Who left their last words here?

Chapter 124 Sweet Home, Cozy Classroom

"..."

Following behind the trio, Bai Zhou was cautious and highly tense, ready to strike at any moment.

Before the four of them, the dilapidated teaching building stood silently, shrouded in swirling mist, with not a single ray of light visible.

Bai Zhou kept one hand discreetly on his waist, constantly on guard, as if he were preventing some ferocious monster from emerging from the dark entrance of the teaching building.

The poor trio of lab rats had no idea that "Senior Zhou," who had been leading the way, had somehow ended up behind them.

After all, Senior Zhou had been wearing a mask the whole time, so no one could tell that he was acting strangely.

In fact, they were complete strangers. Bai Zhou had no intention of harming them, but he also had no intention of being particularly kind to them.

When they were besieged by strange people on campus, Bai Zhou saved their lives once... Now, Bai Zhou needs their help to do something within his power, is that too much to ask?
If anything unusual happens later, Bai Zhou will still take action immediately.

"What's this?!"

A startled cry came from ahead, making Bai Zhou jump, and the hair on his head stood up like antennae.

coming!
Bai Zhou narrowed his eyes and subconsciously activated the spiritual energy within his body, bringing him to the peak state most suitable for battle.

"...Is this where the senior has his classes?"

After climbing three flights of stairs, I stepped into the teaching building, and the figure of No. 9 was half-hidden in the darkness.

She cautiously peeked inside, looking around with wide eyes, her voice filled with astonishment, as if she had witnessed something utterly unbelievable.

"How heartwarming!"

"……what?"

Bai Zhou was stunned for a moment.

This reaction... isn't quite right, is it?
What does "warmth" mean?

You call a floor full of rotten flesh and blood vessels "warmth"?
Young lady, aren't you being a little too sadistic...?

Bai Zhou, filled with suspicion and uncertainty, followed the three up the steps, peered into the teaching building, and surveyed the situation inside.

Although there were no lights and everything was shrouded in darkness, Bai Zhou activated the spiritual energy in his eyes and quickly saw what was inside.

The long white corridor was covered with a little dust, and the white walls were covered with all kinds of colorful hand-drawn posters, dazzling the eyes.

Some classrooms have certificates and small red flags posted at their doors, some saying "Hygiene Model" and others "Discipline Model".

Several portraits of great figures from the East and West are hung in a row on the top of the wall, with inspirational quotes from them written on them. They all look down at the corridor below with kind and gentle eyes.

In an inconspicuous corner of the corridor, a dusty piano lies quietly, with a small red flower sticker stuck on it by someone.

At the end of the corridor, there is a banner hanging on it with the four big characters "Sweet Home".

"...It's very heartwarming."

More than heartwarming, it's downright sweet!
Bai Zhou echoed the same sentiment as Number 9, realizing why Number 9 had exclaimed in surprise earlier.

In stark contrast to the dilapidated and abandoned school building, which looks like a test of courage from the outside, the interior is an incredibly warm and loving grade-level corridor.

So peaceful, so warm, so beautiful!
In this strange and dangerous place, normalcy and beauty seem all the more precious, like seeing an oasis full of little red flowers in a desolate and windswept desert.

—But it is precisely because of this that all the beauty here seems all the more extraordinary!
"No...this can't be right!"

Where is the mountain of flesh? Where are the blood vessels? Where is the rotten flesh?

Where is the upside-down girl with a π on her head?
How did all those terrifying scenes that I couldn't even dream about in my nightmares disappear?
Bai Zhou's eyes widened, and he even subconsciously held his breath, as if afraid of breaking the beauty and tranquility of this place and disturbing some beings sleeping here.

Like a shattered mirror, ripples spread across the water's surface, and a ferocious, enormous river monster is about to leap out and devour its prey.

But as he watched the three of them walk through, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the corridor, nothing unusual happened. There were no monsters, no pollution, no writhing mountains of flesh, and no mysterious girl hanging upside down.

"Was the prediction wrong, or did I remember the location of the teaching building wrong?"

Bai Zhou remained skeptical of the place, but wondered if he had made a mistake.

It's possible to misremember the location, since there are similar teaching buildings all over Yuanmeng Middle School, each with an old and dilapidated appearance, and it's unknown how long they've been abandoned.

But it seems that the "students" are actually having classes there, since the teaching building is not a real teaching building and the students are not real students.

These abandoned and dilapidated school buildings are clearly breeding grounds for strange creatures!
What Bai Zhou is looking for is the most sinister and crucial element of the lair—

But he seems to have gone the wrong way.

Was it because the fog was too thick and they couldn't tell which way to go?

The stiff white boat was stuck on the steps at the entrance of the teaching building, half of its body protruding into the darkness inside the building, and the other half remaining in the gray mist outside.

