At 3 a.m., Gu Jiu and her group, accompanied by several well-fed supernatural creatures, arrived at the dormitory for the cafeteria staff.
The cafeteria staff ghosts seemed to have grown accustomed to their visits. Not only was the dormitory cleaned until it was spotless, but a sumptuous late-night meal was also prepared for them. Some of the ghosts even volunteered to keep watch outside the cafeteria. The moment the dean appeared, they were ready to sound the alarm.
They had essentially become domesticated.
The players who came with them were dumbfounded. Even though they had experienced many game worlds, they had never imagined that ghosts could be enslaved like this—successfully tamed and behaving like loyal henchmen to the players.
Did these ghosts even remember that they were supposed to be terrifying entities who could make players cry and beg for mercy? How had they become so useless?
Everyone turned to look at Chai Yingying.
Chai Yingying shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I learned this from the young lady.”
The group then turned their gaze to Gu Jiu. She was lounging lazily in her seat, with Lu Ji sitting beside her, feeding her pieces of grilled fish carefully picked free of bones. Behind her, two cafeteria ghosts were bustling about, pouring tea and serving water with exaggerated enthusiasm, constantly asking if the late-night snacks suited her tastes and if she’d like some sweet fruit soup to cleanse her palate later.
They served her like she was a true young lady of noble birth.
“What did you think? Why else do I call her ‘young lady’?” Chai Yingying sipped her beer. “The title ‘young lady’ isn’t used lightly.”
Even in the game world, Gu Jiu managed to maintain her young-lady aura.
Although it was Chai Yingying who initially beat these ghosts until they howled in pain, somehow it was Gu Jiu—who had casually thrown in a punch or two—who seemed to inspire a more profound sense of fear in them. Once a ghost had been “taught a lesson” by her, they never dared to act out in front of her again. Instead, they behaved like submissive slaves, practically groveling at her feet.
Damn it, wasn’t this cheating?
Although this strange situation was hard to articulate, Chai Yingying didn’t mind. After all, the “young lady” was her teammate. The stronger her teammate was, the easier it would be for them to complete tasks in the game world. She was quite pleased with the arrangement.
Everyone else was left speechless.
Soon, more players began to arrive.
Most of them looked pale, their faces white as sheets, clearly still reeling from the harrowing experiences of the night. It was evident that the patrolling dean had given them a hard time.
“Have you noticed how frequently the dean has been appearing at night these past few days?” Pei Yongyong asked as she tended to her injuries.
In the first three nights after they entered the game world, encounters with the dean had been rare. However, starting from the fourth night, players began running into the dean much more frequently, making it impossible to ignore.
The other players, busy treating their wounds, nodded in agreement. Tonight in particular, the dean seemed to appear almost everywhere. No matter where they went, it felt like they couldn’t avoid her.
“Could it be because we collectively broke the rules tonight, so she’s targeting us?”
“That’s possible.”
…
“Hey, Brother Fan, have you noticed anything?” Someone called out to Ji Linfan, treating him like a strategist.
Ji Linfan pondered. “I’ve been thinking about the dean’s role in the nighttime environment of Shengying Academy.”
“Isn’t her role just that of a dean?”
“Not exactly.” Ji Linfan replied as he stared intently at the unfolded map of Shengying High School spread out in front of him. “The dean is undoubtedly the most powerful ghost. Other ghosts are insignificant in her presence. Moreover, she is relentlessly focused on punishing students who break the school rules… but who gave her that authority?”
Gu Jiu glanced over and answered, “Of course, it’s the school.”
Ji Linfan’s expression sharpened, and his eyes lit up with excitement. “Exactly, it’s the school!”
The other players were stunned, a bizarre and almost unthinkable idea forming in their minds.
“Old Ji, you’re not suggesting that the ‘Reincarnators’ are actually the school itself, are you?” Ji Linfan’s partner swallowed nervously, barely managing to get the words out.
The moment the words fell, a heavy silence blanketed the room.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Chai Yingying broke the quiet. “Doesn’t seem like it. If that were the case, we should be sensing some signs of reaching the endgame by now.”
Indeed, there wasn’t the slightest indication of progress toward clearing the game. This theory was clearly incorrect.
The players looked disappointed, silently munching on their late-night snacks. The delicious food did little to lift their spirits.
If they couldn’t clear the game, they’d be stuck on this campus indefinitely, facing the ever more terrifying dean night after night, with no way of knowing when they’d be torn apart by her.
After finishing their meal, the players quietly dispersed.
The moment they stepped out of the cafeteria, they spotted the dean approaching from the distance. She still had her unnaturally elongated limbs and began sprinting toward them as soon as she saw the group.
The players scattered like startled birds, running in different directions.
The dean chose to chase after the largest group.
Gu Jiu and her team sprinted toward the lake behind the cafeteria. The water ghost lurking in the lake glared at them menacingly, but the trio avoided getting too close. All the water ghost could do was watch helplessly as they veered off in another direction, causing the lake’s surface to churn in fury.
Only when the dean was out of sight did they circle back to the dormitory.
By the time they returned, it was already 5 a.m., with just one hour left before the night officially ended.
Chai Yingying collapsed onto the dormitory sofa, unhooking the miniature birdcage from her waist. Inside were three ghost eyes, which occasionally clashed with each other in their confined space.
Three supernatural creatures hovered around the birdcage, salivating over the ghost eyes inside. The ghost eyes, sensing danger, huddled together tightly.
“Young lady, what do you think about what Old Ji said?” Chai Yingying asked suddenly.
