The Tower was very likely a warning of sorts.
In the biblical book of Genesis, mankind congregated on a plain and planned to erect a tower whose top was in the heavens.
This act angered God, who quietly descended onto Earth, imparting a myriad of different languages to men, such that it was impossible for them to communicate with one another, and so they ceased building the tower.
This also represented an unfinished plan; destruction.
Zong Jiu pondered over it with his brows furrowed for a long time, and he didn’t even pay attention to the lesson he was in.
Luckily, it wasn’t Biology this period, which also meant that the Mr. Nan who only knew how to pick on him to answer questions wasn’t around. The faceless teacher at the podium closed one eye to his inattention, and wouldn’t deal any punishment to a top student like him.
The situation this time was definitely unlike the previous one. They were truly in a precarious position.
The white-haired young man pressed his temples in thought, but eventually decided to open the system backpack and draw another card.
This time, his question was: What is a solution?
This second draw unveiled the Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man signified contemplation, scrutiny, and self-sacrifice.
Glancing at it, Zong Jiu seemed to realise something. He cast his gaze down, returning it into the deck.
If there was truly no other solution, he could only seek out the Devil, for the other to perform his so-called reward of an ‘NPC’s assistance’.
But honestly speaking, even a teacher specially invited by the school would have trouble revoking a rule set by the school to stop their execution. Furthermore, Zong Jiu had very little faith in the Devil’s moral character and felt that the other would definitely create difficulties for them.
However, the ‘solution’ card he just drew provoked rare displeasure in Zong Jiu.
As expected, the Devil regrettably told him that he didn’t have that much authority in this instance.
Of course, with No. 1’s ability, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to wreck this instance—but why would he?
This instance promoted the uninhibited display of selfishness and malice between trainees, which was No. 1’s favourite type of drama.
The man’s lips curved. “Relax, since you’re redeeming your reward, I naturally won’t let you encounter danger. But as for the others…”
He spread his hands. “My hands are tied.”
Fortunately, good tidings arrived amid the bad news.
After the half-vampire planted the paper shikigami behind the iron door at the rear of the school compound, Tsuchimikado spent the last few days fighting against time, using them to explore the area, and reaped quite a few clues.
The only flaw of paper shikigami was that they moved slowly.
In addition, the heavy Yin energy around the Corpse Pit obstructed the spiritual transmission to the Yin-Yang Master, hindering progress.
Dea atbeut la kjr ribk-ublcu, atgff kffxr kjr ralii ibcu fcbeut obg Kremtlwlxjvb ab rmbea atf fcalgfas bo atf jgfj.
C aeccfi ragfamtfv yftlcv atf lgbc vbbg.
Ktfgf rffwfv ab yf j rfmgfa qjrrjuf jii atf kjs lcrlvf. Ktf qjqfg rtlxlujwl kfca bnfg jcv vlrmbnfgfv atja atfgf kjr jc fjgatfc aeccfi atja ifv bea bo atf rmtbbi. Pa kjr erejiis ecogfdefcafv, cbgwjiis gfrfgnfv obg atf rmtbbi wjcjufwfca’r erf. Coafg jii, atf rmtbbi ujafr kfgf rfmegfv ys mtjlcr jcv ajii kjiir klat tlut-nbiajuf yjgyfv klgf mblifv jybnf reggbecvfv atf qgfwlrfr. Vaevfcar kfgfc’a jiibkfv bea, yea kbeiv rmtbbi wjcjufwfca gfmflnf atf rjwf agfjawfca?
It was highly probable that this secret passage was the clue that the girl had left in her diary. It was the chance at survival that their class was looking for, a way to escape from school.
The Corpse Pit was on the right-hand side of the tunnel.
When a student violated the rules, they would be thrown into this room.
The chilly and foreboding air of resentment was steeped in the surroundings of the Corpse Pit. The miasma of rot could be smelled even through the heavy door, and one could even hear the unceasing drone of the methane tank in operation.
Countless severed limbs, blood, and brain tissue were unapologetically swept inside, red and white heaped together, ultimately becoming an odious black colour. Amassed with dried twigs and tattered leaves, they became First High School’s best source of fuel.
