Horror Game Designer
Chapter 166: The Last Class

“Do you want one?” Ding Yuan pulled out a cigarette from the hidden pocket of his uniform.

“I’ve stopped smoking.” Gao Ming shook his head. He and the other investigators from Huan Men Centre followed behind Ding Yuan. They couldn’t find Yan Xizhi. Various clues showed that someone had gone after the headmistress when the school rules were affected.

“Headmistress Yan was Han De Academy’s last pillar. Her disappearance will cause the order to collapse. The school will restructure itself.” Ding Yuan placed his hands on the window. “If the school rules haven’t recovered by tonight, Situ An will make his move then.”

“You sure have confidence in Situ An.” Gao Ming also planned to do something that night.

“It’s not that I have confidence in Situ An, but I have confidence in the centre he represents.” Ding Yuan looked at the smoke rings. “Don’t underestimate the centre. We have been losing to the invasion of the shadow world, but the biggest reason is that the centre will only be there when the ghosts are there. The more threatening the ghost, the more power the centre will have.”

“Do you think the centre can handle a Level 4 Anomaly?” Gao Ming had died many times. Most of the time, he was killed by ghosts, but there was a small part where he was betrayed by the centre.

“In the short term, the school rules have the advantages, but in the long term, the school rules have no chance of winning.” Ding Yuan lit up the cigarette with a sigh and rolled a new one. “The investigators are the most common members of the centre. Other than us, there are two departments called Security and Research. Researchers wear a pure white band. Every research has the same power as a centre chief. They are extremely rare, and their identities are highly confidential. I hear they have a self-destruct device implanted in them. Once they are captured by ghosts, they will commit suicide so that the ghost research result in their brain will disappear forever.

“Investigators and researchers technically are not the violent unit. The real power the centre uses to deal with the ghosts is security.” Ding Yuan rubbed the nicotine leaves. “Don’t be fooled by this simple name. Every member of the security department wears a bloodred band. I hear they have the power to kill ghosts.”

“The power to kill ghosts? Why is the centre holding them back and sending innocent investigators into their deaths?” Gao Ming didn’t think Ding Yuan would reveal these secrets to him. Perhaps he was feeling depressed after Yan Xizhi had disappeared.

“There are too few of them. Most of the security members have experienced the anomaly that happened at Xin Lu half a year ago. Normally, they will only be sent out to clean up the scene after the investigators and researchers have conducted their studies. But there are exceptions.” Ding Yuan seemed to sense something. “If there’s a Level 4 Anomaly, to prevent it from becoming a Level 5 Anomaly, the headquarters will send in the security to assist the investigators.”

“So you suspect the security members will enter the school to help Situ An.” Gao Ming knew what Ding Yuan was worried about.

“That is an inevitability. The headquarters will pour more forces into the school, and they will become Situ An’s pawns.” Ding Yuan eventually put the leaves back into the box. “The headquarters is not as simple as you think. There are 19 districts at Han Hai. You’ll only know certain things after becoming the district chief.”

After all, Situ An had paid a lot to become the temp chief of Han Hai East City Investigation Chief. There were many more like him.

“You should prepare for class. I have to do something.” Ding Yuan came to a decision.

“Are you planning to find the batch of investigators who have just entered the school and expose Situ An to them?” Gao Ming shook his head.

“You make me feel so dumb by guessing my thoughts so easily.” Ding Yuan really admired Gao Ming. Normally, the elder wouldn’t even chat for so long with a person.

“Don’t be rash. They won’t believe you. You should focus on protecting yourself.”

Currently, only a few people from the Huan Men Investigation Centre know Situ An’s true face. Gao Ming only left after patiently persuading them. Gao Ming glanced at the time on his phone. It was about time for the social practical classes. Gao Ming came to the first floor of the lab building early.

There hadn’t been a message in the student chatgroup in a long time. Everyone formed their little group. There were 51 students in the class. There were probably as many chatgroups as the secrets born by the students.

“Wang Jie’s chat group hasn’t updated either. Are they all busy with something?” Gao Ming slowly narrowed his eyes as he scanned the few messages.

“When you think it’s quiet, it means that others have already had the party somewhere else.” Xia Yang’s voice suddenly appeared. Once Gao Ming had a bad feeling, he would appear. “Your bedroom mates have sold you out. You’ve been placed on the altar as a sacrifice by them.”

“Being served on the altar is not only a sacrifice.” Gao Ming stretched. “It could be a divine figurine.”

