Chapter 89

Chapter 89

"What's going on? Did those vanished NPCs reappear on the other side of the world? Is this world not real? What’s the relationship between here and there?

"Headache, my brain is about to burn out."

"Is that beeping sound from hospital equipment? If we consider the context, is this the world after being unconscious?"

The students gathered together to chat.

Apart from chatting, there seemed to be nothing else they could do. Should they clean up the battlefield instead?

The reactions of the other NPCs were even more intense. For example, the three-legged mechanical body, who was a colleague of the NPC teacher, seemed to recall something, its expression a mix of confusion and fear as colored light spots fell upon it.

"What am I doing?" It clasped its head, its soft tentacles having somehow transformed into human hands.

"I want to go home."

Outside the instance.

"I remember! I remember!"

"Huh?"

The head of the Analysis Group in the Black Tower jumped up, opening his computer. "I remembered the prototype for this instance."

"... Head, it's too late now. It's all over."

"Too late?"

The head of the Analysis Group turned to his team members. "Do you remember the Zongru Academy incident twenty-one years ago?"

The team members exchanged glances, and the youngest member hesitated before answering, "Wasn't that the academy that burned down, killing thousands of students?"

"That's right."

The group leader looked at the large screen. "I didn’t think of it before because the 'Zongru Academy' had too many paranormal events, and the legend of the Doll City was just one of them that wasn’t widely known."

Zongru Academy was a typical case of feudal revival back then. The slogan was to restore traditional education and rebuild harmonious traditional families. Many parents sent their children they deemed 'disobedient or disrespectful' to this school, hoping they would come out as obedient and well-behaved.

Parents who easily relinquished guardianship, a closed military-style environment with clear hierarchies, temporary guardians who profited under the guise of education, and a system that bred evil with absolute power—predictably, the outcome was disastrous.

Only a few people knew what happened there because it was so cruel and dark that the staff handling the case even developed mental illnesses. The state subsequently banned all similar schools and set up specialized monitoring departments.

How did the incident at this school get discovered? On that day, the students, driven to the brink, set fire to this dark prison. They no longer wanted to live, nor did they want to leave the demons behind for others to suffer.

Doll City became a legend that emerged after the flames consumed the sins.

A student who survived described the seven days of unconsciousness: he felt like he was in a peculiar city powered by a red liquid, and the source of this energy was underage dolls...

In the dream world, the school transformed into a city, continuing to exploit the potential of children to sustain life. Those demons transformed into the school, devouring lives like a monster.

There were only two types of people in this city: those who hadn’t been tamed yet, becoming dolls, and those who had been tamed, becoming teachers.

"Who is the toy?"

"Toy?"

The group leader grimaced. "This is the most sinister design of the Hungry Academy."

Toys should have been the only hope in this harsh world.

"Dolls lose their imagination and creativity, and without their innocence, they grow up to become adults with real biological appearances, becoming another accomplice in this city. But toys can awaken their true hearts, helping them escape this city and return to reality."

"Toys are the children who died in the fire, repeatedly appearing before the dolls to push them out of this distorted world. To make them wake up and live.

"But the Hungry Academy set the relationship between toys and dolls as antagonistic.

"The so-called regaining freedom refers to the joy and happiness brought by toys infecting the dolls, truly liberating them. This joy is the pollutant."

Everyone drew a sharp breath.

So the theme of this instance is not slaughter but salvation?

The responsibility of the students is actually to save those terrifying doll NPCs and the NPC teachers?

"If following the normal process, the students would enter the main body of the school in batches.

"On one hand, they need to deal with the dolls, and on the other, understand the bizarre system of this school, then discover the secret of how children produce the red energy liquid, officially entering the exploration phase."

"Afterward, pollutants would become an important element in the next puzzle.

"During this time, they would find that 'freedom' is closely related to 'pollutants,' discovering the key to regaining freedom."

"Finally, the students would consider how to smoothly enter the pollutant storage room under accumulated rules and layers of scrutiny."

"However, they would realize that regaining freedom has a prerequisite: pollutants and saving NPCs. Toys represent the lingering will of the dead students, wanting to save others, their companions.

"But by then, a mortal hatred should have formed between the students and the NPCs."

The group leader sighed. "Remember that hint? Killing the controller allows the controlled to break free. We were wrong; the teachers aren’t the controllers. The true controller is the 'school.'"

What are rules compared to this? This is the true killing move of the Hungry Academy.

But someone skipped steps one, two, and three, and played a big game at the end.

"I don’t know if Student Ji Xinghai figured all this out, but the result is perfect."

"All the pollutants exploded, and so did the glass pipes. Everyone on site, except those at home or on the shelves, was successfully 'freed.' But most importantly, the main scene of the copy, the school, was completely destroyed. Now he even wants to split the sky."

"This is truly 'a wild punch that kills the master.'"

"The planner of the copy probably didn't expect Ji Xinghai to obtain an item that could enlarge his body, not to mention a knife that can also be enlarged. The probability of meeting both conditions is too low."

At this moment, Ji Xinghai in the copy doubled in size again, able to touch the sky with a single stretch of his hand. It looked like he was about to attack the layer of flesh enclosing the world.

