The Dorm Supervisor was securely tied up and dragged into the dormitory area.
Although Gu Jiu and his companions were a bit surprised, they didn’t slow their pace. Under the pursuit of the ghostly figures, they dashed through the dormitory gates like a gust of wind.
As soon as they entered, the iron gate of the dormitory area slammed shut with a loud bang.
The relentless ghosts were blocked outside the gate.
Oddly enough, though it was just an ordinary iron gate, once closed, no matter how much the ghosts banged or pressed against it, it remained firmly in place, preventing them from entering.
Gu Jiu and her group stopped and looked toward a spot not far from the dormitory area.
There stood about a hundred students—the boarding students of Shengying High School.
The students were gathered under the streetlights, tied up with ropes. The Dorm Supervisor was being restrained by a few students. Despite her struggling, she couldn’t break free.
The matron wasn’t afraid of these students. She cursed loudly, berating them for defying authority and threatening to report them to the Dean for punishment.
The students stood silently, not stopping her tirade nor attempting to refute her words.
They remained as indifferent and numb as always.
But to Gu Jiu and his companions, the fact that these students dared to tie up the Dorm Supervisor was already a significant step forward. It validated their efforts over the past few days to lead by example and encourage the students to resist.
These students were indeed the key to breaking the cycle of the school’s rules.
Chai Yingying walked toward the group of students.
She wore a bright smile. “Thanks for the help earlier. If it weren’t for you, we’d have had to beat this noisy woman up again to get her to behave.” As she spoke, she flexed her fingers menacingly toward the matron.
Although the ghosts outside had grown stronger tonight, chasing the players relentlessly, the Dorm Supervisor was still the same weak spirit she had always been. Her strength hadn’t changed. Even if the students hadn’t intervened, Gu Jiu and his companions could have dealt with her at any time.
While the other ghosts in the school had clearly become more powerful tonight, the Dorm Supervisor was an exception.
Chai Yingying sneered coldly. “You really have some nerve, thinking you could take us on?”
The Dorm Supervisor paused her cursing, a hint of fear flashing across her face. However, remembering that tonight was no ordinary night, she quickly stiffened her resolve and resumed her tirade.
“I’ll lock you all in the bathroom! Tie you disobedient brats to the toilets—”
Slap!
The sound of a slap abruptly cut her off.
The Dorm Supervisor was furious, but before she could speak again, Chai Yingying delivered several more slaps in quick succession, left and right, leaving her face swollen like a pig’s head. Finally, Chai Yingying used a tool to gag her, silencing her for good.
Chai Yingying dusted off her hands and turned to the students. “See? Shutting her up isn’t that hard.”
The previously expressionless faces of the students began to show signs of liveliness.
A frail boy asked, “Aren’t you afraid of being punished by the dean?”
Chai Yingying thought to herself, Of course we’re scared! That terrifying dean is so ruthless, even tools are useless against her. We don’t want to face her at all.
Gu Jiu walked over and said meaningfully, “If we were afraid, do you think we’d be sneaking out every night like we have been? Haven’t you all seen it by now?”
Every night, as the players returned to the dormitory in the early hours, they could feel certain gazes from within some of the rooms. It was clear that these students weren’t sleeping but were instead observing them. Because of this, the players made a habit of stopping by the dormitory every night, even if just briefly. Even if they didn’t rest, they could use the opportunity to gauge the students’ attitudes.
In truth, they wanted to interact with the boarding students more directly, but these students showed no intention of coming out of their rooms.
Now, it seemed their persistence had finally paid off.
Gu Jiu asked the frail-looking boy, “What’s your name?”
“Lin Ran,” the boy replied.
“Alright, Lin Ran,” Gu Jiu said. “Can you help us?”
Lin Ran’s face showed hesitation, and the other students around him looked visibly uneasy and afraid. The school at night filled them with dread.
Lin Ran shook his head and said, “We can’t. The Dean is too powerful. She’ll have the ghosts in the school lock us up or even punish us. We might not be able to help you…”
Chai Yingying thought to herself, Aren’t you ghosts too? Why are you so scared? Everyone here is a ghost—what’s there to be afraid of?!