Enter, or exit?
"What's wrong, senior?"

"Isn't this your school building? Come on in!"

With wide, questioning eyes, the girl turned and extended an invitation to Bai Zhou.

"I……"

Seeing the three people who had already stepped into the teaching building and turned to look at him with a puzzled expression, Bai Zhou's expression gradually became serious. He needed to consider an extreme possibility...

It's possible that the three of them were replaced by an unknown entity the moment they entered the teaching building.

At this moment, it was the devil inviting him to step into the trap.

With that thought in mind, Bai Zhou gave an awkward smile and withdrew his foot.
"I'm mistaken, the one next door is the right one."

As he spoke, Bai Zhou turned his gaze to the building next door.

That was also an abandoned teaching building, and it looked almost exactly the same as the one in front of us.

Bai Zhou recalled the distribution of the teaching buildings he had seen in the prophetic vision, and finally narrowed it down to this area.

—It's either this building or that building!
But when Bai Zhou cautiously peeked into the door of the adjacent teaching building, he was dumbfounded to find that the interior layout was almost exactly the same as the previous teaching building!
They are just like normal school buildings, where students usually have classes.

"Senior, aren't you going to come in?"

The trio went back inside, looking at Bai Zhou's unusual reaction with some confusion.

They gradually realized that something was wrong, but the quiet and peaceful environment around them was really deceiving them.

The trio initially wondered if this was just a facade of calm, but at least there was nothing at the entrance.

This school has always been fraught with danger, so why doesn't the senior want to come in when it's his place for classes?

You seem to really enjoy studying...

"Okay, wait a minute."

Bai Zhou responded, then turned and ran to the side, squatting down, seemingly doing something.

"What is he doing...?"

The three looked at each other, bewildered but impressed.

Bai Zhou, with his back to the three of them, squatted down in a corner and reached into his pocket to take out...

A coin.

The standard one-dollar coin is ubiquitous in the Eastern Federal Federation.

Bai Zhou drew a circle on the ground with his fingertip, and then drew three vertical lines in the circle.

Draw dots on the vertical lines to symbolize dotting the eyes of the three candles, which represent the "problem," the "answer," and the "cost."

At the same time, Bai Zhou flicked the coin into the air with his left thumb.

"Ding--"

The coin is tossed into the air and flies in an arc.

The three "candles" on the ground each emitted a faint light.

With his eyes fixed on the arc of the coin toss, Bai Zhou silently repeated the question three times in his mind:
Is it safe to enter this building?

"Snapped!"

He reached out and grabbed the coin, his palm open.

Turn it upside down, and you'll get "No".

Then, Bai Zhou threw it twice more, for a total of three times.

After three attempts, all three landed face down. —Unsafe! This trip is dangerous!
Bai Zhou frowned slightly.

After a moment's thought, Bai Zhou resorted to his old trick and performed divination again.

This time, Bai Zhou phrased the question differently:
Will this trip be safe and sound?

Face up, "Yes".

Then Bai Zhou asked again:
"Is this building my destination?"

Face up, "Yes".

"..."

With a slight pursing of her lips, Bai Zhou slowly rose to her feet.

Okay, time to go.

This is a simple ritual that the crow taught him during the day before he left.

It can only answer yes or no to a certain extent. It may malfunction or become disordered when encountering particularly serious problems or interference. So, it may not be that useful.

But it can just clear away the diviner's confusion and hesitation.

After climbing a few steps, Bai Zhou raised his head and took one last look at the dilapidated building before disappearing into the deep darkness.

"..."

"Knowledge is power! This level of academic difficulty is so barren that even I, if I were to take it seriously, would find it impossible to learn!"

The four people, including Bai Zhou, stepped into the corridor.

The portrait hanging on the wall began to roar loudly, the rousing voice almost shattering eardrums, startling the four people.

One moment it's a man with a big wavy hairstyle named Pei Niu shouting about knowledge, and the next it's Edison singing passionately with a glowing crowbar on his shoulder.

"Wherever I fall, I'll crush the stumbling block. Give me a fulcrum, and I'll send ten thousand of these damn planets flying!"

"Fool! Feel the fluctuations of knowledge! Only weaklings resort to rote memorization!"

"Do you believe in gravity? I despise that lucky guy who got hit by the apple. What if it had been a lead disc? You get the feeling now, the limits of human brain cells—I'll say it again, brain cells accelerating, test-taking genius! Blow through the blue planet!"

"..."

A dense roar echoed through the corridor, as if someone were shouting in their ears through a megaphone. Bai Zhou and his companions hurried forward, almost covering their ears, and fled the first half of the corridor as if they were escaping.

