Chapter 39
The meat aroma lingering in the air was overwhelmingly intense, almost solidifying into a tangible presence. It filled Yu Zhi’s nose and mouth, overwhelming his senses entirely.
Tears streamed involuntarily from his eyes due to the stench, soaking his lashes.
He covered his mouth and nose with his hand, blinking hard, trying to regain his other senses.
First, he became aware of the damp, suffocating heat on his face, as if he were standing in the center of a boiling cauldron. Steam rolled in from every direction, licking at the exposed skin on his body.
Next came the sensation under his feet.
The ground was soft. Yu Zhi could feel his shoes sinking slightly into the surface, as if he were stepping on something pliable.
He instinctively looked down and froze.
He wasn’t standing on a floor. His feet rested on a piece of flesh that squirmed slowly beneath him, its surface covered in countless tiny protrusions. A layer of white coated the ground beneath the sole of his right shoe.
The classroom doors were lip-shaped.
The walls were the inner lining of a mouth.
And the ground… was it a tongue?
He was standing on a massive tongue covered in thick, white coating!
The sticky, slimy sensation under his feet sent shivers crawling up his spine, and the tongue’s heat seeped through his pant legs onto his skin.
Yu Zhi’s scalp prickled violently.
What the hell! What the hell! WHAT THE HELL!!
Frozen in place, he dared not move a muscle, only darting his eyes around to assess his surroundings.
On his left were rows of desks filled with textbooks. Seated at each desk were Faceless Students, their heads lowered as they wrote feverishly. The sound of their pens scratching on paper filled the room.
In the front row, one Faceless Student was even transcribing Tao Yuanming’s Drinking Wine.
For now, the Faceless Students seemed non-aggressive.
Yu Zhi gripped his knife tightly and cautiously turned around.
Ignoring the fleshy walls, the teeth, and the tongue, the classroom appeared otherwise normal—blackboard, podium, even a water dispenser and cleaning supplies.
He quickly scanned the room. There was no sign of Lu Liming or Zuo Feiyang, nor any Faceless Students wearing the same clothing as them.
The two weren’t in the classroom.
Looking around, he didn’t see any Lip-faced teachers either.
That voice from earlier…
Yu Zhi’s lashes trembled as he remembered.
It was the same voice he’d heard over the town’s broadcast system.
It was Chen Wan’s voice.
[User “Strongest King” eagerly awaits your gruesome demise.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” laments your inevitable death.]
[User “Rebirth of Cosmic Romance” is watching your plan with great interest.]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” mourns the death of your title.]
Yu Zhi glanced at the barrage of comments. Seeing that none of the pollutants were paying him any attention, he raised his hand experimentally. True to his observation, they remained completely engrossed in their studies, heads bowed.
Quickly, he covered his nose and mouth again.
His mind raced. Chen Wan must currently perceive him as a student and had dragged him into the classroom.
But where was Chen Wan herself?
After a moment of thought, Yu Zhi called out in a muffled voice, “Teacher Chen.”
The classroom remained unchanged. The fleshy walls pulsed slowly, oozing saliva.
Yu Zhi tried a different tactic. “I think I entered the wrong classroom.”
Still no response. Chen Wan didn’t appear, and the lip-shaped doors remained shut.
Taking a deep breath, Yu Zhi tried another excuse. “Teacher, I need to use the restroom.”
This time, there was still no sign of Chen Wan, but the Faceless Students all raised their heads.
One after another, their blank faces turned toward him.
They didn’t speak or show any expression, but Yu Zhi inexplicably felt their reproachful stares, as if blaming him for disrupting their studies.
Bracing himself, Yu Zhi continued, “Teacher, I really need to poop!”
Silence.
Even the scratching of pens stopped.
All the Faceless Students were now staring at him.
Suddenly, a sharp, familiar voice rang out from all directions. It was Chen Wan, angrily scolding him:
“Poop, poop, poop! Lazy people are always full of excuses, running to the bathroom all day!”
“Do you think your parents worked so hard to send you to school just so you could poop?!”
Her voice echoed from every corner of the room, making it impossible to pinpoint its source.
