Chapter 36 Indicators
Such a timid and stuttering little ghost certainly could not be the devilish head teacher that the monitor in the plaid shirt spent four or five rows on the answer sheet to describe how terrifying and manipulative he was.
Or, "class teacher" is originally just a position, and here it is just a title. As long as the lord is willing, any face he wants can be the class teacher. It is just a mouthpiece.
but……
"If the Lord himself is not in the shell of the 'class teacher', then where is it..."
Jiunian reminded him, "This is its home turf. In principle, it can appear in any form and shape as long as it wishes."
Qing Bai quietly looked at the person in front of him who had a calm face, as if he didn't know how terrible the truth he had said was... If Qi Xiaopang was here, he would probably be suspicious and see enemies everywhere, and everyone would look like a traitor, and he would scare himself half to death.
Qing Bai couldn't help but secretly feel lucky that he was so generous, otherwise...
Jiu Nian continued, "But every change in the world has traces. If it remained unchanged, it would be fine. But as long as it moves, there will definitely be clues."
"...It's better not to change it," Qing Bai said calmly, looking away. "Since the 'class teacher' in the office is just a mouthpiece, then for the fun of the 'game', it's natural for it to be a front-row seat."
What could be more interesting and experiential than being in the scene?
Strangely enough, Jiu Nian always understood Qing Bai's thoughts quickly and gave timely feedback: "Except for the one in the hospital gown, the other three are all possible."
"They answered the questions incorrectly, and the lord punished them by shrinking their bodies and infusing them with a flood of resentful energy. Unlike the little girl's mischievous prank last time, this is a true method of trapping living people permanently within the crevice. If time drags on long enough, even breaking the crevice won't help... And now, the auras of these three are almost identical to those of the other humanoid forms in the classroom, transformed from resentment."
Qing Bai frowned and asked, "If we reveal the cracks before they are completely assimilated, will it have any impact on them?"
Jiu Nian nodded: "I will be seriously ill."
After all, they are dealing with ghosts, and no one knows how long they have stayed here in reality. Everything in the crevice is transformed by resentment. There is no water or food. If it drags on for too long, even if the Lord of the Rift finally changes his mind and doesn't want to take it in, the living will starve to death.
"...It's just a serious illness, as long as there's a glimmer of hope." Qing Bai got down from the table, "Let's continue looking."
He walked slowly around the office and finally stopped in front of the blackboard at the innermost end. The blackboard, which was blank just now, now had a small school newspaper. This newspaper should be published by the school itself. The paper used was cheap, the layout was perfunctory, and it was very amateurish... The theme of this issue of the school newspaper was "Creating a Harmonious Campus Together".
Qing Bai's eyes swept over the English reading, math problems, and ancient Chinese literature appreciation that occupied a large area in the newspaper... Finally, in a small corner, he saw something that was slightly less related to learning.
One is to announce the praise that a classmate from Class 2, Grade 9 won the first prize in a certain competition and brought honor to the school.
One is a notice of criticism that Chang Qiuqiu, a student in Class 2, Grade 9, has been isolating and bullying his classmates for a long time, and the circumstances are extremely serious.
...I can only say that it is like heaven and hell, and the gap between people is so huge. If the head teacher of Class 2 and 3 was really here, I believe his expression would be very interesting.
Qing Bai took the newspaper off the blackboard and turned it to the back, where he found two more unfortunate notices in the same corner.
One is that Zhou Xiaoya, a student in Class 2, Grade 9, died unexpectedly.
One is that physical education teacher Li Nan is suffering from cancer and is calling on students to donate money.
"This Class 2 of Grade 9 is really full of troubles." Qing Bai sighed, then decisively folded the newspaper and stuffed it into his pocket.
This office, already swamped by typhoon activity, probably couldn't find any serious notices. Even if there were, they didn't have the time to waste flipping through them one by one. A notice in the newspaper was still a notice, so they could just keep it in their pocket for now and use it as a template when they needed it later.
