Ghost Amusement Park [Infinite] 61

If it weren’t for Wang Zhiyuan’s remark, Li Zhi would have probably just thought Xie Cong was a polite and gentle boy.

—Even someone like Xie Cong became obedient after returning from the principal’s office.

Wang Zhiyuan’s fearful expression was still fresh in her mind. The Xie Cong he had mentioned, who served as an example, must have been a troublesome student before his visit to the principal’s office. At the very least, he wouldn’t have been the well-behaved model he appeared to be now.

Looking at Xie Cong’s smile and his gaze, Li Zhi suddenly felt that he resembled Xu Jingsheng and Zhang Shuai, whom she had run into in the cafeteria at noon.

They were all gentle and polite, with quiet manners, lacking the boldness and vitality that high school students of this age should possess. They seemed like water poured into identical containers—shapeless unless given a form, calm and unchanging.

Could this be the result of the principal’s “electric baton education”?

Perhaps Li Zhi had been staring for too long, as Xie Cong’s smile gradually faded. “Classmate, class is about to start. Please return to your seat.”

Li Zhi smiled slightly. “Xie Cong, could I borrow a pen from you?”

Xie Cong nodded and took a pen from his pencil case, handing it to her.

Li Zhi returned to her seat with the pen, and the class bell soon rang. The English teacher walked in, holding the morning’s dictation books. The class representative handed them out, and Li Zhi had made five mistakes, while Tan Manyu had gotten them all correct.

The English teacher’s sharp voice pierced their ears like needles: “Anyone who made more than three mistakes, you will copy each word 500 times after school! You are not allowed to leave until you finish!”

Everyone did the math—nearly 50,000 words in total. Their faces turned pale.

Li Zhi glanced at her and Tan Manyu’s name tags.

The scores remained unchanged.

What exactly was the test? After an entire day of classes, the players still had no clues.

When the dismissal bell rang in the afternoon, the setting sun flooded the windows outside the classroom. The group hurried to the cafeteria for a quick dinner and rushed back to the classroom to begin copying the words. With 50,000 words, they might not even finish by midnight. This punishment was worse than physical pain.

Tan Manyu was the only player who didn’t have to copy words. After leaving the cafeteria, she continued investigating the special task assigned to her, only returning just before evening self-study. Li Zhi glanced at her, and Tan Manyu sighed and shook her head.

Finding a weakness in the system within this instance wasn’t going to be easy. This was a long-term, arduous task.

Still, she wasn’t discouraged and quietly asked Li Zhi, “Want me to help you copy?”

Li Zhi shook her head. “No need. I’m almost done.”

Tan Manyu was shocked. “Fifty thousand? So fast?”

Li Zhi smiled. “I only copied the five mistakes.”

Tan Manyu didn’t know how to respond. “But won’t the English teacher notice?”

Li Zhi twirled the pen slowly and said, “I’m also curious to see what happens if I don’t finish.”

Will they send her to the principal’s office too? That would be perfect—she wanted to meet the legendary figure who had completed an educational reform in two years and raised the school’s graduation rate. She wanted to see how he disciplined these problem students.

Evening self-study hadn’t started yet, and the atmosphere in the classroom still felt a bit like a break until the homeroom teacher suddenly appeared at the door. “Wang Zhiyuan, come out for a moment.”

The classroom fell silent instantly. Everyone lowered their heads, except for Wang Zhiyuan, who stood up trembling, his face pale.

It was his turn for inspection.

The homeroom teacher quickly led Wang Zhiyuan out of the classroom. Li Zhi finished copying her last mistake and looked out the window, just in time to see Wang Zhiyuan following the teacher toward the administrative building across the way.

The Principal’s Office was right there.

Li Zhi thought for a moment, then whispered to Tan Manyu, “I’m going to follow them and take a look. If anyone asks, tell them I went to the infirmary to get some medicine because I wasn’t feeling well.”

Tan Manyu nodded in agreement.

After leaving the classroom, Li Zhi quickened her pace and ran toward the administration building. Evening self-study had already begun, and the campus was deserted. As she neared the administration building, she noticed a security guard sitting at the reception desk near the entrance, holding a walkie-talkie and guarding the only way in or out of the building.

The players hadn’t mentioned there being a guard at the entrance earlier when they came to investigate. Could it be that the guard only appeared when the principal was in his office?

The principal’s office was on the top floor. Li Zhi glanced up—on the fifth floor, all the windows were covered by curtains, making it impossible to see inside from any angle. She walked around the building, trying to find another way in, but every window had protective bars, leaving no weaknesses to exploit.

It seemed that if she wanted to enter while the principal was present, she’d either have to find a way to confront them directly or be brought in by a teacher. Sneaking in and picking the office lock would be an option only when the principal wasn’t there, but then she wouldn’t be able to see how the students were punished.

With no better options, Li Zhi was just about to leave when the homeroom teacher suddenly emerged with Wang Zhiyuan, who had only been inside for less than ten minutes. The area outside the administration building was wide open, with no trees for cover. Li Zhi had no time to hide and was instantly exposed to the teacher’s gaze.

Running now would only raise more suspicion. Li Zhi, feigning confusion, looked around as if searching for something, and then, upon seeing the homeroom teacher, her face lit up as if relieved. She approached her eagerly. “Teacher Liu!”

The homeroom teacher stared at her coldly. “Evening self-study has already started. Why are you here?”