However, these students clearly lacked awareness of their own ghostly nature. They were utterly consumed by fear, with an instinctual dread of the Dean and the school at night.
“You can do this!” Gu Jiu placed a reassuring hand on Lin Ran’s shoulder, leaning in slightly to look him in the eye.
Despite being a senior in high school, Lin Ran was shorter than Gu Jiu. In fact, all the hundred students present were small and frail, as though years of malnutrition had stunted their growth.
Lin Ran looked into Gu Jiu’s eyes. Though her gaze wasn’t particularly bright, it exuded gentleness and determination.
His resolve began to waver, but he didn’t make a decision on his own. Instead, he turned to his fellow students and said, “It only works if they agree.”
Gu Jiu looked at the students, her gentle voice carrying a subtle, persuasive undertone. “Do you really want to stay like this forever? Trapped in this school, bound every night by the Dean’s oppression, persecuted by the ghosts here? Look at this dorm supervisor. She has no real power to harm you, but because you’re too weak, even she can trample on your dignity and push you to the brink of despair. Do you want to live like this forever? To one day be forced to end it all?”
The students silently stared at her.
After a long pause, someone whispered, “I don’t want this.”
“I don’t want it either!”
“I want to leave this place…”
“I want to live a normal life, to have a real future…”
“Ever since we started high school, we’ve been trapped here…”
Once the first student spoke up, more voices joined in. With each voice, their courage to resist grew stronger.
Lin Ran saw the changes on their faces. The long-dormant spark in his own heart began to reignite.
Clenching his teeth, he finally made up his mind. He turned to Gu Jiu and asked, “We want change. We don’t want to live like this anymore. What should we do?”
Gu Jiu smiled warmly, her expression full of encouragement. “Good. You’ve made the right choice! You’re all still young. You deserve to live a normal life. You have endless possibilities for your future, and it can all be beautiful! Let me ask you again—do you want to leave this place?”
All the students shouted in unison, “We want to!”
…
Seeing the students, now fired up and ready to take action, Chai Yingying could only stand there, speechless.
She had thought Gu Jiu’s goal was merely to persuade the students to help identify the cycle-breaker. Who would have guessed he had such grand ambitions—not just finding the cycle-breaker but also planning to overthrow the entire reincarnation school?
If this school really had a will of its own, it would probably be crying its metaphorical eyes out.
Gu Jiu looked at the students, who were no longer numb and passive. Pointing at the tied-up dorm supervisor, he said, “Good! I see your courage now! Here’s what you can do to show even more courage—come over and give this woman a good beating.”
The dorm supervisor: “…”
She glared at the students with a dark and menacing look. If her mouth hadn’t been gagged, she would have been cursing Gu Jiu and berating the students, warning them not to violate school rules and threatening to drag them back to the dorms. If they disobeyed, she’d tie them up and lock them in the communal restroom—her go-to method for punishing unruly students.
It was largely thanks to the dorm supervisor’s oppressive tactics that these students had become so fearful and withdrawn.
The students glanced at the dorm supervisor and then at Gu Jiu. With her encouragement, they finally summoned their courage and approached the matron.
“Mm! Mm-mm!”
The dorm supervisor’s muffled protests grew frantic as she realized what was about to happen. She tried to speak, but her gag turned her words into incoherent sounds. Eventually, her muffled cries turned into silent screams and stifled groans.
In the end, the students dragged the dorm supervisor to the communal restroom. They tied her to a toilet and shoved her head into it.
Watching this unfold, Chai Yingying shivered and rubbed her arms, backing out of the restroom with goosebumps.
Lin Ran said calmly, “She used to shove our heads into the toilets and force us to drink the water…”
Chai Yingying immediately said, “Good job. That’s exactly what you should do to someone who tramples on your dignity like that!”
Her mind raced with thoughts. The students’ fear and passivity likely stemmed from a history of horrific school violence. That violence was perpetuated by the school itself, with the dean, the dorm supervisor, and the ghosts all complicit in the abuse.
After dealing with the dorm supervisor, the group headed to the dormitory gate.
The ghosts were still outside, desperately trying to force their way in.
Seeing the ghosts, the students flinched, but Gu Jiu’s earlier words gave them a new surge of courage.
