Ch. 11 - Campus Horrors (3)

The bald man on the podium was still reciting his teaching materials with his head bowed. As his voice grew fainter, the classroom plunged into an eerie silence so complete that you could hear a pin drop.

Looking up in a daze, the bald man realized that the previously rowdy students had all sat up straight, fixing him with a feverish gleam in their eyes.

The ravenous stares were as eager as famished beasts catching sight of fresh meat.

A fierce shiver suddenly coursed through the bald man's entire body.

This wouldn't do; he couldn't stand remaining here any longer...

To hell with these bullshit rules; he didn't care anymore. He had to leave at this very instant.

Steeling his resolve, the bald man threw caution to the wind and made a mad dash for the door.

Just as he was about to reach it, the previously quiet students suddenly sprang up from their seats.

Moving at an eerily bizarre speed, they pounced on him.

The bald man was tackled to the ground and instantly swarmed, like prey surrounded by a zombie horde.

"Aaaargh!"

Following a single bloodcurdling scream, the bald man stopped moving entirely.

The stench of blood permeated the air, accompanied by the sickening crunch of chewing that hammered against the players' ears.

It wasn't hard for them to imagine the bald man's grisly fate.

The woman in the baseball jacket clamped a hand over her mouth, hiding fearfully in her boyfriend's embrace.

Meanwhile, Chen Sheng and the blond thug felt a wave of nausea wash over them as well.

The bald guy died far too suddenly, without any of them realizing what fatal rule he had broken.

The viewers in Fu Yan's livestream were also startled by the students' sudden frenzy, but after enduring Fu Yan scooping out brains, this level of shock no longer caused them any physical discomfort.

Rather, their focus was on the player death prerequisite Fu Yan had brought up.

[Anyone played this Instance Dungeon? What triggers the death flag?]

[No idea, but based on the number of streams I watch, this looks like a new Instance Dungeon.]

[The Instance Dungeons are spawning at a much higher frequency now; the game is practically trying to massacre players!]

[Mind your words, fellow horror fan, or you might find yourself banished to the boonies in your next Instance Dungeon.]

Inside the game, He Shuyang was also looking at Fu Yan with a bewildered expression.

"What triggers it?"

Fu Yan replied, "Don't you find the slogans in this school a bit bizarre?"

"Not really. What's so weird about them?"

Fu Yan shot him an incredulous glance.

"It's truly a miracle of divine mercy that you've managed to survive this long."

Scratching his head, He Shuyang could tell Fu Yan was mocking him, but he couldn't help it. He lacked brains and always triumphed through sheer brawn.

Fu Yan grabbed He Shuyang's fingers and counted them off.

"Outside the building, it says, 'High Virtue Makes a Teacher, Exemplary Integrity Makes a Role Model,' and in the office it says, 'Dedicate yourself to work, strictly observe your duties.'"

He continued, "Meanwhile, the classroom has 'Great teachers make their own rules for teaching' and 'Being learned, patient, and forgiving are the fundamental traits of a teacher.' Even the hallways are plastered with slogans like 'Teachers are role models.' Don't you feel there's something off about them?"

He Shuyang nodded.

"Yeah, they are definitely off."

Fu Yan gave him an approving glance, fully expecting him to elaborate.

Instead, He Shuyang gave a reply that rendered him speechless.

"Didn't you claim you couldn't read?!"

"I take back what I just said. The fact that you're still alive is pure divine grace."

He Shuyang twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Well, aside from that, I don't see anything wrong with them."

Fu Yan nearly laughed from exasperation.

"So you've wasted every ounce of your intuition on digging at me."

He pointed helplessly at the slogans on the wall.

"Look closely. Haven't you noticed that all these slogans are meant to warn teachers and regulate their conduct? It makes sense in the office, but shouldn't classrooms be plastered with motivational slogans for students? Things like 'Hard work pays off,' 'The ocean of knowledge has no limits,' or 'Study hard and make progress every day'?"

He Shuyang nodded, but he still didn't perceive anything amiss.

Sighing, Fu Yan added, "Look at the front of the classroom. There's nothing besides the desk, blackboard, and clock, yet the back wall has two rows of slogans. Normally, students face the blackboard during class, so who are the slogans on the back wall meant for?"

"The teacher! The slogans at the back are for the teacher!"

It finally dawned on He Shuyang.

He unconsciously raised his voice, gazing brightly at Fu Yan as if he had discovered an entirely new world.

"These slogans are all meant to warn the teachers, so the death prerequisite is that anyone who fails to fulfill their duties as a teacher will die!"

Momentarily at a loss for words, Fu Yan mocked, "You sure are a smart aleck."

He Shuyang had always depended on brute force to survive. This was the first time he had guessed a death prerequisite using his own brain.

Thrilled, he pushed further.

"The bald man got eaten because he didn't do his job as a teacher. He failed to manage classroom discipline, right?"

"Wow, you managed to figure all that out. Impressive."

Fu Yan deadpanned as he began to slow-clap, leaving He Shuyang speechless at the obvious sarcasm.

Back in the classroom, after a flurry of chewing noises, the students dispersed, leaving behind a complete mess...

Well, not quite.

The bald man had been huge and burly, yet he was eaten alive without a trace; not even a bloody mark remained on the floor.

Full and satisfied, the students returned to their desks and resumed fooling around, occasionally glancing at the door from the corners of their eyes, eager for their next meal to walk in.

"Should anything happen to the designated teacher, the remaining teachers must cover the class."

The NPC's statement echoed ominously in the players' minds.

Chen Sheng, the blond thug, and the baseball-jacket couple stood at the door exchanging nervous glances. Absolutely no one wanted to walk in and claim their own death warrant.

They had all overheard the conversation between Fu Yan and He Shuyang.

Though it sounded convincing, who could tell whether the other side wasn't simply using them to test the rules?

In this cutthroat, man-eating game, you couldn't even trust your own family.

Chen Sheng signaled to the blond thug with his eyes, eventually resting his gaze on the woman in the baseball jacket.

The blond immediately understood.

Chen Sheng wanted him to mimic the NPC and shove the woman into the classroom.

Although she was rather pretty, and it would be a bit of a waste to sacrifice her like this, saving one's own skin took priority.

The blond crept up behind the woman, but just as he reached out to push her, the back door flew open with a loud bang!

Someone had kicked it open from outside.

Fu Yan ambled into the classroom with his hands in his pockets, walking at an unhurried pace.

The sudden noise startled the students inside.

They all whipped around and glared at him with fierce, predatory looks in their eyes.

For a brief moment, the entire class fell deathly silent.

It was already 8:45. There was still half an hour before the first period ended.

Amid the students' malicious whispers, Fu Yan took an idle stroll up to the podium.

He picked up the pointer and tapped it against the blackboard.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fu Yan, and I'm your P.E. teacher."

A smile slowly spread across his face.

"My teaching style is simple."

"My rules are the rules."