Chapter 76 The old school campus encountered the ghost from Unit 4 first. ...
However, the toilets remained toilets. The molten iron pools were stained with rust, the white tiles had become a dirty, gradient color, the trash cans were half full, and the instant noodles that some student had secretly eaten during break were soaking in the trash bags. The lighting was dim, the mop bucket occupied the first stall, and there were almost no intact toilet doors, each damaged in its own unique way.
Flowers filled the pool in this ordinary toilet, blooming on their own, making the place seem almost vulgar.
There was a "gurgling" sound, as if something was surging upwards but getting stuck. Xue Chao pushed aside the flowers that seemed to have a built-in soft light effect. The drain not only didn't "drain" anything, but flowers even surged upwards.
The flowers came from downstairs.
No wonder. This floor is the senior high school floor, and the classrooms are all very quiet. The blackboards are covered with writing, probably from the questions the teachers went over in the evening classes. A black and red countdown clock hangs in the upper left corner of the blackboard, saying "xx days until the college entrance exam." The blackboard behind the wall isn't decorated with bulletin boards; instead, it's covered with excellent test papers and essays. The words on both walls are the same: "Life can be repeated, but the college entrance exam only happens once." Test papers and workbooks are piled up in every visible corner, with almost no playful fun or color to be seen. The cleanliness is so intense that it makes you feel pressured.
It doesn't match the pool with flowing flowers.
Sheng Hong's timeline is in the first year of high school, while the character he is acting for is in the third year. So he explored it carefully the first time, but apart from his mind being filled with dense mock exam questions pieced together like ants, he didn't gain anything. He only found clues after checking it again.
To allow students to focus on their studies, all the small bookshelves at the back of each class were moved and returned to the library. Each class had some extracurricular books that students had taken to read. The student council checked the number of books and sent a list. Several groups of students were asked to return the books, but Class 7 of the senior year still had one book that had not been returned.
A note urging students to borrow books was stuck on the podium, next to which was the homeroom teacher's notes, with several names written and question marks added. These were all students on the list who frequently borrowed books; it was a "suspect list."
But the sticky note was buried under the exam paper and seemed to have been forgotten.
Xue Chao searched for the seats of these students, but found no missing books. However, he noticed something strange: the students were all specializing in one subject over another. Some were good at math, some were good at physics, and some were only interested in Chinese. They didn't seem to get along very well, but they had one thing in common: in their notes for their preferred subject, they would have one or two pages of content unrelated to the subject.
The notes were very deceptive, especially the physics and math notes. They contained formulas and derivations, but the content included terms like "cosmic strings," "general relativity," "wormholes," and "Doppler effect." Xue Chao looked at them for a long time, completely bewildered, before finally realizing that they were researching "time machines."
His idea was confirmed in a girl's notebook:
"Time is just one form of space." [1]
“A long time ago, I vaguely conceived of inventing a machine—” [2]
A thought immediately struck him: a jumbled timeline, going back to the past or glimpsing the future—wasn't that the essence of this scenario?
These two sentences, however, lack a source and author—the book that has yet to be returned?
Perhaps because there was no real protagonist, he didn't find many clues on the senior high school floor. The only two chaotic scenes he found seemed to have been "borrowed" from the junior and senior high school students downstairs.
The chaos only truly ended on the lower floors. The corridor was covered with a soft red carpet, making no sound when he stepped on it. Even before he walked, bursts of light followed him, overlapping his body and making it difficult for him to open his eyes.
Not only the toilet sink, but the water dispenser was also overflowing with petals. The ventilation window was open, and when the cold wind swept through, colorful petals rolled onto the carpet, as if paving an inspiring road of honor for him.
The scene at the awards ceremony?
He couldn't linger in the corridor; all the light combined created the same effect as the classroom's main light, and there was no escape even by following the wall. He first waited in the stairwell, figuring out which classroom to go to.
The introduction boards of famous figures such as Newton and Lu Xun were above his head, decorated with colorful metallic paper borders like a party, making the academic atmosphere "fun". After Xue Chao finished leaning against the wall and got up, his sleeves were covered with glitter that he couldn't wipe off. He rubbed his fingertips and his hands were sparkling – it turned out to be wall plaster.
He was on the fourth floor, while Sheng Hong was exploring the first and second floors. Just then, Jiang Ming appeared pushing a box of performance props and greeted her with a smile.
