Chapter 296 University Town Civility Code (XVI)
"Oh, sorry, I forgot."
After 606's subtle yet direct reminder, the other party realized that he had only exposed his hands. The next second, color spread along these hands, and a tall, blonde girl appeared in front of the four people.
After seeing the girl's face, they realized why her voice sounded a bit strange: the other party was a foreigner?!
The girl could see the four people's slight surprise, but she was not surprised:
"I've been a student in University Town for a long time. Perhaps my Chinese pronunciation wasn't very good before I died, and now my learning ability has declined, so I still haven't understood it. Can you understand me?"
Tang Xinjue nodded: "Yes."
"That's good." The other party was not angry at 606's concerns and explained kindly: "Don't worry, I'm not one of those antisocial elements. You can just call me Qiu."
Guo Guo seemed to understand: "Are you in the good student camp?"
This wasn't surprising, as the dungeon NPCs' behavior showed that the entire university town wasn't entirely controlled by the likes of Li Xiaoyu. Since there were local students on the bad side, there were naturally those on the opposite side. It was just that this was their first encounter with a ghost with such minimal malice in a dungeon, and it was indeed a bit of a novelty.
Qiu: "You can say yes, and you can say no."
She led the four of them up the stairs, then deftly turned into a corridor from the second floor corner and opened another door. "We are just ordinary students and don't participate in any faction's plans. But the current situation is special, so even if we remain neutral, we still have to participate... This way."
"The current situation is special?" Tang Xinjue heard a hidden meaning in the words: "Is it related to us?"
Despite a moment's hesitation, they finally entered the classroom. University town rules dictated that the "classroom" in the teaching building was a forbidden area reserved only for ghostly students. Despite their curiosity, they had never taken the initiative to explore. But the classroom Qiu had chosen was clearly different: there were no ghosts "teaching" inside, but rather a dull-looking student, sitting blankly at the podium, seemingly guarding something.
Qiu nodded to the girl, then led the four of them to the last row and answered Tang Xinjue's question at the same time: "Of course."
"As soon as the graduation exams were activated, the entire university town knew the news." She spoke in a strangely friendly tone, blending flat and retroflex linguistics. "You're more famous than you think. Every force was searching for information about a girls' dormitory numbered 606, to see where they ranked on the rankings. But guess what? They couldn't find it."
As if remembering the funny expressions of some acquaintances, Qiu burst into laughter. "They even went through the top thousand one by one! If I hadn't seen you in person now, I might have thought it was a lie made up by the Ministry of Education, or that they had misremembered your gender or nationality. But I have to say, this is a brilliant move—using props to hide your position on the rankings. You guys are really smart."
606: “…”
Should they also be grateful for the equal treatment of game bugs?
There seemed little point in explaining the ranking bug now, especially with pursuers still chasing them. Across the classroom and the hallway, they could even sense the chilling presence of approaching ghosts. Qiu was the only cheerful voice in the room. "It's okay, wait a minute."
She called the girl down from the podium and muttered something to her. The girl then silently walked to the door of the classroom and stood there straight and motionless like a door god.
Looking at this strange girl with stiff behavior and clearly abnormal appearance, Guo Guo's cheeks wrinkled and he whispered in the mental link, "This girl... I can't tell if she's human or a ghost."
In the world of the Yin-Yang Eye, ghosts are considered handsome for still retaining a human appearance. However, the biggest difference between ghosts and normal people is that ghosts have a distorted translucent appearance, like some kind of plasticine-like gelatinous substance, while humans are ordinary solid objects.
This girl, however, was quite strange. Guo Guo had seen many strange people and ghosts since entering the game, but this was the first time she had seen anything like this: half of her body was transparent, the other half was solid. Two different substances floated in her body, reminding her of a bottle with a chemical reaction going on inside.
Tang Xinjue also glanced at the girl. From his mental perspective, he saw that the "flame" in the other's brain had become extremely thin. Black mist wrapped around the almost invisible flame, eroding and destroying it bit by bit.
Tang Xinjue understood: "She is a candidate."
To be precise, the other party should be the candidate who "died" in the game.
Candidates have a chance of transforming into ghosts. Aside from a few who transform while still alive, like Yue Qiong, the rest are mostly those who failed the exam. For example, girl number 7 in the Health Inspection instance transformed into "Li Qi," and Zhou Ao in the Transformation Community likely had the same fate.
