Zhou Jianzhang and his group left the classroom, and the other students gradually followed suit as they finished school for the day.
Only seven people led by Li Zhi remained in the classroom. Xu Yiran and Peipei, who had been watching the two groups clash earlier without daring to speak, couldn’t hold back their curiosity now. Xu Yiran asked, “Sister Zhi, why didn’t we join them in playing the game?”
The horror game sounded dangerous. Wouldn’t having more people help spread the risk? Besides, Zhou Jianzhang and his group had already played it last night, and nothing bad happened. They clearly had more experience.
Even Lian Qinglin and Tan Manyu looked at Li Zhi expectantly.
Although they suspected that Zhou Jianzhang’s group had problems, they weren’t sure what those problems were. Li Zhi had mentioned earlier that her suspicions would be confirmed by nightfall, and it seemed like they had been.
Li Zhi twirled the pen in her hand. Yes, she had confirmed it.
“All of these horror games have one thing in common,” she looked up at the others, “there’s physical contact during the game.”
Summoning the Pen Spirit requires players to intertwine their hands. For the Lamp Spirit, the last person in the circle must hold onto the person in front of them. The Four Corners game involves patting each other’s shoulders. And for the Dormitory Mirror game, someone must help comb the hair of the person sitting in front of the mirror.
Tan Manyu’s expression grew grim. “You mean they’re using this physical contact to spread something?”
Li Zhi nodded. “I’m not sure exactly what it is yet, but I think it’s related to the punishment from the principal’s office. Based on what we’ve seen with Wang Zhiyuan and Xie Cong, they’ve clearly been transformed—or controlled. Whatever is controlling them is turning them into the same kind of vessel.”
She drew a circle on her notebook and wrote the number “1” inside it.
“Let’s assume that this is the first way it spreads, directly from the principal.”
Then she drew another circle below it and wrote a “2.”
“According to the school’s rules, only students who have misbehaved or have a poor attitude are taken to the principal’s office for ‘reform.’ In other words, good students aren’t supposed to get infected.”
“But I checked the class rankings. Xu Jingsheng has always been a top student since he enrolled. He doesn’t meet the criteria for being reformed, so how did he get infected?”
Lian Qinglin suddenly realized. “That night, the Lamp Spirit game! He was the one chosen by the Lamp Spirit!”
Li Zhi nodded. “That night, Xu Jingsheng participated in the Lamp Spirit game, and the next day, he became a vessel. So I suspect that the second method of transmission requires two conditions: one, playing a horror game, and two, physical contact. Once both conditions are met, it can spread at will. That’s why on the first night we arrived, Liao Ze was so eager to invite us to play the game.”
“They’ve all been bewitched by it,” Tan Manyu said softly.
“It’s no longer satisfied with controlling only bad students, so it uses the infected bad students to lure good students into playing the game. Last night, Zhou Jianzhang’s group played the game with Xu Jingsheng. They… have been infected.”
Xu Yiran shuddered violently, instinctively hugging herself. “But… but Teacher Zhou and the others seem normal.”
Li Zhi shook her head. “The fact that they invited us to play the game is proof that they’re infected.”
This confirmed her theory.
From last night onward, the 15 people in this scenario had been divided into two factions. The audience would vote based on each team’s performance. It was a competition for popularity points, and they were rivals in a life-and-death struggle.
Rivals would never invite each other to complete tasks together.
Their scores were clearly ahead. In normal circumstances, they would be happy for Li Zhi’s group to fall behind. Why would they actively invite them to play, and even get angry when Li Zhi refused?
Because they were infected. That’s why they were bewitched into inviting Li Zhi’s group.
However, since players are different from the NPC students in the school, Zhou Jianzhang’s group still appeared normal. If they had shown obvious symptoms like Xu Jingsheng, it would be too noticeable. The system wouldn’t make such an obvious mistake.
As always, the system had set up a trap for the players. Playing the horror game would lead to infection, but refusing to play would prevent them from gaining points and clearing the level.
The only solution is to understand the conditions for infection and avoid playing games with the already infected students from the very beginning.
Li Zhi had warned them last night, but they didn’t listen.
Xu Yiran and Peipei, after hearing this explanation, couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear. They had considered joining the others earlier in the day.
Xu Yiran, her face pale, asked, “What will happen to them now? I mean, do they know they’re infected? Can they still clear the level?”
Li Zhi said, “I don’t know.”
Until they entered the principal’s office, she couldn’t determine exactly what it was, so she couldn’t say whether those infected players could still be saved.
