Chapter 139
Amidst the chaos, Qi Yao tried to contact the people inside the school.
But with the students’ safety and the ongoing exam at stake, they didn’t dare enter, pacing anxiously outside the gates.
Just as they were trying to figure out what to do, two students emerged from the school.
Then, a flood of students poured out, looking at the police and the people in uniform outside, puzzled.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s just the college entrance exam. Why are there so many police here?”
The parents, more agitated, pushed past Qi Yao’s team and yelled:
“Did something happen inside?!”
“How was the exam?!”
“Where’s my son?! Zhou Guo, is he out yet?!”
The students, hearing their parents’ frantic questions, were even more confused.
“We just took the exam. What could have happened?”
Their calm demeanor puzzled the parents and Qi Yao.
But they couldn’t have imagined the giant monster they had seen, its tentacles flailing above the school.
Someone had even posted a video online, claiming aliens had invaded the exam site.
Xing Nuo, almost crushed by the crowd,
held up the flower he had made, looking for his brother, calling out:
“Big Brother! Big Brother!”
The school security guards, seemingly waiting for instructions, hadn’t opened the gates yet.
Qi Yao and the police officers assisting him had been separated by the crowd.
“Qi-dui, what’s going on?” Officer Xiao Wu, adjusting his hat, asked, his face filled with confusion.
Qi Yao, also puzzled, looking at the students emerging from the school, their faces calm and cheerful, like any other exam day, said:
“I don’t know. But there was a powerful, terrifying energy signature above the school just now!”
Xiao Wu, seeing the students’ smiles, also smiled and sighed.
“No news is good news! These students are our future. As long as nothing happened during the exam, that’s all that matters!”
Qi Yao, a veteran of many dungeons, his perspective more nuanced, also smiled.
He spotted Xing Nuo, perched on his brother’s shoulders, waving at the school, and shook his head, chuckling.
“Let’s wait. We’ll go inside after all the students are out.”
As they waited patiently, the exam papers were collected, the gates opened, and the students poured out like sardines.
Xing Nuo, put down by his brother, searched for Shen Baizhou.
Shen Baizhou emerged from the crowd, his dyed black hair fading, the silver streaks at the tips more prominent now.
Xing Nuo, holding up his flower, yelled:
“Big Brother!”
Shen Baizhou, looking up, seeing the little one waving at him, his golden curls shining in the sunlight, his earlier frustration fading, smiled faintly.
Xing Nuo handed him the handmade flower, hugged his neck, and gave him an encouraging kiss.
“It’s okay! If not this time…then next time!”
Shen Baizhou chuckled, pinching Xing Nuo’s nose.
“I don’t want a next time.”
This past year, for an octopus used to lazing around in his underwater lair for years, had been utterly exhausting.
He needed a four or five-year nap to recover.
Shen Yan handed him a bottle of ice water and led him and Xing Nuo to the car.
“Good work. What do you think your score will be? I’ll contact the schools in advance.”
Although he often teased Shen Baizhou about his abysmal scores, he had seen his efforts this past year and felt a flicker of brotherly affection.
Shen Baizhou, hugging Xing Nuo, nuzzling his soft cheek, exhausted, mumbled:
“Can you donate a building for me?”
“Not a chance.”
Shen Yan and Shen Baizhou exchanged glances and chuckled.
“Fine. I don’t want to leave Rongcheng anyway. I’ll just pack Xing Nuo in my suitcase and take him to the dorm with me.”
Xing Nuo, sipping his water, hearing this, thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook his head.
“No. I can’t fit in suitcase. And Daddy and Big Brother at home…need me.”
He was the heart of their family. They couldn’t live without him.
Shen Yan, sitting in the front passenger seat, smiled, flipping through a brochure of universities in Rongcheng, and pointed at one.
“This is a private vocational school. Our company has a partnership with them. I’ll make some inquiries.”
