novelraw Chapter 45
Chapter 45
Chapter 45 Death Schedule
【High-energy warning! Please mentally prepare yourselves!】
Thud-thud.
As the light of Appraisal faded, Liu Yuqing's heart skipped half a beat.
"Hiss..."
She pushed up her glasses, forcibly suppressing the shock in her eyes.
'These 2 are truly unfathomable.'
'Setting aside that combat-powerhouse Su Nation dragon girl, Yekaterina.'
'This smelly old uncle who looks like he only knows how to smoke and act cool—his ability is actually Grade S Psychokinesis!'
Grade S!
That was the same potential tier as the Scarecrow Boss Boss had killed before!
And once the other party's overall body stats were pulled up, his power would theoretically be equal to it!
However, Liu Yuqing didn't make a scene, nor did she reveal any hint of shock.
Because she knew these 2 were extremely perceptive.
The moment Boss had made a move just now, these 2 had almost instantly sensed something was wrong and reacted—their identities were definitely not simple.
'I have to find a suitable moment to tell Boss.'
Liu Yuqing buried that piece of intelligence deep in her gut, her face still wearing that harmless smile.
Just then.
Lu Shiyan, who had finished dealing with the Parasitic Flatworm, walked over as well.
He was spinning a scalpel in his hand, letting it dance across his fingertips with smooth precision.
"Heh."
Lu Shiyan looked at Liu Yuqing and let out a laugh:
"So? Little miss."
"Am I still just a 'smelly old uncle' who only knows how to trick people?"
He pointed to the scalpel hovering in midair, deliberately showing off.
"See that? This is 'Metal Manipulation'!"
"As long as it's metal, it's under my control."
"That's not a step below your Boss's 'Air Manipulation', is it?"
Upon hearing that, Liu Yuqing's eyes curved into 2 crescent moons.
But inside, she was going wild:
'You cunning old fox... trying to fish for information right off the bat?'
'Clearly it's an all-purpose Psychokinesis, yet you deliberately claim it's a highly limited Metal Manipulation to mislead me? You're definitely up to no good!'
'Since you want to play games, this lady will play along with you!'
And so.
Liu Yuqing's expression shifted. Pretending to be angry, she planted both hands on her hips and let out a haughty huff:
"Hmph! Stop showing off!"
"My Boss's 'Air Manipulation' is way cooler than yours! Not only can it kill without a trace, it can even create a Vacuum Domain!"
"That little trick of yours where you can only play with knife blades—you couldn't even get close to him!"
"Oh~ Is that so...?"
Lu Shiyan put on an expression of sudden realization.
"So your Boss is truly impressive, unlike me~getting old, I can only fixate on certain small matters."
He shook his head and walked toward the window spinning his scalpel, turning his back to everyone and murmuring inwardly.
'Good, the intelligence has been obtained.'
'Invisible bullets... people crushed flat by a Starving Wraith... creating a vacuum...'
'Just as I theorized—Jiang Nan's ability is Air Manipulation, and it's Grade S, the same as mine.'
'Honestly, what a troublesome ability.'
'But...'
Lu Shiyan lowered his head in thought and pulled out another Huazi to light.
'Against my Grade S Psychokinesis, as long as I want to... I can snap his neck before he can drain the air around me.'
'Of course, that's on the condition he doesn't foolishly get in the way of me finding "that person".'
Lu Shiyan blew out a smoke ring and gazed at the pitch-black curtain of rain outside the window, not knowing what he was thinking.
Little did he know.
Behind him, Liu Yuqing was also laughing coldly inwardly.
'You've taken the bait, you fool.'
'I hope when you see Boss's other abilities, you won't be scared to tears.'
She hadn't witnessed Boss's other abilities with her own eyes, but she'd heard about them from Guo Shuai, that big mouth.
Boss's methods were endless—he was simply a cheat-code user...
No! A god descending to the mortal world!
'But speaking of which...'
Liu Yuqing glanced at the doorway, brow faintly furrowed.
'Why haven't Wang Meng and Guo Shuai come back yet? Could something have actually happened to them?'
Just as she was worrying.
