"Wait, wait..."

Fatty rubbed his belly, which gave a lurch in fright. "The little figures in the game can move on their own. Does that mean the warning Liu Qing gave before he disappeared—'you will die if you don't follow them'—refers to the little figures in the game?"

Gu Mian nodded.

Fatty seemed somewhat agitated, sweat beading on his face. "So, the little figures can move on their own, and we'll die if we don't follow them. What if they jump off a building?"

If they followed and jumped, they would die; if they didn't follow, they would also die.

Gu Mian coughed. "I guess the little figures in this game haven't learned the highly intelligent skill of jumping off buildings yet."

Is that even considered intelligent?

Fatty glanced out the corridor window. The sun overhead radiated scorching heat; even through the glass, the fierce sunlight could be felt.

He wiped a fresh bead of sweat from his brow. "Jumping off a building? Just point your head down, grab the window frame, and drop. Simple as that."

So simple, even an idiot could do it.

Gu Mian opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment, he noticed a faint sound from the classroom door to his front right. He immediately hid his phone in his pants pocket.

The door to the front right opened, and a teacher wearing glasses peeked out, looking at the two in the corridor with puzzled eyes.

The teacher wasn't young; it was clear he had worked at this high school for many years. Deep wrinkles lined his face, and his hair, streaked with white at the temples, had clearly been dyed black, giving it an oily look.

The teacher, whose hair had an oily sheen, raised his eyebrows and put on a stern expression. "Which class are you two from? What are you doing out here instead of being in class? Whispering in the corridor is disturbing our lesson!"

Fatty had evidently been scolded by teachers many times during his school days. Gu Mian watched him expertly nod and bow, an apologetic look on his face as Fatty said, "Sorry, Teacher, we'll head back to class right away!"

Though Fatty was actually in his thirties, he played the part of a high school student quite convincingly.

With that, Fatty quickly pulled Gu Mian along. The stern male teacher watched them for a long while before withdrawing his head back into the classroom.

By then, Gu Mian had reached his own classroom door. "We have the afternoon off today, so this should be the last class of the morning. I'll go back to my classroom first and see if I can get any useful information. You should also go back to class."

As he spoke, Gu Mian took out his phone to check it.

He had tried to close the game screen earlier, but it wouldn't close. It seemed that once opened, the game couldn't be shut down, and it also blocked their ability to send messages with their phones.

The two little figures on his screen had also arrived at their current location.

[Gu Gu: I'm going back to class now. Don't forget to find me this afternoon.]

[Wang Panzi: Okay, I'm going back to class too.]

With that said, the two little figures parted ways. [Gu Gu] directly pushed open the classroom door and went in.

[Wang Panzi] continued walking down the corridor.

Gu Mian looked at Fatty in front of him. "You go back to class with your character first. I'll come to your classroom after this class ends. By the way, which classroom are you in?"

Gu Mian only knew Fatty's classroom was on the second floor, but not which one.

Fatty also took out his phone to look. "I'm in the classroom in the middle of the second floor. I'll wait for you at the door after class... I'll get going then!"

"Go on," Gu Mian nodded.

Fatty hastily followed his little figure away. If he didn't move with it, he would likely disappear, and Fatty didn't want to be the first blood in this instance.

Listening to the THUD, THUD, THUD of Fatty's footsteps as he ran down the stairs, Gu Mian pushed open the door of his own classroom.

In the torrid summer, even the air was hot. Every breath felt like inhaling steam. The corridor was sweltering, and staying there for long made one feel as if they were being roasted over a fire. Fortunately, it was cooler in the classroom.

Presumably, to ensure students could study well, the school had installed central air conditioning to deliver cool air to every classroom during the scorching summer.

As Gu Mian pushed the door open, a gust of cool, air-conditioned air hit his face.

Intense sunlight filtered through the windows, bathing half the lectern in light. The teacher, in the shadow of the other half, was speaking languidly. Seeing Gu Mian suddenly enter, he didn't ask much, just glanced at him and continued with what he was doing.

Gu Mian, his guitar slung over his back, quickly walked to the second-to-last row by the window and sat down, then pulled out his phone.

The student at the desk in front of him, seeing him return, seemed to want to say something, but with the teacher still lecturing, the student didn't turn around.

Perhaps because it was an art class, there were very few students, barely twenty, each sitting alone at a desk. The creature known as a "deskmate" didn't exist in this classroom.

Because his desk was by the window, it was already scorching hot from the sun. The glare from the window made it hard to see his phone screen clearly. Gu Mian tried to adjust the brightness but couldn't access any page other than the game.

The curtains were paper-thin and didn't help much when drawn, but Gu Mian could at least faintly make out the screen.

He saw that [Gu Gu] had returned to this spot in the game classroom.

The entire game classroom still showed only his character, strikingly empty.

So strange, Gu Mian muttered. My character was so insistent on coming back to class, yet he's the only one here in the game classroom...

He also noticed that his little figure was currently standing in this position.

There was a chair, but it didn't sit. Gu Mian tapped on the chair in front of the little figure, but nothing happened.

I wonder if the game developers were too lazy to give the little figures the ability to sit.

Just then, the little figure's head suddenly turned to look out the window, and a dialogue box appeared above its head.

[Gu Gu: Why did Chu Changge go out?]

[Gu Gu: He's hunting for treasure!]

Chu Changge? Gu Mian frowned and lifted the curtain a little to look outside.

On the unobstructed ground below, a slender figure was walking, holding a phone and seemingly looking at something on it.

Despite the younger appearance, Gu Mian immediately recognized him as the Chu Changge from his high school days.

Treasure hunting right at the start of the instance?

But Chu Changge didn't walk out of Gu Mian's line of sight; instead, he stopped in a particular spot.

Gu Mian stroked his chin. "What is he doing?"

At that moment, Chu Changge was staring at his own phone screen. On it, he saw a treasure box right in front of his own little figure.

The sun was baking his scalp, but he paid it no mind. He only needed to take one more step forward, and his game character would reach the treasure box.

But what is this treasure box for? And what will happen if I open it? He had no idea.

But he didn't hesitate for long. He pushed up his glasses and quickly took a large step forward. His game character also took a step, arriving at the treasure box's location.

The screen changed.

[You found a treasure box. Do you want to open it?]

[Yes] [No]

Chu Changge extended his finger and selected [Yes].

A line of text appeared on the screen.

[Congratulations, you obtained the 'Bloodstained School Badge'.]

At this point, Chu Changge saw a dialogue box appear above his little figure's head.

[Chu Changge: Ah, this is a good item. It might undergo some change when the game is cleared.]

[Chu Changge: It feels like something upstairs is watching me.]

Chu Changge looked up.

He saw a pale, sinisterly grinning face pressed tightly against a window on the third floor of the teaching building, staring fixedly at him. And behind that face, also looking in Chu Changge's direction, was Gu Mian.

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