Gu Jiu yawned, pulling Lu Ji toward their room for rest. “Half and half,” she replied lazily.
“What do you mean?”
“Ji Linfan probably discovered something, but he hasn’t been able to confirm it. That’s why the game hasn’t allowed us to clear it yet.”
Chai Yingying watched the two of them disappear into their room. After a moment’s thought, she quickly understood Gu Jiu’s meaning.
The “Reincarnators” were indeed related to the school, but the players had yet to identify who—or what—the “Reincarnators” were. Alternatively, their approach to finding them might be entirely wrong, preventing them from solving the mystery.
—
When Gu Jiu woke up in the classroom again, she sat silently at her desk for a long time.
Today’s lesson was another self-study session. Most students were diligently reviewing their work, while a few players slouched over their desks, napping like delinquent students.
Gu Jiu stretched lazily and yawned.
Knock, knock, knock!
Outside the window came a soft tapping sound. Gu Jiu turned her head to see Chai Yingying standing there with a smile.
Gu Jiu stood up and walked out of the classroom, leaving with Chai Yingying.
“Why have you been staying in the classroom all day? Your little Ah Ji is still waiting for you,” Chai Yingying asked curiously. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling too tired and wanted a break?”
“No, I was thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
Gu Jiu didn’t answer because they were interrupted by patrolling members of the student council. The students stopped them, asking for their class and names.
“We’re from Class 3, Year 2, currently in PE class,” Chai Yingying said without batting an eye. “The teacher let us roam freely.”
The student council members checked the schedule. Indeed, Class 3 of Year 2 was supposed to be in PE.
However, when the student council passed by the sports field and saw the students of Class 3 training under the watchful eyes of the PE teacher, they realized they’d been tricked. Anger boiled within them, but on a campus this large, catching the truants again was no easy task.
Back at the dormitory, Gu Jiu and Chai Yingying took turns showering before settling into the living room for a meal.
After what might have been breakfast or lunch, Chai Yingying imitated Gu Jiu’s lazy demeanor, sprawling out on the sofa. When she saw the pair of “lovey-dovey girls” being all affectionate nearby, she couldn’t resist rolling her eyes.
To avoid watching them, she summoned her Glutton Ball to check on its status.
Originally, the Glutton Ball was a C-level supernatural creature capable of devouring other entities to level up. Chai Yingying had rarely trained it, so even after advancing to B-level scenarios, her Glutton Ball had only barely reached B-level—a weak one at that, with no other abilities aside from eating.
However, since entering the Reincarnation School, where ghosts were abundant, the Glutton Ball had been following Gu Jiu’s two supernatural creatures around, feasting daily. Its strength had grown significantly, much to Chai Yingying’s satisfaction.
Raising a supernatural creature might not be a bad investment after all.
She pried open the Glutton Ball’s mouth to inspect it, then patted its head. “You’d better not let me down. One day, you’ll evolve into a world-devouring Glutton Ball!”
The Glutton Ball rolled its two eyes dramatically at her.
Surprised, Chai Yingying exclaimed, “Huh, you’ve learned to roll your eyes? Has your intelligence increased along with your strength?”
As it turned out, the Glutton Ball, being one of the lowest-ranked ball-type supernatural creatures, lacked the intelligence to develop much. It had simply learned the eye-rolling trick from Gu Jiu’s two supernatural dolls, using it indiscriminately to provoke everyone it encountered.
Chai Yingying complained, “Young lady, tell your two supernatural dolls to stop teaching my Glutton Ball bad habits.”
At that moment, the mermaid doll climbed over Lisa’s neck and walked by. Hearing Chai Yingying’s words, it gave her a provocative eye roll.
Chai Yingying: “….” So it was the mermaid doll corrupting her Glutton Ball.
—
At 6 p.m., the players gathered at the cafeteria as usual.
They looked around and quickly noticed that only twenty players had shown up. The others were conspicuously absent at this hour. There was only one possible explanation: they’d encountered the dean last night and failed to escape.
This realization dampened everyone’s spirits. The thought of facing the dean again tonight weighed heavily on their minds.
Right on time, the dean arrived at the cafeteria.
The players stiffened, their nerves on edge. As she passed by, her ambiguous gaze swept over them, sending shivers down their spines. It felt as though at any moment, she might transform into a monster and tear them in half.
Fortunately, the dean merely stared at them and did nothing else.
This further confirmed the players’ understanding of the rules of the Reincarnation School: violations of the rules were addressed on the same day they occurred. Since they had broken the rules last night, the dean had pursued them then. However, today was a new day, and as they had not yet committed any violations, the dean, despite remembering their infractions from the previous night, could not act against them today.
For the entire half-hour of mealtime, the dean lingered near the players, her stern gaze fixed on them.
Even the most composed of players found their nerves fraying under her oppressive presence, making the meal excruciatingly difficult to endure.
Gu Jiu calmly set down her utensils and looked up at the dean, who had walked over to her side. Catching the dean’s eyes, she suddenly smiled—a deliberate, provocative smile.
The dean’s face visibly darkened.
She was furious.
As Gu Jiu openly provoked the dean, the atmosphere in the cafeteria seemed to freeze. The players held their breath, terrified that the dean might transform on the spot.
Some of the students, who had been quietly eating their meals, began sneaking glances in their direction.
At last, the sound of the bell rang, signaling the end of mealtime.
The dean cast a cold, menacing glare at Gu Jiu for a long moment before turning and leaving the cafeteria.