Yu Shishi, who was seated near the door, suddenly called out.
"Yuqing! Look! It's Wang Meng and the others!"
Liu Yuqing immediately stood up.
She saw Wang Meng at the far end of the corridor, dragging Guo Shuai as they came rushing over in a panic, finally leaning against the doorframe and panting heavily.
That battered state, those familiar builds—without a doubt, this was the real Wang Meng and Guo Shuai!
But the next moment.
Whoosh.
A scalpel instantly flew past Liu Yuqing's eyes, shooting straight toward the 2 at the door!
"Stop!!"
Liu Yuqing reacted instantly, snapping her head toward Lu Shiyan and shouting furiously.
"Those are our companions!!"
Lu Shiyan gave a slight flick of his finger, halting the scalpel 1 inch from Wang Meng's brow, his tone cold.
"Little miss, your agitation is understandable."
"But no one has ever come back alive from the 'Detention Room'."
"As you just witnessed, those 2 monsters disguised themselves as students and slipped in, nearly killing everyone."
"Which means... the real versions of them are already dead."
Liu Yuqing wasn't sure what this "Detention Room" was.
But she trusted her instincts—and more importantly, she trusted Boss's judgment.
Because...
At the rear window seat.
Jiang Nan had already stood up.
His slender right hand rose, his index finger pointing from across the room at the back of Lu Shiyan's head.
And his left hand, casually, flicked out a sticky note.
The sticky note traced an arc through the air, flying toward Lu Shiyan.
Lu Shiyan didn't even turn around, confidently trying to catch it with his peripheral vision while striking a cool pose.
However.
Swish.
His hand grabbed nothing but air!
That sticky note had, as if anticipating his anticipation, slipped past his fingertips and dropped to the floor.
"......"
The room fell completely silent.
Lu Shiyan's hand froze in midair, hanging there for a full 10 seconds before he awkwardly lowered it.
To save face.
He cleared his throat, walked over to the sticky note, and rather than bending down to pick it up, he clamped the paper between his feet.
"?"
Everyone looked at him in confusion—what was this old uncle trying to do?
Only the imaginative Yu Shishi figured it out, and she pointed excitedly at Lu Shiyan.
"I've seen it! This smelly old uncle must be trying to imitate that famous scene from The Conman where Niu Dehua catches a card with his feet after a backflip!"
"......"
Hearing that, the corners of Lu Shiyan's mouth curved upward wildly.
"Didn't expect to find someone who actually knows their stuff."
"Get ready to be dazzled, kids!"
With that, he steadied his breathing and let out a great shout.
"Rise!!"
He clamped the sticky note with both feet, gave a sudden burst of force, leapt into the air—and launched into a backflip!
The move was impressive.
The pose was flashy.
He intended to coolly catch the flying sticky note with his hand while in midair.
However.
He had forgotten 1 thing—he was wearing a long trench coat.
The moment he was halfway through the flip.
Riiiip!
The long trailing hem of his coat got fatally wedged in his crotch!
His balance in midair was instantly thrown off!
Splat!!
Without any suspense.
Huaxia's No. 1 Romantic, in front of the entire class, face-first, ate the floor!
Clack.
That was the crisp sound of front teeth hitting the floorboard.
He had obliterated himself.
"......"
Complete silence.
Even Yekaterina beside him was stupefied.
She covered her face, unable to watch.
"Pfff... Hahaha!!"
Liu Yuqing and Yu Shishi finally couldn't hold it in, clutching each other and laughing so hard they doubled over, tears streaming down their faces.
Lu Shiyan on the floor was not dead.
But his current state was worse than death.
He pressed a hand over his bleeding mouth and quietly peeled himself off the ground.
He didn't choose to flee from reality—instead, he let his brain selectively block out all those piercing sounds.
‘As long as I'm not the one embarrassed, the embarrassed one is everyone else!’
Acting as if nothing had happened, he calmly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, bent down to pick up the sticky note, and read it.
【My people, I know myself. You had better not stick your nose into this.】
【Otherwise, what awaits you will not be the law's judgment—but death, delivered by me.】
Reading those 2 short sentences, Lu Shiyan's pupils shook.
