Chapter 80

Chapter 80

The student who killed the doll... turned into a doll?

The screen reflected the audience's sweaty faces. In just those few seconds, they had broken out in a cold sweat.

"That clue!"

Clue 1: Kill the controller to escape your identity.

Was this actually a trap?

Not just the soldiers; many students made their move tonight.

Watching the original toy students take over the identities of the dolls one by one in shock, the audience felt uneasy and unsettled.

The Hungry Academy hid its knives deep and struck hard.

It was only the first day, and a portion of the official students were killed, another part lost their composure due to the environment, and some turned into dolls. Only about one-third remained as toys, and some of these were still on the shelves, missing the plot entirely.

This was the first time that so much fighting power was lost on the very first day.

"I'm a bit nervous. Let's go see the JiuZhou students." It’s better to find some confidence at the main stage of the big players.

"Hmm?" Ji Xinghai pinched his nose and frowned, the golden stars on his face twinkling along with his expression.

At nine o'clock, the school welcomed a new wave of students. As he had guessed, it operated on a day-night shift system. He had sneaked back into the school during the night shift and now had his eyes on a particular NPC teacher, hoping for a ride.

The NPC teacher was still moving around in another location. While waiting, Ji Xinghai recalled the treasure chest from earlier.

Even the props from the副本 are not spared. The conflict between Unceasing Path Brother and the Hungry Academy is now out in the open. It's just unknown to what extent these two parties are involved in this副本 and how it will affect his gaming experience.

Ah.

The game GM getting involved is such a hassle.

Hmm?

Suddenly, his peculiar and exquisite clown makeup broke into a radiant smile: The contract states that if that guy can't provide an undisturbed gaming stage, he can devour him openly. Isn’t this already a breach of the contract?

The night is long, might as well... (*^▽^*)

'I don’t want to, but it’s just to honor the contract. Sigh, truly regrettable.'

The clown feigned sympathy, touching the painted tears on his face, then turned happy again: After all, we did cooperate. There should be some ceremony. Shall I stew or steam you?

"…" The inspector, who came over to explain the situation, didn’t expect such realism.

"All the rewards given are within the rules, please rest assured." Second-hand items are priced at half, and providing repair tools is reasonable, so don’t always think about eating me.

"Oh?" Ji Xinghai, caught red-handed, was even more composed than the inspector, not showing any fear, "That’s good, no need to worry about being devoured for abusing your power."

The inspector thought his tone showed no concern at all.

"The Hungry Academy has not entered, nor does it have the right to interfere with ongoing exams. However, this exam site has a very special existence." The Hungry Academy itself cannot enter, but certain obstacles have indeed been set up.

The inspector did not say more, as further details would violate the rules. Given Ji Xinghai’s progress, he would likely reach the special NPC in a few days.

"Okay," Ji Xinghai nodded, suddenly remembering something, "Can there be more food in the individual reward pool? I want to eat."

"Sure." The inspector agreed directly, mentally calculating the edible items in the reward pool, subconsciously planning a four-dish meal with soup and dessert.

Suddenly, Ji Xinghai noticed the target NPC teacher approaching out of the corner of his eye. Without turning his head, he waved his hand, "Alright, you can go now. Don’t get caught, okay~" Die in my plate, dear~

"…"

No post-meal dessert.

The night class teachers were checking the students' experimental results one by one.

Unlike the daytime classes that mainly taught basics, the night classes had older students learning more complex subjects. They were in a ‘vocational orientation class,’ already divided into specialized groups to learn various professions.

In this classroom, besides the fixed helmets and steel floors, the student seats resembled small cubicles. Each cubicle had a desk with many instruments and a storage cabinet filled with various materials.

The NPC teachers no longer lectured on basic subjects like language and math but systematically explained specialized knowledge.

From materials to operations, each step had clear time requirements, leaving no room for ambiguity.

