Chapter 51
Chapter 51
-……
-What the fuck! Streamer, that move was… so damn shameless~
-Why did the streamer put on Pinru’s clothes again??
Qiao Yu looked at the string of numbers he’d tapped out on the screen and couldn’t help raising a brow. “Four identical digits in a row. One look and you can tell this person has money~”
The call rang once before it was hung up.
Qiao Yu dialed again. The next second, a miserable roar came through the receiver. “Aaaaaah-who the hell is this? Are you trying to get me killed?!”
He was silent for a moment. “Brother Crocodile, where are you?”
Brother Crocodile’s screams gradually died down. He suddenly choked up, and then came the sound of running, his ragged breaths unable to hide his violent delight. “Dad, save me! I’m at the entrance of the teaching building.”
Hearing that, Qiao Yu slowly walked down the stairs. But after he stepped outside, he didn’t see the other man anywhere. “I don’t see you.”
“Wuwuwu… I-I don’t know what’s going on either, but I really am at the entrance of the teaching building. There’s no one here, n-no one at all. The whole campus, th-th-there isn’t anyone wuwuwu…”
Brother Crocodile already stuttered when he got scared. Now that he was crying while talking, Qiao Yu’s head was about to split in two from listening. “Got it.”
With that, he hung up.
So where exactly was Brother Crocodile?
Qiao Yu stood at the entrance of the teaching building, looking at the full-length mirror in front of him. His fingers slowly traced over the high bridge of his nose.
Why did this body of his look exactly the same as he used to?
Even if he looked a lot like the original owner, it shouldn’t have been to the point where no one could tell them apart…
-The streamer is actually pretty good-looking when he keeps his mouth shut, huh.
-Sadako: My gei gei is good-looking, okay~
-Li Xiaoqin: Narcissist!
Qiao Yu glanced at the comments and suddenly smiled. “Li Xiaoqin, want to join my fan club?”
-Sadako: why? She can’t even fight half as well as me!
-Li Xiaoqin: No!
“So heartless. Have you forgotten who spent sixteen yuan to buy your son a bag of jelly and fulfilled his childhood dream?”
-Li Xiaoqin: ……
-I’m speechless. It was only sixteen yuan. How does the streamer have the nerve to bring it up!
-What do you mean, only sixteen yuan? Do you have any idea that in the streamer’s hands, that sixteen yuan is basically equal to a hundred and sixty thousand!
-Li Xiaoqin: Stop talking. Why am I actually a little touched?
-Holy crap, Li Xiaoqin’s been brainwashed by him again. Wake up already!
-Sadako: I don’t care. I’m going to make a scene!!!
[Viewer Li Xiaoqin has developed a bit of goodwill toward you… but not much. She has spent a small number of skill points to light up a Fan Badge for the streamer.]
[It has been detected that Li Xiaoqin has joined the fan club of the streamer I’m Your Dad. Although the streamer cannot summon Li Xiaoqin, you have received a Key to Ping’an Apartment from her. Please take good care of it.]
-I’m dying. This is the difference between a true fan and a casual fan!
-True fan: Through wind and rain, I’ll wait for you here. Casual fan: Here’s a key. Drop by if you’ve got nothing better to do. You want me to wait for your summon? Look at the key in your hand. Do you deserve that?
-Hahahahaha…
[Usage Method: Find any locked door and use this key to open it, and you will be able to go to Ping’an Apartment. Note* Cross-Instance travel has a time limit of five minutes. (Actually, the limit could be a little longer, but Li Xiaoqin said she can only tolerate you for five minutes. Any more than that is absolutely impossible.) 3 uses per Instance]
Qiao Yu: “……”
Forget it. A key was fine too. It was just a bit more troublesome.
Qiao Yu immediately turned around, found a random locked door, inserted the key, and turned it open.
When he pushed the door open, Li Xiaoqin’s home appeared before him.
Li Xiaoqin was wearing a red dress, holding a cup of cola in her hand as she stared at him blankly.
Standing outside the door, Qiao Yu gave a soft laugh. “Yo. Looks like you’re living pretty comfortably.”
Li Xiaoqin: “……”
Why did this man take a single inch and climb straight up the pole? Had it even been one minute since she gave him the key to her home?
Seeing how unwelcome he was, Qiao Yu quickly spread his hands. “Don’t be nervous. I’m here to borrow a GPS. Go on with whatever you were doing.”
Li Xiaoqin looked utterly baffled.
Time was limited, so Qiao Yu didn’t explain further. He stepped into Room 4004, shut the door behind him, then pulled it open again and rushed downstairs.
Less than three minutes later, Qiao Yu ran back in dragging the completely bewildered Landlord Ghost behind him. Then, holding the key, he hurriedly left Ping’an Apartment again.
