The black exam papers burned out, leaving a stack of red ones, which spun in the air above the classroom before being distributed to the remaining students.
Xiao Cheng received her exam paper.
Exactly sixty points.
On the last essay question she left blank, she marked it with a thick, bold X, clearly indicating that the grader was genuinely angry.
"Congratulations," Teacher Liu said to her through gritted teeth.
"Of course, it's all thanks to the teacher's excellent teaching." Xiao Cheng put the test paper away with a grin.
Immediately afterwards, the scene before her eyes became abstract, with Teacher Liu's body being stretched and twisted continuously, and finally disappearing with a pop along with the classroom.
The surrounding scenery changed again, and she was back in the art room of the activity center. Fang He and Liu Xiaoying, one squatting and one standing, were studying the three heads that looked exactly like them.
“It’s real.” Fang He held his own head, turning it over and over to examine it for a long time before finally concluding, “There’s no sign of it being disguised; this is my head.”
Liu Xiaoying nodded in agreement, then voiced her guess: "Could it be us from another timeline?"
"It's hard to say, but no matter which timeline I'm in, I probably wouldn't die such a miserable death," Fang He said calmly.
Xiao Cheng, standing to the side, found the scene increasingly eerie.
Is this how the big shots usually chat?
Wait, was I the only one who took a two-hour exam?!
Xiao Cheng once again felt the incongruity of the world. He coughed twice forcefully to make his presence known, and then tentatively asked, "Didn't you guys feel anything strange just now?"
"A strange feeling?" Fang He looked up at her, puzzled. "Apart from these three heads... nothing."
"Did I suddenly disappear just now?" Xiao Cheng decided to be more direct in her question.
Liu Xiaoying couldn't help but laugh: "Instant teleportation? Little Orange, you didn't actually succeed in mastering it, did you?"
Xiao Cheng: "..."
She gave up completely and was just about to tell him about the exam when, before she could even open her mouth, everything suddenly went dark, and in the blink of an eye, she was at the entrance of the dormitory building.
And it was dark.
The dormitory supervisor sat in her small room, not showing herself, and loudly reminded the late-returning students in a high-pitched voice typical of middle-aged women: "Hurry back! There's only half an hour until closing time!"
A series of question marks appeared in Xiao Cheng's mind.
What kind of teleportation is this?! Could it be that he's actually succeeded in cultivating it?!
For once, she acted childishly. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she picked up a stone, scurried to a corner like a thief, and focused her mind, shouting, "Transform!"
There was no response.
It cannot turn lead into gold.
Xiao Cheng tossed the stone away in disappointment, dusted off his hands, and before he could turn around, he heard a soft laugh coming from not far away.
It's Fang He.
He somehow acquired a complete set of black clothes, the kind with a hood, and when he stood in the shadows, he almost completely blended into the darkness.
Noticing Xiao Cheng's wary gaze, he sighed helplessly, took two steps closer, and said jokingly, "Sorry, I really couldn't help it."
Compared to whether he was smiling or not, Xiao Cheng was more concerned about Fang He himself and what his situation was.
Is it really Fang He? Or is it that strange thing possessing his body and impersonating him?
The intricate timeline led to many unpredictable possibilities. Noticing his approach, Xiao Cheng unconsciously took a few steps back, putting distance between them again.
Fang He sensed something was wrong and dropped his joking expression: "What happened? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Xiao Cheng didn't want to test him, so she went straight to the point and asked, "Are you Fang He?"
Fang He did not answer immediately. Instead, he scrutinized her for a long time with a discerning gaze before nodding almost imperceptibly: "I am Fang He."
Xiao Cheng stared at him silently for a long time, then suddenly relaxed: "If it's you, that's fine. Which timeline is this?"
Without further explanation, she knew that Fang He could understand what she meant.
He did understand.
"The first day of classes is over," Fang He replied. "We agreed to go see Teacher Liu for some extra tutoring, since the mock exam is tomorrow."
"A special meal at this hour? Are you planning to stay out all night?" Xiao Cheng said jokingly.
She didn't dare mention the exam again; if the timeline were to change again out of nowhere, who knows what might happen.
The office building was pitch black at that time. The two followed the signs and made their way to the top floor in the dark, finally finding Teacher Liu's office.
Both doors to the office were locked, and the inside of the windows was covered with colored cellophane, which reflected a faint light even in the darkness.
"Can you pick locks?" Xiao Cheng squinted, bent down, and peered into the office through the keyhole.
As expected, nothing could be seen.
“Given the nature of horror games, it’s easy to get a close-range kill at this point.” Fang He gently pulled Xiao Cheng’s arm aside and then took out half a rusty wire from his pocket.
"Where did you get this wire?" Xiao Cheng hadn't expected him to be so well-prepared. She watched with wide eyes as he twisted the wire into a strange shape, then poked it into the keyhole and fiddled with it for a few moments.
"Almost there." Fang He said, then readjusted the shape of the wire, rubbed off the brown rust on his fingertips, and inserted the wire again.
With a soft click, the door opened.
The light switch was on the wall next to the door, within easy reach. Xiao Cheng went in first and turned on the light, and the room instantly became exceptionally bright.
The office is divided into two rooms, an outer room and an inner room. The outer room is larger and has a desk with a computer and a stack of documents on it.
The computer wasn't off; the screen lit up as soon as I moved the mouse slightly. There was no lock screen password, but the system version seemed a bit old, making it very slow and laggy.
The computer desktop is very clean. There is no internet connection. There are three folders side by side in the upper left corner, named one, two, and three respectively.
The first folder contains only a blank document, and the document's title is a randomly generated string of gibberish.
Folder number two contains the student roster, listing all students' student IDs and dormitory numbers by class, with the counselor's name, Sparta, listed at the end.
Xiao Cheng: "..." I'm waiting here, so you were forced to skip levels before, right?!
Folder number three contains information on seven players. Now, apart from the three who are still alive, all the other players' names have been crossed out, and are marked in italics with the words "Corrected."
"What does this mean? Is it related to atonement?" Xiao Cheng flipped through the document again from beginning to end, but unfortunately, he didn't find anything else of value.
The documents next to them were no different from waste paper to them.
Fang He turned and looked around, then pointed to the door leading to the inner room: "Let's go in and take a look."
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