However, unlike Ji Xinghai’s concept of vocational education, the NPC teachers required students to merely 'know what to do without understanding why.' He observed the numbers on the students' helmets; their contribution values and pollution values were lower compared to the basic classes, while their stability values were slightly higher.

This world wanted mature tools, not creators. And the dolls indeed fit the needs of this world better.

Previously, in the basic classes, there were rebellious clay dolls and repressed sheep dolls, but in this class... everyone seemed to wear the same mask, doing the same things, calmly and numbly.

Those rebellious and repressed dolls were probably eliminated.

The outside world was also watching the night classes.

Although eight students, besides Ji Xinghai, managed to stay in the classroom, the classrooms used during the day were locked at night, so there wasn’t much progress there.

Some students tried tampering with the helmets, but they couldn’t handle the subsequent alarms and searches. Although they escaped, they didn’t get anything from the helmets and had no chance to activate the inner world experience tickets.

Thus, most countries focused on the JiuZhou students.

The night shift NPC teacher approached.

Before it appeared, everyone could sense it because the steel floor was slightly shaking.

Then the slender metal limbs came into view. The NPC teacher entered the classroom with a strange yet swift gait. Its mountain-shaped upper body rotated once, ensuring every student could see its stern electronic face.

This is a very special NPC. Although it has the appearance of a long-legged creature, it is entirely mechanical, completely rebuilt from head to toe, and its voice is purely electronic.

Its lower half resembles a long-legged spider with gripping claws designed for holding steel bars, but its upper half is a mountain-shaped crystal dome. The silver dome has a screen that displays different emoticons based on its mood.

It somewhat resembles a bacteriophage.

Ji Xinghai sensed something unusual about this particular NPC, even though it showed no signs of deviation from the other NPCs.

That's why he chose it among the two NPC teachers.

"This experimental class is over. Everyone should practice more after returning and memorize these contents. Only by studying hard and continuously improving can you pass the internship tests in the future and become full-time employees. Class dismissed; take a fifteen-minute break."

After the class ended, the metal passage connecting to the main school building opened until the NPC teacher walked in, then closed again.

No one noticed the additional pendant on its body.

Ji Xinghai had become adept at hitchhiking. In the time it took the audience to bend down to pick up a pen, he had already followed the swaying steps of the NPC teacher into the new area—the interior of the cylindrical structure he had been eyeing all along.

All the classrooms extending outwards were rooted within the cylinder, and the ceiling gathered something from the students, which also converged into this massive building.

It would be the most valuable existence on this land.

"Is he entering the main building?"

Viewers from other countries who wanted more clues flooded into Ji Xinghai's live stream, as he was the fastest progressing student in this scenario and had not died yet.

Not dying was crucial. Not long ago, humanity lost a student who was about to enter the main building. That sticky toy student was detected by the scanner at the entrance and destroyed on the spot.

Ji Xinghai was not detected.

It wasn't because the scanner favored him, but because he jumped onto the scanner when it approached and quickly slid down the pipe into the darkness.

Due to his incredible speed, the scanner failed to detect him, allowing him to successfully infiltrate.

This series of actions had become part of the "Ji Xinghai Personal Show" deluxe package. No matter how many times one watched, the movements felt fluid and almost artistic, reminiscent of a feline's hunting elegance.

Of course, it was also very risky, and mishandling could lead to destruction.

People often said that Federation students loved adventure, while JiuZhou students tended to be conservative, but Ji Xinghai was an exception. As long as he didn't die, he could keep pushing boundaries.

After the full-body scan, the NPC teacher continued walking forward, unaware of a guy lying on the dimly lit steel floor, intending to piggyback.

Yes, Ji Xinghai did not intend to give up this useful host. Climbing on his own was too slow and carried a high risk of being discovered.

The oblivious NPC teacher continued to stroll with the clown doll, skillfully using its slender metal limbs to climb and jump, entering a round hole.

A vast and strange world unfolded before them.

