Wei Zhi sat on the ground watching Mori Aoi flee in embarrassment.
His lips drew an arc, and a smile bloomed on his face.
He rose from the ground and stretched his stiff muscles.
After all, he had been sitting there for quite a while.
Looking at the silent, empty corridor, Wei Zhi realized something important that he had forgotten about—
Something that made him freeze in place.
He was alone right now.
In a school full of magic users who are also teenagers.
Honestly, that combination was very deadly.
His means of protection were negative, and he couldn't fight to save his life.
Plus, his task was to find a secret cult in this den of safety hazards.
An evil secret cult, to be precise.
Wei Zhi grabbed his hair in frustration.
Why on earth was a coward like him given this task?
It stood to reason that he should have been given a safer, friendlier task.
Something like—alert the principal about a dangerous evil cult hidden in his school.
Then I would just have to stand back and let the principal do his thing.
But now my task says I have to find it.
Wei Zhi opened the game interface and read it over and over again.
He tried to dissect it in hopes of finding a loophole.
First good point—he was told to find the entrance of the evil cult's lair,
not actually enter it.
It opened up a new realm of possibilities.
Mainly, application of an external force to solve the problem.
I could try to lure someone into finding it.
There lies another problem.
Picking a candidate would depend on two things—
Either a person with sharp wit and incredible deductive ability who was investigating the cult originally or would be interested after seeing some hints I leave behind...
Or the second candidate—someone with a stupid amount of luck that would just happen to stumble upon the entrance.
Wei Zhi cast a side glance at the task that specifically said he must be the one to find the lair.
If not for that clause that honestly felt very targeted, Wei Zhi would've left an anonymous note to the principal.
Of course, he was bold enough to attempt this solely on the fact that this wasn't the real world.
He would leave once they completed the game, so the chances of finding him would be non-existent if he could hold on until the end.
All in all, it was a very good plan.
Only thing wrong about it was the fact that it would be the principal finding the lair and not him.
So it would be a mission failure by default.
That would be embarrassing—and Shae Harris would never let him live it down.
On the plus side, it would give him a chance to get comforted by Mori Aoi.
But he doubted that wouldn't be ruined by the other two.
So, I just have to do it.
Sigh... so annoying.
Wei Zhi thought while raising his hand to push his hair back—
But it paused at the last moment and dropped back down.
That would mean exposing his eyes, and he wasn't quite ready to look people in the eyes just yet.
Moving on, he went into another long thinking process while pacing quietly.
His head raised as he scanned the hallway.
Then he checked the classrooms and found them all empty.
The chairs were overturned, and there were signs of chaos as bags and personal items lay scattered around.
Wei Zhi stood at the door and froze in shock at the corpse of a student who had suffered brain trauma.
His mind spun as he staggered away.
There had been a conflict in the classroom involving a lot of students.
This was evident from the slashes on the walls, the ash from flames, and the still-cooling effect of wind.
The damage was heavy on one side of the classroom, meaning it was the rest of the students against one person.
The bloody footprints were mixed and chaotic, leading to the door.
So the complete reconstruction of the incident appeared.
The students fought against another student, and then the teacher created an opportunity for them to escape.
The person who fought against the rest must have been a cult member, judging by the brutality of the corpse.
And since the other classrooms had no damage or blood—
That meant one thing.
This classroom was stage 0, and the reason for the widespread panic.
The cult member must have been stimulated and transformed without preparation—too early.
There were still more questions even though he got the general picture.
First of all, the students should have returned by now if they were dealing with just a normal cult member.
So what on earth was keeping them?
The situation must have escalated to the extreme, and they were being held back by something.
And that something was large-scale.
Large-scale attacks were a signature of cultists.
So a trap that had been prepared must have sprung up.
Outside the school building wasn't safe either.
And inside the school building was very dangerous.
The cultist lair was probably hidden inside the school building—
Because the trap was set to keep students outside, meaning something important was inside.