Seeing Qing Bai like this, Jiu Nian understood that he had given up on searching in the office, so he responded, "Misfortunes breed resentment."
Qing Bai straightened his clothes that were messed up by the cold wind, and his expression changed the moment he raised his eyes. His pair of calm and clear eyes were naturally beautiful, but when he stared at one place like this without any light in his eyes, these dark eyes seemed particularly deep and even a little weird.
Qing Bai opened his pair of dark and deep eyes, raised his eyes slightly and stared at Jiu Nian, his voice low, as if he was going to tell... a ghost story.
"Have you heard of the death index?"
Jiu Nian was a little confused by his sudden change of expression and was slow to react: "Wha...what?"
"It is said that every school has a death quota every year, and the number of students jumping from buildings accounts for the largest number. As long as the number of students who die exceeds this quota, the school leaders will be summoned for a talk and rectification..." Qing Bai stared at Jiunian's eyes, which were as light as the reflection of ink, and said softly, "The quota for my class was originally qualified, but later..."
Jiu Nian cooperated very well: "What happened next?"
Qing Bai's eyes flickered, and then he returned to his usual expressionless appearance. He said in a cold voice, "Then he failed."
Nine years: "..."
Jiu Nian suddenly didn't know how to respond. If he had taken the time to surf the internet, he would have understood that this speechless feeling could be roughly divided into: That's it? and "Listening to you is like listening to a whole conversation."
However, he had not yet touched upon a certain magical understanding, so after a moment of silence, he spoke seriously, "My condolences."
Qing Bai laughed: "Why should I mourn? Students are under so much pressure nowadays, isn't it normal for a few to die every year? Besides, the people who are going to meet those damn indicators are not..."
"I just feel..." Jiu Nian frowned slightly, carefully choosing his words, "You seem very sad."
“…It’s not me.”
The superficial smile on Qing Bai's face faded little by little, and his brows were still furrowed as he stood there on the ground covered with waste paper, looking at each other in silence.
The silence was finally broken by a sharp ringing of a bell. Qing Bai first looked away and looked at the speaker behind the door.
"get out of class is over."
From the corridor outside the door came the sound of footsteps that were continuous and very deliberate, as if afraid that no one else could hear them. The doors of every classroom were opened, and the "people" in the classrooms poured out, gathering on the playground like a black stream flowing into the sea. Everything was silent and orderly, as if they had done this thousands of times.
It was not until the familiar radio gymnastics music sounded that Qing Bai remembered that there was physical exercise during class breaks in middle school, an activity that all students hated.
But for them now, it is a great opportunity. Along the way, they can also enjoy the radio gymnastics performance outside that is like a zombie siege.
"Either the leader of this crevice died not long ago and has forgotten how to do the radio gymnastics, or his limbs were uncoordinated when he was in school and now his upper beams are not straight and his lower beams are crooked. With this level of skill, he doesn't even need on-the-job training in a horror escape room." Perhaps due to the silence just now, Qing Bai rarely complained.
Nine years of knowledge only partially proved that he had "been educated" before, so Qing Bai was in no mood to force himself to speak. Fortunately, the office was not far from the classroom, and his two long legs quietly quickened their pace and arrived there in a short while.
"Brother Qing, you are finally back!"
As soon as he opened the door, he was warmly welcomed. Qing Bai looked up and found that everyone who should be there was there.
Fatty Qi was of course there, along with Ban Bieyi in his hospital gown, the skinny boy in a suit, the squad leader in a plaid shirt, and the girl in a red skirt… There was even one more person: the black, straight-haired girl sitting behind the suited boy who had met his gaze earlier. It was just that after all this time, she was still furiously writing.
Qing Bai glanced at the two bamboo baskets on the podium that Qi Xiaopang had taken with him when he escaped, and they were now empty.
"You don't need to go down?"
"I went down with them for the past two days, but now... I just can't dance anymore." The squad leader in the plaid shirt raised his sleeve to wipe the corners of his mouth stained with watermelon juice. He smiled a little sheepishly, looking a little silly. "I've been hungry for three days since we came here, and finally I have something to eat... If you had come a day later, we would have starved to death here."
