The barrage seemed to know better than he did, furiously scrolling:
"Hey, hey, hey, the NPC girl is throwing herself at you, can’t you see?!"
"I’m starting to envy the character Su Jian is playing. His deskmate Shen Xue likes him, and it looks like Shen Xue’s sister, Shen Yue, likes him too..."]
"Shen Yue seems a little different from the ordinary NPCs... She seems aware of the game’s rules; she’s already saved Ming’an twice."]
"Is she an Observer? Was Shen Yue a player before?"
"Su Ming’an," called out Shen Yue, confirming the barrage’s guess with the name she uttered. Her beautiful eyes were as still as a lake under the scenery of the North Country, carrying an otherworldly tranquillity, "Cherish your life a little... okay? You are important; you need to know how important you are."
Every time she flung herself at him, it was at a moment of extreme peril for him.
If she hadn’t been there just now, she didn’t dare imagine what would have happened.
"..." Su Ming’an couldn’t answer her, he just asked, "Were you a player before?"
"..." Similarly, Shen Yue didn’t answer his question.
She stood up, and the chair made a grating noise as it dragged across the floor. Amidst a deep shadow, Su Ming’an could barely make out her expression.
The scent of roses that lingered at the tip of his nose was still present.
"There is the smell of a curse on you," Shen Yue frowned slightly, "Someone has placed a curse on you that makes the levels harder... you’re being targeted."
It was the first time Su Ming’an had heard of such a skill.
"I can’t help you dispel this curse. You can only be as cautious as possible in this world—you rest here for the night, no going out, no wandering around. Go to the classroom after the morning reading at seven tomorrow." Shen Yue walked out, opened the door, and locked it.
From outside the door came her almost pleading voice, "Promise me... stop wandering around, I will help you... at least perfectly pass this world, okay?"
"Okay," Su Ming’an nodded at her latter words.
The footsteps outside paused briefly, then gradually faded away.
The barrage had exploded:
"It’s Yuanyuan! It’s definitely Yuanyuan! The hint is too obvious!"
"Shen Yue... Isn’t that Yuanyuan?"
"Hurry up and recognize each other, hurry up! What is Ming’an hesitating for?"
["It’s the official pairing, ohhhhhhhh—!"]
"Official pairing my ass, it’s a comrade-in-arms! Soul comrade-in-arms!"]
"Even if she can no longer be the Lighthouse, she still lights up the road ahead for him in the night... It’s getting emotional, I’m starting to cry.]
"If she can’t accompany you as a player, she helps you as an NPC? That’s so cool! I want to be an Observer too! This is so awesome!"]
"... but if so, isn’t she trapped in the game forever..."]
"I’m still very concerned about the conflict between Ming’an and the First Guild. Why does Mizushima Kawa Sora have it out for him..."]
Su Ming’an of course knew she was Yuanyuan.
He had known from the start, right from the beginning. Yuanyuan should be alive; Hubert and the others were still alive, so it made no sense for only her to be dead.
But she was not Yuanyuan.
He was familiar with Yuanyuan’s gaze, and the way she spoke, and there were subtle differences with this "Shen Yue"—Shen Yue was like a grown-up Yuanyuan, but also like a Yuanyuan who had lost many things. Her gaze was no longer pure, as if it harbored many years.
What on earth... had she gone through?
His eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, and after groping to stand up, he began to explore the office.
It seemed like an ordinary office—pen holders, file folders, lesson plans, and a stack of essay papers. But as Su Ming’an sifted through the cabinet, he touched something soft.
He hesitated in his movements, but still pulled it from the middle of a stack of college entrance examination papers.
... It was a wrinkled, withered piece of human facial skin.
The barrage exploded in an instant:
[Man, I should have guessed this school was straight out of the Underworld.]
[Whose skin is this? The students’? Tell me the homeroom teacher doesn’t spend every night peeling skin; oh my goodness.]
[I’m scared now, I’m really starting to get scared, Ming An’an, can we please not flip through stuff randomly, woo woo.]
[Maybe there are even bones buried underneath this office.]
[Clue Three Acquired: Human Skin Mask]
[(Human Skin Mask): From Teacher Shen’s office, you’ve discovered such a "surprise."]
[Gained 10 Exploration Points]
[Clue has been recorded in the clues section; check it anytime.]
The human skin mask had a scent of roses, very similar to that of Shen Yue. Su Ming’an quickly stuffed it back, and then found a diary in the metal cabinet.
In the darkness, he couldn’t read the words, so he shoved the diary into his backpack space and continued searching.
"Thump, thump, thump."
Suddenly, he heard footsteps at the door, steady and heavy, not like Shen Yue’s, but more like... the homeroom teacher’s.
He heard the faint sound of keys jingling.
Just as his hand touched the cabinet, he immediately pulled open the cabinet and dove in, the space inside was pretty empty, with a faint musty smell, but he couldn’t bother with that at the moment, promptly closing the cabinet door with the back of his hand.
The door was opened. Hiding inside the cabinet, he heard the footsteps outside.
At the same time, he also heard the sound of human sobbing. And the sound of a body being dragged, as if it was sliding across the ground.
"Please, let me go, I beg you, let me go..."
The voice was already extremely hoarse, but he could tell it was a woman’s.
That was Teacher Shen’s voice, low and gentle, murmuring like to a lover: "...I will grant you immortal thoughts, an immortal body, immortal... soul."
"I don’t want it... I don’t want it!"
Outside there was a struggle, chairs screeched shrilly as they were dragged, and the sound of a pen holder falling over, with pencils dropping one by one onto the floor, making a crisp sound.
Su Ming’an felt the wall shake.
Peering through the cracks of the cabinet, he saw the teacher dragging a girl by her hair and slamming her against the wall.
Liquid burst and dripped onto the floor.
"I beg you, let me go home, I don’t want to play this game anymore! I don’t want to be a player, please let me go back—"
The girl kept pleading, her body smeared with large patches of bright red, now crumpled on the floor, while the teacher was already approaching the desk, opening a drawer.
...Inside, there was a bottle of rose fragrance, Su Ming’an remembered.
The streamer comments were more anxious than he was:
[First off, if anyone tries to engage in moral kidnapping right now, they’re getting the boot.]
[But that female player is so pitiful! She’s not going to be...]
[That damn old man isn’t about to skin her, right?? That’s just too horrifying.]
[Why not try to intervene? That homeroom teacher doesn’t look that strong.]
[Just watch, don’t tell Ming’an bro what to do; you try going instead.]
The homeroom teacher seemed to have just come to take something; he opened that bottle of fragrance and poured it over the girl like he was watering a plant, mixing the bright red with the fresh red of the blood. Then he reached his hand out, seemingly wanting to drag the girl to some place—
A young male voice called out from the outside, with the sound of rushed footsteps following.]