After a while, Soup Dumpling slowly regained consciousness. She stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling above her, muttering, "Did I... transmigrate?"
Then she spotted Firefly beside her, and her eyes widened. "Peace Dove! Did you... transmigrate with me?!"
"Why would you assume we transmigrated?" Firefly asked, exasperated. "I thought you'd ask if this was heaven or hell. It's neither. We're still in the same classroom."
"Huh?" Soup Dumpling looked confused as she slowly sat up. "How is that possible? We literally just had the 'locked room' trope happen. How could we be okay?"
Then she saw the chaotic state of the classroom.
Nearly every desk and chair was overturned, and the shattered remains of mannequins formed a grotesque pile. At first glance, it looked like a junkyard. But then Soup Dumpling noticed a mannequin head lying at her feet, its crudely painted, twisted expression staring directly at her.
"Ew—"
Soup Dumpling shuddered, realizing this wasn't just a junkyard. The massive pile of wreckage consisted entirely of the mannequin monsters that had filled the classroom moments before.
"What happened here? What's going on?!"
"I took care of them," Firefly replied without hesitation. After all, there was no point in hiding it. She couldn't exactly claim Spider-Man had swung by, wiped out the monsters, and then web-slinged away, could she?
Truth be told, Firefly had decided to be upfront the moment she'd resolved to act—well, at least partially upfront.
The Dimensional Rift didn't strike her as particularly dangerous. Even without transforming into SAM, she was confident she could cut through this place with just her Lightsaber.
Besides, occasionally playing the game by the rules could be... mildly entertaining?
Hearing her words, Soup Dumpling looked deeply skeptical. She sized up the adorable girl before her, then glanced at the towering heap of mangled monster corpses beside them.
No, no, no, this just doesn't add up! Soup Dumpling thought. She couldn't possibly imagine this sweet girl brutally beating down these creatures.
It's worth noting that in the brief moment between the end of the battle and Soup Dumpling's awakening, Firefly had pulled out a small mirror and meticulously removed the model debris from her hair. After all, how could she possibly be comfortable with all that junk clinging to her?
As a result, from Soup Dumpling's perspective, Firefly looked perfectly neat and tidy, not at all like someone who had just been in a fierce battle.
"Uh..." Firefly hadn't anticipated this. Wait, the evidence is right here—a mountain of monster corpses! How could she not believe me?
She had underestimated just how deceptive her pristine appearance was.
Just as Firefly was puzzling over how to explain, the school bell suddenly rang.
Ring-ring-ring!
Bang-bang-bang!
With the bell's chime, all the front and back doors of every classroom in the entire school building swung open automatically. Except for Firefly's, of course, where the Giant's corpse was still blocking the front entrance.
Then came the thunder of countless footsteps. Firefly hurried to the back door, cautiously peeked out, and saw mannequins from First-Year Class One pouring out of their classroom and marching in unison down the hallway.
"It feels like we're all rushing to grab the last bathroom stall," Soup Dumpling muttered under her breath. Carefully avoiding the scattered corpses, she quickly joined Firefly at the observation window. Her teeth chattered involuntarily as she stared at the surging crowd of "people" outside. "Wh-what do we do now?"
Firefly calmly replied, "Didn't they say to meet back at the starting point after class? Let's wait for these mannequins to clear out before heading over."
However, even after the mannequins had all shuffled away and Firefly and Soup Dumpling had returned to the initial meeting place, no one else had arrived. They waited until the warning bell for the next class rang, but still no one appeared.
"No way... are we the only ones left?!" Soup Dumpling exclaimed.
"That doesn't make sense..." Firefly said, looking genuinely puzzled. Invincible Bro had an ability that completely countered this instance, and Lü Heng was a veteran member of the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations. How could they all have been wiped out in just one class period?
In reality, just as the dismissal bell rang, the Dark Shadow Teacher in Second-Year Class Three—the class where Invincible Bro and Shu Cat were—announced, "It's recess time. Everyone line up neatly. We're going to the courtyard together."
It was obvious that Firefly had killed the Dark Shadow Teacher in her class, so she had no way of knowing what was happening.
If that were the only problem, Invincible Bro could have easily hinted at something to Firefly as he passed her classroom on his way downstairs and out of the building.
However, the Giant's corpse completely blocked the corridor, making it impassable. As a result, except for First-Year Class One, all the classes in the entire building were forced to take a longer route, exiting through another side of the school.
This combination of factors left Firefly and Soup Dumpling standing motionless in the hallway, waiting for classmates who would never come.
"W-what if they're all... what are we going to do now?" Soup Dumpling stammered anxiously.
"I don't know either..." Firefly fiddled with her hair, twisting strands around her left index finger again and again before releasing them, only to repeat the motion.
Firefly didn't consider herself particularly clever, but she wasn't stupid either. In her previous life, she had played escape room games and even managed to clear a few. The problem was, with no information or clues whatsoever, she had no idea what to do next.
It was like playing a game where Firefly had killed a crucial NPC, completely halting the storyline and leaving them stuck.
"I don't know. Let's just wander around," Firefly said. In truth, staying in the classroom was undoubtedly the safest option. Running around aimlessly could trigger dangerous mechanisms or attract terrifying monsters.
But Soup Dumpling, paralyzed by fear, had lost all sense of reason. She immediately agreed to whatever Firefly suggested, then watched as Firefly strode straight toward the classroom's front door—toward the giant's corpse.
"Wait, isn't that a dead end? Shouldn't we go the other way...?" Then, right before her eyes, Firefly, wearing a slightly disgusted expression, grabbed one of the giant's fingers and began dragging the massive body.
"Huh?" Soup Dumpling's jaw dropped as she stared dumbfounded at the utterly surreal scene unfolding before her.