As Ming Po took the test paper, he lowered his voice. "Do I... know you?"
Hearing this, Chen Bingwen was instantly startled.
He instinctively reached up to touch his face, only to realize that his mask was gone.
A pale hue washed over Chen Bingwen's complexion.
'I definitely walked in wearing it!'
But...
...No, it made sense when he thought about it.
Chen Bingwen tried to force himself to calm down.
If the ga was set in a school, wearing a mask would obviously look bizarre. Perhaps this ga did not allow players to conceal their identities in the first place... Judging by the baggy, oversized school uniforms they were all wearing, they probably were not allowed to bring anything in at all.
At this realization, a wave of intense regret crashed over Chen Bingwen.
'If I had known, I wouldn't have beco that ghost strear!'
"No whispering!"
A booming voice suddenly erupted behind Chen Bingwen.
The invigilator had appeared behind him without warning, rapping her knuckles sharply on the desk.
The woman looked to be in her early thirties, perhaps even younger than Chen Bingwen himself.
Yet Chen Bingwen jumped in sheer terror. He shuddered from head to toe, hastily turning back around to sit properly.
Even Ming Po paused for a fraction of a second—he had not noticed when the invigilator had walked over either.
"All examinees must remain quiet. I will now read the examination rules..."
The invigilator drawled in a slow, thodical tone.
Before Ming Po could even glance at his test paper, he caught a flash of light inside his desk cubby out of the corner of his eye.
It was a cell phone!
It was not a smartphone, but an old-fashioned PHS with a color screen and a physical keypad.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Ming Po instantly hit the cancel button. At the sa ti, he held down the volu key, putting the device on silent.
Evidently, however, not everyone shared his reaction speed, or perhaps so simply did not know how to operate the phone.
In the next second, an overlapping cacophony of piercing ringtones erupted throughout the classroom.
The invigilator whipped around, her steps swift as the wind.
She sprinted toward every examinee who had failed to turn off their phones, snatching the devices straight from their desk cubbies.
The teacher swept from the front of the room to the back, confiscating the phones one by one. Not a single student dared to resist.
But when she reached the very last row... the seat right behind Ming Po, the burly man there instead shoved his phone deep into his pocket.
He did not even utter a word; his attitude alone declared his refusal to cooperate.
At the sa ti, a crimson glow flared in the depths of his pupils. The muscles in his left arm bulged and engorged with blood, turning a dark, purplish-red as he forcefully clamped his hand around the invigilator's right arm.
He clearly intended to use brute force.
The mont he grabbed her, the invigilator's movents froze completely.
The fury on her face vanished, replaced by an expressionless void. Her entire body turned as rigid as a stone statue.
In the next instant, the classroom plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Just a mont ago, the room had been brightly lit, while the sky outside was overcast with a brewing storm.
Now, as the lights died, the curtains whipped wildly in the wind, and a bone-chilling winter gale blasted into the classroom.
"Arghhhh!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air from right behind Ming Po.
He did not even turn his head. He simply acted as if nothing had happened, quietly turning his phone face-down and tucking it into the corner of his desk cubby.
Then ca a soft pop, like a balloon bursting.
It was followed by a sickening squelch and a heavy, muffled thud as sothing collapsed to the floor.
Then, the lights flickered back on.
Ming Po never looked back once throughout the entire ordeal.
He calmly stared down at his test paper. The questions were high school level math, roughly for sophomores. Although he had forgotten most of his high school curriculum, the problems were not overly difficult.
However, a few speckles of blood had splattered across the page.
From the corner of his eye, Ming Po watched the invigilator—whose entire right arm was now coated in crimson blood—slowly walk past him from the left side.
"...Cell phones and other communication devices must be powered off and surrendered to the podium. Does anyone else still have a phone on them? Hand it over voluntarily. This is your final warning..."
The teacher calmly continued reciting the examination rules as she walked past Ming Po.
The mont she passed by, Ming Po discreetly retrieved the phone from his desk cubby.
He opened his unread ssages, quietly using the pad of his thumb to press the keys, trying his absolute best to make no sound.
A text ssage displayed several lines in black font against a white background:
[Adventure: Deceptive School]
[Multiplayer Ga. No Faction Restrictions. No Intruders.]
