155: Chapter 156 The Underground School Mentions Gu Changye's Name

"Thank you."

"Help me dismantle the academy pressing down on the classroom completely."

The laughter of the Abyss drifted out from behind the stone gate.

The class bell rang again.

Ding—

On the edge of the open ground, 12,763 people simultaneously heard the sound of chairs being dragged.

It did not come from underground.

It came from behind everyone.

Chen Ye turned his head abruptly.

On the empty black ground, rows of phantom chairs had appeared at some unknown time.

On every chair sat a black school badge.

The badges had no names.

Only numbers.

[001]

[002]

[003]

...

The numbers extended all the way, totaling exactly 12,763 badges.

"Everyone, fall back!"

Before Qin Shanhe's voice had even faded, the badge closest to the rift suddenly flew up.

It flew over the crowd and stuck to the chest of a first-year student.

The student instinctively reached out to block it.

However, the black badge passed directly through his palm and embedded itself into his profession emblem.

[Upper-level school deregistered]

[Unassigned student detected]

[Automatic transfer: Containment School for Failures of the First National Profession Awakening Experiment]

[Seat number: 8471]

The student's body jerked backward violently.

It was as if an invisible rope had grabbed his spine from underground, dragging him toward the ancient stairs.

Chen Ye lunged forward, grabbing him by the waist.

"Did you ask for permission before transferring him!"

The black badge suddenly tightened.

Chen Ye was dragged several meters along with the student and his shield.

Zhou Heng drove his Thunder Spear into the ground, and purple electric arcs wrapped around Chen Ye's arm.

Meanwhile, Shen Tingxue stabbed her Ice Line into the edge of the badge, attempting to freeze the connection between it and the student's professional profile.

It was useless.

The badge did not read his profession.

It only read one fact—

The Jiangcheng Combat Academy had disappeared.

He currently had no school.

[Automatic transfer complies with the placement procedure for out-of-school personnel]

[No repeat application required from the individual]

The student's face turned deathly pale.

"I didn't apply for this!"

A calm reply came from within the stone gate.

"Twenty years ago, neither did we."

Deep within the stairs, pairs of eyes lit up.

Lin Jin walked over to the student being dragged, not waiting for the rule prompt that had already vanished.

He felt around the badge.

It was ice cold.

There were no latches.

Nor were there any physical circuits.

The true pulling force came from the unburned temporary evacuation certificate in the student's pocket.

It read:

[Original institution: Jiangcheng Combat Academy]

[Current status: Institution deregistered, awaiting reassignment]

"It's not the badge grabbing people."

Lin Jin snatched the evacuation certificate away.

"It's the 'awaiting reassignment' status."

He used his rusty wrench to smash the automatic allocation chip in the corner of the certificate.

Crack!

The black badge lost its target and bounced off the student's chest.

Chen Ye stomped it into the ground.

"Everyone, check your documents!"

Qin Shanhe immediately connected to the broadcast.

"Tear off all labels marked 'awaiting allocation,' 'awaiting reassignment,' or 'pending transfer.'"

"Keep your names and personal histories yourselves."

"Do not accept any new school badges!"

The crowd moved quickly.

But the black chairs on the open ground did not disappear.

More and more badges slowly rose.

They were no longer selecting just students.

Mentors, logistics staff, medical personnel, and even family members temporarily residing in the academy were likewise included in the transfer scope.

[Upper-level area processing complete]

[Original registered lives within the area must complete follow-up archival]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked down toward the rift.

"Smashing individual chips is useless."

"There is a complete master transfer list below."

"Once the third bell rings, the master list will automatically take effect."

The old clock on the stone gate had moved to the second notch.

[Time until second class bell: 04:58]

Qin Shanhe grabbed Lin Jin by the shoulder.

"You go down."

"Leave the upper level to me."

"Don't let anyone stand in line."

Lin Jin said.

"And don't consolidate the headcount."

Qin Shanhe understood immediately.

The school below had 12,763 seats.

There were exactly the same number of people standing above.

As long as the crowd was reorganized into a complete roster, it would be equivalent to voluntarily completing the roll call for the underground school.

"Did you hear me?"

Qin Shanhe raised the broadcast device.

"Everyone, form small teams freely and evacuate toward different areas."

"Do not organize by class, grade, or profession."

"No one is to answer to a numbered roll call!"

The crowd scattered rapidly.

Mentors took students they had never taught.

Cooks pushed medical beds.

Upperclassmen carried the children of logistics personnel.

The once clear structure of the academy was actively disrupted by them.

Lin Jin, Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, Chen Ye, Teacher Xu Wenzhou, and Thirteen rushed down the stairs.

The stone gate did not block them.

A line of black text appeared on the door frame.

[Transfer escort personnel, entry permitted]

Chen Ye glanced back.

"Does it think we're here to deliver students?"

"Let it think so for now."

Thirteen walked in the lead.

The stairs were very deep.

The further down they went, the heavier the smell of chalk dust in the air became.

The walls on both sides were covered with old photographs.

The boys and girls in the photos wore school uniforms of unfamiliar styles, with no profession emblems on their chests.

Yet, every photo was stamped with the same red seal at the bottom.