The head of the Analysis Group stroked his chin:

"Moreover, I bet the script of the Hungry Academy absolutely did not include an ending where the ultimate boss is killed with one slash. Hmm, I'm quite curious about what will happen next. Does the Hungry Academy have a contingency plan?"

Inside the copy.

Ji Xinghai put away his knife and used his hands like blades to tear open the black curtain flickering with electric arcs.

The curtain let out a miserable scream as the writhing flesh walls retreated, moving back hundreds of meters before a series of electric currents struck Ji Xinghai.

Golden currents surged over his body, leaving charred whip marks, one cutting across his face, adding a fierce aura to him.

He rubbed the carbonized ash from his burned skin between his fingers and then focused his gaze on the trembling curtain torn open by a seam.

"You're getting desperate."

Like a child discovering a secret passage at home, he was practically ecstatic.

The giant grew larger against the electric currents, now three times his original size. His movements became more violent, his arm muscles tensing, veins bulging as he tore the retreating curtain apart and shredded it.

"I am the on-site assistant; you can't kill me! Do you want your points to be reset?" the thing behind the curtain screamed.

The students who heard the voice were stunned, but Ji Xinghai remained unmoved.

Seeing him reach into the gap, the curtain changed its tone and pleaded bitterly, "I'll give you treasure chests, all the remaining brass chests and a silver chest! Don't you want to know all the secrets of this exam?"

But what is the nature of a mischievous child? They act without regard for consequences, immune to threats and temptations, recklessly.

So, he didn't care.

Ji Xinghai stopped searching, seemingly having found something. The curtain, abandoning its temptation, began cursing loudly. Suddenly, intense superheated currents enveloped the giant's arms, causing charred flesh to fall off, revealing bones white as jade.

His face twisted in agony, gritting his teeth as he clung tightly to whatever was inside, dragging it out bit by bit.

Everyone tensed up.

As the charred flesh on his arms fell piece by piece, the severed arms finally dragged out the object, which was entangled with many blood vessels.

With a hard pull, a bone-white arm broke off, hitting the ground with a clear metallic sound. The object finally separated from the mass of blood vessels.

It was an apple shaped like a heart, red as blood.

Against the light, they saw the giant lift the tiny red object and swallow it, along with the screams and curses.

The red object glowed, making it look as if the giant had swallowed the sun.

The world crumbled in silence.

The sky melted, the earth melted, everything returned to nothingness. More colorful lights floated up from the empty ground, emitting soft laughter, like children, like the elves cherished by this world.

The three-legged mechanical body finally emerged from her sealed shell, turning to give everyone a radiant smile. Her shaved head sprouted curly hair like octopus tentacles—though much prettier, clearly well-maintained by its owner.

Then, she left in the embrace of the little elves.

As shackles fell one by one, free souls rushed towards rebirth, while rainbow bubbles filled the world.

Finally, the toys left at home and on the shelves appeared. The colorful lights approached them affectionately, helping them shed their toy skins and be reborn.

"What happened?" They didn't understand the situation. By now, there was no sign of the giant who had split the sky.

"..." Ji Xinghai, after his cool moment, squatted on the ground, his normal-sized body supporting his head with his last remaining hand, bony fingers resting on his cheek, staring blankly at the sky. He had maintained this posture for a long time, but the game-end notification never came.

Was he supposed to stay here for six more days? But he had no more chocolate, and that apple wasn't filling.

He was starving.

Others were just as dazed as he was.

"Um, all the NPCs are gone, what are we still doing here?" a student raised his hand. "Ahem, actually, I just arrived today. How should I say this to make myself seem less foolish?"

"Don't talk. I arrived yesterday and don't know what's going on either."

Who understands? It feels like turning on the TV only to see the end credits.

The school was destroyed, the sky cracked, the glass pipes exploded, and even the big and small NPCs were gone, leaving only these outsiders and an empty, clean world.

What now?

Is the Hungry Academy not responsible? Did they leave no backup personnel?

Oh, almost forgot—the on-site assistants were eaten.

"So, do we consider this a pass? Everything has returned to normal."

"I guess so. Too bad we can't get extra points or treasure chests."

"You're still thinking about that? I'm just happy to be human again. You don't know how terrible it is being a doll. If I had a gun, I'd shoot that annoying monster man and woman..."

The nine-person group in the corner stood silently, their faces tense, pinching their arms hard.

Family, who would have thought? We've latched onto a golden thigh.

A massive explosion sent all the NPCs away, and each of them received enough points to buy a game backpack.

Wah wah wah, those items I couldn’t bear to buy before...

No, can’t think about it; the corners of my mouth will defy gravity.

The students were waiting. After a few minutes, they finally heard a voice:

“The exam has been successfully cleared, and it is ending early. All rewards on the field have been increased to 120%. Congratulations to all the candidates. Cough, if anyone has obtained chests or similar items, please open them before the exam ends, as they will be reset afterward.”

Yes, that’s right, the one spacing out—don’t force it to call names.

Ji Xinghai, the sole chest owner: ...!