After being dragged into the Yucai Academy Instance, the Landlord Ghost rubbed his neck in discomfort.
Seeing that he was feeling unwell, Qiao Yu didn’t waste any time. He got straight to the point and ordered, “Hurry up. Take me to find Man-Eating Crocodile.”
Landlord Ghost: “……”
-I’m dying. The streamer is using Phone Ghost as a phone book and Landlord Ghost as GPS.
-Look at Landlord Ghost’s face. He’s so mad it’s about to warp, hahaha.
-Li Xiaoqin: here for the drama~
Landlord Ghost led Qiao Yu back to the entrance of the teaching building. Then he reached out and touched the smooth, reflective mirror before them. The moment his fingertip made contact, something eerie happened.
Ripples suddenly spread across the mirror’s surface like water. A small patch of blackness appeared with Landlord Ghost’s finger at its center. Then his foot slipped, and his whole body toppled into the mirror.
When Qiao Yu opened his eyes again, he was still standing in front of the mirror. Landlord Ghost was nowhere to be seen. He had probably gone back already.
At that moment, Yucai Academy was unnervingly quiet. There was no one around, and not even a breath of wind…
Qiao Yu looked around but didn’t see Brother Crocodile anywhere, so he could only follow the faint, intermittent trail of blood on the ground and head out.
When he reached the display board, the blood trail disappeared.
He glanced at the display board on instinct, then immediately drew back the foot he had just stepped forward.
The Additional Clauses that had been written beneath the School Rules were all gone. In their place was a photograph of a middle-aged man.
Below it was written:
Principal of Yucai University-Lai Xinrong
A renowned educator, male, ancestral home in Nanyuan, born in Yan City in 1970. Graduated from North China Normal University in 1994 and once remained there as a faculty member. In 2019, he left the university to establish Yucai Academy, where he currently serves as principal.
Farther down…
There was actually a public notice of criticism.
Notice: On September 28, 2022, students No. 56 and No. 59 of Class F arranged to elope at four o’clock that afternoon. Their actions seriously damaged the school’s reputation and had an extremely negative impact on our institution.
After deliberation, it has been decided that both students will receive a major demerit.
We hope all students will take this as a warning, study diligently, and strictly abide by the school’s rules and regulations…
**
Man-Eating Crocodile clutched his stomach as he staggered in circles around the teaching building. Behind him, streamer No. 22, who had already turned into a ghost, was holding someone’s arm and chasing after him while gnawing on it.
The others had long since disappeared. Who knew where they were? But odds were, things didn’t look good for them. Otherwise, whose arm was No. 22 holding?
“Meat… I want meat!”
Man-Eating Crocodile gritted his teeth and ran for his life on sheer willpower. He glanced back at No. 22 and saw the other man getting closer and closer, making him panic inwardly.
This couldn’t go on. Should he find somewhere to hide first and recover a little stamina?
With that thought, he twisted around and ducked into the auditorium near the school entrance. The auditorium was very spacious, with nothing inside except rows upon rows of chairs. He quickly ran to the back row, crouched down by the rear door, and sat on the floor, staring nervously toward the front entrance.
He chose to sit here because he was afraid No. 22 might suddenly find him. This way, he could run straight out.
Looking at it that way, he really was clever~
Man-Eating Crocodile consoled himself with a bit of joy amid the misery. Just as he was immersing himself in that happy atmosphere, a chill shot up his back, and he abruptly looked up at the small door behind him.
Footsteps!
Footsteps getting closer and closer!
Fuck. He should have hidden in the middle. No. 22 wasn’t about to come in through the back door, was he?
Then the doorknob began to turn slowly. The instant the crack opened, an unusually pale hand reached inside…
“Ahhh!!!” Man-Eating Crocodile screamed and scrambled, practically rolling and crawling, to the second-to-last row. Even then, he didn’t forget to look back.
He saw that hand grip the edge of the door and slowly tighten for a second. His eyes widened in terror. Just as another scream was about to burst from his throat, a familiar figure squeezed in through the crack in the door.
Qiao Yu patted his chest, still shaken, then glared at Brother Crocodile with eyes full of accusation. “Why are you screaming for no reason? Trying to scare me to death?”
When Brother Crocodile saw who it was, his tears instantly fell like a broken string of beads. “Dad, I’m the one who almost got scared to death. I’m the one who really almost got scared to death…”
Qiao Yu: “……”
No, weren’t you still alive?
Look at him crying like he was at a funeral. Was that really necessary?
Man-Eating Crocodile was moved, sure, but he didn’t forget the important matter. He hurried forward and shut the small door tight, then said to Qiao Yu with a grave expression, “No. 22 turned into a ghost.”
