A painful cry of anguish.
Lynn's hand began uncontrollably reaching toward the back of his own head, as that face wailed and tore itself away from the back of his skull using its hands.
And from the densely packed eye patterns on Lynn's back.
Screaming student souls began struggling out one after another, twisted and squeezed together by turbid flesh and blood, manipulated by Wang Tao to form a new body.
They were just like Wang Tao.
All souls devoured by that Evil Ghost.
Lynn watched as he painfully and contortedly knelt before the girl's rotting corpse, covering his face and weeping.
His sharp fingernails almost pierced through his own face.
The blazing flas.
Illuminated the entire classroom.
In the glass reflections, chaotic scenes appeared one after another.
Just like the beginning of this cycle.
That young man sat at his own desk, coldly watching the slaughter initiated for him by that "ghost."
Students screaming and fleeing were everywhere.
Crimson blood was everywhere.
Slaughtered one by one.
But his heart held no pity, only uncontrollable hatred.
Then the scene shifted again.
To that young man kneeling before the devil, trembling as he gazed at the rotting corpse of the girl before him.
Exactly the sa as now.
The only difference was his appearance.
Or perhaps his current form was his true appearance back then—a soul shattered to pieces by hatred.
Heart-wrenching sobs.
Endless, resentful weeping.
Yet powerless to change anything.
anwhile, at the front of the classroom, Lynn manipulated tentacles to continuously push back the frenzied ghostly figures, but the increasing fragntation created trendous pressure even for Lynn.
But just at that mont.
Click—
The clock's second hand stopped.
Instantly, the entire classroom seed to freeze, and the increasingly nurous terrifying evil ghosts all stopped as if soone had pressed pause.
Lynn frowned, withdrew his tentacles, and stepped back.
Everything fell into stagnation.
The flas stopped burning.
The classroom stopped collapsing.
Only behind him, that shattered monster knelt before the girl's rotting corpse, weeping softly.
Lynn turned around, frowning as he watched the scene.
Then slowly.
A golden-glowing key appeared on the chest of the rotting girl.
The key that would let him pass this level.
Lynn frowned, looking at the key that had fallen into his hand, feeling a strong sense of anticlimax.
"Is that it?"
The key was indeed inside the girl's body, just as he had thought.
But to obtain the key, one needed to understand the crucial point of the "Heart Anchor."
To understand what role she played in the heart of the character he was portraying.
Because the key symbolized hope and light.
Only by understanding this.
Could you find the hidden key.
But was it over just like that...
Lynn frowned, looking at the hollow, twisted monster kneeling before the girl.
Indeed.
For an outsider like him, it was probably over.
Because this was just an assessnt.
And everything he had participated in was rely part of the script's arrangent.
In the actual history without his participation, that death loop would continue endlessly, with Wang Tao and that devil forced to repeat this past event over and over.
He wasn't part of that real history.
He wasn't a character in the play.
He was just a passerby.
Like every Night Doctor taking the assessnt—co and go, treating it as an unpleasant dream.
"Take the key and go to the next level."
The twisted monster said softly.
As if the room was using its mouth to urge him.
Lynn's frown deepened.
"Is this really just an unchangeable script?"
The twisted monster whispered: "Yes."
His voice showed no fluctuation, yet seed filled with vicissitude.
A script.
An unchangeable scene on a stage.
No beginning, no end.
Lynn tightened his grip on the key.
He glanced at the classroom door, finally turned around, took a deep breath, and walked heavily toward it.
When he reached the doorway.
He stopped.
Everything around fell into silence.
Only in the center of the ti-frozen classroom, the monster hollowly knelt before the girl's corpse, holding her already decomposed hand.
Outside, seeing Lynn successfully obtain the key, all the trainees sighed with relief for so reason.
The Head Examiner rubbed his temples, saying:
"Next should be the third level... Given his observational and reasoning skills demonstrated in this level, I think he should easily pass the subsequent levels..."
The Vampire worriedly said: "Head Examiner, is there really no way to change that script? It's too heartbreaking!"
The Head Examiner smiled bitterly: "A script is a script, this is just a simulation in the Fantasy Room. No matter what, what has already happened cannot be changed."
The Vampire worriedly lowered her head.
The Head Examiner shook his head, about to switch to the third level's scene.
But just then, he suddenly heard Lynn's voice from the scene.
"I think this isn't right, is it."
The Head Examiner about to turn away and all the trainees were startled.
They suddenly looked up toward the scene.
...
Classroom.
