Chapter 30: Arrival at the Classroom

It turned out that Lu Xi had great potential as an NPC.

The female ghost stared at her for a long while before finally drifting away slowly. She must have mistaken Lu Xi for one of her own kind. Only after the ghost vanished did Lu Xi collapse to the floor like a deflated balloon, gasping for breath. She had no idea why the ghost had chosen to spare her, but one way or another, she had luckily escaped with her life.

With that thought in mind, Lu Xi climbed the stairs one flight at a time. She dared not take the elevator. After all, there were plenty of horror stories about elevators; she didn't want a sudden drop to send her straight down to the eighteenth level of hell.

She encountered several supernatural incidents while climbing. The motion-sensor lights above her would occasionally change colors or flicker incessantly. There were bloodstained handprints appearing on the steps for no reason, and on a few floors, she found herself caught in a "ghost loop," unable to pass through. Whenever Lu Xi encountered such situations, she simply ignored them as long as they didn't get right in her face. If they did get too close, she would just stand perfectly still, playing a game of "Red Light, Green Light" with the NPC. As for the ghost loop, she noticed that the time on her phone also stopped, as if she had stepped into another dimension. Fortunately, this didn't interfere too much with the task assigned by Teacher Qin.

She broke into a full sweat just climbing a mere six floors. During the process, she couldn't send messages to Ji Chenling because her phone had absolutely no signal or network connection.

Panting as she reached the sixth floor, Lu Xi knocked on the dormitory door.

"Who is it?" Meng Yuanyuan's voice came from inside.

Hearing a familiar voice, Lu Xi was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Is that you, Meng Yuanyuan? It’s me, Lu Xi."

The room fell silent instantly.

Lu Xi: "Huh?"

"Are you human or a ghost?" Meng Yuanyuan's voice was clearly trembling.

"I’m human, of course! We were just together in the Wood Official Village dungeon not long ago, remember?"

Lu Xi understood the concern of the people inside. As a long-time reader of horror novels, she had seen this trope countless times. It was always a case of someone knocking on the door in the dead of night, but once the door opened—death! Because the familiar voice outside belonged to a ghost, not a living person. Lu Xi was caught between laughter and tears; she never expected this classic horror novel trope to happen to her.

Even more, she never expected that she wouldn't be the survivor inside, but the "ghost" outside.

"I really am Lu Xi. Can't you recognize my voice?"

Inside the dormitory, Meng Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment, looked at Gu Yun, and finally sighed. "You are the seventeenth Lu Xi."

Lu Xi was startled. "What does that mean?"

"Before you arrived, sixteen other people claiming to be Lu Xi have already knocked on this door."

"Forget it. I'll ask you a few questions. If you can answer them all correctly, I'll let you in." Meng Yuanyuan thought for a few seconds and came up with a plan. None of the previous "Lu Xis" had been able to answer them all; they had all gotten them outrageously wrong, which was how she and Gu Yun had seen through them at a glance.

"We only have ten minutes left, for heaven's sake!" Lu Xi sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Aren't you guys worried? I remember your names are in the group chat."

*Click.* The dormitory door swung open.

"You really are Lu Xi?!" Meng Yuanyuan cried out in surprise.

"Hurry up." Without a second thought, Lu Xi rushed inside. Sure enough, a blue-and-white school uniform was laid out on one of the empty beds. She quickly pulled it on and bolted toward the teaching building at top speed.

Running as fast as she could, she finally arrived at the teaching building at 6:58. Ji Chenling was already waiting for her on the first floor, leaning against a pillar with a faint, enigmatic smile. Seeing her appear, he immediately opened his arms and slid across the floor to catch her just as she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" Ji Chenling helped her stand.

"Wait... wait a second, I... I need to catch my breath."

"All right." Ji Chenling watched her quietly. Suddenly, he scooped her up and carried her upstairs in a bridal style.

"You, you, you... put me down right now!" Lu Xi’s brain short-circuited.

"Uh... well, Lu Xi, we’ll head up first then." Meng Yuanyuan and Gu Yun exchanged glances and chuckled in unison. What was going on? They were actually shipping a couple in the middle of a death game.

"You have no strength left," Ji Chenling said, his lips curling slightly. "I'll carry you up."

"Don't..." Lu Xi’s face turned bright red. This guy was incredibly strong. He usually looked laid-back and seemed indifferent to everything, so she had assumed he was easy to talk to. She hadn't expected him to be so uncompromising when he decided to do something. She tried to struggle, but couldn't break free. She tried to tell him to put her down, but it was like talking to a brick wall.

"This is so embarrassing." The girl buried her face in his chest, not daring to look up.

Ji Chenling actually carried her all the way into the classroom.

When they arrived, they were clearly late. The middle-aged, bald man standing at the podium saw them, his expression darkened instantly. He turned around, scowling, just about to lecture the two late students, but shut his mouth the moment he saw who it was.

Ji Chenling held Lu Xi in his arms, his eyes lifting to cast a cold, sharp gaze at the teacher. Teacher Qin’s hand trembled. An inexplicable, chilling pressure washed over him.

"Reporting to Teacher Qin, are we late?" Ji Chenling asked with a mocking, bloodless smile, his words laced with intense frost.

Lu Xi lifted her head. "Huh? Are we late?"

Ji Chenling reached up and pushed her fluffy head back down.

Teacher Qin at the podium felt a chill run down his spine from the sudden coldness. He gave a dry laugh. "No... come on in. Class is about to officially begin."

This scene left the "students" in the classroom stunned. Just two minutes ago, a student who was thirty seconds late had been thrown out the window by Teacher Qin. This was the fifth floor; even with the lawn and flowerbeds below, the chance of dying from the fall was high. Why did the game rules change for these two?

Jiang Chen, sitting in the fourth row, had arrived at the classroom long ago with Ji Yunxuan’s group. The seat next to him was empty. His girlfriend in name, Chen Yiyi, didn't seem to have been transported into this particular dungeon and had gone somewhere else instead. The order in which players entered dungeons was entirely random; even the closest people could be separated.

Jiang Chen’s gaze landed on the girl, and he felt dazed for a moment. She was wearing the school uniform, her hair tied in a ponytail, her face free of makeup, looking bright, lovely, and pure.

Past memories struck Jiang Chen, and he suddenly felt a longing for the time they were together. He hadn't come from a wealthy background and had been burdened by poverty for a long time, living a very difficult life. That was until he met Lu Xi, a girl from a wealthy family who was passionate and sunny, and who expressed her interest in him openly and generously. It was she who made him realize that a girl could pursue a boy in such a grand, sensational way that it rocked the entire campus.

At first, Jiang Chen had assumed this was just a rich girl trying to humiliate him, and due to his pride, he had been unwilling to accept her kindness or affection.

Wearing the school uniform made Lu Xi look even more vibrant and pretty. With her natural beauty enhanced by the outfit, she looked even more stunning and exceptional.

Jiang Yan-yan frowned. Seeing her boyfriend, Ji Yunxuan, staring at the girl, she tightened her fingers, her eyes dimming.

"I have an empty seat here," Jiang Chen suddenly raised his hand to signal.