Chapter 168: The Student Who Jumped from the Building
A cold gleam flickered behind the female teacher’s eyeglasses.
The wooden pointer in her hand suddenly stretched and twisted like a living vine. In an instant, it whipped through the air and coiled tightly around Dragon Emerging from the Sea’s wrist as he prepared to fight back.
“During remedial tutoring,” her voice echoed with an eerie, mechanical chill, “unauthorized departure from your seat is strictly forbidden.”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea let out a muffled grunt. An icy, numbing force pulsed through the vine-like rod, locking up his muscles and leaving him completely unable to break free.
Seeing their strongest fighter pinned without a struggle, Sister Cai and the other three trapped members looked even more anxious.
“We… we’re heading to the cafeteria right now!” Lin Huai spoke up immediately.
Reaching out, she caught Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar by the arm just as the girl was about to argue, shooting a sharp, warning look toward the others who had passed.
Standing their ground here would only provoke the teacher and trigger harsher system penalties.
Under the cold gaze of the instructor, the eight passing survivors were forced to leave Classroom 16.
The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind them with a loud bang, cutting off the room inside. Only the teacher’s flat, emotionless voice filtered faintly through the keyhole:
“Now, we will begin with question number one…”
Out in the hallway, the dim fluorescent lights hummed with a sickly green buzz, casting long, unsettling shadows along the peeling walls.
“What should we do? Brother Long and the others are trapped…” Cute and Sparkling whispered anxiously, wringing her hands.
“Brute force won’t work here,” Old Wang adjusted his glasses, forcing himself to analyze the situation logically. He looked toward Lin Huai. “Boss, since this instance is called Resentful Campus, the secret to clearing it must be resolving the ghost’s lingering grudge. What kind of obsession would drive a teacher to hold students hostage until they pass?”
The Young Miss tapped her chin thoughtfully. “An educator obsessed with forcing every failing student to pass an exam… what could she possibly be angry about?”
“Could it be… disappointment that they aren’t working hard enough?” Milk Tea ventured, drawing from her recent high school memories. “Maybe she just wanted all her students to succeed in life?”
“Perhaps, but that’s still too vague,” Lin Huai said, shaking her head. “We need concrete clues. Let’s head over to the cafeteria first. We can use the trip to look around campus and see if we can get any NPCs to talk.”
The student dining hall was tucked away in the southeast corner of the school grounds.
Along the way, they crossed paths with several other player groups walking in the same direction, but not a single resident student or teacher was wandering the paths.
The cafeteria interior was dimly lit and dreary, thick with the sour stench of spoiled cabbage and strong floor disinfectant.
Behind the barred serving counter, an elderly lunch lady scooped food with a trembling spoon, her face pale and vacant. The large metal trays in front of her were filled with a thick, gray paste that looked entirely inedible.
Shudao Mountain covered her mouth, fighting back a wave of nausea. “Don’t tell me we’re actually expected to eat that…”
Lin Huai scanned the large dining hall, her eyes quickly settling on a quiet corner.
A lone female student sat by herself at a worn plastic table, wearing a faded school uniform as she silently chewed her food.
Lin Huai gestured toward her teammates. “Milk Tea and I will approach her. The rest of you find seats nearby or scout the room for other students.”
The squad split up, quietly blending into the sparse crowd of diners.
“Excuse me, classmate,” Lin Huai greeted softly, keeping her voice gentle and warm. “We’re new transfer students.”
The girl looked up slowly, her gaze dull and lifeless. She stared at the two newcomers for a moment without any expression, then looked back down to shovel another spoonful of porridge into her mouth.
Milk Tea stepped forward with a polite smile. “Is anyone sitting here? Do you mind if we join you?”
The student paused, glanced up once more, and gave a stiff nod.
Sitting down opposite her, Lin Huai kept the conversation moving. “Which grade are you in, classmate? Are you a first-year like us?”
The girl finally parted her dry lips. “Second year. Class 16.”
Milk Tea’s eyes lit up with genuine surprise. “What a coincidence! We were assigned to Class 16 too, but in the first-year block.”
The girl’s plastic spoon froze halfway to her bowl. Her hollow eyes widened slightly. “First year, Class 16? Teacher Gao’s class?”
Lin Huai caught the shift instantly. Earlier in the classroom, she had already spotted the name tag hovering over the instructor’s head, which meant this girl was definitely talking about their proctor.
“You know Teacher Gao?” Lin Huai asked eagerly.
“What kind of teacher is she usually?” Milk Tea pressed, using familiar student slang to bridge the gap. “Is she always that strict, or is she a total nightmare to everyone?”
Hearing the casual student lingo, the girl’s posture relaxed. A flicker of emotion returned to her pale face, making her noticeably more willing to talk.
“Teacher Gao… she wasn’t always this terrifying,” the student murmured, looking down at her bowl. “People say she only became like this after the accident.”
“What accident?” Lin Huai and Milk Tea leaned in closer at the same time.
“A student jumped from the roof.”
A solid lead!
Lin Huai felt a surge of adrenaline. “What was the student’s name? Why did she jump? What happened after that?”
The girl slowly shook her head, returning to her tasteless gruel. “I don’t know the details. That happened to the previous batch of first-years in Class 16. It was already three years ago.”
Realizing the student knew nothing more, Lin Huai and Milk Tea thanked her and rejoined the rest of the group.
By then, the other squad members had gathered bits and pieces of gossip from a few other NPC students scattered around the room. Crowding around a long table near the exit, they pooled their findings.
Brother He Ping quickly organized the notes and laid out the facts.
“Putting everything together, here is what happened: three years ago, a female student in Teacher Gao’s class failed an important exam by a single point. Teacher Gao refused to curve her grade, marking her as an official failure. Later that day, the girl jumped to her death from the top of the classroom building.”
“Ever since that day, Teacher Gao snapped. She became completely obsessed. She refuses to let a single student in her class fail an exam. If anyone falls below the passing mark, she traps them in remedial tutoring until their score clears the bar.”
“In short, Teacher Gao’s lingering resentment is tied to the passing grade. In her eyes, everyone in her classroom must pass!”
Flash Delivery Yellow Knight scratched his head, feeling a wave of pity for the four trapped members. “Man… how long are they going to be locked in there? You can’t turn someone into a scholar in an hour or two. Even memorizing the answer key takes time!”
Cute and Sparkling tapped her foot in distress. “He’s right. Boss, we have to find a way to get them out.”
Shudao Mountain stared at the table, thinking carefully before speaking up. “Classroom 16 is on the ground floor. What if we sneak up to the exterior window and slip them the answer sheet from the outside?”
Old Wang nodded in immediate agreement.
Before he could speak, the Young Miss reached over and smacked the back of his head with a folded menu.
“What are you agreeing for?!” she hissed under her breath. “Did you completely forget who is running this instance? Desolate from Sector 888! If the system catches us smuggling answers through a window, not only will we fail to rescue Brother Long and Sister Cai, but the rest of us will be slapped with disciplinary strikes too!”
Milk Tea slumped her shoulders in defeat. “Then what can we even do? If every standard cheating method gets flagged by the system, aren’t we completely out of options?”
Lin Huai thought it through, then pushed back her chair and stood up.
“Let’s head back to Classroom 16 and scout the tutoring session from a safe distance,” she commanded quietly. “If Teacher Gao’s grudge is purely about passing marks, then our only real objective is to get Brother Long and the others over that 60-point line.”
Her eyes sharpened with cool determination. “We’ll adapt our plan once we see how the room is laid out. And if we really have to cheat, so be it. I’ll find a way to handle Desolate.”
