The professor’s eyes suddenly darkened, his pupils transforming into rectangular shapes, flames flickering relentlessly within them.
His golden hair spread out, drifting in the air like dancing embers.
His voice was deep and hoarse, sounding like a demon summoned from the depths of hell.
“You asked what you should not have.”
Xunian calmly remained seated, waiting for him to complete his transformation.
Pitch-black, spiraling horns sprouted from his head, their patterns twisted and ominous, radiating a sinister aura. Bat wings, veined with dark red blood vessels, stretched out from his back, slowly writhing with each breath. The semi-transparent red wing membranes trembled faintly.
The professor had fully turned into a demon.
Yet Xunian’s attention wasn’t on the professor’s appearance.
Surprisingly, after turning dark, the professor spoke such fluent Chinese…
“Experimental data?”
Under the demon’s icy gaze, as if capable of killing everything, Xunian stepped onto her chair and looked down at him.
She slowly recited the numbers recorded in her notebook.
She didn’t leave her seat but stood up to answer the question.
During the long wait, the demon’s claw slowly reached toward Xunian.
It snatched the paper from her hand.
Sitting nearby, Shen Mosi’s eyes flickered with a crimson glow before returning to their normal black pupils.
After the black mist surrounding the demon dissipated, the professor reverted to his golden-haired, blue-eyed foreign appearance.
His hair that had floated in the air settled back onto his head.
He praised Xunian’s experimental data repeatedly.
“Oh! Perfect!”
Not far away, Yuan Shen was being choked by something.
He was nearly suffocating, almost lifted off his seat.
He flailed desperately, but his hands touched nothing.
At the exact moment Yuan Shen was being dragged away, the professor announced,
“Class is over.”
Yuan Shen was released and fell onto his seat, gasping for breath.
After the golden-haired professor walked out, a voice called out to Xunian.
“Xunian,” Ran Feng’s face darkened as she looked over.
He asked sharply, “Why didn’t you tell us you could stand on the chair to exploit the bug?”
The information could clearly be shared with everyone, yet Xunian never told them about the bug she discovered?
A hint of confusion appeared in Xunian’s eyes. “You never asked me.”
Besides, why should she tell them?
“You…”
The friendly attitude Ran Feng had when meeting the other players for the first time was long gone.
Now that his false mask was torn off, he didn’t even bother pretending.
His face no longer bore a smile, and his cold gaze glanced icily at Xunian.
“How laughable.”
Shen Mosi said pointedly.
“When we find the key and get out, you… won’t regret it.”
Ran Feng seemed confident that he would be the first to find the key.
No one paid him any mind. Between Xunian and Shen Mosi, it was as if an invisible barrier separated them from the others.
“Can I look through your desk?” Xunian asked.
“Sure.”
Xunian hadn’t expected Shen Mosi to agree so readily. She thought it would take more effort to persuade her.
After all, her desk mate Shen Mosi seemed to have some mysterious connection to the original top student Shen Mosi in the class.
Xunian began rummaging through her desk. The books inside were either soaked or tattered.
The covers bore Shen Mosi’s name, and nearly every problem was correctly answered with red check marks.
Shen Mosi grabbed Xunian’s hand like a wagging puppy, happily saying, “Desk mate, I just gave us a team name. Want to know what it is?”
There were also some fragments in the desk—torn pieces of photograph paper.
Xunian collected some, planning to piece them together.
“Our team is called Si Nian, okay? Doesn’t it sound nice?”
The desk was scratched and carved with many obscene words and vicious curses directed at the top student Shen Mosi. Just a glance made Xunian frown.
Xunian fell into thought.
Had Shen Mosi from this class been bullied?
“Desk mate, pay attention to me~”
Shen Mosi pulled both of Xunian’s hands into hers, forcing her to look at her.
“Mm-hmm.”
Xunian was absorbed in gathering evidence, her gaze still on Shen Mosi’s desk as she gave a distracted reply.
“Desk mate, Xunian, Xu Tongxue…”
Shen Mosi kept softly calling her name, her tone tinged with a teasing sweetness.
Xunian suddenly sensed something, looking up at her. Shen Mosi’s beautiful eyes held a hint of anxiety.
Was Shen Mosi being clingy because she didn’t want Xunian to look through her desk?
Xunian keenly noticed Shen Mosi’s unease and looked straight at her. “It sounds nice.”
“Hm?”
“I said,” Xunian’s lips curled into a faint smile, “Our team name, Si Nian, sounds very nice.”
Shen Mosi’s face flushed under Xunian’s gaze.
Anyway, Xunian had already searched through all the clues she needed.
Suddenly, she recalled a detail—when she and Shen Mosi chose their seats, it was Shen Mosi who picked first.
Shen Mosi had even kindly pulled out the chair for her, so she sat right next to her.
So, Shen Mosi had wanted to sit in the original top student Shen Mosi’s seat from the very beginning?
That was a seriously elaborate plan.
Xunian’s feeling that Shen Mosi was no ordinary person grew stronger.
She had a hunch that once she uncovered the original top student Shen Mosi’s identity, her desk mate Shen Mosi’s true identity would also be revealed.
Xunian shifted her focus to the desk behind her. There was still some time before class started; she could still search both desks for clues.
She moved to the desk behind and dumped everything onto the tabletop for easier inspection.
Her slender fingers casually picked out a relatively new textbook.
Shen Mosi glanced at it and said in surprise, “Hey? Why does this have Qi Dong’s name on it?”
Qi Dong and Yuan Shen were still discussing how to ask Ran Feng about killing Zhang San when they were interrupted by this sudden remark.
The voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough to reach Qi Dong’s ears like a bomb detonating in her heart, erupting a huge mushroom cloud.
She immediately felt something was wrong, her scalp tingling. Grabbing Yuan Shen, she rushed over.
She snatched the textbook from Shen Mosi’s hand, glaring at it in disbelief under Shen Mosi’s scornful eyes.
When her gaze landed on the name “Qi Dong,” her pupils shrank sharply, filled with panic.
She momentarily lost herself, whispering,
“It’s over, it’s really here to claim souls…”
Trembling, Yuan Shen took the textbook from Qi Dong and checked the name repeatedly.
When he confirmed the three characters “Shen Mosi” on it, his legs nearly gave out and he almost collapsed to the ground.
“Shen Mosi…” Qi Dong suddenly stared fiercely at the girl standing before her with the same name and surname, “It’s you, isn’t it, Shen Mosi? Why have you come back? You chose to jump to your death on your own—this has nothing to do with us…”