After failing to get the job with the dormitory manager, Suer had to find another way out.
As soon as I got to the second floor, I saw people gathered at the stairs. It turned out that the cleaner was mopping the floor. There were many people around him trying to please him, some were players and some were students.
Seeing that he couldn't squeeze in, Suer sighed and decided to give up and back out.
"Hey, classmate, don't leave in a hurry..." The cleaner's voice came from behind.
Sur stopped and turned around, feeling the gazes from all directions, and confirmed that the words just spoken were directed at him.
"Are you free later?" asked the cleaner.
Things that come to your door are often traps.
Su Er hesitated for a moment, then lied calmly, "I need to review my lessons."
The cleaner was wearing a mask, and her bulging apple cheeks showed that she was smiling: "I want to ask you for a favor, classmate."
A student nearby quickly said, "Let me help you. I have some time."
The cleaning lady seemed to have her sights set on Su Er and ignored the student completely: "Study first, go back and review. Come see me at 10 pm."
As soon as the last sentence was uttered, those envious looks instantly turned into fear, and the student who had just spoken also retreated.
Ten o'clock is the school's stipulated time for lights out in dormitories. From the expressions of those people, Su Er could tell that nothing good would happen at night.
"I..." Just as she was about to refuse, the cleaner interrupted with a smile: "All cleaners like hardworking children. After all, labor itself is a form of reformative education."
This was almost a statement: if Suer didn't come, he would never get an A rating from any of the cleaners.
Su Er was silent for a moment, with no other choice, he nodded and said okay.
Although he didn't know what would happen, his experience in the dungeon told him that he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Su Er returned to the dormitory, changed into clean clothes, and hurried to wash up.
The cool water made him more alert. The moment he raised his head, water flowed down his chin, and a small area of his clothes on his chest was quickly wet. Someone next to him handed him a towel.
"Thank you." Su Er took it, wiped his face, and said vaguely: "I don't know why the cleaner asked me to go."
Ji Heng leaned against the door with his arms folded: "What do you think?"
Su Er adjusted his hair in front of the mirror and was attracted by his own appearance: "I'm afraid he wants to take advantage of me."
Ji Heng shook his head. "Let's think realistically. The cleaners and the dorm managers have a good relationship. They prefer the host, so naturally they dislike you."
Children sent to reform camps are often regarded as waste, not even worth recycling, but the little girl is known as a child prodigy, so it's always a good idea to build a good relationship with her.
Hearing this, Su Er pressed down the few strands of hair that were sticking up and said, "You are blind."
They had a simple dinner, and when it was almost ten o'clock, Ji Heng offered to go with him, but was rejected by Suer, who didn't even want the props.
"The pendant I got from Zhou's mother is still there, and I have two props of my own."
Ji Heng: "Are you sure?"
Soul raised an eyebrow before leaving: "The famous philosopher Nietzsche once said... What doesn't kill me makes me stronger."
The sound of the door closing was crisp, as if revealing a hint of arrogance.
Ji Heng stood there for a while and raised his eyebrows helplessly.
The corridor was quiet. The lights would be turned off in five minutes, and no one would leave the dormitory at this critical moment.
The cleaner lived on the top floor, where there was plenty of space and a good place to store some things. But when Soul reached the fifth floor, he saw a figure at the top of the stairs.
The weather was sweltering, but the cleaner was wearing plenty of clothes, with almost no skin exposed except for half her face and hands. She was dragging a large black plastic bag and waved at him.
When Sur came closer, the cleaner asked him to hold the other end of the plastic bag to share the weight.
Very heavy.
This was Suer's first reaction.
He didn't ask what was inside and walked upstairs quietly with the cleaner.
The heavy footsteps extended all the way to the top floor. After stepping over the last step, the cleaner let go of his hand without any warning, and the bag tilted towards Sur, and the contents spilled out.
According to Sur's previous guess, most of them were dismembered limbs. In horror copies, corpses were very common.
However, with the sound of gurgling, five human heads rolled on the ground. Their hair was tangled with sticky blood, covering most of their faces, but it was still clear that these people were very young when they were alive.
One of them rolled directly under Sur's feet. Its pupils had long been dilated. Its eyes were open, but its cornea was cloudy and bleeding.
Under the moonlight, the eyes of the living and the dead suddenly met.
Su Er bent his fingers slightly and looked away at the cleaner: "Did you kill him?"
"It's not killing, it's destroying." The cleaner asked him to pick up the head and bring it into the room. He went in first, dug out a pair of gloves, and put them on. "Over the years, there have been those who have tried to escape the reformatory, and without exception, they have been destroyed."
