Vol. 1 Chapter 15 – Fresh Flowers Scorched Earth Campus. (15)

After Ning Yuanyuan finished speaking, Chi Xi stood frozen, looking completely lost.

Yang Jiao accepted it quickly but then hesitated. “Why is our main mission to pass the exam?”

“Maybe Qi Xiaobei’s biggest regret before he died was that he never passed the exam?”

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t the mission be for him to pass? Why does it say the students of Class 3?”

Yin Liuming looked down at Yan Hang, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, “The students of Class 3, who does that actually refer to?”

The other three were stunned.

Chi Xi said uncertainly, “All… the students in Class 3, right?”

“I don’t think it’s possible for all of them to pass,” Yin Liuming said, raising his head. “Has anyone ever seen Qi Xiaobei in a zombie state?”

Chi Xi and Yang Jiao looked at each other.

Once the students turned into zombies, their faces were decayed and their hair was mostly gone—it was hard enough to tell gender or height, let alone recognize anyone.

Yin Liuming looked at Chi Xi.

Chi Xi suddenly reacted. “Bandages!”

Earlier, Yin Liuming had bandaged Qi Xiaobei’s hands twice. Despite their repeated encounters on the same day, the bandages on Qi Xiaobei’s hands indicated that he hadn’t experienced a reset.

The group thought hard, then all shook their heads. “We’ve never seen a zombie with bandages.”

That alone couldn’t confirm Qi Xiaobei hadn’t turned.

But thinking down this path…

Ning Yuanyuan’s eyes brightened up. “If everyone in Class 3 became a zombie, then the only one who still counted as a student would be Qi Xiaobei.”

So the mission’s ‘Class 3 student’ was actually referring to Qi Xiaobei alone, once everyone else had turned!

Helping only one person pass the exam, plus the hint about stealing the paper, made everything way simpler!

Qi Xiaobei had endured cold stares and bullying in life. In his resentful dream after death, maybe all the classmates who mocked him were no different than the dead.

That’s why his classmates were stuck in a cycle of life and death.

After her excitement faded, Ning Yuanyuan quickly calmed down, her well-groomed brows furrowing. “But is there still time?”

The ideal setup was for all students to be zombies, with Qi Xiaobei the sole survivor. But right now, everyone’s alive and only Qi Xiaobei is dead in the fire!

The lunchtime scene where Yan Hang beat Qi Xiaobei didn’t happen today, so no one turned, cutting off the zombie outbreak at its root.

“We haven’t received a mission failure notice yet; there must still be a chance.”

Yin Liuming stroked his right hand. “Let’s see if tomorrow resets to today. As for turning the others into zombies again… I think I have a way.”

He looked up. “For now…”

Chi Xi guessed first, “Go back to sleep?”

Yin Liuming gave him a surprised look. “No. Interrogate Yan Hang.”

……

“Your plan… it’s not to use the zombie student’s skill to turn into one and bite people, right?”

Shen Lou pulled a disgusted face just picturing it. “That’s revolting.”

Yin Liuming squatted calmly in front of Yan Hang. “Can’t I?”

To better leverage the ‘blue-clothed ghost’ to scare Yan Hang, Yin Liuming had quietly brought him up to the dormitory rooftop.

The heavy night hung overhead, the moon veiled by smoke from the office building. The world was wrapped in gloom and pressure.

“Heh.” Shen Lou sneered, glancing down at Yin Liuming. “Maybe you forgot, but your one point was already wasted on that surnamed Ding guy.”

Back then, Shen Lou couldn’t believe Yin Liuming would burn a precious point on something like that!

Yin Liuming looked up at him. “You mad?”

Shen Lou paused. “Actually… kinda satisfying.”

“It’s good then.”

Shen Lou snorted and changed the subject. “What are you doing?”

“Wondering why Yan Hang turned into a zombie after hitting Qi Xiaobei,” Yin Liuming stood up and flipped Yan Hang over with his toe. “Was it from close contact with Qi Xiaobei’s resentment? Or something else?”

Shen Lou said dryly, “You could just make Yan Hang bully the kid again.”

Yin Liuming shot him an expressionless look.

Then he stomped beside Yan Hang’s ear, a loud bang that jolted the guy awake.

Yan Hang nearly died of fear the moment he opened his eyes and saw Shen Lou floating there. “I was wrong! I don’t want to die! Don’t come near me!”

Yin Liuming calmly stuffed Yan Hang’s fist into his mouth to shut him up.

Once Yan Hang calmed down, Yin Liuming asked lightly, “Why did you beat Qi Xiaobei a few days ago?”

At the mention of Qi Xiaobei, Yan Hang’s pupils contracted. He let out a few muffled whimpers.

Yin Liuming pulled the fist out.

Yan Hang gasped for air. “It wasn’t me who killed him! I had nothing to do with him! It was Zhao Liang…”

Yin Liuming shoved the fist back in.

After another moment, Yin Liuming pulled his hand back. “Calm now?”

Meeting Yin Liuming’s icy stare, Yan Hang nearly peed himself. His voice trembling, he said, “Y-Yeah, calm…”

“Now talk. Why did you hit him?”