“Why didn’t you go earlier?! Now that class is about to start, you want to leave?!”
“You think I don’t know what you’re up to?! Is this the time to goof off?!”
Chen Wan’s voice grew sharper and angrier with each word. At the same time, the fleshy walls began secreting large amounts of viscous saliva. As her scolding intensified, the saliva splattered into the air, mixing with the already overwhelming scent of meat.
Yu Zhi’s expression darkened as he watched the walls pulsate in sync with her voice.
Chen Wan’s voice was surrounding him, coming from every direction.
This classroom… could it actually be Chen Wan’s mouth?!
“Hurry up and take your seat!”
As if to confirm his suspicion, the moment Chen Wan’s voice fell, the massive tongue beneath Yu Zhi’s feet started moving.
The large tongue split off a smaller section, forming a makeshift conveyor belt that began sliding backward.
Yu Zhi gripped his knife so tightly that his knuckles turned white, resisting the urge to run. He let the tongue carry him from the door to an empty desk in the back row.
“What are you standing there for?!” Chen Wan snapped again.
She wanted him to sit.
Yu Zhi cast a stiff glance at the chair.
Fortunately, the chair was dry and hadn’t been soaked with saliva.
He didn’t dare refuse, fearing that the tongue beneath him might suddenly lash out and forcefully pin him down into the chair.
Once seated, the Faceless Students in the classroom bowed their heads again and resumed their studies. The steady shhh-shhh of pens on paper filled the room.
Yu Zhi sat tensely in the chair, every muscle in his body taut. His nerves were stretched to their limit, constantly alert to the fleshy walls around him and the tongue underfoot.
The air was damp, sticky, and oppressively warm, as though he were immersed in a vat of viscous liquid. Even breathing felt slimy and thick.
Blinking hard to clear the stinging in his eyes, Yu Zhi pulled out a pack of gum and tossed several pieces into his mouth.
The sharp, cool flavor of mint brought a fleeting clarity to his thoughts, and he quickly began analyzing the situation.
Before the scenario began, the town’s broadcast had featured Chen Wan’s voice.
Other pollutants in the school mentioned that the school’s transformation was thanks to her.
Chen Tingting’s diary also pointed directly at Chen Wan.
All the clues indicated that Chen Wan was the source of the contamination in this scenario.
The problem was, the clues were almost too obvious.
It was as if the scenario had been afraid they wouldn’t find the source and had been blatantly leading them to Chen Wan from the start.
It felt like a trap.
Yu Zhi’s heart sank further.
The trap’s cleverness lay in the fact that, regardless of his suspicions, he had no choice but to step into it. He had to deal with the contamination source.
He swore internally, gnashing his teeth as he chewed the gum.
Now that he was alone, how was he supposed to deal with the source?
Pulling a lighter from his pocket, he flicked it on experimentally.
A faint click sounded, but not even a spark appeared.
Burning the classroom was out of the question.
Even if he managed to light the flame, it would likely be extinguished in an instant by the saliva and the massive tongue.
Stowing the lighter, Yu Zhi opened his system panel and glanced at the mission objectives again.
[Scenario Mission: Save the Children.]
[Mission Objective: Eliminate or purify the contamination source in this area and defend City S!]
[Mission Reward: 3,000 Universal Coins; Random Reward Blind Box.]
[Mission Failure: Unknown.]
His eyes lingered on the mission title for a moment before he muttered under his breath, “System, I think there’s something wrong with this scenario.”
The system’s cold, mechanical voice replied, “Please report any issues, Warrior of Lip Love.”
Yu Zhi: “…”
Expressionless, he said, “Shouldn’t the rewards for this scenario be higher than just 3,000 Universal Coins?”
“Chen Wan is much stronger than the contamination source from the last scenario—she turned an entire building into this. I think she’s worth at least 30,000 coins!”
The system responded, “Please wait. Running diagnostics…”
After a brief pause, it replied, “Diagnostics complete. Scenario mission rewards are accurate. Please proceed actively to complete the mission.”