The faceless teaching assistants and teachers were even gloating about how many more students died this year compared to previous years. With more fuel, more electricity could be produced from methane gas. They could enjoy hot water for their showers in the teaching faculty’s hostel, and even turn on the heating for warmth. Their delight brought chills to anyone who heard them.
The door to the left-hand side of the tunnel was perpetually locked, but according to the intel the paper shikigami sent back, there seemed to be movement behind the door.
Not only was there activity, but teachers would take turns to go through the door for a few hours every other month before coming out again. In order to avoid suspicion, the paper shikigami didn’t dare to go up to the door and could only observe from the byline.
In the end, one night, Tsuchimikado abruptly passed Zong Jiu a textbook with a grave face.
Catching the hint, he opened the textbook and found a small note written on the inside.
[The resentment is so dense that the transmission from the paper shikigami has been intermittent since early this morning.]
[The number of faceless people entering the left door has increased over the past few days. The last scene transmitted back was that the lights were turned on and someone picked up the paper shikigami from the ground, and then contact was lost completely.]
Lost contact.
Zong Jiu’s eyes darkened.
It was useless even if they found a secret passage at the Corpse Pit to escape the school, because their task was to survive for a hundred and twenty days in First High School. No one could predict whether survival time would continue to be counted after leaving the school premises, and if it didn’t, only death awaited them.
Zong Jiu thought of that trash idea of his again.
From the looks of it now, this trash idea wasn’t really that trashy, but either way, it could only be implemented for the final exam.
In short, the most pressing issue at hand now was how to successfully take Class 9 through the second monthly exam.
He put the note back into the textbook and rolled out of bed.
It was now deep in the night, only four hours before the wake-up bell. Even superhumans had to rest, and by now, lights were starting to blink out, leaving only a few still lit.
It wasn’t easy to climb down the bunk bed in the dark.
Zong Jiu carefully stepped on the only protrusion from his iron-framed bed and stepped on the lower bunk bed, still holding the textbook in his hand.
As a result, this absent-minded foot down unexpectedly stepped on a cold and hard object through a layer of black robe.
Zong Jiu looked down and immediately saw that on the lower bunk, Black Shaman’s green eyes were partially revealed from beneath his hood.
At this time, the eyes resembled those of a lone wolf in a forest, disquieting and downcasted, looking at the white-haired young man’s foot on his hand.
Zong Jiu, “…”
The atmosphere instantly plunged into bizarre awkwardness.
He didn’t know whether the Devil was asleep yet or whether he got kicked awake by this foot down, but this didn’t stop the Magician from readily crushing his foot down hard before tripping along, passing the textbook to Van Zhuo who was still working on Olympiad questions a short distance away.
Only that pair of eyes silently watched him from the back.
—
Time dragged on, and soon the second monthly exam was around the corner.
Only four of the seven classes in the year passed the bar in the third weekly quiz.
One was Class 5, which had over a dozen faceless trainees. Their conversion rate was still slowly rising, with new trainees turning faceless almost every day.
One was Class 1, who had made it through after desperate cramming.
Among them was also Class 3, Black Shaman’s class, who narrowly met the cut after a handful of them transformed. Similarly, there was also Tsuchimikado’s class, Class 7, which used a faceless trainee to boost their score. Though the class monitor was a half-vampire under Van Zhuo’s direct command, the top students in the class banded together in veiled opposition to him, like Class 5, putting pressure on the weaker students.
But Class 7 still had Tsuchimikado, who was happy to provide shelter for the underachievers, so the situation wasn’t as bad as it was in Class 5.
Under such circumstances, Class 9, Class 2, and Class 6 had become ants scurrying around frantically on a hot pan.
Men at death’s door would do anything; the underachievers in Class 2 and Class 6 were having a hard time too. The fastest way to boost scores now was to become a faceless person. A weak student could become a top student and raise the class average by more than ten marks, so why not?
At Zong Jiu’s request, Class 9 applied to the hostel caretaker for room changes. The rooms contained both students who performed well and performed poorly, which provided a conducive learning environment and the best possible educational resources.
Finally, the second monthly exam was upon them.
Before the monthly exam, Class 9 routinely set aside three periods of evening self-study to simulate a paper, calculating their average score.