“I’m used to hitting him. A dumbass like that is merely a waste of resources being alive. He’s ugly; he doesn’t even react when I hit him, and just looking at him pisses me off. What really bothers me the most is how he sticks to Chu Dong like a fly…” Yan Hang still didn’t seem to realize what he had done wrong. He breathed in and even sounded a bit aggrieved. “Laozi¹[T/N: Similar to saying “I, your father” or “Daddy said…” in a provocative or mocking way.] never got a gift from Chu Dong, so why should he?”

Bang!

Yin Liuming slammed his fist into the wall beside Yan Hang’s face, expressionless. “Laozi?”

Yan Hang wisely corrected himself. “I-I mean, I.”

Yin Liuming pulled his fist back. “What did Chu Dong give him?”

“Seemed like some dried flower or whatever—probably to get rid of a simp, right?” Yan Hang sneered. “I just can’t stand how smug he acts.”

Yin Liuming pressed his palm, suppressing the urge to beat Yan Hang senseless.

“Is that so?”

He rummaged through his backpack and took out the dried rose bouquet Chu Dong had given him.

Yan Hang glanced at it. “Yeah, that’s about right. But I think the one for Qi Xiaobei had green vines or leaves or something.”

Yin Liuming raised his eyebrows slightly.

Ivy?

He recalled when he had been watching the scene near the water boiler room and saw Yan Hang forcefully snatch something from Qi Xiaobei’s arms.

“Then you took his dried flower?”

“Of course. Otherwise, why would he follow me so obediently…” As he said that, Yan Hang’s face turned pale, and he quickly covered his mouth.

Yin Liuming had already guessed what Yan Hang didn’t finish saying.

Chu Dong had given Qi Xiaobei a dried flower bouquet, probably with no special meaning, just like the one she gave Yin Liuming, simply because Qi Xiaobei wished her a happy birthday early.

Qi Xiaobei hadn’t done anything inappropriate either.

He was shy and withdrawn, never expecting a connection with Chu Dong. He just quietly kept his crush to himself and cherished the gift.

However, even this, the selfish and out-of-control Yan Hang couldn’t allow.

There are always people like that—gaining cheap satisfaction by bullying the weak, using violence for no reason.

Yin Liuming closed his eyes. “After beating him, do you remember anything?”

“Memory?” Yan Hang looked confused. “After that, I don’t remember anything.”

“What about the dried flower you took from Qi Xiaobei?”

Yan Hang’s face started going white again. “It… it burned earlier, in the office building…”

Yin Liuming asked a few more questions but couldn’t squeeze anything else out of him. Finally, he stood and lifted him up one-handed.

Yan Hang’s neck was squeezed uncomfortably, and he choked out, “T-Teacher…”

Yin Liuming said slowly, “I’ll take you back—you probably miss the old spot.”

……

Yin Liuming hung Yan Hang on the clothesline pole again, ignoring his begging or cursing, and headed downstairs but didn’t return to the dorm just yet.

Shen Lou drifted lazily behind him. “Weren’t you sleepy?”

Yin Liuming didn’t respond and walked straight toward the school building.

Dozens of ivy flower pots were messily arranged near the door of Class 3. They had been moved there yesterday to reverse the zombie state.

Since time moved forward to the next day, the flowerpots hadn’t reset and were still there.

Yin Liuming crouched down and examined the ivy.

Now the ivy appeared like any other plant, perhaps because the souls had returned to their bodies.

Yin Liuming paused for a moment, then pulled out the dried rose bouquet Chu Dong had given him.

As the dried flowers approached, the ivy in the pots began to tremble, vines stretching away—as if Chu Dong’s dried bouquet were some kind of beast.

Yin Liuming narrowed his eyes and moved the bouquet back.

The ivy returned to normal.

These ivies were the souls of Class 3 students. If they feared the dried flowers, did it mean those flowers carried Qi Xiaobei’s resentment?

Had this resentment even spread to every flower Chu Dong had given out?

Yin Liuming recalled the side mission he received earlier that day.

The side mission instructed him to help Chu Dong create a special dried flower in return for the ‘surprise gift’ she had received.

But all day long, Chu Dong had been pruning in the flowerbed—and no one had brought her any gifts.

Had he already missed it—or maybe the ‘surprise gift’ wasn’t an item, but an event… or a symbol?

Yin Liuming walked to the window and looked toward the office building.

Smoke still billowed from the building, keeping anyone from approaching.

Yin Liuming looked up and asked, “Is there a time limit for completing the side mission?”

“Nope. You can finish the main mission and stay to do the side one or skip it entirely. The rewards are very generous.” Shen Lou saw right through him. “You’ve got a lead?”

Yin Liuming stared toward the office building, the burning flames reflected in his pale eyes. “The ‘gift’ in the mission is probably related to the fire. Too bad we can’t get inside.”

Shen Lou studied him for a while, then suddenly said, “You’re acting off tonight—stalling, not going to sleep. Don’t tell me you’re hoping to finish the mission fast and get out of keeping your promise to me?”

Yin Liuming: “……”

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  [T/N: Similar to saying “I, your father” or “Daddy said…” in a provocative or mocking way.]