Everyone watching his live stream leaned closer to their screens. The glowing glass pipes reflected in countless eyes, transforming into a blood-red sky.

"Heavens."

They seemed to have entered a giant spider's nest, where red, luminescent webs spread recklessly, dominating every available space, turning black into fiery red.

The closer they got to the center, the more intense the red light became, almost as if it were burning.

Ji Xinghai squinted. To this enormous monster world, the workers were like sesame seeds on a pancake, and he was even smaller, like a speck of dust.

The viewers sharing Ji Xinghai's perspective let out exclamations.

They had speculated about the possibilities of the main building, but never imagined it would be like this.

The massive cylindrical building was hollow, with red glass pipes spreading like fungal hyphae, converging at the center. The red light stained the retina with a faint bloody hue.

This red was neither auspicious nor peaceful, carrying a hint of bloodiness, especially considering it came from children's brains, enhanced by the special effects of the inner world, creating a chilling sense of "eating children" for "health."

They saw many long-legged mechanical bodies similar to the NPC teacher moving around the pipes. These tiny entities, bathed in crimson light, blurred into the background, resembling small spiders that both depended on and maintained the nest, coexisting harmoniously.

Most of these NPCs were in a semi-biological, semi-mechanical state, with a few fully transformed into machines, structured specifically for this building.

The long-legged creatures moved freely, as thin steel bars filled the eerie space. From a distance, the red pipes were wrapped in gray mist, with tiny particles walking and jumping orderly in the red light, maintaining the system's normal operation.

They were checking the pipes and recording the liquid values in their own way.

Outside the school, they saw the same red liquid flowing through glass pipes into the city. But inside, these glowing red liquids were different.

Their colors varied, some containing impurities—another type of glowing substance, some yellow like sunlight through tree branches, some blue, green, purple, orange...

The long-legged mechanical bodies disliked these colorful light spots, so the liquids coming from the classrooms needed to be filtered.

After multiple filtrations, they became uniformly red and pure, converging towards the center, forming a red trunk reaching the sky.

Before the viewers could recover from the scene, two long-legged mechanical bodies carrying iridescent glass jars approached. They used something resembling a yoke to carry the jars, which swayed, the contents changing colors and emitting light-hearted, childlike laughter.

"Are these just collected pollutants? So many?" the NPC teacher asked.

These long-legged mechanical bodies stopped, and the viewers closely examined the glass jars.

The jars themselves were not colored; instead, they contained many colorful glowing objects. The light points clustered by color, chasing each other in the transparent jars like playful children, emitting similar childlike laughter.

The joyful laughter infected the viewers, bringing smiles to their faces, while the long-legged mechanical bodies treated them like nuclear waste, keeping a safe distance.

"These kids are really misbehaving lately. Look at these... they just want to play. What use do these things have for society?" one long-legged mechanical body lamented, urging the NPC teacher to stay away. "Be careful not to touch them; contamination would be troublesome."

"How likely is that?"

"I heard that sound can also be contagious."

They hopped down with colored glass jars, along with many other mechanical beings. Those jars, filled with joyful laughter, resembled brilliant dreams sinking toward the bottom, leaving behind a blood-colored silence.

The NPC teacher continued climbing upward, its long limbs as agile as those of an ape, easily hooking onto steel bars and effortlessly leaping up to the next level.

Ji Xinghai followed, riding along for free. His eyes were wide open, finding everything in this instance new and fascinating.

Perhaps the meaning of playing games lies precisely in this: being able to experience the fantastical worlds in others' minds and even participate in them, thereby expanding the breadth of one's life several times over.

The audience clearly saw 'joy' emanating from him. This joy seemed even more infectious than the laughter earlier, bringing light-hearted smiles even to the solemn Black Tower Command.

"The environment is terrible, but seeing Brother Hai, I think it's not so bad after all. It’s a rare experience in life. Think about it, our ancestors never had such grand life experiences. We are living history, even creating it."

Thinking about this, all the difficulties before them seemed insignificant.