CH 142.1

Above the blazing brazier was an object hanging over it.

On taking a closer look, it turned out to be an old man suspended above the brazier.

His hair, which had always been neatly combed to the back of his head, was now scattered to the sides in disarray as he hung in the air.

Huang Xiaolian’s face was red, his veins bursting, his hands and legs stirring in the air in agony.

He felt like he was dying, suffocating.

But he couldn’t die.

He had held this pose for a long time, it felt longer than all his years put together.

How long has it been?

A day? Two days? Was it ten years?

Just as Huang Xiaolian’s breath tightened again, the belt suddenly snapped, and Huang Xiaolian swiftly fell into the brazier below him.

The scorching flames instantly licked his body, and Huang Xiaolian screamed in pain. A girl with scars all over her face suddenly came over and said, “Principal Huang, do you know me?”

“Back then, you blackmailed me with a video and raped me. Later, you happened to pass by when I was trapped in a corner and bullied by the gangsters outside the school.”

“You could have saved me if you had just opened your mouth, but you just watched, watched them put me in the trash bin, and watched them throw firecrackers in there.”

“It just so happened that there was a flammable substance in the bin and the firecrackers exploded.”

“I was in so much pain at that time, so please experience it again.”

Huang Xiaolian covered his face in pain, he felt a burning pain all over his body. He had long since lost his former arrogance, only fear and pain remained.

“It’s only a dream; I can get out! I’ll wake up at dawn!”

The ghosts suddenly burst into laughter as they looked down at Huang Xiaolian in the brazier, as if they had heard some kind of joke.

“You’ll never wake up again, because this is hell.”

A mask was thrown in front of Huang Xiaolian.

The moment he saw the mask, Huang Xiaolian froze for two seconds, then he abruptly looked up and saw a deformed, thin boy slowly approaching him.

The boy looked down on Huang Xiaolian condescendingly, his eyes empty. “I gave you all my trust, I thought you were different from the others.”

The bottle containing a pungent liquid appeared in front of Huang Xiaolian. On seeing the bottle, Huang Xiaolian’s already frightened eyes became even more terrified.

“Please, please spare me, I know I’m wrong.”

“I am wrong, I have hurt so many innocent people.”

“I, I am willing to accept legal sanctions!” Huang Xiaolian suddenly said excitedly, “Just let me go, and I will turn myself in immediately. I will confess everything and reveal my evil deeds.”

“I’m willing to spend the rest of my life in jail! I will burn paper money to you every year from now on; spare me, please!”

Ghosts were jeering at the boy’s side: “Huang Xiaolian, this is a box for your soul, we will spend the rest of your life with you forever and ever.”

The boy raised the bottle in his hand indifferently.

In the dark room, the man screamed and kept on screaming, but the revenge was far from over.

——————-

The Wensong High headmaster and school leaders stood outside the emergency room, waiting anxiously.

After an unknown amount of time, the doctor came out from inside.

Headmaster: “Dr. Dijia, how is the chairman doing?”

Dijia took his hood off and replied matter-of-factly, “He has a cerebral hemorrhage; he was attacked at midnight, and rescue was too late. I did my best, but I only managed to save him from the gates of hell. Unfortunately, he will have to live in a vegetative state from now on.”

The headmaster and the other leaders looked at each other, and the headmaster said sharply, “Is there a possibility of waking up?”

Dijia: “The possibility is almost zero.”

“Blood has been in the brain for so long, and the blood supply to the brain is severely inadequate, which has caused irreversible brain death.”

“Does he have any relatives?”

Headmaster: “Mr. Chairman doesn’t have a family, he has given his whole life to the school. Don’t worry, we are the Chairman’s family, and as long as we live, we will not let the Chairman die.”

“He has done so many good deeds, he will definitely be blessed and will be able to wake up in the future.”

Dijia said meaningfully, “Yes, I hope the Chairman lives a long life.”

“Thank you for your concern,” the headmaster was somewhat flattered, “let us wait for the miracle of science together.”

Dijia smiled and just told the headmaster that they should take Huang Xiaolian with them.

After stuffing the headmaster with a pile of special drugs, Dijia watched the group leave before he rushed to the operating room and said in a low voice, “Alright, come out, they’re gone.”

The door to the operating room was pushed open, and Bai Lixin came out.

Dijia stared at Bai Lixin in the red school uniform, a flash of amazement in his eyes, “You guys did quite a good job, how did you manage to trap Huang Xiaolian’s consciousness in the dream world forever?”

Bai Lixin: “What do you think about what happened to him?”

Dijia: “Evil has its retribution?”

Bai Lixin: “Out with it. I know who the origin you talked about.”

Dijia: “Who is it? Huang Xiaolian?”

Bai Lixin gave Dijia a sidelong glance and said, “Of course not, how can it be Huang Xiaolian? Would he be trapped by a tiny dream if it was really him?”

“Or allow the ghosts to torment him.”

“He’s just one of those beings.”

Dijia: “If not him, who else could it be? Could it be me?”

Bai Lixin: “I need you to do me a favor…”

————-

Because the two official representatives in the competition suffered diarrhea due to nervousness, Bai Lixin was ordered to win the championship. He obtained excellent results and finally became the student council president with an absolute advantage.

The former headmaster seemed to have a real love for Huang Xiaolian and decided to give up his post as headmaster to take full responsibility for his care, and Teacher Zhao became headmaster as he had hoped.

