Shi Tianzhu lowered her head for a moment, then looked back at them a few seconds later.
When her gaze passed by Shi He, there was no reaction. When it passed by Human Pupa Master and the Gu Witch, there was no reaction. When it passed by Ling Xiao, there was no reaction.
It wasn’t until her gaze fell on Ning Changfeng that she frowned. “Ning Changfeng, what kind of trick are you pulling this time?”
Ning Changfeng stared at her in surprise, his Adam’s apple moving slightly. “I, I...”
He couldn’t get a word out, only looking at her with an extremely complicated expression.
He hadn’t expected Shi Tianzhu to still remember him at this moment.
He couldn’t quite describe what he was feeling inside.
Shi Tianzhu then looked at Ning Su, clearly much more relaxed. “Are we inside a dungeon?”
She still remembered the dungeon.
She had already forgotten many people, but she still remembered the dungeon.
The dungeon had occupied the majority of her life; for fifteen years, she had been inside dungeons.
She also remembered Ning Su, even though they had known each other for less than two months.
Ning Su pressed his lips together and walked up to her, directly saying, “President, we are in a school-themed dungeon, and you’ve temporarily lost your memory.”
Understanding her situation and surroundings could help her feel a bit more at ease.
Shi Tianzhu nodded. She opened her mouth to say something but paused for a few seconds before instructing Ning Su, “Ning Changfeng is a liar. You must be cautious.”
“......”
Ning Su glanced at Ning Changfeng, who had a look of both joy and sorrow. “Don’t worry, President. I know.”
Ning Changfeng: “......”
Shi He, who had snapped out of his panic, scoffed, “Given the situation, you’re still talking about discovering the flaw in the setup?”
Ning Su raised his eyes to look at him, his clear peach blossom eyes seeming to see right through people.
Shi He’s gaze wavered. “What are you looking at? Am I wrong?”
Ning Su: “Are you trying to provoke us? You didn’t see the problem yourself, so you’re saying this on purpose to make us reveal it?”
“Only an idiot would tell you.”
Shi He: “......”
He said angrily, “Ning Su, you guys are too selfish. Why didn’t you warn us earlier that we couldn’t be in the top ten in the grade? Have you been watching me like a monkey all this time?”
Ning Su replied, “There was no need to remind everyone since most were all at the bottom. Only the four people at the top needed to be cautious. I thought we all knew.”
The four people at the top were Shi He, Ning Su, Ning Changfeng, and Gu Witch.
Shi He stormed off in anger.
From the way he staggered, nearly falling, and then kicked a rock five meters away, it was clear how deep his anger and panic ran.
A player cautiously asked, “Excuse me, but what exactly is the issue?”
Shi Tianzhu was unable to answer them anymore. She stood quietly beside Ning Su, her eyes blank.
In the castle of the <Manman> dungeon, she had once said, did she still have to spell it out?
The meaning was clear: wasn’t there anyone who understood her from the same level?
Ning Su shifted his gaze away from her and addressed the group, “I’ll speak on behalf of the president.”
He abandoned his usual casual tone, speaking seriously and in detail.
“We all know that entering the ‘Reflection Hall’ could leave us marked by a monster, and at some unknown point, an invisible monster might come to devour our memories.”
“The teachers at this school surely know this too, yet they still want to send students into the Reflection Hall.”
This was obvious—any student ranked in the bottom 100 would be sent in, and considering there were only about 600 liberal arts students, the ratio was alarming.
More strikingly, it wasn’t just the weaker students. Top students would also enter the Reflection Hall to receive praise from the principal.
Both weaker students and top students losing their memories—it didn’t add up.
Previously, they hadn’t realized this, but with Ning Su’s reminder, everyone understood the problem Shi Tianzhu had pointed out about the setting.
