Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

【5月29日

It's the last day, and we know we can't escape. Dormitory supervisor Ms. Li said that perhaps only the complete destruction of someone can end this... Even if it's like a moth drawn to a flame, a futile attempt, I'll try. If you happen to see this diary entry, please tell my parents that their daughter is unfilial...

— Xie Yiping's last words

After reading these few short diary entries, both of them fell silent.

Lu Changsheng had actually suspected this for a long time, but faced with such a stark reality, his feelings were quite complicated.

The live stream chat erupted in chaos.

I'm starting to get goosebumps all over.

I can't even imagine how desperate they must have been in the end...

"Why? Riku-shin? What on earth is going on?!"

Cheng Caijun's face flushed red, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and his eyes burned with the anger of a young man against injustice and evil.

Lu Changsheng let out a long sigh and stated a cruel truth—

"Resentment and pain... are the best nourishment for this evil ritual."

"If I'm not mistaken, Xie Yiping is the last missing person. She committed suicide by setting herself on fire," Lu Changsheng said softly. "And she succeeded."

Self-immolation!

Cheng Caijun was stunned. He hadn't expected Xie Yiping to choose such a fierce way to resist.

Just then, footsteps were heard in the corridor.

It was very light and slow, but it was definitely getting closer.

The two immediately fell silent, exchanged a glance, and Lu Changsheng quickly stuffed the diary into his pocket and hurriedly hid behind the door.

The footsteps stopped at the door.

The door was slowly pushed open.

A man in blue overalls stood in the doorway, holding an old-fashioned kerosene lamp. The light illuminated his haggard face—around forty years old, with gray hair, sparse and messy eyebrows, a mouth that was slightly crooked to the right, and two very deep vertical lines at the corners of his mouth.

Most importantly, he has a clear shadow.

A living person! In this school building full of ghosts, there was actually a living person. Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You shouldn't have come here."

Lu Changsheng did not answer immediately, but glanced at the man's name tag, which read...

[Dormitory Administrator of the Fourth Teaching Building: Li Xingguo]

"We are test takers...and we're lost."

Lu Changsheng gave a vague answer.

Li Xingguo surprisingly didn't press further, but simply said:

"Come with me..."

Cheng Caijun looked at Lu Changsheng, who nodded almost imperceptibly. This dormitory supervisor who suddenly appeared was a witness to what happened back then, and was mentioned many times in Xie Yiping's diary. He was an important figure in this instance, and Cheng Caijun had to follow him to see what was going on.

The two arrived at dormitory 401, where Li Xingguo took out his key and opened the door.

The dormitory manager's room was cleaner than I had imagined; though simple, it was spotless. There was a single bed, a desk, and a metal cabinet, with faded dormitory regulations posted on the wall. Most striking were the sixty-six photographs displayed on the desk.

"I'm sure you all know something about this place... That's right, these are all former students of Class D."

Li Xingguo followed Lu Changsheng's gaze, his voice low, his lips trembling, and vertical lines appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Li Xingguo carefully picked up a photo of a girl on the table and gently wiped it. The girl in the picture had her hair tied in a ponytail and her eyes were curved into crescent moons.

"That's Xie Yiping." Li Xingguo's voice trembled slightly. "This child is the most hardworking and the most stubborn."

"She's braver than any of us," he whispered. "I'm just a coward."

"Do you know the truth?" Cheng Caijun couldn't help but ask.

Li Xingguo gave a bitter smile, a smile that was more painful than crying.

"You know? I'm an accomplice."

He rolled up his sleeves—his arms were covered with dark blue, root-like lines that stretched from his wrists to his elbows, as if something was parasitizing his veins.

"I signed a 'lifetime service agreement.' I had to obey the principal's orders. This included delivering meals, locking doors, confiscating their communication devices, and even lying for the principal when they asked about the missing students."

He lowered his sleeves and slumped down on the charred edge of the bed.

"Then why weren't you attacked by those students?"

"I don't know." Li Xingguo slumped onto the stool. "Maybe they just don't care about me, or maybe it's because I once helped them out."

Lu Changsheng listened quietly, his gaze sweeping over the photographs on the wall. The young faces in the dim light seemed to still be breathing, but their time had been frozen in that year.

"When the bell rings, they will be forced back to the classroom to study. When the bell rings again, they will start scratching at the windows, and the cycle will continue endlessly." Li Xingguo said in a low voice.

"Why?" Cheng Caijun asked. "They're all dead, so why should we still follow these rules? Why hasn't the culprit been punished?"

Li Xingguo's forehead veins bulged, as if he was suppressing something.

"I...I don't know."

"Teacher Li," Lu Changsheng, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, his voice calm yet penetrating, "The reason this school still exists is because its principal has secured the protection of some kind of 'being,' isn't that right?"

Li Xingguo suddenly looked up, his pupils contracting: "You...how did you know?"

"Just a guess."

Lu Changsheng remained calm. "Resentment can turn into ghosts and gather into malevolent forces. The students in Class D are still trapped in this building and cannot even move on their own—suppressing this level of resentment is definitely beyond human capability."

He paused, then continued, "Moreover, Principal Zhang is still alive. If I'm not mistaken, he should be Crab God, right?"

Cheng Caijun gasped, "Crab...Crab God?!"

The live stream chat exploded with comments:

[Holy crap! This is already at the level of "gods"?! This is definitely not the kind of difficulty a newbie dungeon should be!]

The last instance involving this type of entity was the SS-rank "Deep Sea Priest" dungeon for An Shen, with a survival rate of only 1%... Out of 100 top players who went, only An Shen survived.

What is this game trying to do? Giving this kind of content to newbies?!

But upon closer reflection, something definitely feels off about the rules... The proctor's anomaly is nothing like the ordinary bizarre.

[Just came out of Zhang Zhuyu's live stream, and the Crab God statue did indeed appear. Lu Changsheng actually brought it out himself, amazing!]