Upon hearing the words "not a single one can be left behind," Wan Zuo's heart skipped a beat, sensing that this phrase foreshadowed something terrible.
This was a dungeon instance. Based on the experiences of Jing Minghe, Chi Hao, and You Mi, dungeon instances did not provide explicit mission objectives. Players had to explore and discover them, and there was a time limit.
However, the time limit for their current dungeon instance seemed unusually long, extending until the official start of school.
If it were just a short holiday, it would be fine. But if it were winter or summer break, would they have to stay here for over a month?
"Um..." Wan Zuo's mind filled with questions, so he voiced them, "Old sir, how long is this holiday for our school?"
"Fourteen days," the old man replied.
Fourteen days? Wan Zuo blinked. What kind of holiday required fourteen days was not important. However, this duration, while not as long as winter or summer break, was certainly not short.
With a deadline of over ten days, the difficulty of this dungeon instance was likely to be considerable.
Jing Minghe and Tong Zheng did not seem too concerned about the time limit. Especially Jing Minghe, for whom the duration of a dungeon instance was irrelevant. He would always clear it in the fastest time possible, so as not to worry his Gege.
Because he understood that trust was one thing, but controlling inner anxiety was another.
The old man led Jing Minghe and the others to the third floor of the teacher's apartments, pointing to a room directly facing the staircase. "This is the dormitory for you three teachers. Stay here for now. Tomorrow morning, a student representative will come to take you to your teaching location."
With that, the old man turned and left.
After the old man departed, Jing Minghe pushed open the door, and Tong Zheng and Wan Zuo followed him inside.
The room was reasonably well-furnished, with a wardrobe, three beds, a desk, and a chair. Everything in here seemed normal.
"Tong Ge," Jing Minghe said after a sweep of the room's contents, "you carefully check the things in here. Wan Zuo and I will go out and have a look."
"Okay."
Tong Zheng and Wan Zuo responded simultaneously.
Jing Minghe and Wan Zuo left the room, exchanged glances, and tacitly split up, one to the left and the other to the right, to investigate.
This teacher's apartment building had five floors. Jing Minghe finished examining a portion of the third floor. Apart from the room they were in, all the other doors were locked shut, requiring force to open. Su Dan Novel Network.
After surveying the third floor, Jing Minghe heard Wan Zuo descend to the second floor, so he went straight up to the fourth.
The situation on the fourth and fifth floors was the same as on the third. All the doors were locked, but the door leading to the rooftop was open.
Jing Minghe let out a cold laugh. It was such an obvious trap. If he didn't go up, wouldn't it be a waste of the system's good intentions?
As soon as he stepped onto the rooftop, Jing Minghe felt a sudden sensation of falling. After steadying himself, he found he was still in the same spot. It had been daytime when they first entered the school, at the latest in the afternoon. In less than half an hour, the sky had completely darkened.
Next to the door leading to the rooftop, there was a motion-sensing light, currently emitting a faint glow.
Jing Minghe used this dim light to get a general sense of the rooftop. It was empty, with nothing on it, but it was surprisingly clean, at least as far as his eyes could see.
Just as Jing Minghe was about to turn away, a shadow flashed past in the distance. Jing Minghe immediately stopped and looked back.
The shadow flashed again. Jing Minghe squinted, trying to discern what it was.
After a moment's hesitation, Jing Minghe decided to get closer to see.
He walked step by step towards the center of the rooftop, stopping when he reached approximately where the shadow had flickered.
This time, after waiting for about three minutes, the shadow appeared.
Jing Minghe finally saw clearly that it was a human figure, running from the side of the rooftop, turning a corner, rushing towards the edge, and then jumping off.
Jing Minghe stood on the rooftop for a while. He noticed that after the initial two times he saw the figure just before he was about to leave, it appeared again roughly every three minutes.
Each time it appeared, Jing Minghe stared intently.
Upon the tenth appearance, the figure ran to the edge of the rooftop but, unlike before, did not immediately jump off. Instead, it turned back towards Jing Minghe's direction.
The figure gradually became clearer. It was a handsome young man, about Jing Minghe's height.
Once its form was fully visible, Jing Minghe took two steps forward and asked, "Who are you?"
The young man looked at Jing Minghe, slowly shaking his head, and murmured, "I did nothing wrong. I clearly did nothing wrong. Why? Why do this to me?"
"Who?" Jing Minghe pressed, "Who? What did he do to you? What did you do?"
"I did nothing wrong," the young man repeated. "I clearly did nothing wrong. Why do this to me? I just... I just like someone. I didn't hurt anyone. Why do this to me?"
Jing Minghe frowned, moved closer, and asked again, "Tell me, what did you do? What exactly did he, or they, do to you? Tell me."
"Who are you?" the young man pointed at Jing Minghe. "You're like me, haha. You, you're like me. They, they can't stand you. Leave here, hurry up and leave here!"
With that, the young man suddenly turned and jumped. Jing Minghe, unable to control himself, reached out as if to grab him.
"Minghe!"
Tong Zheng yanked Jing Minghe back, asking him with a look of panic, "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" Jing Minghe retorted, confused.
"You almost fell off!" Tong Zheng, still shaken, pulled Jing Minghe away from the edge of the rooftop. "What did you see just now? Why did you seem like you were going to rush down?"
Jing Minghe looked back and asked Tong Zheng, "When did you come up?"
"Just now. As soon as I came up, I saw you standing at the edge of the rooftop and was about to call out to you when you suddenly leaned forward, about to fall. If I hadn't run over and grabbed you in time, you would have fallen."
"Is that so?" Jing Minghe continued, "Besides me, did you see anything else?"
Tong Zheng shook his head. "No, just you. What? Was there something else?"
Jing Minghe recounted what he had seen of the young man who jumped and what he had said to Tong Zheng.
Tong Zheng wondered, "Is he a teacher at this school?"
"He doesn't seem like a student. Since he's on the rooftop of the teacher's apartment, he's probably a teacher."
Tong Zheng nodded and analyzed, "Could it be that he committed suicide by jumping because after doing something, he was forced to death by someone, or some people, at this school? Could he be the mission objective for our dungeon instance?"
"Perhaps," Jing Minghe yawned. "We've been talking for quite a while, and he hasn't appeared again. It seems we'll have to wait until tomorrow night."