Wang Zhiyuan stood behind her, eyes downcast, with no expression on his face, looking somewhat dazed. Li Zhi quickly glanced at him, but there were no signs of physical punishment on him.

Looking back at the homeroom teacher, Li Zhi put on an earnest face. “Teacher Liu, I got lost.”

“…?” The homeroom teacher looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Lost?”

Li Zhi nodded sincerely. “Yes, I just transferred here, so I’m not familiar with the school yet. I went to the infirmary, and on the way back, I couldn’t find my way to the classroom. I’m not sure how I ended up here. Teacher Liu, since I bumped into you, could you take me back?”

“The infirmary?” The homeroom teacher’s lips curled into a mocking smile, her sharp gaze sweeping over Li Zhi from head to toe. “What’s wrong with you?”

Li Zhi remained calm. “My stomach was upset, but I took some medicine, and I’m feeling much better now.”

The homeroom teacher stared at her for a moment before suddenly smiling. “Well then, I’ll accompany you back to the infirmary and ask the school doctor what’s going on. If it’s serious, we might need to send you to the hospital.”

She then turned to Wang Zhiyuan and said, “You can go back to the classroom for evening study.”

Her tone toward Wang Zhiyuan was much softer than before, no longer as harsh. Wang Zhiyuan nodded and quietly said, “Goodbye, Teacher Liu.”

He headed back toward the teaching building, looking completely normal.

The homeroom teacher turned her attention back to Li Zhi, her expression once again cold. “Let’s go.”

Li Zhi smiled and followed her.

After passing through a green belt, the infirmary sign came into view. The homeroom teacher stepped forward first and knocked on the door. “Teacher Li.”

A man in a white lab coat, Li Jianxi, quickly came out. His indifferent expression remained unchanged when he saw the two of them. “What’s the matter?”

The homeroom teacher glanced at Li Zhi with mocking excitement, clearly eager to expose her lie, and her speech quickened in her excitement. “This student claims she wasn’t feeling well and came to see you earlier. Is that true?”

Li Jianxi looked at Li Zhi briefly before shifting his gaze back to the homeroom teacher and nodding. “Yes.”

The homeroom teacher’s smile froze for a moment, uncertainty creeping in. “Just now?”

Li Jianxi remained expressionless. “Yes. She had an upset stomach, and I gave her some medicine.”

Li Zhi looked up at him with a sweet smile. “Thank you, Teacher Li. I’m feeling much better now.”

]Li Jianxi said, “Mm, remember to take your medicine on time.”

The homeroom teacher stared at Li Zhi for a long moment, clearly unwilling to give up, but eventually withdrew her gloomy gaze and said indifferently, “Go back to class.”

Li Zhi, pretending to be troubled, said, “What if I get lost again? Could you please walk me back, Teacher Liu?”

Her final attempt at testing the teacher’s patience failed to raise suspicion, and the homeroom teacher finally gave up on her doubts entirely.

“Let’s go,” she said.

As they left, Li Zhi walked behind her, her hands folded behind her back. She flashed a playful “peace” sign with two fingers toward Li Jianxi, who stood at the infirmary door watching them leave. He pressed his lips together, only turning to go back inside after she was out of sight.

Meanwhile, the viewers watching outside the game couldn’t help but comment excitedly:

[“The homeroom teacher never expected that her NPC ally had already switched sides out of love!”]

[“Li Zhi and Li Jianxi are so in sync with their lies. They really seem like a couple!”]

[“Before, you could argue that Li Jianxi was just helping because of his role, but now he’s obviously biased!”]

[“They must have maxed out their favorability points, right? Right?!”]

[“This duo not having a happy ending would be such a waste!”]

[“Li Zhi’s quick thinking is impressive, but how was she so sure Li Jianxi would back her up?”]

[“It’s starting to feel like Li Jianxi might be a spy planted by the players in this instance.”]

[“The more I see, the more I’m curious about Li Jianxi’s real identity. There’s no way he’s just a regular NPC.”]

…

As the audience debated, Li Zhi followed the homeroom teacher back to the classroom. Inside, the players were scribbling furiously. When they saw Li Zhi return with the teacher, their faces were a mix of reactions—some smug, some panicked, and others deeply worried.

Li Zhi met the concerned gazes of Tan Manyu and Lian Qinglin as she walked back to her seat. Seeing that the homeroom teacher only scanned the room briefly before leaving, the players quickly resumed their frantic writing.

It wasn’t a good time to talk during class, so everyone held back until the bell rang. As soon as it did, Lian Qinglin and Pink Hair rushed over.

“Sister Zhi, what happened?” they asked urgently.

Li Zhi’s attention was focused on Wang Zhiyuan. She gave them a brief explanation before heading over to him.

Wang Zhiyuan was seated near the back of the classroom. Despite class having ended, he was still working on problems with a pen in hand. Li Zhi stood beside him and called softly, “Wang Zhiyuan?”

Wang Zhiyuan slowly looked up at her, his dull eyes flickering up and down quickly before he offered her a polite smile.

“Li Zhi, is there something you need?”

Li Zhi frowned.

Wang Zhiyuan had definitely changed.

She asked calmly, “What happened in the principal’s office just now?”

“Oh, that?” Wang Zhiyuan smiled.

“I wasn’t working hard enough before and let down my parents and teachers’ expectations. The principal has already taught me a valuable lesson. From now on, I’ll be a well-rounded, top student. Li Zhi, you should work hard too.”