Chapter 1 The Crushing

The scene of Noguchi being torn apart and dragged away was a deeply shocking experience for the players, both visually and emotionally.

Even Ruoyu, whose composure was second only to Brother Jue, was sweating, and the others… were too frightened to speak.

“Tch…” The only one left who could speak, Brother Jue, muttered in a rather displeased tone, “I wasn’t finished asking yet.”

Just now, the suddenly bursting open locker doors had pushed Noguchi’s body out a little, forcing Feng Bujue to retract his hand slightly. In that instant, dozens of hands had torn Noguchi to pieces in one fell swoop.

Although Feng Bujue hadn’t let go entirely, in the end, he couldn’t even hold onto a shred of clothing…

[Main Quest Triggered]

Fortunately, after that horrifying display, the main quest of this Nightmare Scenario finally refreshed. It was a long time coming.

“Hmph… finally.” Feng Bujue said, focusing and bringing up the game menu to open the quest log.

The others in the team instinctively performed the same action almost as soon as they heard the system prompt.

Then, the words [Escape from Chongjiu Elementary School] quickly entered everyone’s sight.

The content of this main quest wasn’t too surprising, since most limited scenarios in confined environments usually had “escape from a certain place” as their objective.

However, two seconds later, the system provided a slightly unexpected piece of information: [Hidden Quest Triggered]

As the prompt sounded, the players were still looking at the quest log, so they immediately saw the words [Investigate the whereabouts of everyone in Class 2-A] appear in the “Hidden Quests” category.

“This… either there are no quests at all, or they give you a hidden quest too,” Xiao Tan remarked upon seeing this.

“The hidden quest probably appeared because the Captain fulfilled some specific condition,” Xiao Ling reasoned clearly, immediately adding, “For example… solving certain information within a certain amount of time, or… pulling Noguchi out of the locker.”

Xiao Ling’s conjecture was quite reliable. Following the normal storyline, when Noguchi came out of Suzuki’s locker to scare people, aside from those who were so frightened that they disconnected on the spot, there were two possible developments:

First, if the player whose wrist was grabbed didn’t break free within fifteen seconds, all the lockers would open, and that player would be torn to pieces by the dozens of hands. Then, all the locker doors would close, and the main quest would be triggered.

Second, as long as any player reacted within fifteen seconds and used a flashlight to drive Noguchi away, Noguchi would run away. Subsequently, all the locker doors would close, and the main quest would be triggered.

But… Feng Bujue had undoubtedly triggered the third scenario.

While suppressing Noguchi with light, he had instead pulled the monster out. It was a reaction that no ordinary person could have made, but he had done it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

That was why everyone had seen the earlier scene of Noguchi being torn apart; that was why… the system had directly thrown a hidden quest their way.

“Whatever, none of that matters…” Two seconds later, Gui Xiao picked up where Xiao Ling left off, “The key is, what are we supposed to do now? The clues seem to have run out again?”

He was right. The lectern key and Noguchi’s locker key had both been consumed when unlocking the locks (turning into white light and disappearing after opening the lock). Currently, the items the players had on hand were only the [Weird Hair] on the lectern, the [Suzuki’s Recorder] that Brother Jue had casually stuffed into his coat pocket, and an old newspaper (Brother Jue’s long suit coat really had a lot of pockets). And none of these items seemed to be of any use at the moment.

“No… it should… be fine.” An Yueqin said thoughtfully at this time, “If I’m not mistaken… the classroom doors and windows should all be open now.”

“Huh?” Gui Xiao was stunned upon hearing this, and after thinking for a few seconds, he suddenly understood, “Oh! I get it! That whole sequence we just experienced was actually like the ‘opening preparation time’ in a normal difficulty script, right?”

“That’s right.” An Yueqin replied in a deep voice, “When the words [Main Quest Triggered] sound, that’s when the script officially begins… and at that time, the exit will naturally open.”

