Seeing the nightmare-like Dean subdued by a group of students, with its monstrous long limbs chopped off, the players couldn’t help but swallow nervously, feeling a chill down their spines.
So, all this time, had they underestimated these students?
These weren’t helpless victims being oppressed—they were powerful figures capable of taking down the most formidable ghosts.
Finally, someone couldn’t hold back and asked, “If these students are this strong, how did the Dean manage to suppress them earlier?”
“What’s so strange about that?” Ji Linfan adjusted his glasses, speaking calmly. “It’s normal for people to fear ghosts! To these students, the Dean is a ghost. Isn’t it natural for them to be afraid?”
“But they’re ghosts too!” someone retorted.
Judging by how the students appeared at night, they were clearly ghostly entities.
Ji Linfan replied, “During the day, they are human. So, in their minds, they’ve always considered themselves human!”
From the players’ perspective, the school at night had no living people except for themselves. The students, cafeteria staff, dorm matron, the Dean, and other scattered ghostly figures were all monsters.
But to the students and staff, they saw themselves as human. To them, the Dean and those other creatures were the true ghosts.
Because they believed they were human, they were afraid of the ghostly Dean. This belief kept them oppressed and unwilling to resist.
Hearing this, Pei Yongyong and a few other players couldn’t help but glance at Gu Jiu.
This matched Gu Jiu’s earlier hypothesis.
The reason the students, cafeteria staff, and dorm matrons were human during the day and ghosts at night was rooted in perception. What players perceived as ghosts were, in the eyes of the students and staff, still human.
Or perhaps this was an illusion orchestrated by the Reincarnation School to confuse the players.
Without figuring this out, the players wouldn’t have been able to rally the students to deal with the extremely troublesome Dean. If they had faced the Dean alone, they would’ve eventually perished at her hands.
Ji Linfan’s partner scratched his head and asked curiously, “If they’re human, how can they overpower ghosts?”
“What’s the big deal?” Chai Yingying sneered. “Have you ever seen ghosts kill people for no reason? These students are just trapped living beings. The ghosts in the school clearly can’t kill them directly. Otherwise, the Dean wouldn’t have just suppressed them, trying to force them into despair and suicide.”
She was firmly convinced of Gu Jiu’s theory—the students’ displayed abilities had already proven its validity.
Ji Linfan added, “Chai Yingying is right. Since they’re living beings trapped in the Reincarnation School and not turned into ghosts by its power, they are fundamentally opposed to the ghosts here. No matter how strong the ghosts are, their powers can’t fully affect the students. At the same time, while an individual student’s strength might not be overwhelming, together they can take down ghosts with collective force.”
The group suddenly understood.
A hundred students against one Dean—if their strengths were comparable, the hundred students were bound to prevail.
“So… is the Reincarnation School itself the ‘Reincarnator’?” Pei Yongyong speculated, her face full of disbelief. “The entire school is the reincarnation setting, and it’s also the ‘Reincarnator’?”
Ji Linfan nodded. “That seems to be the case.”
“You’re saying it seems to be the case,” his partner interjected impatiently. “Old Ji, quit holding back. Tell us already—how do we clear this stage?”
They were all getting anxious.
Tonight had been incredibly dangerous, and during the earlier ghost chase, five players had already died. Only fifteen of them were left now.
Since entering the game world, half of the players had already perished—a shocking death rate for a B-level scenario.
Ji Linfan chuckled lightly. “Our general hypothesis is correct: the ‘Reincarnator’ is the entire school—or more accurately, the school at night. However, identifying the Reincarnator isn’t enough to clear the stage. We also need to destroy the school, which has turned into the reincarnation site.”
Most players were stunned upon hearing this.
“Wasn’t our task just to identify the Reincarnator? When did they add a new objective?”
Ji Linfan remained silent. He was tired after explaining so much.
Pei Yongyong cast a disdainful look at the questioning players, sneering. “If it were that simple, the game shop wouldn’t have made the Spatial Destruction Card available for purchase. Have you all forgotten that item exists?”
The system’s shop never offered useless items. Often, the items served as subtle hints for clearing the stage.
Although mocked, the players didn’t feel too offended. They had, indeed, overlooked the card. Since entering the Reincarnation School, there hadn’t been a clear opportunity to use the Spatial Destruction Card, so they had assumed it was irrelevant.
Meanwhile, the students had subdued the Dean and tied her up with the rope Gu Jiu had provided.
Compared to the ghosts who had been chopped into pieces earlier, the Dean’s fate seemed relatively merciful.
Lin Ran walked over, his pale face brimming with excitement and fervor. Despite this, his expression still bore the eerie pallor unique to ghosts.
He wasn’t alone; the other students shared the same ghostly appearance.
Pei Yongyong and the others scrutinized them carefully, still feeling that no matter how they looked at it, these students were undeniably ghosts.