Unfortunately, though the entire class had studied for seven days with barely any rest, their average score was still twenty marks short.
Twenty; it felt like an impossible chasm to cross.
The class’ trainees, with dark eye bags, were despondent.
The bullet chat joined them in their despondency.
[Crying,,, please don’t let anything happen to Class 9.]
[Maybe they’ll perform brilliantly tomorrow. There are always times when I do well and times when I screw up in exams. Just go for it, there’s still a chance.]
[I really like Class 9 too much. If anything happens to Class 9 I’ll really burst into tears.]
[Ugh, everyone has already put in so much effort. Like index 98 and 99. They virtually didn’t get any sleep. They stand with their books in class to stave off drowsiness, and they’d even conk out immediately during the ten minutes interval between classes.]
Zong Jiu raised his hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll definitely make it.”
“Just give it your best shot and don’t do anything stupid. I have seen everyone’s efforts during these seven days. Rest well tonight and make sure you’re in your best state to take the exam tomorrow.”
He had already pre-emptively instructed the representatives of rooms with weaker students to keep an eye on them to prevent that idea from forming.
Back when Class 9 failed to meet the cut, index 99 and the others had entertained the idea of becoming faceless people to save the class. Now that they obviously didn’t have enough marks, Zong Jiu didn’t believe that they wouldn’t think down that tangent again. As such, he made preparations in advance, for them to be closely watched when back in the hostel.
The white-haired young man’s gaze swept across each person, calm and full of confidence.
“Believe in yourself. Believe in Class 9.”
Everyone rose early the next day.
The trainees of Class 9 went for morning reading in self-organised groups, to confront this arduous battle.
However, when someone walked into class, the voices doing their morning reading became dead silent.
Sobs followed in the wake of the man walking mechanically through the hallway.
Index 99 cried the loudest.
He rushed up, bawling and choking with sobs.
“You fucker, you’re our hostel room rep… You were still encouraging us last night, warning us not to do anything stupid.”
“And… and then what about yourself?!”
The room representative stood there vacantly.
His face was sleek and blank, with no response ever forthcoming again.
The Tower was very likely a warning of sorts.
In the biblical book of Genesis, mankind congregated on a plain and planned to erect a tower whose top was in the heavens.
This act angered God, who quietly descended onto Earth, imparting a myriad of different languages to men, such that it was impossible for them to communicate with one another, and so they ceased building the tower.
This also represented an unfinished plan; destruction.
Zong Jiu pondered over it with his brows furrowed for a long time, and he didn’t even pay attention to the lesson he was in.
Luckily, it wasn’t Biology this period, which also meant that the Mr. Nan who only knew how to pick on him to answer questions wasn’t around. The faceless teacher at the podium closed one eye to his inattention, and wouldn’t deal any punishment to a top student like him.
The situation this time was definitely unlike the previous one. They were truly in a precarious position.
The white-haired young man pressed his temples in thought, but eventually decided to open the system backpack and draw another card.
This time, his question was: What is a solution?
This second draw unveiled the Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man signified contemplation, scrutiny, and self-sacrifice.
Glancing at it, Zong Jiu seemed to realise something. He cast his gaze down, returning it into the deck.
If there was truly no other solution, he could only seek out the Devil, for the other to perform his so-called reward of an ‘NPC’s assistance’.
But honestly speaking, even a teacher specially invited by the school would have trouble revoking a rule set by the school to stop their execution. Furthermore, Zong Jiu had very little faith in the Devil’s moral character and felt that the other would definitely create difficulties for them.
However, the ‘solution’ card he just drew provoked rare displeasure in Zong Jiu.
As expected, the Devil regrettably told him that he didn’t have that much authority in this instance.
Of course, with No. 1’s ability, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to wreck this instance—but why would he?
This instance promoted the uninhibited display of selfishness and malice between trainees, which was No. 1’s favourite type of drama.
The man’s lips curved. “Relax, since you’re redeeming your reward, I naturally won’t let you encounter danger. But as for the others…”
He spread his hands. “My hands are tied.”
Fortunately, good tidings arrived amid the bad news.