Qi Xiaopang tried to comfort him, "It's okay. People can survive for about a month without food and only drinking water... Is there water here?"
"There is water...but we don't know what kind of water it is, so we try not to drink it unless we really can't hold on any longer." The speaker was Ban Bieyi. He came here as soon as he opened his eyes after the operation. After enduring for so long, his body and mind were on the verge of collapse, and his face was frighteningly pale.
Qi Xiaopang stood beside him, acting as a feeding assistant, holding a piece of watermelon in one hand and half a peach in the other. Listening to Ban Bieyi's weak voice, Xiaopang felt annoyed: "Oh, if I had known earlier, I should have brought a jar of porridge that Brother Qing made this morning... Even a couple of buns would be better than cold fruit."
Ban Bieyi sighed, "I feel so guilty that you came to visit me and were tricked into this kind of place..."
Qi Xiaopang moved his lips, wanting to say that they weren't all tricked into coming here. With the speed of the 'takeout' his brother Qing was delivering, they would find their way here sooner or later. But thinking of the other strangers around, he swallowed the truth and replaced it with a dry consolation: "It's okay, there's strength in numbers. We'll be out soon... Eat a few more bites."
Qing Bai only mentioned this once before walking aside and flipping through the collected papers. He had set the questions, so a quick glance would tell whether they were right or wrong. The results were exactly as he'd expected: across the forty-five papers, the answers to the questions he knew and the questions he got wrong were highly repetitive. While it was clear the examiner had done their best to make each paper unique, with some getting more correct and others less, the answers to the questions he didn't know clearly weren't. Repeatedly tinkering with the same few questions couldn't hide the fact. Any teacher with a bit of teaching experience or a student who frequently copied homework would have seen the trick.
After finishing the test paper and looking at the people again, Qing Bai suddenly felt that people were still interesting - Qi Xiaopang was busy surrounding Ban Bieyi, while the boy in the suit who had gone to great lengths to pass a letter to them to save "Number One" was sitting the farthest away from Ban Bieyi, not even making eye contact, pretending not to know him...
Qing Bai raised the corner of his mouth, but didn't expose her. Instead, he asked something else: "...What about the student behind? Why doesn't she go down?"
Qing Bai keenly noticed that the three shrunken students stiffened quickly. The last one to speak was the monitor in the plaid shirt: "You're talking about Zhou Xiaoya... She's not in good health and can't do strenuous exercise. She doesn't need to go to calisthenics or physical education classes."
Qing Bai nodded thoughtfully. Zhou Xiaoya was the student who died accidentally in the notice.
The girl in the red dress who had been silent all this time snorted coldly, then vented her anger and said loudly and sarcastically: "Poor health? It's obviously your brain that's not working!"
The girl with long black hair turned a deaf ear and focused on writing her own work.
The squad leader in the plaid shirt couldn't stand it any longer and whispered to stop him: "Why did you provoke her? It's not like you don't know..."
He stopped abruptly in the middle of his words.
The girl in the red dress tutted her words loudly and turned around in circles in frustration. "I know, I know! But isn't it all because of her that we're trapped in this damn place? I can only say a few words now. If you don't let me speak any more, I'll be annoyed to death!"
Ban Beiyi frowned, and the boy in the suit finally looked up at him...neither of them spoke.
For a moment, the only sound in the empty classroom was the crisp and rapid "clicking" sound of the girl in the red dress's high heels stepping on the ground.
Qing Bai listened for a while, then suddenly asked, "Your name is Chang Qiuqiu?"
The girl in the red dress paused in her spinning steps, confusion evident on her youthful and bright face: "How do you know my name?"
After saying that, he looked at his three old classmates and asked, "What did you say?"
The three of them shook their heads at the same time.
Qing Bai improvised, "They have similar temperaments."
Chang Qiuqiu: “???”
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