Shen Baizhou, having played with Xing Nuo for a while, thanked Shen Yan sincerely.
Xing Nuo, having waited all afternoon, was now sleepy, his eyelids drooping, but he still mumbled:
“Big monster in school…so scary.”
Shen Baizhou patted his back, soothing him to sleep, and sighed.
Back home, Shen Yan cleaned Xing Nuo’s face and hands, tucked him in, and left the room.
“What happened at your school?”
Shen Baizhou was pouring water over his head. The weather was too hot, and as an aquatic creature, he couldn’t stand it, needing to keep his skin hydrated.
He shook his head, sending droplets of water flying across the living room, and Shen Yan’s face darkened.
Shen Baizhou, oblivious, sat down on the sofa and said:
“Our classroom…strange dungeon. Players…gathered together…doing something.”
Qi Yao, listening to Lin Tezhu’s report, his face filled with shock, asked:
“You’re saying…an organized group of players…entered a dungeon…and attacked the core monster and ordinary people?”
Lin Tezhu, having just received this information, still couldn’t quite believe it himself.
“Yes! Guild Zero One. The largest player guild in Central City.”
“They led a group of players into an S-rank dungeon, killed the core monster, and destroyed something, which somehow caused an exam room to be pulled into the dungeon!”
“It was supposed to be a hide-and-seek dungeon. We don’t know why it’s connected to the exam room.”
Qi Yao, his mind reeling, was confused.
After a moment, he asked:
“What’s the deal with this guild?”
Lin Yan, now a veteran player, more knowledgeable, his expression grim, said:
“I don’t know, but you have to be careful. I heard they almost massacred the students in that exam room!”
“What?!”
In the living room, Shen Yan, sitting as far away from Shen Baizhou as possible, his arms crossed, his face cold and disdainful, said:
“Some players…they’re not even human anymore. They’re just monsters in human skin, more terrifying than us.”
Shen Baizhou’s classroom had been the first to be affected.
They had just finished their exam, their papers collected, but they couldn’t leave, waiting for the teacher to take the tests to the exam office.
Shen Baizhou had been feeling relieved, his year of hard work finally over, no more endless tests in dungeons.
He had been leaning against the wall, his eyelids drooping, almost dozing off, when two blood-soaked players suddenly appeared beside a desk in the front row.
The players, seemingly unfazed by their sudden arrival in the real world, looked at the students and grinned.
Just as they raised their weapons, they were thrown back by a powerful force.
At the same time, more players appeared in the hallways, classrooms, and restrooms.
Shen Baizhou didn’t know which dungeon had invaded the school, but he wouldn’t allow anyone to disrupt the college entrance exam!
He had worked too hard for this!
Countless tests, just for this day.
In that moment, he had forgotten about the difference between species, becoming one of the students, protecting his hard-earned chance at a normal life.
Seeing the chaos erupting in the exam room, not wanting his efforts to be wasted, he briefly revealed his true form as the players gathered, their intentions unclear.
His massive, shadowy form, its tentacles flailing, had overwhelmed the dungeon, whose core monster was already dead, forcing the players out.
The players, without the dungeon as a medium, vanished from the exam room.
“I reversed time by a few minutes, but time in the real world continued to flow, so the students didn’t leave immediately.”
Shen Yan nodded, his face serious, then, after a moment of thought, suddenly kicked Shen Baizhou.
“Who told you to put your wet hair on the sofa?!”
Shen Baizhou, having just poured water over his head, his hair dripping, yelped and sat up.
“We aquatic monsters…vewy clean.”
Shen Yan kicked him again, telling him to clean the sofa.
Xing Nuo, waking up, his forehead slightly sweaty, walked out of his room and saw his brother sprawled on the floor.
“Big Brother, what you doing?”
Shen Baizhou, his voice weak and listless, replied:
“Cleaning sofa.”
The exam had drained his mental energy, and cleaning the sofa was draining his physical energy. He felt like a dead fish.