He squatted down and took out a lot of things from the cabinet, white gauze, scissors...a tray.
"These need to be made into specimens as a warning to other children." The cleaner's mask concealed her expression well. She first used tweezers to remove a few broken eyelashes from her eyes. As she worked, she said, "They don't need to be too elaborate. Every once in a while, a student will run away, and the current specimens will be discarded."
It seemed that she was not feeling well after being cooped up for a long time. After she finished speaking, the cleaner loosened her mask a little. Su Er could clearly see large purple-red patches at the corners of her mouth.
Libido.
Two words instantly popped up in my mind.
Su Er pondered for a while, and finally decided to open the eye in his body to see. But after a moment, the reflection in that eye was a highly decayed body, very similar to the zombies encountered in the previous instance.
"Come and help." Noticing that his face had turned pale, the cleaner thought he was frightened by the specimen and smiled with satisfaction.
Soul took the scissors from her and asked, "Have any students ever helped me before?"
Cleaner: "A lot."
Soul: "Never questioned these things?"
The cleaner paused, turned his head and said grimly, "What are you referring to?"
Suer looked at her without saying anything.
The cleaner put down the tweezers and smiled, "Actually, quite a few students volunteered to help destroy the escapees. As a reward and recognition, I will give them an A rating."
Hearing her smug tone, Suer suddenly remembered the news he had seen many years ago. The traffickers encouraged children to report each other, and then rewarded the reporting child in front of others. Over time, everyone followed suit, and no one escaped anymore.
"You do the rest of the work." The cleaner didn't give him a chance to be dazed and began to urge him.
No normal person could make specimens of the heads of five tragically deceased people without any burden.
"Why, you don't want to?"
Su Er stood there for a while, opened his mouth and said, "I wish..." He suddenly looked behind her in the middle of the sentence, with a look of surprise on his face: "Why are you here?"
The cleaner subconsciously turned around and suddenly realized that this was the top floor. Where did the person behind him come from?
…
In the quiet midnight, the sound of frantic running could be heard in the corridor.
A true warrior never looks back, but can cry for help.
Soul had the dignity to shout more subtly: "Who can open the door?"
Whether players or students, they all knew that someone was being hunted in the corridor, but they just held their breath and leaned against the door to listen for any movement.
I vaguely heard the sound of a door opening.
"Block the door!" Then came Sur's growl.
Various clanging sounds completely broke the silence of the darkness. When daybreak came, many people opened the door a crack and peeked at the situation outside without any worries.
The door of Suer's dormitory was smashed with several dents. He just came out of the dormitory at this time, his face looked unhappy, and it seemed that he was seriously injured.
"Are you okay?" A player named Zhang Yi hesitated and asked.
Soul nodded: "Fortunately, my roommate opened the door for me in time."
Zhang Yi asked nervously, "Why did the cleaner chase you?"
Soul: "Does a ghost need a reason to kill someone?"
ghost?
Just as I was about to ask more, Su Er and Ji Heng had already gone downstairs.
The companion walking behind him shook his head at Zhang Yi: "It's good enough to tell you this."
After all, they didn't do anything last night.
The weather was gloomy as Suer and Ji Heng walked to the teaching building. Suer nibbled on a dry biscuit, swallowing it with difficulty before saying, "The cleaner is a ghost. There's no way no one in the reformation camp would have noticed."
Ji Heng: "Collect more clues, and some things will surface."
It was only their first day here, so it was impossible for them to fully understand what had happened here.
It was just dawn, and no students were in the classroom. Instead, a little girl saw Su Er showing his little fangs and smiled with a particularly gloating smile: "I heard that someone was in a very embarrassing situation when they escaped last night?"
Su Er found a seat and sat down: "Those who survive a great disaster will surely have good fortune in the future."
The little girl saw that he was unstable when walking, so she covered her mouth and laughed to herself.
This class is a pop quiz.
Su Er was the first to finish. His face turned pale when he stood up to hand in the paper. Ji Heng helped him up, but found a small note stuffed in his hand. He knew it was the answer without thinking.
Su Er walked slowly to the podium and smiled weakly: "I don't feel well. Can I go back and rest for a while?"
The teacher glanced at the finished test paper and took a quick look. He was very satisfied that all the multiple-choice questions were correct.
"Go back."
"Thank you, teacher." Su Erlin reached the door, but suddenly turned back and took the textbook with him.