They finally breathed a sigh of relief when they could finally have some peace and quiet.

"No... what kind of famous quote is this? And who are Penny and Edison?"

Number 9's expression was quite remarkable.

Although people know that the Reflection Ruins are bizarre and absurd, it is rare to see something so strangely stitched together that Number 9 has rarely encountered it.

"This feels even better than the 'Wall of Execution for Underachievers' from before; it's a top-tier cult classic..."

The chubby boy, number 42, looked terrified.
"Fortunately, everyone here is a college student familiar with the original sentence, and there are no children who are easily misled."

Bai Zhou: "?"

So these sentences were all altered?

He actually thought it made a lot of sense.

These roaring images are a bit off; if you stay in them for too long, they can easily affect your mind and cause dizziness.

But this hidden danger actually reassured Bai Zhou.

If everything is perfect, it only makes Bai Zhou more apprehensive, and he's always ready to run away at any moment.

This event is also recorded in Wancheng.

In the Chinese textbooks of Wancheng, there is a place called Chrysanthemum Garden, a secluded place where people live in beauty and are unaware of the changing dynasties and seasons outside.

But with the intrusion of an outsider, the truth here is revealed.

The valiant black-robed explorers discovered that behind all this beauty lay a vast and evil organization, and the so-called Chrysanthemum Source was actually a clandestine outlet for exporting forbidden items to Night City.

In the end, the Black Robe Organization acted decisively, wiping out this evil hideout in one fell swoop!
This story is recorded in textbooks to warn future generations about the many temptations and dangers outside the city walls, and the evil forces behind the forbidden items.

You must stand firmly on the side of the Black Robe and absolutely avoid getting involved with any of the random things outside!
Bai Zhou always scored very high on reading comprehension in this lesson, but the final facts proved that the real "Chrysanthemum Spring" was actually Wan Cheng herself...

"Senior, which grade's classroom is this?"

"We shouldn't run into any teachers passing by, right?"

"what is this?"

The three explorers cautiously explored the area, but to Bai Zhou, their caution was no different from their swaggering across the corridor.

Especially when Bai Zhou saw them touching the yellowed notices and the old-fashioned class signs on the wall from time to time, Bai Zhou's heart almost jumped out of his chest!
However, it must be said that the trio did indeed play their role as guinea pigs, helping Bai Zhou to defuse the mines in advance.

The yellowed bulletin board emits scorching light, and the sign marking a certain grade and class suddenly crashes down with a heavy weight.

Whenever this happened, Bai Zhou would throw a punch and smash all the traps to pieces.

The lab rats only need to cause trouble; Bai Zhou, who's always watching them, has a lot to consider.

He felt he was becoming more and more like the red-robed grandmaster in the story of Wancheng, the master and his three disciples traveling westward... or more precisely, the powerful red-robed elder and his three troublesome disciples.

Bai Zhou, this "master," would glare around with his fiery eyes, first subduing demons and then capturing monsters—how come he had so many evil spirits and monsters...?

An overly active monkey, an overly stupid pig, and a lackey who is all muscle.

It corresponds exactly to numbers 9, 42, and 31.

Bai Zhou wished he could draw a golden circle around them and lock them up.

All we can do is pray that our destination isn't the Western Paradise...

"Thump thump!"

Footsteps echoed in the empty, quiet corridor, passing empty classrooms one after another, as the group approached the corner of the stairs at the end.

"what is this?"

Number 9 let out a soft "hmm" and stared intently at the wall.

A few lines of slogans were written on it, the black and white printed characters faintly fading, with a few lines of light black marks running down as if damp, as if a person's eyes were shedding tears.

1. Trust your teacher unconditionally.

2. Students are strictly prohibited from looking in the mirror before nightfall.

【3.最后一堂课的放学铃声是34:35。若在34:45之后仍然听到铃声，请无视】

4. No loud noises in the corridor.

5. If a classmate starts repeatedly saying the same thing, please move away.

6. No talking or whispering during class, and no staring at the teacher.

7. Always maintain a competitive and jealous attitude towards classmates; harmonious and friendly relations are forbidden.

7. Don't trust your elders—(crossed out in red)

[8. Supplement: If any rule conflicts with Rule 1, please follow Rule 1!]

"These rules are..."

The crisp voice of number 9 came to an abrupt end.

The three explorers standing in front of the rule sign suddenly froze.

"What happen to you guys?"

Bai Zhou frowned, keenly sensing that something was wrong.

then.

The three turned around in perfect unison, as if they were one person, their eyes fixed intently on Bai Zhou, repeatedly uttering the same phrase:
"No loud noise in the hallway..."

"No loud noise in the hallway..."

"No talking in the hallway!!"

(End of this chapter)