CH 10

(Statues in the Art Classroom)

After the silence, there was greater revelry. 

The students with blurred out faces looked at the two people standing at the edge with a sort of frenetic gaze as they mechanically repeated: “Jump, jump…”

Countless of hands stretched out from the girls gathered at the rooftop, all attempting to push them down.

“Hey, wait a minute—” He raised his head, stopping the group’s actions. He was not scared in slightest; rather, his brows were knitted together tightly as he protested, “Why are you making me wear a skirt?”

On the rooftop, the winds were a little cold. 

And it was dampening Shen Dongqing’s mood.

The group of girls paused for a beat before they rushed up to him like a pack of hungry wolves, as if they would not let the matter drop unless the two of them jumped.

Seeing that the group were about to squeeze them over, Shen Dongqing evaded them with a stagger, and lifted his foot and kicked the girl that was closest to him off the building without showing a single trace of pity or tender love for women.

“If you want to jump, you can jump on your own!”

Shen Dongqing clapped his hands and retreated from the edge of the roof.

Just as he took a step, a flower appeared before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had returned back to the original place he had stood.

What was happening?

Shen Dongqing deliberately looked at Zhou Wenyan who was standing by his side. 

And Zhou Wenyan did not seem panicked at all, in fact, he seemed rather interested as he looked towards a particular direction.

Shen Dongqing had every intention to turn his head and follow his line of sight, but he discovered that Zhou Wenyan had withdrawn that peculiar glint in his eyes hurriedly before he restored an appearance of solemnity.

“Looks like we have no choice but to jump,” Zhou Wenyan mouthed his words.

Shen Dongqing looked down at his feet, and beneath them was a big and black throng of people who had their heads tilted upwards alongside upraised hands, and they seemed to be anticipating a sacrificial offering to fall from the heavens. 

Sheng Dongqing ceased his jesting and took a step out.

Wind whistled past his ears.

As he made his plummet the ground, he felt weightless.

Shen Dongqing narrowed his eyes. Perceiving a hand reaching towards him, he stretched his hand out and above. 

In mid-air, the two clasped their hands together tightly.

All the way until the landing.

The onlooking students disappeared and the campus emptied out, leaving a single girl lying on the ground. She laid on her side, black hair scattered, and a puddle of blood flowered out slowly.

Shen Dongqing’s first reaction was not to look at the female student. Instead, he lowered his head to look at himself – thankfully, the skirt he had just worn was an illusion and it had returned back to normal. 

“This is all I’ve suffered.” The girl made of flesh and blood raised her head. And like the blood she bled, her grievances poured: “Malice, oppression, ridicule, indifference… Everyone here is a murderer!”

“You…” The girl pulled the corner of her lips into a grin, “Did you experience it all?”

Shen Dongqing did not even think about it: “No.”

The girl stiffened and her eyes became resentful: “Then, let’s…” 

Do it again!

But before she could finish speaking, someone intercepted her.

Shen Dongqing grabbed a ball of items from his pockets and shoved into her mouth in straight-forward manner, blocking her next words.

Qtb kbeiv kjca ab fzqfglfcmf kfjglcu j rxlga jujlc? 

Rb atjcxr.

Ktf ofwjif raevfca’r wbeat kjr raeoofv klat j kjv bo qijralm ktlmt jqqfjgfv ab yf atf qjmxlcu obg j yju bo qbajab mtlqr. Ljnlcu xfqa la lc tlr qbmxfar, Vtfc Gbcudlcu tjv mbcrlrafcais obgubaafc ab atgbk la jkjs yea cbk la rffwfv ab tjnf obecv lar erf.

It took a lot of energy for the girl to tear away the item that was blocking her mouth and her expression was dismal and frightening.

“Since this is the case…” The girl tore off her camouflage and coldly stated, “If you help me kill those bystanders, I will allow you to leave the school.” 

“Oh?” Zhou Wenyan raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

The girl said with confidence: “I’m one of the strange talks in the campus and I have the ability to do so.”

However, if the two men were to agree to her request, they would be stuck here forever with her, forced to do her bidding.

But she seemed to have placed her faith in the wrong place. 

Shen Dongqing remained indifferent: “If you had the ability, you would have already avenged yourself, are you trying to lie to a ghost?”

