After finishing their meal, they began anxiously waiting for the exam results.
Some, too anxious to study, returned to the dormitory to take a nap, while others continued studying in the classroom.
That evening, the school didn’t require students to attend evening study sessions, so the senior year teaching building wasn’t as quiet as usual.
Ning Changfeng came looking for Ning Su and Ling Xiao. They stood at the corner of the corridor, watching students pass by.
Ning Changfeng said, "I know what you're speculating about. Just now, I asked some of my classmates in the classroom. That 'Reflection Hall' has existed at Qingyi High School for several years now. Last year, a top student experienced memory loss during the exams."
This had already happened last year. Many top students had lost their memory, but Qingyi High School's college entrance exam results still outshined everyone else's.
The three of them were almost certain about their suspicions.
They just had to wait for the results of this mock exam.
Like last time, the results came out the next day.
As soon as the papers were handed out, Ning Su immediately turned around to check Ling Xiao's scores.
Of course, he was most concerned about the English score.
Ning Su: "How much?"
Ling Xiao showed him the answer sheet.
121 points.
Ning Su looked at him in surprise.
Raising his score by nearly 100 points in just one week—what kind of genius is this?
He must really be a god, right?
Ning Su: "How did you do it?"
Ling Xiao answered seriously, "I didn't really do much. It didn’t seem that difficult."
Even his deskmate couldn't stand this "humble brag" anymore. Zhong Huiling clenched her fists and said, "Deskmate, please stop talking."
Ling Xiao thought for a moment and said, "I'm serious."
Ning Su: "..."
"You’re about to lose your deskmate soon."
Ning Su glanced at his math test paper again. "So this time, you definitely didn’t place in the bottom 100 of the grade, right?"
Not just that—he wasn’t even in the bottom 100.
In the class meeting that afternoon, the homeroom teacher specially praised Ling Xiao, "Ling Xiao went from being in the bottom 100 of the grade to now being in the top 100, ranking 45th in the grade. He is a role model for all of our classmates to learn from."
Ning Su clapped his hands happily.
The classmates in the room were stunned for a moment, and so was the homeroom teacher.
Under his lead, all the classmates, including the homeroom teacher, began to clap.
This had never happened before in the normally tense and oppressive Class 1.
Their homeroom teacher was usually very stern, and the class atmosphere reflected that. If you performed well, you might only receive a few words of praise. If you didn’t do well, you would be treated like a criminal, forced to endure the teacher’s scolding on your own.
This was the first time the whole class had come together to give someone such a round of enthusiastic applause.
The warm applause swept away the tension and underlying fear in the classroom.
Many people noticed this and clapped even harder. The applause grew louder and lasted for a long time.
Ling Xiao turned his head to look at the young man’s face, which was bathed in sunlight. Seeing the way his eyes curved with his smile, Ling Xiao couldn’t help but smile along with him.
"Alright, that’s enough," the homeroom teacher interrupted them, his face stern. "When some people improve, others fall behind. Zhou Xiang, you only scored three points this time. What’s going on?"
Zhou Xiang kept his head down.
Lu Yue had told him repeatedly not to make eye contact with any teacher.
"Sorry, teacher. The pressure was too much for me. I’ll do better next time."
This was what Lu Yue had taught him to say when facing a teacher’s reprimand—apologize and promise to do better next time. What else could the homeroom teacher say after that? "Go to the Reflection Hall tonight and reflect on this thoroughly!"
Zhou Xiang: "Yes, teacher."
"…"
There were 71 students who had to go to the Reflection Hall this time. Not every student was a superhuman like Ling Xiao, and one week was not enough to work miracles.
The eight amnesiac players had indeed taken up the last eight spots in the grade rankings, but four of them had already been dragged away. Scoring in the bottom 100 was still not easy.
This time, among the 71 players going to the Reflection Hall 67 of them had already been there before.
For players like Zhou Xiang, who have already lost their memory, the Reflection Hall held no fear.
However, those who had been there once and haden't lost their memory were extremely terrified of entering the Reflection Hall for a second time.
The first time they went, although they realized there was something wrong with the Reflection Hall, they didn't fully grasp how horrifying it truly was.
This week, they saw it with their own eyes.
They saw how terrifying memory loss could be.
Although a few of the players who lost their memories inspired them, many still believed that losing their memory in this instance is equivalent to death.
It's clear that the probability of memory loss was higher on a second visit to the Reflection Hall, perhaps even certain.
There was a sudden commotion and screams from outside the window.
Many students looked outside.
Ning Su: "Them?"
Ling Xiao: "They are rebelling together."
It was futile.
They all knew that under the rules of this instance, it was impossible for the players to successfully rebel and avoid going to the Reflection Hall.
Just like in the <Flower Servant> instance, they couldn't escape from Boss Qi's water prison.
The disturbance outside was too loud, with screams of agony and shouts of terror rising one after another.
The classroom also became restless, as students who were initially sitting and watching all rushed to the windows to peer outside.
Ning Su and Ling Xiao stood by the window, watching this rebellion doomed to fail.
The players who entered a Level 6 instance were physically capable; even without skills or weapons, their strength, speed, and techniques were nothing to scoff at, especially when nearly sixty players were acting together.
Four instructors and one teacher were escorting them to the Reflection Hall.
At first, they were walking quietly and obediently, but in a split second, five players who were close to the instructors and teacher suddenly acted, twisting the instructors' and teacher's necks in a surprise attack.
The other players immediately rushed toward the school gate.
The system required them to score 600 points on the college entrance exam, but it didn’t specify that they had to take the exam at Qingyi High School. As long as they could escape from this terrifying school, they could find a normal school to take the exam instead.
As expected, they were quickly stopped by the school's security guards and instructors.
Under the dim, yellow light of the late night, the guards and instructors held long, tree-like black whips, just like the ones in the small dark room. The blackness of the whips was deeper than the night itself, gleaming ominously and eerily under the dim lights.
One player, moving with lightning speed, immediately jumped up and snapped the security guard's neck.
Another player threw a knife that pierced the instructor’s throat.
Under their lead, the other players charged forward bravely.
At first, the bloodcurdling screams came from the security guards.
But when some of the guards dodged their swift, unexpected attacks and swung the black tree whips, the tide of battle began to turn.
The soft, tree-like black whips seemed to have a life of their own, automatically wrapping around the players' necks and burrowing into their bodies.
Though the black whips appeared soft, they were exceptionally sharp, instantly tearing the players' bodies apart. Blood gushed forth, piercing through the thick darkness of the night.
Seeing the shredded limbs and body parts scattered on the ground, some players started to retreat.
But what made them stop wasn't just the horrifying and unstoppable bloodshed.
Many of the faster players had managed to dodge the strange whips. One exceptionally skilled player even evaded it after the whip had wrapped around her neck, swiftly slipping free.
Only a minor blood mark was left on her neck.
This sight, which had dampened the players' fighting spirit due to the power of the black whips, suddenly reignited their morale.
They looked at the female player with excitement, but soon, that excitement turned to terror.
A familiar blank expression appeared on her face.
The blankness of someone who had lost all their memories.
Glancing around, the other players who had been struck by the black whips but hadn't died all had the same vacant, blank look on their faces.
All the players froze, their actions halted.
Several streetlights had been smashed during the fight, though it was unclear by whom. The darkness seemed to thicken all at once.
Despair silently spread through it.
Ning Su quietly stared at the black, tree-like whips in the hands of the security guards and instructors.
The tree-like shape reminded him of neurons.
And the deep blackness that overwhelmed the night reminded him of Ling Xiao.