The unintentional actions make the teacher more satisfied.
Instead of heading straight back to his dorm, he wandered around. The students were all in class, so he rarely saw anyone on the street. Suer looked around and finally entered the general building. He walked to the end of each floor. Finally, he saw the words "Archives." A smile crossed Suer's face, and he quickened his pace.
"It's unethical to pick a lock."
A crisp sound was heard.
Su Er turned around and saw the little girl shaking her head at him: "I knew you came out for another reason."
Sur frowned and took a step towards her. The little girl took several steps back, as if she absolutely did not want to get close to Sur.
"From now on, I will keep an eye on you." The little girl raised her chin. "Don't even think about entering the archives room."
What she said actually confirmed that there was something inside.
Su Er lied without changing his expression: "I just got lost."
After saying that, he went downstairs.
The little girl followed him closely. Su Er could no longer bear it and turned around: "I'm telling you..."
Bang!
The loud noise came from behind.
Su Er was stunned for a moment, turned around, and saw a body smashed to pieces.
A strong stench spread in the air. In fact, this was no longer a corpse, but more like boiled minced meat.
Such a big commotion soon attracted the dormitory manager.
Sur looked up at the top floor and vaguely saw a dark shadow running straight up.
I climbed up to the rooftop with great effort, but there was nothing but the howling wind.
About ten minutes later, two security guards and a serious-looking woman arrived. Suer heard the dorm manager call out "Principal Feng," but the latter's attitude was very cold and he didn't even respond. So Suer asked directly, "What's going on?"
Soul: "I saw someone pushing..."
"Nonsense!"
Principal Feng scolded.
Su Er wanted to say something else, but Principal Feng said forcefully, "Say one more word, and you'll be put in detention."
"It's probably work pressure that's causing him to lose his composure." Principal Feng summed up the situation with one sentence and turned to the security guard, "Get rid of the body before the students leave get out of class."
After giving the instructions, leave immediately.
The others went down one after another. Su Er stood alone on the rooftop for a while, then suddenly hurried to catch up with the dormitory manager: "Principal Feng seems even more serious than Principal Chen."
This time, the dorm manager actually responded, snorting coldly: "That woman always loves to stir up trouble."
Su Er had some understanding of the power struggles within the Reformation Camp. Besides the information he'd gathered, there was also a notebook given to him by a girl in the cafeteria yesterday, which mentioned some things. While the Reformation Camp had four principals, the others were deputies. With the current principal nearing retirement, and Principal Dai still young, the next principal would most likely be between Principal Chen and Principal Feng.
The cleaners, dormitory managers, and teachers each represent a force within the school. The cleaners and dormitory managers support Principal Chen, so they are naturally not liked by Principal Feng.
In Sul's eyes, it was just a palace drama.
He pursed his lips and whispered, "Give me and my friend an A-level rating, and I'll tell you something."
The dorm manager was annoyed when he saw him and was about to refuse when he heard Suer say, "If this information is worthless, there's nothing wrong with hearing it."
He spoke so confidently, as if it were truly something significant. The dorm manager frowned, neither agreeing nor refusing.
Su Er didn't keep it a secret: "Where he fell from the building, I saw an unfinished character 'Feng'."
The dormitory manager's expression changed: "Do you know what you are talking about?"
Su Er: "You and the cleaner both support Principal Chen, which makes Principal Feng look weak. People will do anything when it comes to self-interest. You saw Principal Feng's attitude just now. He's trying to hide his mistake, but it only makes it more obvious."
The dormitory manager glanced at him.
"And isn't it strange that Principal Feng arrived so quickly after the incident?" Su Er said with a wry smile, "This A-level evaluation..."
The little girl suddenly popped up and said, "It's hard to tell whether it's real or fake. Why would you give it to me?"
Su Er said calmly, "As an eyewitness at the scene and a good student in the teacher's eyes, I can 'inadvertently' tell others about this matter." He paused and glanced at the little girl, "This is different from some people who only tell tales."
"you!"
Ignoring their exchange, the dorm manager looked at Suer and asked, "Can you really do this?"
She doesn't care who killed the person, but she will definitely do anything that is not good for Principal Feng. Otherwise, once the other party comes to power, the first thing he will do is probably to kick her out of the reform camp.
Su Er: "Of course. After this is done, I will go to see Principal Chen again. He might be able to give me an A as well."
If he could get better grades and get another one from the teacher, he would have the complete collection.
Thinking of this, Su Er curled his lips and said, "If I leave the reformation camp, I will definitely remember the person who dug the well."