[Difficulty: 3-7 Days]
[This ga locks your initial state. No external abilities or status effects can be brought in, except for Titles.]
[Role-playing is mandatory in this ga. Any behavior outside the logical scope of your character may result in lethal danger.]
[Warning: This ga contains additional rules, hidden missions, and a special world setting.]
[Next Exit Node: Complete the Examination]
Upon reaching this point, Ming Po noticed there was no further text.
Yet, he could still hold down the "down" key, scrolling the screen further.
Through a stretch of blank space, it suddenly stopped at the very bottom.
He saw an image.
It was a tiny black cat looking back over its shoulder. Three necklaces hung around its neck, each bearing a pendant: an eye, a mouth, and a hand, respectively.
Both the cat and the eye on the necklace were staring directly into the screen.
'I see.'
Ming Po's expression remained perfectly calm.
He closed the ssage and let the phone slide smoothly up his uniform sleeve.
"What are you doing?!"
That shrill voice abruptly pierced the air once more.
Almost everyone looked up. The female student sitting in the first row, closest to the door, had suddenly had her hand seized by the invigilator.
In her grasp was a phone with a brightly lit white screen.
The girl looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, one of the few players in the crowd who actually looked like a genuine high schooler. She was nearly scared to tears, her expression completely vacant and her face flushed purple. She did not dare utter a single syllable.
"Did I or did I not say to hand over all phones?!"
The invigilator screeched.
The next second, accompanied by a horrifying shriek, she violently ripped the student's phone-holding right arm completely off her shoulder!
'...Huh?'
Ming Po was slightly taken aback.
'Why didn't the lights turn off this ti? Why didn't she die?'
He swept his gaze around the room using his peripheral vision.
The classroom had four columns and eight rows, making thirty-two people in total. The students were spaced far apart with plenty of room between them. The middle two columns bordered the left and right aisles, while the two outer columns sat flush against the walls.
'Are there really thirty-two players participating this ti?'
'Can an Adventure really hold this many people?'
Counting the heads with a sense of doubt, Ming Po quickly pinpointed Gao Fan's position.
Unfortunately, he was in the first row. He sat dead center, right up against the podium, practically at the invigilator's feet, and directly at the very front of Ming Po's line of sight.
It seed the seating arrangent was based on height.
The kid definitely would not dare look back, so he likely had no idea where Ming Po was seated.
Right at that mont.
Gao Fan suddenly shot his hand into the air. "Teacher, I want to hand in my phone!"
"Good."
The invigilator reached out and took his phone.
Amidst the agonizing screams and groans of the injured girl, the invigilator carried the two phones back to the podium and smoothly resud reading the rules.
"You may not begin answering questions before the start signal is given, and you must stop writing imdiately upon hearing the end signal. Use a black ink pen for your answers. Fill in your na and other details within the designated sealed lines."
"Prohibited behaviors during the examination: Talking, peeking at others' papers, passing items, plagiarism..."
'Is it really just about taking a test?'
Ming Po furrowed his brow slightly.
'Just high school math... Could a ga like this really warrant a 3-7 day danger rating?'
But almost instantly, Ming Po realized the fundantal flaw.
'Where the hell is my pen?'
Very soon, the other students realized the exact sa thing.
Just like Ming Po, no one else had a pen either!
They glanced at one another in dismay, but not a single person dared to be the first to question the invigilator.
However, upon realizing that nobody had a pen, nearly half the players noticeably relaxed.
Right then.
The freezing wind blasted through the windows once more.
The classroom lights flickered wildly, the chandelier groaning under the strain.
A wave of intense dizziness suddenly crashed over them.
Coupled with a violent surge of nausea rising from his stomach, Ming Po clutched his head. But the disorienting loss of balance only grew stronger... It felt as though sothing was scrambling his nerves, gradually draining all the strength from his body.
Ming Po fought desperately to maintain his consciousness, a crimson light slowly igniting in the depths of his eyes.
But right after, he watched the students in front of him collapse one by one.
Finally, after every single person in his line of sight had fallen, Ming Po succumbed and collapsed as well.
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