Chapter 58 Hellish Exam Week
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[Reporting in! With the help of the cheat program, I successfully survived ten minutes in the Hell difficulty dungeon! I'm here to share the good news!]
[A timeline of currently known instances has been compiled; click to see the principal at different ages.]
[There's a hellish instance set almost five years after the virus outbreak, when the entire continent is practically deserted. The principal was visibly momentarily stunned when he saw me; it was a bit heartbreaking…]
Everyone's playing the "escort" feature, am I the only one using the "experience" feature? I randomly selected a high-level dungeon, and the principal's perspective was terrifyingly calm throughout. When we were surrounded by a dozen zombies, I almost screamed, but her emotions calmed me down.
If the simulator system hadn't explained that it could sense the uploader's emotional fluctuations and that the function was enabled, I would have thought it was malfunctioning...
[Reply: You're the one who can resist seeing the principal (thumbs up), and I'm the one (thumbs down)]
...
As soon as Lu Dongyu left the dungeon, she quickly posted on the forum. As one of the first players to experience the new features after the update, her post quickly became a hot topic.
As a lurker on the forum, this was her first time posting, and she was quite flattered to receive so much attention.
But soon, more posts appeared, overshadowing hers.
Lu Dongyu was not disappointed at all; on the contrary, she was like a badger that had fallen into a melon patch, watching with great interest.
I can only spend one hour a week with the principal; the rest of the time I can't enter the combat pod. It's good enough to hear other people's descriptions!
Soon, even the teachers were attracted.
Bai Tang made a special trip to the dormitory next door and knocked on Fu Qing's door. She immediately asked, "Can teachers also use the simulated combat pod?"
"Can."
After thinking for a moment, Fu Qing enabled a new function on the teacher's wristband: after students have made their reservations, they can check the available time slots that no one has made a reservation for.
As soon as the feature was launched, those time slots were quietly booked up.
Bai Tang finally got to experience what it felt like to have perfect physical fitness. She specially chose a high-rise escape scenario and activated Fu Qing's perspective, merging into her body. She watched "her own body" jump down from the inconspicuous protrusions on the wall, each time only slightly cushioning the fall before finding the next landing point. There was almost no pause in between, and from the outside, it looked like she was falling straight down from a high-rise building.
The wind howled in her ears, whipping through her hair and making her clothes flutter wildly, yet Bai Tang felt a sense of exhilaration she had never experienced before.
First-person perspective, holographic simulation, realistic experience – isn't this more fun than playing games?
Unlike Bai Tang, who enthusiastically shared his experience as soon as he stepped out of the simulator, Hao Zhenye remained silent afterward. It was only when Fu Qing passed by the playground after breakfast one day that she noticed that he seemed to have quietly doubled his morning training volume.
Of course, teachers are different from students. They can't just go and experience it after making an appointment. Especially the newcomers Lu Yan and Xu Mingyue, who haven't had time to upload the dungeons yet. Taking this opportunity, they frantically searched their memories. In just one week, everyone worked together to add dozens of dungeons to the simulation pod.
And the access history can be viewed.
Unlike the automatically generated instances that are mainly about combat and escape, the instances uploaded by teachers are much richer and more diverse.
Furthermore, with this feature update, the format of the dungeons has also changed. The number of players in multiplayer cooperative dungeons has increased, allowing students to choose different roles to cooperate and also allowing for longer time spans.
For example, in instance 093, the mission objective is to work with the soldiers to save as many survivors as possible within the critical 72-hour window after the shelter falls.
In this mission, students can form groups to take on different responsibilities. Some are responsible for providing first aid to the wounded, some are responsible for clearing the remaining zombies in the shelter, and others are responsible for finding suitable locations and temporarily building new shelters to transfer the wounded.
This is a copy uploaded jointly by Lu Yan and Xu Mingyue.
For example, in instance 104, the mission is to protect your water supply in an increasingly chaotic apartment building and fight against rioting neighbors within a week after the water supply is cut off.
Other examples include instance #99, where emergency repairs were carried out on a collapsed safe house after a torrential rain; instance #111, where a pregnant woman gave birth; and instance #108, where orphans and widows trapped in an apartment building fought off thugs who were trying to steal their supplies, and so on...
The different versions of the game have distinct styles, making it easy to guess the identity of the uploader.
Several new anonymous tourists with different identification numbers have also appeared in the historical image database.
Even Fu Qing shared his memories, and the teachers followed the principal's lead almost without hesitation, sharing their own memories and emotions.
They are dead; if these memories are useful to the living, let them have them.
