Volume 2. Game Update in Progress
Alright, I really wasn't very good at socializing.
But in this state, there was no way I could return to the school building!
Who knew what might happen inside the school building!
Uh... it seemed like I was the ghost in question.
However, in my current condition, it really was hard to leave, wasn't it?
Hmm... ever since I returned to my body, the goat-headed monster hadn't reappeared, and it seemed that its influence on me only occurred when my soul form left my body.
But... what should I do now?
Go back?
How was that any different from seeking death?
But if I didn't go back, I couldn't leave either!
From my waist down, everything was almost completely numb.
Although I could feel my body gradually regaining sensation, at this speed, the process would take at least another ten minutes, and by then, it would be too late!
Just as I was thinking this, the school nurse ran over from a distance.
Seeing this scene, I knew... it was already too late to say anything.
The security uncle didn't dare touch me, afraid that it might worsen my ‘condition’, but the school nurse had no such concerns.
After a brief examination, he immediately carried me on his back and brought me back to the infirmary.
Because my body wasn't completely numb, and I could almost kneel by myself, the school nurse quickly concluded... that I had fainted from anemia.
Alright, you're the doctor, you're the expert.
I just had my period half a month ago, what now?
Irregular menstruation?
But even if I said that, the school nurse probably wouldn't believe me.
Even if he did believe it, he probably still wouldn't let me leave the academy and would inform my parents instead.
Helpless, I could only let him carry me back.
Fortunately, during the process of being carried back, I kept an eye on the windows above me...
To my surprise, nothing abnormal happened anymore.
Until I lay on the infirmary bed, I still didn't feel any strange presence again.
Then, just as I was nervously preparing to escape at any moment, my homeroom teacher, Teacher Zhang, arrived...
With a worried look, she walked normally through the door and said a bunch of comforting words before returning to supervise the exam.
At that moment, I was completely dumbfounded.
Was it a ghost?
Was it something bizarre?
Was it a human?
What the hell was it?
Teacher Zhang... was still that same Teacher Zhang.
But what I had seen earlier was not a hallucination.
What the hell was all this?
The most critical point was... why did the goat-headed monster follow me here?
Could it be that because I had eaten its soul form, the guy held a grudge against me?
That was possible, but would the actions of such bizarre beings be that complicated?
As far as I knew, at least my evil spirit form wasn't that complex.
So could it be that the goat-headed monster and my evil spirit form weren't the same type?
The strange situation in the classroom didn't involve a space transformation; the surface world and the interdimensional space hadn't shifted.
No, no, no... I was falling into a trap!!
Bizarre beings couldn't be understood with human logic.
For them, there was no such thing as rationality.
Even the most basic laws of physics were invalid for them.
Trying to comprehend the actions of bizarre beings with human thought was as laughable as ants discussing philosophy.
In other words, I didn't need to think about what they were at all.
Because maybe even they themselves didn't know what they were.
I had been thinking in the wrong direction... almost trapped myself.
Although I had seen many things in the classroom, those things clearly hadn't actively attacked me.
They were just watching me... but why??
The only difference between me and other players was my evil spirit form.
At least, as far as I knew, Fang Zheng and the five players from the earlier bus incident didn't possess an evil spirit form.
Before the APP issued mission rules, the bizarre beings had no logical behavior.
Then... why had the goat-headed monster delivering fast food found me?
Was it because during our struggle, I had been partially eaten by it, so it could track me?
Or maybe... because my evil spirit form tasted better than a normal human soul?
When trying to deduce the actions of soul forms, only the simplest reasoning could apply.
Otherwise, I really couldn't find any reasonable explanation.
The things in the classroom hadn't threatened me.
They were just trying to scare me.
So... what should I do?
They were scaring me but didn't hurt me.
Why?
Hmm... there were probably two reasons.
One: environmental influence.
Two: influence from myself.
If it was environmental, then the only thing I could think of was... in the surface world, they couldn't harm me.
But this explanation already didn't hold earlier, because the goat-headed monster could affect the surface world.
Although it seemed that it could only influence part of it, and hadn't completely left the interdimensional space, it had barely managed to exert some effect.
So... only the second reason remained.
Those bizarre beings only dared to scare me, not touch me, because... of the existence of the evil spirit form.
I could see them, and they could see me, but... they didn't dare attack.
But... could these ghosts even feel fear?
I didn't know... but that was the only explanation for why I could enter the classroom and come out unharmed.
When a sudden mission happened, the survival rules would be issued at that moment.