“Very good, since everyone understands,” Feng Bujue said, taking his flashlight from Xiao Tan and walking toward the lectern, “Then… let’s prepare to set off.” He took a few steps and, as he passed Gui Xiao, turned his head and said, “Oh, right, Gui Xiao, you should just leave your flashlight on. From the current situation… this script seems to have quite a few jump scares. It’s not safe to only have one flashlight on for a team of six. So, after we leave, you’ll be responsible for bringing up the rear and monitoring the situation behind us.”

“Uh…” Gui Xiao looked troubled upon hearing this, “Honestly… can I walk in the middle? You can have my flashlight.”

“No,” Feng Bujue replied very decisively and quickly, “I refuse.”

“Hey! You’re not my guild leader, why should I listen to you?” Gui Xiao was clearly unconvinced.

“Yeah, Brother Jue, it feels like you’re bullying him a little,” Xiao Tan chimed in, defending Gui Xiao.

“Bullying? Heh…” Feng Bujue laughed when he heard that. He had already picked up the wig and walked to the classroom door, but upon hearing those words, he turned back around. “Alright~ I’ll be more polite, then.” He walked back to Gui Xiao, looked at him, and said, “I’ll just ask one question… are you going to listen to me or not?”

“I…” Gui Xiao almost blurted out a “no,” but the word got stuck in his throat, and his expression changed.

“If you don’t want to listen to me, then I’ll really ‘carry you’ through the scenario,” Feng Bujue continued, “You don’t have to bring up the rear if you don’t want to, you don’t have to solve puzzles if you don’t want to, you don’t have to go and get things if you don’t want to… Anyway, anything you don’t want to do, we’ll all do it for you. You only have to do what you want to do, how about that?”

Brother Jue’s words weren’t just empty promises; you could tell from his expression and tone that he meant what he said.

“Tch…” But Gui Xiao didn’t accept this seemingly easy treatment, “I get it! I’m sorry, alright! I’ll bring up the rear!” Not only did he not accept Brother Jue’s suggestion, but he also apologized to Brother Jue for the first time ever.

Clearly, he had understood the meaning behind Brother Jue’s words, which was why he had reacted that way.

“Good, let’s continue.” Feng Bujue gave him a meaningful smile and then turned around and acted.

…………

The actual situation was consistent with An Yueqin’s prediction. After the main quest was triggered, the doors and windows of this classroom became freely openable.

After checking the doors and windows, Feng Bujue opened the sliding classroom door and stepped into the corridor.

Unlike the classroom, the floor of the corridor was made of cement. Stepping on it forcefully would produce a “tap-tap” sound.

Naturally, there were lights on the ceiling here too, but they weren’t lit…

Fortunately, with Feng Bujue leading the way, no matter how creepy the environment was, it wouldn’t affect the team’s pace.

“Let’s scout out all the places we can go first, and then enter specific areas for detailed exploration,” Brother Jue said to his teammates behind him as he led the way.

Although he didn’t have to say anything, he knew that speaking a few words from time to time could stabilize everyone’s emotions. Anyway… hearing Brother Jue’s calm voice was better than letting fear brew in prolonged silence.

And so… under Brother Jue’s leadership, everyone began their exploration of this “Chongjiu Elementary School.”

After exiting the only door of Class 2-A, going a few meters to the right would bring you to Class 2-B. Shining a flashlight through the windows, you could see that Class B’s classroom was filled with desks, chairs, and clutter, almost completely blocked off. Touching the door handle of the classroom would result in the prompt [Cannot be opened].

Continuing in this direction, not far away was a corner. On the wall at this corner was a very strange shrine.

The shrine was made of stone, not very large, and simply styled, but there was one very strange thing… the shrine didn’t enshrine any Dizang or Buddhas, but a Japanese doll.

The doll was about the size of a Barbie doll, wearing a red kimono, and looked like a little girl.

Anyone who has seen this kind of Japanese doll knows that if it’s placed in broad daylight, it looks alright, but at night, in a dim environment… it’s inexplicably creepy.

But Feng Bujue didn’t care about that. When he saw the shrine, he had his teammates help him shine a flashlight on it. He nonchalantly went forward to inspect it and came to the following conclusions:

First, the doll itself was made of wood, but its hair seemed to be real, and the small clothes it wore were also made of good material.