The students seemed to glimpse a corner of their teachers' hearts through these memories, experiencing hours and days of their lives.
Anger, fear, anxiety, grief, regret...
When they left the instance, those emotions that did not belong to them were instantly extracted by the system, yet they seemed to leave an indelible mark on their hearts.
Without realizing it, the students became more diligent.
*
After the onset of winter, S City experienced its first snowfall.
Fangzhou Campus is located near the mountains and a river with a large flow, making winters particularly cold. Fluffy snowflakes fall in abundance, accumulating into a thick layer on the playground. When jogging in the night, one shivers from the cold and doesn't even want to speak; the only sound is the crunching of snow underfoot.
A thin layer of ice had formed on the tiled floor at the entrance of the cafeteria, making it slippery to walk on, and one could easily slip and fall.
The distant mountains were already covered with thick snow, and sometimes when you stood on the dormitory building and looked out, all you could see was pure white.
Fu Qing sat in the heated office, browsing the results displayed on the system panel.
The above is a ranking of the combined scores from the three monthly exams and the midterm exam this semester. In addition, it also includes a summary of students' usual grades and simulation test scores.
The monthly exam at the end of December was canceled because it was too close to the final exam. After the final exam, the list of Fuqing's "special team" should be finalized.
More than four months have passed, and a clear gap has emerged among the students. Fu Qing already has several outstanding candidates in mind.
Next, all that remains is to inquire about their personal wishes.
Fu Qing turned her chair halfway around, looking at the red silk fluttering up and down from the air conditioner vent, and was quite emotional. She couldn't remember the last time she had such a warm winter.
Although the entire school was mobilized to search for the believers over the weekend, it is unclear whether it was because the students spontaneously increased their training, resulting in fewer people going out on weekends, or whether it was simply too difficult to find a small group of people skilled in hiding in a city with a population of tens of millions. In any case, Fu Qing has not yet been able to find a second mutant besides the skeleton.
They also gained no further information about the woman with burn scars.
On the other hand, three more mass casualty incidents had occurred in City S in the past two months, keeping the police extremely busy. Officer Chen hadn't called her again to report on the case's progress. Perhaps because Fu Qing hadn't contacted him, the police, having confirmed her safety, reduced their attention to her.
This also means that the cyber police most likely didn't find anything.
The investigation into the devout believers seemed to have stalled for the time being, so Fu Qing focused her attention on teaching.
Final exams are next week, and after that, there will be a 40-day winter break.
To avoid arousing suspicion from parents and to make it easier for students to go home and prepare for the apocalypse, Fangzhou's winter vacation started and ended around the same time as other universities. However, during the winter vacation, except for the three days off during the Spring Festival, students had to complete their running check-ins on time.
In addition, unlike the midterm exams, this final exam will also include a grade-wide unified exam, in addition to the individual exams for each subject.
Fu Qing has already decided on the content for the unified exam; he just needs to go and scout out the location in the next couple of days.
As she was deep in thought, she suddenly heard a knock on the door.
"Are you there?" Xu Mingyue peeked in, looking mysterious. "I have something I want to discuss with you."
Excitement gleamed in her eyes; to Fu Qing, who knew her well, it was as if she practically had "I'm up to something" written all over her face.
Xu Mingyue sat down casually on the sofa and eagerly explained her plan, concluding, "...So, I want to ask you for a holographic simulation prop."
Fu Qing readily agreed.
Xu Mingyue left happily after receiving approval, just in time to brush past Lu Yan.
The latter glanced at Xu Mingyue, who seemed to be in a good mood, for a strange reason, and then sat down in front of Fu Qing, getting straight to the point: "I want to apply to you for a holographic simulation for the exam."
Fu Qing: "..."
Didn't this scene just happen a minute ago? Why does it look so familiar?
Having approved Lu Yan's application, Fu Qing watched his departing figure and suddenly chuckled.
For the first final exam, in addition to the students' intense preparation, the teachers also seemed to be putting in a lot of effort, wanting to make some big moves.
I wonder if these freshmen can successfully get through this hellish exam week.
*
One week later.
Five hundred students from the infrastructure class gathered on the playground, feeling quite uneasy.
Unlike the physical education and stockpiling classes that started first, the two teachers for infrastructure and first aid did not announce the exam content in advance. As a result, they did not even know where to start reviewing and thus faced their first exam in a state of panic.
What's even more outrageous is that even in the last class before the exam, Teacher Lu and Teacher Xu didn't highlight any key points!
At this moment, everyone on the playground had dark circles under their eyes from staying up all night to study, anxiously awaiting the fall of fate's guillotine.