But Qiao Yu didn’t look surprised in the slightest. He simply nodded calmly. “I know.”
“You know??”
“I saw him just now. I even fed him some meat.”
Man-Eating Crocodile looked him over from head to toe and didn’t see any missing arms or legs.
So what meat had he fed No. 22??
As if he could see his confusion, Qiao Yu grabbed him by the arm and dragged him outside. “Come on. I’ll take you to meet an old friend.”
With Qiao Yu there to protect him, Brother Crocodile was feeling rather brave at the moment. He followed along obediently until they reached the front entrance of the auditorium. Before they even turned the corner, they heard No. 22’s inhuman roar.
“Meat… I want meat!”
The next second came another voice. “Skin. Have you seen my skin?”
Man-Eating Crocodile: “Uh…”
He had a pretty good idea who this old friend was now!
Wasn’t that the original tenant of 4003, the one who’d been skinned and turned into a sofa?
Qiao Yu looked at the two ghosts arguing endlessly and smiled in satisfaction. “One wants skin, the other wants meat. Everyone gets what they need. How nice~”
-Daily question: Streamer, are you a demon??
-How can he be this cruel!!!
-I can’t. This move is so suffocating it’s killing me.
After that, Man-Eating Crocodile followed Qiao Yu as they wandered aimlessly around the campus. When they reached the teaching building, he tugged at Qiao Yu’s sleeve and asked curiously, “Daddy, how are we supposed to get back?”
Qiao Yu glanced at the full-length mirror beside the entrance and reached out with his index finger to test it. It felt faintly cool, with no sign of softening at all. He withdrew his hand and shook his head. “No idea. I came in through a mirror, but this one… probably lets you in but not out. Looks like the exit is somewhere else.”
“You came in through a mirror!” Man-Eating Crocodile’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t help reaching out a tentative little hand to poke the mirror’s surface.
There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.
By the time his attention snapped back, Qiao Yu had already walked quite a distance away. He quickly reined in his curiosity and hurried after him.
Qiao Yu led him straight up to the second floor. They passed Classes A, B, C, D, and E, all of which were still completely empty. The metal desks and chairs inside were covered in brown rust, like patches of dried blood. It was deeply unsettling.
He quickly looked away and followed Qiao Yu into Class F.
“Daddy, why are we in Class F?”
“Looking for something.”
As soon as Qiao Yu entered, he went straight to the lectern with a clear purpose and picked up the blue folder lying on the desk.
2022 Freshman Roster of Class F.
Class advisor: Tong Hua.
It seemed his guess had been right. This place should be a Folded Space, and the folded timeline was last year.
The columns were arranged in order: student number, name, gender, reason for enrollment.
No. 01 – ? – Male – Dyed hair.
No. 02 – ? – Female – Obsessive celebrity fangirling.
No. 03 – ? – Female – Severe pattern of tardiness and truancy.
Whether it was intentional or not, every name on the roster had been scribbled over with a black pen, turning each one into a solid black block.
Qiao Yu frowned, but he patiently continued reading.
…
No. 17 – ? – Male – Fighting.
No. 18 – ? – Male – Smoking.
At this point, Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow and glanced again at No. 03’s reason for enrollment. He remembered that this morning, it seemed No. 03 had been locked in solitary confinement for being late.
Once could be called a coincidence. Twice or three times definitely could not.
That meant the streamers’ student numbers were assigned according to the School Rules they had violated before entering the Instance.
…
No. 54 – ? – Male – Long hair (gender identity disorder).
Pfft.
Qiao Yu couldn’t hold back a laugh. If Shang Yan, with that tail of his practically pointing at the sky, saw this, he’d probably destroy the world. Hahaha.
No. 56 – ? – Female – Unmotivated, clubbing and drinking.
…
No. 59 – ? – Male – Homosexuality.
Qiao Yu’s fingers tightened around the roster without him realizing it, crumpling a shallow crease into the pages.
Wasn’t No. 59 the student who had supposedly eloped?
Known fact: No. 56 and No. 59 eloped.
Known fact: No. 59 was a gay man.
Known fact: No. 56 was female.
Then the whole reason of “elopement” obviously didn’t hold up!
Seeing that Qiao Yu seemed to be thinking about something, Man-Eating Crocodile didn’t dare disturb him. He could only stand on the lectern, bored, with his head lowered as he played with his fingers.
Suddenly, he heard a voice calling from behind him. That voice was actually calling his name.
“Luo Ziwei… Luo Ziwei… Luo Ziwei…”
The voice drifted near and far, bleak and hollow.
He swallowed and immediately reached out to grab the hem of the person beside him.
Qiao Yu lowered his head to look at him, his gaze meaningful. “No wonder you’re always looking for a dad. So your name is Ziwei~”
Luo Ziwei: “…”