Zhou Wenyan nodded in agreement.

Realising that she could not lie to the pair, her face turned savage and blood trailed down her facial features. From the puddle of blood she was bleeding on, hands bore out of the ground and tried to grab the two living persons.

“Then you should just stay here!” 

The girl laughed sharply.

However, she found that she could not laugh soon after.

Zhou Wenyan dodged the multitude of ghost hands and used a leg to kick the female student over. Following that, a black mist burst out and wrapped the girl within it. When the black mist dissipated, only a pile of bones remained on the ground.

After losing control of the strange talk, the ghost hands drilled back to the ground, save the hand that was struggling in Shen Dongqing’s grasp.

Shen Dongqing stared at the white and tender ghost hand, sighing, “It looks pretty delicious…”

Ghost hand: “???”

Its struggling increased. 

Zhou Wenyan patted Shen Dongqing’s shoulders and lectured him: “Don’t eat such hideous things.”

Shen Dongqing thought about it. He was a human now and he had a greater variety of snacks to choose from. Thus, he put aside the idea of nibbling on the ghost hand.

As soon as the ghost hand broke away from him, he scurried back to the ground like a madman, deathly afraid of being reduced into someone else’s food.

Shen Dongqing watched it go, slightly regretful. 

After resolving the strange talk, the pair decided to return to the classroom first.

Just as they walked up a flight of stairs and turned around the corner, they heard the noise of lumbering footsteps and it sounded like it was dragging a corpse as it walked, each step accompanied by a thud.

It was the Director of Teaching Affairs.

Zhou Wenyan pulled Shen Dongqing with a hand and hid in an obscured corner. 

The corner was not large, and the two of them had to shrink themselves to manage to fit, and their entire body was stuck together without any gaps.

Shen Dongqing laid in Zhou Wenyan’s arms and heard the steady heartbeat reverberating from his chest.

He could not help swallowing.

From head to toe, Zhou Wenyan exuded an extremely pure yin energy, and at this close proximity, he really wanted to… take a bite. 

Resist.

Shen Dongqing secretly clenched his fists.

They maintained their positions for about three minutes.

When the footsteps gradually drifted away, the two men separated their bodies. 

It was currently recess time.

The two of them took the opportunity to return back to the classroom, and as they sat down firmly, they saw Fang Qi sliding something into his clothes before coming over with an air of mystery.

Shen Dongqing: “Did you steal something?” 

Fang Qi lifted his clothes and took out a book with a pitch-black cover: “No, I found this on my table. Big boss, see if it’s of any use to you; if it’s useful, you don’t have to be polite, it’s enough if you take me through clearance.”

Shen Dongqing lowered his head and read the four large words printed on it – Campus’ Strange Talks.

Opening it, the first page featured the five strange talks in Qinghai High School: namely the Rooftop Girl, the Human Head Mop, the Cries in the Cafeteria, the Lost Doll and the Statues in the Art Classroom.

Fang Qi scratched his head, “It was written without coherence or logic, and I don’t know what it means either. Big boss, do you have any thoughts about it?” 

Shen Dongqing pointed at the first two: “These two have already been solved.”

As his words landed, the two lines ‘Rooftop Girl’ and ‘Human Head Mop’ were stained with two drops of scarlet blood, and a line of small characters gradually bled onto the page.

【 Rooftop Girl: A female student in the First Year felt inferior; she was timid and she came from a poverty-stricken and ordinary family. Like an ugly duckling left in the shadows, she was jealous of the other female students who were bright and beautiful. She was pushed around by all her classmates, and under the indifferent gazes of her onlookers, she jumped off the rooftop…. The onlookers were indiscriminate murderers, and what are you? 】

【 Human Head Mop: The dormitory administrator always cleaned up late at night, and she would hold onto the mop and drag it along the long corridor. One day, late at night, someone realised that the administrator was not holding onto a mop but a school girl with long hair. 】 

Zhou Wenyan corrected him: “This is not called ‘solving’.”

Shen Dongqing wondered: “Then what is it?”

Under his gaze which fervently craved for knowledge, Zhou Wenyan explained: “If a game lays down a question for us and it requires us to undo the question in order to clear it, it’s called ‘violent problem solving‘. Generally speaking, it requires us to find the clues and unlock the truth.”