But all those things were not what was important right now.
What was important was the fact that the bloody footprints were only from teenagers.
The shoe sizes were small—none large enough to be from an adult.
So where did the teacher go?
The answer revealed itself when Wei Zhi inadvertently glanced at the corpse on the ground.
Then he looked away immediately and prepared to run.
All his analyzing had taken him only a minute.
So the actions he performed once he felt something was off—the disgusting feeling, plus the system prompt detecting contamination—made his mind go into a frenzy.
Yet his instinctual reaction to danger was perfectly portrayed:
Look into the classroom.
Freeze in shock and fear while analyzing.
Start to prepare to run away.
One step... he was just one step away from completing a flawless set of actions.
Unfortunately, it seemed like he was also a candidate.
He had such bad luck that at this exact moment, the "corpse" stood up.
Wei Zhi shivered as the so-called corpse morphed into an adult.
A male teacher covered in blood cracked his neck and stretched his body.
His hair was brown and his features were good, but not stunning.
The most striking thing about him were his red eyes gazing at Wei Zhi with interest.
"I didn't think you'd come back after barely surviving," the teacher said.
Wei Zhi, shaking from head to toe, took a huge breath.
"Don't... don't try anything funny!" Wei Zhi activated his ability before stuttering out.
He looked at the door a lot while 'slowly' moving toward it.
"Or else?" the teacher asked, raising an eyebrow.
"My friends won't let you off! They've been hunting you, and you can't get away today!" Wei Zhi shouted, daring to look him in the eyes—only to shrink back in fear.
"And who are these so-called friends?" the teacher smirked, clearly trying to bait him into revealing information.
Too bad Wei Zhi had been bluffing using his skill the entire time.
"Of course, it's the school's rising stars!" Wei Zhi puffed out his chest proudly, eyes sparkling.
"Do you think your friends will make it in time to save you?" the teacher laughed while charging at him.
"I believe in my friends! They would never give up on me!" Wei Zhi said, crumpling to the ground with his arms crossed in front of his face.
Just as the teacher's fist was about to blow his brains out—
A sword interrupted it.
The teacher was thrown back a few steps,
while the blonde-haired male shifted his foot back slightly.
"I guess this guy's your level," the black-haired guy smirked.
"You're welcome to give it a go," the blonde-haired one said.
"Are you okay?" Wei Zhi, still covering his face, slowly lowered his arms when he heard the soft voice.
"Don't get too close just yet. This guy is also suspicious," a white-haired girl said, stepping up and pointing her sword at Wei Zhi.
Wei Zhi, who had felt he'd found a hero, suddenly felt cold water pour on him, washing away his excitement and hope.
He vaguely thought of Ming Jun's warnings—
About how main characters are always suspicious of anyone who appears by coincidence,
or genuinely think everyone is out to get them.
But they also provided a huge sense of security.
At least they wouldn't harm him until they defeated the teacher.
The teacher fought the three males while the others served as aesthetic—
Like literal background props, because Wei Zhi could swear their faces suddenly became blurry and then real again once the main character came into play.
The battle didn't last long because the three of them were OP and had plot armor.
Wei Zhi was calmer now—except when a sword would aim too close and blood would splash.
"Wait! You need to extract information about their lair!" Wei Zhi spoke quickly.
He saw the pitiful state of the teacher and felt he might not hold on any longer.
"Oh—" the black-haired boy tossed the teacher to the ground.
"Leave the interrogation to the adults," the white-haired youngest said, then began to pummel the teacher harder.
"Are you sure he can survive that?" Wei Zhi asked worriedly.
"Enough about him. Who are you?" the blonde asked, pointing a sword at Wei Zhi's forehead.
Wei Zhi gulped nervously as his mind spun even faster than before.
"I'm a normal student—it's just that something was guiding me here," Wei Zhi said slowly, trying to calm himself.
The others watching thought—he looks so composed, and his face is cold.