After the half-vampire planted the paper shikigami behind the iron door at the rear of the school compound, Tsuchimikado spent the last few days fighting against time, using them to explore the area, and reaped quite a few clues.
The only flaw of paper shikigami was that they moved slowly.
In addition, the heavy Yin energy around the Corpse Pit obstructed the spiritual transmission to the Yin-Yang Master, hindering progress.
Dea atbeut la kjr ribk-ublcu, atgff kffxr kjr ralii ibcu fcbeut obg Kremtlwlxjvb ab rmbea atf fcalgfas bo atf jgfj.
C aeccfi ragfamtfv yftlcv atf lgbc vbbg.
Ktfgf rffwfv ab yf j rfmgfa qjrrjuf jii atf kjs lcrlvf. Ktf qjqfg rtlxlujwl kfca bnfg jcv vlrmbnfgfv atja atfgf kjr jc fjgatfc aeccfi atja ifv bea bo atf rmtbbi. Pa kjr erejiis ecogfdefcafv, cbgwjiis gfrfgnfv obg atf rmtbbi wjcjufwfca’r erf. Coafg jii, atf rmtbbi ujafr kfgf rfmegfv ys mtjlcr jcv ajii kjiir klat tlut-nbiajuf yjgyfv klgf mblifv jybnf reggbecvfv atf qgfwlrfr. Vaevfcar kfgfc’a jiibkfv bea, yea kbeiv rmtbbi wjcjufwfca gfmflnf atf rjwf agfjawfca?
It was highly probable that this secret passage was the clue that the girl had left in her diary. It was the chance at survival that their class was looking for, a way to escape from school.
The Corpse Pit was on the right-hand side of the tunnel.
When a student violated the rules, they would be thrown into this room.
The chilly and foreboding air of resentment was steeped in the surroundings of the Corpse Pit. The miasma of rot could be smelled even through the heavy door, and one could even hear the unceasing drone of the methane tank in operation.
Countless severed limbs, blood, and brain tissue were unapologetically swept inside, red and white heaped together, ultimately becoming an odious black colour. Amassed with dried twigs and tattered leaves, they became First High School’s best source of fuel.
The faceless teaching assistants and teachers were even gloating about how many more students died this year compared to previous years. With more fuel, more electricity could be produced from methane gas. They could enjoy hot water for their showers in the teaching faculty’s hostel, and even turn on the heating for warmth. Their delight brought chills to anyone who heard them.
The door to the left-hand side of the tunnel was perpetually locked, but according to the intel the paper shikigami sent back, there seemed to be movement behind the door.
Not only was there activity, but teachers would take turns to go through the door for a few hours every other month before coming out again. In order to avoid suspicion, the paper shikigami didn’t dare to go up to the door and could only observe from the byline.
In the end, one night, Tsuchimikado abruptly passed Zong Jiu a textbook with a grave face.
Catching the hint, he opened the textbook and found a small note written on the inside.
[The resentment is so dense that the transmission from the paper shikigami has been intermittent since early this morning.]
[The number of faceless people entering the left door has increased over the past few days. The last scene transmitted back was that the lights were turned on and someone picked up the paper shikigami from the ground, and then contact was lost completely.]
Lost contact.
Zong Jiu’s eyes darkened.
It was useless even if they found a secret passage at the Corpse Pit to escape the school, because their task was to survive for a hundred and twenty days in First High School. No one could predict whether survival time would continue to be counted after leaving the school premises, and if it didn’t, only death awaited them.
Zong Jiu thought of that trash idea of his again.
From the looks of it now, this trash idea wasn’t really that trashy, but either way, it could only be implemented for the final exam.
In short, the most pressing issue at hand now was how to successfully take Class 9 through the second monthly exam.
He put the note back into the textbook and rolled out of bed.
It was now deep in the night, only four hours before the wake-up bell. Even superhumans had to rest, and by now, lights were starting to blink out, leaving only a few still lit.
It wasn’t easy to climb down the bunk bed in the dark.
Zong Jiu carefully stepped on the only protrusion from his iron-framed bed and stepped on the lower bunk bed, still holding the textbook in his hand.
As a result, this absent-minded foot down unexpectedly stepped on a cold and hard object through a layer of black robe.