“Come on, everyone, grab a weapon! Let’s fight our way out!” Gu Jiu waved his hand, producing an array of weapons—swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, whips… Every conceivable type of weapon was laid out before them.
Chai Yingying looked at him in surprise. “Where did you get all this?”
“Bought them at the Boundless City item shop. They’re super cheap anyway.”
She understood immediately. The items in the Boundless City shop were inexpensive because they weren’t particularly useful. But for these students, they were perfect.
The students looked at the ghosts beyond the iron gate and realized they needed weapons. Under Lin Ran’s leadership, they stepped forward to choose their arms.
Soon enough, an eclectic army of students wielding mismatched weapons was formed.
With weapons in hand, their courage swelled. Their expressions grew more determined.
Chai Yingying and Lu Ji opened the iron gate. Gu Jiu turned to the students, offering words of encouragement. “You can do this. Believe in yourselves!”
The students’ faces showed a newfound resolve. As the ghosts surged into the dormitory area through the open gate, the students charged forward, rushing as one into battle against the spectral horde.
Gu Jiu, Chai Yingying, and Lu Ji did not join the battle; they stood to the side and watched.
The students, wielding weapons, seemed like entirely different people—ruthless and fierce.
A girl holding an axe swung it violently, cleaving the “Jumping Ghost” into a pile of flesh and blood. The ghost let out a horrific scream. The girl’s eyes sparkled as she continued hacking away, reducing the once-threatening specter to shredded remains.
On the other side, Lin Ran wielded a knife against the “Water Ghost,” slicing through its long hair, prompting a wail of pain.
…
The scene was clear—these students weren’t just fighting the ghosts; they were absolutely brutalizing them.
Although there were a dozen or so ghosts, they were no match for the hundred students. Despite their attempts to retaliate, their attacks—effective against players—had no impact on the students. Somehow, the students were immune to the ghosts’ powers and could inflict devastating damage on them. Overwhelmed by sheer numbers, the ghosts stood no chance.
The Jumping Ghost, now reduced to a pile of minced flesh by the axe-wielding girl, was still alive but had no strength left to fight. Its demise was only a matter of time.
Chai Yingying watched for a while before whispering, “Miss Gu, how did you know these students could kill the ghosts?”
Gu Jiu smiled slightly and replied, “Because during the day, they’re human.”
Chai Yingying blinked in confusion. “???”
“These students aren’t ghosts. They’re just trapped in the reincarnation school. During the day, when the school appears normal, they are still human. It’s only at night that they take on a ghostly form. They aren’t bound by the school’s rules the way the ghosts are. Unlike the ghosts, they don’t view the players as enemies. In fact, they even possess the power to suppress the ghosts.”
The reason players entered the game world was to address anomalies that disrupted the balance of the real world. Identifying and resolving these anomalies was the players’ mission.
Therefore, the players and the students trapped in the school weren’t enemies—they were allies on the same side.
Based on their past experience, Gu Jiu knew that while the game world’s bosses were formidable, they always had a weakness. These students were the key to finding that weakness.
Gu Jiu had initially only suspected this, which was why she encouraged the students to fight. Now, it seemed her hypothesis was correct.
Although there were many ghosts in the school, the number of students was far greater. Together with the players, they stood a real chance of defeating the ghosts.
Chai Yingying’s face lit up with realization. “So… these students are actually victims?”
Gu Jiu nodded. “Yes. These students are merely trapped in the nightmarish version of the school. They haven’t completely turned into ghosts yet. As long as they remain human, they have the ability to resist.” She chuckled softly. “Do you know why the dean is so strict with the students?”
Chai Yingying wasn’t slow to catch on. “Is it because she wants to turn them into ghosts?”
“Exactly. If these students can’t survive the horrors of the school and choose to end their own lives, they’ll truly become ghosts. They’ll join the ranks of the school’s specters, and at that point, this reincarnation school will fully transform into a nightmare realm.”
Chai Yingying sucked in a breath.
The truth was much darker than she had imagined.
“It’s not just the students. The dorm supervisor, the cafeteria staff—they’re all victims of this reincarnation school as well. However, because they’re stronger than the students and afraid of both the school and the ghosts within it, they chose to become perpetrators. They joined forces with the ghosts to oppress the students.”