Despite his boastful remarks, the dorm manager only gave him an A, filled out a form, stamped it, and said, "Send it to the Academic Affairs Office."
The little girl seemed to be preoccupied, and this time he didn't stop her. Instead, it was Soul who took the initiative to follow her to another building.
"What are you doing?" The little girl stretched out her arm. "Keep your distance."
Soul: "The cleaning lady is obviously a ghost, who can kill her?"
The little girl said petulantly, "How should I know?"
Obviously, he was also annoyed by this matter.
Soul: "You must know something?"
The little girl turned around suddenly and said, "If you follow me again, I'll kill you!"
Sur watched her disappear from where he stood, shook his head, and walked back.
The cleaning staff incident was suppressed, at least many students didn't know what happened, but it had already spread among the players.
Night falls silently.
Sur walked over to draw the curtains and was suddenly met with a gloomy face outside the window.
The little girl appeared on the balcony at some point. She seemed to be particularly fond of the little lantern and carried it wherever she went.
"You did it." She stared at Soul.
"Ah?" Su Er was confused.
Little girl: "I checked the body, and all the Yin energy inside was sucked away."
Their eyes met in the stalemate, and Su Er's eyes were full of surprise.
But his expression quickly changed, the confusion in his face vanishing. He grinned, his neat teeth appearing white in the moonlight. "I thought being smashed to pieces would cover up the cause of death, but it seems I was naive..."
The dead fish eyes behind the black glasses widened because of this sentence.
"The moon is so beautiful tonight," Suer said, standing on the balcony, arms outstretched. "It reminds me of last night, when the moon was just as bright. Too bad I didn't have the energy to admire it then, because the janitor was forcing me to use the heads of tragically deceased students as specimens."
Soul turned around and looked at the little girl: "After I refused, you still wanted to kill me. Tsk tsk... it's a pity that you were killed in return."
At that moment, when the cleaner's back was turned, Soul used the electric shock device without hesitation. Of course, he didn't mention this point, only telling the second half of the story: "I got a bottle of black dog blood from the welfare field. It can block the damage output of ghosts for seven seconds. I thought it was only enough to scream for help, but I never thought that seven seconds was more than enough to suck dry a weak ghost."
Every player thought that he became weak because he was attacked by ghosts, but in fact it was because he swallowed too much Yin energy.
The little girl clenched her hand holding the lantern slightly. "So you directed and acted everything that happened next?"
Su Er nodded frankly: "I turned in the paper early and deliberately led you around in circles, and then had someone find the right time to throw the cleaner down."
The little girl suddenly looked at Ji Heng, the accomplice, who was standing behind him.
"By the way, he was the one who called Principal Feng here," Su Er pointed at Ji Heng. "Actually, no matter who comes, they will choose to whitewash the situation in order to maintain the image of the reform camp."
The little girl's eyes were like knives. "And then you tried to sow discord and trick the dorm manager into giving you an A rating?"
As an accomplice, Ji Heng completely ignored their conversation and used a rag to carefully clean the rotten flesh and blood in the closet where the body was hidden last night.
Su Er, who hadn't slept all night, nodded in agreement and yawned, "There's no surveillance in this reform camp. Isn't that indirectly encouraging the growth of crime?"
But think about it, countless students died here, and doing that thing is just asking for trouble.
"Go and expose me." After telling her everything, Su Er smiled and suggested to her.
The little girl saw his expression and knew he had a trick up his sleeve. She said angrily, "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
"I didn't break any rules, and the host can't kill players indiscriminately." Sur shrugged.
There was a brief silence between the two sides, and even the sound of breathing could be heard.
"I know you're the one who deliberately instigated the cleaner to cause trouble for me." After a long moment, Su Er suddenly squatted down, his eyes level with the little girl's, and said with a smile, "The best is yet to come. Wait for me to treat you to the show for free."
Faced with such an extremely gentle tone, the little girl angrily shook her lantern, "How could you kill her?" She paced back and forth, cursing, "Even when two countries are at war, neither of them kills the envoys!"
Not only did they not let any ghost go, they didn't even leave a complete corpse.
Su Er stood up, his body swaying slightly, showing the burden of absorbing Yin Qi last night. He leaned against the wall and glanced towards Ji Heng, who was still cleaning the bloodstains in the cabinet.
He cleared his throat and spoke in a chanting tone, "Because I want to take the captain away from here. He has taken great care of me, and I don't mind carrying all the sins on my shoulders. I always remind myself... to be strong."
"…"