'The law's judgment...'
'Could he have seen through my identity?!'
A layer of fine cold sweat instantly broke out down Lu Shiyan's back.
But there was no fear in his eyes—only deep vigilance.
Just as he was about to say something to reclaim some dignity.
Wang Meng at the door had already dragged Guo Shuai charging in.
At the same time.
The countdown on the back of everyone's hands—reached zero.
【00:00】
Driiing driiing driiing!
A piercing yet cheerful bell rang out abruptly across the entire school campus!
"Students~ Teachers~"
"There are 5 more minutes until class officially begins~"
"Please have all students return immediately to your designated seats and sit properly."
"If any desk or chair is found missing..."
"Our dear disciplinary supervisor will send you to the 'Detention Room' for supplementary study~ hehehe..."
As the voice faded.
On the blackboard behind the lectern, lines of blood-red chalk text materialized on their own, listing today's 【Death Schedule】.
【2:00–3:00】 English Class (Instructor: Chen Tong)
【3:00–4:00】 Language Class (Instructor: Fujino Juro)
【4:00–4:44】 Mathematics Class (Instructor: Kujo Ran)
【4:44–6:00】 Morning Exercise + Morning Reading (Supervising Instructor: Lu Shiyan)
【Patrol & Supervision Instructor】: Shariki Sanae
Everyone was instantly drawn to this eerie schedule.
"Quick! Find your seats!"
Wang Meng and Guo Shuai didn't dare delay and tried to grab any available seat.
However.
They looked around and discovered a terrifying reality—there was 1 seat missing!
Counting the headcount.
Original Sakura Nation students: 11 – 4 dead (Kinami Yoshishi + Masaya Mikami + perverted male + body-seized female) = 7.
Jiang Nan's team students: Jiang Nan, Liu Yuqing, Yu Shishi, Wang Meng, Guo Shuai = 5.
Other students: Hoshino Hikari, Yekaterina = 2.
Total: 14 students.
Yet inside the classroom, counting generously, there were only 13 sets of desks and chairs!
In other words... there was 1 person too many!
"Bro Wang... there's no seat left!"
Guo Shuai stared at the fully occupied seats ahead, breaking into a cold sweat.
Suddenly, he pointed toward the back corner, at a spot with only a broken chair and no desk, and said to Wang Meng:
"Bro Wang! I'll sit over there! It's right next to Boss!"
"Maybe don't..."
Wang Meng glanced at that dim corner. "Those spots look wrong—they don't even have desks."
"It's fine!"
Guo Shuai gritted his teeth. "Boss's here! Nothing to be afraid of! I need to stay close to him to feel safe!"
"Alright then, be careful."
Wang Meng gave a nod and helped Guo Shuai to the broken chair at Jiang Nan's right and sat him down.
He himself then grabbed the seat where the perverted male had died.
Guo Shuai plopped down and felt the chair beneath him was ice-cold.
He turned his head, wanting to greet Jiang Nan.
"Boss, I..."
However.
Jiang Nan ignored him and instead fixed him with a strange look, raising his hand and pointing at the top of Guo Shuai's head.
"?"
Guo Shuai was baffled. "Boss? What is it? Do I have dust on my head?"
At this very moment.
Every single person in the class was staring in horror at the back row.
For without anyone noticing, 3 figures had appeared around the chair where Guo Shuai sat.
The 1st—sitting in the chair to Guo Shuai's right.
It was a male student whose head was only half intact.
Split cleanly from the bridge of the nose, his mouth torn all the way to the roots of his ears, he was beaming a wide smile straight at Guo Shuai.
Half-Head
The 2nd—standing directly behind Guo Shuai—was a female student with long straight black hair.
Her eyes were hollow, with no eyeballs inside whatsoever—only 2 pitch-black, blood-pooled sockets.
She was "staring" fixedly at the top of Guo Shuai's head.
Empty-Eyes
The 3rd...
Was a bloated, bluish dead infant, its navel still trailing a long umbilical cord.
It was sprawled on top of Guo Shuai's head, its tiny hands covering Guo Shuai's eyes...