their mental state was terrible. They didn't know when they would be pinned down and beaten, or where the sharp weapon would come from. For the first time, they felt that humans were far more terrifying than ghosts.
The boys were also about to give up. The three of them usually exercised, but they were just normal boys and didn't have the fighting skills of Ling Yuanshan. Being able to beat him once didn't mean he could beat him ten times. They were also exhausted.
They complained and asked, and the girls suddenly looked at Wu Wangwang. The girl asked curiously, "Ge Nan, haven't you encountered such a thing?"
Wu Wangwang took out her scissors: "Every time they come, I break all their sharp objects in the middle of the night. The next day, they even have to borrow pens to do their tests. The school store has a limited supply of scissors. I've tried it, and it works very well. I suggest you try it too. People can't keep getting beaten up. If you get caught, just say you were sleepwalking and it was an accident. It's because you were under too much pressure."
"But what if they get angry and order the ghosts to do it? Think about Jingjing, she was pushed down in the bathroom by a ghost, and by the time she was rescued, she was already dead," Ling Yuanshan reminded her.
When Ling Yuanshan had some free time, she asked Jingjing about the story at the beginning of the article. She said that the campus newspaper had done a report on this before, and a lot of the interview content had not been published.
The boy's behavior back then was indeed inappropriate, but the girl who ranked second was pregnant. Because of the pregnancy, she was dumped and her grades dropped, so she blamed everything on Jingjing. She didn't abuse the school rules; she had an abortion at the hospital and then used the child to make a wish, smearing the fetal blood on Jingjing's hair, which led to Jingjing's death.
This was something the girl herself told a reporter from the newspaper, but such words are like rumors and can't be published at all, so in the end, Jingjing was still ruled out as an accident.
Human behavior can be prevented, but if a ghost is driven by someone to do something on its own, then you won't be able to find any evidence.
Wu Wangwang thought for a moment and said, "I didn't really want to use such disgusting methods, but if I don't, you guys will be unable to survive. Do you remember? Ghosts are reported for fighting and brawling and will be eliminated. Mi Cai and you two were also reported, and the school decided to believe it and punished you two directly."
Girl C quickly realized: "You mean, we should strike first and report the ghost? That way, the people who want to kill us won't have a ghost. It won't be easy for them to find a ghost to kill us again in just one week. By the time of the college entrance exam, the judges will be watching and won't allow us to make a move."
“Yes, as long as you can make it to the final round of the college entrance examination, you’re halfway there.” Wu Wangwang nodded seriously.
"But wouldn't that be too obvious?" Male B was a little worried that if they reported so many people at once, it would look like a student-on-student conflict or revenge.
Ling Yuanshan thought for a moment and shook his head: "We can report at different times. Whoever is tortured the most frequently and the most severely means they are closest to death. I will write it. I happen to have a bottle of prop ink. The content written with this ink cannot be verified by handwriting. I have never used this stuff before. I almost forgot. After I finish writing it, I will ask my senior to help me deliver it to the dean of students."
Wu Wangwang was always shocked by Ling Yuanshan's prop collection: "Why do you have this?"
The students nodded in agreement. They only knew that Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang had been tricked into a dungeon once before. Wu Wangwang's item had already been revealed by the referee to be a blue dress. They didn't know what Ling Yuanshan's item was, but they had a feeling that the two of them had other secrets.
But what does that have to do with them? Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang have worked hard for them recently, and they are not the kind of ungrateful people. They can ignore any strange things. They are just as curious as Wu Wangwang about where the ink came from.
Ling Yuanshan paused for a moment and said, "It was the time I got tricked. I happened to come across the letter-related content. After clearing the dungeon, the letter that I couldn't find any flaws in no matter what I did was eventually given to me as a reward in the form of ink, similar to Ge Nan's little skirt. Okay, let's not talk about the past. Now, report the number of times you've been attacked in the last three days."
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: You're practically a different kind of Doraemon! [starry-eyed]
Ling Yuanshan: There's still a difference. I can't produce any of the props you want. [laughing and crying with face covered]
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