It was now the 15th day, and the final exam was in 3 days.

The number of players dropped from 100 at the beginning to 75.

On the 16th day, people started to fall ill one by one.

The disease came on so fast and furiously that everyone was vomiting and throwing up. The school doctors were quickly dispatched, and it took over a day to determine that it was a very rare viral infection.

On the 18th day, Teacher Zhao, Teacher Sheng, and Dr. Dijia had all the students and teachers taken to the emergency warehouse on the same floor of the infirmary to be isolated and treated, and the exams were cancelled due to special circumstances.

For the first time, a huge crowd had gathered in such a neat manner.

Among the crowd, Xia Chi searched hard for Bai Lixin’s shadow.

In the past, he was able to find Bai Lixin very quickly, and even if he couldn’t, a flash of light would lead him to him, but for some reason, he couldn’t find Bai Lixin today.

There was no reply, even when he sent a private chat.

Around him, players were whispering.

“It’s the 18th day today, I can’t believe there’s no exam. I remember the rules saying that the 18th day is a comprehensive exam and the results are reset for recalculation, right?”

“Yeah, I remember that too.”

“So if there’s no exam today, does that mean….! There won’t be a last place at all? We won’t have to be kicked out of school and fed to the black scorpions!”

“Fuck, it should be! Isn’t this the legendary blessing in disguise?”

“But don’t be too happy, what if the school gets a brain fart and just counts the canceled exam as a fail and puts everyone in class C?”

“Impossible,” a calm voice suddenly interjected as Zhou Guang analyzed, “There is a fixed number of students per class type, and it’s 25 for class C. Without exams, everyone scores zero, so there is no necessary score band for screening.”

“If the school divides all students into Class C, it goes against its own school rules. The school rules clearly state that even the school leaders have to strictly follow the school rules and regulations.”

“So the school picked up stones and smashed its own feet? So we’re really not going to be kicked out of school and fed to the black scorpions? Hahahaha, great!”

“I instantly feel like my head doesn’t hurt and my eyes aren’t blurry anymore.”

Xia Chi glanced at Zhou Guang in confusion, although Zhou Guang was very logical, since when was he so smart?

He eagerly stood on tiptoe, using his height advantage to continue searching for Bai Lixin’s shadow in the crowd.

He didn’t find Bai Lixin, but he found Dr. Dijia, who stood out in the crowd.

Ignoring his usual fear of him, Xia Chi quickly made his way through the crowd like a slippery loach, grabbed Dijia by the arm, and panted, “Doctor Dijia, have you seen my brother, Bai Lixin.”

Dijia glanced at Xia Chi and said, “He’s gone out.”

Xia Chi looked around, “Out? Why did he go out? I haven’t seen Su Fan either, did he go out too?”

Dijia’s face instantly became gloomy; he shrugged off Xia Chi’s hand, pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses, and said coldly, “They’ve gone to add some color to the school.”

As soon as Dijia’s words fell, the ground started shaking.

The already agitated crowd became even more panicked, and some even tried to leave the building.

“Be quiet!” Dijia roared; his voice was neither low nor high, but everyone quieted down instantly. He looked at the locked door and opened it with some impatience, “The warehouse was built with the danger of earthquakes in mind and was specially reinforced with high-strength steel and concrete. Even under your feet are strong steel plates, there is no danger of cracking even if there is an earthquake; the inside is by far the safest place, you can’t go anywhere.”

The players were somewhat unconvinced, and even the NPCs had hesitation on their faces.

But the lock on the warehouse door dispelled their thoughts, they could only silently endure the tremors.

“Fuck, everything was fine for 17 days, why is there an earthquake on the 18th? I hope it’s not because the copy saw that we could pass the test, so it plans to shake us all to death. I want to escape, but the NPC locked the warehouse.”

“If it’s really like that, then there’s even less need to run away. Inside the school is an earthquake, and outside the school are black scorpions. Where are you going to run?”

“Dr. Dijia doesn’t seem to be lying to us, look at the roof, it’s trembling but it’s holding steady. I studied architecture. Do you see the steel bars carrying the corners? They are thick and big enough. I’ve only seen that material in textbooks, but there are four of them standing in there.”

“Damn, are they that powerful? I’m not going out. Dr. Dijia is a doctor, and he’s so handsome, how can he cheat people?”

“?? What does being handsome have to do with cheating, sister?”

“What do you know, it’s called the three views following the five senses.”

People carefully stabilized their mentality; they staggered a little because of some shock waves, and players and NPCs subconsciously held each other.

The players were stunned for a moment, then they realized that the NPC students seemed to be no different from them.

They can also get scared, they can also scream, they can also curse, and they can also say thank you.

“Are you okay?” One of the NPC students carefully helped a player up, saying, “Hold my hand, we can hold each other so that we won’t fall.”

“Oh!” The player yelled out, “Isn’t that the principle of iron ropes connecting boats? You’re so clever.”

The NPC student smiled shyly and said, “I also remembered it when I saw everyone holding each other. It’s not my idea, let’s work together.”

The player suddenly became interested in talking with the NPC. He has been in the copy for 18 days, but his life trajectory has consisted of three points; the dormitory, classroom, and dining hall.

But today, after observing the students up close, the player suddenly had the illusion that the NPC students were like living beings. Even they had no idea that they were a set of data.

They came across as being as vibrant and colorful as normal people.