***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to alyanna for the donation! ^^
***
Qingyi High School naturally had evening self-study sessions. There were three sessions each night, and after returning to the dormitory building, there were also study rooms available.
But possibly because they were considered “transfer students” and had just finished the exam on their first day, no teacher came to call them to attend the evening self-study.
After organizing their beds, the six people in the dormitory discussed the dungeon.
Lu Yue said, “They didn’t make us go to the classroom now, probably because they plan to assign us to classes based on our grades.”
The teacher said the exam papers would be graded tonight and the results would be out tomorrow.
Ji Zeming nodded. “Yes, the system also emphasized grades. Grades are very important. Do you think it’s possible that players who don’t pass will die?”
Ning Changfeng said, “In this dungeon, death might not be the main focus. The main focus could be memory loss.”
“Memory loss. First, we won’t be able to complete the 600-point task. Second, while we’re in a state of memory loss, we might also encounter dangers.”
For many people, memory loss was something that exists in movies and literature, often with a romantic tint, not something terrifying.
But if you focused on the ‘loss’ part—being gradually devoured and stripped away by some unknown, invisible monster—that became terrifying.
And ‘memory’ here might not be just the memories from films, but could also include their skills and emotions.
Zhou Xiang asked him, “Senior Ning, do you think we’ll end up like those students, losing all the knowledge in our brains in an instant and then forgetting who we are?”
Ning Changfeng replied, “For now, we can only confirm that they lost their factual memory. The rest is still unclear.”
Indeed, when Wang Zhiqiu was dragged away, he still knew who he was, and that he ranked third in the grade.
Xia Mengyu as well. She even remembered to take her scratch paper.
Ning Changfeng said, “I think we’re different from them, but it’s hard to say now. Let’s not waste time guessing blindly. We’ll inquire about it when we get to class tomorrow.”
“Since we can’t defend ourselves for now, let’s rest early to prepare for tomorrow.”
Ning Su replied, “Alright!”
“......”
Unlike other dorms, their dorm turned off the lights very early.
Although the lights were off, under the shadow of the unknown fear, few could fall asleep quickly.
Someone lay in bed, hugging their head, as if they were afraid that something in the dark would come close to them, drain their memories, and make them wake up, not knowing who they were.
In the darkness, Ning Su released two children, rubbed their heads, and soon fell asleep with them.
In his sleep, Ning Su seemed to hear a “gudong” sound.
It was faint and seemed close to his ears, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Gudong, gudong, gugu dong...”
“Ding ding ding!——”
Each dormitory at Qingyi Middle School was equipped with its own alarm clock, which would wake up the students who hadn’t yet awakened at 6:30 AM every morning.
A teacher from the Political Education Office was waiting for them downstairs, holding a hundred campus cards to distribute one by one.
The campus cards had the class information.
The hundred players were divided into ten liberal arts classes, with ten players in each class.
Ning Su was placed in Class 1 of the third year. Among his classmates, he only knew Ling Xiao and Zhou Xiang.
The teacher from the Political Education Office completed his task after escorting them to the teaching building, leaving it to the class teacher to take them to their classroom.
Since it wasn’t an exam setting, the atmosphere in the class was much more relaxed. As the class teacher led them inside, many students were watching them, especially the girls, who whispered excitedly while covering their mouths.
The class teacher assigned them seats, with Ning Su sitting in front of Ling Xiao. Their desk mates were students from the original world.
Ning Su’s desk mate was a boy who seemed somewhat indifferent. After sitting down for a few minutes, the boy hadn’t spoken a word to him, just kept his head down reading a book.
Ning Su waited and waited but didn’t hear a peep from him. He leaned over his desk and peeked at him, saying, “Hello, desk mate.”
“……”
The boy’s clear and beautiful peach-blossom eyes stared at him unblinkingly. The sunlight fell just right on his slightly pale face, making him look so bright and attractive that it dazzled the senses.
The boy looked at him for a few seconds, then turned his gaze back to his math problems.
Ning Su: “Desk mate, why are you so cold?”
The desk mate ignored him, showing only a cold and stern side profile.
Ling Xiao’s desk mate was the complete opposite—a very enthusiastic girl. As soon as she saw Ling Xiao, she wanted to talk to him. Seeing that his gaze was fixed forward, she started talking to two students at once.
“You guys just transferred here, right? Don’t mind him, our top student is just like that.”
Ning Su: “Top student?”
“Yep, our top student in the entire grade, Tang Yichen.”
Hearing that he was the top student, Ning Su glanced at him again, but Tang Yichen still didn’t pay them any attention.
Ning Su retracted his gaze and began organizing his desk. As he stuffed books and stationery he didn’t need at the moment into the desk compartment, he paused.
His fingers gently traced inside the compartment and felt some carved writing on the surface.
One of the carvings was a name etched with a stationery knife.
Wang Zhiqiu.
Ning Su asked the girl, “Was this seat originally Wang Zhiqiu’s?”
Hearing the name Wang Zhiqiu, his desk mate Tang Yichen’s body tensed slightly.
Ning Su noticed a boy not far in front of him, who turned back to glance in their direction.
The girl responded with a somewhat downcast, “mm.”
Ning Su: “So, is it okay for me to sit here? What if he comes back?”
The girl replied, “He needs a long time for treatment. We don’t even know if he’ll be able to take the college entrance exam. It’s fine.”
Ning Su exchanged a glance with Ling Xiao.
Halfway through the morning self-study session, the class representative went to collect the test papers and answer sheets from yesterday’s exam.
Curious, Ning Su turned around to look at Ling Xiao’s test paper. “Flower God, how did you do?”
Ling Xiao: “...”
Ning Su pulled the math answer sheet out of his hand.
Everything was correct.
Because he lost a few points for missing some steps in the final few big questions, his final score was 144 out of 150.
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su blinked, “You understand trigonometry?”
Ling Xiao: “It seems pretty simple. I got the answer after just one look.”
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su then pulled out his English answer sheet.
23 points.
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su: “You don’t know English again, huh?”
Ling Xiao drooped his thin eyelids and pointed at the strange text, “This is English?”
Ning Su: “...”
Ling Xiao: “What about you?”
Ning Su showed him his own test papers.
Chinese: 143, Math: 150, English: 148.
His score in the humanities wasn’t that great. Out of a possible 300 points, this science student only scored 211.
Ling Xiao: “...”
Just as the teacher from the political education office had mentioned, their preliminary test results were released by noon.
In the afternoon class meeting, the homeroom teacher specifically discussed the scores.
The homeroom teacher, who seemed to have facial muscles that were paralyzed, had no expression at all. “First, let’s congratulate Ning Su from our class for making it into the top twenty in the grade. He did very well in Chinese, Math, and English, but his humanities score wasn’t great. You’ll need to work harder next time.”
He read out Ning Su’s scores, and the whole class looked at him in surprise.
Even his indifferent desk mate glanced at him.
The players were even more bewildered.
Was this person even human?
Entering an infinite game straight from the college entrance exam?
Which exam center got blown up, sending the top scorer straight to the hearse?
“However, our class’s original first-place student, Tang Yichen, has fallen out of the top ten in the grade.” The teacher’s face suddenly turned terrifying. “Student Tang, please come to the office after class and explain this to me properly.”
Then, right in front of the entire class, he read out each student’s grades for every subject, their total score, class ranking, and grade ranking.
“According to school rules, those ranked in the bottom 100 of the grade must attend evening self-study sessions at the Reflection Hall.”
At the mention of the Reflection Hall, many students shuddered and lowered their heads.