It was as if they had suddenly triggered something, and their table instantly became the focal point of the entire cafeteria. The looks in the students’ eyes were terrifying, as though they had already locked onto them.
The air seemed to have solidified, with even the originally oppressive heat dipping down. Those gazes were like cold knives, firmly fixed on the people at this table.
The other players behaved as though they had dodged a bullet, keeping their heads down low in a pose of indifference.
"...We triggered something," Lv Shu said. "We’ve triggered some mechanism here... that’s why we’re being targeted."
This hostility was directed solely at their table, possibly because they had tripped some kind of punishment system.
Right as his words fell, those students stood up in unison, glaring with bloodshot eyes, and inexplicably, many "weapons" appeared in their hands.
Sharpened pencils, compasses with long needles, broken rulers stained with blood... They held these sharp objects and walked over step by step, their shadows elongating behind them.
Their movements turned stiff, their eyeballs glossy like glass beads, and when they moved, one could even hear a creaking sound coming from their bodies.
"Bang!" The cafeteria doors slammed shut.
The blood-red sunset was instantly cut off, with shadows swiftly enveloping the area.
The air was tinged with a faint floral scent mixed with the aroma of food, an especially intense, jarring fragrance.
The mantis on Lv Shu’s shoulder raised its forelimbs, Su Ming’an’s expression shifted slightly, while Wang Xingkong sat there still dumbfounded, his mouth corners dotted with white rice grains.
"They don’t seem to be looking at me," Wang Xingkong said with wide-open eyes, continuing to chew incessantly.
"I see, is it because Lv Shu and I didn’t eat the cafeteria’s food?" Su Ming’an pondered. "So, we’re being treated as ’outsiders’ by this group of NPCs?"
"Ah! So that’s it!" Wang Xingkong immediately realized, and pushed his meal tray towards them. "Then you two eat quickly, eat quickly... Uh."
He saw the mess on the three meal trays, ravaged by his eating.
Rice rolled in the leaves, green peppers and tomatoes mashed together, egg strands clinging to his mouth, with his spoon pressed against gnawed bones of the ribs.
Not a single dish looked edible anymore.
"Uh... although it doesn’t really look good, it’s actually still edible..." Wang Xingkong said with a hint of guilt in his voice.
"I’ll deal with them," Lv Shu said after glancing at the wreckage of the meal, disdain visible in his eyes. He decisively chose to confront them directly, with the azure mantis leaping out immediately.
"Follow me," Su Ming’an turned around and ran towards the cafeteria doors, only to find that the exit had also been blocked by the cafeteria ladies and the chefs.
They had red eyes and stiff movements, and the knives in their hands looked even sharper than those held by the students.
The barrage of messages started to grow anxious:
[It’s over, it feels like we can’t get out]
[Ming’an should be able to get out, he has Spatial Displacement!]
[Lv Shu brother! Can’t you eat something? I’m worried you won’t make it out—hey!]
[Lv Shu: Given the choice between this food and death, I’d choose death.jpg]
[Something’s not right, really not right... There’s a traitor, abort the deal.]
[Wang Xingkong, this kid is a hardcore eater, the two big shots are fighting to the death and there he is, still stuffing his face...]
The mantises moved extremely fast, capable of killing a "student" with a single leap, their forelimbs like two gleaming blades, leaving a beautiful spray of blood wherever they passed. Lv Shu’s close combat skills were also surprisingly good; the Black Blade in his hands seemed like a quality piece, easily lopping off these "students’" heads.
Su Ming’an hardly took the initiative to attack; he only occasionally used his Bewilderment points to kill some "students" who actively lunged at him, without even bothering to protect their vital points. Then he turned his attention back towards the door.
The surrounding "students" grew more numerous, similar to zombies surrounding a city, pressing in like an overwhelming army; the small cafeteria was crammed with these fearlessly aggressive creatures, clambering over chairs, tables, even over other bodies, rushing forward as if moths to a flame.
Together, Su Ming’an and Lv Shu should be among the top two-person teams in the game, but even their killing speed couldn’t keep up with the pace at which the "students" were surrounding them, and soon the two were encircled in the middle.
"Su Ming’an, aren’t your Strength, Fitness, and Agility stats very high? You take the front, I’ll cover our backs, and together we’ll fight our way towards the door!" Lv Shu chopped off a student’s head with his sword, blood splashing on his cheek. He held his blade, standing back-to-back with Su Ming’an, and shouted.
"That’s my Cloning, it hasn’t revived yet..." Su Ming’an glanced over at a seat nearby.
The ignored Wang Xingkong sat there, ignoring the grimly chopped corpses around him, the brain matter and blood splattered on the tables, ignoring the pungent smell of blood as he continued to spoon rice into his mouth.
His eyes seemed a bit vacant.
"...Lv Shu, if I did something really awful to you, would you consider it evil?" Su Ming’an suddenly asked.
The crimson butterfly on Lv Shu’s fingertip moved, trailing a long tail and sprinkling down points of light that caused the students in front of him to collapse into unconsciousness. His expression showed some bewilderment, not understanding why Su Ming’an was philosophizing at such a time, but he responded: "— No, you’re a good person; whatever you do is right, I believe in you."
"Sigh..." Su Ming’an let out a sigh, seemingly dissatisfied with the answer, then turned to Wang Xingkong and asked, "And you? What if I did something really awful to you?"
Lv Shu’s blade flashed across the neck of a student in front, the bright arterial blood burst onto the table, staining the already sticky rice dishes bright red.
"Ah? What awful thing?" Wang Xingkong, looking at the bloody mess in his bowl, finally lifted his head a bit slowly, scratching his head and chuckling bemusedly: "Actually, as long as it isn’t something unreasonably beating me up, nothing else really counts as... you know..."
Before he could finish speaking, Su Ming’an grabbed his collar with one hand and dragged him off his seat, like hauling a sack, then proceeded to punch him again and again, ignoring his screams.
"Hey hey, hold on, Ming An’an, why are you suddenly hitting me—aaahhh—" Wang Xingkong squatted with his head in his hands, screaming in defense but not fighting back, looking pitiful.
At that moment, Su Ming’an also heard the system’s notification:
[Acting evilly under "Shadow" status has earned you 1 Occupation Point]
[You have now accumulated a total of 5 Occupation Points. Would you like to resurrect your Cloning?]