Chapter 105

Chapter 105

Even though Ning Shuo had skipped dinner last night, he could still imagine the scene at the table-how kind and loving that family had been, and how stifled Wen Nuan must have felt.

Today, the same scene played out again, and Wen Nuan looked just as stifled as if she were seeing it for the very first time.

Some fixed scenes really did make the NPC settings so rigid that even watching the show killed your appetite.

After a few bites, Ning Shuo put down his chopsticks. “I’m full. I’m going to school first.”

To the NPCs, he looked exactly like someone who couldn’t stand watching that family being all harmonious and affectionate, so he was fleeing straight to school.

Ning Wang immediately sped up, took two more bites, then set down his chopsticks too, looking every bit like he intended to follow Ning Shuo to school and keep disgusting him. “Ge, let’s go together.”

“I’m taking the bus. You can go by car.”

“Don’t be like that, ge. We’re both young masters of the Jiang Family, at least. Let’s ride together.”

“What kind of Jiang do you think you-”

Halfway through, Ning Shuo forced himself to stop. He took a deep breath and said coldly, “Get lost. Don’t make me say it again.”

Ning Wang seemed determined to gross Ning Shuo out. “Ge wants to take the bus that badly? Fine, I guess I can take it with you.”

“How terribly wronged you must feel.”

—

When the rankings were announced Monday morning, Number One Swordsman in the World was late, as usual.

The homeroom teacher tiredly adjusted his glasses.

…This “as usual” felt awfully familiar.

Only this time, before he could call out any names, the student named Willow-who was said to have been studying hard lately in pursuit of love and whose grades had improved a great deal-raised his hand. “Teacher! My English isn’t good. Can I go outside somewhere I won’t disturb anyone and memorize my text?”

The homeroom teacher looked up the score sheet from last week’s weekly exam.

Although Willow still hadn’t passed the cutoff for a top-tier university, his scores had improved by a lot. If English weren’t dragging him down, he could definitely reach that line.

The homeroom teacher waved him on. “Go.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Nan-ge also raised her hand. “Teacher, my English isn’t good either. Don’t worry, I’ll find another place. I won’t disturb Willow.”

She shot Zhuang Yao a disgusted look. “I really don’t want this woman nagging me about my scores all day long anymore.”

After Nan-ge was allowed to leave, Zhuang Yao also claimed she needed to use the restroom because of her period.

Seeing how unnaturally pale her face was, the homeroom teacher agreed.

Finally, Lolita picked up a problem and wanted to go ask Ning Banxian about it. She glanced at the homeroom teacher, hesitating over whether to say anything. After a few rounds of this back-and-forth, even an NPC idiot could tell what she wanted to do.

Lolita was a good student, and good students couldn’t be allowed to fall behind.

The homeroom teacher waved his hand. “Go, go.”

To avoid disturbing the other students while explaining the problem, Ning Banxian and Lolita also found a quiet spot.

Only Song Zhu remained in the classroom from Zone F. Even an idiot could see that Zone F was about to make a move.

But Zone B’s original excuse for studying had been that long-running legend, and that legend gave them no immediate opening to leave the room. In the end, the only one who successfully got out was Yan Xingyi, using the restroom as his excuse.

Yan Xingyi, codename Zhi Xing, had been one of last week’s bottom eight. He was also the school’s most handsome boy.

This week, he had heard countless comments related to himself and learned that his popularity with the girls at school was top-tier.

Yan Xingyi strictly followed his character setting, studied hard, and, in accordance with that setting, accepted every girl’s love letter while maintaining a vague, almost-but-not-quite relationship with all of them.

Every time he had to act out his character setting, Yan Xingyi would curse internally that this guy was seriously a flirt who warmed up to everyone, even as he forced the corners of his mouth up and tried his best to make every girl like him.

Since he spent so much time on girls during the day, he naturally had to make up his study time at night.

The consequence of getting too little sleep was getting half the results for twice the effort, so this time, he was still in the bottom eight.