In other words, I hadn't triggered a sudden event yet.
This was just... something that might become a normal occurrence.
From this, it could also be deduced that the interdimensional space... seemed to have some kind of amplifying effect on these bizarre beings.
In the surface world, they were weakened!
Even the goat-headed monster couldn't fully descend... from this, the most reasonable explanation was that the stronger the bizarre being, the less it could act in the surface world.
I... was an exception.
My strength was similar to that of the goat-headed monster, but I could move freely in the surface world, even freely hunt anyone's soul, all because... the coincidence at the time of my death resulted in my current half-human, half-ghost state.
Those bizarre beings that could shuttle between the surface world and the interdimensional space couldn't hurt me.
And those that could hurt me were too powerful to come to the surface world.
The clearest evidence was the eerie smiling face from the bus incident.
If bizarre beings could truly influence the surface world, then the behavior of the goat-headed monster and that eerie smiling face should have been similar.
However... the goat-headed monster came, but the eerie smiling face never appeared, and the bizarre beings I saw in the surface world, although terrifying, had no impact on me.
Everything pointed to my guess being the most logical.
The powerful bizarre beings couldn't enter the surface world.
The weaker ones couldn't harm me.
And those barely like the goat-headed monster, which could slightly hurt me, couldn't traverse between the surface world and the interdimensional space in a complete state.
In the surface world, the goat-headed monster was clearly weakened.
Although its strength was still great, enough to forcibly pull me out of my body, when I bit it back, its body wasn't as tough as before.
This could only mean... its hands reaching into the surface world were weakened for some reason.
"In other words... I am safe in the surface world, and in danger in the interdimensional space."
Lying on the infirmary bed, I summarized everything that had just happened and deduced what I thought was the most reasonable explanation.
I didn't know if it was correct, but if it wasn't, everything that just happened couldn't be explained.
And if it was wrong, then I might be in mortal danger at any moment.
However, I chose to believe my guess.
Thus... ten minutes after the second math exam bell rang, with an anxious heart, I arrived at the classroom door.
Through the small window on the door, inside... that bizarre and terrifying scene appeared once again.
"Hiss~ hoo..."
I took a deep breath.
Gamble or not?
Maybe they would suddenly be in a good mood and let me off?
Would entering again anger them?
Should I... just not go in?
But... if such things happened often in the future, would I flee every time??
Of course, directly facing them wasn't really possible.
Just one goat-headed monster could kill me in a direct fight.
But if it was as I guessed?
If these bizarre beings that could shuttle between the interdimensional and surface worlds couldn't harm me, would I have to run every time I saw a ghost?
After hesitating for a long time, I slowly... placed my hand on the door handle.
At the same time, I lifted my head and looked into the classroom, this time determined not to look away.
If my guess was right, they wouldn't attack me, which meant no matter how scary they looked, as long as the game hadn't started, I would be safe!
But if I guessed wrong, then I might soon face the reality of dying again right after leaving the novice zone.
"Hiss hoo..."
I took another deep breath, staring at the dozens of green, glowing eyes and the teacher’s eerie smile inside the window, and I couldn't help but feel all my hairs stand on end.
Gamble?
Gamble!
With a 'crash', I pulled the door open.
At the moment when my sight was blocked by the door, my phone suddenly vibrated with a ‘buzz’ from my pocket.
But I had no mind to care about the phone.
I stared dead at the slowly opening door, ready to fight for my life at any moment.
However, when the door opened fully and the classroom came into view, I froze.
The teacher was still the teacher, and the students... were still the students.
Yet, whether it was my illusion or not, at the moment the door opened, I suddenly felt... the environment in the classroom had changed.
That's right... something had changed.
It gave an extremely eerie feeling.
I swept a glance around... every classmate was staring at me.
Normally, during an exam, some students would scratch their heads, some would frown and think hard, some would look relaxed, and some would show an indifferent expression.
However... at the moment I opened the door this time, I found... every student's expression was exactly the same.
That expression was cold and without any emotional fluctuation.
The classroom was so quiet it was frightening.
Instinctively, I wanted to step back.
However... the moment my left leg moved half a step backward, all the students in the classroom stood up simultaneously.
Each student... stared at me with expressionless faces.
In my astonishment at that moment, I clearly felt... a slight vibration from my left wrist.
Instinctively, I raised my hand and looked at the World Watch on my wrist.
The fleeting words... 【Surface World】 on the dial completely disappeared, replaced by three scarlet characters.
【Interdimensional Space】