"Yes, that's right." Qiu nodded proudly. "This is very difficult to second. The transition from body to soul takes time. For a period of time, they will be in a chaotic state. Communicating with them is not easy. That's why I am doing this."
Facing the "helper" who suddenly appeared, Guo Guo was still a little confused and tried to ask:
"So you're really here to help us? To help us pass the graduation exam?"
Qiu Kailang said: "No."
Guo Guo: “?”
Qiu: "The exam is your own business. Any interference outside the exam rules is a violation. What we can do is to eliminate these factors of violation and interference as much as possible, so that you can reach the end of your life in a relatively fair way... the end of the exam."
To be friendly, she chuckled, revealing two rows of white teeth: "Candidates of your level should be able to easily judge whether others are telling the truth."
She added seriously, "In short, our encounter was so brief that you don't need to remember it. In about two minutes, we'll never meet again. Before then..."
606's expression grew serious, and he focused his attention. "What information do you have to tell us?"
Qiu took out his phone: "Let's take a photo!"
“…”
It turns out that the market may still need competition. The university town, dominated by two companies, clearly isn't very well-developed in electronics. Before Qiu could switch his small Golden Age phone from jamming mode to photo mode, the ghosts were already chasing him.
Li Xiaoyu obviously had no intention of communicating with the people inside through the door panel, but just when they were about to break in, the girl guarding the door quietly pressed the button next to her, and a red light on the top of the door instantly lit up.
[The classroom has entered teaching mode.]
A mechanical sound suddenly rang out from the air.
The ghosts outside the door changed their expressions, but had to stop where they were, and then disappeared without hesitation.
"Wait, the classroom?"
Guo Guo suddenly remembered something and turned his head abruptly:
"What did the teacher at the registration office say?"
Zhang You calmly and confidently repeated the original words: "If you come across a classroom where classes are in progress, you will die."
… …
The air seemed to quiet down instantly. Qiu had just given up fighting with his phone when he noticed that the four people looked unhappy. He quickly explained:
"This rule is correct, but not entirely correct."
She pointed her finger at the ground. "What I mean is, if we encounter a classroom with illegal class times outside, all students must leave immediately. But if we are students inside the classroom, there is no need to be so anxious."
"At least we still have two hours before we're swallowed by the underground miasma. Come on, boy!"
Qiu clenched his fist in front of his chest and said this optimistically.
In any case, it was a bit difficult for 606 to cheer up immediately when he found out that there was another limit on his already short "death deadline".
Especially after they realized that this so-called "underground miasma" was most likely the strange black air that quickly devoured an entire layer of ghost students in yesterday's stage play.
But they accepted it very quickly - it took about five seconds for them to feel relieved.
After all, if they fail to complete the enrollment procedures before sunset, when the university town with its reversed day and night schedule truly enters "study time", what awaits them will probably be no better than the "underground miasma".
This two-hour countdown really means nothing to them now.
"What about you?" Tang Xin Jue asked Qiu: "Can you solve the miasma?"
"Not necessarily." Qiu shook his head, but his expression didn't seem to care much. "But accepting the possibility of destruction at any time is part of our daily life. Besides, as long as the university town is still there, we are not truly destroyed - that's why I came here to help you."
Tang Xinjue looked at her and said, "You are not helping the candidates, but protecting the university town."
At first, they thought the university town was a spooky, otherworldly world. Later, they thought it was a giant, eerie container. But as more and more information came to light, she realized that the university town was more like a program system, of which the Dormitory Survival Game was a part, but the ghosts and the students were not.
Like the examinees, ghosts have their own judgment, interests and positions.
Qiu remained noncommittal. "We believe coexistence with the university town is the best path forward, but some friends are always greedy and want more. For us, the university town is a refuge; for them, it's a constraint. Of course, we can't expect everyone to love learning, right?"
She winked and briskly changed the subject: "Oh, the new floor is here!"
Just after the girl changed the classroom status to [Class in progress], within two minutes, the scene outside the door changed silently.
Guo Guo felt like he was almost numb: "Is the space in the teaching building also fluid?"
In this huge university town, is there no piece of land that won’t be taken away?
"That's right." Qiu nodded. "So if you want to find the library, you can't go back the same way. You need to take some transportation."
606 was stunned: "Transportation?" Where is it?
Qiu chuckled and nodded:
"It's right here!"