Having seen the light, Shen Dongqing let out a sudden ‘Ah’, before he subsequently said: “Is there a difference?” 

For Zhou Wenyan, there was no difference.

However, for most of the players who were struggling at death’s door in the game and wanted to preserve their lives, it was impossible for them to think of provoking the ghosts and monsters in the game.

Furthermore, this was only a low-level copy; when they had to confront higher levelled copies, it would no longer be so easy to solve.

Zhou Wenyan smiled at Shen Dongqing: “There should be no difference.” 

Either way and no matter what, he was capable of bagging it.

The system felt a bad premonition rising.

Shen Dongqing was interested: “Does that mean that we can leave once we undo the problem?”

Zhou Wenyan nodded: “Roughly.” 

He tacked on another question: “You don’t want to stay here?”

Shen Dongqing patted his pockets, “My snacks are finished.”

Plus, it was boring in class.

Zhou Wenyan chuckled: “Then let’s find the other strange talks with due haste.” 

Shen Dongqing’s fingers moved to the following three strange talks and stopped at “Statues in the Art Classroom” and looked at the blackboard which listed today’s curriculum. “The next period is art class.”

The students held onto their art tools and lined up one by one to exit the classroom and went towards the art gallery.

Everyone was expressionless and silent; rather than going to class, they seemed to be going to the grave.

They followed after the last in the grave process and walked down the long hallway. 

They also ran into the Director of Teaching Affairs.

The Director of Teaching Affairs stood at the side of the hallway and watched the students walked by coldly before her gaze finally lingered on Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing’s person. She said nothing, and only chose to watch as his group left.

At the end of the hallway was the art classroom.

Many drawing boards were arranged in the art classroom, and pictures drawn by the students were hung up on the wall. 

Shen Dongqing walked up to take a look. The collection of pictures were rather odd: there were dolls that had been torn into five to six segments, girls who had fallen to the ground, and one where the canvas had been blurred out with a mass of black… either way, all of them were dark and gloomy and the element of despair was pervasive.

The art teacher walked in when the class bell rang and he stood at the front of the classroom.

Shen Dongqing turned his head to look over and realised that the teacher was a little too white, no, he was too white, white to the point where he gave off light and he looked like someone had painted a layer of white over him.

The art teacher raised a finger and stabbed at the half-bodied statue in front of him: “We’re doing a sketch of the human body today.” 

After he issued the assignment, the art teacher went out again and disappeared without a trace.

The students were very conscious, and they picked up their pencils and began to draw.

In an instant, the sound of scratching pencils sounded out in the classroom.

Shen Dongqing bit his pencil head and looked at it for a while before he suddenly threw his pencil down and stood up. 

Fang Qi asked hurriedly, “Big boss, what are you doing?”

Sheng Dongqing turned back: “Solving the problem with violence.”

If they found the Campus’ Strange Talks earlier, they could leave the school earlier.

If the school had internet and electricity and allowed him to play mobile phone, it would have been fine, but it offered none of these amenities, thus it was better to leave earlier. 

Shen Dongqing strode up to the very front and chose a handy tool before he smashed it into the nearest statue.

Kacha—

The statue cracked and shattered into smithereens.

Even with such a loud commotions, the students did not come up to stop it. Instead, they only lifted their heads and used flat gazes, devoid of any fluctuations, to stare at the person in front. 

The scene was extremely weird.

Shen Dongqing: “Come here and help.”

Fan Qi was frightened by Shen Dongqing’s actions.

He looked left and right, fearing that the group of students would violently erupt, and he tried his best to reduce his sense of existence. 

Zhou Wenyan stood up and went to help.

There were not a lot of statues in the classroom. In a short while, all of them were smashed and the floor was strewn with fragments of statues.

Shen Dongqing pushed around the pieces lightly with his feet but there was nothing in the statues and it did not resemble a spiritual incident in the slightest.

Having wasted his effort, Shen Dongqing threw his tool down and turned his head around to meet numerous pairs of eyes. 

He paused for a moment and looked at them again. Vested with the courage of his own convictions, he said: “What are you looking at? Aren’t you going to draw?”

With his order, the students lowered their heads again.