Zong Jiu looked down and immediately saw that on the lower bunk, Black Shaman’s green eyes were partially revealed from beneath his hood.
At this time, the eyes resembled those of a lone wolf in a forest, disquieting and downcasted, looking at the white-haired young man’s foot on his hand.
Zong Jiu, “…”
The atmosphere instantly plunged into bizarre awkwardness.
He didn’t know whether the Devil was asleep yet or whether he got kicked awake by this foot down, but this didn’t stop the Magician from readily crushing his foot down hard before tripping along, passing the textbook to Van Zhuo who was still working on Olympiad questions a short distance away.
Only that pair of eyes silently watched him from the back.
—
Time dragged on, and soon the second monthly exam was around the corner.
Only four of the seven classes in the year passed the bar in the third weekly quiz.
One was Class 5, which had over a dozen faceless trainees. Their conversion rate was still slowly rising, with new trainees turning faceless almost every day.
One was Class 1, who had made it through after desperate cramming.
Among them was also Class 3, Black Shaman’s class, who narrowly met the cut after a handful of them transformed. Similarly, there was also Tsuchimikado’s class, Class 7, which used a faceless trainee to boost their score. Though the class monitor was a half-vampire under Van Zhuo’s direct command, the top students in the class banded together in veiled opposition to him, like Class 5, putting pressure on the weaker students.
But Class 7 still had Tsuchimikado, who was happy to provide shelter for the underachievers, so the situation wasn’t as bad as it was in Class 5.
Under such circumstances, Class 9, Class 2, and Class 6 had become ants scurrying around frantically on a hot pan.
Men at death’s door would do anything; the underachievers in Class 2 and Class 6 were having a hard time too. The fastest way to boost scores now was to become a faceless person. A weak student could become a top student and raise the class average by more than ten marks, so why not?
At Zong Jiu’s request, Class 9 applied to the hostel caretaker for room changes. The rooms contained both students who performed well and performed poorly, which provided a conducive learning environment and the best possible educational resources.
Finally, the second monthly exam was upon them.
Before the monthly exam, Class 9 routinely set aside three periods of evening self-study to simulate a paper, calculating their average score.
Unfortunately, though the entire class had studied for seven days with barely any rest, their average score was still twenty marks short.
Twenty; it felt like an impossible chasm to cross.
The class’ trainees, with dark eye bags, were despondent.
The bullet chat joined them in their despondency.
[Crying,,, please don’t let anything happen to Class 9.]
[Maybe they’ll perform brilliantly tomorrow. There are always times when I do well and times when I screw up in exams. Just go for it, there’s still a chance.]
[I really like Class 9 too much. If anything happens to Class 9 I’ll really burst into tears.]
[Ugh, everyone has already put in so much effort. Like index 98 and 99. They virtually didn’t get any sleep. They stand with their books in class to stave off drowsiness, and they’d even conk out immediately during the ten minutes interval between classes.]
Zong Jiu raised his hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll definitely make it.”
“Just give it your best shot and don’t do anything stupid. I have seen everyone’s efforts during these seven days. Rest well tonight and make sure you’re in your best state to take the exam tomorrow.”
He had already pre-emptively instructed the representatives of rooms with weaker students to keep an eye on them to prevent that idea from forming.
Back when Class 9 failed to meet the cut, index 99 and the others had entertained the idea of becoming faceless people to save the class. Now that they obviously didn’t have enough marks, Zong Jiu didn’t believe that they wouldn’t think down that tangent again. As such, he made preparations in advance, for them to be closely watched when back in the hostel.
The white-haired young man’s gaze swept across each person, calm and full of confidence.
“Believe in yourself. Believe in Class 9.”
Everyone rose early the next day.
The trainees of Class 9 went for morning reading in self-organised groups, to confront this arduous battle.
However, when someone walked into class, the voices doing their morning reading became dead silent.
Sobs followed in the wake of the man walking mechanically through the hallway.
Index 99 cried the loudest.
He rushed up, bawling and choking with sobs.
“You fucker, you’re our hostel room rep… You were still encouraging us last night, warning us not to do anything stupid.”
“And… and then what about yourself?!”
The room representative stood there vacantly.
His face was sleek and blank, with no response ever forthcoming again.