Sheng Hong casually glanced at him, but her body tended to lean back... After all, at the end of the last unit, she activated the future corpse but burned Jiang Ming... Moreover, she saw Xue Chao forcibly kiss Jiang Ming first, realizing that Xue Chao had already turned the tables, but she still activated it, thinking that "if I can implicate him a little bit, I will." She didn't care about Jiang Ming at all, so she was inevitably afraid that he would hold her accountable: "You're just doing odd jobs again?"
"Working part-time, running around backstage, I can earn enough for two days' food expenses." The corridor lights focused on the two of them, so Jiang Ming's words and actions became exaggerated, like a stage actor under a spotlight. After correcting himself righteously, he quickly smiled again, with a touch of slickness, always trying to be cheerful and agreeable to everyone. "How's the performance preparation going?"
Sheng Hong grasped the concept immediately, connecting the information and understanding the main storyline of her unit. A smile played on her lips, a composed and smug look on her face, a look of accustomed composure to all the praise: "I'm the female lead."
The first and second year students are preparing for the cultural festival, and each class has to put on a show. Sheng Hong's class, the first year class 1, is putting on a play. The program list has been released, but the play title has been crossed out.
But it didn't matter; among the performers, she was listed first as the representative.
Jiang Ming: "You'd better watch out for the 'male lead'."
Mentioning Xue Chao suddenly ignited Sheng Hong's anger. Anyone who had their prey slip away from them a few times would grit their teeth in frustration: "You reminded me, my segment has been going on for so long and the host hasn't come to find me yet. Looks like he has his own things to do?" she said sarcastically.
Jiang Ming responded by referring to the "male protagonist" as the "female protagonist," but as soon as the joke containing the reminder came out, he himself became unhappy. Because of the sunflower's head, he didn't show it obviously, but his voice became cold: "Don't worry, he will definitely come to kill you."
Sheng Hong thought he had lost his mind: "Should I kill him?"
“So he needs to strike first before his popularity reaches 60 points.” Jiang Ming brushed past her, pushing his suitcase to take the elevator. “After all, you never intended to ‘burn yourself to serve your master’.”
Each time he was just a step away from victory, it wasn't "divine" at all. How much of it was intentional, a pretense of failure, just to have a legitimate reason to use his superpower?
The anger faded from her beautiful, flushed face, and she chuckled, feigning genuine joy, unconcerned that the host on the other end of the camera could see everything: "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. If I, a weapon maker, can take it all in stride, then those who wield the blade should understand this principle even more... But you are right to remind me that we must continue to 'work hard.' How can a divine weapon slack off?"
She turned and went straight upstairs—she had taken the initiative to find Xue Chao!
Xue Chao cursed the two lunatics under his breath and headed straight for a classroom.
The classroom was confiscated and used as a temporary dressing room and makeup room. Perhaps for the sake of secrecy, the curtains were drawn very politely in the classrooms that were open and brightly lit. The lights were also restrained, only shining on the edges of the room and the mirrors. The dark places were mysterious, which better highlighted the various faces that would appear in the bright places, giving it a bit of a Broadway backstage feel.
The clothes racks borrowed from the teacher's office weren't enough to hang the costumes, so they took up the hooks on the wall where slogans were hung, creating a circle on the wall. Half of the table around the costumes was also covered with them, while the other half was filled with wigs, decorative props, and cosmetics.
He looked around but didn't see anyone had changed out of their school uniform, and clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
The fifth character is a senior high school student who doesn't participate in the cultural festival. Wearing the affiliated high school uniform is the most reliable option. Although, according to his observation, the player and the character they play have commonalities, the character chosen for the instance shouldn't be random. Jiang Ming, that lunatic, might have originally been playing a troublemaker who lives to cause trouble for others, skipping class when the teacher isn't looking, wearing a banana or apple costume to join in the fun with the younger students. But it's still better than him wandering around in a hospital gown.
He hid in a prop tree, the dense plastic leaves concealing his body, observing Sheng Hong's movements while studying the rubber band gun among the props. He muttered to himself, wondering what his chances were of using this thing to fight the humanoid sniper who opened the door.
The enemy didn't give him a chance. Sheng Hong entered the room and took only a black and gold designer bag. She touched up her makeup and went back to the second floor. She used the key to open the rehearsal room of the music club. The female lead was popular and had no shortage of hormone-fueled male high school students who rushed to fawn over her. She treated the music club as her personal dressing room and disdained to squeeze into a "dormitory" with a group of supporting characters.