When Xu Mingyue, the Grim Reaper wielding a scythe, slowly entered the scene, she was met with five hundred pairs of mournful eyes.
"What goes around comes around. When I was a sophomore, my professor said the review scope was the whole book, and I think I looked at her with the same eyes..." Xu Mingyue murmured, then raised her hand and snapped her fingers in front of everyone.
With a crisp snap of the fingers, the surrounding scenery changed instantly. The once clear sky suddenly became stormy, and towering mountains appeared directly in front of them. Thick black clouds covered the mountaintops, making it hard to breathe.
The rain was pouring down when a sudden bolt of lightning ripped through the darkness, and with its light, everyone was finally able to see their surroundings.
This is a village that has been abandoned for many years.
Built against the mountain, the place they were in happened to be the open space used by the villagers to gather. The terrain was high, and as far as the eye could see, there were at least a hundred houses, all with dark windows. The broken bricks and tiles lay silent in the rainstorm, like a desolate ghost village.
Some people couldn't help but touch their companions with their hands, only to feel a chill creeping up their feet.
"Smack!"
In the pitch black and desolate surroundings, Xu Mingyue, as if prepared, quietly opened a small floral umbrella.
Facing that floral umbrella, the intense atmosphere of the horror movie vanished instantly.
Everyone: "..."
"Shouldn't I have reminded you to bring rain gear?" Xu Mingyue, under the umbrella, looked at the students who were soaked to the bone and kindly reminded them.
Everyone realized what was happening and hurriedly found their rain gear.
"The exam content will now be announced."
Xu Mingyue continued, "It's the rainy season, and there's a downpour. The surrounding area is full of difficult mountain paths, and you're trapped in this deserted village."
"Please complete the test, avoid and eliminate the remaining zombies in the village, find a suitable shelter, reinforce it, and safely spend the ten hours before dawn there."
"That concludes the entire exam content. Good luck to everyone!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the students could hardly believe their ears.
Why does it sound... pretty simple?
The fact that so many of them have gathered here and haven't seen any zombies coming suggests that there aren't many zombies in this deserted village. Therefore, the biggest challenge of this test is simply building houses in the pouring rain.
Compared to the physical education exam where you have to kill five zombies on your own, this is a bit too easy.
Everyone felt a sense of unreality, as if a pie had fallen from the sky.
"What are you still standing there for? The countdown has already started," Xu Mingyue reminded her leisurely.
The students snapped out of their daze and hurriedly left to choose suitable housing.
...
"Is this about right?"
Cheng Yihui laboriously lifted the last large stone, placed it on the tarpaulin on the ceiling, and then jumped down from the wooden ladder. He looked around from a distance and was quite satisfied. "This house wasn't old to begin with, and most of it was in good condition. It just leaked a bit. Covering it with tarpaulin means it's fixed. Now, all I have to do is sleep in it, and when I wake up, it's considered acceptable?"
Cui Bo, who was on the same team as him, felt uneasy: "This is the final exam, is it really that easy? You finished it in three hours?"
"Don't worry, didn't we reinforce the surrounding brick walls and add traps below the easily climbable walls?" Cheng Yihui said confidently. "There's definitely no problem. Maybe we just got lucky and drew an easy question, then handed in our papers early?"
"That makes sense." Cui Bo felt relieved.
After checking the courtyard one last time and confirming there were no other potential problems, the two went inside arm in arm, feeling reassured.
They even found a Monopoly game in the homeowner's locker, dusted it off, and happily started playing.
...Half an hour later, Cheng Yihui slammed the chips all over the table: "Hey! I won!"
"Damn it!" Cui Bo, heavily in debt, said defiantly, "Let's go again!"
Just as Cheng Yihui was about to agree, he suddenly frowned and turned to look around: "Did you hear anything?"
The torrential rain pounded on the tarpaulin, drowning out all other sounds. They listened intently, finally discerning the faint rumble of flowing water.
The sound approached rapidly, soon becoming so loud that it could not be ignored, and a sense of foreboding gradually rose in the hearts of the two.
They leaped up quickly, and the moment they pushed open the door, a torrent carrying a huge amount of mud and sand instantly engulfed them.
Before they could react, a flash of white light appeared before their eyes, and the three large characters "ruthless" popped up.
You are dead.
[The exam has automatically ended due to the candidate's death. Settlement is now in progress.]