Yu Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly. A difference of 3,000 versus 30,000 coins wasn’t a trivial gap.
The contamination source must be defeatable.
Lip-faced teachers could be killed by severing their necks.
Faceless Students could be killed by headshots.
The contamination source was unlikely to be limited to just the classroom itself. There had to be a physical form—a body—hidden somewhere.
Could it be in hiding?
Suddenly, a slip of paper appeared under his hand.
“Can you please stop talking? A student’s only job is to study—to read. If you don’t want to learn, others still need to. Stop disrupting your classmates. Don’t you have any shame?”
The note’s tone didn’t sound like something a classmate would say—it was more like a teacher or parent’s scolding.
Yu Zhi turned to glance at the Faceless Student next to him. I have no shame?
Do you even know what shameless is?
Letting out a cold laugh, Yu Zhi pressed the note flat and raised his voice:
“Teacher Chen! My deskmate passed me a note! It’s disrupting my studies!”
“….”
The Faceless Student sitting beside him froze mid-page turn.
The next second, Chen Wan’s shrill, grating voice echoed through the air: “Stand up!”
The Faceless Student sitting next to Yu Zhi rose to their feet.
Yu Zhi sharply noticed that several other Faceless Students in the room had subtly turned their heads, as if sneaking glances at his deskmate.
It was reminiscent of a normal classroom, where students would instinctively peek when someone was being scolded by the teacher.
“How many times do I have to say this? A student’s sole responsibility is to study—to read! If you don’t want to learn, others still need to. Stop being a distraction!”
Yu Zhi’s fingers stilled. Chen Wan’s scolding matched the words written on the note exactly.
He scanned the room. The surrounding fleshy walls pulsated more intensely, secreting even more saliva.
“Do you have any shame? Can’t you have a bit of self-respect?”
“Do you think your parents, who worked so hard to send you to school, deserve this? Do you think your teachers, who toil tirelessly to teach you, deserve this? What about yourself? Don’t you owe it to yourself?”
With each line of Chen Wan’s tirade, murky streams of vapor burst from the walls, spreading through the air. The classroom grew increasingly oppressive and stifling.
Yu Zhi felt the air growing thicker and more viscous with every breath, as if it were weighing down his lungs. His head became foggy and heavy, his thoughts slowing to a crawl.
Pinching the webbing of his hand, he kept his focus fixed on the classroom.
Chen Wan’s scolding lasted a full two minutes but still, she didn’t appear.
Yu Zhi clenched the note tightly. Chen Wan didn’t know what was written on it.
She wasn’t omniscient about every detail in the classroom.
[User “Green and Lush” looks forward to witnessing your death.]
[User “Loves Peace” waits patiently for your demise.]
[User “momo” is curious about your ability.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Rage” eagerly anticipates your gruesome end.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” laments your death and marvels at the prophecy’s inspiration.]
The livestream chat was flooded with death predictions, a flurry of activity making the room especially lively. Viewer numbers continued to climb.
More and more familiar IDs appeared in the chat. When Yu Zhi noticed “Scarecrow’s Rage,” his brow lifted slightly.
Even the 60,000 Bro had returned.
It seemed like everyone believed the prophecy would come true. Many had even left Fu Suxi’s livestream to come watch his.
Fu Suxi was the protagonist of the novel. If he had specifically sought out a prophetic ability user, it was probably as reliable as the chat claimed—100% accurate.
A death prophecy, huh…
Fu Suxi, screw your death prophecy!
Yu Zhi let out a long breath, brushing his bangs back from his forehead and tilting his head slightly.
“Well, since everyone thinks I’m about to die,” he mused, “why not make a bet?”
[User “Gaze of the Abyss” is curious about what you’re betting on.]
Yu Zhi’s lips curved into a faint smile. He spoke cheerfully, “Let’s bet on when I’ll die.”
[User “National Tactical Humanoid Weapon” is shocked by your behavior.]
[User “I Love Earth” is satisfied with your parting words.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Rage” is excitedly waiting for your gruesome death.]
[User “Rebirth of Cosmic Romance” is stunned by your severe gambling addiction.]