She was carrying a makeup bag anyway, and she was deliberately trying to mislead him with those words.
...Spending so much time with Jiang Ming, Xue Chao felt like even the most precious red rose had become "indebted." He had so many things to thank Her Majesty the Queen for in his heart. Emerging from his "tree hole," he searched several more times, but still couldn't find a school uniform. He had no choice but to temporarily use a beige trench coat befitting a private detective.
The new hospital gown had been torn in several places by Sheng Hong who rushed over, and the lower leg area was always exposed to the wind. At this moment, when the silky satin suddenly brushed against him, Xue Chao's hand holding the clothes hanger paused, and goosebumps slowly crept up his skin.
He lowered his head slightly and saw the flowing red skirt swirling and clinging to his calves.
He looked up again and glanced at the mirror out of the corner of his eye. The bright red, diamond-studded gown that had been hanging on the wall was now "standing" behind him.
The reason for using the word "standing" is that there is no support inside the dress or on the dress itself, yet it looks like the most iconic "air mannequin" is wearing, hanging there empty yet elegantly, and even the length of the skirt reaching the ground is just right, with the rolled-up hem slightly brushing the ground.
Xue Chao was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to take it or not. He decided to just put it on like that, at least to look presentable. However, while facing this seemingly magical "lady's" garment, he accidentally aggravated the injured muscle on the inside of his arm, and the other sleeve slipped off his arm instead of going through.
His heart clenched slightly, afraid that hitting the clothes behind him would anger the ghost. Just as he was about to pull it, the sleeve of the trench coat suddenly flicked almost imperceptibly, gently catching his arm and letting it slide in smoothly.
Xue Chao's hand froze, and he expressionlessly took off his coat and hung it back up.
The trench coat seemed to quiet down for a moment, then swayed unhappily, its belt almost getting tangled around him.
Clapping sounds rang out in the quiet classroom, not the crisp sound of human hands clapping, but the muffled "thud, thud" of fabric hitting each other—a pair of white gloves on the dressing table were clapping on their own.
...He, a substitute player in the fifth unit, encountered the ghost in the fourth unit first.
The clothes on the table straightened up like a person straightening from a backbend, facing Xue Chao as if they were sitting at the table. The hems of their skirts or trousers were raised on their toes, with the heels resting on the table legs, looking quite relaxed, like spectators watching a play.
They were indeed spectators. Most of the costumes on the table were women's costumes, and the other half, even those worn by men, were mostly ordinary or strange, either "supporting roles" or "background figures." If the tree spirit hadn't been so straight and unable to bend over, it would definitely have been among them.
The costumes on the wall were more exquisite. They turned their "necks" to free themselves from the hangers and hooks, and when they landed, the hems swayed due to inertia.
The crimson gown moved, circling him once, seemingly quite satisfied. What she was dissatisfied with was probably his fresh and hideous scar. The cold satin brushed against it several times, with a slight force as if trying to scrape it off, showing great regret, like looking at a natural crack in a top-grade jade.
Xue Chao dodged, so the dress also stepped back a little, elegantly lifting the hem of the skirt, marking the end of it.
Several other exquisite female costumes also joined in the fun, expressing their opinions, mainly whether they were satisfied or not. A group of empty costumes swirled around the classroom, their body language rich, scrutinizing and judging him, and the result was that "satisfied" was the majority.
...It seems he has passed some kind of test without his knowledge.
But this was only the first hurdle, an entry test to determine if he was qualified. When the most exquisite and unique costumes among the boys' costumes came over to compare, including gorgeous prince suits, knight outfits, noble suits, dark patterned long gowns for young masters, and ferocious dragon suits, Xue Chao knew in his heart that these were the costumes of the male leads or villains of each class's dramas choosing people.
The bright red gown, which was originally hanging on the hanger behind Sheng Hong's makeup bag, sat back down in the chair in front of the bag after the other actresses had finished looking at Xue Chao's costumes and deciding whether he was worthy of being the male lead. It was the seat that was originally assigned to Sheng Hong.
This is the costume for the female lead in a drama. Sheng Hong didn't say anything when she arrived, so she seemed quite satisfied with her.
The male actors were also very satisfied with Xue Chao, but there was only one of him, not enough for them to share.
He didn't mind being chosen by the clothes; he was eager to change out of this hospital gown.
But these clothes have a more living presence than he does. Once you put them on... who is the master of your body?
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