[Due to a mudslide, the selected shelter was completely destroyed. Construction score: 0 points]
Total survival time: 3 hours and 26 minutes (Unsatisfactory)
[P.S. This is a bonus question on mudslides. If you anticipate the safety hazard and avoid dangerous areas, you will receive 5 extra points. If you choose the challenge of building a shelter near the epicenter of a mudslide and successfully weather it, you will receive 100 extra points.]
[You failed your attempt at the high-difficulty challenge; bonus points: 0]
The two: "………………"
Whose infrastructure exam has an extra question about surviving a mudslide?!
Cheng Yihui said weakly, "If you want to mock us for not using our brains, just say so. Saying that choosing a high-difficulty challenge and failing makes me feel even more embarrassed..."
Cui Bo: "...+1."
The two underachieving students covered their faces at the same time, feeling too ashamed to face anyone.
*
The next day, on the playground.
The first aid course exams were held in batches, with the first batch taking place this morning. The playground was filled with students waiting early on, enthusiastically discussing yesterday's final exam for the infrastructure course.
"I heard that the mudslide destroyed 80% of the houses in the village, causing half of the people to fail their exams."
"Half of the students in a class have to retake the exam, that's too cruel!"
"So the real test begins the moment you choose a house?"
A student from the infrastructure course chimed in: "It's not Professor Xu's fault. The professor made us familiarize ourselves with the campus in the first class. Understanding the terrain and the surrounding area is the first lesson. They just didn't take it to heart."
Liang Yi said in a very serious tone.
Someone nodded: "Yes, I heard that as soon as the exam was over, Teacher Xu said that the important thing about building shelters is not construction and repair, but site selection."
"I'm afraid that after this exam, everyone will remember this lesson well, which is actually quite reassuring."
"There's no other way. The safety of all our companions is at stake in the shelter. It's even more important than the skills to kill zombies. This is how we take responsibility for everyone."
As for the fate of those who need to retake the exam... what is that? Can you eat it?
Everyone was moved by the tragic experience of the students in the first aid class, and for a moment they even forgot that they were also standing in the examination room.
Suddenly, everything went blurry, and when they regained their footing, they found themselves in the center of a stadium.
Tents were densely packed in the stadium, and some people slept on the ground with blankets and sheets. People coming and going wore clothes that hadn't been washed for days and moved their legs wearily and numbly.
Looking around, there are at least tens of thousands of people gathered here.
Two rows of portable toilets stood not far away, but a strong odor still permeated the crowded space.
Some students with a keen sense of smell were already covering their noses and gagging.
Where is this?
What are we supposed to do?
Amid the chaos, a calm voice, slightly tinged with amusement, rang out.
"This is City A's No. 2 Level 1 Comprehensive Shelter, formerly the City A Olympic Sports Center. Since its establishment, it has accommodated a total of 27,314 refugees."
"Unfortunately, due to the crisis, the staff rushed to the front line and suffered heavy casualties. The remaining manpower was insufficient to coordinate more than 20,000 people, and the order here has completely fallen into chaos."
Listening to Teacher Lu's words, the students turned their gaze and caught sight of a person in a white isolation suit moving through the crowd. They looked down and saw a civilian lying on a blanket, his face ashen and groaning incessantly. A terrible premonition arose within them.
Some people were on IV drips, but many more patients seemed to have received no basic treatment. Further away, a medical worker swayed and collapsed, causing even more chaos.
"The final exam content is now announced. Within 48 hours, help shelter staff establish a complete process for accommodating refugees, act as volunteer medical workers, and handle all emergencies encountered by refugees during this period. For each case handled, you will receive 1-5 bonus points based on your performance."
Standing among the refugees, Lu Yan, dressed in a snow-white coat and impeccably dressed, looked out of place.
But he seemed quite used to this kind of scene.
As he spoke, he stopped a little girl who was running past him, touched her dirty little face without any hesitation, observed her expression, and then took a piece of fruit candy from his pocket and handed it to her.
Turning my head again, I was met with the students' ever-changing gazes.
Their eyes clearly said: With the infrastructure course already taught them, they won't be fooled again.
Someone stared at the patients with IV drips and unfocused expressions and said without hesitation, "Something's not right here."
"These people wouldn't be..."
Everyone turned to look at Teacher Lu, who smiled gently as usual, sending a chill down their spines.
Is there anything more terrifying than a teacher's sudden smile before handing out test papers?
“If, by some chance, an epidemic breaks out here and sweeps through the entire stadium within these 48 hours…” Lu Yan shrugged, “then of course it would be one of the emergencies that needs to be dealt with, wouldn’t you agree?”
Everyone: "..."
Someone even more inhuman than Teacher Xu has appeared!!
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