Second, the doll was fixed to the shrine, and neither of them could be moved.

Third, after undoing the doll’s clothes (yes, Brother Jue undid them), you could see that the doll’s torso was hollow, and the inside of the torso had many undulating textures, seemingly able to hold some things.

After confirming these things, Feng Bujue started on the road again, leading his teammates around the corner.

After walking a short distance, the end of the corridor appeared in front of them – a door that looked like a “main entrance”. Trying to open this door would result in hearing the prompt [The exit is sealed by a dark power].

In this way, the “exit” of the school was also confirmed.

At this point, the players had basically guessed the way to escape from this script – it was likely that they needed to find one or more specific items and place them inside the doll’s body, finally triggering some mechanism or plot to open the exit door.

…………

After confirming the “exit”, Feng Bujue turned around and led his teammates back.

After returning from the corner, they quickly arrived back at the old place. Opposite Class A and Class B, across the corridor, was the “Biology Classroom”. This classroom had no windows facing the corridor, and its door gave the prompt "Requires a key".

Further ahead, there was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor.

Feng Bujue didn’t go up for the time being, he just shone a flashlight up to take a look, and then continued forward.

Further ahead was the corridor to the “left” after exiting the door of Class A; on both sides of this corridor were the “Music Classroom”, the “Faculty Office”, and the “Restroom”.

The door to the Music Classroom could be opened directly, but Feng Bujue stopped pulling the door when he discovered that it wasn’t locked, because he had to guard against the action of “completely opening the door” triggering some flag; the door to the Faculty Office also needed a key to open, and couldn’t be opened for the time being; finally… the Restroom, had no door.

There were two entrances to the Restroom, leading to the Men's and Women's restrooms respectively. There was also a sink between the two entrances; as for what was inside the restrooms… it was unclear, because the entrances to the restrooms were generally made in a zigzag shape, to prevent people standing outside the door from seeing the situation inside.

“Okay, we’ve pretty much seen everything on the first floor,” Feng Bujue said, “The areas that can be explored at this stage are the Music Classroom and the Restroom. Judging from the fact that we got [Suzuki’s Recorder] in the classroom, the normal process should be to go to the Music Classroom first.” He paused, “So… what do you all think? Should we go to the Music Classroom next? The Restroom? Or go and take a look around on the second floor?”

“I suggest going to the Music Classroom!” Xiao Tan was the first to speak, and he gave his reason very honestly, “It feels like… following the general process might not be too scary.”

“I agree too,” Gui Xiao quickly seconded upon hearing this.

In the past ten minutes, Gui Xiao had been responsible for observing the situation behind the team. Although nothing had happened… the sense of dread that followed him was not reduced at all, so he was still being a coward.

“Let’s go to the Music Classroom, that main quest item is already a very obvious hint,” Xiao Ling said at this time, “In a Nightmare Difficulty script… it’s best not to go against the plot’s inclination, otherwise it’s very easy to die.”

As a result, Ruoyu and An Yueqin also had similar ideas.

Seeing that his teammates had reached a consensus, Feng Bujue agreed as well. Actually… to Brother Jue, it didn’t matter where they went. It’s just a game~

A dozen seconds later, Feng Bujue walked back to the door of the Music Classroom. He tilted his head slightly and greeted his teammates, “I’m going to pull the door open, everyone be careful of a door ambush.”

Then… he pulled the door open.

“Gah–”

Just as the door opened completely, a long-haired female ghost hanging upside down from the inside of the door frame rapidly fell, hanging at the doorway, and emitted a piercing, desperate scream.

This time… it really came too suddenly; the five people standing behind Brother Jue were all frightened and shouted to varying degrees. Gui Xiao’s legs went weak, and he staggered back to the other side of the wall, almost sitting on the ground.

“Oh… another one is it?” At this moment, Feng Bujue was the closest to the female ghost, the faces of the two were only about three inches apart. This distance was naturally enough for him to attack… no… to harm the ghost, “Hehe… coming at a good time~”