Chapter 6

In Ning Buwen's mind, this should have been a very simple matter.

Zhao Shudong, School Doctor Cheng, and the female teacher who died at the beginning had been on good terms. After the female teacher's death, Zhao Shudong and School Doctor Cheng came to this school together to continue investigating the cause of her death.

If that were all there was to it, this school could never have become a game-instance location required by Pandora's Box.

Perhaps Zhao Shudong had initially come to this school to investigate her sister's death, even taking a position teaching her sister's class in order to look into it more conveniently. But when she discovered that School Doctor Cheng, the man she liked, was also running around for the sake of her dead sister, a profound imbalance took root in her heart.

That spirit-summoning ritual must have been what Zhao Shudong gave the original owner of this body.

Perhaps she meant to sever her sister's connection with School Doctor Cheng for good. Or perhaps it was something else.

But in a supernatural world like this, once you deliberately provoke an unknown force, there was no chance of walking away unscathed.

Zhao Shudong turning into this ghostly state was probably connected to those summoning rituals.

Ning Buwen had not pulled these guesses from thin air. He was making bold inferences from the clues at hand.

In fact, he was more inclined to believe that Zhao Shudong was currently half human and half ghost.

If she were a ghost, then diligently serving as a homeroom teacher every day was completely pointless. Zhao Shudong had seemed far too normal in the beginning. Every word and deed had fit the image of an ordinary teacher perfectly, so Ning Buwen had never suspected her before she exposed herself.

To put it a little arrogantly: if even he, among the newcomers entering this game, could not see through Zhao Shudong's disguise, then no one else would be able to either.

That did not match the difficulty of a beginner instance.

Pandora's Box had appeared in the real world three years ago. With the combined efforts of players across the globe, its exploration and use had reached an unimaginable level. Some fundamental rules had long since been established.

The newer the player, the lower the difficulty of the instance they entered.

But if Zhao Shudong were human, then one look at her current appearance made it clear she could not possibly be human.

Neither human nor ghost. Then the only option was somewhere in between.

"I never wanted to hurt her." Zhao Shudong's voice had become that of a woman in her seventies or eighties. Unless one listened closely, it was nearly impossible to make out what she was saying. "She died, and that was that. But even in death, she refused to leave the living alone. That formation was meant to lay her spirit to rest."

"It failed." Zhao Shudong fell silent for a while, then added that one more sentence.

"Who gave you that formation?" Ning Buwen pressed. "You were just an ordinary person before, right? Now that you've turned into this ghostly thing, don't you want to go back to how you were?"

"Go back?" Zhao Shudong burst out laughing. "If I were an ordinary person, I'd have died completely long ago. We're all trapped here—trapped in this school. Unless everyone in this school dies, all we can do is die and come back to life, live and die, forever!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hehe. Aren't you just a moving corpse yourself?" Zhao Shudong tilted her head and smiled, making her entire face look even more sinister and terrifying. "There isn't a single living person left in this whole school except School Doctor Cheng."

...Though he knew it was true, hearing her say it still left Ning Buwen feeling rather depressed.

There were no living people, but there was still one living dog!

Ning Buwen wanted to say something else, but Zhao Shudong no longer wished to speak with him.

"Just wait and see. In three more days, everything will begin anew." Maintaining that ghostly appearance, Zhao Shudong floated away. The echo of her voice still lingered in the corridor. "You can't hide in the infirmary forever. Hahaha."

You're already leaving and you still have to scare me? I don't scare that easily.

Sorry, but all I have to do is successfully hide here for three days.

Ning Buwen sat in the chair, propping his chin on one hand as he thought things through.

There was no way he could fight Zhao Shudong head-on. His only helper was a dog, and other than being lucky, the dog was useless. No, it was somewhat useful. Without Xiaoxin, he could not have met School Doctor Cheng so easily or hidden in this infirmary.

This infirmary was probably something like a safe zone in the game world.

Precisely because this was a safe zone, School Doctor Cheng was still alive and able to continue surviving on this bizarre campus.