There were 20 minutes left of the class. The students started to move towards the lab building. They were talking and laughing as they did many years ago. It had to be said that Class 13 was a lot more adaptive to changes than most.

“Gao Ming, we’ve been to the rooftop and the library. We didn’t see the 51st student.” Wang Jie and Du Bai walked over when they saw Gao Ming. They didn’t look different than normal.

“Where’s Xi San? Why isn’t he with you?” Gao Ming asked casually.

“The kid’s brain is influenced by love. He’s with Cai Meimei.” Du Bai pointed into the crowd. Xi San stood beside Cai Meimei. He tried his best not to look at Gao Ming.

“Is that so? I thought you had decided to abandon him.” Gao Ming smiled. Du Bai stopped talking.

The students were split into groups. Bedroom 1314 stayed together. The scapegoats hugged each other. Yuan Hui, Ji Fu and the others had just come out of Hostel Building 6, and they appeared to have found something. Liu Yi stood at the corner alone; Qian Junran led two hostels of people behind him.

The bell rang. Zuo Jun and seven investigators appeared. They sealed up the lab building’s front door. With darkened faces, they stood in front of the class.

“The social practical class is underground. Everyone follow me.” Zuo Jun led the way and opened the hidden door at the end of the corridor.

They walked down the winding steps. There were hospitals, shops, and prisons. Every building in real life had been turned into classrooms there.

There was no actual classroom. Everyone there would become part of the experiment. The list on the wall had been torn. Zuo Jun put up the list with Class 13’s name on the door. “In this social practical experiment, the longer you survive, the more things you’ll get. Including myself, our names and survival time will be shown here.”

Zuo Jun locked the door that led upstairs. The investigators moved to different rooms. “For most of the students in our class, this will be your last class because the social practical experiments are different from normal classes. The investigation centre can’t protect all of you.”

“When has the centre protected us?” Someone mocked from the crowd.

“You can have your own opinion.” Zuo Jun was not affected. “You will experience the simulation of the troubles you might encounter in the society here. You will take on different identities. Everyone will be limited by the rules. Everyone will have their life goals like…” Zuo Jun casually opened the door to the prison. He took out four ballot papers that looked the same. One of them had the words, killer, written on it. “The person who gets this paper will need to kill another student.”

Then, Zuo Jun walked over to Wang Jie with the paper. “This is yours.”

“Nonsense!” Wang Jie immediately tossed the paper away. “I’ve not killed anyone before!”

“It’s not you who chooses the voting paper, but the voting paper chooses you.” Zuo Jun stared at Wang Ji. “The social practical class will assign different identities according to your lives. There are four voting papers in the prison. That means there are at least 4 criminals in our class.”

“I have a question.” Ji Jie’s brother raised his hand. “I’m not from your class, and I was released from the prison. Am I still a criminal?”

“Why join the class if you’re not one of us?” Zuo Jun turned over the paper to expose the crimes of the four students. “Based on the crimes they’ve committed, they will not receive parole. They will only face the death sentence.”

The students whispered among themselves. They didn’t expect there would be four crazy criminals in their class. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Wang Jie, Zuo Jun… Who is the other one?” Gao Ming narrowed his eyes to think.

“Shouldn’t there be other two?” Du Bai heard Gao Ming’s voice. At first, he was confused, and then he broke out in a cold sweat.

Gao Ming smiled as he placed his hand on Du Bai’s left shoulder to detain him.

The investigators exited the rooms and placed all the voting papers into a white box. Zuo Jun hugged the box before him, “Come draw your identity. Soon, you’ll know that I’m not lying to you.”

After everyone drew their paper, Zuo Jun put the empty white box in the middle of the field, “Now, you will follow the instructions on your paper and go to your room. I hope you can survive this last class.”

The crowd started to move, but no one moved towards the prison. The four criminals decided to hide in the crowd.

“It’s just a practical class. Who will really kill someone?” Wang Jie crossed his hand across Du Bai’s shoulder. “Zuo Jun is trying to turn us against each other!”

Du Bai looked at Gao Ming and Wang Jie beside him. He silently opened his paper. His identity was the teacher. “I’m going to the room where the school is. Sorry, I can’t stay with you any longer.”

“This is such a coincidence. I’m going there too.”

“I’m going to the school to be the counsellor. Let’s go together.”

Du Bai wanted to cry. He was carried by the two to the school room.

Sᴇarch the NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.