After a pause, her tone was far from optimistic: “But I suspect that the conditions for infection are the same as the conditions for death in this scenario. They’ve already triggered it.”
They had triggered the death condition, though they were still alive for now…
But who knew what was really alive inside them?
In the live stream, the audience had erupted into multiple heated debates after Li Zhi refused Zhou Jianzhang’s invitation. Zhou’s actions had indeed negatively impacted Li Zhi’s popularity, and the number of complaints against her in the chat increased.
It wasn’t until Li Zhi shared her deductions that those criticizing her went silent, quickly retracting their statements. Her fans, on the other hand, were filled with pride, spamming “666” in the chat.
【She never disappoints!!!】
【Zhou Jianzhang, you really had ulterior motives, didn’t you!】
【Li Zhi warned them last night, even before she had pieced everything together. Her ability to sense danger is incredible!】
【I honestly didn’t notice anything was wrong! I watched them play the game last night, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. So when exactly were they infected?】
【Isn’t it obvious? Through physical contact. But I’m still curious—what exactly is being spread in this school?】
【Did I waste my vote on Zhou Jianzhang?!】
【Not necessarily. This is just Li Zhi’s speculation, right? What she says isn’t necessarily the truth.】
【Oh, you’re really brave for saying that. Didn’t you get burned just a moment ago?】
…
Everyone fell silent for a while. Pink Hair shivered, shaking off goosebumps. “So, if we don’t play with them and finish these games ourselves, we should be able to clear the level, right?”
Clearing the level was the most important thing, and the group’s spirits lifted. Li Zhi had already figured out the rules. Since the seven of them hadn’t been infected, couldn’t they just play the games together and safely finish the scenario?
Before Li Zhi could speak, Lian Qinglin smacked the back of his head. “Are you stupid? Did you forget what kind of game this is? These are horror games that summon ghosts! Do you think you can just casually play them and clear the level?”
Playing these games in the real world might be fine, but here, in the scenario, it was different—they could really summon ghosts.
It was hard to say whether the infected players had summoned any ghosts during their game, but it was certain that the seven uninfected players could summon them. The system would never let them clear the level that easily.
Li Zhi placed her pen on the desk and turned to a new page in her notebook. “Let’s start small. We’ll try the Pen Spirit first.”
As if it was so easy to control the Pen Spirit. That was the same Pen Spirit that could go toe-to-toe with Sadako!
But seeing how casually she spoke about it, the others relaxed a little. After all, they would all have to play the games sooner or later. Playing with Li Zhi would definitely be less risky! For a moment, the group even began to politely offer the opportunity to one another.
“You go ahead.”
“No, no, you should go.”
“New players first, right?”
Li Zhi: “…” She said, “Stop pushing, let’s all do it together.”
Everyone: “…?”
Xu Yiran hesitated and asked, “Can seven people play the Pen Spirit together?”
In their minds, the Pen Spirit game was always played by two people.
Li Zhi chuckled, “Who says the Pen Spirit can only be played by two? Let’s give it a try together. If it works, we won’t have to play separately. If not, we can split up later.”
Hearing her suggestion, the six others stopped hesitating. They gathered around the desk, stacked their hands, and grasped the pen together.
Tan Manyu asked in a low voice, “What’s the chant for summoning the Pen Spirit?”
Pink Hair scratched his head, “The chant’s probably the same everywhere, right? I’ve played it before. Let me try.”
He cleared his throat and slowly, in a low voice, recited, “Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, I am your fate in this life. If you wish to continue this bond, please draw circles on the paper.”
The others followed his lead, silently repeating the chant three times. In the quiet classroom, the fluorescent light suddenly flickered and buzzed.
Everyone held their breath, instinctively looking up at the ceiling. A swarm of insects buzzed around the thin light tube, agitated by the flickering electricity. The next moment, the light went out abruptly, plunging the entire classroom into darkness. In the hands of the seven people, the pen suddenly started to move.
Xu Yiran let out a short scream but quickly stifled it.
In the darkness, the ballpoint pen slowly began drawing circles on the notebook.
A few seconds later, their eyes began to adjust to the darkness. The faint, dim light from a few street lamps outside the school seeped through the classroom windows, casting blurry shadows. That soft, yellowish glow projected their seven figures onto the glass.
Li Zhi sat facing the window. She looked up and saw the reflection of an eighth person.
That shadow was standing among them, its hand grasping the exposed tip of the pen, guiding them as it drew circle after circle.