If those newcomers had not immediately committed suicide or set about enjoying themselves, it would not have been difficult for them to work together and find this safe zone. Among them, there were surely a few who had drawn decent Newcomer Starter Packs. It would have been easy enough to endure the instance's time limit here together.

Put that way, it did fit the difficulty setting for a beginner instance.

The problem was that Ning Buwen's luck was abysmal.

People who entered the Pandora game could roughly be divided into three kinds according to their motives and mindsets.

The first kind entered purely to try their luck. Resources were scarce in the real world, and anything casually brought out of the game world could be sold for a high price. Besides, beginner worlds were generally not terribly difficult. Supernatural instances had the lowest survival rate, around ten percent, but other types of beginner instances could reach over thirty percent. If they happened to meet a few newcomers with leadership ability, survival rates of fifty or sixty percent or more were possible.

The second kind were professionals. These people had received specialized training, usually relatives or connections of the military, or people born with exceptionally good aptitude. They could be set aside for the moment.

The third kind were people intent on suicide.

Because the real world no longer had anything—air, soil, water, sky; nearly every natural thing had all but vanished—people could only keep surviving by using the power of Pandora's Box to confine themselves within a special protective barrier.

Many people found that sort of life deeply difficult to adjust to.

People had enjoyed blue skies, white clouds, sunlight, and fresh air for so many years. To have even those stripped away overnight, with the world reduced to this wasteland—there were no small number of people who wanted to kill themselves.

But from among these people who wanted to die emerged a large group who believed, "If I'm going to die, I want to die somewhere I love." The worlds within the Pandora game were just like the old world. Going into a game to enjoy oneself before dying was undoubtedly far better than barely clinging to life in the real world.

When newcomers entered a game together, the most troublesome thing was encountering the third kind.

People who wanted to kill themselves were often not quite right in the head. Someone quietly killing themselves alone was fine, but some people insisted on dragging a few companions down with them.

Ning Buwen's luck was terrible. More than half the newcomers in this batch were suicides.

After finally finding a girl who looked reasonably normal, she turned out to be a suicide too?

Ning Buwen practically wanted to weep for his luck. As a complete newcomer, he had started with one dog; not one of his companions was reliable, and several were eagerly plotting to drag him into death with them.

This was practically forcing Ning Buwen to act alone.

Fortunately, with things having developed to this point, he could finally prepare to leave this world.

The question was, after getting through today, what was he supposed to do tomorrow night? Clearly, although Zhao Shudong could not enter this office at night, she could still transfer him to a classroom when night came.

What a headache.

But his biggest problem at the moment was that he was hungry.

He had barely eaten anything since the afternoon, then spent so much effort at night. How could he not be hungry?

But at a time like this, Ning Buwen absolutely did not have the nerve to go out and look for food.

"Woof, woof—" Xiaoxin lay on the floor, wagging its tail.

"No, no, no. Even if you do have plenty of meat on you, there's no way to make a fire right now." Ning Buwen rubbed his stomach and sighed. "Forget it. I'll just sleep. Once I'm asleep, I won't be hungry."

After expending so much mental energy, Ning Buwen fell asleep at the desk almost immediately.

The next day, he was roused by the smell of soy milk and steamed buns School Doctor Cheng had brought in.

"Since you're awake, eat. I didn't know what you liked, so I bought soy milk and buns. There are several different fillings." School Doctor Cheng had already put on his white coat and started work.

Ning Buwen was so moved he could nearly cry.

School Doctor Cheng was beautiful, and his heart was beautiful too.

He had been so thoughtful.

Ning Buwen picked up the soy milk and buns and began eating at once, without the slightest hesitation. He was genuinely starving.

"Huh? Why is there so much meat in this pork bun?"

"Is there? I just bought it from the cafeteria." School Doctor Cheng thought about it before answering.

"No way. The pork-and-scallion buns from the cafeteria are all scallion, with only a fingernail-sized bit of meat. I can't even tell whether I'm eating a bun or plain steamed bread," Ning Buwen declared with absolute certainty.

"Then I don't know." School Doctor Cheng blinked. "The buns I get have always been pretty good."

Maybe people just like you...

Ning Buwen looked at School Doctor Cheng's face and could completely understand why the cafeteria aunties would be willing to make buns especially for him.