“We’ve tied her up,” Lin Ran announced, his voice tense with suppressed emotion. “We can head to the playground now.”
Gu Jiu smiled. “Then let’s go.”
A group of students hoisted the bound Dean and marched toward the playground, with the players and cafeteria staff trailing behind.
Ji Linfan’s partner suddenly turned to one of the cafeteria staff members and asked, “Are you a human or a ghost?”
The staff member looked cautious and answered carefully, “Of course, we’re human.”
“What about the students?”
“They’re human, too.”
The cafeteria workers exchanged puzzled looks, clearly not understanding the intent behind the question.
Unconvinced, Ji Linfan’s partner retorted, “With your ghostly appearances, how can you claim to be human? Don’t try to fool me just because I’m uneducated! I’ve got yin-yang eyes and can tell humans from ghosts!”
The cafeteria staff member didn’t dare argue but seemed quite indignant.
Seeing this exchange, the group became more certain of Ji Linfan and Gu Jiu’s hypothesis. Indeed, in the minds of the students and cafeteria staff, they genuinely believed they were human.
Gu Jiu then asked, “If you’re human, how did you end up trapped here?”
Hearing her question, the cafeteria worker hurriedly replied, “We don’t know either. It seems like this started two years ago. During the day, everything’s normal, but every night, we’re trapped in the school and surrounded by ghosts. There are so many ghosts—everywhere! We’ve tried escaping, but it’s impossible…”
“Yeah, you don’t know how terrifying it is.”
“The Dean is the most vicious of all. She suddenly appeared in the school one day.”
“We checked during the day—there’s no record of her among the staff. She only appears at night. Although she looks normal, we all know she must be a ghost.”
“She keeps the students under strict control. They must follow her schedule for studying and resting. Anyone who disobeys is sent to detention. They say the detention room is full of ghosts. If a student goes in, they’ll be so scared they have nightmares for nights on end. Over time, no one dares defy her anymore.”
—
As the cafeteria ghosts shared their stories, the players gradually pieced together the truth.
Two years ago, Shengying High School changed. At night, the campus transformed into a supernatural world, trapping a group of students, cafeteria staff, and dorm matron within.
Terrifying ghosts began appearing on campus, along with a domineering Dean who ruled over the students and held authority over the staff.
These ghosts could be the spirits of students and teachers who had died at the school or entities summoned by some supernatural force. The night school turned into a reincarnation field, granting these ghosts horrifying powers. No matter how many times they were killed, they would resurrect the next night as long as the school remained.
The trapped students and staff couldn’t leave the school. They had to endure night after night of terror, slowly breaking their spirits until they eventually chose suicide.
When a student succumbed to despair and killed themselves, they became one of the school’s ghosts, strengthening the reincarnation field and solidifying the school’s transformation into a ghostly reincarnation site.
—
“When the night school fully becomes a reincarnation field for ghosts, it will undoubtedly affect the daytime school and possibly the world beyond.” Pei Yongyong said with certainty. “No wonder players are sent here to complete this task. If left unchecked, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
“Exactly!”
“Could this be some kind of external force invading?”
“It must be. Otherwise, how could a school suddenly become a reincarnation field?”
The players discussed as they walked, gradually reconstructing the sequence of events.
“That Dean must be one of the ghosts tied to the reincarnation field,” Chai Yingying said, pointing at the bound Dean being carried by the students. “She represents the reincarnation school. That’s why she started hunting us every night after sensing we were a threat.”
Even the sudden withdrawal of ghosts from their territories tonight and their increased strength seemed like an effort by the reincarnation school to eliminate the players.
The realization that the reincarnator was the school itself was straightforward, but understanding why the students and staff were human by day and ghostly by night, and motivating them to take action, had been far more complex.
—
Finally, they reached the playground.
Shengying High School’s playground was vast, and at night it appeared desolate and eerie.
The students tossed the bound Dean onto the ground and then looked toward Gu Jiu.
The players felt uneasy under the students’ gazes, knowing full well that the highest game score for this round would certainly go to Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu smiled back at them and took out a Spatial Destruction Card.
“Let’s destroy this place now,” she said with a warm smile. “After you leave, I hope you’ll return to normal lives.”
It was her most heartfelt wish.
The other players followed her lead and took out their Spatial Destruction Cards.
The school playground was the only place free of ghosts and the only area not yet corrupted by the reincarnation energy. As Chai Yingying had pointed out, it was like the heart of a ghost-raising formation—destroying the heart would destroy the entire formation. However, their goal wasn’t to destroy the playground itself but to use the Spatial Destruction Card from this central location to obliterate the reincarnation school’s spatial dimension and restore the school to normal.
The night school was, in reality, a separate space from the day school.
Whether it was the players, students, or staff, they were all trapped within the reincarnation school. To escape, they had to use the Spatial Destruction Card to destroy the space containing the reincarnation school.