[Awakening failed]

[Awaiting reassignment]

[Forbidden from leaving school]

Shen Tingxue stopped in front of one of the photos.

The girl in the photo had flames erupting from her hands.

But the profession listed on her file was Water Elementalist.

Because her ability did not match the system's assignment, she was judged as an awakening failure.

The next one showed a boy with extremely strong healing abilities.

Yet he refused to accept a healing profession.

The reason column only had one sentence:

[I wish to become a chef]

The judgment was still failure.

The next one.

Someone had awakened a Warrior profession, but during the first assessment, refused to execute an Abyss creature that had already surrendered.

[Combat will defect]

[Awakening failed]

Thirteen looked at the end of the corridor.

"It's not that they didn't have professions."

"They just didn't want to become what the system assigned them to be."

The voice behind the stone gate laughed.

"That is why humans locked us in school."

"Letting us relearn."

"Learn to obey."

"Learn to accept."

"Learn to delete the parts that don't fit the profession from your body."

The group finished walking down the last step.

The underground space suddenly opened up.

A complete, old school was quietly buried in the darkness.

Teaching buildings, a playground, a cafeteria, dormitories—nothing was missing.

All the windows were filled with students.

They had not decayed.

Nor had they aged.

The 12,763 people remained as they were twenty years ago, sitting upright behind their desks.

Their wrists were fixed with black chains.

And on their chests lay Abyss profession cards.

When Lin Jin and the others passed the first classroom, the girl sitting closest to the door suddenly opened her eyes.

"The school above is gone?"

Lin Jin stopped.

"It's gone."

There was no joy in the girl's eyes.

Only deep exhaustion.

"Then can we graduate?"

"What are your graduation requirements?"

The girl looked down at her desk.

Underneath the desk surface was another seat card.

On it, the profile of a modern student was slowly generating.

Name.

Age.

Awakened profession.

Recent experiences.

"When someone comes to take our seats."

"Then we can leave."

Chen Ye clenched his fists.

"Leave to where?"

"The Abyss."

The girl answered calmly.

"Twenty years ago, reality didn't want us."

"The Abyss gave us professions."

"As long as we complete the seat swap, we will no longer be failed students."

"We will become official professionals of the Abyss."

The black card on her chest flipped open.

[Abyss Profession: Rebellious Professional]

[Ability: Can refuse any profession command]

[Cost: For every refusal, another person in reality will be forced to obey]

The girl looked at the card.

"We know the cost."

"So for twenty years, we haven't used it once."

"But even if we don't use it, we cannot leave."

In the hallway, classroom door after classroom door opened.

More students woke up.

Some looked toward the exit.

Some stared at the bodies of Lin Jin and the others.

And some kept their eyes tightly shut, not daring to look at the people above who could take their seats.

They were not actively capturing the current academy personnel.

But as soon as the third bell rang, the seat swap would automatically complete.

The old students would gain their freedom.

The new people would be locked into the desks and chairs.

Neither side would need to personally choose who to sacrifice.

The system and the Abyss would do it for them.

[Time until second class bell: 02:11]

"Where is the master list?"

Lin Jin asked.

The girl who woke up first pointed toward the center of the teaching building.

"The Academic Affairs Office."

"But the door can only be opened by the class monitor."

"Who is your class monitor?"

The girl was silent.

The lights of the entire underground school suddenly lit up simultaneously.

At the end of the playground, a rusted broadcast tower began to operate on its own.

After the sound of static, it began calling the roll.

"Experimental Class 1 of the Containment School for Failures."

"Expected attendance: 12,763 people."

"Actual attendance: 12,762 people."

"One person absent."

All the old students raised their heads at the same time.

The broadcast tower continued:

"Original class monitor has been away from school for a long time."

"Student status has now been reconfirmed via the Abyss profession contract."

On the blackboard, a line of text, sealed in dust for twenty years, slowly appeared.

[Original class monitor: Gu Changye]

[Student ID: 00001]

[Original judged profession: S-Class End Executioner]

[Reason for awakening failure: Refusal to execute the entire class elimination order]

Chen Ye's expression changed.

"Gu Changye is a student here?"

The second class bell rang out with a boom.

Ding—

12,763 desks moved backward simultaneously.

Making room for the "transfer students" from above.

And in front of the tightly closed door of the Academic Affairs Office, a black class monitor badge slowly lit up.

[Detected that the original class monitor has accepted an Abyss profession]

[Return-to-school condition met]

[Forced recall: Gu Changye]

The communicator suddenly connected.

On the screen, Gu Changye was standing in front of the already-closed Abyss entrance on the east side of Jiangcheng.

A black badge was slowly emerging from his chest.

He looked down at the badge, his expression showing genuine bewilderment for the first time.

"Lin Jin."

"I remember now."

"Twenty years ago, the graduation exam the school gave me—"

"Was to personally kill all these 12,762 people."

Inside the Academic Affairs Office, the sound of chains unlocking one by one could be heard.

Another line of text appeared on the blackboard.

[After the class monitor returns, the unfinished exam will continue]

[Exam target: Entire class elimination]

[Countdown to third class bell: 5 minutes]