Lynn stood holding the door handle, his voice sounding from afar.
"Even if it's a script, is there really no way to make any changes?"
The frozen classroom.
Dead silence.
The monster hollowly slowly turned its head, gazing at his back from afar.
Crack crack—
Lynn stretched his neck.
He turned his head, raised an eyebrow and said: "This kind of situation where you're suddenly told you've passed before reaching a perfect ending is really infuriating!"
The trainees were stunned.
And right under the monster's hollow gaze.
Lynn released the door handle, turned back, and walked up to him.
"If this was sothing that truly happened." Lynn reached out his hand toward him, his eyes reflecting both him and the girl's corpse.
"I'm truly sorry you had such an experience."
"I also regret that I couldn't truly participate in these events, but if I had been there at the ti, I wouldn't have allowed such a tragedy to happen."
He calmly extended his hand toward him.
"As a human, and as a doctor, I'm sorry."
Outside.
The Head Examiner and the trainees all stared blankly at this scene, montarily speechless.
Because they knew that wasn't a true existence, just a simulation.
Lynn must know that too.
But...
He still...
The monster hollowly gazed at him, and finally, after who knows how long.
It lowered its head, its broken lips moving.
"Thank you."
Lynn smiled, extending his hand: "At least we should shake hands. Sorry for portraying you."
The monster lowered its head.
Long silence.
Finally, it raised its broken, twisted hand.
And shook hands with Lynn.
But almost the mont Lynn's hand touched his, a blinding white light suddenly shone from Lynn's hand.
A white light waterfall instantly enveloped the entire scene, making everyone outside stunned and closing their eyes.
This sudden developnt clearly caught everyone off guard.
What happened?!
What was this white light?!
In the scene, the dazzling white light almost enveloped the entire classroom.
Even the monster was blinded by the light, unable to see anything, but in this white light, he still heard Lynn's voice.
"Maybe it really is just a simulation... But it always makes people feel uncomfortable inside."
"So consider this my childish attempt. Maybe nothing can be changed, maybe you really are just illusions."
"But since I've truly participated."
Lynn calmly watched them, like a child's unreasonable tantrum, and activated Echoes of the Past on them.
"Then I don't want to do nothing, even if..."
Even if it's a futile effort.
Even if the outco fundantally cannot be changed.
Even if what he was doing was just a laughable attempt, like a child in a movie theater crying and fussing, wanting the movie to have a different ending.
Because he thought of those eyes looking backward.
He never dared to face the future, he kept gazing at the past, because the future held greater tragedy, so he kept escaping in pain.
But what's wrong with that?!
It's precisely because the past held the only remaining light that one would gaze back.
And that was at least better than the endless darkness and suffering of the future.
"So even if I can't change it, I still want to try to change it, even if only for a mont."
Hum—
Instantly, dazzling light halos enveloped the entire classroom, occupying the entire scene.
...
The white light that lasted for several minutes forced the Head Examiner to urgently shut down the scene projection.
The trainees all stared stunned toward the direction of the scene.
"Instructor, what was that just now? Was it the room's mapping?"
The Head Examiner rubbed his eyes, frowning: "No, that seed to be one of his abilities, but he already got the key, and ti is almost up. What is he still doing there?"
Because it really was just a script.
Even if he changed the script's direction, so what?
A story is just a story.
He was burning with anxiety, because the half-hour ti limit was almost over, and if he remained in that room, it would an failing the assessnt.
And he absolutely didn't want to lose such a promising talent!
He paced incessantly, like an ant on a hot pan.
But he couldn't interfere.
...
anwhile, outside the Trial Hall.
Raven, who had been sitting on a chair chatting and waiting smilingly with a Crow Person girl, suddenly saw more than a dozen Night Doctors wearing plague doctor masks like them push open the door and stride in quickly.
The leading Night Doctor's chest was carved with eight cross patterns.
Raven imdiately stiffened.
Because cross patterns in the City of Night represented rit.
And aside from Elder-level Night Doctors having nine crosses, eight-cross rit was almost the highest rank achievable for Night Doctors like them.
Raven imdiately looked solemn, quickly standing up.
Almost everyone around also quickly stood up upon seeing the leading Night Doctor, paying respects to the veteran.
"Sorry to interrupt your work."
A weathered voice ca from beneath that Night Doctor's plague doctor mask.
He removed his plague doctor mask, revealing the weathered face of a middle-aged human with white hair, saying seriously:
"Does anyone know which trainee is currently undergoing assessnt?"
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