"School Doctor Cheng, do you live at the school?" Ning Buwen asked tentatively.

"Mm. I live in the teachers' dormitory." School Doctor Cheng nodded.

"Then I'll sleep in your dorm tonight." Ning Buwen immediately made his request, then gave a convincing sneeze. "Sleeping here, I feel like I may have caught a cold. School Doctor Cheng, I won't disturb you. I'll just sleep in your dorm for two days. My dad will come to the school in two days."

Ning Buwen's little scheme clicked away furiously.

If he stayed in this infirmary, he might still be sent to a classroom tonight to become a target for slaughter. At a time like this, School Doctor Cheng was naturally the only person he could rely on.

After all, he was the only living person in this school. He must have something special about him to have survived until now. Staying close by would not only protect Ning Buwen's life; perhaps he could even discover how School Doctor Cheng had managed to stay alive.

Most importantly, judging from Zhao Shudong's obsession with School Doctor Cheng, she surely would not want to appear before him in that ghostly form at night.

Perfect.

Ning Buwen convinced himself.

But School Doctor Cheng was not convinced.

"No." School Doctor Cheng refused without the slightest hesitation. "I'm used to sleeping alone. Letting you stay in the infirmary is already breaking school rules for me."

"I see." Ning Buwen sighed softly. "Then forget it. It's fine for me to stay here."

...Yeah, right!

The moment School Doctor Cheng got off work that afternoon, Ning Buwen secretly followed him.

He refused to believe that, once he reached School Doctor Cheng's door, the man could still throw him out. And even if he did, Ning Buwen could curl up outside his door. It was all the same.

It was not dark yet when School Doctor Cheng left work, which gave Ning Buwen some confidence as he followed.

To be safe, Ning Buwen even brought the diary with him. If his luck was truly awful and he ran into Zhao Shudong, he would have to sell out the diary to save his life. If that did not work, he could tear out pages one by one and use them to stall Zhao Shudong for time.

But after following School Doctor Cheng for a while, Ning Buwen's heart began to pound.

Something was wrong.

This was not the way to the dormitory, was it?

The place School Doctor Cheng was heading this time did not seem to be the teachers' dormitory. It looked more like the old teaching building where the "spirit-summoning ritual" had been performed.

That teaching building was already condemned and could be demolished at any time. Nobody went there at all.

Ning Buwen had wanted to investigate it, but Zhao Shudong's sudden complication had delayed him. Who would have thought he would be able to follow someone there now?

But Ning Buwen was not happy in the least.

Damn it.

He had finally thought he could follow School Doctor Cheng and peacefully coast through the last three days, but judging by the current situation, there was no chance nothing would happen.

But the problem was that it was not realistic to turn back now. It was already dark, and on the way back he would definitely run into Zhao Shudong.

Zhao Shudong, or Zhao Shudong's sister?

That was the question—one even more serious than Shakespeare's question.

He was already here. What else could he do?

Ning Buwen could only be glad that he had not brought Xiaoxin along. One bark from it and everything would be over.

Why did life have to be so hard?

Before he knew it, Ning Buwen had followed School Doctor Cheng upstairs, then stopped because School Doctor Cheng had stopped as well.

Huh? This was the roof.

Even if Ning Buwen could not remember anything about the original owner of this body, he knew that spirit-summoning rituals would not be conducted on a roof. The wind was far too strong here to perform a ritual.

Strange. What was School Doctor Cheng doing?

Ning Buwen hid behind the door and peered out. School Doctor Cheng had bent down in a corner of the rooftop, apparently doing something.

There should have been nothing there but a pile of broken stones.

"You must be unhappy, stuck here all this time. I'm sorry I'm late." School Doctor Cheng murmured to himself.

Strange. Who was School Doctor Cheng talking to?

Ning Buwen's thoughts were a hopeless tangle. If possible, he truly did not want to make an enemy of the only living person.

But in some sense, being the only living person also meant School Doctor Cheng was not as simple as he appeared.

School Doctor Cheng soon stood up. But when he did, he held something he had not been holding before.

It was square, with a rounded top.

That was...

An urn?!