Fortunately, he wasn’t last. This time, last place was still an NPC.
Yan Xingyi breathed a sigh of relief. After the homeroom teacher called him out and gave him the usual earnest lecture, he asked if he could go to the bathroom.

Once he got permission, Yan Xingyi outwardly headed in the direction of the restroom. In reality, he followed the direction Ning Shuo and the others had gone, hoping to find their team’s Murderer.

If he could pull off a Face-to-Face Kill, he would make a killing.

Yan Xingyi’s steps quickened despite himself. But the strange thing was, he was clearly heading toward Ning Shuo and the others, and there was obviously no restroom that way.

Yet now, for some inexplicable reason, he had wandered into a restroom-and he couldn’t find the exit.

Yan Xingyi’s heart skipped a beat. Then he remembered what his teammates had said about even needing to solve questions just to use the bathroom.

He forced down the anxiety rising in his chest. He had been studying decently during this period, and he had more or less picked up the various knowledge points again. Supposedly, the bathroom questions wouldn’t be too difficult, so he should be able to solve it.

Thinking this, Yan Xingyi casually opened the door to one of the stalls.

The stall was empty. He looked at the door panel, and sure enough, there was a sheet of paper pasted to it.

There was only a single short line, but to see the question clearly, he had to close the stall door.

With a click, Yan Xingyi shut the door. The words on the slip of paper gradually came into focus.

It was just one short line, so he thought it would not be difficult. He had been full of confidence-until the instant he clearly read the question. His expression froze, and cold sweat broke out across his back with a whoosh.

[There is a Vanished Subject at A High School. Do you still remember what it was?]

Vanished Subject…

The vanished last-place student, the Vanished Subject-there was no doubt this was related to the Script’s plot.

Whether it was Zone B or Zone F, they had all tried over the past week to learn more about the Script’s plot. But asking the NPC was useless, and they even had to conceal the fact that they themselves did not know the inside story-because logically speaking, the students of Senior 3 Class 1 all seemed like they should know about it.

With the pressure of studying on top of how cautious they had to be, they had barely uncovered anything about the Script’s plot.

Let alone some Vanished Subject.

Yan Xingyi treated it like making a rough draft. As he tentatively wrote down every subject he could think of that they normally did not take and that did not even appear on the class schedule, he rapidly tried to figure out how to get himself out of this.

The moment he realized one answer might be wrong, he would write down another.

But it was no use.

After too many wrong answers, that short line of text gradually dissolved and disappeared. Then several blood-red words surfaced in its place: Wrong… You actually forgot… How dare you forget!!!

Yan Xingyi dropped the pen and paper. No longer able to maintain his calm, he frantically tried to open the stall door.

It was completely useless.

From the moment he started answering, it had already been useless.

Or rather, as long as he did not know the answer, it had been useless from the moment he entered this restroom.

—

Everyone in Zone F had mobilized to cover Ning Wang.

But Ning Shuo kept feeling that something was wrong. For no reason, his heart felt stifled, and panic gnawed at him.

Especially at the stairwell one floor below the rooftop. He had clearly heard the thud of something hitting the ground, but he had yet to hear the rooftop door open.

Before the Murderer Mission began, Ning Shuo had already asked Luo Li to help predict the plot because of that unsettled feeling.

She held Ning Shuo’s hand.

He did not know whether holding his hand would do any good, but that unsettled feeling made him desperate to find its source.

Ning Shuo was absolutely certain this feeling had something to do with Ning Wang.

A few seconds after the last-place student hit the ground, Luo Li opened her eyes. At the same time, a bone-cracking pain suddenly shot through Ning Shuo’s hand.

Luo Li hurriedly shouted, “Go save him!”

Ignoring the pain in his right hand, Ning Shuo rushed up to the rooftop and kicked open the closed rooftop door.

Ning Wang was dancing at the edge of the rooftop. Step by step, as if his very next move would send him plunging over the side.

Hearing the sound, Ning Wang turned around. Then he tilted his head and revealed an eerie smile.

The next second, he spread his arms and fell backward.