"What exactly was that 'something'?" the black-haired boy asked.
Wei Zhi weighed his options silently.
He could claim to be a system user,
but that risked exposure—or worse, being roped into their team permanently.
The second option was to blame it on the cultists.
"Actually, I was guided by the curse in my body to this classroom," Wei Zhi said, clearing his throat.
"Why are you the only one here? After all, you guys came in a group of four," the white-haired girl asked.
"It just means I'm the one most plagued by the curse, so I'm naturally the most sensitive," Wei Zhi explained with a patient smile.
"And you were stupid enough to come here on your own?" another girl with black hair said.
"What could I do? The teacher was already gazing at me with killing intent,
then took it upon himself to corner me when I was searching for clues," Wei Zhi sighed, shaking his head.
"I hope for your sake that you're really not a cultist in disguise," the blonde said, lowering his sword.
"I got it—the location," the white-haired boy said, stepping forward.
"Well, spit it out already," the black-haired boy said.
But the white-haired boy looked hesitant and disgusted at the same time.
"What about him?" he asked instead, gesturing toward Wei Zhi.
"Sorry, but my legs are stiff and frozen from sitting here for so long," Wei Zhi said while massaging his legs on the floor.
"Ignore him," the blonde-haired boy said.
The white-haired boy glanced sharply at Wei Zhi, releasing a bit of aura, and Wei Zhi shrank back, shivering.
As expected, Ming Jun was right.
These guys really were psychopaths who only had fighting in their heads.
So scary.
"Whatever," the white-haired boy muttered before looking away.
Wei Zhi sighed in relief at first—but then in sadness.
His progress had gone down again, and now his muscles were even stiffer.
He sat up straight and began to rub his legs again.
"The entrance is supposedly at the girls' restroom," the white-haired boy said.
The two other boys became speechless, expressions caught between disgust and admiration.
"Pervert!" the girls shouted and each gave the teacher a kick.
The three protagonists: Totally deserved it!
"It's best we hurry up, though. He mentioned something about a failsafe set in case something goes wrong," the white-haired male said seriously.
"Can I go with you guys? Just to make sure they're really busy—and I can rest," Wei Zhi raised a hand.
Meanwhile, in his heart, he was muttering about how stupid the system was and why he still had to watch them open the lair.
"Also, don't forget that you're taking care of yourself by following us, so don't expect anything from us," the black-haired one shrugged.
"Thank you," Wei Zhi nodded slightly.
The group rushed to the girls' restroom, with Wei Zhi trailing far behind.
In fact, by the time he got there—running—they had already turned everything upside down.
But they still couldn't find the entrance.
Maybe that's why the system made him come here.
Wei Zhi searched around as the protagonist group began to converse.
"What about that stall?" Wei Zhi said, pointing at a closed one.
"It's only two girls inside," a kind blonde-haired girl said.
Wei Zhi knocked on the door, then opened it.
There were two girls shivering and hugging each other, looking at him fearfully.
"You guys... are too fake about acting scared.
Can you please show some effort?" Wei Zhi said, rolling his eyes.
The girls didn't reply but continued to tremble.
"Why do you say that?" the white-haired boy asked.
"The way their bodies tremble is too regular and consistent. Obviously, they aren't human.
Plus, why would they hide in the girls' restroom? That would mean crossing paths with the rampaging student," Wei Zhi responded.
The black-haired boy reacted first and tried to stab the two girls—
But instead, the illusion shattered like a mirror surface, revealing a cave beyond the cracks.
"You're really smart," the blonde-haired boy said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"It seems like my work here is done and you guys can handle the rest," Wei Zhi said with an awkward chuckle and ran away.
They looked at his back deeply, but they still went after the priority.
Wei Zhi hurried to a corner far away from them and typed a message in the group chat:
I was so scared, crying.jpg
Noticing Mori Aoi had typed last, he read her message and went to join the others at her side.
So he walked over there while reading the messages sent to the group while he was busy.