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Given his status as a teacher, it seemed perfectly natural for Ji Mo to have a private talk with a student who wasn't paying attention.

The teachers' office is mostly empty. The "high-quality" requirement of teaching six out of nine classes a day forces teachers to extend their lectures into breaks, making their bizarre teaching careers almost absurdly fulfilling.

"...In conclusion, the rules are written too plainly, and the constraints on teachers are far stronger than those on students. Coupled with the students' behavior that we have witnessed firsthand, everything points to one conclusion."

"This is a school that is unambiguous and built purely for the purpose of teaching and nurturing students."

Xia Yu recalled the last article of the "Student Rules":

11. Students must always remember that this is the real world, and everything that happens here is normal; there are no abnormal phenomena.

Everything seemed to connect in an instant.

Xia Yu had long since abandoned his previous arrogance, like a little lion who had fallen from being a king to a house cat that could be easily manipulated, listening silently to Ji Mo's analysis.

People who are too stupid can't get a permanent position. Now, even joining the Extraordinary Countermeasures Bureau normally requires at least a bachelor's degree. People with too low an education level will be arranged to take remedial classes.

Now that things have come to this, he also realized that his information gathering efficiency was far inferior to Ji Mo's, and couldn't help but mutter, "If I had known, I would have gotten a teacher's uniform too."

"You're a minor, it's useless for you to take it." Ji Mo glanced at him. "You're too young to be a student who skipped grades."

Ji Mo couldn't even bring herself to expose the other person's lack of knowledge, especially since they hadn't even graduated from junior high school. How did they plan to attend class?

"At least I'm good-looking." Xia Yu seemed to think he would die if he didn't stick to his guns. "Those students mentioned that there was a teacher who was too stereotypical. He was bald and taught physics, which made them feel that he was ugly. Physics became the subject they least wanted to take."

"……really."

"But is the space creator insane? Why go through all this trouble?" Xia Yu's eyes widened, unwilling to admit it aloud, but his heart was already wavering. "What's the benefit of hiring a bunch of monsters to pretend to be teachers? Wouldn't it be better to just hire ordinary teachers? Can monsters be brought into the Mortal Realm so easily?"

In order to maintain the general perception that the supernatural does not exist, customs has extremely strict legal restrictions on the entry of non-human beings. One of these restrictions is that they must maintain a normal human appearance with normal facial features and body shape. Even prosthetic bodies that are beyond the understanding of advanced technology must be covered with a camouflage layer.

Similarly, any life form that cannot control its destructive urges will be rejected.

Strange, clearly belonging to this category.

Even if these strange teachers act docilely, it doesn't change the fact that they are strange, the kind of beings that would immediately turn on and devour people if the rule of "protecting students" were removed.

"You'll have to ask the mastermind behind this." Ji Mo couldn't answer, and after a pause, he said, "For now, the safest way is to follow the rules and wait until Sunday."

Xia Yu remained silent, his eyes filled with reluctance.

He wasn't the only one unwilling to accept this. Ji Mo had already arranged to meet Chen Zhuzhu on Saturday afternoon, and if he left in this "safest" way, he was destined to break his promise.

……

At 10:30 p.m., the lights in the student dormitories gradually went out, and the entire campus was plunged into inky darkness.

Outside the dormitory corridor, the footsteps of patrolling teachers could be heard from time to time. Xia Yu became increasingly irritated by the sound and suddenly sat up in bed.

The commotion was so loud that there was immediately a knock on the door.

"Lights out, go to sleep now." It was the patrolling teacher urging.

Xia Yu remained silent, staring intently at the door, his mind conjuring up images of what lay beyond.

Recalling Ji Mo's speculation that morning, and hearing the strange urging outside the door, he felt nauseous and grew even more disgusted with the mastermind behind it all.

He would never forget the first time he accompanied his teacher to handle a bizarre incident: a hospital abandoned for many years, long since turned into a human slaughterhouse, where it was almost impossible to find a complete corpse. Because it was difficult to lure more humans across borders, the monsters there had also learned to "hoard food and eat sparingly." On the hanging human parts were medicine tags, with worm-like handwriting describing the tastes that only the monsters could understand.

Finally, two survivors were found in the cold storage, sitting dazedly beside the rotting corpses of their kind, their bodies showing signs of drug overdose. No one could say for sure whether they were driven mad by the hellish sight or had overdosed on drugs, preferring madness to facing reality.

Even at the very end, the eerie creature tried to use the two victims as human shields to force them to back down.

It was the teacher who ordered the retreat, abandoning the search and rescue operation, and using the most dazzling fireworks to send off all the deceased.

For those two humans who had long lost themselves and become mere human shields, death was a kind of liberation.

The descriptions in the archives and his personal experiences all served as a reminder to Xia Yu: the bizarre is the most direct embodiment of malice and corruption. Even the later emergence of the supernatural species could not change this fundamental truth.

Those who attempt to instill in students the misconception that even the supernatural can be good people are despicable.

Xia Yu gritted his teeth, rolled out of bed, and silently disappeared into the night.

……

It was the dead of night, yet the teachers' dormitory building was brightly lit. Most of the strange teachers remained there, seemingly oblivious to him in the corridor, as if their senses were shut off.

Even before Ji Mo suggested "waiting until Sunday," another thought had already crossed Xia Yu's mind:

If all these eerie teachers are eliminated and prevented from reviving for a short period, the instance will naturally be paralyzed. At that point, even without a readily available exit, the manipulators behind it will certainly not stand idly by.

He gazed at the dormitory building not far away, and a flame shot up from his palm, illuminating a struggling face.

A night breeze calmed him down a bit.

This space is attached to reality; the buildings here have a mysterious connection to the dormitory buildings in reality. If the entire building were to burn down, would the dormitory buildings in reality also collapse?

If the innocent are harmed in the pursuit of eliminating the supernatural, then that is truly putting the cart before the horse.

At present, we are far from being at the brink of life and death like we were on the mission back then.

"Maybe... forget it." Xia Yu muttered to himself.

"It would be best if you thought that way."

Xia Yu froze, then abruptly turned around: "You were following me? When did you get here?!"

"From the moment you leave the student dormitory," Ji Mo answered crisply.

In his view, Xia Yu was still immature and too childish. Even if he understood the道理 (principles/reasoning), he might not necessarily follow them. Rebellion at this age cannot be suppressed by reason alone. Moreover, Xia Yu's mental state was clearly poor, and coupled with the debuff of staying up late, it wouldn't be surprising if he did something impulsive.

Although Ji Mo didn't say it explicitly, Xia Yu had already guessed it. His face turned red, and he hesitated, finally only managing a "tsk."

At that very moment, a bone-chilling cold suddenly swept over from somewhere.

Ji Mo suddenly looked up, gazing in the direction of the teaching building—

boom!

The flame, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, instantly transformed into a raging inferno. It was no longer the usual orange-red, but a pale fire edged with eerie gold, like a thirsty beast pouncing on its prey.

Flames licked at the exterior wall of the dormitory building and then spread wildly. Windows shattered under the intense heat, from which came eerie, inhuman screams from teachers. Within moments, the entire building was engulfed in flames.

Xia Yu stood frozen in place, blurting out, "It really wasn't me this time!"

"I know." Fire control is not a rare skill.

Ji Mo looked at the burning teachers' dormitory building and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Besides us, there are other people who have infiltrated."