Ning Su said, “Qingyi High School prioritizes academic performance above all else. The school leaders and teachers constantly emphasize the graduation rate and treat high-achieving students like treasures. So why would they send top students into the Reflection Hall? Once inside, they could lose their memories, making it impossible to excel in exams and achieve outstanding results.”
Yes, this was a contradiction.
On exam day, Wang Zhiqiu and Xia Mengyu, who had both lost their memories, were among the top ten students in the grade.
If such top students lost their memories, it would ruin the graduation rate and jeopardize the school’s achievements, such as the “Principal’s Recommendation” honor.
The group silently pondered this issue.
Ning Changfeng said, “There might be a way out hidden in this.”
“Ring, ring—”
The bell for evening self-study rang.
The player from Shi Tianzhu’s class took her back to the classroom.
The other players also gradually returned.
Ning Changfeng’s classroom was on the fifth floor, so he had to hurry up. “Let’s go.”
Ning Su noticed that Ling Xiao was still standing in front of the bulletin board, looking at the report card. He walked over and took a glance.
Ling Xiao said, “There are quite a few people like me who are bad at certain subjects. It’s all over the place.”
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su said, “Whether you’re bad at certain subjects or not, if you don’t get back to class soon, the director of political education will drag you to the ‘Reflection Hall’ to write a self-reflection.”
Ling Xiao: “...”
As they walked toward the classroom, Ning Su glanced back again.
Indeed, there were a lot of students who struggled with certain subjects.
There was even one in their own class.
Tomorrow was the second round of diagnostic exams. During the evening self-study, no one was talking, and everyone was studying seriously.
During the second session of evening self-study, a commotion was heard from the hallway, and the classroom followed suit with a brief restlessness.
“What’s going on?”
“Isn’t tonight the time for the top ten students in the grade to go to Reflection Hall to receive their rewards?”
“Isn’t receiving rewards a good thing? I don’t understand why some people are making a fuss.”
Ning Su glanced at his deskmate. “When the grades come out, the students at the bottom of the class are sent to the Reflection Hall for reflection, while the top students go there the day before the next exam?”
Tang Yichen had been acting indifferent, but his desk mate seemed oblivious, often talking to him and asking him questions.
Ever since the Chinese teacher publicly scolded him in front of the whole class, many classmates stopped talking to him.
Students at Qingyi High School feared their teachers the most.
Only Ning Su still spoke to him more than before, even after he’d been humiliated by the teacher.
Tang Yichen responded with a low “Mm.”
Ning Su appeared to be deep in thought. He took out a piece of paper and wrote a note to Tang Yichen.
Ning Su: [Did you know that going to the “Reflection Hall” often causes amnesia?]
“Amnesia” was the explanation that Qingyi High School gave for students suddenly losing their memory.
Tang Yichen’s body tensed, but he didn’t reply to Ning Su.
Ning Su: [You knew, but you didn’t tell your former deskmate, Wang Zhiqiu.]
Tang Yichen gripped his pen tightly and buried himself in his exercises.
Ning Su: [You didn’t tell him, not because you wanted to harm him or have him take your place. You were just trying to protect yourself, and besides, Wang Zhiqiu was so determined to score 700 points that he wouldn’t have purposely failed just because you told him.]
Tang Yichen finally looked at him. This cold and indifferent 17-year-old boy clutched his pen tightly, his eyes slightly reddened.
Ning Su had heard from Zhong Huiling that ever since the start of the second year, Tang Yichen and Wang Zhiqiu had been deskmates.
They were both top students, so naturally, teachers who cherished top students allowed them to sit together.
For them to have remained deskmates for nearly two years, their relationship must have been quite good.
Both ranked in the top ten of their grade. They competed with and understood each other. They probably even had the same dream of attending the same prestigious university, supporting each other through the challenges of this dreadful school.
Tang Yichen: [I really didn’t mean to harm him.]
But still, guilt lingered in his heart.
Tang Yichen: [If I had taken the last mock exam seriously, maybe it would’ve been me who lost my memory and got taken away, instead of him.]
